College of the Voidlands (by Baskerevil)

A myth within a legend

Seven cursed bards gathered to write a haunted song.
Six cursed bards wrote the first part of the song.
Five cursed bards wrote the second part of the song.
Four cursed bards wrote the chorus of the song.
Three cursed bards wrote the third part of the song.
Two cursed bards wrote the final part of the song.
One cursed bard killed the others and played the song.

 

Darkness beyond

Old legends tell a story about lands beyond the horizon, a place where wild creatures reign supreme and men are driven mad by fear and dread. Lands dressed in eternal night, fashioned with structures of metal and magic, with only light within this land coming from dead stars, but where could a realm like this exist? Is it an actual location or does it only exists in the nightmares?...
There exists a place, a lonely realm, which cannot be reached by normal means. An empire built by a civilization long before the first god was born. It was build back when the universe was nothing but a dense cloud of chaos and potential, and back then the first beings emerged into existence to create a world for themselves. They worshipped a primal elemental lord of raw magic, a formless presence binding all first creatures within the early universe. But, upon the dawn of gods, this empire was thrown into oblivion - banished from all existence together with the first beings and their lord.
However, no matter how much first god tried to remake the universe in their own image, some things could never be erased, and the remnants of the first civilization still drifted somewhere on the edge of the oblivion. These remnants still held great power and attracted various cosmic forces, not only to maintain its own existence, but also to gather strength and spread its influence… These dark lands, however fading they may be, are still thriving in their own way, filled with various strange creatures and holding long forgotten secrets, and the more influence it gets – the closer it is drawn back to into existence.
These dark lands and a city of metal within it are beyond the reach and understanding of mortals, and this place should not have a name for itself, but if it did have a name, then it would be called as the Voidlands. A dark and cruel place, filled with nothing but the undesirable monsters and eldritch horrors, but however brutal it might be, there is a certain beauty and wonder within it. It is a dangerous and fading place, and its residents struggle every moment to maintain their own existence, but is that not the nature of existence in every place? Existence brings suffering, and suffering can blossom into hope. The Voidlands sustains itself on hope and dreams, on desire to live and thrive, just like one would live in a jungle on any world within the material plane: weak perish, strong survive, and that is just the law of nature.

 

Melody of harm

There is an old legend about the first melody to be ever created. This melody is lost to time and there is no being who have ever heard it… or so most people would think. However, there is one place where the music of the first creation could still be found echoing into oblivion – the Voidlands.
There have been very few bards who dedicated their lives to seek out the first melody, not only because it might be impossible, but because it is a dangerous path to follow. The Voidlands is a harmful place for any creature both into existence, and so is the melody hidden within the lost realm. Any attempts to attune to music of the void can be deadly, thus bards who follow this path must train their bodies and mind so that they could withstand the destructive music of the Voidlands.
Studying the first melody in all creation takes a toll, however, bards who learn even a lightest part of it can weaponize it against other creatures, use it to harm and weaken other creatures. Unlike any other power, the melody of creation does not obey the laws of the universe. No… it was made before any laws of reality were set, therefore it can break the reality apart…

 

Bonus Proficiencies

When you join the College of the Voidlands at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with Medium and Heavy Armor.

Melody of the Voidlands

Also at 3rd level, strange energies starts shifting within you and infuse you with a power to weaken others. When you inflict damage with spell which has the range of touch or when you hit a creature a melee weapon attack (or a melee spell attack), you can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration feature to reduce one ability score of a damaged creature by the amount of Bardic Inspiration roll (you choose which ability score is reduced). This feature cannot reduce an ability score below 1. This effect lasts for 1 minute or until you use this feature again.

Creatures who are immune to being stunned and/or exhausted are immune to this feature. Moreover, creatures with Legendary Resistances can choose to resist this effect by expending one use of that feature.

Voidtouched

At 6th level, you learn one 3rd or lower level spell of your choice from any class with the range of self. A spell you choose must be of a level you can cast, as shown on the Bard table, or a cantrip. The chosen spells count as bard spells for you but don’t count against the number of bard spells you know.

Void Smite

From 6th level, you gain ability do deal extra damage when you hit a creature in melee range. Once per round of combat, when you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack or melee spell attack, you can roll all of your attack dice (or spell attack dice) again and combine the result. This feature can be activated only against creatures affected by one of your spells (for example: Bane) or one of your bard's feature (for example: Melody of the Voidlands).
(This feature treats one attack as two separate attacks for the purpose of dice rolls, including all effects triggered upon hitting a creature with an attack roll)

To use this feature you must expend spell slot(s) of total combined level of 2 or greater. Spell slots expended to make a melee spell attack will not count towards this cost.

Melancholy of the Voidlands

Starting at 14th level, you begin emanating harmful melody of the Voidlands. Any hostile creature within 10 feet of you receive -3 penalty to all of their saving throws.