Path of Madness

Barbarians who follow the Path of Madness do not channel rage so much as surrender to it. Their 

minds fracture beneath the force of their fury, and in that fracture something unnatural takes hold.

Thoughts become noise. Violence becomes language. The line between instinct and magic dissolves.

And when they lash out, the madness does not stay theirs.

It spreads.

Words twist into shapes, blood hums behind the eyes, hands remember things they never touched, no 

no no that isn’t yours give it back give it—

Anyway.

Someone is screaming.

Level 3: Introduction

While raging, your madness becomes a supernatural affliction that spreads through violence.

Whenever you deal damage to a creature with an attack, roll a d20 on the Madness Manifestations table. The creature becomes Afflicted by the corresponding manifestation until your Rage ends or until that manifestation ends as described below.

A creature can be Afflicted by only one of your manifestations at a time. If an Afflicted creature would gain another manifestation from you, roll on the table again and replace its current manifestation with the new one.

Madness Manifestations

1–5 Mania. When the Afflicted creature deals damage with an attack, it gains a bonus to one damage roll of that attack equal to your Rage Damage bonus. Whenever it takes damage from an attack, it takes additional psychic damage equal to your Rage Damage bonus.

6–10 Hysteria. The Afflicted creature has Advantage on attack rolls, and attack rolls against it have Advantage.

11–14 Paranoia. Whenever the Afflicted creature takes damage from an attack, it takes additional psychic damage equal to your Rage Damage bonus.

15–18 Melancholia. Attack rolls against the Afflicted creature have Advantage.

19–20 Catatonia. On the Afflicted creature's next turn, it must choose one of the following: move, take an action, or take a Bonus Action. It can't do either of the other two during that turn. This manifestation ends at the end of that turn.

Level 6: Reciprocity

The violence that spreads your madness need not originate with you.

While raging and when you take damage from another creature's attack, you can use your Reaction to roll on the Madness Manifestations table. That creature becomes Afflicted by the resulting manifestation.

Level 10: Mutual Understanding

Your madness has become increasingly eager to reciprocate acts of violence.

You can use Reciprocity without expending your Reaction. Once you do so, you can't use it in this way again until the start of your next turn.

Level 14: Acceptance

You have learned not to control your madness, but to recognize when it has given you exactly what you need.

When you deal damage with an attack to a creature already Afflicted by one of your manifestations, you can choose to leave its current manifestation unchanged or roll on the Madness Manifestations table as normal.

If the attack is a critical hit, you can instead choose which manifestation the creature gains.