Discipline Powers

Sibyl’s Tongue (Auspex ••••• •)
Many Kindred look to the Malkavians as seers and
prophets, but elders of the Clan are the ones who are
most often consulted for their augury. Those with Sibyl’s
Tongue can take their propensity for prediction one step
further and actually seek out the answer to a question
from the gestalt-mind of the Clan. If anyone in the Clan
knows the answers, the elder will be able to pluck it out
of their mind. However, there is a price: those elders who
are unable to navigate the churning rivers of madness
might find themselves dragged along in a direction they
didn’t intend.
System: The vampire must spend a turn focusing on the
collective madness of the Malkavian Clan, and then rolls
Wits + Investigation, difficulty 8. If the roll is successful, and
if it is an answer that some Malkavian knows somewhere,
the vampire gets an answer to her question, with each
success adding clarity to the answer that comes back.
If the roll is failed, however, the collective madness
begins to overwhelm the vampire. She gains two additional
derangements immediately (Storyteller’s choice) for the
duration of the scene. On a botch, one of the acquired
derangements becomes permanent, although it can be
removed as normal (unlike the derangement gained from
the Malkavian clan weakness). For particularly dangerous
or powerful questions, the Storyteller may give the vampire
a temporary derangement even on a successful roll, and
even more dire consequences for failure.

Scrawl (Obfuscate ••••• •)
What seems like meaningless scribble to the untrained
eye is sometimes a tacit way for Malkavians to communicate
with one another. Malkavians often communicate to each
other in ways only others understand, but Scrawl allows
the Kindred to choose who makes out her cackling code.
The shaky hand is recognizable as Scrawl to anyone with
the Discipline, though no one outside the Clan recognizes
the hidden meaning at all. Elders often use this to pass
messages to other members of the Clan, or leave ones
out in the open hidden in graffiti.
System: No roll is required to write the message, but if
the Malkavian wants a specific Clanmate to read it only,
she must know the target, his sire, or his progeny.

Babble
(Auspex ••••• • or Dementation ••••• •)
This power allows a Kindred to speak with multiple
targets using telepathy. All of their minds are linked, but
they must communicate with each other by speaking out
loud. Furthermore, each person linked speaks as if the
person her or she is talking to is standing right next to
him or her. For example, if Alexandria and Mister E. are
connected with Babble, Alexandria can murmur quietly
and be heard since he’s in a movie theater, while Mister
E. has to shout because she’s on the dance floor of the
local dance club.
System: The vampire may link a number of targets
equal to her permanent Willpower. Malkavians may
push the number of people connected to Babble to her
Willpower + Empathy, if all the subjects possess at least
one derangement and don’t resist the Discipline. Kindred
with the Malkavian Time Specialty may choose to use
their Awareness instead (see p. 146).


Combination Disciplines

Creepy Clown Coat (Dementation •, Obfuscate •••)
Everyone fears something. It may be a phobia, a person, or
a concept. This ability allows you to appear as a representation
of a person’s worst fears. They may flee, break down and cry,
or start throwing punches at the very sight of you.
System: Roll Wits + Awareness, with a difficulty equal
to the target’s current Willpower. Success allows the user
to appear as a human representation of what the target
fears most. If the fear is of a concept or an animal, the
user appears as a representation of that fear. For example,
if a person is afraid of being burned alive, the Malkavian
might appear as an arsonist, or as a relative of the target
that burned up in a fire. The target must make a Courage
roll to do anything other than react to the source of her
fear. The target must generate a number of successes equal
to the successes on the Malkavian’s roll.
This power costs 12 experience points to learn.

Days of Passions Past (Dementation •••, Auspex ••)
People’s moods shift from moment to moment. Vampires
with Auspex can take their chances and try to interpret a
person’s mood at that very moment from an aura. However,
those with this power look into the chaos and see what
moods the target engages in most frequently.
System: Roll Perception + Awareness, with a difficulty
based on the chart below to see how far back the Malkavian
can read the history of the aura. Each success allows the
Malkavian to see another emotion. One success allows
the most common color at the time to reveal itself; two
successes allow the two most common, and so on. It may
also be used to detect when the vampire has consumed
the blood of a supernatural creature, including other
vampires. This can be used to detect diablerie, but reporting
such a crime becomes the Malkavian’s word against the
target. The Malkavian gains no further insight about what
happened, why the target felt this way, or to whom the
consumed blood belongs.
Difficulty - How Far Back
9 - Since last decade
8 - Since last year
7 - Since last month
6 - Since last week
5 - Since last night
This power costs 15 experience points to learn.

Do As I Say, Not As I Say (Dominate •, Dementation ••••)
Clever users of Dominate often slip their command
words into a sentence with a hint of inflection to hide
their commands. For those Malkavians who mastered both
Dominate and Dementation, the words spoken doesn’t
have to be the words intended. When this Malkavian locks
eyes with the victim, the words spoken as a command are
different from the one the victim hears in their head. The
one heard inside the head is the one followed.
System: The Kindred rolls Manipulation + Subterfuge
(difficulty equal to the target’s current Willpower). More
successes make the subject pursue the Dominate command
more vigorously.
This power costs 15 experience points to learn.

Ignore Me (Dominate ••••, Obfuscate ••)
Some people fade into the background easily. A
Malkavian that haunts a specific location can program
the people there to completely ignore her while she
moves about the grounds. Not only does this give her a
home field advantage should enemies confront her in
this location, but it also makes her a shining example of
upholding the Masquerade.
System: Roll Wits + Subterfuge once per day, difficulty
equal to the target’s current Willpower. This power is an
extended action, with a number of successes equal to five
times the target’s Courage rating.
Once the successes are achieved, the subject completely
ignores the existence of the Kindred for the next month,
and the vampire can target another person the next day.
If the Kindred disturbs a room, the target subconsciously
puts things back in place. The target only reacts to the
Kindred if she inflicts harm on the target — other physical
interactions (such as touching them or searching their
pockets) are unaffected. The target makes a Courage roll
equal to the Kindred’s Willpower rating. If successful,
they shake the Kindred’s hold.
This power costs 18 experience points to learn.

Malkav’s Pavlovian Response (Dementation ••, Dominate ••)
Malkavians blessed with the knowledge of both of
these Disciplines can use them to connect someone or
something with a specific emotion. The Kindred can
make someone hate their boss, love their enemy, or lust
after a specific book.
System: The Kindred rolls Charisma + Subterfuge
with a difficulty equal to the target’s current Willpower.
She speaks a word, which can be hidden in a sentence,
and connects a specific emotion to that word. Whenever
the target encounters the word or the object connected
to the word, they feel the emotion. This lasts one night
per success rolled, starting with the evening the Kindred
uses the power.
This power costs 12 experience points to learn.

Rando (Obfuscate •••, Dementation •••)
Obfuscate has long been a staple for walking unnoticed
through crowds. Sometimes, a Malkavian wants to deliver
a message to someone from the safety of a crowded street.
This power allows a Malkavian to communicate with
someone while protecting his identity with a random
face. Every time the target looks at the Kindred, she sees
somebody else.
System: Roll Wits + Stealth. The difficulty is determined
using the guidelines below, and each roll targets a specific
person. Every time the target sees the Malkavian, she
sees someone matching the current scene. If the target
looks away and looks back, the form she sees changes.
One moment, the Malkavian might look like a willowy
concertgoer. The next glance, the Malkavian looks like a
burly security guard, and so on.
Difficulty - Density of people
9 - A city street at midnight
8 - A sparsely attended gallery show
7 - A busy restaurant at dinner
6 - A shopping mall at Christmas
5 - A standing-room-only concert
This power costs 18 experience points to learn.

Screams Made Real (Auspex ••••, Dementation ••••)
Everyone has hidden, disturbing images that hide
somewhere in his or her mind. This power allows the
Malkavian to pull those images to the surface and confront
their creator.
System: The Kindred spends a blood point and makes
a Manipulation + Empathy roll (difficulty 8). Each success
pulls a disturbing image from the mind of the target. The
target thinks the images are real and acts accordingly. The
images last for a scene.
Affected victims fly into a blind flight or frenzy. Kindred
or other creatures capable of frenzy, like Lupines, may
make a frenzy check with a difficulty penalty equal to the
number of successes on the roll. Humans get no such roll.
They much choose flight or fight immediately.
This power costs 24 experience points to learn.

Ze Monkey’s Paw (Auspex •••, Dementation ••••)
Superstitions are little pieces of irrationality that still
take hold in the rational world. Malkavians with this
ability play on these notions to convince a perfectly normal
person that an inanimate object is the source of all their
troubles. It’s a great way to get someone babbling about
strange connections, or dig a valuable item out of the
trash when the victim throws it away.
System: Roll Wits + Subterfuge (difficulty 6), while
touching an object, picturing a specific person, and spending
a point of Willpower. The next time the target sees the
object, the power starts working. Every success rolled robs
the target of a Health level (when a minor accident involving
the object occurs) or a Willpower point (when the target
somehow blames a bad turn in their life on the object).
The Malkavian chooses the split when the power is used,
but the target loses no more than one Willpower point or
one Health level per scene. The Malkavian has no control
over what the target does with the object or when the curse
strikes, but the target is unlikely to keep it for long.
This power costs 21 experience points to learn.


Malkavian Time

To outsiders, Malkavians have an uncanny knack
for showing up in the right place at the right time.
Or, in some cases, the wrong place at the right
time. This ability comes from a keenly developed
ability known as Malkavian Time. Clan meetings
occur on this unwritten schedule, passed through
to members by the Malkavian Madness Network.
A message is initially sent through some form of
media. The sender could write a message on the
back of a receipt, whisper something into a cell
phone, or press their head against a TV screen. The
Malkavians able to receive the message do so by
encountering the same media. The receiver will see
it written on any receipt in their pocket, hear it over
their cell phone line, or have the cable news pundit
speak the message directly to them. The Malkavian
keeps hearing the message repeatedly until they
acknowledge it and take action towards it.
Any Malkavian can take Malkavian Time as a
Specialty of their Awareness Skill. Any Malkavians
with dots in Awareness can receive messages, but
only those with the Specialty can send messages.
When a meeting is coming, the Storyteller secretly
rolls Perception + Awareness (difficulty 6). Successes
clue the Malkavian in to an upcoming meeting.
The more successes, the more time the Malkavian
has to prepare to see the rest of her Clanmates.
One success means the meeting just started,
two successes means there’s a meeting tonight,
three successes means a meeting tomorrow, with
each success adding an additional night for the
Malkavian to prepare.
Sending messages requires a Wits + Awareness roll
(difficulty 6). Every success means the message gets
out on another form of media.