Madmen are a constant in the universe. Forces of chaos and evil perpetuate such behavior. The College of Madness has no home, no location people can seek out, nor any history even. Bard of Madness study the tricks, lies, and truths within their own minds and the minds of others. Their aims, goals, and plans are unknown even to themselves; they seek out truths from the Beyond. Bards of Madness range from Prophets of the Beyond, to Truth Sowers and the Blasphemous. They do not appear as lunatics or psychopaths. No, they tend to look like the common man, for inside is where one hides their true self. Inside, a place of constant questions and worries, a fallible mind. A mad bard's mind is quite gone, yet they speak nothing but truth.

Brain Slip

When you join the College of Madness at level 3, you learn to seed your words with mind-altering magic. As a bonus action, you can expend one use of your Bardic Inspiration to attempt to suppress the recent memories of a creature. Choose a target within 60 feet of you that you can see. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw, and it does so with advantage if you or your companions are fighting it. On a failed save, the target immediately forgets the events of the last minute.

The target will be aware that it has suddenly forgotten recent events, but will not be aware that you were the source. For one minute following the memory erasure, the target is also more susceptible to suggestion, and during this time, you can roll the expended Bardic Inspiration die and add the total to the first Charisma (Persuasion) or Charisma (Deception) check you make against it.

Nagging Thoughts

Also starting at level 3, you learn to infuse innocent-seeming words with magic that pierces into the minds of others. If you speak to a humanoid alone for at least one minute, you gain access to the creature's surface thoughts for one hour. 

You also gain a telepathic bond with the target, allowing you to magically speak in their mind in short phrases or sentences. Each time you do this, make a Charisma (Deception) check contested by the target's Wisdom (Insight). If you are successful, the target believes the words to be its own thoughts. If the target succeeds in its check against you, it knows that the voice is coming from an outside source.

Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Maddening Words

At level 6, you gain the ability to emanate mind-bending magic during battle. As an action, you weave a string of words that can cause your enemies to briefly lose their grasp of friend and foe.

Choose a number of humanoids within 30 feet of you that you can see, up to a number equal to your Charisma modifier. Each target must succeed on an Intelligence saving throw against your spell save DC or regard all creatures it can see as enemies until the end of your next turn. Creatures that cannot be charmed automatically succeed this check. Whenever an affected creature chooses another creature as a target, it must choose the target at random from among the creatures it can see within range of its attack, spell, or other ability. If an enemy provokes an opportunity attack from the affected target, the creature must make that attack if it is able to.

Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.

Reality Unhinged

At level 14, your magic becomes strong enough to not only warp minds, but also the fabric of reality around you. 

As a bonus action, you trigger one of the below effects, and the area within 60 feet of you takes on a bending, warping appearance for one minute, or until your concentration ends. During this time, you can trigger one of the following effects as a bonus action on each of your turns:

• You cause a 10 foot cube of terrain or building in the affected area to either grow by 10 feet or shrink. Creatures pushed by the new growth or standing on the now shrunken area must make a Dexterity saving throw against your spell save DC, taking 2d6 points of bludgeoning damage on a failed save.
• You cause a long, vine-like appendage to sprout from a terrain or building in the affected area and lash out toward a creature within 10 feet of it. Make a spell attack roll against the target. If the attack hits, the creature takes 2d6 piercing damage, and if the creature is Large or smaller, it is pulled 10 feet closer to the base of the appendage.
• You cause a piece of terrain or building to bend and sprout tendrils around one creature within the affected area. The creature must make a Strength saving throw against your spell save DC or be restrained until the end of your next turn.
• You cause a dazzling array of light to burst from a piece of terrain or building in the affected area into the eyes of a creature of your choice that is within the affected area. The target must make a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC or be blinded until the end of your next turn.
• You cause a 20-foot cube of your choosing within the affected area to seemingly fill with black smoke, heavily obscuring it along with the vision of any creatures inside the area. Alternatively, you can choose to create a wall of smote 5 feet wide, 20 feet tall, and up to 60 feet long.

When this effect ends, reality will suddenly snap back to normal, showing no signs of the manipulation that occurred. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.