College of the Dirge

The performer sat against the fountain at the town square, playing her lute with a fervor and expertise not seen in the town for years, and indeed she drew a sizable crowd that would pay for her livelihood for weeks. None of the onlookers would see the scars appearing on the performer's skin as she played, the blood drawn by her magic enhancing her performing skill.

Later that same day, as evening fell, the performer would hear a panicked yell from a darkened alley as she made her way back to her room at the local inn. Following the sound, she happened upon a cutpurse holding a citizen at knifepoint. The performer took shelter, and began a darkened dirge in the shadows of the surrounding buildings. As the sound rolled into the cutpurse's ears, he suddenly threw down his knife and began to weep furiously, the intense despair sapping at the vitality of his soul until he lay lifeless on the ground. When the victim searched for their rescuer, the performer had already vanished into the night.

 

Not all blood mages are the stereotypical cultists hiding out in dark caves, sacrificing virgins and summoning demons, or evil overlords that use the power on a path to lichhood or other such dark ambitions. Some are simply ordinary people who reached out to the darkness in order to supplement their talents and support their livelihood, or otherwise shrewd manipulators who use a more subtle form of magic emanating from the art that bards draw upon. You are one of these blood mages.

Bards who follow the College of the Dirge syphon magical prowess from their own life force and, sometimes, from the life force of others, as all blood mages do. However, the magic of bards lends itself to a more subtle and manipulative form of magic than that of most regular wizards. These bards weave deathly music from the notes of their voice and their instruments that can cause the most stoic to break down in draining emotion, and they can draw out their own life force to enhance and amplify the magical inspiration that is the hallmark of bardic magic.

 

This subclass is part of a series on blood magic, the first being the Path of the Ravager.

Bonus Proficiencies

Your experience with blood magic allows you to be tougher and project fear better. You gain proficiency in Medium Armour and in Intimidation.

Hopeless Dirge

The Dirge, a song that entails horrible, sapping despair to all who hear it, is a key part of the repertoire of bards who follow this College. At 3rd level, you gain the ability to perform this Dirge, causing foes around you to collapse in weeping.

As an action, you can begin performing the Dirge. Choose a number of creatures equal to your Charisma modifier within 30 feet of you to make a Wisdom saving throw against your bard Spell Save DC. On a failure, the creatures drop anything they are holding and collapse to their knees, falling Prone. On their turn, their speed is reduced to 0, and they may not take a Bonus Action or more than one Action. At the end of their turn, they must make another Wisdom save against your bard Spell Save DC. On a failure, they take psychic damage equal to one roll of your Bardic Inspiration die. On a success, the effect ends. You can perform the Dirge for up to one minute.

You can use this feature once. You regain your use of it when you finish a short or long rest.

Blood Note

At 6th level, you can draw on your life force to enhance the prowess of your Bardic Inspiration. Whenever you grant a creature one of your Bardic Inspiration dice, you can choose to take force damage equal to half your Bard level. If you do, when that Bardic Inspiration die is rolled, it gains a bonus equal to your Charisma modifier.

Draining Despair

At 14th level, your mastery of the mystical Dirge has become complete, and you can syphon the life from those in the grip of the mournful song. Whenever a creature affected by your Dirge takes psychic damage as a result of failing its saving throw against the Dirge, you regain hit points equal to half the psychic damage dealt.

Additionally, you can perform the Dirge twice per short or long rest.