Lunatic Eruption

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Dementation 9

This fearsome ability is only known to have been applied a few times in recorded Kindred history, most spectacularly during the final nights of the last battle of Carthage. It is effectively a psychic nuclear bomb, used to incite every intelligent being within several miles into an orgy of bloodlust and rage. It is suspected that the Malkavians have used the threat of this power as a bargaining chip in several key negotiations with Camarilla elders.

System: The player spends four Willpower points and rolls Stamina + Intimidation (difficulty 8). The radius of the effect is determined by the number of successes scored:

Successes Radius
1 success 1 city block / 500 feet
2 An entire neighborhood / 1 mile
3 A large downtown area / 3 miles
4 Several Neighborhoods / 10 miles
5 An entire metropolitan area / 30 miles
6+ + 10 miles for every success past 5

Within this area, all sentient creatures fall prey to their baser instincts. Mortals spontaneously riot, looting and burning between bouts of mass violence. Kindred enter hunger-induced frenzies, draining dry as many vessels as they can sink their fangs into. Other supernatural beings run amok according to their base natures: Lupines under the effect of this power enter their war-forms and frenzy indiscriminately at anything that resembles an enemy, mages temporarily fall into states of magic-induced delusion, and the Fae bask in the sudden influx of energy and revel in their temporary power. An entire city can quite literally be driven temporarily insane by this power. Lunatic Eruption's effects persist until the next sunrise, and anyone entering its radius of effect (centered on the site at which it was used, not on the character who applied it) falls under its spell. However, inertia may carry the violence spawned by this power much farther - and keep it going much longer - than the power itself can force.

Victims of Lunatic Eruption may resist with Self-Control/Instinct rolls (difficulty of the character's Willpower); each success provides one hour of lucidity, which most wise individuals use to leave the power's area of effect (leaving the "blast radius" does not remove the power's influence). The source of Lunatic Eruption may be pinpointed if a character is using Heightened Senses or an equivalent power at the time it is used; this is automatic and requires no roll. However, this grants no knowledge of what actually happened - the observer simply "feels" a massive psychic shockwave explode from the character using this power.