Homebrew:College of Whistles

(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 (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.

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 (Arcana) 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.