Vampire 6 (18)

Early Access

Vampires are undead creatures, risen from the grave to drink blood. Their very nature and essence are evil and anti-life, even as they revel in their own immortality. Most vampires are vain, arrogant, sadistic, lustful, and domineering. Their powers allow them to manipulate others, and they frequently toy with their prey before feeding. Vampires come out only at night, as the sun’s rays will destroy them.

A vampire can create a transitional vampire to serve its goals, particularly in daylight. Although a vampire is careful not to create too many new vampires (which may eventually become competition), each thrall gives them a bit more supernatural power. Eventually, a vampire with a multitude under its command becomes the new $vampire lord$. The vampire lord is the most powerful vampire in the world and is often (but not always) the most ancient of their kind. The vampire lord has many vampires under their control, and even those that they did not create pay them respect and homage.

A vampire might bite for only one round and then leave, starting the process of creating a new vampire. The victim becomes a transitional vampire the next night.

To ensure that a defeated vampire can never come back to life, most vampire hunters decapitate it and stuff its mouth with holy wafers.

A vampire will not enter a home unless invited in.

Motive: Hunger for blood

Environment: Usually solitary, on the edges of civilization

Health: 24

Damage Inflicted: Moderate wound

Movement: Long

Modifications: Climbing, stealth, and perception as level 8; dodge as level 7 due to quickness

Combat: Vampires are strong and fast. They typically fight with their fists or hands (which basically become claws) but sometimes use weapons. They have impressive fangs, but these are usually used in feeding, not in battle.

Vampires have several supernatural abilities.

• Beast Shape: Change into a bat or a wolf. This does not alter the vampire’s stats or abilities except that, as a bat, it can fly a long distance each round. Vampires can also transform into shadow or mist, and in these forms they can’t be harmed by anything (but also can’t affect the physical world).
• Defensive Shape: Change into mist or shadow. The vampire in this form can’t harm or be harmed, except by sunlight or running water.
• Mesmerize: Affects a foe within immediate distance on a failed Intellect defense roll. On the first round, the foe stands motionless. On later rounds, the foe doesn’t resist the vampire and does as the vampire commands (even if this would harm the foe or their own allies). Each round the foe can try to break free with another Intellect defense roll.
• Near-invulnerability: Most weapons don’t harm vampires, either inflicting no damage or the damage immediately healing. However, certain attacks and substances can repel or harm a vampire, as follows.
  • Garlic: A significant amount within immediate distance hinders a vampire.
  • Fire: Fire causes a vampire pain but doesn’t kill them; any health lost to fire heals within a day.
  • Holy item or mirror: Presenting a sanctified object such as a holy symbol, or a mirror showing the vampire’s lack of reflection, stuns a vampire within immediate range for one round if the bearer makes an eased Intellect attack against them. Thereafter, brandishing the object hinders the vampire by two steps while within immediate range.
  • Holy water: A flask or bottle of holy water inflicts 4 damage and otherwise affects a vampire exactly like fire.
  • Running water: Complete immersion inflicts 10 damage per round. If the vampire survives, they can use an action to regain all health lost this way.
  • Special weapon: A weapon blessed by a saint, enchanted specifically to harm vampires, or otherwise crafted to harm a vampire affects it normally.
  • Sunlight: Inflicts 10 damage per round. If the vampire survives, any health lost to sunlight heals within a day.
  • Wooden stake: If the vampire is aware and able to move, the stake attack is hindered, as the vampire does everything it can to evade. The stake inflicts 25 damage. If this attack would reduce the vampire’s health to 0, it instead is reduced to 1 health, unless the character used a level of Effort on the attack specifically to dispatch it. This level of Effort does not ease the attack roll or add extra damage; it only ensures that the vampire’s health drops to 0 and it stays dead. The GM should tell the players the need for Effort. The player has to decide if their character’s attack is likely to bring the vampire to 0 health and therefore it’s time to use the level of Effort. A character can also use a minor or major effect from their attack to make sure the vampire stays dead, even if they didn’t use Effort to confirm the kill.

Interaction: Most vampires look at humans as cattle upon which to feed. They rarely have respect for anything but other vampires, and they often hate other supernatural creatures that they cannot enslave.

Use: Strange stories of shadows in the night, people disappearing from their beds, and graves missing their former occupants could portend the arrival of a vampire in the region.

GM Intrusion: The character struck by the vampire is caught fast in a powerful grip. If the character doesn’t escape immediately (a Might or Speed task), the vampire bites them automatically, inflicting a moderate wound.