Oath of Madness

When nights grow long, and dreams grow dark, things begin to speak to some. When a paladin begins worshipping one of these things, they often swear an Oath of Madness.

Tenets of Madness

Though wildly varying, the tenets of the Oath of Madness tend to follow the outline set below.

Insanity. Being sane isn't interesting.

Unpredictability. Your enemies can't thwart you if they don't know what you're going to do.

Eternal Lie. Sometimes you must wait aeons to act.

Frenzy. When it is time to act, give it your all.

Oath Spells

You gain oath spells at the paladin levels listed.

Oath of Madness Spells

Paladin Level Spells 3rd dissonant whispers, Tasha's hideous laughter 5th crown of madness, mind spike 9th enemies abound, hunger of Hadar 13th confusion, phantasmal killer 17th dream, synaptic static

Channel Divinity

When you take this oath at 3rd level, you gain the following two Channel Divinity options.

Wait Dreaming. You whisper mad ravings, commanding your enemies to fall into a sleep of nightmares. As an action, you force up to a number of creatures equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1) that you can see within 30 feet of you to make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature becomes unconscious for 1 minute, or until they take damage or another creature uses their action to wake them. While unconscious, they thrash around, trapped in a horrid nightmare.

The Lurking Fear. As an action, a wave of fear bursts from you, then condenses around your enemies. Each creature of the paladin's choice within 30 feet of the paladin must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the target is frightened of the paladin for 1 minute. If a creature frightened by this effect ends its turn more than 30 feet away from the paladin, it can attempt another Wisdom saving throw to end the effect on it.

Aura of Madness

Starting at 7th level, hostile creatures within 10 feet of you have disadvantage on wisdom saves while you are conscious.

At 18th level, this aura’s range increases to 30 feet.

Contagious Insanity

When in pain, your broken mind defends itself through screams of maddening power. Beginning at 15th level, whenever a creature hits you with an attack, that creature takes psychic damage equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1) if you’re not incapacitated.

Madness Incarnate

At 20th level, as an action, you take on aspects of your Elder God’s form, such as growing tentacles or extra eyes. For 1 minute, you gain the following benefits:

You have resistance against psychic damage.

If a creature within 30 feet of you takes psychic damage, you can use your reaction to speak words of madness and deal an additional 2d10 psychic damage to that creature.

Your divine smite deals psychic damage instead of radiant damage.

Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.