Derangements

Derangements are behaviors that are created when the mind is forced to confront intolerable or conflicting feelings, such as overwhelming terror or profound guilt. When the mind is faced with impressions or emotions that it cannot reconcile, it attempts to ease the inner conflict by stimulating behavior such as megalomania, bulimia, or hysteria to provide an outlet for the tension and stress that the conflict generates.

Vampires or mortals receive derangements under conditions of intense terror, guilt, or anxiety. If a player botches a Virtue or Willpower roll (for example, when confronted with Rötschreck), the Storyteller may decide that the experience causes a derangement in the character. Other examples of derangement-inducing events include killing a loved one while in a frenzy, being buried alive as part of a Sabbat ritual, or seeing hundreds of years of careful scheming dashed in an instant of bad luck. Generally, any experience that causes intense and unpleasant emotion or thoroughly violates a character's beliefs or ethics is severe enough to cause a derangement. The Storyteller determines which derangement a character receives, working with the player to choose (or create) one appropriate to the character's personality and the circumstances of the event that caused the disorder.

It must be noted that people who are "crazy" are neither funny nor arbitrary in their actions. Insanity is frightening to those who are watching someone rage against unseen presences or hoard rotten meat to feed to the monsters that live next door; even something as harmless-sounding as talking to an invisible rabbit can become disturbing to observers. The insane, however, are only responding to a pattern known to them, stimuli that they perceive in their own minds. To their skewed perceptions, what's happening to them is perfectly normal. Your vampire's derangement is there for a reason, whether he's a Malkavian who resided at Bedlam before his Embrace or a Ventrue pack member who escaped from five months of torture at the hands of an Inquisitor. What stimuli is his insanity inflicting on him, and how is he reacting to what's happening?

The player should work with his Storyteller to create a pattern of provocations for his derangement, and then decide how his character reacts to such provocation. Derangements are a challenge to roleplay, without question, but a little time and care can result in an experience that is dramatic for all involved.

New inclusions have been made for Saint Burleaux, as the original list provided by White Wolf was very limiting and at times, medically incorrect.

Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar individuals suffer from severe mood swings, sometimes resulting from severe trauma or anxiety. Victims may be upbeat and confident one moment, then uncontrollably lethargic and pessimistic the next.

Kindred with this derangement are constantly on a hair trigger, never knowing when the next mood swing will strike. Whenever the vampire fails a task, the Storyteller has the option of secretly making a Willpower roll (difficulty 8) for the character. If the character fails the roll, she lapses into depression. Additionally, the vampire will go into depression whenever one of her rolls is botched, or if her blood pool ever drops below 2. The Storyteller should roll a die to determine how many scenes the character remains depressed, keeping the number a secret.

Vampires in a depressive state have their Willpower ratings halved (minimum 1). In addition, the vampire may not access her blood pool to raise Attributes. Upon emerging from the depressive state, the character is energetic, relentlessly upbeat and active (obsessively so) for a number of scenes proportionate to the time spent in depression. When a vampire is in this manic state, the difficulty of all rolls to resist frenzy is raised by one.

Bulimia
Individuals with bulimia assuage their guilt and insecurity by indulging in activities that comfort them -- in this case, consuming food. A bulimic will eat tremendous amounts of food when subjected to stress, then empty her stomach through drastic measures so she can eat still more.

In the case of vampires with this derangement, the need to feed is a means of relieving the fear and anxiety endemic to the World of Darkness. A bulimic vampire may feed four or more times a night -- gorging herself, burning the blood in pointless (or not so pointless) activity, then starting the cycle again.

A vampire with bulimia gets hungry much more quickly than other vampires do. When feeding, a bulimic vampire must make a Conscience or Conviction roll (difficulty 7). If she fails the roll, she feeds until her blood pool is full, whether the vampire needs the extra blood or not. A vampire who is forcibly kept from feeding risks frenzy (make a frenzy roll, difficulty 6). The difficulty increases by one for every 15 minutes that she is prevented from drinking.

Dementia [New]
Also known as senility, is a broad category of brain diseases that cause a long term and often gradual decrease in the ability to think and remember such that a person's daily functioning is affected. Other common symptoms include emotional problems, problems with language, and a decrease in motivation. Victims of dementia can present symptoms such as: The player can pick up to 3 of the symptoms and play them up with the character. Rolls get affected depending on the symptom. For instance, if your character has a spacial problem or trouble calculating distance and space, his dexterity rolls will be affected.
 * Amnesia or “lagoons” of memories
 * Erroneous calculation of space (“ I thought the chair was further away, kept walking and hit myself with it”)
 * Confusion
 * Low mood
 * Low attention span
 * Forgetfulness
 * Communication problems
 * Reasoning and judgement

Depression [New]
Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behavior, feelings and sense of well-being. People with depressed mood can feel sad, anxious, empty, hopeless, helpless, worthless, guilty, irritable, ashamed or restless. They may lose interest in activities that were once pleasurable, have problems concentrating, remembering details or making decisions, and may contemplate, attempt or commit suicide. Depression can be caused by a number of events, and players are encouraged to work this into their character’s life story. Difficulties where it seems like there is no escape from, whether it be financial problems, abuse, neglect, isolation, bullying, or any other significant problems can force a person into a depressive state.

When a Kindred manifests this Derangement, it spirals into an overdrive combination of lethargy and crippling low self esteem. Every night the afflicted awakens, they must make a WP roll against a difference of 5. Success means that they can go about their normal business. Failure means that they may leave their home, but everything they do will be under the miasma of misery, nothing accomplished during this time will give the sufferer pleasure and everything is viewed through a negative lens. A Botch means the self harming aspects of this Derangement manifest, and the afflicted must engage in an activity that causes them physical pain such as cutting, burning a cigarette against their skin, etc. Anything to do with burning will still require a Rotschreck roll.

Suicidal thoughts overwhelm the mind when WP is at a 0, and a Kindred may contemplate ending themselves, though an SC roll (difficulty 5) is to be made before one can actually go through any motions. Usually this ends up with a Kindred just making a fool of themselves, as suicide in their state is magnificently difficult to do. Wrist slitting, hanging, even getting hit by a car are all survivable, and the Beast inside will refuse to allow a Kindred to merely wait for the sun to rise unless they are heavily restrained.

Fugue
Victims suffering from fugue experience "blackouts" and loss of memory. When subjected to stress, the individual begins a specific, rigid set of behaviors to remove the stressful symptoms. This differs from multiple personalities, as the individual in the grip of a fugue has no separate personality, but is on a form of "autopilot" similar to sleepwalking.

Kindred suffering from this derangement require a Willpower roll when subjected to extreme stress or pressure (difficulty 8). If the roll fails, the player must roleplay her character's trancelike state; otherwise, control of the character passes to the Storyteller for a number of scenes determined by the roll of a die. During this period, the Storyteller may have the character act as she sees fit to remove the source of the stress. At the end of the fugue, the character "regains consciousness" with no memory of her actions.

Hysteria
A person in the grip of hysteria is unable to control her emotions, suffering severe mood swings and violent fits when subjected to stress or anxiety.

Hysterical Kindred must make frenzy checks whenever subjected to stress or pressure. The difficulties of these rolls are normally 6, increasing to 8 if the stress is sudden or especially severe. Additionally, any action that results in a botch causes the vampire to frenzy automatically.

Mania [New]
This derangement inflicts the Kindred with a constant state of energy and optimism, which may seem beneficial, but is often accompanied by a lack of tact or caution and an easily distracted personality. This kindred likely speaks loudly and rapidly about nearly anything that crosses their mind, has trouble sitting still for any period of time, and probably indulges in whatever random compulsion crosses their fancy.

Every night the character must roll their WP against a difficulty of 5. Success means they behave relatively normally if a bit ‘bouncy’, but failure indicates that they are in a state of increased hyperactivity for the night, resulting in a +1 difficulty to all frenzy rolls and a state of ‘impatience’. (Any time the Kindred is unoccupied even briefly, they must roll SC, and if failed they will go tearing off on their own.)

A constant effect of Mania is the desire to multitask, but the inability to focus long enough to complete anything. For the first hour that a character with Mania must perform a task or duty, they must roll SC difficulty 4 in order to avoid simply dropping the task completely and picking up a new one. This difficulty increases by 1 for every hour thereafter.

Megalomania
Also known as Narcissistic Personality Disorder, individuals with this derangement are obsessed with accumulating power and wealth, salving their insecurities by becoming the most potent individuals in their environment. Such individuals are invariably arrogant and supremely sure of their abilities, convinced of their own inherent superiority. The means of achieving their status can take many forms, from devious conspiracies to outright brutality. Any individual of equal or higher status than the victim is perceived to be "competition."

Kindred with this derangement constantly struggle to rise to the height of power and influence, by whatever means necessary. In a megalomaniac's view, there are only two classes of people: those who are weaker, and those who do not deserve the power they have and must be made weaker. This belief extends to everyone around the vampire, including members of her own coterie. This derangement lends an extra die to all of the victim's Willpower rolls, due to her towering sense of superiority.

If a megalomaniacal vampire is presented with a realistic chance to diablerize a more potent Kindred, she will be sorely tempted. A Willpower roll (difficulty 9) is needed for the vampire to avoid taking "what is rightfully hers."

Misophonia [New] [Uncommon]
Literally meaning "hatred of sound", misophonia is a neuropsychiatric disorder in which negative emotions such as anger and hatred are triggered by specific sounds. It’s not necessary that one is born with this disorder, it can come about from classical conditioning and being exposed to certain noises for tremendous periods of time. Those with this Derangement do poorly around those with audio tics, and will lash out either verbally or in the case of some kindred, physically.

When picking misophonia, you must lay out a certain number of triggers your character cannot stand. People who have misophonia are most commonly angered by specific sounds, such as slurping, throat-clearing, nail-clipping, chewing, drinking, tooth-brushing, breathing, sniffing, talking, sneezing, yawning, walking, gum-chewing or popping, laughing, snoring, swallowing, gulping, typing, tapping, coughing, humming, whistling, singing, teeth clicking, certain consonants, or repetitive sounds. You must pick at least 3 triggers, and they do not have to be those listed above, or even something audio. Visual triggers can happen with repetitive foot or body movements, fidgeting, or movement they observe out of the corners of their eyes. It is much more common for misophonia to be audio only, though.

Whenever one of these triggers manifests, be it caused by the surrounding environment or another character, the sufferer must make a Self Control roll at a difference of 5. If your roll succeeds, your character still has the rush of anxiety come over them, however they can choose to stay or leave in a peaceful manner. A failure means that the character must leave the vicinity of the trigger immediately, restraining them in any manner to stay near the object of the trigger will require another SC roll at +1 for every turn they are restrained until they are able to get away. A botch means the character goes into a frenzy, and it operates exactly like a normal frenzy would.

Multiple Personalities [Rare]
The trauma that spawns this derangement fractures the victim's personality into one or more additional personas, allowing the victim to deny her trauma or any actions the trauma causes by placing the blame on "someone else." Each personality 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 in order to deny the abuse she is suffering. In most cases none of the personalities is aware of the others, and they come and go through the victim's mind in response to specific situations or conditions.

When a vampire suffers this derangement, the Storyteller and the player must agree upon how many and what kind of personalities develop, and the situations that trigger their dominance in the victim. Each personality should be relevant to the trauma that causes it. Not only is each personality distinct, but in the case of Kindred, the different personalities might believe themselves to be from different Clans and sires.

Kindred with multiple personalities can manifest different Abilities and even Virtues for each of their personalities, but it is the Storyteller's responsibility to determine the specific details. Though Multiple Personality Disorder is questioned to even exist in real life, we have left it in as an inclusion to World of Darkness, however as a player you must come up with an exceedingly good reason for more than two personalities.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
The trauma, guilt, or inner conflict that causes this derangement forces the individual to focus nearly all of her attention and energy onto a single repetitive behavior or action. Obsession relates to an individual's desire to control her environment -- keeping clean, keeping an area quiet and peaceful, or keeping undesirable individuals from an area, for example. A compulsion is an action or set of actions that an individual is driven to perform to soothe her anxieties: For example, placing objects in an exact order, or feeding from a mortal in a precise, ritualistic fashion.

Vampires with an obsessive-compulsive derangement must determine a set of specific actions or behaviors, as described above, and follow them to the exclusion of all else. The effects of obsessive-compulsive behavior can be negated for the course of one scene by spending a temporary Willpower point. The difficulty of any attempt to coerce or Dominate a vampire into ceasing her behavior is raised by one. If a vampire is forcibly prevented from adhering to her derangement, she automatically frenzies.

Paranoia
The victim of paranoia believes that her misery and insecurity stem from external persecution and hostility. Paranoid individuals obsess about their persecution complexes, often creating vast and intricate conspiracy theories to explain who is tormenting them and why. Anyone or anything perceived to be "one of them" is often subjected to violence.

Kindred who suffer from paranoia have difficulty with social interaction; the difficulties of all dice rolls involving interaction are increased by one. They are distrustful and suspicious of everyone, even their own blood-bound progeny. The slightest hint of suspicious behavior is enough to provoke a frenzy roll, with the difficulty relative to the degree of the behavior. This paranoia may even extend to complex and rigorous feeding practices, to keep "them" from contaminating the vampire's food supply.

Pathological Lying [New]
Also called pseudologia fantastica and mythomania, Pathological Lying is a behavior of habitual or compulsive lying. Pathological lying has been defined as "falsification entirely disproportionate to any discernible end in view, may be extensive and very complicated, and may manifest over a period of years or even a lifetime. The individual may be aware they are lying, or may believe they are telling the truth, being unaware that they are relating fantasies.

The stories told are usually dazzling or fantastical, but never breach the limits of plausibility, which is key to the pathological liar's tack. Unlike kine who manifest this trait, Kindred will be much less willing to admit the yarns they spin are false, and it takes a 1 Willpower point to admit your falsehoods. Otherwise, this Derangement is compulsory, there’s no fighting it for long.

If another person were to point out your falsehoods, you must roll Self Control against a difference of 3 to start with since it’s likely these stories get rebuffed often. For every turn the offender keeps insisting what you say is a lie, the difference to roll against goes up 1. Failure means that you lash out at a person vocally in a stressful angry manner, despite wanting to tear them apart. No matter what they say, you are right, and you know it. A botch requires that you do lash out physically, though this is a snap judgement of sorts. Usually one good punch to the face is enough to satisfy the sufferer.

Sanguinary Animism
This derangement is unique to the Kindred, a response to vampires' deep-seated guilt regarding the act of feeding on the blood of mortals. Kindred with this derangement believe that they do not merely consume victims' blood, but their souls as well, which are then made a part of the vampire's consciousness. In the hours after feeding, the vampire hears the voice of her victim inside her head and feels a tirade of "memories" from the victim's mind -- all created by the vampire's subconscious. In extreme cases, this sense of possession can drive a Kindred to carry out actions on behalf of her victims. Diablerie would be particularly unwise for an animist.

Whenever a vampire with this derangement feeds on a mortal, a Willpower roll is needed (difficulty 6, or 9 if she drains the mortal to the point of death). If the roll succeeds, she is tormented by the "memories" of the person whose soul she has partially consumed, but is still able to function normally. If the roll fails, then the images in her mind are so strong that it is akin to having a second personality inside her, an angry and reproachful personality that seeks to cause harm to the vampire and her associates. The player must roleplay this state as if the mind of her victim in control. During the moments just before dawn, control reverts to the vampire.

Schizophrenia
Conflicting, unresolvable sets of feelings and impulses can cause a victim to develop schizophrenia, which manifests as a withdrawal from reality, violent changes in behavior, and hallucinations. Roleplaying this derangement requires careful thought, because the player must determine a general set of behaviors relevant to the trauma that caused the derangement. Please keep in mind that untreated schizophrenia is a truly frightening disorder for the sufferer to go through, as they constantly have to second guess their own reality. It's not a 'quirky disease' that makes a person appear only a little odd. Victims of schizophrenia go through high mental stress in order to keep functioning, and this will need to be roleplayed out.

The hallucinations, bizarre behavior, and unseen voices stem from a terrible inner conflict that the individual cannot resolve. The player needs to establish a firm idea of what that conflict is and then rationalize what kind of behavior this conflict will cause. Kindred with this derangement are unpredictable and dangerous. In situations that trigger a vampire's inner conflict, the difficulties of all rolls to resist or direct frenzy increase by three, and the vampire loses three dice from all Willpower rolls.

Sociopathy [New]
A sociopath lacks any true empathy for others around him and likely has a very low conscience. This Kindred must have an appropriate nature, (such as Monster, Sadist, Deviant, etc) and stats that reflect they are uncaring of others. They may still appear to be normal and even charming, but underneath they have an incapacity to act for anyone but themselves. Without a high Self Control score, this Kindred may also be prone to torturing or murdering other people regularly. In addition, a sociopath is generally egotistical and narcissistic, which often results in them being braver and more secure with themselves than they should be.

If afflicted with this derangement, a Kindred must make conversation rolls (such as charisma+subterfuge or manipulation+expression) regularly to respond in a way that mimics concern for others. Failure indicates they come off as clearly sarcastic.

Blood bonds and domination may still compel the afflicted character to take actions others ask of them, but a full blood bond will not produce feelings of ‘love’, merely obsession or possession and a selfish desire to get validation from the domitor.

Characters that have this affliction cannot have conscience nor empathy above 1 unless it is removed. (Malkavians that start with this Derangement can never be cured of it) A point in empathy should be treated as merely recognizing emotions, not as sympathizing with them.

Synesthesia [New]
The afflicted vampire's sensory input is somewhat "scrambled"; although he's still capable of receiving sensory information, the information each sense provides is processed in terms of a different sense. In short, the synesthetic "hears" colors, "smells" textures, "tastes" sounds and the like, and is hard-pressed to think of such stimuli in any other fashion.

Although the synesthetic is presumably accustomed to the unusual sensory input, his real problem lies in communicating what he senses to others. A character so afflicted has difficulty expressing concepts as simple as "cut the red wire" - he's much more likely to say "cut the sandpapery wire" or something similar - and even has similar difficulties comprehending speech from others. Since the associations vary from individual to individual, there's not even any guarantee that another synesthetic would be able to understand the vampire.

Apart from the aforementioned difficulties in daily communication, the synesthetic receives + 2 difficulty to any Expression and Performance rolls that don't involve creating purely surreal art, poetry or the like. The synesthetic may spend a Willpower point to correlate her sensory input in a "normal" fashion for a turn - or rather, at least to be able to communicate "normally" in terms of colors, textures, smells, tastes, temperature or sound. The character would still hear a ringing noise and think of it as a spicy smell, for instance - he's just able to focus enough to associate that spicy smell he hears with what other people call "ringing."