This Discipline is possessed by a fair number of Malkavians
and Malkavian antitribu. It lets the vampire pass its insanity on to its
victim. It is similar to Dominate but acts more as a catalyst rather than
a controller. One does not have to be insane to use this Discipline,
or to learn it, merely find one mad enough to teach it to you.
BASIC
LEVEL 1 Passion
The Vampire may stir his victim’s emotions, either heightening
them to a fevered pitch or blunting them until their target is completely
desensitized. The Cainite may not choose which emotion is affected;
but merely amplify or dull emotions already present in the target.
In this way, a Vampire can turn a mild irritation into a frothing rage
or dull true love into casual interest.
LEVEL 2 The
Haunting
The Vampire may stir the sensory centers of the
victim’s brain, flooding the victim’s senses with visions, sounds, scents
or feelings that aren’t even really there. The images, regardless
of the sense to which they appeal, are only “fleeting glimpses”, barely
perceptible to the victim. The Vampire using this discipline cannot
control what the victim perceives, but may choose which sense is affected.
Mind Tricks
The vampire is able to induce hallucinations within the
victim's peripheral vision. The images appear to be fully real, but they
can only be seen for a second or out of the comer of the eye. The victim
will have a hard time convincing others of what she sees. The vampire causing
this effect has no control over what the victim sees. The unnerving effects
from the use of this power can last from one night to months. The effects
occur sporadically but mostly at night, and usually when the person is
alone. They usually take the form of the victim's subconscious fears, but
the Storyteller should let his imagination run free when describing them.
System: The vampire rolls his Manipulation
+ Subterfuge (difficulty equal to the victim's Perception + [Self-Control
or Instincts]).
l success One Night
2 successes Two Nights
3 successes One Week
4 successes One Month
5 successes Three Months
INTERMEDIATE
LEVEL 3 Eyes of
Chaos
This peculiar power allows the Vampire to take advantage
of the fractured wisdom hidden in insanity. The Vampire may scrutinize
the “patterns” of a person’s soul, the convolutions of a Vampire’s “inner
nature” or even random events in nature itself. The Vampire with
this discipline can discern the most well-hidden psychoses, or gain insight
into a person’s true self.
LEVEL 4 Confusion
The vampire can make her victim feel totally disoriented
just by looking him in the eye and talking to him. The victim will be aware
of only bits and pieces of his memories. He will constantly feel confused
and wander around in a daze. The victim must spend a point of Willpower
to break out of the daze and perform any coherent action for a turn ( including,
but not limited to, any action employing a Dice Pool).
System: The effects last for at least one
turn, but can last much longer depending upon the number of successes the
vampire rolls using his Manipulation + Intimidation ratings (difficulty
equal to the target's Perception + [Self-Control or Instincts] ) .
1 success One Turn
2 successes One Hour
3 successes One Night
4 successes One Week
5 successes One Month
Voice of Madness
Simply by speaking aloud to your victims, you can reduce
them to howling fear or anger. You address your targets in a reasonable
tone, encouraging then to succumb to their own inner demons.
Those terrors then come to the fore, driving your victim to blind, uncontrolled
panic. Mortal affected in this manner instantly flee in terror.
ADVANCED
LEVEL 5 Total Insanity
Madness lies around the nearest corner of everyone’s
mind. Pulling insanity from the recesses of your victim’s deepest
memories and beliefs, you cause the hapless victim to succumb to a wash
of overpowering lunacy. You may evoke this discipline after gaining
your victim’s total attention for a short time.
Howling Lunacy
The Cainite with this power may drive his victim, whether
serf or saint, mortal or scion of Caine, completely mad. The victims
suffer five derangements of random choice. To enact this ability,
the vampire must gain his victim's undivided attention for at least one
turn. Most Malkavians cloak this power amid fervent conversation;
more than one hapless wayfarer has stopped to talk with an innocent seeming
hermit, only to flee gibbering into the woods or fall into an unseeing,
unhearing stupor.
LEVEL 6 Derange
This power allows the vampire to grant her victim one
permanent Derangement which may never be removed. The vampire must look
her victim in the eye and describe his new Derangement to him. The vampire
may choose the Derangement.
System: The vampire must roll at least two
successes using her Manipulation + Empathy against the victim's Willpower
rating.
Kindred Spirits
The vampire can manipulate another's mind and force the
victim's personality to become exactly the same as his own. The victim
also gains any Derangements or other mental problems the vampire possesses.
This does not give the vampire any real control over the victim, and should
not be considered the same as the Dominate power Puppet Master. The vampire
should also be ready to learn just how much he hates himself. The vampire
must make physical contact (skin to skin) for this power to take effect.
System: The duration of the effect is based
on the number of successes the vampire rolls using Charisma + Subterfuge
(difficulty of the victim's Intelligence + [Self-Control or Instincts]).
1 success One Night
2 successes One Week
3 successes One Month
4 successes Six Months
5 successes One Year
6 or more Permanently
Kiss of the Moon
The Cainite with mastery of this dread power may drive
his victims permanently mad. The vampire makes eye contact and speaks
quietly to the target, describing the lunacy he wants the victim to mnifest.
Kiss of the Moon works equally well on vampires and mortals. Also,
a permanet derangement can be ascribed to the victim, if the caster so
wishes.
Lingering Malaise
While lesser Dementation powers allow a Cainite to inflict
temporary (though often long-lasting) madness upon a victim, elders possessed
of the Discipline have developed the ability to infect the minds of their
victims with permanent dementia. Lingering Malaise causes permanent
psychological shifts within the victim, making him, as one Gangrel elder
remarked, "an honorary Lunatic."
To enact this power, the Cainite must speak to his victim
for at least a minute, much as with Kiss of the Moon, describing in detail
the derangement that Lingering Malaise will inflict. If successful,
the victim receives a permanent derangement of the caster's choice.
It may only be used to inflict one derangement per night on any given victim,
though multiple attempts may be made until the derangement takes hold.
Shattered Mirror
Athough Dementation's low-level effects are primarily
to initiate or promote insanity rather than to create it spontaneously,
some of its more potent manifestations are not as subtle. The wielder
of this fearsome power can transfer her own deranged mindset, if possessed
of one, into the psyche of a hapless victim, spreading her own brand of
insanity like a virus.
The Caintie must establish eye contact with her intended
victim to apply this power. If successful, the target gains all
of the caster's derangements, if they have them. If not possessed
of insanity, the caster can imbue the victim with up to five derangements,
lasting anywhere from one hour up to five years.
LEVEL 7 Mind of
a Child
This power allows the vampire to reduce the victim's
total Mental Attributes by up to seven points, as long as the person is
left with at least one point in each of the three Attributes. The victim
also becomes very childlike in manner, acting both gullible and playful.
The vampire must make eye contact with the victim in order for the power
to take hold. Vampires as well as mortals are affected by this power. The
only way to avoid it is to avoid making eye contact with the vampire.
System: A roll is required using the vampire's
own Intelligence + Empathy (difficulty equal to the victim's Wits + [Self-Control
or Instincts]).
1 success One Turn
2 successes One Night
3 successes One Week
4 successes One Month
5 successes One Year
Mind of a Killer
This power allows the vampire to alter the mind of the
victim, making her a cold-blooded killer who places no value on life. If
the victim is offended in any way by anyone, even loved ones, the victim
murders that individual, whether with a complex plan or simply a machete.
Once the victim of this power has killed, the effect of this power ends
and the person reverts back to normal, unsure of why she did such a heinous
thing. The power works on both mortals and vampires, and requires the vampire
to kiss the victim.
System: Successfully employing this power
requires at least three successes on a Charisma + Subterfuge roll (difficulty
equal to the victim's Charisma + [Courage or Morale]).
Wave of Insanity
The vampire using this power can cause the same effect
as Total Insanity in a large number of mortals or vampires. If more subjects
are present than the vampire can affect, the Storyteller chooses whom this
power affects.
System: The vampire must make a roll using
his Charisma + Empathy (difficulty 7) to see how many are affected. The
vampire is capable of affecting one individual for every success. However,
after the potential number of victims is determined, the vampire must roll
a resisted roll for each individual to ascertain if the power works on
that person, just as if he used Total Insanity. The vampire causes this
effect by speaking to the victims in a peculiar way.
Restructure
The elder with this fearsome power has the ability to
twist his victim's psyches at their most basic levels, warping their very
beings. The subject of Restructure retains her memories in toto
but her outlook on life changes completely, as if she has undergone a sudden
epiphany or religious conversion. This effect goes much deeper than
the implantation of a derangement; it actually performs a complete rewriting
of the victim's very personality.
After making eye contact with the victim, the Cainite
can begin changing the target's very Nature into something more fitting
to their ends. If successful, the target's nature changes to whatever
the caster desires. This effect is permanent and can be undone only
by another application of Restructure (though subtle differences from the
victim's original Nature may still remain, as it is impossible for such
a grave change to occur flawlessly). Total failure changes the caster's
nature to that intended for the victim.
LEVEL 8 Coma
This power allows the vampire to shock a person's mind
until it shuts down all non-vital functions and goes into a coma. The method
by which this power is carried out is unknown. The vampire simply concentrates
and the victim goes first into convulsions and then a coma.
System: The vampire must make a roll using
his Charisma + Intimidation (difficulty equal to the victim's Wits + [Courage
or Morale]). The length of the coma is based upon the number of successes:
1 success One Week
2 successes One Month
3 successes Six Months
4 successes One Year
5 successes 10 Years
Minds of the Children
This power has the same affect as Mind of a Child, except
that it can effect a larger number of targets. If more potential victims
are present then the vampire can effect, the Storyteller may choose whom
this power effects.
System: The number of subjects potentially
affected by the use of this power equals the number of successes made on
a Charisma + Subterfuge roll (difficulty 7). Each individual case must
then be handled just as it would be for Mind of a Child to determine if
or how long the victim is affected.
Personal Scourge
Similar to the Auspex power of Psychic Assault, this
fearsome ability allows the elder to turn the very strength of her victim's
mind against him, inflicting physical harm with the power of his own will.
Victims of this self-powered attack spontaneously erupt in lacerations
and bruises, spraying blood in every direction and howling in agony.
Those who have observed such an attack with Auspex note that the victim's
aura swirls with violent psychosis and erupts outward in writhing appendages
-- a sight that can make even the most hardened Tzimisce quail. Some
callous vampires call the victims of this power Blairs, apparently some
sort of pop-culture reference.
The caster must either touch or establish eye contact
with her target. The victim's own permanent Willpower rating is treated
as lethal damage against himself, soakable with his own Humanity/Path rating,
difficulty of 6, where Fortitude does not add to this soak, nor
does body armor. No action can be taken during this time of being
struck by Personal Scourge, other than thrashing and gibbering, which includes
spending blood to heal. This power can last for anywhere to one to
ten turns.
LEVEL 9 Blessing
of Chaos
The vampire who possesses this power is immune to others'
Dementation, Dominate, Presence and Chimerstry. However, the Blessing of
Chaos is not without its price. The vampire gains one additional Derangement
that she can never remove. In addition, the vampire will occasionally suffer
from Mind Tricks (as the Level Two Dementation power); however, due to
the nature of this Discipline, she will be able to cope more readily with
these delusions. It is up to the Storyteller to decide when and how these
Mind Tricks affect the vampire.
Mass Coma
This power allows the vampire to use Coma on a number
of targets. If more subjects are present than the vampire can affect, the
Storyteller chooses who will be affected.
System: To determine the number of individuals
potentially affected by this power, the vampire must roll his Willpower
(difficulty 7 ). The number of successes equals the number of individuals
subject to the effects of this power. To determine whether each victim
is actually affected, check for each using the method described under the
Coma power.
1 success One Day
2 successes One Week
3 successes One Month
4 successes One Year
5 successes Permanent, unless the victim can somehow
escape
Lunatic Eruption
This fearsome ability is only known to hve been applied
a few times in recorded Cainite history, most spectacularly during the
final nights of the last battle of Carthage. It is effectively a
psychic nuclear bomb, used to incite every intelligent being within several
miles into an orgy of bloodlust and rage. It is suspected that the
malkavians have used the threat of this power as a bargaining chip in several
key negotiations with Camarilla elders.
At a high cost of Willpower, the radius of effect of this
power can range from one city block (approximately 500 feet) to an entire
neighborhood (one mile) to a large downtown area (three miles) to several
neighborhoods (ten miles) to an entire metropolitan area (30 miles) up
to a range of 80 miles.
Within this area, all sentient beings fall prey to their
baser instincts. Mortals spontaneously riot,looting and burning between
bouts fo mass violence. Cainites enter hunger-induced frenzies, draining
dry as many vessels as they can sink their fangs into. Other supernatural
beings run amok according to their base natures: Lupines under the
effect of this power enter thier war-forms and frenzy indiscriminately
at anything that resembles an enemy; mages temporarily fall into states
of magic-induced delusion, and the fae bask in the sudden influx of energy
and revel in their temporary power. an entire city can quite literally
be driven temporarily insane by this power. Lunatic Eruption's effects
persist until the next sunrise, and anyone entering its radius of effect
(centered on the site at which it was used, not on the vampire who cast
it) falls under its spell. However, inertia may carry the violence
spawned by this power much farther -- and keep it going much longer --
than the power itself can force.
Resistance to this power does not grant immunity, yet
anywhere from one to ten hours of lucidity, which would best be put to
use getting out of the range of the power. The source of this power
can be pinpointed by use fo Auspex, Heightened Senses, or a similar and
equivalent power at the time it is used. Such pinpointing grants
no knowledge of what has happened however -- the observer simply "feels"
a massive psychic shockwave explode from the vampire with the power.
LEVEL 10 No
Powers of this level currently known or have been discovered. |