Homebrew:College of Whistles: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 11:13, 26 August 2025

(OOC: This is an implementation of the College of Whistles subclass from The Crooked Moon)

Base Class: Bard

Old tales speak of the dangers of whistling: the hollow, haunting pitches call to the spirits of the departed and invite them back to the world of the living. Bards of the College of Whistles take these stories and set them to their own warbling tunes, whistling forth their bardic magic and summoning spirits to aid in their travels. These bards wander even more than most of their fellows, drawn to traveling and gathering both stories and ghosts like patches in tattered clothing.

The Wandering Visits table offers suggestions on places you've visited during your travels where you met the various spirits drawn to your whistles. You can use the examples as they're given, mix and match the locations and the spirits, or create your own.

Wandering Visits
1d6	Location
1	You found an abandoned tavern with a single place still set at a table in the corner. A melancholy spirit waited there for someone who would never arrive.
2	Scorched foundations are the only remains of a cottage that burned long ago. The echo of a singing child watched over travelers who stopped there.
3	You stayed in a manor house's haunted tower quarters. The angry spirit there is the remnant of someone who died, old and infirm—helpless to stop the wickedness they saw from afar.
4	The mournful song of a lingering soul drew you to an old, covered bridge—the only place where the spirit found hope in life.
5	An orphanage with a positive reputation housed the hopeful shade of a child who died of sickness. It was a companion to other orphans until they grew or were taken in by homes.
6	A misty roadside meadow was once the site of a terrible battle. The spirit of a soldier who died there vented its fury against con artists and bandits who preyed upon the roadway.

Handy Haints

3rd-level College of Whistles feature

You can call forth haints—vagabond spirits. When you inspire a creature with Bardic Inspiration, you can summon a ghostly apparition that drifts around the inspired target.

The haint creates an aura extending 15 feet from the target. The haint vanishes after 1 minute, when you summon a new haint, when you use the reaction it grants you, or if you are incapacitated or die. When you summon a haint, choose its form: Grump, Sad Sack, or Scamp.

Grump.: This red-tinged, elderly spirit dressed in threadbare rags threatens your foes and harangues your allies to do better. The inspired creature and its allies within the aura have advantage on Charisma (IntimidationCharisma (Intimidation)skillWhen you attempt to influence someone through overt threats, hostile actions, and physical violence, the DM might ask you to make a Charisma (Intimidation) check. Examples include trying to pry information out of a prisoner, convincing street thugs to back down from a confrontation, or using the edge of a broken bottle to convince a sneering vizier to reconsider a decision.) checks and Strength saving throws. In addition, when a creature inside the aura deals damage, you can use your reaction to increase the damage dealt to one target by a roll of your Bardic Inspiration die plus your Charisma modifier.
Sad Sack.: The blueish, melancholic spirit saps the fervor from your foes. The inspired creature and its allies within the aura have half cover against ranged attacks. In addition, when a creature inside the aura takes damage, you can use your reaction to reduce the damage taken by an amount equal to a roll of your Bardic Inspiration die plus your Charisma modifier.
Scamp.: The gold-hued, childlike spirit delights and invigorates your allies. When the inspired creature or its allies starts a turn in the aura, that creature's speed increases by 10 feet until the end of its next turn. In addition, when a creature inside the aura fails a saving throw, you can use your reaction to let the creature reroll the d20.

Whistling Wanderer

3rd-level College of Whistles feature

You've shaped the superstition of whistling to the dead into a potent instrument. You gain the following benefits.

Wanderer's Bindle.: When you finish a long rest, you can touch a nonmagical bag, sack, or similar container and turn it into a magical container called a bindle. This container functions as a Handy Haversack. If you create a second bindle, if your bindle is more than 1 mile away from you, or when you die, the bindle loses its magic, and anything inside appears in unoccupied spaces closest to the container.
Whistled Spells.: You can whistle in place of verbal components for your bard spells. Observers unfamiliar with this tradition must succeed on a DC 15 Intelligence (ArcanaIntelligence (Arcana)skillYour Intelligence (Arcana) check measures your ability to recall lore about spells, magic items, eldritch symbols, magical traditions, the planes of existence, and the inhabitants of those planes.) check to recognize your spellcasting for what it is by whistled verbal components alone.

Homeward Bound

6th-level College of Whistles feature

You can whistle to conjure a ghostly train that returns you and your companions to a known destination. When you finish a long rest, you can leave a mark at that location using paint, chalk, carving, or some other medium (which can be erased, defaced, or destroyed normally).

Thereafter, you can use this feature to cast teleportation circle using the mark as the destination. When you cast the spell in this way, a phantom train whisks away creatures who enter the circle, and you can't cast it again until you finish a long rest. You can have a number of marked locations equal to your Charisma modifier at one time (minimum of 1 location). If you mark a location beyond your maximum, one of the previous marks of your choice fades.

When you reach 9th level in this class, you always have teleportation circle prepared and can use any of your marked locations as the destination when you cast it.

Ride the Rails

6th-level College of Whistles feature

You can whistle as an action to summon a spectral locomotive into existence. It hurtles forward in a 120-foot-long, 10-foot-wide line from you, and it passes through objects and creatures.

You and up to six willing creatures of your choice within 30 feet of you can hitch a ride on the train. You teleport to an unoccupied space of your choice in the line, and any creatures who accompanied you appear in the closest unoccupied spaces to you.

Each other creature in the line must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or be deafened until the start of your next turn, be pushed up to 10 feet straight away from the line's point of origin, and take an amount of psychic damage equal to three rolls of your Bardic Inspiration die.

Once you use this feature, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest unless you expend a spell slot of 3rd level or higher (no action required) to restore your use of it.

Last Stop

14th-level College of Whistles feature

The ghostly shrill of your whistle now draws the living closer to the world of the dead. As an action, you blow a whistle that is audible up to 300 feet away. Up to six creatures of your choice that you can see within that range must succeed on a Charisma saving throw against your spell save DC or be cursed for 1 minute. When a cursed target takes psychic damage, it is frightened of the source of that damage until the end of its next turn. The first time a cursed target takes psychic damage, it has vulnerability to psychic damage. The target repeats the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest unless you expend a spell slot of 7th level or higher (no action required) to restore your use of it.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-[[file:discord.jpg|right|thumb|500px]]
+[[file:whistles.jpg|right|thumb|500px]]
-{{ooc note|This is an implementation of the College of Discord subclass from [[Xanathar's Lost Notes to Everything Else]]}}
+{{ooc note|This is an implementation of the {{PAGENAME}} subclass from [[The Crooked Moon]]}}
 __NOTOC__
 {{base class|bard|blockquotestyle=width:calc(100% - 510px - 1.4em)}}
-Bards of the College of Discord yearn to take their performances to the next level. While some artists feel the need to prepare or learn progressions within a harmonic framework, the extemporaneous nature of the bard’s study encourages inventing variations in their musical repertoire mid-performance. This practice usually bleeds into their outlook on life and, whether with accompaniment or solo, these bards are excited to delve into the unknown, no matter the vibe.
+Old tales speak of the dangers of whistling: the hollow, haunting pitches call to the spirits of the departed and invite them back to the world of the living. Bards of the College of Whistles take these stories and set them to their own warbling tunes, whistling forth their bardic magic and summoning spirits to aid in their travels. These bards wander even more than most of their fellows, drawn to traveling and gathering both stories and ghosts like patches in tattered clothing.
-== Bonus Proficiencies ==
+The Wandering Visits table offers suggestions on places you've visited during your travels where you met the various spirits drawn to your whistles. You can use the examples as they're given, mix and match the locations and the spirits, or create your own.
-When you join the College of Discord at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with medium armor and one additional musical instrument.
-== Melodic Mayhem ==
+{| class="wikitable"
-Beginning at 3rd level, you gain the ability to use your musical instruments effectively in martial combat. When you wield your musical instrument in one or two hands, and no other weapons, it becomes a weapon that deals 1d6 bludgeoning damage and has the versatile (1d8) property. When used in one hand, it gains the finesse property. Wielded with two hands, your Armor Class increases by 2.
+|+ Wandering Visits
+! 1d6 !! Location
+|-
+| 1 || You found an abandoned tavern with a single place still set at a table in the corner. A melancholy spirit waited there for someone who would never arrive.
+|-
+| 2 || Scorched foundations are the only remains of a cottage that burned long ago. The echo of a singing child watched over travelers who stopped there.
+|-
+| 3 || You stayed in a manor house's haunted tower quarters. The angry spirit there is the remnant of someone who died, old and infirm—helpless to stop the wickedness they saw from afar.
+|-
+| 4 || The mournful song of a lingering soul drew you to an old, covered bridge—the only place where the spirit found hope in life.
+|-
+| 5 || An orphanage with a positive reputation housed the hopeful shade of a child who died of sickness. It was a companion to other orphans until they grew or were taken in by homes.
+|-
+| 6 || A misty roadside meadow was once the site of a terrible battle. The spirit of a soldier who died there  vented its fury against con artists and bandits who preyed upon the roadway.
+|}
-== Battaglia ==
+== Handy Haints ==
-Also at 3rd level, you're able to anticipate the rhythm of battle and adjust to disrupt the flow of your enemies. As a bonus action on your turn, you can choose to teleport to an unoccupied square adjacent to a creature you can see within 30 feet of you. Any Large or smaller creature within 5 feet of your new location must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. At 6th level, the radius of this effect increases to 10 feet, and to 15 feet at 14th level.
+''3rd-level {{PAGENAME}} feature''
-You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier and regain all expended uses after you finish a short or long rest.
+You can call forth haints—vagabond spirits. When you inspire a creature with Bardic Inspiration, you can summon a ghostly apparition that drifts around the inspired target.
-As part of this bonus action, you can expend one of your uses of Bardic Inspiration, rolling a Bardic Inspiration die and adding the number rolled to the save DC. You can choose to use this feature after the creature makes its roll but before the DM announces if it succeeds or fails.
+The haint creates an aura extending 15 feet from the target. The haint vanishes after 1 minute, when you summon a new haint, when you use the reaction it grants you, or if you are incapacitated or die. When you summon a haint, choose its form: Grump, Sad Sack, or Scamp.
-== Encore ==
+;''Grump.''
-At 6th level, every success fuels your performance. When you succeed on a Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution saving throw in combat, you gain advantage on the next ability check, saving throw, or attack roll you make before the end of your next turn.
+:This red-tinged, elderly spirit dressed in threadbare rags threatens your foes and harangues your allies to do better. The inspired creature and its allies within the aura have advantage on Charisma ({{intimidation}}) checks and Strength saving throws. In addition, when a creature inside the aura deals damage, you can use your reaction to increase the damage dealt to one target by a roll of your Bardic Inspiration die plus your Charisma modifier.
+;''Sad Sack.''
+:The blueish, melancholic spirit saps the fervor from your foes. The inspired creature and its allies within the aura have half cover against ranged attacks. In addition, when a creature inside the aura takes damage, you can use your reaction to reduce the damage taken by an amount equal to a roll of your Bardic Inspiration die plus your Charisma modifier.
+;''Scamp.''
+:The gold-hued, childlike spirit delights and invigorates your allies. When the inspired creature or its allies starts a turn in the aura, that creature's speed increases by 10 feet until the end of its next turn. In addition, when a creature inside the aura fails a saving throw, you can use your reaction to let the creature reroll the d20.
-Additionally, your attacks with your musical instruments count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.
+== Whistling Wanderer ==
+''3rd-level {{PAGENAME}} feature''
-== Pandemonium ==
+You've shaped the superstition of whistling to the dead into a potent instrument. You gain the following benefits.
-At 14th level, your music can stir peace into flailing chaos, goading your allies to hasten their attacks while slowing the minds of your enemies. As an action, you can create a field of discordant noise that reverberates out from you in a 15-foot radius for 1 minute, or until you lose your concentration (as if you were concentrating on a spell). The dysphonic chaos of your music is audible within 300 feet of you.
-For the duration, friendly creatures within the field gain a +2 bonus to AC, have advantage on Dexterity saving throws, and gain an additional action on each turn. That action can be used only to take the Attack (one weapon attack only), Dash, Disengage, Hide, or Use an Object action. A creature can only benefit from one such effect at a time. While you concentrate on this effect, your speed is 0, and you can only make melee attacks against creatures within 5 feet of you. If you have a fly speed, or are held in place my magical means, you can hover in place.
+;''Wanderer's Bindle.''
+:When you finish a long rest, you can touch a nonmagical bag, sack, or similar container and turn it into a magical container called a bindle. This container functions as a [[magicitem:handy-haversack|Handy Haversack]]. If you create a second bindle, if your bindle is more than 1 mile away from you, or when you die, the bindle loses its magic, and anything inside appears in unoccupied spaces closest to the container.
+;''Whistled Spells.''
+:You can whistle in place of verbal components for your bard spells. Observers unfamiliar with this tradition must succeed on a DC 15 Intelligence ({{arcana}}) check to recognize your spellcasting for what it is by whistled verbal components alone.
-Additionally, when a hostile creature starts its turn within the field, or moves there for the first time, it must make a Wisdom saving throw or be affected for the duration. An affected creature’s speed is halved, it takes a –2 penalty to AC and Dexterity saving throws, and can’t use reactions. On an affected creature’s turn, it can use either an action or a bonus action, not both. Regardless of the creature’s abilities or magic items, it can’t make more than one melee or ranged attack during its turn.
+== Homeward Bound ==
+''6th-level {{PAGENAME}} feature''
-If the creature attempts to cast a spell with a casting time of 1 action, roll a d20. On an 11 or higher, the spell doesn’t take effect until the creature’s next turn, and the creature must use its action on that turn to complete the spell. If it can’t, the spell is wasted. If an affected creature exits the field, the effect ends for it at the start of its next turn.
+You can whistle to conjure a ghostly train that returns you and your companions to a known destination. When you finish a long rest, you can leave a mark at that location using paint, chalk, carving, or some other medium (which can be erased, defaced, or destroyed normally).
-When you stop concentrating on this effect, you can’t move or take actions until after your next turn, as a wave of exhaustion sweeps over you. Once you use this feature, you must finish a long rest before you can use it again.
+Thereafter, you can use this feature to cast ''[[spell:teleportation-circle|teleportation circle]]'' using the mark as the destination. When you cast the spell in this way, a phantom train whisks away creatures who enter the circle, and you can't cast it again until you finish a long rest. You can have a number of marked locations equal to your Charisma modifier at one time (minimum of 1 location). If you mark a location beyond your maximum, one of the previous marks of your choice fades.
-[[category:homebrew bard subclasses|Discord]]
+When you reach 9th level in this class, you always have ''[[spell:teleportation-circle|teleportation circle]]'' prepared and can use any of your marked locations as the destination when you cast it.
+== Ride the Rails ==
+''6th-level {{PAGENAME}} feature''
+You can whistle as an action to summon a spectral locomotive into existence. It hurtles forward in a 120-foot-long, 10-foot-wide line from you, and it passes through objects and creatures.
+You and up to six willing creatures of your choice within 30 feet of you can hitch a ride on the train. You teleport to an unoccupied space of your choice in the line, and any creatures who accompanied you appear in the closest unoccupied spaces to you.
+Each other creature in the line must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or be deafened until the start of your next turn, be pushed up to 10 feet straight away from the line's point of origin, and take an amount of psychic damage equal to three rolls of your Bardic Inspiration die.
+Once you use this feature, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest unless you expend a spell slot of 3rd level or higher (no action required) to restore your use of it.
+== Last Stop ==
+''14th-level {{PAGENAME}} feature''
+The ghostly shrill of your whistle now draws the living closer to the world of the dead. As an action, you blow a whistle that is audible up to 300 feet away. Up to six creatures of your choice that you can see within that range must succeed on a Charisma saving throw against your spell save DC or be cursed for 1 minute. When a cursed target takes psychic damage, it is frightened of the source of that damage until the end of its next turn. The first time a cursed target takes psychic damage, it has vulnerability to psychic damage. The target repeats the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
+Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest unless you expend a spell slot of 7th level or higher (no action required) to restore your use of it.
+[[category:homebrew bard subclasses|Whistles]]