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Do you like playing bard, but hate the idea of being the comic relief of your party? Have you ever felt like the bardic classes were not emo enough? InDungeons & Dragons, The College of Tragedy from Tal’Dorei: Campaign Setting Reborn is the answer if you are looking for an excuse to put My Chemical Romance on a character’s playlist.
The College of Tragedy seeks to find darkness in the light, honing sorrow into a reason to keep their party going. Bards who belong to that tradition may see sorrow as a necessary step in one’s adventuring journey. Whether your bard overcomes it or falls prey to it will be entirely up to you…
College Of Tragedy Bard Features Overview
At the third level, your bard can magically ruminate in defeat. Your character will learn to acquire a taste for the nuances of failure and soliloquize dramatically about it:
Poetry in Misery
When an ally around 30 feet of you (or yourself) rolls a 1,you can now use your reaction to recover one use of your Bardic Inspiration feature.
You also gain the ability to project suffering and anxiety into your enemies through your words:
Sorrowful Fate
Sorrowful Fate doesnotprovide a status effect during the minute of regret. It does just serve as a fun, flavorful way to make your Dungeon Master improvise.
Atsixth level, you gain another two abilities, one of which preys upon the hubris of your enemies!
Unstoppable
At14th level, you can use an action to designate your ally with the arrogant attitude of a doomed hero. A ghostly choir kicks up and gloomy music swells around them as they fight.
Best College Of Tragedy Bard Species
Half-elfis a commonly chosen species for bard, as the old ability score spread used to make it one of the most advantageous species to play. This still carries through, with the subspecies ofhalf-drowmaking one of the better subspecies to choose due to their access to the spell Faerie Fire.
Not only does Fey Ancestry give you the ability to roll with advantage against charming effects, but you are alsoimmunetomagically induced sleep, which is great for the many features you use on your reaction, as you don’t risk making a bad save against control spells cast during regular turn order. This makeselfanother good species for a College of Tragedy Bard.
Fairymay also be a good choice, withflightbeing one of the better additions to the bard.Winged tieflingwill give you the same benefit, thoughnote that Hellish Rebuke will take up a reaction, making fairy a more comfortable decision.
Genasiprovides you useful cantrips and spells throughout leveling, withAir Genasistanding out as a better choice due to their access to Feather Fall, allowing you to take other spells in its stead.
Goblinmay also intrigue you, as their trait Nimble Escape lets youescape or dash with a bonus action, getting your bard out of bad situations and leaving your reaction open for your features.
What Are The Best Ability Scores For College Of Tragedy Bards
Ability scores for bards stay relatively similar across the board.
For College of Tragedy, we recommend takingCharismaas yourhighest ability score. Not only will this be yourspellcasting modifier, but it will also determine whether you’ll be the face of your party. With all the ability checks that require Charisma, you’ll be set in terms of rolling during roleplay.
Next should beDexterity, increasing your armor class. This will also make you more efficient withfinesse weapons, such as thescimitarorrapier, which can aid you should you decide to make a more martial-focused bard.Martial builds work very well with the College of Tragedy, so make sure you prioritize this ability score.
Finally,ConstitutionorWisdomshould be third. Wisdom will ensure you make those saves from enemy spellcasters, andConstitutionwillimprove your hit point maximum.
What Are The Recommended Spells For College Of Tragedy Bards
Here are a couple of cantrips for your College of Tragedy Bard at first level.
Description
Mage Hand
While not being particularly useful in combat, you can use the illusory hand touseorhold an object.Mage Hand can be used toopen a dooror acontaineras written and or be manipulated tohold torches, pour out potions, and disarm traps.
Vicious Mockery
If your target succeeds on a Wisdom saving throw, they’ll take1d4psychic damage and havedisadvantageon their next attack roll. This is quite good,especially because the damage increases as you level.Having the ability to induce disadvantage at will makes this cantrip a must for your College of Tragedy Bard when so much of your output has to do with buffing your friends.
Minor Illusion
One creative way to use Minor Illusion isto use the auditory portions of the illusion.It’s a good way todistract enemiesby doing things such as creating a dragon roar in the woods, or the sound of voices, so they can investigate. You can also use it to create images of people for spells that require being ‘familiar’ with someone, like Sending.
Disguise Self
A spell that takes one action to change your appearance. This is a spell most bards may find useful, provided they aren’t changelings, and can be used for a fair bit of trickery.
