College of the Composer: A 5e Bard subclass based on music theory and terminology!!!

[Isaac Blue]

Hello everyone, I recently put together this subclass, I was hoping to get some feedback or opinions on it, any would be a great help, thank you for your time!!!!

Enharmonics
At 3rd level, you have learned to use your cunning vocabulary to not only encourage those around you but also to conjure lasting insults and distracting phrases that grate away at the resolve of others. As a bonus action, choose a creature within 60 feet of you. Then choose either attack rolls, ability checks, or saving throws. The next time the creature takes the action you chose, you can expend one of your uses of Bardic Inspiration, rolling a Bardic Inspiration die and subtracting the number rolled from the creature's roll.


Dynamics
Also at 3rd level, you have learned to bolster or detract from the potency of magical effects around you. As a reaction, when a creature within 30 feet of you casts a spell, you can activate one of these effects.

- Crescendo. You can enhance the effects of a spell cast, pushing it beyond its normal limits. You can expend one uses of dynamics to target a creature casting a spell within 30 ft of you and push the spell's effects up by one level. (ex. if a creature casts a spell using a 3rd level spell slot, you can give it the effects of a fourth level spell.) You cannot push the spell past the caster's max casting level.

- Decrescendo. You can dilute the potency of a spell cast near you. You can expend one uses of dynamics to target a creature casting a spell within 30 ft of you. They must roll a Charisma saving throw; if they fail, drop the spell's effects by one level. If they succeed, there is no change to the spell. (Ex. if someone casts a 4th level spell slot, you can force it to have the effects of a 3rd level spell.) If a spell is cast at its base level, it cannot be dropped any further. Therefore dynamics has no effect.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (a minimum of once). You regain expended uses when you finish a long rest.
At 6th level, you can expend two uses of dynamics at once to change a spell by two levels, and at 14th level, you can expend three uses to change a spell by three levels at a time.


Encore
At 6th level you have gained the ability to help others replicate magical effects. As a reaction, when someone within 60 feet of you casts a spell, you can expend a spell slot equal in level to the original spell, in doing so, the original caster is immediately able to cast the spell once again without expending additional spell slots of their own. You can only help replicate spells up to 5th level.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your half your Charisma modifier rounded up (a minimum of once). You regain expended uses when you finish a long rest.


Articulation
Also at sixth level, you have studied articulation of notes and sounds so intensely that you can apply those techniques to your allies in combat. As an action, you may choose one of these effects.

- Tenuto. Target one creature, when they hit a creature, they may reroll one of the damage dice next turn and deal half of the roll as bleed damage.

- Marcato. Target one creature, it gains advantage on all their attack rolls this turn

- Legato. Target a number of targets equal to your Charisma modifier; they each gain advantage on one attack until the end of the next turn.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (a minimum of once). You regain expended uses when you finish a long rest.


Improved Encore
At 14th level, your studies of the weave and arcane have paid off, you have become so attuned with replicating spells that you gain one additional use of encore, and this use may be used to help replicate a spell of 7th level or below.

[Isaac Blue]

Here are the definitions for the musical terms for anyone who may not be as familiar :)

Encore - a repeated or additional performance of a song at the end of a concert, as called for by an audience.

Dynamics: the volume of a sound or note
Crescendo - a gradual increase in loudness
Decrescendo - a gradual decrease in loudness

Enharmonics - two notes with different names but have the same tone (sound the same) (ex. A sharp and B Flat)

Articulation: Articulation is a fundamental musical parameter that determines how a single note or other discrete event is sounded.
Tenuto - Hold the note in question its full length (or longer), or play the note slightly louder.
Marcato - Indicates a short note, long chord, or medium passage to be played louder or more forcefully than surrounding music.
Legato - Indicates musical notes are to be played or sung smoothly and connected

[Composer99]

Well, between my username and being a semi-professional musician, I feel compelled to comment.:)

Will go through in more detail later, but at first glance this seems really powerful. I'd recommend taking a second look at the existing bard colleges and seeing how this one stacks up.

---

All right, let's see what we've got here.

Hello everyone, I recently put together this subclass, I was hoping to get some feedback or opinions on it, any would be a great help, thank you for your time!!!!

Enharmonics
At 3rd level, you have learned to use your cunning vocabulary to not only encourage those around you but also to conjure lasting insults and distracting phrases that grate away at the resolve of others. As a bonus action, choose a creature within 60 feet of you. Then choose either attack rolls, ability checks, or saving throws. The next time the creature takes the action you chose, you can expend one of your uses of Bardic Inspiration, rolling a Bardic Inspiration die and subtracting the number rolled from the creature's roll.

Dynamics
Also at 3rd level, you have learned to bolster or detract from the potency of magical effects around you. As a reaction, when a creature within 30 feet of you casts a spell, you can activate one of these effects.

- Crescendo. You can enhance the effects of a spell cast, pushing it beyond its normal limits. You can expend one uses of dynamics to target a creature casting a spell within 30 ft of you and push the spell's effects up by one level. (ex. if a creature casts a spell using a 3rd level spell slot, you can give it the effects of a fourth level spell.) You cannot push the spell past the caster's max casting level.

- Decrescendo. You can dilute the potency of a spell cast near you. You can expend one uses of dynamics to target a creature casting a spell within 30 ft of you. They must roll a Charisma saving throw; if they fail, drop the spell's effects by one level. If they succeed, there is no change to the spell. (Ex. if someone casts a 4th level spell slot, you can force it to have the effects of a 3rd level spell.) If a spell is cast at its base level, it cannot be dropped any further. Therefore dynamics has no effect.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (a minimum of once). You regain expended uses when you finish a long rest.
At 6th level, you can expend two uses of dynamics at once to change a spell by two levels, and at 14th level, you can expend three uses to change a spell by three levels at a time.

By way of comparison:

• Glamour gets Mantle of Inspiration (expend Bardic Inspiration to give creatures temporary hit points and the ability to use their reactions to move without provoking opportunity attacks) and a once-per-short-or-long-rest ability to charm a number of creatures for up to an hour after a minute's performance.
• Lore gets three skill proficiencies and Cutting Words (which is broadly similar to Enharmonics).
• Swords gets proficiency with medium armour and the scimitar, the ability to use a melee weapon it's proficient with as a spellcasting focus, a fighting style, along with the three Blade Flourishes (expend Bardic Inspiration for extra damage plus either extra AC, damage to a second target, or mobility)
• Valour gets proficiency with medium armour, shields, and martial weapons and Combat Inspiration (A creature that has Bardic Inspiration can use it and add the number rolled to a damage roll or to its AC)
• Whispers gets Psychic Blades (expend Bardic Inspiration to deal extra damage, 2d6 at 3rd, 3d6 at 5th - when Bardic Inspiration changes to a short-rest resources, 5d6 at 10th, and 8d6 at 15th) and Words of Terror (spend 1 minute to cause a target to be frightened of you or another creature for up to 1 hour)

Enharmonics, then, is pretty in line with what other bards get. It's pretty close to Cutting Words.

Dynamics is an interesting concept, but I think the crescendo effect ends up being too strong: Once you hit 11th level you can cast spells as if from 6th level slots (or higher as you gain levels) without actually spending those slots. There's usually a bright line on manipulating spell slot use that cuts off at 5th-level spells - the sorcerer's font of magic, wizard's arcane recovery, and warlock pact slots all cut off at 5th level spells. This feature definitely pole vaults over that line.

The decrescendo effect, on the other hand, is kind of useless. How often is a monster or NPC going to be upcasting a spell? I mean, it happens, but unless you have a way of telling whether or not, anytime you try to use the feature you are risking wasting it.

Crescendo would probably be fine if you limit it to upcasting spells of 1st through 4th level, and capping them at 5th level. But if you want to have it and decrescendo mirror each other, you might want to think of some other effect.

Encore
At 6th level you have gained the ability to help others replicate magical effects. As a reaction, when someone within 60 feet of you casts a spell, you can expend a spell slot equal in level to the original spell, in doing so, the original caster is immediately able to cast the spell once again without expending additional spell slots of their own. You can only help replicate spells up to 5th level.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your half your Charisma modifier rounded up (a minimum of once). You regain expended uses when you finish a long rest.


Articulation
Also at sixth level, you have studied articulation of notes and sounds so intensely that you can apply those techniques to your allies in combat. As an action, you may choose one of these effects.

- Tenuto. Target one creature, when they hit a creature, they may reroll one of the damage dice next turn and deal half of the roll as bleed damage.

- Marcato. Target one creature, it gains advantage on all their attack rolls this turn

- Legato. Target a number of targets equal to your Charisma modifier; they each gain advantage on one attack until the end of the next turn.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (a minimum of once). You regain expended uses when you finish a long rest.

At 6th level:

• Glamour gets the ability to cast command and the ability to recast it over a period of 1 minute or until its concentration ends, once per long rest
• Lore gets Magical Secrets - at that level, 2 spells of 3rd level or lower. Which it casts out of its existing spell slots
• Swords gets Extra Attack
• Valour gets Extra Attack
• Whispers can steal shadows of dead people to make disguises.

It seems to me that Encore is dangerously powerful, as it lets you double up some of other caster's best blasting or non-concentration effects without having that spell. It's like a far less restricted magical secrets, with a much, much better action economy. Sure, you can only do this up to three times per long rest... but still, when you compare it to what other subclasses get at 6th level.

Then, on top of that, you get Articulation. Tenuto is quite weak. Legato's probably okay. Marcato is very strong: imagine throwing this down on a fighter who burns Action Surge, or a paladin, or a warlock slinging eldritch blast with the agonising blast invocation. The action economy isn't great - usually using your own action on an encounter-altering spell is better, but if you're short on spell slots it's great.

Improved Encore
At 14th level, your studies of the weave and arcane have paid off, you have become so attuned with replicating spells that you gain one additional use of encore, and this use may be used to help replicate a spell of 7th level or below.

Yyyyeah. No, this is way too powerful.

[Isaac Blue]

Hey! First off, thank you so much for commenting on this!!!! Its been really tricky getting feedback from other sources. I didn't really think that much on the class buffing its own spells, as it was mainly based on support and helping others, so while very niche, it could fit into some party comps. I might focus the effects to be creatures other than the caster.

As for Dynamics (Crescendo), it does make sense to limit it to 5th level. I kind of like decrescendo, its very niche, but it is unique.

Crescendo, I can see it being overpowering, and I am happy to limit the level cap on it. Originally I had it run off of bardic inspiration dice, so you would have to control how much you used it more so than having a separate limit. But I changed that to charges cause you don't actually roll the inspiration dice in that case. (However, this may not be clear, but the uses are limited. It starts off as a cap of one charge, so spells can only be upcast by one level. Lv 6 is when you can do two levels at a time, and 14th is when you can do three max at a time. You cant dump five charges in). However, maybe making it use bardic inspiration dice and locking it to 5th level would be good if i don't replace it entirely.


Encore is strong, yeah, again, it is supposed to be creatures other than you, and honestly, it would probably work better as n lv 14 ability, even being limited replicating spells below 5th level and still the three charges max. This would kinda make it similar to overchannel wizards get. Only reason i put it as a 6th level feature is it seemed fun to use earlier on, but sometimes less is more.

For Articulation, this could actually work as a spell, a higher one, but one thing I thought would be cool is if you rolled a d6 and it would determine which beneficial effect would be. I have a similar spell called tempo, which is based on speed. So out of curiosity making changes so for marcato, they gain advantage on all attacks for one attack action. That's the way a fighter or pally cant abuse it. Balancing wise, I compared it to faerie fire, that spell gives everyone an advantage on creatures in the designated area for all their attacks, and its an aoe first level spell that lasts a minute. But I do see what you mean, especially casue for marcato, they just gain advantage with no save for the creature being attacked. All attacks in a round can be abused, so advantage on one attack action would be much better.

[Isaac Blue]

Well, between my username and being a semi-professional musician, I feel compelled to comment.:)

Will go through in more detail later, but at first glance this seems really powerful. I'd recommend taking a second look at the existing bard colleges and seeing how this one stacks up.

---

[FONT=Verdana]All right, let's see what we've got here.

Here is a version where I changed somethings around and revised, it think this would work better? (I bolded the changes made)

Crescendo. You can enhance the effects of a spell cast, pushing it beyond its normal limits. You can expend one use bardic inspiration to target a creature casting a spell within 30 ft of you and push the spell's effects up by one level. (ex. if a creature casts a spell using a 3rd level spell slot, you can give it the effects of a fourth level spell.) You cannot push the spell past the caster's max casting level nor past 5th level

Decrescendo. You can dilute the potency of a spell cast near you. You can expend one uses of Bardic inspiration to target a creature casting a spell within 30 ft of you. They must roll a Charisma saving throw; if they fail, drop the spell's effects by one level. If they succeed, there is no change to the spell. (Ex. if someone casts a 4th level spell slot, you can force it to have the effects of a 3rd level spell.) If a spell is cast at its base level, it cannot be dropped any further. Therefore dynamics has no effect.
At 6th level, you can expend two uses of Bardic inspiration at once to change a spell by two levels, and at 14th level, you can expend three uses of Bardic inspiration to change a spell by three levels at a time.


Articulation
At sixth level, you have studied articulation of notes and sounds so intensely that you can apply those techniques to your allies in combat. As an action, you may choose one of these effects.
Tenuto. Target one creature, when they hit a creature, they may reroll one of the damage dice next turn and deal half of the roll as bleed damage
Marcato. Target one creature, it gains advantage on all their attack rolls for one attack action
Legato. Target a number of targets equal to your Charisma modifier; they each gain advantage on one attack until the end of the next turn.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (a minimum of once). You regain expended uses when you finish a long rest.


Encore
At 14th level you have gained the ability to help others replicate magical effects. As a reaction, when someone within 60 feet of you casts a spell, you can expend a spell slot equal in level to the original spell, in doing so, the original caster is immediately able to cast the spell once again without expending additional spell slots of their own. You can only help replicate spells up to 5th level.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your half your Charisma modifier rounded down (a minimum of once). You regain expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Also I didn't include enharmonics or the beginning of dynamics cause there wasn't a change

[Isaac Blue]

Also here is tempo


Tempo
LEVEL 3rd
CASTING TIME 1 Action
RANGE/AREA 60 ft
COMPONENTS V, S, M *
DURATION 1 Round
ATTACK/SAVE CHA Save


Your music begins to invigorate or tire those around you. As an action you may target one willing creature you can see within range (and that can hear you) and apply one of the effects below. If the creature is unwilling, it must make a Charisma saving throw. If it fails, apply one of the effects below.

Accelerando The target(s) can dash as a bonus action
Allegro The target(s) speed increases by 10 ft
Adagio The target(s) speed decreases by 10 ft
Largo The target(s) cannot dash



At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using 2nd level or higher spell slots you can target one additional creature in range for each slot above 1st. You can only apply one effect of tempo at a time no matter how many targets you choose.