College of Lamentations

Bards of the College of Lamentations devote their art to life’s final moments, the echo of lost voices, and the quiet beauty of endings. Their songs are not mere expressions of sorrow, but deliberate meditations on mortality, memory, and the inevitable transformation that touches all things. Where others fear or deny death, these bards recognize it as a natural verse within the world’s greater song.

A bard of this college might be a somber minstrel whose melodies haunt battlefields, shaping the resolve of the living and the rest of the dead alike. Others draw their power from personal grief, or approach death as philosophers, viewing it not as an enemy, but as a passage. Some lamentations are meant to comfort the grieving, while others bind restless spirits or grant the departed a fleeting voice among the living.

The magic of the College of Lamentations is not born of cruelty, but of reverence and remembrance. Through forbidden harmonies and necromantic requiems, these bards weave life and death into a single, haunting composition.

Dirge of the Condemned

Starting at 3rd level, you can twist your Bardic Inspiration into a necromantic lament. When an ally hits on an attack roll you can use your reaction to cause the attack to deal additional necrotic damage equal to the number rolled on the Bardic Inspiration die. The inspired creature regains hit points equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1).

Echo of the dying Soul

When a creature is reduced to 0 hit points by you or an attack empowered by your Dirge of the Condemned feature you regain hit points equal to your Charisma modifier. You can regain hit points this way a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per round.

Laments of the Forbidden Art

At 6th level, your exploration of forbidden melodies grants you deeper access to necromantic magic. You learn one necromancy cantrip and two necromancy spells of your choice from any class’s spell list. A spell you choose must be of a level you can cast.

These spells count as bard spells for you and do not count against the number of bard spells you know.

Finale of the Black Elegy

At 14th level, you gain the ability to perform a powerful elegy that binds the dead to your will.

Flexible Necromantic Requiem.
You learn one additional necromancy spell of your choice from any class’s spell list. The spell must be of a level you can cast, counts as a bard spell for you, and does not count against the number of bard spells you know. Whenever you finish a long rest, you can replace this spell with another necromancy spell that meets these requirements.

Call of the Bound Dead.
As an action, you can perform a dark requiem to summon up to three undead creatures in unoccupied spaces you can see within 60 feet of you. The summoned creatures must be undead and have a combined challenge rating no higher than one third of your bard level (rounded down). The undead are friendly to you and your companions, act immediately after your turn, and obey your verbal commands (no action required). Their attacks count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity.

The undead remain for 10 minutes, until you are incapacitated, or until you dismiss them as a bonus action. The undead summoned by this feature cannot summon or control other creatures.

You can use this feature once between 14th and 16th level, twice between 17th and 19th level, and three times at 20th level. You cannot use this feature again while any undead summoned by it remain.