College of Necrodancing

The art of necrodancing is practised by bards that find beauty in undeath. They don't use their melodies to harm people necessarily, but they prefer to showcase that even death can be full of life. Necrodancers that align with the forces of good use their abilities to cleans people from their harmshakes. On the other hand, necrodancers with malice in their hearts use their music to intice fear and conquer kingdoms. It is not uncommon for the later kind of necrodancer to seek, or even achive lichdom.

In the world of Amvior, in the drow settlement of Webweaved to be exact, there is a tradition called The Dance of the Fallen, where the warriors that had fell in battle rise as undead to be part of the city's guard and army. Usually the ritual for the Dance of the Fallen is contacted by clerics who sing their preyers to Acmon, the God of the Afterlife, but with the passage of time, the Dance of the Fallen become more like a celebration, so drow bards developed the magic of Necrodancing, a way to make the Dance of the Fallen more of a spectacle. Ever since the inclusion of bards in the ritual, necrodancers have been those leading the Dance of the Fallen.

Student of Necromancy

When you choose this archetype at 3rd level, and whenever you reach certain levels, you learn additional spells, as stated below. They are bard spells for you and they don’t count against your spells known. You can cast each of those spells without expending a spell slot an amount of times equal to your proficiency bonus. You regain all extended uses of this feature after you finish a long rest. You can also cast the spells normally.

At 3rd level you learn the gentle repose spell. When you reach 6th level in this class you leran the animate dead. At 14th level you learn the danse macabre spell. If you already know any of these spells you can instead choose a spell of a level that you can cast from the necromancy school of magic.

Requiem of Death

At 3rd level you learn how to tune the undead to your melodies. As a bonus action you can expend one of your Bardic Inspiration uses in order to attempt to take control of an undead of CR 1 or less that isn’t under your control. The undead makes a Wisdom saving throw against your bard spell save DC. On a success, the undead takes psychic damage equal to a roll of  your bardic inspiration die. On a failure the undead is charmed by you for an hour. While charmed in this way the undead obeys all of your mental commands (no action required by you), and if not given any orders it does nothing.

The maximum CR of undead that you can take control increases at CR 3 at 5th level, CR 5 at 10th level, and at CR 7 at 15th level.

Symphony of Death

Starting at 6th level, when you use your Student of Necromancy feature to cast a spell without extending a spell slot or whenever you use your Requiem of Death feature, you and a number of creatures equal to your Charisma modifier that are 30 feet away gain temporary hit points equal to the number of undead under your control + your bard level. The temporary hit points are being lost after 24 hours.

Dance of the Fallen

Starting at 14th level, you can perform a cleansing dance with your macabre acquaintances. If you have under your control a number of undead equal to your Charisma modifier which you can see, you can use an action to affect creatures of your choice within a 60-foot radius (maximum of 10 creatures).

If the creatures are willing, they gain the following benefits:

• Any charmed, frightened, poisoned and stunned condition ends on them,
• They gain a number of temporary points equal to your level + your Charisma modifier that last for 24 hours,
• They gain a bonus to Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throw equal to your Charisma modifier, as long as they can hear you.

If you are trying to affect hostile/unwilling creatures, they must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your bard spell save DC. On a success, the targets take psychic damage equal to six rolls of your bardic inspiration die. On a failed save, they are under the following effects:

• They are vulnerable to damage inflicted by your undead,
• They have to subtract an amount equal to your rolled bardic inspiration die from each saving throw they make,
• When they target you with an attack or harmful spell they must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or change the target of their attack or spell.

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