Madness

The gods of madness might be frightening, inscrutable beings lurking at the frayed edges of reality or they might simply be hedonistic gods who urge their followers to seek excess in all things and delight in the chaos and insanity that often results. Gods of madness might be worshiped in secret by strange cults seeking forbidden power, but they could be beloved deities who bring gaiety and joy to the lives of ordinary people. Their clerics are sometimes dangerous figures, working to tear down propriety and disrupt the status quo. They can be erratic and capricious, acting with enigmatic motives and a desire to expand—or sunder—the minds of people they meet.

Table: Madness Domain Spells
Cleric Level Spells
1st dissonant whispers, hideous laughter
3rd crown of madness, suggestion
5th fear, hypnotic pattern
7th confusion, phantasmal killer
9th dominate person, modify memory

Blessing of Madness

Starting at 1st level when you choose this domain, your mind becomes unhinged, flooded with strange thoughts and ideas. You gain periodic bursts of frightening clarity, which are fueled by special dice called madness dice, which are d6s. You have a number of madness dice equal to 1 + half your level (minimum 2 dice). You can expend a madness die and add the number rolled to one ability check, attack roll, or saving throw you make. When you do so, you have disadvantage on all ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws until the end of your next turn.

You regain all expended madness dice when you finish a long rest.

Channel Divinity: Afflict Madness

Starting at 2nd level, you can use your Channel Divinity to flood your foe with erratic thoughts.

As an action, you present your holy symbol and invoke the name of your deity. One creature of your choice you can see within 60 feet must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or become insane until the end of your next turn.

Constructs are immune to this effect. While insane, the creature cannot use actions, bonus actions, or reactions, though it can still move on its turn.

Channel Divinity: Flood of Madness

Beginning at 6th level, you can use your Channel Divinity to amplify your own madness.

When you would expend a madness die, you can use a bonus action to turn your madness die into a d12. If the ability check, attack roll, or saving throw succeeds, you do not have the usual disadvantage on ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws from expending a madness die.

Divine Strike

At 8th level, you gain the ability to infuse your weapon strikes with divine energy. Once on each of your turns when you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can cause the attack to deal an extra 1d8 psychic damage to the target. When you reach 14th level, the extra damage increases to 2d8.

Infectious Madness

At 17th level, you can no longer be charmed or frightened.

In addition, whenever you expend a madness die, you can also bestow a madness die to one creature you can see within 60 feet of you.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

The Book of the Righteous, Copyright 2002, 2017, Aaron Loeb