College of Lamentation

A practiced Lamentationist can perform rites so sonorous with sadness and misery that even the dead are compelled to join with their own torment, creating a macabre chorus of revenance woven from grief itself. Dead men tell no tales, but to the College of Lamentation bard, they sing from the most profound depths of their souls.

At 3rd level, you can use a bonus action and expend a Bardic Inspiration die to draw a tormented soul to your side with a grief-stricken sonata until the end of your next turn, becoming a soul-holder. Any creature holding one of your Bardic Inspiration dice also draws a soul to their side, and is granted all the benefits of a soul-holder.

 

While active, the soul grants temporary hit points equal to the number rolled on the Bardic Inspiration die at the start of each turn a soul is held. The ability's temporary HP must be re-rolled at the start of every turn using each individual soul-holder's Bardic Inspiration die, but everyone uses your Charisma modifier and spell save DC for the soul's extra effects.

 

While you are a soul-holder, you may expend the Bardic Inspiration die to target a number of creatures equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1) within 60 feet of you that you can see, who must then make a Wisdom saving throw or be frightened by you until the end of your next turn. Using this frighten effect consumes the temporary HP given immediately regardless of success.  

       

As a bonus action, if the soul's frighten ability remains unused, a soul-holder can attempt to make a Charisma (performance) check to maintain their soul's company until the end of their next turn. The DC is 15 + the number of souls active. If a soul-holder attempts the Charisma (performance) check to maintain a soul before the next turn of a soul-holder who just passed the same check, the harmony provides each consecutive soul-holder in that round with advantage on the check. All soul-holders must reroll for their hit point buff upon soul-renewal. At 7th level, a soul-holder may command the soul to use Healing Spirit for a single turn in place of the frightening effect. At 10th level, the healing is increased by 1d6 (2d6 total).

Also at 3rd level, you learn the chill touch cantrip, but it does not count against your number of cantrips known. Additionally, when your Spellcasting feature lets you learn or replace a bard cantrip or a spell, you can now choose from Necromancy cantrips or spells of any class. The chosen Necromancy spells count as bard spells for you. However, you can't select spells that bring creatures back to life, such as the raise dead spell, when using this feature, and you must choose one other school of magic to permanently lose access to.

At 6th level, your knowledge of consecrating rites and exposure to the agonies of the hells grows. You have advantage on saving throws against being frightened. Additionally , you learn the animate dead spell, which counts as a bard spell for you but doesn’t count against the number of bard spells you know. You can use this spell once per long rest without consuming spell slots. Also, whenever you create an undead creature using a necromancy spell, it gains the additional benefits:

At 6th level, you gain proficiency in the Religion skill. If you already have this proficiency, at the discretion of the DM you may instead choose a different skill.

Beginning at 14th level, you have mastered the art of the lament. You now have the power to play a death march that brings the dead under your control, even those created by other spells and spellcasters. As an action, you can choose one undead that you can see and that can hear you, within 60 feet. That creature must make a Charisma saving throw against your bard spell save DC. If it succeeds, you can't use this feature on it again. If it fails, it becomes friendly to you and obeys your commands until you use this feature again.

Intelligent undead are harder to control with this performance. If the target has an Intelligence of 8 or higher, it has advantage on the saving throw. If it fails the saving throw and has an Intelligence of 12 or higher, it can repeat the saving throw at the end of every hour until it succeeds and breaks free.