College Of Silence

Where other bards sing and cavort, bards from the College of Silence focus on the power of quiet, both physical and personal. They know that silence is a greater tool than many know or appreciate, a thing people struggle to avoid for fear it might lay bare the truth or hide lies. Silence is the great equalizer, they say, simply ask the awkward lovers fumbling to speak, or the king finishing a decree to his silent subjects. Silence can also be a powerful weapon few are ready for, bringing discomfort, disorientation, and even dissociation.

Silence bards play various roles, from silent observer to stealthy assassin to contemplative counselor. Many speak little, which can cause discomfort and sometimes leads them to be mistaken for the maligned bards of the College of Whispers. Whatever their role, the silence bard carries quiet confidence with them.

Quiet Communicator

Starting at 3rd level, your quiet mind is able to reach out to others. You can telepathically speak to any creatures you can see within 10 feet of you. You don’t need to share a language with a creature for it to understand your telepathic utterances, but the creature must be able to understand at least one language.

Additionally, you can understand what a creature is saying as long as you can see them speak, and understand the language being spoken.

Hush

Also at 3rd level, you are able to remove sound from magic. When you or a creature that you can see within 60 feet of you casts a spell, you can use your reaction and expend one of your uses of Bardic Inspiration to silence that spell. The spell’s verbal component can be ignored and the spell itself makes no noise.

Suppression Aura

At 6th level, you can suppress sound in the area around you. As an action, you create a 30-foot aura of muffled sound for the next 10 minutes, centered on yourself, which moves with you. Creatures in the aura have advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks, disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks based on hearing, and resistance to thunder damage.

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

True Silence

At 14th level, you have learned to tear sound from a creature on a dimensional level, plunging them into a disorienting true silence that infringes on the mind and senses. As an action, a creature you can hear within 30 feet must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or take 4d6 psychic damage and be enveloped in True Silence for the next minute, becoming deafened and unable to make any noise. On a successful save they take half damage and are not enveloped in True Silence.

While enveloped in True Silence, at the end of each of the target's turns it takes 4d6 psychic damage and must make a Wisdom saving throw. If the target succeeds on three of these saves (they do not need to be consecutive), it escapes the True Silence, and all effects end. The first time the target fails one of these saves, it becomes disoriented and its speed is reduced by 10 feet. The second time it fails the save, its thoughts become muddled and it must subtract a d6 from all of its attack rolls and ability checks. The third time it fails, the creature is paralyzed. Each of these effects is cumulative and last until True Silence ends.

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