Melpominee
Melpominee is the voice made weapon, instrument, and miracle. Every Power in this Discipline requires the user to vocalize: speak, sing, scream, hum, chant, whisper, or anything else that produces sound from your throat. If you've been gagged, silenced, or otherwise can't make noise, you can't use Melpominee. If the target can't hear you, they can't be affected (Psychic Scream is the hard-earned exception). Earplugs, noise-canceling headphones, and deafness all block Melpominee below Level 5.
Unlike Presence, Melpominee transmits freely through electronic media: phone calls, live streams, recordings, albums, voicemails, that one banger of a Vine you forgot about. A Daughter's debut single can be a genuine public safety concern.
Most Melpominee Powers work through general vocalization alone. Those that explicitly require singing say so.
Singing with a Choir: When multiple Daughters of Cacophony use the same Melpominee Power together in harmony, the effect intensifies. Any Power that affects multiple targets within a Range gains +1 Range band per additional Daughter beyond the first. Any Stay Chill rolls triggered by the Power suffer a negative Ongoing modifier equal to the total number of Daughters performing. There's also a strong chance everybody will be compelled to snap their fingers in perfect sync.
Ventriloquism (Discipline Perk)¶
You can project your voice to any point within line of sight that's Distant or closer, making it sound as though you are speaking from that location: behind someone, around a corner, through a window, from an upper floor, off a distant rooftop. No roll is required.
The voice carries at whatever volume you choose, from a whisper to a shout, and can be clearly heard by anyone within Close Range of the projected point. Your lips don't move unless you want them to, and even then, they don't have to match up with what you're actually saying.
You can use any other Melpominee Power through your projected voice as though you were standing at that point.
Level 1¶
Distorted Voice¶
You can freely alter your own voice in any way: deeper, higher, accented, aged, gendered, robotic, auto-tuned, or completely unrecognizable. No roll is required and the change lasts as long as you want.
When you attempt to perfectly mimic a specific individual's voice, make a Hunger Check and roll +Demeanor.
On a 10+, the mimicry is flawless. Anyone who knows the voice would swear they were hearing the real thing.
On a 7–9, close but not quite. The Storyteller chooses 1 complication:
- Something is slightly off: an inflection, a vocal tic, a cadence that doesn't match, vocabulary, etc.
- The mimicry is perfect but you can only maintain it for a few sentences before your natural voice bleeds through
- Someone who knows the voice exceptionally well (lover, sire, longtime ally) catches the discrepancy
On a 6-, the impression is obviously wrong. Anyone hearing it knows immediately that it's fake, and they'll remember your real voice underneath the attempt. The person you were impersonating will eventually hear about this. Plus it's kind of cringe-inducing for everyone around you. Yikes, girl.
Cognitive Dissonance (Passive)¶
You lean into the music that never stops. While singing along with your Inner Song (Free Action to start or stop), you can choose a number of targets within Far Range up to your Blood Potency (minimum 1). Those targets suffer -1 Ongoing to all rolls for as long as you keep singing and they can hear you.
While Cognitive Dissonance is active, you cannot use any other Discipline Power that requires vocalization; your voice is already spoken for. This Power works in combat, but ends if you take Harm equal to or greater than your Blood Potency — it's quite hard to get stabbed and keep singing. Ask me how I know.
Level 2¶
Piercing Wail¶
When you open your mouth and unleash a devastating sonic blast, make a Hunger Check and roll +Blood.
The wail strikes every person, creature, and object within Close Range, dealing 2 + your Blood + your Demeanor in Superficial Harm. Every target hit also suffers -1 Forward. Daughters of Cacophony and the belongings on their person are immune. You never take Harm directly from this Power. Everything and everyone else is fair game: Coterie members, enemies, bystanders, furniture, loose sandwiches, windows, load-bearing walls. Sound waves do not discriminate.
On a 10+, the blast is controlled and works as described above. You decide what exactly comes out.
On a 7–9, full Harm as above, but the Storyteller chooses 1 complication:
- The structural damage is worse than intended; something important breaks, cracks, or collapses
- The noise carries far beyond Close Range; someone is coming to investigate
- Your voice strains from the effort; you have Disadvantage on your next Melpominee roll this scene
On a 6-, full Harm as above, but the blast spirals beyond your control. The sonic wave carries further than Close Range, the structural damage is significant, and the Inner Song floods in through the ringing silence that follows. You must immediately Stay Chill or succumb to your Compulsion as the Cacophony crashes over you.
Convincing Affect¶
When you vocalize with deliberate emotional intent, threading a specific feeling into the timbre of your voice, make a number of Hunger Checks equal to the intensity you wish to instill (1 for Fleeting, 2 for Intense, 3 for Acute), then roll +Demeanor.
You instill one of the four Blood Resonances in a single target:
- Sanguine (joy, desire, pleasure)
- Choleric (anger, passion, intensity)
- Melancholic (sorrow, fear, grief)
- Phlegmatic (calm, apathy, submission)
The Resonance you instill matches the emotional tone of your vocalization. The target's blood carries that Resonance at the chosen intensity for the rest of the night or until someone Feeds upon them. Any vampire who does so gains the corresponding Advantage, even if they didn't want or earn it. The target also experiences the associated emotions, though they retain free will. They might also want your number, or maybe even your autograph.
On a 10+, the Resonance takes hold cleanly. The target has no idea their emotional state was externally influenced.
On a 7–9, the Resonance takes hold, but the Storyteller chooses 1 complication:
- The emotional shift is obvious and jarring; the target and anyone nearby can tell something just happened and you might need to explain yourself quickly
- The intensity is one step weaker than you intended (Acute → Intense, Intense → Fleeting)
- The Resonance is matched to your Inner Song; any vampire who Feeds from this vessel tonight also hears a melody they cannot shake and suffers -1 Ongoing to +Wits rolls as per your Bane
On a 6-, the Resonance rebounds. Your own Vitae carries the Resonance you were trying to instill at the intensity you paid for. Any vampire who Feeds on you tonight gets the corresponding Advantage. The target is unaffected and may wonder why you suddenly look so emotional.
Level 3¶
Phantom Voice¶
When you reach out with your voice to someone you've spoken to before for at least 1 scene, make a number of Hunger Checks equal to the number of scenes you wish to maintain the connection (1 Hunger Check = 1 scene, up to 5).
Your voice is heard in the target's ear as clearly as if you were standing next to them. You can hold a normal two-way conversation; they can respond and you hear them. The connection's reach depends on your Blood Potency; at BP 3 you can reach anyone within Distant Range, at BP 4 you can reach any other Daughter of Cacophony at any distance, and at BP 5, the Range restriction is removed and you may contact anyone you know anywhere in the world.
The target always hears your Inner Song bleeding faintly underneath your words, like hold music from a phone line nobody really wants to be on. There is nothing you can do about this. The target may find it unsettling, soothing, groovy as hell, or just plain weird.
Distraction¶
When you begin to sing, hum, rhythmically vocalize, or otherwise fill the air with your voice and refuse to stop, make a Hunger Check and roll +Demeanor.
The effect lasts for as long as you continue vocalizing. Stopping ends it immediately.
Mortals within Close Range are automatically entranced; they stand still, listen, and suffer -3 Ongoing to noticing anything else happening around them. Supernatural creatures with Blood Potency equal to or lower than yours are similarly affected without resistance.
Supernatural creatures with Blood Potency higher than yours can attempt to resist. They must Stay Chill and roll 7+ to be unaffected. On anything less, they too are caught in your melodic snare.
On a 10+, the performance is mesmerizing. Every affected target is utterly enraptured; short of physical violence, nothing will draw their attention away from you.
On a 7–9, the performance takes hold, but the Storyteller chooses 1 complication:
- The Inner Song bleeds into your performance; the affected hear something alien and unearthly underneath your voice and may be thoroughly disturbed by it afterward
- Maintaining the vocalization is physically taxing; you suffer -1 Forward after the performance ends
- One target at the edge of the effect shakes it off early and is now deeply suspicious
On a 6-, the Inner Song overwhelms your performance. Your voice cracks, distorts, or shifts into something you didn't intend. You must immediately Stay Chill or succumb to your Compulsion. The audience snaps out of it, and anyone supernatural in the room more or less knows what you just tried to do.
Level 4¶
Lingering Echo¶
When you vocalize into a space and leave an echo of yourself behind, make a number of Hunger Checks equal to the number of nights you want the echo to persist, then roll +Resolve. There is no upper limit on duration; you accept as much Hunger as you're willing to risk.
You must specify a trigger condition when placing the echo: crossing a threshold, picking up an object, a time of day, reading a specific message, or any other observable event. When triggered, the echo plays your voice at the volume and tone you recorded, and continues until the triggering individual leaves the affected area (Close Range from the point of placement).
You may weave any Discipline Power you possess into the echo. If you do, the Hunger Check cost is doubled. The embedded Power activates as though you were personally present when the echo triggers.
On a 10+, the echo is placed perfectly. It triggers exactly as intended and any embedded Power activates cleanly.
On a 7–9, the echo is placed, but the Storyteller chooses 1 complication:
- The trigger condition is slightly imprecise; it might fire early, late, or on the wrong person
- The echo carries audible distortion or your Inner Song woven through it; perceptive listeners know this is supernatural; if mortals are present, the Masquerade Clock advances
- An embedded Power activates at reduced effectiveness (Storyteller's discretion)
On a 6-, the echo destabilizes on placement. It triggers immediately, right now, right here. Whatever Power you embedded fires on the spot, including on you, and the echo dissipates after a single activation. If you were embedding Piercing Wail, this is a very bad day.
Shattering Crescendo (Passive)¶
(Requires: Piercing Wail)
Your Piercing Wail evolves into something far more terrible; this Power expands upon it permanently, and you cannot diminish its effects. It now deals 4 + your Blood + your Demeanor in Aggravated Harm and shatters glass and minds, cracks stone and bone, and buckles metal and knees within the affected area.
If used in the company of ordinary mortals, the sonic force is beyond what a human body can withstand. Their heads explode. Not "may explode." Not "at the Storyteller's discretion." They pop like bloody balloons. This is an automatic, catastrophic Masquerade breach and a Humanity crisis. Choose your venues carefully.
Level 5¶
Virtuosa (Passive)¶
Your mastery of voice and sound transcends ordinary limits. Any Melpominee Power that normally affects a single target can now affect a number of targets up to your Blood Potency.
Additionally, you can split your voice between up to 2 vocal-based Powers simultaneously, even from different Disciplines. You could maintain Cognitive Dissonance while using Convincing Affect, or run Distraction alongside Presence's Awe. The usual restriction against using multiple vocal Powers at once no longer applies to you.
Psychic Scream (Passive)¶
Your Melpominee Powers no longer require the target to physically hear you. The sound travels directly into the mind, bypassing ears entirely. Deafness, earplugs, noise-canceling headphones, soundproofed rooms, and supernatural silence all fail to block your magnificent voice.
The target still perceives the sound as auditory; they hear your voice in their head as clearly as if you were standing next to them, they just can't make it stop by covering their ears and screaming... but why would they want to? You sound amazing.