College of Whispers

Most folk are happy to welcome a bard into their midst. Bards of the College of Whispers use this to their advantage. They appear to be like any other bard, sharing news, singing songs, and telling tales to the audiences they gather. In truth, the College of Whispers teaches its students that they are wolves among sheep. These bards use their knowledge and magic to uncover secrets and turn them against others through extortion and threats.   Many other bards hate the College of Whispers, viewing it as a parasite that uses the bards’ reputation to acquire wealth and power. For this reason, these bards rarely reveal their true nature unless they must. They typically claim to follow some other college, or keep their true nature secret in order to better infiltrate and exploit royal courts and other settings of power.

Psychic Blades

3rd-Level Bard (College of Whispers) Feature   You gain the ability to make your weapon attacks magically toxic to a creature's mind.   When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to deal an additional 2d6 psychic damage to that target. You can do so only once per round on your turn.   The psychic damage increases when you reach certain levels in this class, increasing to 3d6 at 5th level, 5d6 at 10th level, and 8d6 at 15th level.  

Words of Terror

3rd-Level Bard (College of Whispers) Feature   You learn to infuse innocent-seeming words with an insidious magic that can inspire terror.   If you speak to a humanoid alone for at least 1 minute, you can attempt to seed paranoia and fear into its mind. At the end of the conversation, the target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or be Frightened of you or another creature of your choice. The target is frightened in this way for 1 hour, until it is attacked or damaged, or until it witnesses its allies being attacked or damaged.   If the target succeeds on its saving throw, the target has no hint that you tried to frighten it.   Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a short rest or long rest.  

Mastered Mind

3rd-Level Bard (College of Whispers) Feature   You learn how to manipulate your thoughts and those of others. You learn two 1st-order powers of your choice, but they must be from the telepathy discipline.

Manifestation Die

You have a manifestation die that you use when making manifestation tests (see below). At 3rd level, your manifestation die is a d4. The die grows to a d6 when you reach 6th level, and it grows to a d8 when you reach 15th level.

Manifestation Score

Every power of 2nd order or higher has a manifestation score equal to its order. A power’s manifestation score increases by 1 for every other power you are concentrating on when you manifest it. For example, if you attempt to manifest the 2nd-order again power while concentrating on apparition and caress of fire, the manifestation score of again is 4.

Manifestation Tests

Whenever you manifest a power of 2nd order or higher, you must make a manifestation test at the end of the power's manifestation time. To make a manifestation test, roll your manifestation die and note the result:

• If the roll is higher than the power's manifestation score, you manifest the power.
• If the roll is equal to the power's manifestation score, you manifest the power, then gain 1 strain.
• If the roll is lower than the power's manifestation score, you manifest the power, then gain strain equal to the power's order.

If the amount of strain you gain from manifesting a power would cause you to exceed your strain maximum, you can choose to either manifest the power then immediately die; or to not manifest the power, gain no strain, and drop to 0 hit points.

Strain

Manifesting psionic powers can put stress on a manifester's body, mind, and soul. The strain mechanic represents this stress for your bard character.

Strain Maximum

At 3rd level, your strain maximum is 4. If your strain ever exceeds your strain maximum, you die. If you are returned to life after dying as a result of gaining strain, you return to life with strain equal to your strain maximum.   Your strain maximum increases as you gain levels as a Bard. It increases by 1 at 5th level (5), 7th level (6), 9th level (7), 11th level (8), 13th level (9), 15th level (10), 17th level (11), and 19th level (12).

Gaining Strain

Strain can manifest in three different ways for a bard:

• When you gain body strain, your physical prowess is depleted.
• When you gain mind strain, your mental fortitude weakens.
• When you gain soul strain, your connection to self and reality weakens.

Whenever you gain strain, you choose which type of strain it is and how much strain is applied as that type. For example, if you gain 3 strain while manifesting a 3rd-order power, you can choose to gain all 3 strain as body, mind, or soul strain; you can gain 2 strain in body and 1 in mind; you can gain 1 strain each in body, mind, and soul; and so forth.

Strain Effects

As you gain strain, you gain detrimental strain effects as shown on the strain Condition table. These effects are cumulative. For instance, if you have 3 body strain, you have disadvantage on Strength and Dexterity checks and your speed is halved.

Reducing Strain

When you finish a short rest, you can spend Hit Dice to remove strain instead of using them to regain hit points. For each Hit Die spent this way, you lose 1 strain from body, mind, or soul (your choice). When you finish a long rest, your strain is reduced to 0.

Mantle of Whispers

6th-Level Bard (College of Whispers) Feature   You gain the ability to adopt a humanoid's persona. When a humanoid dies within 30 feet of you, you can magically capture its shadow using your reaction. You retain this shadow until you use it or you finish a long rest.   You can use the shadow as an action. When you do so, it vanishes, magically transforming into a disguise that appears on you. You now look like the dead person, but healthy and alive. This disguise lasts for 1 hour or until you end it as a bonus action.   While you're in the disguise, you gain access to all information that the humanoid would freely share with a casual acquaintance. Such information includes general details on its background and personal life, but doesn't include secrets. The information is enough that you can pass yourself off as the person by drawing on its memories.   Another creature can see through this disguise by succeeding on a Wisdom (Insight) check contested by your Charisma (Deception) check. You gain a +5 bonus to your check.   Once you capture a shadow with this feature, you can't capture another one with it until you finish a short or long rest.

Shadow Lore

14th-Level Bard (College of Whispers) Feature   You gain the ability to weave dark magic into your words and tap into a creature’s deepest fears.   As an action, you magically whisper a phrase that only one creature of your choice within 30 feet of you can hear. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. It automatically succeeds if it doesn’t share a language with you or if it can’t hear you. On a successful saving throw, your whisper sounds like unintelligible mumbling and has no effect.   If the target fails its saving throw, it is charmed by you for the next 8 hours or until you or your allies attack or damage it. It interprets the whispers as a description of its most mortifying secret.   While you gain no knowledge of this secret, the target is convinced you know it. While charmed in this way, the creature obeys your commands for fear that you will reveal its secret. It won’t risk its life for you or fight for you, unless it was already inclined to do so. It grants you favors and gifts it would offer to a close friend.   When the effect ends, the creature has no understanding of why it held you in such fear.   Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.