When the old world ended, the networks failed—but the airwaves endured. Radio signals, coded bursts, and looping transmissions continued to drift through the atmosphere like echoes of a civilization too stubborn to go quiet. Across cracked landscapes and forgotten cities, voices still speak in static. Some call for help. Some chant fragments of lost knowledge. Some do far stranger things.

Bards of the College of the Airwaves don’t perform on stages—they broadcast. Armed with scavenged speakers, rewired microphones, or jury-rigged signal decks, they manipulate sound like circuitry, weaving melody, memory, and distortion into power. Their magic is not ancient—it’s analog. Spells travel on carrier waves, encoded in voice, interference, and feedback.

Where others might rely on strings or songbooks, these bards tune amplifiers made from scrap, loop dying recordings, and whisper truths through buzzing headsets. They are the archivists of noise, the prophets of static, the voices that pierce the wasteland. And when they speak, someone—something—always listens.

Broadcast Signal

Your voice becomes a weapon and a tether. When you give Bardic Inspiration, you can choose one of the following instead of the usual effect:

• Echo Boost – The target can immediately move up to 10 feet without provoking opportunity attacks.
• Static Veil – The target becomes lightly obscured (like smoke or static surrounds them) until the start of your next turn, granting advantage on Stealth and Disadvantage to attackers using sight.
• Signal Interruption – If the target is hit with an attack, they can use their reaction to subtract your Bardic Inspiration die from the damage taken.

You also gain proficiency with tinker's tools and thieves' tools, and the message cantrip. When you cast Message, it can travel through up to 1 mile of terrain if there's a clear analog “conduit” (old cable, antenna, radio tower, etc.).

Ghost Signal

You create a magical conduit for signals to transmit.

As a bonus action, you can place a lingering signal at a point you can see within 30 ft. For 1 minute, the signal can repeat a short phrase, song, or magical effect at a low, indiscernible frequency. For spellcasting purposes this counts as your voice (e.g., suggestion). You may maintain one Ghost Signal at a time.

Signal Hijack

You can make use of other creatures voices by hitchhiking along their frequency.

When a creature within 60 ft. casts a spell that includes a verbal component, you can use your reaction to "hitchhike" on it: teleport to a space within 5 ft. of either the caster or the target. If the spell is an AOE, you can teleport 5 ft. outside of the area of effect, to the closest point of the desired location. You can use this feature once per Short or Long Rest.

Frequency Overload

You flood the airwaves with a cacophony of sound.

As an action you initiate a frequency surge that lasts for 1 minute. For the duration:

• Creatures of your choice within 60 ft. have disadvantage on saving throws against spells you cast that deal thunder or psychic damage, or that require hearing to function.
• Each time a creature fails a saving throw against one of your bard spells, it is deafened until the end of its next turn.
• If a creature within range tries to cast a spell with a verbal component, it must first succeed on a Constitution saving throw or the spell fails and is wasted.

You can use this feature once per Long Rest.