Vampire

Natural Habitat

Anywhere (prefers Caverns, Crypts, Ruins)

Frequency

Very Rare

Number

1-6

Description

Vampires are human (or humanoid) beings who have entered the netherworld of "life-drinkers." They support their existence by drinking the blood of the living (or recently dead) members of their own species (but not necessarily their own race). A character becomes a vampire only by performing a Ritual of Becoming Undead or by being killed by a vampire who drains the character's last point of Endurance. A character that dies in this manner rises at sunset of the third day after their death in the form of a vampire and must, thereafter, be treated in all ways as a vampire. Once the character's last point of endurance has been drained, the character may not normally be resurrected or prevented from becoming a vampire. They may be destroyed in the same way as a vampire once they rise from the dead, but not before. Vampires always appear to be the age they were at when they became vampires. All physical wounds or disfigurements during life are, however, removed. A character may sometimes be prevented from becoming a vampire by being pinned in their coffin by a stake driven through the heart.

Comments

A humanoid character bitten by a vampire becomes under the control of the vampire that bit them if that vampire has any remaining capacity to control their victims. Otherwise, they become a vampire under no one's control. A master vampire may control (Willpower / 2) vampire minions. A vampire's control over their undead victims is not total and the victim has a 10% Base Chance of successfully disobeying any order of the master vampire which would lead to their injury or destruction or which would prevent them from feeding. This is increased by 5% for each additional minion. Control requires no concentration.

Abilities

Vampires retain all magical and racial skills acquired during their life and may learn any number of new skills. They lose all magical knowledge except Mind magics. All vampires are automatically Mind mages. An Adept retains any Rank they achieved with Mind magics.

Vampires have the following special skills:

• They can change shape between the following forms: bat, rat, wolf, cloud of mist or their "natural" human shape as a pass action.
• Vampires are hypnotically attractive to members of their own race.
• They possess most of the characteristics that they did during their life except that their Physical Strength and Willpower are both increased by 50% (round up).
• Vampires are not harmed by weapons other than silvered weapons. They may be harmed (but not destroyed) by magic.
• They gain the ability to summon control and communicate with all common land mammals and are especially adept at communicating with and summoning bats, rats and wolves. This talent works like the appropriate general knowledge Earth spells and ritual, with a Base Chance bonus of +20%.
• The Kiss of the Undead allows a vampire to create a telepathic bond with a living victim by forcing the victim to drink blood from an open wound over the vampire's heart. They will both have a limited knowledge of each other's thoughts and location until one is destroyed.
• When a vampire feeds, they transfer either Fatigue or Endurance (their choice) from their victim at a rate of 1 per pulse. A vampire feeds by entering Close Combat with a character and drinking their blood (only possible with armour of leather or lighter), or by hypnotising the character into allowing them to drink the character's blood using a Spell of Hypnosis. Characters hypnotised by a vampire will not resist a suggestion that they allow the vampire to feed on them, and will loosen armour if greater than leather.

Vampires have the following disadvantages:

• Vampires lose 1 point from Fatigue, then Endurance, each hour, replenishable only by feeding.
• Vampires do not cast a shadow.
• Their reflection does not show up in a silvered mirror.
• They may not cross running water (streams, rivers, and the like).
• They must sleep from sunrise to sunset in a bed of their own gravedirt.
• Vampires only enter an inhabited dwelling if invited by its inhabitants.
• Relics and holy items associated with the Powers of Light are repellent to vampires. So is garlic. They will not willingly come in physical contact with such items and will tend to flee them or at least stay 10 feet or more away from them.
• Vampires suffer [D - 5] damage from the touch of consecrated objects, but will become infuriated and attack instead of fleeing their presence.
• Vampires fear dogs with angel eyes (dark circles around the eyes) and will generally flee from them.

Vampires cannot die. They can be destroyed in the following manner:

• By direct exposure to sunlight.
• By being staked through the heart while in their coffin.
• By hearing the crow of a cock at dawn while out of their coffin.
• By having their heart pierced by a silvered weapon.
• By failing to replenish Endurance through feeding.

Note

A character that becomes a vampire can not normally participate in the game; and if allowed, would operate under severe limits. They would, for example, be unable to travel during the day except while locked in a coffin. They would be prevented from entering certain dwellings, travelling over consecrated ground, etc.

Movement Rates

Running while in human form: 300. The Movement Rates for other forms (bat, rat and wolf) are as per the creatures of the same name.

PS:	15-30	MD:	15-25	AG:	15-25	MA:	15-25	EN:	15-25	FT:	20-30
WP:	25-30	PC:	20-30	PB:	12-25	TMR:	6	NA:	None

Weapons

Vampires may fight unarmed, but also may use weapons. The older vampires have had much time to master the arts of combat. They have no special weapons except their ability to drink blood.