Haunt the Soul

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Dementation 2

This power lets its user bombard a target with maddening visions for hours or even months, assailing her sanity and degrading the boundary between reality and imagination. The character cannot predict or control the images beyond a certain point: He can decide on a desired effect, but the images are spawned entirely from the victim's mind and are invisible to the vampire using the power.

The images themselves are fleeting. They are only visible on the edges of the target's vision, or they superimpose themselves over the current scene, but they exist for only a moment. Victims report that these images tend to follow a general theme: They might revolve around the target killing her family, messages from angels and saints or fire consuming everything it touches. The images may last long enough to drive the target mad, or she may find strength in herself or her faith in God to outlast an incipient breakdown.

System: Roll Manipulation + Empathy. The difficulty is the target's Perception + Self-Control or Instinct. The number of successes necessary determines the period over which the visions appear. A failure on this roll does not infect the target with the images, and you cannot try again for one full night. A botch might infect you with those images (plucked from the target's unconscious, not your own) or shut down your Dementation abilities for a full night. Success yields the following duration:

Successes Duration
Failure Cannot try again for one full night
1 success 1 night
2 3 nights
3 1 week
4 1 month
5 3 months
6+ 1 year

Throughout the determined time period, the target risks losing his mind. While this degeneration is something best played out or left to the Storyteller's devices, it will surely cost Willpower to keep hold of one's sanity. Those characters who do not act in accordance with their Natures, so as to better regain spent Willpower, are likely to go mad.