Derangements

Derangements are psychological disorders created when the mind confronts intolerable feelings and attempts to cope with them through aberrant behavior. For vampires, they accumulate through the weight of centuries, the horror of what they are, and the specific traumas of Kindred existence.

Acquiring derangements: Botched Virtue/Willpower rolls, botched frenzy rolls, killing loved ones during frenzy, extended Sabbat ritual participation, diablerie, witnessing certain supernatural horrors, or any extended traumatic experience.

Suppressing derangements: Spend 1 Willpower point to prevent a derangement from manifesting for one scene. Sufficient expenditure over time may cure some derangements (with Storyteller permission).

Malkavian exception: The derangement gained at Embrace can never be cured. Not through Willpower, not through therapy, not through any supernatural means.

Derangements

Amnesia

The vampire’s memory of specific periods — often the Embrace, a traumatic event, or extended portions of their mortal life — is gone. The Storyteller controls what is missing and may introduce flashback fragments at inconvenient moments. Unlike supernatural memory alteration (Forgetful Mind), this is genuine psychological suppression.

Trigger: Encountering objects, places, or people connected to the missing period may force Willpower rolls to avoid fugue states.

Bipolar Disorder

Extreme mood swings between mania and depression, with no reliable middle ground.

Mechanics: On significant failures, the Storyteller may secretly roll Willpower (difficulty 8); failure triggers a depressive episode. While depressed: Willpower is halved (round down), the vampire cannot use blood to raise Attributes, and all Social rolls are at +1 difficulty. Duration: 1d10 scenes. After the depressive phase, a manic phase follows: Frenzy difficulty +1 (easier to trigger), Social rolls at –1 difficulty, overconfidence is constant.

Bulimia

A compulsive need to feed beyond satiation — taking more blood than needed, regardless of consequence to the vessel.

Mechanics: When feeding, roll Conscience/Conviction (difficulty 7). Failure: the vampire feeds until their blood pool is full, unable to stop voluntarily. If prevented from feeding mid-process: frenzy roll (difficulty 6, +1 for each 15 minutes prevented from completing the feeding).

Crimson Rage

Uncontrollable fury at perceived injustice or helplessness. The vampire destroys rather than redirects anger.

Mechanics: Any provocation that would normally require a frenzy roll (difficulty 4+) instead triggers an automatic frenzy roll at +2 difficulty. The frenzy is always destructive rather than hunger-driven.

Fugue

Blackout states under stress. The vampire loses control entirely, acting on subconscious drives without conscious awareness.

Mechanics: Willpower roll (difficulty 8) when significantly stressed. Failure: trance state; Storyteller takes control for 1d10 scenes. The vampire may act during a fugue — fight, flee, even have conversations — but retains no memory of events.

Hysteria

Uncontrollable emotional responses to stressful situations. The vampire cannot moderate their reactions.

Mechanics: Frenzy checks when stressed (difficulty 6 normally, 8 for sudden or severe stimuli). Any botch on any roll during high-stress situations causes automatic frenzy.

Megalomania

Obsessive accumulation of power and resources. The vampire cannot resist opportunities for advancement, regardless of risk.

Mechanics: Gains +1 die to all Willpower rolls (the obsession provides focus). However: when presented a realistic opportunity to diablerize a more potent Kindred, the vampire must succeed at Willpower (difficulty 9) to pass it up. The opportunity to seize significant power always requires a Willpower roll to resist acting on it immediately.

Multiple Personalities

The psyche has fractured under the weight of accumulated experience. Multiple distinct personalities inhabit the same body, with different values, memories, and capabilities.

Mechanics: Each personality responds to specific emotional stimuli or environmental triggers. Different personalities may have different Abilities (a dormant personality might have Languages or Performance the primary doesn’t use). Importantly: different personalities may have different Virtues and react to frenzy triggers differently. Storyteller determines triggers; player controls the active personality between switches.

Obsessive-Compulsive

Repetitive behaviors or intrusive thoughts that dominate the vampire’s attention when anxiety spikes.

Mechanics: Can be suppressed for one scene by spending 1 Willpower point. If someone deliberately interferes with the compulsion, difficulty to coerce or Dominate the vampire is +1. If forcibly prevented from completing the compulsion: automatic frenzy roll (difficulty 6).

Common manifestations: counting, checking, ritual behavior before any significant action, hoarding, contamination fears.

Paranoia

A persistent persecution complex — the belief that hidden forces conspire against the vampire specifically.

Mechanics: All Social interaction difficulties +1 (everyone is a potential threat). Suspicious behavior by any NPC provokes frenzy rolls at difficulty relative to the behavior. The vampire will not trust information at face value and may take dangerous preemptive actions against perceived enemies.

Sanguinary Animism

The vampire believes she consumes her victims’ souls when feeding — that the personalities of those she drains take up residence inside her.

Mechanics: After feeding, roll Willpower (difficulty 6; difficulty 9 if the mortal was drained to near death). Success: the vampire is tormented but functional. Failure: the “victim’s personality” takes control until just before dawn. The “victim” personality has no vampiric powers or Disciplines and generally attempts to undo whatever the vampire has been doing.

Schizophrenia

Profound disruption of thought, perception, and emotional response. Hallucinations, paranoia, and disordered thinking make consistent action very difficult.

Mechanics: In triggering situations (stress, blood, violence, supernatural phenomena): frenzy resistance difficulty +3, frenzy direction difficulty +3, and the vampire loses 3 dice from all Willpower rolls. The Storyteller may introduce hallucinations or disordered perceptions at any time as a narrative element.

Sanguinolency

An addictive relationship with blood that goes beyond the vampiric norm. The vampire craves the act of feeding compulsively and may develop specific preferences that override practical judgment.

Mechanics: Must resist the urge to feed opportunistically even when not hungry. When passing a suitable vessel, roll Self-Control (difficulty 6) or be compelled to attempt feeding. May develop dangerous preferences (children, specific types, dangerous sources).

Synesthesia

Sensory blending — sounds have colors, smells have textures, pain has sounds. For a vampire with Heightened Senses active, this can become overwhelming.

Mechanics: When Heightened Senses is active, all Perception rolls are at +2 difficulty from the competing input. However, the cross-sensory input occasionally provides information that normal perception would miss: the Storyteller may grant bonus dice on Investigation rolls related to crime scenes or emotionally charged locations.

Derangements and Humanity

Acquiring new derangements is itself a sign of psychological damage. At Storyteller discretion, accumulating derangements may trigger degeneration checks — not because the vampire is sinning, but because the fracturing of the self is a measure of the distance from humanity.

Conversely, reducing derangements through sustained effort and Willpower expenditure may warrant experience point awards or even Humanity increases for vampires close to their breaking point who manage to pull back.

Combination Derangements

Extended trauma or extremely severe events can produce multiple simultaneous derangements that interact. A vampire with both Paranoia and Schizophrenia operates under a fundamentally different psychological reality than one with either alone. The Storyteller should track combinations and allow them to produce emergent behaviors beyond what either derangement specifies individually.