College of Destruction
Sing to me, oh Muse, of the fall of Tireus,
Sing of the burning of its buildings
The sundering of its walls and
The slaying of its people.
Sing of he who wrought such destruction,
Sing to me of the rage of Ojax.
A Bardic College
Destruction is as important as creation in the artistic process. This is a principle that all artists know, but none adhere to as strongly as the bards of the college of destruction. For these bards, destruction is a calling, an art form unto itself. Ruinous and spectacular, these bards truly know how to put on a dazzling, if dangerous, show.
Volatile Notes
When you choose this college at 3rd level, you learn how to magnify the destruction of others. Whenever a creature you can see within 60 feet of you is dealt damage, as a reaction you may expend a use of your bardic inspiration and roll your inspiration die. The creature takes additional fire, lightning or thunder damage (your choice) equal to the result plus you Charisma modifier.
Spells of Destruction
Additionally at 3rd level, you learn more destructive magic. You learn a cantrip and a 1st level or higher spell from the sorcerer's spell list. The spells must have the following characteristics:
- They must both be from the evocation school of magic.
- They must both deal fire, lightning or thunder damage.
- The 1st level or higher spell must be of a level you can cast, as shown on the bard's table.
Both spells count as bard spells for you, but do not count against the number of bard cantrips or spells you know. Whenever you gain a level in this class, you may swap out the chosen cantrip and/or the chosen spell for another one that you could learn from this feature.
Terrifying Presence
At 6th level, you can terrify others. As an action you can force a creature you can see within 60 feet of you to make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, the creature is frightened of you for 10 minutes. Whenever the creature ends its turn more than 60 feet away from you, it can repeat the saving throw, ending the condition on a success.
Once you've used this feature to successfully frighten a creature, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.
Ruinous Magic
Also at 6th level, your magic becomes even more destructive. Whenever you cast one of the spells you learned with your spells of destruction feature, you add your Charisma modifier to one damage roll of that spell.
Additionally, evocation spells you cast deal double damage to objects and structures.
Art created using Midjourney AI
Explosive Notes
Starting at 14th level, your volatile notes are far more destructive. Whenever you use your volatile notes feature, you roll the expended die twice and add your Charisma modifier to the total to calculate the damage, instead of only rolling once.
Additionally, the targeted creature suffers one of the following effects based on the damage type you choose:
Fire. Each creature other than the target within 10 feet of it must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw against your spell save DC, or take fire damage equal to the amount of fire damage you dealt the target using this feature. Additionally, any flammable objects within 10 feet of the target that are not being worn or carried catch fire.
Lightning. The target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC, or be unable to make reactions until the end of your next turn.
Thunder. The target must succeed on a Strength saving throw against your spell save DC, or be knocked prone.