Bards who follow the college of the dirge learn how to protect the sanctity of death, calling upon the souls of the dead to bring down those who defy it, and rescue those close to its untimely embrace. Though often misunderstood as necromancers or evil, these bards oppose the very notion of undeath, bringing wandering souls to rest and comfort into the hearts of their families. Through laments, prayers, or ceremonies, these bards seek to help others accept death, and destroy those who attempt to escape it.

Lethal Lament

When you join the College of the Dirge at 3rd level, as you inspire a creature on your turn, you can choose to infuse a call to the dead within the inspiration, twisting the magical boon into a deathly curse. 

The target has disadvantage on Wisdom saving throws until it uses the inspiration, and must instead subtract the roll from an ability check or attack roll when rolling the inspiration die. A target can’t roll the die when making a saving throw when you use your inspiration in this way.

Song of Mortality

At 3rd level, you gain the ability to protect both the dead and those close to death's embrace. When you would normally roll one or more dice to restore hit points with a spell to a creature at 0 hit points, you instead use the highest number possible for each die.

In addition, when you use your song of rest feature, any corpses within 60 feet of you can’t become undead for the next 7 days.

Destroy Undead

At 6th level, you can produce a greater call to the dead, sending them to drag the undead down towards their mortal fate. As an action, you can force each undead that can see or hear you within 30 feet of you must make a Wisdom saving throw. If the creature fails its saving throw, it is instantly destroyed if its challenge rating is at or below a certain threshold, as shown in the Destroy Undead table.

Once you use this feature, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest.

Destroy Undead Table

Bard Level	Destroy Undead of CR ...
6th	1/2 or lower
9th	1 or lower
12th	2 or lower
15th	3 or lower

Eternal Coronach

At 14th level, your ability to conduct both prayers and curses of the dead into your magic reaches its peak, granting you greater control over the souls of the departed. A target afflicted by your Lethal Lament must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw at the start of each of its turns. On a failed save, the target wastes its action on its turn doing nothing. 

In addition, whenever a creature affected by your Lethal Lament is killed, you can use your reaction to immediately regain a use of your bardic inspiration feature.