Divine Domain:
Madness domain
"The skies twisted and churned like a sea gone mad, and out of that madness, there it was - a priest, no, a madman, invoking powers beyond reckoning... They muttered cryptic words and bent minds like wax. That day, I saw through reality an realised that there are powers beyond it. Beware, for in their prayers, madness is both weapon and shield. I can still hear the whispers...BEWARE!!"
--Account of a bewildered traveler.
In the shadowed corners of the cosmos, where eldritch gods such as Cthulhu and Nyarlathotep and gods of chaos and madness like Loki and Dionysus reign, a unique breed of clerics exists. These devoted followers harness the very essence of their enlightened knowledge, and wield it as a power that bends minds. They walk the fine line between eldritch enlightenment and true madness, embracing the whispers of their enigmatic deities. With each incantation, they spread chaos and discord, leaving shattered minds in their wake.
Subclass Features
| Level | Feature |
|---|---|
| 1st | Domain spells, Twisted Divinity, Shared Insanity |
| 2nd | Channel divinity: Eldritch enlightenment |
| 6th | Open minds |
| 8th | Potent spellcasting |
| 17th | Mindshatter |
Domain Spells
Your connection to the eldritch and chaotic forces grants you access to domain spells at the cleric levels noted in the Domain Spells table. Once you gain a domain spell, you always have it prepared, and it doesn't count against the number of spells you can prepare each day.
Madness Domain spells
| Cleric level | Spells |
|---|---|
| 1st | Arms of Hadar, Dissonant Whispers |
| 3rd | Crown of Madness, Phantasmal Force |
| 5th | Hunger of Hadar, Hypnotic Pattern |
| 7th | Confusion, Summon Aberration |
| 9th | Dominate Person, Synaptic Static |
Twisted Divinity
Starting at 1st level, your god grants you knowledge of mind-bending magic. You can prepare Enchantment or Illusion spells from any spell list (as long as they are of a level that you can cast) and you can substitute any radiant damage you deal with psychic damage.
Eldritch enlightenment
Also at 2nd level, you can invoke the cryptic whispers of your patron, unraveling the minds of those who dare to listen.
As an action, you present your holy symbol and expend a use of Channel Divinity to flood eldritch knowledge into the minds of those around you. Choose a number of creatures you can see within 60 feet, up to a maximum equal to your Wisdom modifier. Each target must have an Intelligence of at least 4 and must make an Intelligence saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, they succumb to the maddening whispers, suffering a Madness from the Short-term Madness table. Roll once on the table and apply the same effect to all targets.
The madness lasts for 1 minute, though an affected creature may repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success. If a creature fails three saving throws against this madness, its mind fully unravels, and the effect persists for the entire duration without further saving throws.
If a creature is already suffering from Short-Term Madness, it makes the initial saving throw at disadvantage. On a failure, the duration of its existing madness is reset to 1 minute, and it cannot attempt further saving throws to end the effect early.
Open minds
At 6th level, you are able to pry open other creatures minds to the power of your deity. Whenever a creature fails its save against a spell you cast of 1st level or higher that deals psychic damage, you can use your reaction to inflict a Short-term madness (roll on the Short-term Madness table) upon one target who failed their save and does not already suffer from Short-term madness. This madness lasts until the end of your next turn.
You can also trigger this effect whenever a creature fails its save against the Mind Sliver cantrip granted by your Shared Insanity feature even if its cast by an ally.
Additionally, those whose minds have been opened, are more susceptible to your magical influences. Creatures that are inflicted by madness from any of your class features have disadvantage on saves against any Enchantment or Illusion spell you cast.
Potent Spellcasting
At 8th level, you add your Wisdom modifier to the damage you deal with any cleric cantrip.
Mindshatter
At 17th level, you attain the ultimate mastery over the minds of your adversaries, enabling you to empty their mind to more easily receive your god's blessings.
There is no longer a limit to the number of creatures you can "Bless" with your Shared Insanity feature.
Additionally, you learn the Feeblemind spell and can cast it without expending a spell slot once using this feature. You regain the ability to cast it this way when you finish a long rest.
Art credit
First page top: EldritchArts
Second page right: Borja Pindado
Madness Tables
| d8 | Indefinite Madness |
|---|---|
| 1 | Persistent Hallucination: You see and hear entities as if they are physically present at all times, speaking to you in conversation. They offer cryptic guidance, warnings, or nonsensical ramblings. Strangely, nobody else can perceive them. |
| 2 | Bipolar Mania: Your mind oscillates between moments of divine euphoria and deep existential dread. At times, you are filled with inspiration, talking fast and acting on sudden whims; at others, you sink into bleak despair, questioning the futility of existence. |
| 3 | Derealization: You struggle to distinguish dreams from reality. At times, you question whether you (or those around you) truly exist, acting with detachment or speaking as if you are an observer rather than a participant. |
| 4 | Auditory Hallucination: You hear voices in your mind of ...The dead? Spirits? Angels? Demons? They offer wisdom, plead for help, or demand that you act in their name. You never know if they are real. |
| 5 | Corporeal Dysphoria: You believe your physical form is not your true one. You may insist you were meant to have more limbs, gills, or even an entirely different shape, and struggle with sensations of phantom body parts. |
| 6 | Delusional Paranoia: You feel constantly watched by an unseen entity. Even when alone, you hesitate to act freely, fearing that your thoughts and actions are being judged—or recorded. |
| 7 | Temporal Dysphoria: You struggle with time perception, believing things happen out of order. You might react to things before they happen, pause for events that already passed, or insist you’ve already lived through the present moment. |
| 8 | Visual Hallucination: You occasionally perceive the world as alien and incomprehensible—colors that shouldn’t exist, geometry that bends impossibly, and creatures whose features blur when you look directly at them. You can function normally, but reality never feels quite right. |
| d20 | Short-term Madness Effect |
|---|---|
| 1-2 | Unseen Watchers: The creature believes it is being watched by an unknown entity and cannot willingly turn its back on any creature. |
| 3-4 | Lurking Echoes: The creature hears distorted echoes of its own thoughts spoken aloud by an unknown presence. It has disadvantage on Intelligence and Wisdom checks and saving throws. |
| 5-6 | Mindswapped Reality: The creature perceives the world as upside-down or reversed. It has disadvantage on Dexterity saving throws and moves in the opposite direction it intends to (e.g., forward moves it backward, left moves it right). |
| 7-8 | Unraveling Mind: The creature perceives itself as a writhing mass of thoughts barely holding together. It cannot cast spells or concentrate on abilities and is unwilling to move more than half their movement per turn for fear of "scattering." |
| 9-10 | Time Fracture: The creature perceives time as skipping and repeating itself. At the start of each of its turns it rolls a D4. If the result is even, it must repeat the actions it took on its last turn. |
| 11-12 | Parasitic Thought: A single, overwhelming thought dominates the creature’s mind (e.g., "The walls are listening" or "I must count every heartbeat"). They must spend their reaction each turn repeating the thought out loud. |
| 13-14 | Reality Distortion: The creature believes distances are warped. All attack rolls are made at disadvantage as they misjudge positioning. |
| 15 | Paranoia: The creature is overwhelmed by whispers from unseen entities. It becomes Frightened of all creatures it can see, treating them as potential threats. |
| 16 | Ravenous Void: The creature feels an overwhelming, unnatural hunger but cannot determine what would satisfy it. Each turn, it uses its action to either (attempt to) eat a random nonmagical object or attempts to bite a creature within reach (unarmed attack). |
| 17 | Fugue State: The creature's mind splinters into various different personalities. At the start of each turn, roll a d4: (1) they take the attack action, targeting the nearest creature, (2) as an action, they drop their weapon, (3) they take the dash action to attempt to flee, (4) they act normally. |
| 18 | Hyperfocus: The creature becomes obsessed with the nearest other creature. It will focus all its efforts to either attack this creature (if it's an enemy) or protect it (if it's an ally). |
| 19 | Endless Falling: The creature constantly feels like it’s plummeting through an infinite abyss. It is prone and cannot stand up. |
| 20 | Shattered Will: The creature becomes completely catatonic. Its speed becomes 0 and it cannot take actions or reactions. It is incapacitated and unaware of its surroundings, trapped in visions of alien landscapes beyond mortal comprehension. |