Dragon Touched

-------This feat has no modifiers, the player will have to keep track of all status changes------

Dragons are a creature of legend. Legends that have been passed down generation after generation. When they take to the skies no one is safe. Kingdoms the world over will send out their best warriors to eliminate the threat. Other times adventurers will hunt them, some to befriend and maybe even gain a scale pact, others for tales of the dragon's hoard. Riches untold hidden in the deepest most dangerous reaches of the realm. Whatever the reason, you have chosen to battle a creature of absolute fear and destruction. Many speak of their legendary combat prowess and the tales of many whom never returned from the fight, what is never spoken about.. What if you survive?

Your battle brought you to the dragon's lair. You faced the creature down staring straight into it's eyes and the last thing you remember was a bright flash of light before waking up in excruciating pain what seems like ages later. Everyone around you no more than a decimated charred corpse, flame spreading to everything in the lair. The dragon is gone, this cave has now become an unholy grave and you are the only spark of life that remains. You limp back to town, the lone would be hero that survived the dragon's flames - but at what cost?

In time you heal, you return to normal, albeit horribly scarred, the trauma still remains. Life goes on for a time, but something isn't right. It seems the smell of a bonfire or even the talk of dragons leaves you with a pounding headache and your heart racing. You find yourself jumping at every shadow of birds flying overhead. During your training you learn to meditate to reduce the effects so that they do not limit your battle readiness and it is at that point you have a terrifying revelation. The headaches, the nightmares - they are not what they seem. You realize the pounding headaches are the dragon you faced, speaking so loudly to your mind that it is deafening. There is no one that you can turn to that can heal this. There is no one that has ever heard of such a condition, because there is no known soul that has suffered defeat by a dragon and lived. The meditation helps to reduce the pain but the calmer you are, the louder the dragon speaks.

You've been touched by the dragons legendary flame and lived to tell the tale. Uncertainly fills your life. Has the dragon marked you to return one day to finish what it started? Is it trying to drive you to madness? The answer is unclear, but the one thing you do know is that when emotions run high - or you are pushing yourself beyond your limits. The voices come. Will you fall into madness? Or will you best the voices and become an elite warrior? One thing is clear - that dragon left you alive for a reason.

Madness Counters

• In or out of combat, when conditons are met, you are able to remove counters
  • After falling unconscious, and stable at 0HP, you remove 2 counters per turn that you remain that way.
  • Under the effects of magical sleep, you remove 3 counters per hour of sleep. Sleep becomes natural after the effects of the spell end.
    • You cannot fall asleep naturally with 6 or more counters.
  • You lose 2 counters per day naturally as your mind calms. At 5 counters or less you can choose to meditate for an hour of a short or long rest to remove all counters. Doing so within 6 hours of a battle will give you advantage on CON save for counters from damage and the HP Threshold counters only occur at 25%HP.
• While in combat, when conditions are met, you gain Madness counters
  • On receiving damage from an enemy, roll a CON save. On a fail you gain one counter
  • An automatic counter is taken at certain HP thresholds: At 50% and 25% you gain one automatic counter, when your HP is reduced to 0 you gain 3 counters.
  • You receive a bonus and a penalty equal to the number of madness counters you have, these changes have no maximum effect.
  • A spell that gives the player the effects of madness automatically results in 10 Madness Counters.
• 1+ Madness Counters
  • You head begins to pound, your scars begin to feel like fresh wounds.
  • Disadvantage to all INT, DEX, and WIS skill checks
  • +1 bonus to all STR, CON, and CHA related skill checks for each madness counter.
• 3+ Madness Counters
  • The headaches intensify and your scars exhibit searing pain. Your mind and body suffer for it.
    • For every 3 madness counters you receive a -1 to your INT, DEX, and WIS stats
    • For every 3 madness counters you receive a +1 to your STR, CON, and CHA stats
  • You begin to attack more boldly throwing caution to the wind. For every 3 madness counters you recieve:
    • If you attack an enemy, when you roll damage, roll an additional die that is one die below your weapon die (1d10 > 1d8 > 1d6, etc) and add it to the total damage.
    • Until the beginning of your next turn, if you attacked an enemy, you suffer -1 to your AC.
      • This effect increases again every 3 counters up to a maximum of 3 additional damage die and a stacking extra -1 to AC. (-1, -3, -6)
• 7+ Madness Counters
  • You are deafened by the shouting voices. You are no longer able to hear your allies call for aid or warning. You are not scared, but the madness is spreading and you begin to mutter what seems like nonsense in very gutteral Draconic. You can only speak in Draconic and you are immune to all sources of fear.
  • At the start of your turn any enemy within 20 feet of you that can hear you speaking must make a DC (8 + CON + Proficiency) Wisdom save or drop whatever it is holding and become frightened for the duration. A frightened creature has disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls while the source of its fear is within line of sight. The creature can't willingly move closer to the source of its fear. Enemies that can understand Draconic automatically fail as they hear you uttering words of ancient evils.
  • When you take an action to attack an enemy you do so with a -5 to your attack roll, in return you can critical on an 18-20.
  • Damage that would take you beyond 0 HP instead only drop you to 0 HP and you have advantage on Death Saving Throws, you receive 3 madness counters if this occurs.
• 10+ madness counters
  • You're becoming incoherent to the world around you. Visions of fire and burning objects flash in your mind. You look back to your party and they appear to you to have been burned alive. The enemies before you appear to be dragons. You are reliving that fateful day. At the start of your turn you must make a DC 13 perception check or accept this as reality. You can make the check again at the start of your next turn. Every time you fail this check you gain a point of exhaustion at the end of your turn. You do not suffer the negative effects of the other levels but you succumb to the exhaustion at 5 levels instead of 6
  • At 10+ counters only falling to 0HP will cause you to receive madness counters.
• On a fail fly into a fit of rage and madness - you will destroy them or die trying. You refuse to return home defeated again. You have nothing else to lose. Until the beginning of your next turn:
  • Any creature that doesn't fear you has advantage on attack rolls against you. 
  • You have resistance to non-magical damage.
  • You gain 2 extra attacks and your attack and damage rolls receive +10.
  • Your movement speed increases +10 and you do not suffer the effects of difficult terrain.
  • You have advantage on Death Saving throws and on a critical success (20) you return to 25% HP

At 15+ Madness counters the player succumbs to their madness. Roll 1d20 to determine their fate.

• 1 - 6 Suicide (All actions and movement must be aimed towards self-destruction. Can be stopped if player is bound or otherwise incapable of such action.)
• 7 - 13 Level 6 Exhaustion (cannot be revived)
• 14 - 18 Heart attack (can be revived within 1 hour magically, 30 minutes non magically)
• 19 - 20 Immediately flee from battle and survive with permanent Long-term Madness Effect and Flaw. Take an additional permanent effect from the short-term madness table for each ally that died within 6 hours of becoming mad.