Dementation is the Discipline that allows a vampire
to focus and channel madness into the minds of those
around him. Though it’s the natural legacy of the Malkavians,
practitioners of Dementation need not actually
be mad to use the Discipline… but it helps.
Disturbingly, Dementation doesn’t actually make
their victims mad, but rather it seems to break down
the doors to the hidden darkness of the target’s mind,
releasing into the open whatever is found there. The
Malkavians claim that this is because insanity is the
next logical step in mental evolution, a transhumanist
advancement of what modern people consider consciousness.
Other Kindred scoff that this reasoning is
an outright justification for the chaos that Dementation
brings. They don’t scoff too loudly, however, lest
the Malkavian advance their consciousness next.

• Passion
The vampire stirs his victim’s emotions, either
heightening them to a fevered pitch or blunting them
until the target is completely desensitized. The Cainite
may not choose which emotion is affected; she may
only amplify or dull emotions already present in the
target. In this way, a vampire can inflame mild irritation
into quivering rage or atrophy true love into casual
interest.
System: The character talks to her victim, and
the vampire’s player rolls Charisma + Empathy (difficulty
equals the victim’s Humanity or Path rating).
The number of successes determines the duration of
the altered state of feeling. Effects of this power might
include one- or two-point additions or subtractions
to difficulties of frenzy rolls, Virtue rolls, rolls to resist
Presence powers, etc.
Successes Result
1 success - One turn
2 successes - One hour
3 successes - One night
4 successes - One week
5 successes - One month
6+ successes - Three months

•• The Haunting
The vampire manipulates the sensory centers of his
victim’s brain, flooding the victim’s senses with visions,
sounds, scents, or feelings that aren’t really there. The
images, regardless of the sense to which they appeal,
are only fleeting “glimpses,” barely perceptible to the
victim. The vampire using Dementation cannot control
what the victim perceives, but may choose which
sense is affected.
The “haunting” effects occur mainly when the victim
is alone, and mostly at night. They may take the
form of the subject’s repressed fears, guilty memories,
or anything else that the Storyteller finds dramatically
appropriate. The effects are never pleasant or unobtrusive,
however. The Storyteller should let her imagination
run wild when describing these sensory impressions;
the victim may well feel as if she is going mad, or
as if the world is.
System: After the vampire speaks to the victim, the
player spends a blood point and rolls Manipulation +
Subterfuge (difficulty of his victim’s Perception + Self-
Control/Instinct). The number of successes determines
the length of the sensory “visitations.” The precise effects
are up to the Storyteller, though particularly eerie
or harrowing apparitions can certainly reduce dice
pools for a turn or two after the manifestation.
Successes Result
1 success - One night
2 successes - Two nights
3 successes - One week
4 successes - One month
5 successes - Three months
6+ successes - One year

••• Eyes of Chaos
This peculiar power allows the vampire to take advantage
of the fleeting clarity hidden in insanity. She
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 Kindred with this
power can discern the most well-hidden psychoses, or
gain insight into a person’s true self. Malkavians with
this power often have (or claim to have) knowledge of
the moves and countermoves of the great Jyhad, or the
patterns of fate.
System: This power allows a vampire to determine a
person’s true Nature, among other things. The vampire
concentrates for a turn, then her player rolls Perception
+ Occult. The difficulty depends on the intricacy of the
pattern. Discerning the Nature of a stranger would be
difficulty 9, a casual acquaintance would be an 8, and
an established ally a 6. The vampire could also read
the message locked in a coded missive (difficulty 7), or
even see the doings of an invisible hand in such events
as the pattern of falling leaves (difficulty 6). Almost
anything might contain some hidden insight, no matter
how trivial or meaningless. The patterns are present
in most things, but are often so intricate they can
keep a vampire spellbound for hours while she tries to
understand their message.
This is a potent power, subject to adjudication. Storytellers,
this power is an effective way to introduce
plot threads for a chronicle, reveal an overlooked clue,
foreshadow important events, or communicate critical
information a player seeks. Important to its use, though,
is delivering the information properly. Secrets revealed
via Eyes of Chaos are never simple facts; they’re tantalizing
symbols adrift in a sea of madness. Describe the
results of this power in terms of allegory: “The man
before you appears as a crude marionette, with garish
features painted in bright stage makeup, and strings
vanishing up into the night sky.” Avoid stating plainly,
“You learn that this ghoul is the minion of a powerful
Methuselah.”

•••• Voice of Madness
By merely addressing his victims aloud, the Kindred
can drive targets into fits of blind rage or fear, forcing
them to abandon reason and higher thought. Victims
are plagued by hallucinations of their subconscious demons,
and try to flee or destroy their hidden shames.
Tragedy almost always follows in the wake of this power’s
use, though offending Malkavians often claim that
they were merely encouraging people to act “according
to their natures.” Unfortunately for the vampire concerned,
he runs a very real risk of falling prey to his
own voice’s power.
System: The player spends a blood point and makes
a Manipulation + Empathy roll (difficulty 7). One target
is affected per success, although all potential victims
must be listening to the vampire’s voice.
Affected victims fly immediately into frenzy or a
blind fear like Rötschreck. Kindred or other creatures
capable of frenzy, such as Lupines, may make a frenzy
check or Rötschreck test (Storyteller’s choice as to how
they are affected) at +2 difficulty to resist the power.
Mortals are automatically affected and don’t remember
their actions while berserk. The frenzy or fear lasts for
a scene, though vampires and Lupines may test as usual
to snap out of it.
The vampire using Voice of Madness must also test
for frenzy or Rötschreck upon invoking this power,
though his difficulty to resist is one lower than normal.
If the initial roll to invoke this power is a failure,
however, the roll to resist the frenzy is one higher than
normal. If the roll to invoke this power is a botch, the
frenzy or Rötschreck response is automatic.

••••• Total Insanity
The vampire coaxes the madness from the deepest
recesses of her target’s mind, focusing it into an overwhelming
wave of insanity. This power has driven
countless victims, vampire and mortal alike, to unfortunate
ends.
System: The Kindred must gain her target’s undivided
attention for at least one full turn to enact this
power. The player spends a blood point and rolls Manipulation
+ Intimidation (difficulty of her victim’s
current Willpower points). If the roll is successful, the
victim is afflicted with five derangements of the Storyteller’s
choice (see p. 290). The number of successes
determines the duration.
Successes Result
1 success - One turn
2 successes - One night
3 successes - One week
4 successes - One month
5+ successes - One year
On a botch… well, the Storyteller can decide what
a vampire inflicts upon herself by attempting to incite
the primal hells lurking within the darkest recesses of
a victim’s mind.
The victim (or the target of a botch) can spend a
number of Willpower points equal to the successes
rolled to end the duration prematurely. The Storyteller
decides when such Willpower points can be spent (such
as after a therapy session or after a friend has managed
to prove a particular delusion to be false).

••••• • Lingering Malaise
While lesser Dementation powers allow a vampire to
inflict temporary (though often long-lasting) madness
upon a victim, elders of the Clan have developed the
ability to infect the minds of their victims with permanent
maladies. Lingering Malaise causes permanent
psychological shifts within the victim, making him, as
one Gangrel elder remarked, “an honorary Lunatic.”
System: The character speaks to his victim for at
least a minute, describing the derangement that Lingering
Malaise will inflict. The player rolls Manipulation
+ Empathy (difficulty equal to the victim’s current
Willpower points); the victim resists with a Willpower
roll (using his permanent Willpower at difficulty 8). If
the user of Lingering Malaise scores more successes, the
victim gains a permanent derangement chosen by the
individual who inflicts it. Lingering Malaise 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
Although 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
into the psyche of a hapless victim, spreading her own
brand of insanity like a virus.
System: The vampire must establish eye contact
(p. 152) with her intended victim to apply this power.
The player then rolls Charisma + Subterfuge (difficulty
equal to the target’s current Willpower points) resisted
by the target’s Wits + Self-Control/Instinct (difficulty
equal to the Dementation user’s current Willpower
points). If the aggressor wins, the target gains all of her
derangements and Mental Flaws for a period of time
determined by the number of net successes the aggressor
scored:
Successes Result
1 success - one hour
2 successes - one night
3 successes - one week
4 successes - one month
5 successes - six months
6+ successes - one year per success over 5

••••• •• Restructure
The elder with this fearsome power has the ability
to twist his victims’ psyches at their most basic levels,
warping their very beings. The subject of Restructure
retains her memories, 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 rewrite of the victim’s personality.
System: As the description says, this power allows
the vampire to change his target’s Nature to one more
suitable to his ends. To accomplish this, the character
must make eye contact (p. 152) with his intended victim.
The player rolls Manipulation + Subterfuge (difficulty
equals the victim’s Wits + Subterfuge). If he rolls
a number of successes equal to or greater than the target’s
Self-Control/Instinct, the target’s Nature changes
to whatever the player using Restructure desires. This
effect is permanent and can be undone only by another
application of Restructure (though subtle differences
from the character’s original Nature may still remain,
as it is impossible for such a fundamental change to occur
flawlessly). A botch on this roll changes the character’s
own Nature to that of his intended victim.

••••• ••• Personal Scourge
Similar to the Auspex power of Psychic Assault
(p. 141), 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 jaded Tzimisce quail.
System: The vampire must touch or establish eye
contact (p. 152) with her target. The player rolls Manipulation
+ Empathy (difficulty equal to the target’s
Stamina + Self-Control/Instinct) and spends two Willpower
points. For a number of turns equal to the number
of successes rolled, the victim rolls his own permanent
Willpower as lethal damage against himself. This
damage can be soaked with his own Humanity or Path
of Enlightenment (difficulty 6); Fortitude does not add
to this soak dice pool, nor does body armor. He may
take no actions during this time other than thrashing
and gibbering; this includes spending blood to heal.

••••• •••• Lunatic Eruption
This fearsome ability is only known to have been
applied a few times in recorded Kindred 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
(kilometers) 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.
System: The player spends four Willpower points
and rolls Stamina + Intimidation (difficulty 8). The
area of effect is determined by the number of successes
scored:
Successes Result
1 success - One city block
2 successes - An entire neighborhood
3 successes - A large downtown area
4 successes - Several neighborhoods
5 successes - An entire metropolitan area
(approximately 30 miles or
45 kilometers)
6+ successes - An additional 10 miles or 15
kilometers for every success past 5
Within this area, all sentient creatures fall prey
to their baser instincts. Mortals spontaneously riot,
looting and burning between bouts of mass violence.
Kindred enter hunger-induced frenzies, draining dry
as many vessels as they can sink their fangs into. 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 area of
effect (centered on the site at which it was used, not
on the character who applied it) falls under its spell.
However, momentum may carry the violence spawned
by this power much farther — and keep it going much
longer — than the power itself can force.
Victims of Lunatic Eruption may resist with Self-
Control/Instinct rolls (difficulty equal to the Dementation
user’s permanent Willpower rating); each success
provides one hour of lucidity, which most wise individuals
use to leave the power’s area of effect (leaving
the “blast radius” removes the power’s influence).
The source of Lunatic Eruption may be pinpointed if
a character is using Heightened Senses or an equivalent
power at the time it is used; this is automatic and
requires no roll. However, this grants no knowledge of
what actually happened — the observer simply “feels”
a massive psychic shockwave explode from the character
using the power.