V20 Rules Reference
Dementation in V20
Dementation lets a Malkavian spend blood points to push emotion, senses, and reason past what the target can hold.
Looking for madness in 5th Edition Dominate? Read the V5 Disciplines guideThe short answer.
Dementation is the Malkavian madness Discipline in the V20 catalog, and it is not Dominate. Haunting the Soul, The Voice of Madness, and Total Insanity each spend one blood point, never a Hunger die. Dots are bought in order from Passion through Total Insanity. Generation still caps how many blood points leave the pool in one turn.
What Dementation can touch
The Discipline works on a mind in the scene. It does not replace Dominate and it does not edit Humanity on the sheet by itself.
- Emotion
- Passion rolls Charisma plus Empathy. The catalog ties difficulty to the target's Humanity or Path, and the row has no blood cost.
- The senses
- Haunting the Soul spends one blood point and rolls Manipulation plus Subterfuge against the target. The Storyteller says what the victim thinks they see.
- A hidden pattern
- The Eyes of Chaos rolls Perception plus Occult. Difficulty follows how tangled the pattern is. The row has no blood cost.
- Reason
- The Voice of Madness spends one blood point and is the automatic roll: Manipulation plus Empathy at difficulty 7. Total Insanity spends one blood point and opposes Willpower.
Levels in order
Names and order follow the V20 catalog. Each line is the change, not a full system write-up.
| Level | Power | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Passion | Roll Charisma plus Empathy, with difficulty tied to the target's Humanity or Path, to swell or sour an emotion the Storyteller then plays. |
| 2 | Haunting the Soul | Spend one blood point and roll Manipulation plus Subterfuge against the target to flood their senses with visions the Storyteller interprets. |
| 3 | The Eyes of Chaos | Roll Perception plus Occult, with the Storyteller setting difficulty by how tangled the pattern is, to read order the scene was hiding. |
| 4 | The Voice of Madness | Spend one blood point and roll Manipulation plus Empathy at difficulty 7, the one Dementation power the engine resolves, to push listeners toward panic. |
| 5 | Total Insanity | Spend one blood point and roll Manipulation plus Intimidation against Willpower to break the target's reason, leaving the derangement to the Storyteller. |
Run it in this order.
- Declare the Dementation power and the person or scene it touches.
- Spend one blood point for Haunting the Soul, The Voice of Madness, or Total Insanity, inside the generation per-turn cap. Passion and The Eyes of Chaos have no blood cost on the row.
- For The Voice of Madness, roll Manipulation plus Empathy at difficulty 7, which is the pool the engine uses. For the other four powers, the Storyteller sets the difficulty.
- Resolve the fear, vision, or break at the table. The receipt does not assign a derangement or rewrite Humanity.
Madness is not a free second power
Passion does not come bundled with The Voice of Madness. Each declaration is its own action, and the three powers that cost a blood point pay that point before the effect lands.
Generation caps the blood
Those three powers cost 1 blood point each. Tenth generation and thinner may spend only 1 blood point in a turn, so a second blood-costing power, or a mend, waits. Eighth generation may spend 3, which can cover one such power and still leave room.
Dementation does not raise an Attribute
The Eyes of Chaos can show a pattern. It does not add Perception or Occult dots. Total Insanity does not lower the target's Intelligence on the sheet. Dominate remains a different Discipline.
Keep the blood on the sheet
Vous voulez jouer au V20 classique sans interrompre la table pour effectuer des calculs d'absorption en plusieurs étapes et suivre le sang ? Testez une chronique solo interactive avec le moteur V20 de Vampiro Life.
Common mistakes
- Putting Hunger dice on a V20 Dementation roll. The spend, when there is one, is a blood point.
- Spending Willpower after you see a botch and treating that as a cancelled 1. The automatic success has to be legal for that roll before you rely on it.
- Using Passion and Haunting the Soul in one turn and spending two blood points on a 10th-generation vampire, whose cap is 1.
- Playing Dementation as Dominate, or buying Total Insanity without the four lower dots. Malkavian's catalog trio is Auspex, Dementation, and Obfuscate.
One spend at the table
This is the power the engine actually rolls.
The station hall
Mara Ellison, 10th-generation Malkavian, declares The Voice of Madness.
She spends 1 blood point, the entire per-turn cap, from a pool whose maximum is 13. The engine rolls Manipulation plus Empathy at difficulty 7. The Storyteller decides who panics, and she cannot spend more blood to mend until the next turn.
What the V20 sheet tracks
The sheet stores a Dementation rating from 0 to 5, separate from Dominate. Only one power on this list is resolved automatically.
- Malkavian lists Dementation with Auspex and Obfuscate. Dominate is a different key on the sheet.
- The Voice of Madness is the automatic check: Manipulation plus Empathy, difficulty 7, and 1 blood point. The scene effect is still the Storyteller's.
- Passion, Haunting the Soul, The Eyes of Chaos, and Total Insanity are manual. An adjudicated check can record the roll and a fixed blood cost where the row has one.
- The receipt does not choose the emotion, the hallucination, or the derangement.
Frequently asked
Do V20 Malkavians have Dementation or Dominate?
- This catalog gives Malkavians Auspex, Dementation, and Obfuscate. Dominate is a separate Discipline with its own powers.
Which Dementation power does the engine roll by itself?
- The Voice of Madness. It spends 1 blood point and rolls Manipulation plus Empathy at difficulty 7. The other four need the Storyteller to set the difficulty.
Is level 2 called The Haunting?
- The catalog name is Haunting the Soul. The Eyes of Chaos is level 3, The Voice of Madness is level 4, and Total Insanity is level 5.
Does Dementation use Hunger dice?
- No. When a power spends anything from the vitae track, it spends blood points. Passion and The Eyes of Chaos have no blood cost on the row.
Can I buy Total Insanity first?
- No. Dots are bought in order, and a check requires the stored rating to be at least that power's level. Rating 5 includes the lower powers. It is not a menu of five unrelated tricks.
Règles liées
Keep the blood on the sheet
Vous voulez jouer au V20 classique sans interrompre la table pour effectuer des calculs d'absorption en plusieurs étapes et suivre le sang ? Testez une chronique solo interactive avec le moteur V20 de Vampiro Life.