School of Madness

In your studies of the arcane, you have discovered knowledge that was best left undisturbed. Perhaps you delved too deep into forbidden tomes until a singular moment of comprehension expanded your mind and cast your sanity adrift upon the stars. Perhaps you discovered an artefact of ancient magicks that whispered into your dreams and led you slowly down the umbral path of eldritch knowings until you could no longer separate reality from nightmare. Whatever the case, your understanding of spellcasting will be forever changed.

This a class that lets you feel the eldritch influence, without having to become a warlock in the process, the abilities are fairly balanced and give some great flavour to your wizards.

From raving madmen, to unluckily souls who just didn't know when too quit looking.
If you like eldritchly themed (sub)classes, this is definitely one for you

*Credit goes to the homebrewery-Naturalcrit for this amazing tradition

 

Mad Savant

Beginning when you select this school at 2nd Level, you gain fluency in Deep Speech and a secret written language known as Eldritch Script. You also lose the ability to write in a succinct or coherent manner. It takes you twice the time it would take others to convey the same thing in writing unless you use Eldritch Script. This affects your ability to copy spells into your spellbook. It takes twice as long to copy a spell into your spellbook unless you copy them in Eldritch Script. If you copy a spell into your spellbook using Eldritch Script, it does not require any gold to do so.

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Eldritch Script

Eldritch Script is a unique written language. It uses a variety of characters, symbols, equations, and glyphs to convey meaning otherwise impossible to convey. The script often meanders around the page in curling and spiralling forms, often changing calligraphy style from one word to the next.

Any creature who is not fluent in Eldritch Script that attempts to read it must succeed on a DC 10 Wisdom saving throw or take 1d4 psychic damage and have disadvantage on ability checks for the next minute.

Esoteric Fragment

Using the new understanding you gained of tenebrous truths you have crafted an object of unspeakable abnormality, called an Esoteric Fragment. This Esoteric Fragment may take any form typical of an arcane focus, only it is etched with symbols in Eldritch Script and has certain non-euclidian properties.

While you are holding this Esoteric Fragment, it grants you the following benefits:

• You can use the Esoteric Fragment as a spellcasting focus for your wizard spells.
• When you cast a wizard spell, you may choose a creature you can see within 30 ft of you. That creature must make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, the creature takes psychic damage equal to 1d10 + your wizard level. On a success, you take psychic damage equal to 1d10 psychic + your wizard level.
• You have resistance to psychic damage.

If necessary, you can replace the Esoteric Fragment over the course of a short rest by etching Eldritch Script onto a suitable object. At the end of the rest, the object gains the strange non-euclidian properties unique to Esoteric Fragments. If the previous Esoteric Fragment still existed somewhere, it folds in upon itself vanishing into nothingness.

Cosmic Revelation

Starting at 6th level, whenever you deal psychic damage to a creature, that creature reels from a sudden moment of clarity of their frightful position within the terrifying vistas of reality. At the start of its next turn, the creature uses all its movement to move in a random direction. To determine the direction, roll a d8 and assign a direction to each die face. The creature also does not take an action this turn.

Once a creature has been affected by this feature, they are immune to its effect for the next 24 hours.

Inexorable Presence

Beginning at 10th level, whenever you cast a spell written in your spellbook in Eldritch Script using a wizard spell slot, you become host to the blasphemous power of the text. Glowing spectral symbols swirl in the air around you until the start of your next turn, casting dim light in a 10 ft radius. Any creature within the light cast by these symbols has disadvantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws.

 

Optional rule(At DM's discretion): Additionally, it now takes you twice as long to convey ideas through the spoken word, as your speech is interrupted by ravings, gibbering, and uncomfortable drawn-out pauses.

Perfect Correlation of the Mind

At 14th level, you have been pushed beyond the brink of sanity into the enveloping embrace of the abyss. Having glanced behind the curtain of your reality and correlating all of your mind’s contents, you lose the ability to see normally but gain blindsight up to 75 ft. Your Inexorable Presence feature now affects any creature who can see the spectral symbols swirling around you instead of those within their light.

When you cast a wizard spell that deals damage, you can change the damage type of the spell to psychic damage. The spell must be written in your spellbook in Eldritch Script, and you must cast the spell using your Esoteric Fragment as the arcane focus.