Bard - College of Grandmother's Tales
There are few evils so frightening as the wicked witch. Living in the woods, a swamp, or the top of a tower, she imprisons, robs, maims, or murders all who come near. Bards know the power of a good story, and those following the College of Grandmother’s Tales use the horror of the wicked witch to their advantage. They draw upon the fears of growing old, mortality, the loss of agency, and the inability to trust those closest to you to terrify their foes.
Book of Tales
When you join the College of Grandmother’s Tales at 3rd level, you receive a book of fairy tales, sheet music, or poetry that you can use as a spellcasting focus for your bard spells. If you lose this focus, you must write or purchase a new book.
Have a Bite
Also at 3rd level, you infuse your stories with tales of poisoned fruit given to fairy-tale royals. You learn the poison spray cantrip, which doesn’t count against the number of bard cantrips you know.
Additionally, as an action, you can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration, choose one creature within 30 feet of you that can hear you, and roll the Bardic Inspiration die. The target must make a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, the target takes poison damage equal to the roll plus your Charisma modifier and is poisoned for 1 minute. A poisoned creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. On a successful save, a target takes only half the damage and isn’t poisoned.
At 5th level, a creature that fails its saving throw against this feature becomes poisoned and falls prone. At 10th level, a creature that fails its saving throw against this feature becomes poisoned and falls prone, and while poisoned in this way, the creature’s speed is reduced to 0. At 15th level, a creature that fails its saving throw against this feature becomes poisoned and falls prone, and while poisoned in this way, the creature’s speed is reduced to 0 and it is incapacitated.
Horrifying Performance
Also at 3rd level, you learn to tell quick, terrifying stories that make any creature seem nightmarish. As an action, you perform a short tale or song about a creature within 30 feet of you that you can see. Every creature of your choice that can hear you and is within 15 feet of the target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or be frightened of the target for 1 minute. A frightened creature can repeat the saving throw at the start of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. The creature has disadvantage on the saving throw to end the effect if it has taken damage from the target since the end of its last turn.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
Granny's Here
When you reach 6th level, you can use your action to summon a spectral witch from a book of tales, sheet music, or another storytelling device. It uses the ethereal hag stat block and shares your proficiency bonus. The hag is friendly to you and your companions, seeing all of you as her grandchildren. She lives for 1 hour, until she is reduced to 0 hit points, or until you die.
(See D&D Beyond for the "Ethereal Hag" stat block)
In combat, the ethereal hag shares your initiative count, but takes her turn immediately after yours. She can move and use her reaction on her own, but the only action she takes on her turn is the Dodge action, unless you use a bonus action on your turn to command her to take another action. That action can be one in her stat block or some other action. If you are incapacitated, she can take any action of her choice, not just the Dodge action.
Once you summon an ethereal hag with this feature, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest.
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