College of Metal

Bard of  the College of Metal go to extremes to express through their music. It teaches that volume, passion, and sometimes anger give the power to sway a crowd or destroy your enemies. Their passion and teachings provide gifts and knowledge from the Shadowfell or maybe a fiend or upper devil from the Underworld. Luckily they teach you to control this power and passion through your music, though you may still use that power in any way you please.  

Bonus Proficiencies

When you join the College of Metal at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with medium armor and one martial weapon of your choice. You also learn the language Infernal.

 

Pact Instrument

At 3rd level you can use your action to create a pact instrument in your empty hand. You can choose the form that this instrument takes each time you create it (see the Instrument section for instrument options). You know how to play it while you wield it. This instrument can be used as a spell casting focus for your bard spells.

Your pact instrument disappears if it is more than 5 feet away from you for 1 minute or more. It also disappears if you use this feature again, if you dismiss the instrument (no action required), or if you die.

You can transform one non magic instrument into a magic one if it by performing a special ritual while you hold the instrument. You perform the ritual over the course of 1 hour, which can be done during a short rest. This instrument now becomes your pact instrument and you can change its ascetics but not the base instrument. You can dismiss the instrument, shunting it into an extradimensional space, and it appears whenever you create your pact weapon thereafter. You can’t affect an artifact or a sentient instrument in this way. The instrument ceases being your pact instrument if you die, if you perform the 1-hour ritual on a different instrument, or if you use a 1-hour ritual to break your bond to it. The instrument appears at your feet if it is in the extradimensional space when the bond breaks.

Melded Pact Instrument:

The same ritual must be performed separately to meld your instrument and any weapon you are proficient with. The two are formed into one item with the visual elements of both, and retains all intrinsic and magical capabilities of both. During the ritual the Bard must envision the item, creating a form that can be played and wielded as a weapon. Only a single weapon can be melded with your pact instrument at any given time. This weapon counts as magical for the purpose of overcoming immunity to non-magic damage. 

You must perform the ritual again to replace the melded weapon. The same rules apply as to the Pact Instrument Before it is melded with a weapon.

Devil's Tongue Spells

At 3rd level, you learn to use Infernal power to harm your opponents and release your anger at them. You learn the Vicious Mockery and Thunderclap cantrips if you don't already know them and they don't count against your known cantrips.

You can also cast the Hellish Rebuke at 2nd level, dealing lightning damage instead of fire damage, once every short or long rest.

Metal Techniques

At 6th level, you learn to perform techniques that harness the anger and passion of your music. This power can induce rage or fear, and empower your Pact Instrument to better serve you in battle.

You may only have two of these being used at a time. 

Drop Tuning. You can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to attempt to frighten up to 3 creatures within 30 feet of you. Targets must make a WIS save against your spell DC or be frightened for 1 minute.

Head Banger. You can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to cause all creatures within 30 feet to feel hyped up and enraged, adding damage to an attack roll. Each creature gains one bardic inspiration die to add to a single damage roll. The creature may use it when they roll damage for an attack. The die is gone at the end of the combat that it was given.

Power Chord. You can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration as an action to empower your Melded Pact Instrument adding 1d6 thunder damage to all melee attacks made with it until the end of combat. Once per turn you can cause this power to jump to another creature you are within 5 feet of the first. The second target takes the lightning damage equal to the number you roll on the Bardic Inspiration die. Damage increases to 2d6 at level 12 and 3d6 at level 18. Damage to the second target doesn’t use anything but the bardic inspiration roll.

Sweep Picking. You can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration as an action. For 1 minute if a melee attack misses you, you may make a melee attack against the attacker. The damage equals twice the number you roll on the Bardic Inspiration die. You can also push the target up to 5 feet away from you, plus a number of feet equal to the number you roll on that die.

Pact Extra Attack

Starting at 6th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action with your Melded Pact Instrument on your turn.

Heavy Metal

Starting at 14th level, can expend a Bardic Inspiration die to release a devastating Attack with your instrument and voice or add powerful Lightning Damage to a melee Attack

Peak Distortion. As an action, increase your volume to the max, rip the knob off, spending a Bardic Inspiration die to send an booming distorted sound from your Pact Instrument. Any creature within 10 feet that can hear must make a CON save. On failed save it must use its reaction to drop what it is holding and cover its ears to half the damage. If a creature can't cover its ears or has already used its reaction it takes 3d10 Thunder damage and is pushed 10 feet back. If the creature succeeds or can't hear it, it doesn't drop what it's holding or get pushed back but takes half damage.

Shocking Finale. You scream ready to end the show and empower your instrument as a bonus action. You can spend a Bardic Inspiration die to empower your instrument with the wattage of a thousand amps. The next creature you land a melee attack with your pact weapon, the target takes an additional 6d8 lightning damage. You can only use your action to make melee attack weapons or move toward an enemy, while this is active. Power is lost if you haven’t used it within 2 rounds or take an action other that melee attack or moving.