College of Whispers

Most bards use their performances to bring joy, spread tales, and inspire allies. Bards of the College of Whispers take a different approach, using their art as a cover for something far more calculated. These bards travel from court to court, town to town, cultivating an air of charm and harmlessness while quietly gathering secrets, exploiting fears, and weaving subtle manipulation into every interaction. To the outside world they appear as entertainers; in practice they are consummate spies and social operators, using the trust that performance naturally invites against those who grant it.

College of Whispers Table:

Level	Subclass Features Gained
3rd	Psychic Blades, Words of Terror
6th	Mantle of Whispers
14th	Shadow Lore

Subclass Features

Psychic Blades

3rd-level College of Whispers feature

When you join the College of Whispers at 3rd level, you learn to channel psychic energy through your strikes. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to deal extra psychic damage to that target. The extra damage is \(2d6\) for a Bardic Inspiration die of \(1d6\), \(3d6\) for a \(1d8\), \(5d6\) for a \(1d10\), and \(8d6\) for a \(1d12\).

You can use this feature only once per turn.

Words of Terror

3rd-level College of Whispers feature

Also at 3rd level, you learn to weave unsettling implications into seemingly innocent conversation. You can spend 1 minute speaking privately with a humanoid creature that can hear and understand you. At the end of the conversation, the target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failed save, the target is frightened of you or of a creature you name for 1 hour. The target is unaware that you used this feature on it.

Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Mantle of Whispers

6th-level College of Whispers feature

At 6th level, you gain the ability to take on a fallen humanoid's outward appearance. When a humanoid within 30 feet of you drops to 0 hit points, you can use your reaction to magically capture that creature's shadow. You retain this shadow for 1 hour or until you use it.

You can use the captured shadow to cast disguise self as a bonus action, causing you to appear as the humanoid whose shadow you captured. The disguise lasts for 1 hour or until you end it as a bonus action. While disguised, you have access to any general information about the creature's mannerisms and speech patterns, but not its specific memories.

Once you capture a shadow, you cannot capture another until the first is used or expires.

Shadow Lore

14th-level College of Whispers feature

At 14th level, you gain the ability to peer into a creature's mind and give voice to its deepest fear. As an action, you whisper magically to a creature you can see within 30 feet of you. The creature must make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. Creatures that cannot be frightened automatically succeed on this saving throw.

On a failed save, the target is frightened of you for 8 hours. The frightened target regards you as its most terrifying nightmare given form, and will not willingly move to a space within 30 feet of you. If the target is forced into your presence or you approach it, it takes \(3d10\) psychic damage from the overwhelming dread. At the end of each of its turns, the target can repeat the saving throw, ending the effect on a success.

Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.