Animalistic Dependancy Animalistic Dependancy

Avoidance Fugue

Blood Fascination Hemophilic Compulsion

Decadence Depravity

Degenerative Fixation Identity Erasure

Dehumanization Loss of Compassion

Delusion Mania Delusion Mania

Depersonalization Dissociation

Depression Melancholia, Manic-Depression

Fetishism Masochism

Fixation Obsessive Compulsion, Bulimia

Glossolalia

Grandiose Delusion

Hypnagogic Hallucination

Inferiority Complex Anxiety, Diogenes Syndrome, Submission

Insomnia Cataplexy

Irrationality Multiple Personality, Delusion Obsession, Dependent-Personality Disorder, Withdrawal,

Intermetamorphosis, Irrational Defiance

Magical Ideation Divination Obsession

Memory Obsession Memory Obsession

Narcissism Megalomania

Phobia Hysteria

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Power Fetish Obsession

Preferential Obsession Preferential Obsession

Pyromania Pyrophilia

Repression Denial

Supernatural Fascination Zealotry

Suspicious Paranoia, Compulsive-Aggressive Disorder

Synesthesia

Vocalization Schizophrenia, Aphasia

Waking Nightmare

ANIMALISTIC DEPENDANCY (mild; severe): Your character feels isolated, vulnerable and alone when

not in the presence of animals. Kindred and kine are untrustworthy, two-faced and wicked. Animals are

honest and dependable. While, in most cases, your character is able to make do with her discomfort provided

she is not too far removed from wild creatures, when frightened, pressured, or imperiled, she seeks out or

summons the reassuring presence of mundane animals just for her own peace of mind. This derangement

most often manifests in the minds of Kindred who practice the Discipline of Animalism, though no particular

level of ability in that Discipline is necessary to open the door to this disorder. A Kindred with the power to

summon animals may be more likely to recover from her discomfort, but the anxiety does not wait for the

Kindred to gain that power before it deranges her.

Mild Effect: In any scene set in an environment where your character cannot expect to see or hear wild

animals (even squirrels or birds), roll Resolve + Composure to avoid a bout of anxiety. If the roll fails, the

character suffers a -1 penalty to all dice pools for the remainder of the scene. Not actually seeing a wild

animal isn’t enough to trigger the mild effect of this derangement; if the character can see a patch of ground

or sky where animals would be able to reach her, should she call for them, that’s usually enough to ward off

anxiety. GM discretion should dictate what environments are problematic for the character.

Severe Effect: The mild effects apply, as above, but in addition your character feels trapped whenever she is

uncertain if her calls to nearby animals will be heard. It’s not enough to simply see sky or ground, at this

level of derangement – the character cannot function unless she knows that some form of animal life can

hear her. If the player fails the Resolve + Composure roll to overcome the character’s anxiety, the character

must spend one Vitae and activate the Call of the Wild power (Animalism •••), just to get a sense of how

well she can be heard by nearby animals. If the dice pool to activate the power is penalized by the Storyteller

due to the nature of the physical environment (sealed windows, secure foundations, etc.), that same penalty

affects all the character’s dice pools for the scene if she fails to summon any animals (or if the summoned

animals fail to reach her).

AVOIDANCE (mild): When confronted with a situation or person associated with a previous, significant

failure or trauma (a long-term rival, an ex-wife, the house in which one suffered a painful childhood), your

character prefers not to face the situation and might do everything he can to avoid it. Roll Resolve +

Composure for him to master his nervousness.

Effect: On a failed roll, your character does everything in his power to avoid the situation, short of harming

himself or others. He might escape the scene or disguise himself as a bystander to sidle away. If he must

confront (or can’t escape) the situation, any rolls made suffer a -1 penalty.

FUGUE (severe; extreme): Victims suffering from fugue experience “blackouts” and loss of memory.

When subjected to a particular variety of stress, your character performs a specific, rigid set of behaviors to

remove the stressful symptoms. This syndrome differs from multiple personalities in that an individual in the

grip of a fugue has no separate personality. Instead, he is on a form of “autopilot” similar to sleepwalking.

Decide on the kind of circumstance or exposure that triggers this state, be it the death of a defenseless person

by his hand, a confrontation with a specific sort of creature or confinement in a small, dark room.

Effect: Make a Resolve + Composure roll when your character is subjected to his trigger. If the roll fails,

roleplay your character’s trance-like state by performing a sequence of behaviors that he performs almost

robotically. He might repetitively untie and tie his shoes, walk to the corner of the room and refuse to come

out, or curl into the fetal position. If the Storyteller is not satisfied by your character’s reaction, he might take

control of your character for the duration of the bout. The spell lasts for the remainder of the scene. At the

end of the fugue, your character “regains consciousness” with no memory of his actions. If outsiders

(including friends and enemies) interfere with or try to prevent your character’s mechanical activities, he

may attack them in order to carry on.

BLOOD FASCINATION (mild): Your character is overwhelmed by an unnatural fixation with blood.

Beyond the act of drinking Vitae, she finds herself drawn to the sight, smell and sensation of fresh blood in

small quantities. She might choose to cut herself on occasion, just to watch the seeping wound, or she has a

habit of ordering extremely rare steaks just to smell them. This fascination goes beyond the blood addiction

that most ghouls suffer. While an addicted ghoul consumes blood at any opportunity, a fascinated one holds

on to keepsakes such as vials of blood, soiled bandages or color photographs of crime scenes. Whenever

your character encounters a quantity of blood, roll Resolve + Composure. If the roll fails, she’s compelled to

take a “souvenir.” If she goes for a period equal to her Composure in days without encountering blood or

images of blood, another Resolve + Composure roll is required. If it fails, she searches for more.

HEMOPHILIC COMPULSION (severe): Your character’s no longer satisfied with the keepsakes of just

any blood. She must draw it fresh from a victim herself. Whether it comes from injuring an opponent in

combat, cutting a masochistic lover or a more heinous assault, the character must find a way to satisfy this

urge with alarming frequency. Every time a number of days equal to your character’s Composure passes, you

must roll Resolve + Composure. A failure indicates that the character must go out immediately with intent to

wound a victim and save a quantity of his blood.

DECADENCE (mild): Your character’s past sense of decorum and social grace, no matter how limited or

primitive it might have been, is now perceived to be laughably naïve, the province of fools. He has few

scruples about how to behave in public and what it is acceptable to say or do. Whenever he has won a great

social victory (as defined by the Storyteller, or if an exceptional success is rolled on any Social-related roll)

or suffered a humiliating social defeat (as with a victory, except when a dramatic failure is rolled), make a

reflexive Resolve + Composure roll.

Effect: Failure means your character loses all sense of proportion and will say the most nasty things to others

and engage in ridiculous activities in public, such as walking around naked or buying expensive champagne

for every one in the room even if it’s beyond his means. He becomes, in effect, the worst sort of drunk,

although he might not have had a single drop to drink. Celebrities have ruined their careers through lesser

deeds than what the character will now attempt. For now, however, his excesses are mainly verbal - he is

under no compunction to act against others. He might humiliate himself, but he won’t force his decadent

behavior onto others. If he progresses in this derangement, however, reaching the severe stage of Depravity

(see below), all bets are off.

DEPRAVITY (severe): Your character no longer respects any guidelines for social conduct, no matter how

common or accepted they might be. In fact, he feels the need to do the opposite of what those rules say: If he

is expected to be polite, he will be rude. If he must be peaceful, he’ll evoke violence. The very existence of

any kind of social rule is an insult to his sense of liberty gained at the Temple. Worse, it’s a cosmic joke

played on those who don’t know the truth, that the universe is just a sweaty gyration of lust. Whenever

someone asks him to behave (even if it’s a nightclub’s bouncer who’s not asking with words but fists), make

a Resolve + Composure roll with a –2 dice penalty for your character to resist doing the opposite of what

he’s been told or expected to do. Just how far the player and Storyteller want to take this derangement during

play is up to them, but beware letting it become a license for players to abuse other players - it’s the

character, not the player, who has visited the Temple and caught its disease.

DEGENERATIVE FIXATION (mild): Your ghoul character becomes acutely aware of his unchanging

state with the passage of time and begins to obsess over his appearance. He wonders constantly how he

would look if allowed to age naturally, and he often searches himself for signs that the Vitae is beginning to

fail him. Every time the character encounters an image such as a mirror or photograph of himself, roll

Resolve + Composure. Failure indicates that the character is convinced that the signs of encroaching age are

visible and must beg his regnant for more Vitae at the first opportunity.

IDENTITY ERASURE (severe): Your character becomes irrationally afraid of the mystical mechanism

that keeps him young, worrying that the slightest reminder of his actual age could tip the balance and cause it

to fail. As a result, he works to eliminate any evidence of his true identity, including documents,

photographs, friends and relatives. Whenever your character encounters evidence of his mortal life

(including a person who knew him), you must roll Resolve + Composure. A success on this roll means that

your character can suppress the urge to destroy the evidence. Failure means he must attempt to erase it

immediately.

DEHUMANIZATION (mild): The character sees people as frail, weak and ultimately disposable. This

hinders his ability to relate to and interact with other people. This derangement can be triggered any time the

character is inconvenienced or frustrated by other people’s perceived weakness or stupidity. When this

happens, make a Resolve + Composure roll.

Effect: If the roll fails, all Social rolls (except those involv-ing Intimidation) suffer a –2 penalty. The

character is brusque, impatient and crass with others, belittling them and, if neces-sary, shoving them out of

the way to get to his goals.

LOSS OF COMPASSION (severe): The character ceases to see other human beings as meaningful. He

doesn’t kill at will (necessarily), but only because he realizes the penalties for this sort of action. He has

come to believe that human beings are not the most important species on the planet, and, in fact, they are

utterly insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

Effect: Whenever the character commits a sin against Morality that directly involves doing harm to another

person, the player rolls one fewer die. For instance, if the character as-saults another person, the player

would normally roll two dice to avoid losing a dot of Morality. With this derangement, the player rolls only

one. The roll to avoid gaining more derange-ments is unaffected.

DELUSIONAL MANIA (mild or severe): This derangement sometimes strikes Kindred who have

experienced (and survived) traumatizing events while using the Discipline of Resilience, even if that

Discipline isn’t why the character survived. If your character suffers from this disorder, he imagines himself

to be much tougher than he actually is. When your character first suffers lethal or aggravated damage in a

scene, reflexively roll Stamina + Composure. This dice pool is penalized by the nature of the damage dealt: –

3 for bashing, –2 for lethal, –1 to aggravated. (The amount of damage suffered does not affect the dice pool.)

If the roll succeeds, the character keeps his head about him.

Mild Effect: If the roll fails, the character is unable to appreciate just how serious his injury is. Instead, he

convinces himself that he’s better off pushing through any pain and presentino a strong front. For the rest of

the scene, the character cannot Dodge unless you spend a Willpower point.

Severe Effect: If the roll fails, the character is unable to appreciate the seriousness of his injury and feels

practically invulnerabile to harm. The character cannot Dodge or voluntarily stop the action causing harm

(e.g., he continues fighting or holds on to a speeding car) unless you spend a Willpower point.

DEPERSONALIZATION (mild): When this derangement is activated by stress or emotional trauma, the

mage feels as though she is an automaton in her own body. She can think, speak, and act freely, but has no

real sense of connection to herself; effectively, she is an observer to a life not quite her own. Almost

invariably, the willworker gives no sense to others that anything is amiss, as she is perfectly capable of even

elaborate interpersonal interaction. Her withdrawal is not from society, but instead from her own

consciousness. While suffering from a bout of Depersonalization, the mage may not spend Willpower and

suffers a two dice penalty to all Resolve + Composure rolls, as she cannot summon up the strength of spirit

necessary to fight for a person with whom she no longer truly identifies. When acting as a Bedlam

derangement, Depersonalization also makes a willworker especially susceptible to Life Arcanum spells that

target her body, causing her to suffer a –1 to any contested rolls against such, as her sense of disconnection

weakens the bond between spirit and flesh.

DISSOCIATION (severe): A more pronounced form of the Depersonalization derangement, Dissociation

actually puts the mage’s body on a sort of “conscious autopilot”; the most important parts of his mind are

locked away, while the rest of him carries on. The world feels unreal and utterly devoid of emotional depth

to a mage in the throes of Dissociation. In addition to the effects of Depersonalization, a mage suffering from

an active Dissociation derangement cannot recuperate Willpower by upholding his Virtue or indulging his

Vice; such acts hold no genuine emotional or spiritual significance to him. As a Bedlam derangement,

Dissociation causes the willworker to suffer a –2 penalty to any contested roll against Life Arcanum magic,

as well as –2 to his appropriate Resistance Attribute when passively resisting such a spell.

DEPRESSION (mild): If your character fails to achieve a goal (not just fails a roll, but fails to accomplish

some personal, desired end such as getting a job or saving a friends life), he might go into a bout of

depression for the remainder of the scene. A dramatic failure that occurs in any activity might also bring on a

bout of depression. Regardless of the circumstances, make a reflex ive Resolve + Composure roll.

Effect: If the roll fails, your character loses one Willpower point and cannot spend any Willpower points for

the remainder of the scene.

MELANCHOLIA (severe): Severe depression. In addition to the above effects of a failed Resolve +

Composure roll, all dice pools suffer a -2 penalty for the remainder of the scene.

MANIC-DEPRESSION (severe): Severe mood swings characterize this derangement. It occurs in two

forms, one psychological and one a defect in brain chemistry. The psychological form is a modified form of

hysteria. The victim can swing from an enthusiastic, confident, even estati state to lethargy and despair. The

mood swings can happen any time, but any success can push the manic-depressive into exaltation, and any

failure can plunge the person into depression. The second form of manic-depression is an organic disorder. It

follows a regular cycle that can range from hours to weeks. The manic phase begins with an excess of energy

and confidence, then proceeds to a sort of ecstatic frenzy as the person’s mind races faster and faster.

Eventually the person calms down and then slides into a depression as lethargic as the manic phase was

energetic. This form of manic-depression can mimic the effects of schizophrenia, and lead to a near-suicidal

state.

Effect: Whichever form of the ailment your character has, whenever he fails a task, the Storyteller may

secretly roll his Resolve. A failure means the character lapses into depression for the rest of the scene. The

character also goes into depression whenever the player makes a dramatic failure on a roll, or the character

has less than two Vitae. While depressed, the character loses half his Willpower points (rounding fractions

down), to a minimum of 1. A depressed vampire cannot expend Vitae to gain dice for Physical tasks, either.

Each scene thereafter, the Storyteller rolls one die. On a success, the character throws off the depression and

becomes upbeat, energetic and obsessively active for as many scenes as he was depressed. He regains the

Willpower points he lost before, and all rolls to resist frenzy suffer a one-die penalty.

FETISHISM (mild): Your character formulates an irrational, pleasurable association with an object or

situation. To fully enjoy himself, so to speak, he needs to duplicate the situation or be in the presence of the

object. This can lead to some truly bizarre behavior, often triggering a cycle of gratification and guilt that’s

extremely difficult to break. If your character experiences something that reminds him of the event or object

he’s fetishized, roll Resolve + Composure. If the roll fails, your character focuses on re-creating the situation

or coming in contact with the object in question. For example, an orderly who fetishizes licking female

patients’ feet when they are restrained might see an attractive woman sunning herself by a pool and feel

compelled to indulge himself.

MASOCHISM (severe): Your character is no longer satisfied with the presence of the object or duplication

of the situation. He must now be hurt by it in order to enjoy himself. The effects of fetishism apply, but the

character must also suffer an amount of bashing damage at least equal to his Stamina during the compulsive

activity in order to be satisfied. Without the interference of an outside agent, he won’t stop until the damage

is inflicted in full.

FIXATION (mild): If your character fails or succeeds at an important action such as leaping between

buildings or making a getaway in a sports car, he might fixate on his loss or victory. Roll Resolve +

Composure after such an event for him to avoid this unhealthy obsession.

Effect: If your Resolve + Composure roll fails, roll a single die. The result is the number of scenes in which

your character is focused on the offending or inspiring event or task, to the possible exclusion of more

important goals. He fixates on what he believes caused him to lose or win his goal, whether it’s an opponent,

a broken shoelace or the model of car driven. In the case of a defeat, he cannot help but simmer in anger,

cursing a circumstance or trying to devise a method of circumventing it in the future. In the case of a victory,

he becomes a fanatic, spending much of his time researching, observing or acclaiming an activity or factor

that allowed him to succeed. The Storyteller rules on how this derangement affects your character’s dice

pools or behavior. It might cause him a -1 on any task not related to his fixation, or he might refuse to engage

in an activity if it doesn’t somehow tie into his obsession. Since this derangement is potentially active for

many scenes, rather than one, its effects should be mild but persistent.

OBSESSIVE COMPULSION (severe): The trauma, guilt or inner conflict that causes this derangement

forces your character to focus nearly all of his attention and energy on a single repetitive behavior or action.

Obsession relates to an individual’s desire to control his environment keeping clean, keeping an area quiet

and peaceful, or keeping undesirable individuals out. A compulsion is an action or set of actions that an

individual is driven to perform to soothe his anxieties placing objects in an exact order, constantly checking

to make sure a weapon is loaded, praying every few hours to give thanks for surviving that long.

Effect: Determine a set of specific actions or behaviors that your character follows to the exclusion of all

else (even if doing so interferes with his current agenda or endangers his life or others). The effects of

obsessive compulsino can be negated for the course of one scene by making a successful Resolve +

Composure roll at a -2 penalty. If your character is forcibly prevented from adhering to his derangement, he

may lose control among enemies or allies and attack either (or both) indiscriminately.

BULIMIA (severe): People with this neurosis try to drown their anxiety through activities that comfort

them, especially food. Doing so leads to a binge-and-purge cycle. The bulimic stuffs himself to relieve stress,

then selfdisgust at his own gluttony drives him to vomit out what he’s eaten. The bulimic soon seeks to feed

again, though, and the cycle repeats. Vampires face a special temptation toward bulimia because feeding is

the strongest physical pleasure left to them. A bulimic vampire relieves his fear and guilt by gorging himself

on blood, perhaps feeding several times a night and burning the Vitae as fast as he can. The character can

augment his traits for frenetic activity or wound himself as a form of punishment, then heal the wounds so

that other Kindred won’t see his weakness and self-loathing. At severe levels, the vampire might even will

himself to expunge Vitae by vomiting - no small feat and a noteworthy act of will, since vampires don’t store

blood in their stomachs.

Effect: A bulimic vampire becomes hungry more easily than other Kindred and has a harder time resisting

the urge to feed. Whenever the character feeds, the player must succeed at a Resolve + Composure roll or the

vampire feeds until full, whether or not he really needs the extra Vitae. Additionally, the character must use

that Vitae frequently; the player must spend at least one Vitae per scene for the character until the character

rests for the day, even if circumstances wouldn’t otherwise warrant it. A player may, for example, devote

Vitae to Strength for a turn in which no Strength roll is necessary, or spend a Vitae to heal a single point of

bashing damage even though Vitae normally heals two points of bashing damage. A bulimic character also

suffers an automatic -2 penalty to resist hunger frenzies. Forcibly preventing the character from drinking his

fill might provoke a rage frenzy (no modifier to difficulty).

GLOSSOLALIA (mild): A Promethean who suffers episodes of glossolalia occasionally has periods of

time in which he becomes unable to communicate in his own language. In place of his native language, he

might speak a foreign language he doesn’t normally know, or he might actually speak some mystic tongue

that has no origin in the known world. Some affl icted Created speak the long-dead languages of their

Lineage’s Progenitors or demiurges. Others speak languages that one of their corpse-bodies might have

known in life. Still other speak “the tongue of the angels” or “with the words of Mercury itself.” Regardless

of what language the character suddenly speaks, no one around her is able to understand it. This itself can be

a cause of frustration for the Promethean, and may well cause a confl ict with other derangements.

Effect: The effect is straightforward in that no one who has any verbal conversation with the character

undergoing a spell of glossolalia can understand him. While people familiar with the language in question

might be able to recognize it, they won’t be able to comprehend anything the character says. Whenever a

character with the glossolalia derangement spends a Willpower point, that character’s player should roll Wits

+ Composure. If the roll succeeds, the derangement remains inert. If the roll fails, the character speaks in an

alien tongue for the duration of the scene. The player and Storyteller should mutually decide if the character

speaks the same language every time. The Storyteller should also determine whether any “otherworldly”

tongues the character blurts out are simply gibberish or are actual languages of alien or mystic origin.

GRANDIOSE DELUSION (mild): Your character fixates on her favorite territory, occupation or subject,

feeling an inflated sense of knowledge and influence in relation to it. She will believe that she knows best in

all cases related to the matter of choice, and will begin to guard the object of fixation jealously, working to

ensure that nobody else can “interfere.” Whenever your character encounters an individual who is attempting

to exert influence in the matter (and isn’t already in her service), roll Resolve + Composure to keep her from

responding aggressively. On a failed roll, your character must immediately answer the perceived threat with

an attempt to exclude the interloper. The attempt can take any form that seems appropriate to her — bribery,

intimidation, coercion - whatever she thinks will work. For the remainder of the scene, this attempt must be

the character’s first priority, even if there are more pressing matters at hand.

HYPNAGOGIC HALLUCINATION (mild): The character suffers hallucinations while in the state

between waking and sleeping. Just before going to sleep, the character might see one or several dark shapes

standing around, a shadowy hag, dark insects on the walls or some other “presence.” The hallucinations are

often accompanied by sleep paralysis, discomfiting sounds (such as wind rushing in one’s ears or a

highpitched mechanical whine) or the feeling that something is squatting on the character’s chest and thus

inhibiting his ability to breathe properly. The hallucinations seem to occur following days (or nights, if a

vampire) that were particularly stressful. The Storyteller may request a Resolve + Composure roll before

going to sleep. Failing the roll results in the pre-sleep hallucinations.

Effect: Experiencing the hallucinations leaves any character, even one of the Kindred, feeling oddly fatigued

the following day or night. The character can suffer a –1 penalty to all Mental rolls during that day, or can

instead spend a Willpower point to ignore that penalty.

INFERIORITY COMPLEX (mild): Whenever your character is subjected to a stressful situation in which

the result of a single choice or dice roll can determine success or failure, she might be overcome with such

self-doubt that she threatens the outcome. She might need to tell a convincing lie to get out of a dangerous

situation or cut a wire to disable a bomb. Roll your character’s Resolve + Composure for her to remain

composed.

Effect: If your roll fails, the weight of the momentous choice is too much for your character and she is

flustered, doubting her ability to choose correctly or to perform adequately. Once in this state, any rolls made

for the remainder of the scene – including the momentous act itself - suffer a -1 penalty. In addition, a

Willpower point cannot be spent on the singular roll that inspires her bout of inferiority.

ANXIETY (severe): As Inferiority Complex, but your character’s general anxiety plagues things so badly

that she suffers a -2 penalty on all rolls for the remainder of the scene, and Willpower points cannot be spent

to bolster any rolls in that period.

DIOGENES SYNDROME (severe): In Kindred, this derangement often follows a traumatic loss of

Humanity. The vampire begins to see herself as something less than human, and either makes a conscious

decision to stop grooming herself normally or simply forgets to bother, satisfying the subconscious urge to

chastise the self. She stops changing her clothes, makes no attempt to bathe or comb her hair and doesn’t

bother cleaning spilled blood from her face after feeding. She makes no attempt to clean up her haven, and

will readily sleep in fi lth. She ignores vermin that infest her clothes or hair, and although she may be

shamed by the disgust of onlookers, she rarely acknowledges the real reason for their reaction. Worse,

vampires suffering from this derangement often fail to heal wounds in their waking hours, bearing them as if

unawares and waiting for them to heal in the day’s sleep.

Effect: The character suffers a –3 dice penalty on all Social Ability rolls (except Intimidation and

Disciplines) because of her fi lthy, disheveled state. A Willpower point must be expended if the character

attempts to clean herself in any way or pay attention to her injuries. Even crippling pain will fail to compel

her to heal herself unless she makes this expenditure. She will, however, expend Vitae to heal her wounds

while she sleeps.

SUBMISSION (severe; extreme): When this derangement afflicts a character, that character needs a

purpose and she needs someone else to define that purpose for her. She is incapable of making her own

decisions. She might even ignore stimuli if a dominant personality doesn’t defi ne how she should react to

them. This is a truly debilitating derangement, as it can cause tormented Prometheans to attack friends,

abandon allies, betray comrades and give enemies exactly what they want.

Effect: In any stressful situation, the player rolls Wits + Composure for the character. If the roll succeeds,

the character retains free will. If the roll fails, the character has no will of her own. In this latter

circumstance, the character will follow rodersi issued by the person with the highest Presence who issues her

a direct command. The character cannot spend Willpower on any of these assigned tasks, and she cannot

choose to shirk them unless she succeeds on a Wits + Resolve roll at a –2 penalty. Characters who are issued

orders will not kill themselves, but they will hurt themselves if commanded to do so, though they will not

infl ict enough damage on themselves that would cause the player to mark off the last two boxes on the

character’s Health track. Further, a character ordered to hurt herself in a combat situation wouldn’t do so, as

she’d have no real trust that the individual telling her to harm herself wouldn’t just fi nish the job thereafter.

A spell of submission lasts for a number of turns equal to the highest-Presence character’s total presence +

Willpower. If no one steps up to issue commands to the character, or the character cannot hear the command

being issued, she slumps into a useless heap until she makes a Wits + Composure roll at a –2 penalty.

INSOMNIA (mild): Your character has trouble getting the required amount of sleep, and not just

occasionally. It happens more often than not, and leaves her feeling tired, irritable and unable to concentrate.

Any time the character is engaged in a stressful situation (Storyteller discretion), roll Resolve + Composure.

Failure means that your character is unable to sleep properly and suffers a –2 penalty on all rolls the

following day. Each day thereafter is considered “stressful” and requires a similar roll until the character

succeeds and gets a full night’s or day’s rest.

CATAPLEXY (severe): Your character has so much trouble resting that her body is beginning to fail her.

Whenever the aforementioned sleep roll fails, the character suffers from bouts of overwhelming feebleness

throughout the following day. Any circumstance resulting in an intense emotional reaction such as laughter,

anger or fear requires a Stamina + Composure roll. Failure means that the character slumps to the ground,

paralyzed with weakness for a full turn even though she remains fully conscious.

IRRATIONALITY (mild): Whenever your character is threatened with violence or suffers extreme tension

by being persecuted, challenged or accused, she might react without logic or reason. Roll her Resolve +

Composure to keep her cool. The persecution, challenge or accusation needs to bear some realistic threat to

your characterÕs wellbeing, whether related to finances, emotional security or social standing. A hobo

threatening to sue is no real threat, but a rich executive who says heÕs going to ruin your character qualifies

as a threat. Likewise, a society-page gossipmonger who threatens to expose your character’s faults is a threat

if your character relies on that crowd for social acceptance, but not if he is a bicycle messenger who’s never

been inside a penthouse.

Effect: On a failed roll, your character’s only way to comfortably deal with confrontation is to act crazy or

over the top, in wild hopes that she will scare away her oppressor or at least mitigate her own fears. This

behavior persists for the remainder of the scene. Ironically, she takes dangerous risks that might harm her

worse than the actual threat posed. If a bouncer demands to know what your character is doing in an off-

limits part of a club, she might overreact and get in his face. Make a Wits + Composure roll for her to be able

to take any action that removes her from the scene or that directly diffuses the situation (such as accepting a

hand offered in a conciliatory handshake). The truly ironic part about this behavior is that during such a bout,

your character cannot initiate violence, only respond to it if it occurs. She can threaten or cajole challengers,

but canÕt take the first swing. (That, in fact, is what her crazed behavior tries to avoid.)

MULTIPLE PERSONALITY (severe; extreme): The trauma that spawns this derangement fractures your

character’s personality into one or more additional personas, allowing her to deny her trauma or any actions

the trauma causes by placing the blame on “someone else”. Each personalità is created to respond to certain

emotional stimuli. An abused person might develop a tough-as-nails survivor personality, create a

“protector” or even become a murderer to deny the abuse she suffers. In most cases, none of these

personalities is aware of the others, and they come and go through your character’s mind in response to

specific situations or conditions.

Effect: A character with multiple personalities can manifest different Skills or perhaps increased or

diminished Social Attributes for each identity (the number of dots allocated to your character’s Social

Attributes are rearranged by anywhere from one to three).

DELUSIONAL OBSESSION (severe): This derangement can emerge because of centuries of torpid

dreams, or simply a strong desire for the world to be the way a character wants. Delusional obsession

consists of a fanatical belief in something that just isn’t true. Lots of people hold beliefs that other people

find absurd, of course, but a delusional obsessive structures his life or unlife on them. Classic examples

include the survivalist holed up in a cabin with canned beans and a shotgun, the street-corner preacher

ranting that “The end is near,” and the dotty old lady with a hundred cats. Nearly any hobby, belief or

interest can seem dangerously crazed when it takes over a character’s existence. Delusional obsession might

be dismissed as fanaticism, but it is even more extreme.

Effect: A Willpower point must be spent to resist whenever an opportunity arises to act in accordance with

the character’s obsession, or whenever he must act in direct opposition to his obsession. For instance, a

gardening fanatic might have to expend Willpower to stay out of a florist’s shop. A Kindred who believes

that every instance of a crescent or lunar reference indicates Lupine activity might need to expend a

Willpower point to step into an Islamic cultural center or to stay in the same room as someone named Moon.

DEPENDENT-PERSONALITY DISORDER (severe): This emotional derangement most often afflicts

ghouls or blood-bound Kindred. The character becomes utterly dependent on his regnant or domitor. He

resists making even the most trivial decision for himself. This disorder might arise from fear of abandonment

(especially strong in the case of ghouls who know that sudden aging or death awaits them if they lose their

supply of Vitae). It might also grow from an exaggerated fear of displeasing a harsh or demanding master.

Effect: If a character has this derangement, the player does not include Resolve in contested dice pools when

the domitor attempts to Dominate him (although Blood Potency still applies). Indeed, the character often

follows up on any statement that might be construed as a request for the character to do something.

WITHDRAWAL (severe; extreme) Some Kindred, overwhelmed by the demands of vampire society and

unable to keep up with the complexities of Status, intrigue and predatory warfare, sometimes suffer an

overwhelming urge to withdraw completely from the world around them. Severe trauma can lead to the

dissolution of rational bounds on this urge, resulting in an absolute abandonment of social interaction and

obligation regardless of the detrimental effect on the vampire’s own existence. Vampires suffering from

Withdrawal avoid leaving their havens and interacting with others as much as possible. They do not attend

any Elysium events, and they allow all friendships and alliances to wither, never bothering to initiate

communication. The Requiem of a vampire in Withdrawal is one of solitary nights spent in silent retreat.

Some turn to scholarly pursuits, losing themselves in dusty tomes and occult research, but most just take on

idle hobbies, accomplishing little of value and waiting until hunger demands that they strike out in search of

blood. Withdrawal is not a derangement for characters in play. It should be restricted to Storyteller characters

only, because Withdrawal isolates the vampire and threatens to destroy all of the work he’s done to establish

himself in Kindred society. A player may wish to add Withdrawal to his character’s history, as a cured

derangement (or one that awaits him if he drops again to a formerly low Humanity rating) to explain a long

absence from Kindred society, but should be aware of its implications if he does so.

Effect: The character must succeed on a Resolve + Composure roll to leave his haven each night. He suffers

a –3 dice penalty on all Social Ability rolls (except for resistance on contested ones) because of his extreme

unwillingness to speak to others, and his obvious attempts to get away from public dealings as quickly as

possible.

INTERMETAMORPHOSIS (severe): Kindred Intermetamorphosis arises almost exclusively after long

periods spent in torpor. The vampire suffering this derangement confuses the identities of mortals and

Kindred he has known over the ages, often swapping those that he knew in life (or before his bout of torpor)

with those who greet him in the modern world. For example, a vampire arising from a 400-year torpor might

mistake his neonate grandchilde for his long-destroyed sire, or a living woman for his centuries-passed

mortal wife. Most who observe this derangement in action believe it is caused by the vampire’s

overpowering nostalgia for nights (and days) long gone, working in conjunction with the befuddlement

prevalent in those arising from decades or centuries of torpor. These Kindred may or may not be aware that

the people they are dealing with cannot possibly be who they seem, but they cannot deny the identifi cation.

They feel as if the target of their derangement is actually someone else, even if it doesn’t make any sense.

Some construct elaborate systems of belief to explain the phenomenon, ascribing it to reincarnation,

telepathic body-swapping, miraculous “second chances” or more bizarre occult phenomena. They will not

accept evidence to the contrary, and may even attempt to “save” a contemporary who denies “the truth.” The

mistaken identity will infl uence and supersede a vampire’s opinion of the modern subject. If the vampire

believes that a neonate female is really his former lover, he will not accept acts of aggression at face value,

always attempting to explain it in terms of his “real” relationship to her. If he can’t dismiss her actions out of

hand, he will assume that she is acting against her will or is somehow unaware of his identity.

Effect: The character suffering from Intermetamorphosis will instantly draw associations between modern

individuals and those from long past based on the fl imsiest of similarities. Hair color, certain mannerisms,

tone of voice or even gender could be enough to set off the Kindred’s derangement. Once a mortal or

vampire is associated with a fi gure from the sufferer’s past, nothing (short of the actual interference of the fi

gure in question) will convince him otherwise. He may spend Willpower to shake off the delusion for one

scene, but must operate under its infl uence at all other times.

IRRATIONAL DEFIANCE (severe): Your character feels trapped by his superiors and may lash out when

he feels persecuted, accused or smothered. This disorder causes your character to feel personally threatened

(see Irrationality in the World of Darkness Rulebook) by seemingly harmless instructions and orders given by

people with authority over him, especially when the deeper reasons behind such instructions aren’t revealed.

Roll Resolve + Composure to keep his cool.

Effect: If the roll fails, your character undermines his own attempts to carry out the action instructed or

ordered, no matter how innocuous or even beneficial it really is. For the rest of the scene, your character

suffers a –5 penalty on dice pools for actions that contribute to the fulfillment of the order or instruction.

How this manifests through your character’s behavior depends on the nature of his derangement. In the style

of Irrationality, your character may fume and overreact, complaining loudly the whole time. On the other

hand, your character may passive-aggressively acquiesce, and then seethe and procrastinate, before finally

delivering only half-hearted work.

MAGICAL IDEATION (mild): The character finds patterns all around him, the signs of some greater plan

or intelligence guiding his steps. Whether through song lyrics, advertisements in magazines, lines in films,

the state of the weather, the character is sure that these environmental flashes are messages of some sort

meant for him. At least once a scene, the player must roll Resolve + Composure. If that roll fails, the

character has to perform some action that reflects his obsession with patterns. Perhaps the character starts to

explain to his companions the coincidental arrangement of stations on the London Underground, or stops to

take an omen from the movement of birds in the sky. Maybe music is playing in the background, and the

character pauses and listens to the secret message hidden in the song (like Frances did with a song by Nico

on p. 17). Perhaps the character whispers a nursery rhyme, or has to stop and examine the arrangement of

cutlery on a dinner table, reading them as if the arrangement of knives and forks and spoons has some higher

significance, and some sort of message within it.

DIVINATION OBSESSION (severe): This is really a sub-type of the Obsessive Compulsion derangement

(see The World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 98). The character feels the urge at least once a night to perform

some sort of divination. He could read tea leaves, or examine a newspaper horoscope page, or read the Tarot,

or get a divination from a 70s mass-market paperback capitalizing on Mayan prophecies. He might perform

the Sortes Virgilianae, which is where you take a significant book – a copy of Virgil, or the Bible, or

Shakespeare, or Milton, or the Bhagavad Gita, or the Qu’ran, or anything else – and open it on a random

page, point at a random sentence and take that as a divination. He could shave the head of his ghoul and

perform a phrenological analysis of the imperfections in her scalp. He might even find a cat and disembowel

it, reading his future from the spatters its guts make on the floor. Players are encouraged to find interesting

ways to read the future. In game terms, it might be helpful for the Storyteller to have some divinations

prepared; perhaps having a collection of clipped newspaper horoscopes for this very purpose. Divination

methods and sample divinations appear throughout this book. Essentially, if given the opportunity to act on

the divination (to do what it says) in any way, the character will. For example, if the divination says that a

fair-haired stranger will bring good luck, the character may put his total trust and confidence in the first

blond he meets, even if she turns out to be working for the enemy, and refuse to believe that she is bad news.

If the player considers following the divination to be stupid, or dangerous, the player must roll Resolve +

Composure with a -2 penalty to avoid doing what the divination says. If the roll fails, the character has no

choice but to act on the divination, and will follow the literal word of the divination as closely as possible.

MEMORY OBSESSION (mild; severe): This derangement sometimes affects practitioners of the mind-

altering powers of the Ventrue clan. If she suffers from this disorder, your character no longer trusts that her

memories are genuine. She suspects that hostile Kindred are rewriting her recollections with Dominate or

that her every impulse is actually a missive coded into her psyche by some shadowy Lord. Whenever your

character fails a Mental action to recall some detail or scan her own memory, she becomes suspicious and

paranoid.

Mild Effect: For the rest of the scene, your character suffers a –2 penalty on all Mental rolls as she struggles

to overcome her own self-doubt and wastes time double-checking her instincts and rational thought. “Wait,”

the paranoid doctor might say, “I’m trying to think if that’s really how the pulmonary arteries work.”

Severe Effect: At this level of derangement, your character is quite certain that her memory has been altered,

either maliciously or as a side-effect of her own usage of Ventrue blood. She suffers a –2 penalty on all

actions for the rest of the scene, at least, as she is rattled by doubt and anxiety. This penalty persists into the

next scene, as well, until she has gone over her memory sufficiently enough to convince herself that she is

not the victim of someone’s Ventrue blood. The process of double-checking her memory requires an

extended Intelligence + Composure action, with each roll taking one minute, versus a target number of 10

successes.

NARCISSISM (mild): Whenever your character succeeds at a goal (not simply succeeds in a roll, but

achieves a desired end such as knocking a challenging opponent unconscious or hacking into a well-

protected computer), it might go to his head and pump up his overweening ego. Roll Resolve + Composure

to avoid a bout of vanity.

Effect: On a failed roll, your character does not work and play well with others even if the victory that

brings on a bout of narcissism was partly won with their aid. For the remainder of the scene, when called

upon to aid in a task your character does so only half-heartedly, unless it’s a task focused on him or his own

needs or wants. He suffers a -3 penalty when participating in teamwork efforts (see p. 134). And heÕs such a

self-obsessed bore that Social rolls all suffer a -1 penalty.

MEGALOMANIA (severe): The effects of Narcissism apply, except that the penalties intensify by one.

Your character is also highly competitive. He cannot allow himself to fail a contest (even a contested roll). If

he does, he obsesses about it and works to arrange a rematch when it’s most beneficial for him. If, for

example, he fails to pick a lock while an ally succeeds, he doesnÕt let it go. He constantly insists that he did

the job and that his successor took the glory, and demands that similar efforts be tried again, even under

inappropriate circumstances such as at an office or restaurant. If your character ever loses a contest to

someone he feels is socially inferior, he loses one point of Willpower due to shame and self-loathing (which

is at the heart of his megalomania; he secretly fears that he’s a fraud).

PHOBIA (mild): Your character is scared of a particolar type of person, place or thing such as lawyers,

heights or spiders. When that trigger is encountered, a reflex ive Resolve + Composure roll must be made

successfully or your character suffers a bout of fear.

Effect: Your character moves away from the object of her phobia. If she must be near it, she can tolerate

being no closer than her Speed in yards. If it approaches her, she must move away at least her Speed in

distance in her next action. She cannot easily target the trigger with close combat or ranged attacks. Such

attacks suffer a -5 penalty as your character shakes just looking at it. If space or circumstances don’t allow

her to maintain her distance, she freezes like a deer in headlights until she finds an opening by which to

escape. (Her Defense still applies if attacked and she can choose to dodge and can take cover from Firearms

attacks, but she can take no other actions while frozen.)

HYSTERIA (severe): This condition operates as a phobia, but on a failed Resolve + Composure roll your

character cannot be in the same room with the object of her fear. She must run away from it immediately,

and cannot tolerate being within sensory range (sight, sound, smell) of it. If the trigger comes within sensory

range, she must run away at full running Speed as soon as she can take an action. She cannot target it for an

attack under any circumstance. If it touches her, make another Resolve + Composure roll for her to not freak

out and run as far away as she can, thinking of nothing else until she’s left the subject far behind. (Even if

this roll succeeds, your character must still leave the room or area.) If any of your Resolve + Composure rolls

suffer a dramatic failure or your character is unable to escape, she faints and loses consciousness for the

remainder of the scene. If your character is unaware of the objects proximity until it touches her, your

Resolve + Composure roll suffers a -3 penalty. If it touches her where she can’t see it but she can feel it a

spider dropping on her neck or in her hair the penalty is -5.

POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (severe): At some point during the character’s mortal life or

undead Requiem, he experienced a horrible trauma, and he’s never quite gotten over it. Often, such trauma is

born of war-time violence or brutal assault, but the Embrace itself might qualify. A loud scream or a

firecracker exploding nearby, or perhaps even the taste of blood not intentionally ingested, can cause your

character to shut down physically and mentally. Roll Resolve + Composure when something triggers this

derangement, or your character succumbs to a powerful panic attack, wherein he cannot move except to hide.

He suffers a -2 penalty on all rolls for the remainder of the scene as well and Willpower points cannot be

spent to bolster any rolls during that period.

POWER FETISH OBSESSION (mild): Although Kindred value their supernatural powers, their

Disciplines and Vitae expenditures remind them of their undead state. Some Kindred project their powers

onto an object, so they don’t have to take responsibility for them. Other Kindred develop the “power fetish”

delusion as a stronger form of good-luck superstition. Whatever the reason, the character believes she cannot

use her supernatural powers without the help of a special object. In folklore, for instance, the Swiss vampire

called the Alp became powerless without its hat. A character with this derangement might believe that she

cannot use her undead powers without the dress she wore when she was Embraced, her lucky bracelet or

some other article.

Effect: Any attempt to use Disciplines or expend Vitae without that object reduces any dice pools for an

activity by three dice.

PREFERENTIAL OBSESSION (mild; severe): Your character erroneously believes that blood of a

certain quality is essential to his wellbeing. He might think that only the blood of virgins (or of successful

executives, or of Latinos, or of children, or whatever else) is sufficient for his delicate system. Or perhaps he

believes unsuitable blood will soak up his mystic energy and rob him of his vampiric powers. Folkloric

wisdom among ancient Ventrue has led some to think they must sup from a series of athletic, intelligent and

sexy vessels in a precise sequence, lest the delicate cocktail of Vitae within their undead bodies be thrown

out of balance and their Aenead powers be diluted. (“No! It is the second Monday! I must have someone

strong of leg or back! Keep her until the Sabbath, when I can drink of the wise.”) Your character’s feeding

restrictions must be defined when this derangement is taken, and cannot be changed unless the derangement

is “cured” and then reacquired.

Mild Effect: Your character simply won’t satiate himself with improper Vitae. He will not take more than

two Vitae from a vessel who does not meet his particular feeding restriction, even if hungry or starving,

unless driven to frenzy.

Severe Effect: Your character’s delusions overpower even his Beast. He cannot satisfy himself from an

improper vessel, even if hungry or starving, even in the throes of frenzy. If faced with the dilemma of

consuming improper Vitae or suffering frenzy and torpor, your character drinks only if driven to frenzy, and

even then he expends one Vitae per minute just to flush the unwelcome blood from his system. (Vitae spent

in this way can be used to enhance Physical dice pools, simulate the blush of life, or simply be vomited up,

but it cannot be used to activate Disciplines.)

PYROMANIA (mild): The character has a compulsion to light fires in order to relieve tension or as part of

a compulsion. If the character is bored, frustrated or stressed, the player must roll Resolve + Composure. If

this roll fails, the character must light something on fire. This can be as small as a piece of paper, and the

character does not need to let the fire run wild - he can take reasonable precautions against the fire spreading.

Sooner or later, though, a fire will probably burn out of control. In addition, if the character sees a fire

already burning, the player must roll Resolve + Composure. If this roll fails, the character stands, transfixed,

staring at the fire. This roll must be made every turn until the player succeeds, at which point the character

can tear himself away.

PYROPHILIA (severe): The character’s derangement has progressed from a compulsino to a sexual

fixation. The character finds fires and setting fires to be sexually gratifying, and standing in the middle of a

burning room is perhaps the most erotic experience he can imagine. The game system is as above, except

that the Resolve + Composure rolls suffer a –2 penalty. In addition, the character feels the compulsion to set

fires in any situation fraught with sexual tension.

REPRESSION (mild): Your character has blocked out the memory of the event that caused this

derangement. She might not remember pulling the trigger and killing that man. She might remember walking

into the old house, but have no recollection of the horrors she saw there. In any event, only through intense

therapy or memory-altering supernatural powers will she regain those memories. The character is aware that

something happened, and is potentially open to discovering what, but cannot call up the memories herself. In

addition, if she fi nds herself in a similar situation, the player must roll Resolve + Composure or else the

character blocks out the memory of that scene as well.

DENIAL (severe): Your character not only represses the memories that trouble her but has constructed a

potentially elaborate scenario to replace them and grows hostile if someone tries to persuade her otherwise.

Whenever someone tries to educate the character as to the truth of what happens, the character’s player rolls

Resolve + Composure. If the roll succeeds, the character’s delusion remains intact, and the character

becomes irate and refuses to discuss the matter. If the roll fails, her internal commitment to the safety of the

delusion weakens a bit, and she is at least willing to listen.

SUPERNATURAL FASCINATION (mild): Your character, usually following a supernatural event, has

become convinced that the supernatural infl uences every facet of life. “The supernatural” here is defi ned by

the character in question. He might become devoted to a particular religion, and see the hand of whatever

God he chooses in every aspect of life. He might believe that aliens or secret government masters control

everything. In any event, he believes that the world has a secret set of rules and codes that, if he abides by

them, he will go to Heaven/have good luck/be safe from harm/etc. At least once a scene, and more often if

significant events occur during a scene, the player must roll Resolve + Composure. If that roll fails, the

character must perform some action appropriate to his beliefs. He might utter a brief prayer, mumble into his

wallet (which he’s sure contains a communication device), line his hat with tinfoil to prevent the aliens from

reading his mind and so on. Because this derangement is so pervasive, it shouldn’t cause major disruptions to

the character’s life, but its effects are almost constant.

ZEALOTRY (severe): Your character has decided that his spiritual or supernatural beliefs are so important

than everyone should share them. He proselytizes to everyone he meets, given only a few minutes of

conversation. He might ask people if they have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior, or he might

simply warn people engaging in “sinful” behavior that they are bound for Hell. He might snap pictures of

agents of the government conspiracy and warn other people to “stay away from them.” He might

occasionally curse while looking at sky, as though expecting the aliens to arrive any moment. The game

system for this derangement works similar to Supernatural Fascination, but the effects are more extreme, as

described.

SUSPICIOUS (mild): Anytime your character suffers intentional misfortune at the hands of another, he

might become extremely suspicious of everyone’s motives toward him. He might crash as a result of being

cut off in traffic or receive little help from assistants in a teamwork effort (see p. 134). Roll Resolve +

Composure for your character to resist the suspicion compulsion. “Misfortune” is characterized as failing an

important task due to the intentional intervention of another person even if it’s a friend or ally. Those people

whom your character already mistrusts for good reason can still trigger his suspicious nature if they

successfully foil his task – everyone then becomes a suspect, plotting to do him wrong. Combat does not

necessarily trigger this derangement. A Resolve + Composure roll is made only if combat is the means by

which someone intentionally prevents your character from achieving a goal. (Note: A roll for a task might

fail and your character chooses to blame someone else, but that doesnÕt necessarily trigger this

derangement’s effect. Only if someone directly causes him to fail is a roll made to avoid triggering his

suspicious nature.)

Effect: Your character’s trust is undermined for the remainder of the scene, regardless of whether or not the

person or persons who did him wrong meant any harm. He questions everyoneÕs sincerity and doubts that

anyone tries to help him, even if someone saves his life. He suffers a -1 penalty on all Social rolls. Note that,

even thug your character is suspicious, he can still be taken in by con men and hucksters. He gets no special

bonus to resist their attempts to sway him even though he suspects them of being as bad as everyone else.

PARANOIA (severe): Your character believes that her misery and insecurity stem from external

persecution and hostility. (That would be an accurate assumption in the World of Darkness, if people

actually knew of monsters’ existence.) Paranoids obsess over their persecution complexes, often creating

vast and intricate conspiracy theories to explain who torments them and why. Anyone or anything perceived

to be - one of them - might be subjected to violence.

Effect: A character who suffers from paranoia automatically suffers a -2 penalty on Social rolls. The

character is distrustful and wary of everyone, even close friends and family. The slightest hint of suspicious

behavior is enough to provoke a Resolve + Composure roll to retain control (made at a -2 penalty). A failed

roll indicates that your character flees or attacks an offender.

COMPULSIVE-AGGRESSIVE DISORDER (severe): When every night is a struggle for survival, some

nomads find it only practical to treat everything and everyone as a threat - to shoot first and ask questions

later, if at all. A vampire with this derangement, a variation of Paranoia, is constantly aggressive, reacting to

every social overture as a potential precursor to an attack.

Effect: The character uses Intimidation in every social encounter rather than other Social Skills like

Expression or Persuasion, and suffers a –2 penalty to rolls for resisting anger frenzies.

SYNESTHESIA (mild): Sometimes, Promethean minds interpret sensory input incorrectly or they have

diffi culty translating input into the proper context. In some cases, the results of this sense-mixing are

synesthesia, the ability to “taste” colors, “hear” tactile sensations or “see” smells. While this condition can

make for some interesting poetical expression, it can also make understanding between two individuals

difficult.

Effect: When the affl icted Promethean experiences an overwhelming amount of sensory or emotional input

– anything from looking into a light while using Nightsight (p. 147) to suffering pain in combat to discussing

a personal experience that necessitated a Humanity roll - the player should roll Wits + Composure. If the roll

succeeds, no additional complications occur. If the roll fails, the Promethean’s mind either misunderstands or

miscommunicates the environment, thus giving the Promethean erratic, confl icting and incorrect sensory

information. For the remainder of the scene, the Promethean suffers a –2 penalty to all Presence and

Manipulation dice pools, as she’s unable to effectively relate her experiences to those around her.

VOCALIZATION (mild): Whenever your character is stymied by a quandary and must make an important

decision about a course of action, or is under extreme stress, she might talk to herself without realizing it.

Roll Resolve + Composure to avoid this discomforting habit. Examples of important decisions include:

Trying to figure out which fork in the road to take so that the guerillas donÕt get to the village first. The

wrong choice means arriving precious minutes late and finding innocents killed or kidnapped. When your

character has one bullet but two foes, both of whom prepare to strike lethal blows against two separate

friends. Which should be shot? When the attorney slides a piece of paper with his final offer across the table.

Your character has minutes to say “yes” or “no”.

Effect: On a failed roll, your character vocalizes her internal monologue but only realizes it if it’s pointed

out by others, at which point she can stop for one turn per dot of Wits that she has. After that period, she

forgets herself and starts doing it all over again. This behavior persists for the remainder of the scene. Your

character vocalizes even if opponents or rivals can hear. It’s hard to keep her thoughts and feelings secret

when she speaks them aloud. For example, a rival might demand that she reveal the location of a hidden

heirloom. She smirks and think to herself (and unwittingly speaks aloud), “You’ll never find it in my hidden

wall safe.”

SCHIZOPHRENIA (severe; extreme): Conflicting sets of feelings and impulses that cannot be resolved

can cause your character to develop schizophrenia, which manifests as a withdrawal from reality, violent

changes in behavior and hallucinations. This derangement is the classic sort, causing victims to talk to walls,

imagine themselves to be the King of Siam, or to receive murderous instructions from their pets. Roleplaying

this derangement requires careful thought. The Storyteller must determine a general set of behaviors relevant

to the trauma that causes the condition. Hallucinations, bizarre behavior and disembodied voices stem from a

terrible inner conflict that the individual cannot resolve. Establish a firm idea of what that conflict is and then

rationalize what kind of behavior it causes.

Effect: A character with this derangement is unpredictable and dangerous. He automatically suffers a -2

penalty on all Social rolls and may be aggressive or violent toward people who confront him with trauma

such as accusations, disturbing truths or heated arguments. Make a Resolve + Composure roll for your

character to avoid escaping or attacking the source of trauma.

APHASIA (severe; extreme): There are some Kindred who are so shattered by an explosion of the

unthinking Beast that they never really seem to return to their fully rational selves. Driven over the threshold

of madness by degeneration or torment, they lose the capacity to understand and form speech, seeming more

the mute animal than the thinking man. Rising from torpor, frenzy or torture into uncomprehending

psychosis, they wander through a world of gibberish, unable to draw meaning from anything they hear. This

is a purely psychological derangement. The vampire can still hear everything that is being said and has all of

the physical faculty necessary to form words, but just doesn’t understand what comes in and seems to have

no control over what comes out. His speech is reduced to meaningless babble or clicks and smacks. This is a

horrifying derangement, especially for Kindred who tend to rely on their wit and charm for survival.

Frustration and resulting frenzy always threaten a vampire who suffers from Aphasia, arising whenever he is

forced to acknowledge that he can no longer comport himself normally in social situations.

Effect: The vampire is unable to communicate via speech. A Wits + Empathy roll must be made to get the

basic emotional gist of conversational dialog, and cannot be undertaken at all if the speaker is not visible. He

cannot speak intelligibly, and must resort to sign language, written text or telepathy to get his meaning

across. The expenditure of a Willpower point allows the vampire to comprehend and form speech for one

scene, but he descends back into his sorry state within minutes or hours, at the Storyteller’s discretion.

WAKING NIGHTMARE (severe): Your character physically awakens and brings his nightmares with

him. Upon encountering a specific trigger (agreed upon by player and Storyteller when the character acquires

this derangement), the character finds himself facing the creatures or situation from his nightmares. The

player must roll Resolve + Composure, with failure indicating that the character is lost in his nightmare

vision. He passes out, unconscious, for the remainder of the scene. A dramatic failure is much the same,

except that the character doesn’t simply lose consciousness. He begins attacking anything and anyone around

him, believing he is fighting off the creatures or enemies from his dreams. During this state, he is fully

capable of using whatever abilities and Disciplines he possesses, but he is also susceptible to frenzy or

Rötschreck, depending on the events of his dream.