College of Whispers (revised)

Most folk are happy to welcome a bard into their midst, and Bards of the College of Whispers use this to their advantage. They appear to be like other bards, sharing news, singing songs, and telling tales to the audiences they gather. In truth, the College of Whispers teaches its students that they are wolves among sheep. These bards use their knowledge and magic to uncover secrets and turn them against others through extortion and threats.

Many other bards hate the College of Whispers, viewing it as a parasite that uses a bard’s reputation to acquire wealth and power. For this reason, members of this college rarely reveal their true nature. They typically claim to follow some other college, or they keep their actual calling secret in order to infiltrate and exploit royal courts and other settings of power.

Psychic Blades

3rd-level College of Whispers feature

Once per turn, you can deal extra psychic damage to one creature you hit with an attack if you have advantage on the attack roll. The extra damage is equal to one roll of your bardic inspiration die.

You don’t need advantage on the attack roll if the target is frightened, and you don’t have disadvantage on the attack roll.

This feature’s extra damage increases when you reach certain levels in this class: to two rolls at 9th level, three rolls at 13th level, and four rolls at 17th level.

Words of Terror

3rd-level College of Whispers feature

You learn to infuse your words with an insidious magic that can inspire terror. As a bonus action, you can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to seed paranoia the mind of one creature within 60 feet of you. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or be frightened of you or another creature of your choice. The target is frightened in this way for 10 minutes, until you use this feature again, or until a creature other than the source of its fear attacks or damages it.

If the target succeeds on its saving throw, the target has no hint that you tried to frighten it.

Mantle of Whispers

6th-level College of Whispers feature

You gain the ability to steal another humanoid’s identity. When a humanoid is reduced to 0 hit points within 30 feet of you, you can use your reaction to magically capture its identity. You retain the creature's identity for as long as the creature remains unconscious. If the creature dies, you can store its identity indefinitely. The maximum number of identities you can store equals half your bard level (rounded down) + your Charisma modifier. If you try to exceed your maximum number of identities, the oldest identity fades and is replaced by the new one.

As an action, you can expend a spell slot of 2nd level to assume an identity you have stored. When you do so, you are magically transformed into the chosen humanoid for 1 hour, or until you drop the disguise as a bonus action. For the duration, you are physically indistinguishable from the humanoid, but you gain none of its traits or abilities. 

In addition, you gain access to any information that they would freely share with a casual acquaintance. Such information includes general details on its background and personal life, but doesn’t include secrets. The information is enough that you can pass yourself off as the person by drawing on its memories.

Another creature can see through this disguise by succeeding on a Wisdom (Insight) check contested by your Charisma (Deception) check. You gain a +5 bonus to your check.

Once you capture a creature's essence with this feature, you can’t capture another one with it until you finish a short or long rest.

Shadow Lore

14th-level College of Whispers feature

You gain the ability to weave dark magic into your words and tap into a creature’s deepest fears. As an action, you magically whisper a phrase that only one creature of your choice within 30 feet of you can hear. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. It automatically succeeds if it doesn’t share a language with you or if it can’t hear you. On a successful saving throw, your whisper sounds like unintelligible mumbling and has no effect.

On a failed saving throw, the target is charmed by you for the next 8 hours or until you or your allies attack it, damage it, or force it to make a saving throw. It interprets the whispers as a description of its most mortifying secret. You gain no knowledge of this secret, but the target is convinced you know it.

The charmed creature obeys your commands for fear that you will reveal its secret. The creature is willing to undertake any task you give to it, but it won't take its own life, unless it was already inclined to do so. It grants you favours and gifts it would offer to a close friend, and will risk its life to protect you.

When the effect ends, the creature must make an Intelligence saving throw against the effect or lose all memory of its time under your control. On a successful save, the creature has no understanding of why it held you in such fear.

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.