I'm not sure what to call this yet, but I'm looking to vet the mechanics first.
Sharp Cord
Upon joining this bardic college, by altering your instrument or the use of your voice, you can learn to use either as a weapon. Bards who play instruments may strike with the instrument itself, an associated item (a stand, drumstick, or bow, for example), or the sound produced by the instrument itself.
You gain the following benefits when you wield only your voice or an instrument to make a melee attack:
You can use Charisma instead of Strength for the attack and damage rolls of your strikes.
You can roll a d4 in place of the normal damage of your attack. This die changes as you gain bard levels, d6 at 5th, d8 at 11th, and d10 at 17.
The damage type of the weapon is Force if you use sound. Otherwise you can choose that it be slashing, piercing or bludgeoning as befitting the form of the attack.
Instruments altered this way are no more vulnerable to being damaged than typical weapons.
Steccato Driver
At 6th level the bard learns a maneuver called the Steccato Driver. Targeting an opponent no larger than one size category larger than the character, in an adjacent square, before having moved that turn, the bard segments their attack into a series of musical notes. If the attack hits, in addition to usual damage, the bard moves forward up to their current Speed. Their opponent is driven back by an equivalent amount and knocked prone. Obstacles which would normally halt movement stop the opponent’s movement as normal and halt the bard one space early, such that they end their movement 5ft away from the obstacle.
If the opponent contacts another creature in this movement, treat this as an impassable obstacle. Should that creature be equal in size to the bard or less, it is also knocked prone.
Opponents knocked prone take damage equal to the bard’s Charisma modifier.
Constant Melodic Denial
At 14th level the [bard] has learned intrinsic elements of sound, such that they understand how to generate contrary rhythms able to cancel targeted noises. The Bard learns the spell Counterspell, and the spell Silence, which are now Bard spells for them. In addition, they may cast Counterspell as a 3rd level spell, without expending a spell slot, provided the targeted spell has a verbal component.
I'm not sure what to call this yet, but I'm looking to vet the mechanics first.
Sharp Cord
Upon joining this bardic college, by altering your instrument or the use of your voice, you can learn to use either as a weapon. Bards who play instruments may strike with the instrument itself, an associated item (a stand, drumstick, or bow, for example), or the sound produced by the instrument itself.
You gain the following benefits when you wield only your voice or an instrument to make a melee attack:
Steccato Driver
At 6th level the bard learns a maneuver called the Steccato Driver. Targeting an opponent no larger than one size category larger than the character, in an adjacent square, before having moved that turn, the bard segments their attack into a series of musical notes. If the attack hits, in addition to usual damage, the bard moves forward up to their current Speed. Their opponent is driven back by an equivalent amount and knocked prone. Obstacles which would normally halt movement stop the opponent’s movement as normal and halt the bard one space early, such that they end their movement 5ft away from the obstacle.
If the opponent contacts another creature in this movement, treat this as an impassable obstacle. Should that creature be equal in size to the bard or less, it is also knocked prone.
Opponents knocked prone take damage equal to the bard’s Charisma modifier.
Constant Melodic Denial
At 14th level the [bard] has learned intrinsic elements of sound, such that they understand how to generate contrary rhythms able to cancel targeted noises. The Bard learns the spell Counterspell, and the spell Silence, which are now Bard spells for them. In addition, they may cast Counterspell as a 3rd level spell, without expending a spell slot, provided the targeted spell has a verbal component.