College of the Necrodancer

Bards of the College of the Necrodancer treat death as the ultimate performance. They weave necrotic power into their music and dance, compelling the dead to rise and join their macabre revels. Whether leading a skeletal chorus through a ruined ballroom or turning a battlefield into a grim ballet, these bards blur the line between the living and the dead.

Necrodancer Spells

3rd-level College of the Necrodancer feature

You learn additional spells when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown in the College of the Necrodancer Spells table. Each of these spells counts as a bard spell for you, but it doesn’t count against the number of bard spells you know.

College of the Necrodancer Spells

Necrotic Harmony

3rd-level College of the Necrodancer feature

You gain resistance to necrotic damage. In addition, whenever you cast a spell that deals damage, you can choose for that spell to deal necrotic damage instead of its normal damage type.

When you deal necrotic damage to an undead creature with a spell or other magical effect, you can choose for the undead to regain hit points equal to the necrotic damage it would have taken instead of taking the damage.

Undead have disadvantage on saving throws against your spells and on attack rolls against you. You have advantage on Charisma checks made to influence undead creatures. Additionally, undead of challenge rating 2 or lower will not willingly attack you unless you attack them first.

Grave Inspiration

3rd-level College of the Necrodancer feature

You can expend a use of your Bardic Inspiration to cast a necromancy spell you know of 1st level or higher without expending a spell slot.

Additionally, as an action, you can expend a use of your Bardic Inspiration to attempt to seize control of an undead. Choose one undead that you can see within 60 feet of you. That creature must make a Charisma saving throw against your bard spell save DC. If it succeeds, you can’t use this feature on it again until you finish a long rest. If it fails, it becomes friendly to you and obeys your commands until it is reduced to 0 hit points.

Intelligent undead are harder to control in this way. If the target has an Intelligence of 8 or higher, it has advantage on the saving throw. If it fails the saving throw and has an Intelligence of 12 or higher, it can repeat the saving throw at the end of every hour until it succeeds and breaks free.

Macabre Cadence

6th-level College of the Necrodancer feature

Your mastery over the rhythm of death deepens, granting you the following benefits:

• You can cast the animate dead spell as an action, a bonus action, or as a reaction when a humanoid creature dies within the spell’s range. This benefit also applies to the create undead spell if you know it.
• When a creature you can see dies, you regain one expended use of your Bardic Inspiration.
• Whenever an undead creature attacks you or forces you to make a saving throw with a spell or magical effect, the undead must make a Charisma saving throw against your bard spell save DC. On a failed save, the attack misses or you succeed on the saving throw and are unaffected by the effect, and you can choose for the undead to instead target a different creature within the range of that attack or effect.

Symphony of the Grave

14th-level College of the Necrodancer feature

You can cast the create undead spell regardless of whether it is night or day.

Additionally, undead creatures that are friendly to you and not under your control within 120 feet of you, and undead creatures under your control regardless of distance, gain the following benefits:

• They gain a bonus to their attack rolls equal to your Charisma modifier.
• Their speed increases by 10 feet.
• They can take the Dash, Disengage, or Hide action as a bonus action.
• Their attacks are considered magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.
• Once per long rest for each such creature, if it would be reduced to 0 hit points, it is instead reduced to 1 hit point.