Crown of Madness 5e - D&D 5th Edition Spell Book
Crown of Madness 5e Spell Effects
2nd-level enchantment
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 120 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
One humanoid of your choice that you can see within range must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or become charmed by you for the duration. While the target is charmed in this way, a twisted crown of jagged iron appears on its head, and a madness glows in its eyes.
The charmed target must use its action before moving on each of its turns to make a melee attack against a creature other than itself that you mentally choose.
The target can act normally on its turn if you choose no creature or if none are within its reach.
On your subsequent turns, you must use your action to maintain control over the target, or the spell ends. Also, the target can make a Wisdom saving throw at the end of each of its turns. On a success, the spell ends.
All information about Crown of Madness 5e comes from the DnD Player's Handbook.

Classes That Can Cast Crown of Madness 5e
The following classes gain access to casting Acid Splash 5e as part of their normal class spell availability:
- Bard
- Sorcerer
- Warlock
- Wizard
Crown of Madness Spell Effectiveness
| Damage | 3rd-Level | 5th-Level | 7th-Level | 9th-Level | 11th-Level | 13th-Level | 15th-Level | 17th-Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average Fighter DPR | 15 | 19 | 23 | 27 | 30.5 | 34 | 37.5 | 41 |
| Total Value | 30 | 38 | 46 | 54 | 61 | 68 | 75 | 82 |
Table Values
In the table above, "DPR" indicates damage per round, in this case, not accounting for hit chance. The numbers provided are very rough calculations of the average damage a fighter might do, per round. The fighter class is used as an example for the spell effectiveness of crown of madness because ideally, you would charm a powerful melee unit with the spell. Furthermore, the "Total Value" column in the table shows the value of not only not being attacked by a charmed fighter, but of them attacking an ally - so, double the effect, by target level.
Crown of Madness Usefulness
Crown of Madness 5e is such a cool spell because it's a charm effect that actually allows you to take over your charmed target's actions, and cause them to attack their own allies. Though crown of madness has some drawbacks, it also has terrific potential. Use crown of madness 5e in the following situations to make the most from the spell.
- Cast crown of madness 5e against enemies with low Wisdom saving scores, to maximize your chances of succeeding with the spell.
- Prioritize crown of madness 5e on enemies who deal a ton of melee damage, since your charmed effect only allows for you to have the target melee attack. The more damage the target does with melee attacks, the more you should prioritize casting this spell.
- For the love of god, make sure that when you cast crown of madness on a target that there is another enemy within 5-feet of your target. If you stop attacking with your target at the start of their round, your target gets to act normally on that turn. Though this situation doesn't end the spell altogether, it does make it very likely that you won't get anything out of it at all as the target can simply run away from their own allies.
- Since crown of madness requires concentration to maintain its effect, make sure that you're far away from enemies who can attack you. If possible, cast the spell from the full 120-foot range, away.
- Make sure that you don't have any other super high-priority spells that you need to cast or actions that you need to take because maintaining this effect requires an action each round.
Combine Crown of Madness with the Following Spells
There are some spells such as burning hands or call lightning that, since they can target multiple units, or in other cases, get a sort of multiplying effect, they can become almost game-breaking. Crown of Madness certainly fits into the "potentially game-breaking" category, as you can not only prevent a powerful enemy from attacking you, but you can even turn that same enemy against their own allies.
Before casting Crown of Madness, in order to maximize its potential multiplying effect, try setting up the combat encounter by mixing in some of the following spells:
- Bane: though I typically don't consider bane to be a very powerful spell, when combined with crown of madness 5e, it certainly can be. Since bane lowers the targets' saving throws by 1d4, it's a must-have for maintaining the charmed effect on crown of madness victims.
- Banishment: have an ally cast banishment so that you keep more enemies away from attacking you. Alternatively, have an ally cast cause fear on any enemies getting too close to you for comfort.
- Cloud of Daggers: normally, I also view cloud of daggers as a pretty suboptimal spell, but if the map features a choke point, consider casting this spell as a way of preventing other creatures from attacking you. Since crown of madness 5e requires concentration, you must do everything possible to avoid being hit.
- Color Spray: if you can blind targets with this spell or even Blindness/ Deafness, you can give enemies disadvantage on their attack rolls, which ultimately helps you keep concentration for crown of madness.
- Haste: using this spell (which an ally would need to maintain on you since you can't concentrate on a second spell), you can gain +2AC and double your movement speed. Combine this spell with mage armor and you can significantly increase your AC, and keep moving away from any enemies who might break your crown of madness 5e concentration.
Crown of Madness 5e Counters
The easiest ways for your crown of madness run to end are when an enemy silences you, bolsters their affected ally's Wisdom saving throw with Bless, or deals damage to you to break your concentration. When it comes to damaging spells, something like cloud of daggers, which automatically hits, is especially troublesome, so be wary of effects of that nature by keeping your distance and knowing what your enemies are capable of casting.
Crown of Madness-Type Spells in Eternity TTRPG
Effects where you control another character's actions, or generally go berserk and sometimes attack allies, are some of my favorite in any TTRPG. I've included a couple examples of crown of madness 5e-type spells below, from the Eternity TTRPG Game System.
Dice, Dungeons, Games & More - Eternity TTRPG
Share This Article

Author - Jacob Tegtman
Dear reader, I hope you enjoyed this article. Tabletop gaming has been a passion of mine since I was 6 years old. I've played just about every game from Dungeons and Dragons to video games like Final Fantasy. These games have inspired me, made me laugh, made me cry, and brought me endless hours of enjoyment.
I started Eternity TTRPG - and the indie tabletop game that goes along with it (Eternity Shop) - to share my love of gaming with others. I believe that in our technology-driven age, tabletop games help bring a sense of magic and community back into our world.
If you love the site, please share it with others! I have lots of gaming-related material for you to peruse and use in your own gaming sessions. If you have any questions about the site or want to contribute, just send me a message using the "Contact" page, which you can find in the site's footer.










