I had an idea for a bard with features connected to preventing death in more ways than healing. Here's what I have so far:
The College of Immortality is centered on the prevention of death and decay. Also called tomb skalds, these bards are said to be able to charm the dead back to life.
Resurrective Inspiration
Starting at 3rd level, creatures inspired by you can defy death. If a creature other than you has a bardic inspiration from you and drops to 0 hit points, they can use their reaction to expend the bardic inspiration die and roll it. If they do so, they instead drop to a number of hit points equal to the number rolled on the die.
When you reach 14th level in this class, the creature instead drops to a number of hit points equal to twice the number rolled on the bardic inspiration die.
I would like some ideas for further class features as well as balance suggestions for Ressurecrive Inspiration.
I was considering that, but at 3rd level an enemy can easily deal 6 damage - goblins can deal that much. The creature who used Ressurective inspiration could easily die right after using it. Although, while writing this, I thought of something:
The creature gains resistance to all damage until the start of its next turn, but only a certain number of creatures can use the ressurective inspiration (probably proficiency bonus - 1) per your long rest
Would this be a better alternative? It makes it less likely the bardic inspiration will be wasted, but limits the amount its used.
The College of Immortality is centered on the prevention of death and decay. Also called tomb skalds, these bards are said to be able to charm the dead back to life.
Resurrective Inspiration
When you join the College of Immortality at 3rd level, you can inspire someone to defy death. When a creature within 60 feet of you drops to 0 hit points, you can expend one use of your bardic inspiration. That creature instead drops to a number of hit points equal to the number rolled on the die and has resistance to all damage until the start of its next turn.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus. You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Resist Undeath
Also at 3rd level, you are good at resisting the influence of death and undeath. You have resistance to necrotic damage and advantage on saving throws against the effects of Undead.
Death Shield
At 6th level, you and your allies are further warded from undeath. Any creature with a bardic inspiration form you now receives the befit of your Undeath Resistance. In addition, once per turn when you deal damage to a creature from a spell, you can give a number of temporary hit points to yourself or a creature with a bardic inspiration from you. This number equals your proficiency bonus plus your charisma modifier.
Immortal Song
Starting at 14th level, your soul resounds with a neverending song of life. You have advantage on death saving throws. When you roll a natural 20 on a death saving throw, you gain temporary hit points equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1).
You can also share this song with others. When a creature you can see makes a death saving throw, you can use your reaction to cause them to automatically succeed on that saving throw. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest or expend a spell slot of 5th level or higher.
"advantage on saving throws against the effects of Undead." I ain't quite sure what you mean with this sentence.
The wording on Death shield "This number equals your proficiency bonus plus your charisma modifier." You mean we can use this ability a number of times equal to our proficiency plus charisma ? or is it the number of temp hp we gain with each spell? Also, this seems quite powerful for a level 6th ability, Looking for example at the bard I currently play, level 8, It means I would gain 8 temp hp basically every turn.. even if temp hp don't stack, it still seems rather strong.
But overall I love the idea and feel of this bard!
The College of Immortality is centered on the prevention of death and decay. Also called tomb skalds, these bards are said to be able to charm the dead back to life.
Resurrective Inspiration
When you join the College of Immortality at 3rd level, you can inspire someone to defy death. When a creature within 60 feet of you drops to 0 hit points, you can expend one use of your bardic inspiration. That creature instead drops to a number of hit points equal to the number rolled on the die and has resistance to all damage until the start of its next turn.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus. You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Resist Undeath
At 3rd level, you are good at resisting the influence of death and undeath. You have resistance to necrotic damage and advantage on saving throws against the abilities of Undead (such as a lich's Paralyzing touch or a shadow's Strenght Drain).
Death Shield
At 6th level, you and your allies are further warded from undeath. Any creature with an unspent bardic inspiration die from you also has advantage on saving throws against the abilities of Undead. In addition, once per turn when you deal damage to a creature from a spell, you can give a number of temporary hit points to yourself or a creature with a bardic inspiration from you. This number equals your proficiency bonus.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier. You regain all expended uses after you finish a short or long rest.
Immortal Song
Starting at 14th level, your soul resounds with a neverending song of life. You have advantage on death saving throws. When you roll a natural 20 on a death saving throw, you gain temporary hit points equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1).
You can also share this song with others. When a creature you can see makes a death saving throw, you can use your reaction to cause them to automatically succeed on that saving throw. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest or expend a spell slot of 5th level or higher.
Changes made to the Ressurective Inspiration and clarification added to Death Shield. Hope this is better
Alternative: At third level, you have insight into resisting ...
You need to fix this spelling error:
"Any creature with a bardic inspiration from you ..."
Concerning your wording of:
"... creature with a bardic inspiration from you."
I recommend:
"... PC with an unspent Bardic Inspiration Die from you."
There are similar instances of this elsewhere in your descriptions.
My observations are that the "Flair" doesn't fit with a bard, and this sounds like a subclass of clerics, but since you want to tie the features to unspent bardic inspiration dice then you have to flesh it out as a bard. Bards are difficult to stretch outside their core mold. I think you need to look at the Bard spell list to see if you can ultimately do what you want to do. Good luck.
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Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
I'll fix the spelling/grammar. About the "flair", college of whispers features doesn't have very much to do with bards or performance either, it's you using your bardic skills as a cover for gathering secrets. I imagine this as someone who is similar to the grave domain cleric, but uses music and the weave instead of divine power. Thematically, the two are very different.
I can easily get an image of a Bard spy, and from there make the connection to the College of Whispers, although I would want to adjust the subclass a little.
The build you want seems to be too close to a Death Domain Cleric or a Necromancer of a sort for me to make the leap easily. Do you think the Bard spell list will support what this would look like at the end?
On the other hand, I have wanted to make a Bard subclass that was tailored to be a Cathedral Musician sort of fellow, so his buffs would be designed to buff clerics in particular. Maybe what you want to do touches on that idea?
Good luck. Are you building this for yourself as a PC or as a DM to be an NPC?
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Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
One of my players is a bard/cleric multiclass and I wanted to give them a college that fit well with their character concept. I decided to make it here because I've never seen a bard that has features related to death and undeath and wanted to try. I'm a little new to making homebrew, and didn't think at all about the spell list for bards. I'm going to stop work on the college of immortality, but I'll take all of your help and feedback into consideration for any future homebrew I make.
An immortality bard brings to mind the idea of immortality through fame. So I'm thinking of a long-term necromantic ability like the cleric's Raise Dead spell. Something like:
=====
Song of Immortality
You lead a chorus in an elegy honoring a dead creature within 30 feet. At the end of one hour of singing, you return the creature from the dead, provided it has been dead no more days than the number of singers in the choir (maximum 100), each of whom must have met the creature in life. You must accompany the song with a silver instrument worth at least 250 gp, which is consumed.
If the creature's soul is both willing and at liberty to rejoin the body, the creature returns to life with 1 hit point.
This spell closes all mortal wounds, but it doesn't restore missing body parts. If the creature is lacking body parts or organs integral for its survival--its head, for instance--the spell automatically fails.
Coming back from the dead is an ordeal. The target takes a −4 penalty to all attack rolls, saving throws, and ability checks. Every time the target finishes a long rest, the penalty is reduced by 1 until it disappears.
=====
This costs a little less than Raise Dead, and can potentially work for longer-dead creatures, but you have to locate and round up enough people who remember the deceased and care enough to spend an hour of their time. For party members that have been dead a short time, your own party is enough. But for characters that have been dead closer to the max, they'll pretty much have to be famous.
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I had an idea for a bard with features connected to preventing death in more ways than healing. Here's what I have so far:
The College of Immortality is centered on the prevention of death and decay. Also called tomb skalds, these bards are said to be able to charm the dead back to life.
Resurrective Inspiration
Starting at 3rd level, creatures inspired by you can defy death. If a creature other than you has a bardic inspiration from you and drops to 0 hit points, they can use their reaction to expend the bardic inspiration die and roll it. If they do so, they instead drop to a number of hit points equal to the number rolled on the die.
When you reach 14th level in this class, the creature instead drops to a number of hit points equal to twice the number rolled on the bardic inspiration die.
I would like some ideas for further class features as well as balance suggestions for Ressurecrive Inspiration.
I would make it bardic die -1. If they roll a 1, they still die.
I was considering that, but at 3rd level an enemy can easily deal 6 damage - goblins can deal that much. The creature who used Ressurective inspiration could easily die right after using it. Although, while writing this, I thought of something:
The creature gains resistance to all damage until the start of its next turn, but only a certain number of creatures can use the ressurective inspiration (probably proficiency bonus - 1) per your long rest
Would this be a better alternative? It makes it less likely the bardic inspiration will be wasted, but limits the amount its used.
New version with more/updated features:
The College of Immortality is centered on the prevention of death and decay. Also called tomb skalds, these bards are said to be able to charm the dead back to life.
Resurrective Inspiration
When you join the College of Immortality at 3rd level, you can inspire someone to defy death. When a creature within 60 feet of you drops to 0 hit points, you can expend one use of your bardic inspiration. That creature instead drops to a number of hit points equal to the number rolled on the die and has resistance to all damage until the start of its next turn.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus. You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Resist Undeath
Also at 3rd level, you are good at resisting the influence of death and undeath. You have resistance to necrotic damage and advantage on saving throws against the effects of Undead.
Death Shield
At 6th level, you and your allies are further warded from undeath. Any creature with a bardic inspiration form you now receives the befit of your Undeath Resistance. In addition, once per turn when you deal damage to a creature from a spell, you can give a number of temporary hit points to yourself or a creature with a bardic inspiration from you. This number equals your proficiency bonus plus your charisma modifier.
Immortal Song
Starting at 14th level, your soul resounds with a neverending song of life. You have advantage on death saving throws. When you roll a natural 20 on a death saving throw, you gain temporary hit points equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1).
You can also share this song with others. When a creature you can see makes a death saving throw, you can use your reaction to cause them to automatically succeed on that saving throw. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest or expend a spell slot of 5th level or higher.
"advantage on saving throws against the effects of Undead." I ain't quite sure what you mean with this sentence.
The wording on Death shield "This number equals your proficiency bonus plus your charisma modifier." You mean we can use this ability a number of times equal to our proficiency plus charisma ? or is it the number of temp hp we gain with each spell? Also, this seems quite powerful for a level 6th ability, Looking for example at the bard I currently play, level 8, It means I would gain 8 temp hp basically every turn.. even if temp hp don't stack, it still seems rather strong.
But overall I love the idea and feel of this bard!
Feel free to check out my hombrew: Magic Items, Spells, Monsters, Species, Feats, Subclassses, and Backgrounds. More detail in my Homebrew Compendium.
If you have any comments, suggestions, or ways to improve my homebrew, tell me, I'm always looking to improve!
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Here's a slightly updated version:
The College of Immortality is centered on the prevention of death and decay. Also called tomb skalds, these bards are said to be able to charm the dead back to life.
Resurrective Inspiration
When you join the College of Immortality at 3rd level, you can inspire someone to defy death. When a creature within 60 feet of you drops to 0 hit points, you can expend one use of your bardic inspiration. That creature instead drops to a number of hit points equal to the number rolled on the die and has resistance to all damage until the start of its next turn.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus. You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Resist Undeath
At 3rd level, you are good at resisting the influence of death and undeath. You have resistance to necrotic damage and advantage on saving throws against the abilities of Undead (such as a lich's Paralyzing touch or a shadow's Strenght Drain).
Death Shield
At 6th level, you and your allies are further warded from undeath. Any creature with an unspent bardic inspiration die from you also has advantage on saving throws against the abilities of Undead. In addition, once per turn when you deal damage to a creature from a spell, you can give a number of temporary hit points to yourself or a creature with a bardic inspiration from you. This number equals your proficiency bonus.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier. You regain all expended uses after you finish a short or long rest.
Immortal Song
Starting at 14th level, your soul resounds with a neverending song of life. You have advantage on death saving throws. When you roll a natural 20 on a death saving throw, you gain temporary hit points equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1).
You can also share this song with others. When a creature you can see makes a death saving throw, you can use your reaction to cause them to automatically succeed on that saving throw. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest or expend a spell slot of 5th level or higher.
Changes made to the Ressurective Inspiration and clarification added to Death Shield. Hope this is better
This doesn't read well:
"At 3rd level, you are good at resisting .."
Alternative: At third level, you have insight into resisting ...
You need to fix this spelling error:
"Any creature with a bardic inspiration from you ..."
Concerning your wording of:
"... creature with a bardic inspiration from you."
I recommend:
"... PC with an unspent Bardic Inspiration Die from you."
There are similar instances of this elsewhere in your descriptions.
My observations are that the "Flair" doesn't fit with a bard, and this sounds like a subclass of clerics, but since you want to tie the features to unspent bardic inspiration dice then you have to flesh it out as a bard. Bards are difficult to stretch outside their core mold. I think you need to look at the Bard spell list to see if you can ultimately do what you want to do. Good luck.
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
I'll fix the spelling/grammar. About the "flair", college of whispers features doesn't have very much to do with bards or performance either, it's you using your bardic skills as a cover for gathering secrets. I imagine this as someone who is similar to the grave domain cleric, but uses music and the weave instead of divine power. Thematically, the two are very different.
I can easily get an image of a Bard spy, and from there make the connection to the College of Whispers, although I would want to adjust the subclass a little.
The build you want seems to be too close to a Death Domain Cleric or a Necromancer of a sort for me to make the leap easily. Do you think the Bard spell list will support what this would look like at the end?
On the other hand, I have wanted to make a Bard subclass that was tailored to be a Cathedral Musician sort of fellow, so his buffs would be designed to buff clerics in particular. Maybe what you want to do touches on that idea?
Good luck. Are you building this for yourself as a PC or as a DM to be an NPC?
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
One of my players is a bard/cleric multiclass and I wanted to give them a college that fit well with their character concept. I decided to make it here because I've never seen a bard that has features related to death and undeath and wanted to try. I'm a little new to making homebrew, and didn't think at all about the spell list for bards. I'm going to stop work on the college of immortality, but I'll take all of your help and feedback into consideration for any future homebrew I make.
An immortality bard brings to mind the idea of immortality through fame. So I'm thinking of a long-term necromantic ability like the cleric's Raise Dead spell. Something like:
=====
Song of Immortality
You lead a chorus in an elegy honoring a dead creature within 30 feet. At the end of one hour of singing, you return the creature from the dead, provided it has been dead no more days than the number of singers in the choir (maximum 100), each of whom must have met the creature in life. You must accompany the song with a silver instrument worth at least 250 gp, which is consumed.
If the creature's soul is both willing and at liberty to rejoin the body, the creature returns to life with 1 hit point.
This spell closes all mortal wounds, but it doesn't restore missing body parts. If the creature is lacking body parts or organs integral for its survival--its head, for instance--the spell automatically fails.
Coming back from the dead is an ordeal. The target takes a −4 penalty to all attack rolls, saving throws, and ability checks. Every time the target finishes a long rest, the penalty is reduced by 1 until it disappears.
=====
This costs a little less than Raise Dead, and can potentially work for longer-dead creatures, but you have to locate and round up enough people who remember the deceased and care enough to spend an hour of their time. For party members that have been dead a short time, your own party is enough. But for characters that have been dead closer to the max, they'll pretty much have to be famous.