College of Broken Chords

Bards of the College of Broken Chords do not merely perform. They fracture reality with music that teeters between beauty and terror. Their melodies carry remnants of life and death, resonating with echoes of the departed, and weaving a dissonant symphony that can bend corpses, minds, and the battlefield to their will. Through jagged, haunting harmonies, they animate undead as extensions of their own soul, inhabiting these puppets to strike, cast, or move as if their consciousness were split across multiple bodies.

Their music is never complete or harmonious. Each note slips, shatters, or lingers unnaturally, infusing spells and performances with necrotic, psychic, or fear-inducing power. Allies are bolstered by the resonant echoes of their broken cadences, while enemies falter under the unsettling rhythm, their concentration fraying, their actions hindered, and their courage tested. Puppets become instruments of manipulation, the living and the dead moving to a fractured rhythm that only the bard can conduct.

Masters of this college wield necromantic influence not as overt domination but as artistic performance, turning death into a spectacle and song into a weapon. Every performance is a story half-told, a melody broken in places it should have ended, and a reminder that beauty and horror are inseparable in the hands of a bard of the Broken Chords.

Undead Puppeteering

Spend a Bardic Inspiration Dice to animate 1d4 Undead Puppets (see statblock)

Puppets can act on your turn and you can act through them. Puppets can also take the help action

You can cast spells through your Puppets, this uses your spell abilities and spell slots

You can move, use feats and abilities, cast spells, etc through your Puppets

You can speak, sing, or perform through any puppet, perfectly replicating your voice and actions.

Using an ability doesn't mean you control your Puppet to do it but rather you do it through them, like your soul is jumping from in your body to your Puppets and back. So this counts as you attacking

You can split your turn across multiple puppets. Example: Move through one Puppet, Cast a spell through another, command one to give you the help action. The use a bonus action ability through another.

Curse of Broken Chords

As an action, you can play a short, eerie tune that is only heard in a creatures mind. This targets a creature you can see within 60 feet. The creature must make a Wisdom Saving Throw or become enchanted by your melody.

A creature who fails this save becomes deafened but all they are able to hear is the melody for 1 minute while under this effect. This requires concentration

The creature is blinded except for seeing you.

Illusury visions crawl throughout the darkness surrounding you in their mind. They take 4d4 Psychic damage, this increases to 4d6 and 4d8 at the other subclass level milestones. The creature is also freightened for the duration.

You can use this ability per long rest a number of times equal to your Charisma Modifier

Fractured Euphoria

Choose up to 3 creatures of your choice within 30ft each must make a Wisdom Saving Throw

On a failed save the creatures are charmed by you for 1 minute and is obsessed with aquiring somehting valuable, the creature will prioritize seeking/hoarding wealth above all actions if possible. At the start of their turn if they are near a valuable item they move towards it if they can unless you command them to hold

On a successful save the creatures and distracted and unnerved having disadvantage on attack rolls till the start of their next turn

1 per Long Rest

SIlent Show

Verbal-only spells:

When casting a spell that requires only verbal components, you may make a Sleight of Hand check (DC = 8 + spell level + spellcasting modifier) to cast it silently. On a success, the spell is cast without making any sound, remaining unnoticed by creatures that rely on hearing spellcasting.

 Somatic-only spells:

When casting a spell that requires only somatic components, you may use your Performance skill in place of the somatic gestures. This allows you to cast the spell silently, weaving the gestures into your musical performance or theatrical flourish.

Verbal + somatic spells (no material components):

When casting a spell with both verbal and somatic components but no material components, you may add your Performance skill bonus to the spell attack roll. Maximum bonus: +7. This represents the precision and artistry of your performance enhancing the spell’s effectiveness.

Orchestra of the Dead

You can cast spells that normally require verbal components without speaking, by playing chords or melodies on your instrument instead. The spell functions normally otherwiseWhen you cast a spell that deals damage and normally requires a verbal component, add 1d10 necrotic damage to the spell.Creatures normally immune to necrotic damage treat it as a weakness instead, taking full damage from necrotic sources.Undead under your control or within 30 feet gain temporary hit points equal to half the necrotic damage dealt by your spells.

Symbphony of the Dying

 

 

Personal Defenses:

• You are immune to necrotic damage.
• You gain resistance to cold damage.

Necrotic Mastery:

• Any spell or ability you use that deals necrotic damage treats creatures normally immune to necrotic damage as if they only have resistance instead.

Fractured Euphoria Enhancement:

• Fractured Euphoria now imposes 2 levels of exhaustion on targets in addition to charm and greed effects.

Charm Manipulation:

• Creatures normally immune to being charmed are no longer immune to you. Instead, they have advantage on saving throws or checks to resist or escape your charm, reflecting a struggle against your irresistible melody.

Fear and Psychic Harm:

• Creatures that are frightened take 2d6 psychic damage at the end of each of their turns while the frightened condition persists.