Dissonance - Bard College

Bards of the College of Dissonance are disciples of Balangorde, the God of Order & Entropy. Their performances weave together chaos and structure, melody and cacophony, channeling the paradoxes of fate itself. Bards of Dissonance must be followers of the Angshire Spirits or the Balanian Sect and understand that true balance lies not in perfection, but in dissonance. Through each song and performance, they blur reality, shatter certainty, and bend fate to their discordant will. Their mastery of chaos and order grows with their devotion to Balangorde, granting them the power to create fractures in possibility and manipulate probability itself.

Extended Spell List

These spells weave chaos and order into every performance.

1st Level Spells: Dissonant Whispers, Tasha’s Hideous Laughter

2nd Level Spells: Mirror Image, Tasha’s Mind Whip

3rd Level Spells: Hypnotic Pattern, Fear

4th Level Spells: Phantasmal Killer, Confusion

5th Level Spells: Synaptic Static, Danse Macabre

6th Level Spells: Otto’s Irresistible Dance, Eyebite

Dissonant Inspiration

At 3rd level, when you grant a creature Bardic Inspiration, roll a d4 and apply one of the following effects immediately. If you choose, you may store the effect and have it apply when the inspiration die is used instead.

1: Echoing Chaos: The creature may reroll one d20 test and must use the new roll, before the DM determines the outcome.

2: Resonant Surge: The creature deals additional psychic damage equal to your Bardic Inspiration die to one target they hit before the end of their turn.

3: Feedback Loop: The creature gains temporary hit points equal to your Bardic Inspiration die.

4: Disruptive Harmonics: One creature of choice within 10 feet of the target must succeed on a Charisma saving throw (DC = your spell save DC) or have disadvantage on their next saving throw before the end of their next turn.

"Perfect" Harmony

At 3rd level, you become an arbiter of discordant fate. When you see a creature within 60 feet attempting to make an attack, you may use your reaction to force the creature to make a Charisma saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, they take psychic damage equal to your Bardic Inspiration die and have disadvantage on their next attack roll before the end of their next turn.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of once), regaining all expended uses after a long rest.

Echoes of Entropy

At 6th level, your discordant magic interferes with spellcasting. When a creature you can see within 60 feet casts a spell, you can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration as a reaction. The result determines the effect, which is applied immediately:

1-2: The spell's target is chosen randomly from all valid targets within range, which may include objects or empty space.

3-4: The spell's area of effect and range fluctuates. Roll a d2: on a 1, its size is halved; on a 2, its size is doubled.

5-6: The spell's damage type changes to psychic, and the caster takes psychic damage equal to your Bardic Inspiration die roll.

7-8: The spell completes, but the caster has disadvantage on any concentration checks for the spell's duration.

9-10: The spell's casting time increases by 1 action (minimum 1 round) as reality resists the effect.

11-12: The spell fails entirely, and the caster takes force damage equal to twice your Bardic Inspiration die.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, regaining all expended uses after a long rest.

Song of Time

At 14th level, you can compose a paradoxical melody that fractures probability itself. As an action, you create a 30-foot sphere centered on you that lasts for 1 minute, and follow you. Creatures and objects within the sphere are affected by temporal chaos:

Wave Collapse: Whenever a creature makes an d20 test within the sphere, they must roll twice and use the lower result (if hostile) or the higher result (if allied).

Resonant Instability: Whenever a hostile creature casts a spell within the sphere, they take psychic damage equal to your Charisma score.

Temporal Echo: If a creature is reduced to 0 hit points within the sphere, an explosion of entropic energy deals 2d12 force damage to all hostile creatures within 10 feet.

Once you use this feature, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest.