Ominous Charm

Bards of the College of Ominous Charm go beyond mere vocal or instrumental performance. To them, every gesture is a declaration, every pose a melody, every glance an incantation. Drawing on dance, desire, grief, and forbidden arts, these bards channel magic through their very presence.

Their charm is unsettling, almost dangerous. It soothes as much as it threatens, draws others close as readily as it drives them away, and leaves the scent of faded passion in the air. Some members of this college use their gifts to sway hearts, infiltrate courts, or disarm their enemies. Others follow a darker path, entwining beauty, necromancy, and morbid fascination.

Bard Subclass: College of Ominous Charm

Ominous Grace

3rd-level Bard feature

You learn to turn your posture, movements, and presence into a magical defense.

While you are wearing no armor and wielding no shield, your AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Charisma modifier.

You also gain proficiency in three of the following skills: Intimidation, Religion, Performance, and Deception. If you are already proficient in all of these skills, choose one other skill of your choice instead.

Scent of Ominous Allure

3rd-level Bard feature

Your Bardic Inspiration can carry a dark, beguiling aura that mingles incense, withered roses, and the chill of an open tomb.

When you use your Bardic Inspiration on a creature other than yourself, you can expend one additional use of Bardic Inspiration to envelop yourself in an ominous scent. When you do so, you gain an influence die, which is the same die type as your Bardic Inspiration die.

Within the next 10 minutes, you can roll this die and add the number rolled to a Charisma (Intimidation), Charisma (Performance), Charisma (Deception), or Intelligence (Religion) check you make. You can wait until you see the d20 roll before deciding to use this die, but you must do so before the DM announces whether the check succeeds or fails.

You can have only one influence die at a time. If you use this feature again before spending your influence die, the old die is lost.

In addition, when you envelop yourself in this ominous scent, choose a hostile creature you can see within 9 meters of you. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your Bard spell save DC or suffer one of the following effects of your choice:

Morbid Fascination. The target is charmed by you until the end of your next turn. This effect ends early if you or your allies deal damage to it.
Dread of Withered Roses. The target is frightened of you until the end of your next turn.
Necrotic Bite. The target takes necrotic damage equal to the result of your Bardic Inspiration die + your Charisma modifier, and it cannot take reactions until the start of its next turn. In addition, it cannot regain hit points until the start of your next turn.

A creature that succeeds on its saving throw is immune to your Scent of Ominous Allure until the start of your next turn.

Deadly Desire

6th-level Bard feature

Your art reaches into hearts and tombs alike. You can briefly bind a creature to your presence, stirring memories of a lost love, a suppressed desire, or a fascination it cannot explain.

As a bonus action, you can expend one use of Bardic Inspiration to choose a hostile creature you can see within 18 meters of you, provided it can see or hear you. The target must make a Charisma saving throw against your Bard spell save DC.

On a failed save, the target is charmed by you until the start of your next turn. While charmed in this way, it cannot attack you or willingly include you in a magical effect or a hostile area of effect.

If the target is reduced to 0 hit points before the start of your next turn, you can trigger a Dread Embrace. When you do so, choose a hostile creature you can see within 3 meters of the defeated target. That creature takes necrotic damage equal to one roll of your Bardic Inspiration die + your Charisma modifier, and you gain the same number of temporary hit points.

You can trigger this Dread Embrace only once per use of Deadly Desire.

Eternal Beauty

14th-level Bard feature

Your charm is no longer merely an artistic expression: it becomes a sepulchral grace, an unearthly beauty that unsettles the living and the dead alike.

You cease to age naturally, and you cannot be aged magically unless you choose to be. Your creature type does not change.

In addition, your Scent of Ominous Allure improves in the following ways:

When you use Scent of Ominous Allure, you can target up to two different hostile creatures instead of one.
When you choose the Necrotic Bite effect, the damage equals two rolls of your Bardic Inspiration die + your Charisma modifier.
When you use your influence die on a Charisma (Intimidation), Charisma (Performance), Charisma (Deception), or Intelligence (Religion) check, you can reroll the die if you roll a 1 or 2, but you must use the new roll.

Finally, you can manifest your ominous beauty to turn aside an attack at the last instant. When a creature you can see within 3 meters of you hits you with an attack, you can use your reaction to force that creature to make a Wisdom saving throw against your Bard spell save DC.

On a failed save, the attack misses you instead, and the creature is charmed by you or frightened of you, your choice, until the end of its next turn. On a successful save, the attack hits you normally.

You can use this reaction a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (a minimum of once). You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

A bard with a lute conjures green and violet magic among armored figures in a dark crypt.