College of Comedy

Who knew laughter could be deadly?

The College of Comedy is the home of bards who just want a good laugh. Whether it's with a well-crafted joke, a punchy one-liner, or a squawking rubber chicken - these performers lace their magic with humor. Adherents to this college believe laughter is the best medicine against fear. They often use their comical brand of magic to embolden their allies, leave their enemies trapped in fits of hysterical laughter, and rebuff their hecklers with vicious gibes.

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Based on work by r/HeroesCompendium on Reddit.

 

Heckler's Mockery

At 3rd level, your jests and witticisms tear into opponents who would dare target you. You learn the Vicious Mockery cantrip and Hideous Laughter spell. These do not count against the number of bard cantrips or spells you know.

When you are damaged by a creature that you can see within 60 feet of you, you can use your reaction to cast Vicious Mockery against that creature. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (a minimum of once). You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Mantle of Laughter

At 3rd level, the laughter you inspire in your allies wards them from fear and bolsters their courage. As a bonus action, you can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration and choose one creature you can see within 60 feet of you. Roll the Bardic Inspiration die. The creature gains a number of temporary hit points equal to the number rolled plus your Charisma modifier. While the creature has these hit points, they have advantage on saving throws against being frightened.

Standup Performance

At 6th level, you can give a performance laced with magic to cause enemies to fall into fits of hysterics. As a bonus action, you may cast Hideous Laughter without expending a spell slot and begin a standup performance for the next minute or until your concentration ends (as if you were concentrating on a spell). During this time, you can cast Hideous Laughter as a bonus action on each of your turns, without expending a spell slot or requiring concentration. When you cast the spell in this way, the the spell lasts until the start of your next turn, instead of 1 minute.

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

Infectious Laughter

At 14th level, your mastery of humor enables you to spread laughter through a crowd like illness. Once per turn, when a creature within 60 feet of you fails its Wisdom saving throw against your Hideous Laughter, whether from a spell you cast or your Standup Performance feature, you may choose to target an additional creature (no action required) with Hideous Laughter without expending a spell slot.

The creatures must be within 30 feet of each other and the duration is 1 round instead of 1 minute.