Early Vampires [Horror]

[Astromancer]

According to the book Transylvanian Superstitions (Scripta Minora), Bram Stoker's sourcebook for Translyvania, Satan taught Dracula magic. From the sources, I've seen, the actual traditions were that Satan kept a school and taught ten mortals magic at one time. One mortal in ten he kept to ride his dragons and use magic to raise destructive storms.

Dracula is also supposed to have bright red hair and uncanny startling blue eyes, which was the mark of a male witch.

[RedMattis]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Is it undead? I mean, it is capable of healing naturally, so it is more 'alive' than a traditional vampire.

You can flavour its slow "natural" healing however you want really. The only mechanical difference between Regeneration Slow, and natural healing is the speed and reliability. Being incapable of healing without blood is barely even a vampire trope, it basically just shows up in RPGs. Even VtM-vampires can heal on their own as long as they aren't famished (and frankly a human can't really heal particularly well in a state of complete starvation either...). "Modern" vampires in book series usually have straight Regeneration, possibly with a side-effect causing Uncontrollable Appetite when healing great injury.

It is obviously undead since it has Immunity to Metabolic Hazards and IT: Unliving.

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

As for shooting an arrow at a dog, the thing has an average of ST 7 and DX 8, so I think that the average dog would be quite capable of taking it on (it has the same ST as a 50 lb dog). With a short bow (the only bow it is strong enough to use), it would do 1d-3 impaling damage with an arrow (which is slightly better than the 1d-4 cutting damage it would do with its bite). Since farm animals would be a logical target, farm dogs would likely be trained to attack them.

In a setting where such vampires exist, groups of local children would probably club them to death and then burn the corpses (the average 10 year child has a higher average ST and DX, so a group of five could deal with one without too much difficulty). Alternatively, they could capture them and sell them to slavers for spending money. Imagine Roman-style arenas where trained dogs savage vampires for the entertainment of the crowds between the gladiator matches.

A dog likely has less than 10 hit points (almost all of them are a bit smaller than a human). A Regular Bow from LowTech would do 1d-2 impaling damage with ST7 (assuming the vampire was Joe Average and not a ST12 soldier who landed at ST 9 as a vampire...). Average of 1.5 damage for 2-4 injury due to impaling. That is almost Major Wound to a dog, on a high roll it might knock down the dog entirely (max 8 damage, a major wound even to an especially huge human). Probably the dog will panic and run away if it is able to. A bigger issue would be the dog likely making noise which might alert humans.

An average child is SM-2 (1-yard height) and has 5 ST using the guidelines from Gulliver. It will have comparably crappy DX and no actual combat skills (Play fighting is only enough to let it roll vs DX at best using the rules for unskilled fighters, so only AoA or AoD). The vampire meanwhile is likely to have at least brawling, but a successful one likely has more than that. Nevermind that the child will probably freak the heck out when it gets ambushed by a hideous corpse.

The vampires absolutely could be captured and forced to fight against animals, each other, prisoners, or whatever. That assumes the society isn't absolutely horrified by them, or worried about the vampirism spreading. I could definitely see some arrogant ruler commanding his soldiers to capture the corpse-monster and have it fight lions. Commoners will probably want the creature burned as fast as possible instead though.

Edit: I think it is fair to assume that Joe Average won't survive for long as a vampire, which is very accurate to folklore vampires. They are usually found and killed pretty quick once someone figures out what is going on. Archer Shootgood, the huntman-turned vampire who lives in the outskirts of the village might manage pretty well on the other hand. Survival Woodlands and various other survival skills makes him a scary foe even if he isn't particularly formidable in a fair fight.

Count Pennygood might fare even better. If he can can convince his closest retainers to stay obedient he could remain hidden for decades.

[AlexanderHowl]

Regular bows have a minimum ST 10 (Basic, p. 257), so a ST 7 vampire could not use them without suffering a -3 to skill per shot. A SM-1 dog would be another -1 to skill to hit, so a vampire with Bow at DX would suffer be reduced to an effective skill of 4 at point blank range, meaning that it would be more likely to shoot itself than the dog. It would be better off attempting to wrestle the dog.

By the way, an average 10 year old child is SM-1, ST 8, and DX 9 (Basic, p. 20). One of my nephews recently turned 10 years old and is over 4'6", so you may be thinking about a 5 year old child when you are saying SM-2. The above vampire would be capable of taking out a 5 year old child without much difficulty, though a group of five of them might be able to beat it to death with sticks if they did not get too bored.

If you want people to run shrieking in fear from it, I would add Terror (Sight; Always On, -20%) [24], Bad Smell [-10], and Supernatural Features (No Body Heat, No Pulse, Pallor) [-20], reducing the template cost to -11 CP. I would then give it Stealth at DX [2] and Brawling at DX+2 [4], representing its predatory behavior, raising it back to -5 CP. The end result is a creature that everything runs away from because it is an undead abomination against nature.

[RedMattis]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Regular bows have a minimum ST 10 (Basic, p. 257)

I used the one from Low Tech.

By the way, an average 10 year old child is SM-1, ST 8, and DX 9 (Basic, p. 20). One of my nephews recently turned 10 years old and is over 4'6", so you may be thinking about a 5 year old child when you are saying SM-2. The above vampire would be capable of taking out a 5 year old child without much difficulty, though a group of five of them might be able to beat it to death with sticks if they did not get too bored.

I don't understand your obsession with children beating people up with sticks. If you have them behave (tactically) as competent GURPS fighters do half a dozen of 5-year-olds with clubs could easily beat up an unarmored veteran soldier fighting with Spear-14 or something, especially if they are ready to accept that some of them might die. That's just a quirk of GURPS. Same thing happens if a SM+3 ST 35 giant fights a bunch of barely-competent humans with clubs.

Children are unskilled fighters, many likely with unfamiliarity in real fights which gives them a penalty to basically everything. Using the rules from GURPS Martial Arts they would also be stuck either standard AoA or AoD (<defense>), which means the vampire can easily wait for the AoA and then just jab the kid in the vitals with its own AoA Telegraphic.

A 10-year old isn't really what I meant when I said "child", but even a 10-year old would likely fare poorly against a half-competent vampire due to the vampire's superior intellect and combat awareness.

A 10-year old knight-in-training beating up a creepy crawly vampire with his (steel) practice sword though? That's pretty much standard folk-lore stuff. It is either that or he keeps the vampire busy until his dad shows up and completely wrecks vampire.

If you want people to run shrieking in fear from it, I would add Terror (Sight; Always On, -20%) [24], Bad Smell [-10], and Supernatural Features (No Body Heat, No Pulse, Pallor) [-20], reducing the template cost to -11 CP. I would then give it Stealth at DX [2] and Brawling at DX+2 [4], representing its predatory behavior, raising it back to -5 CP. The end result is a creature that everything runs away from because it is an undead abomination against nature.

Er, you don't need super-powers to make timid peasants run in terror. A regular human with a deformity or disease could get that reaction without anything but a low appearance. It is a feature of the easily-scared peasants, not the one they are running from.

Grizzly Bears don't need "Terror: Accessibility: People scared of Grizzly Bears" to give surprise people. Advantages like terror are generally reserved for supernaturally scary entities (Angels

I wouldn't put skills on a race-template either.

Anyway, the whole point of the template is being a traditional folk-lore basic vampire. They ARE whimps, that is why they sulk in shadows and attacks kids instead of 'asserting dominance' over peasants or something.

[AlexanderHowl]

The difference between a veteran soldier and the above vampire is probably +4 ST and +4 DX, so the former would drive off the children without anything more than a bruise or two (if that) while the latter would be turned into fertilizer.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

The difference between a veteran soldier and the above vampire is probably +4 ST and +4 DX, so the former would drive off the children without anything more than a bruise or two (if that) while the latter would be turned into fertilizer.

Many children will run in terror from an aggressive chihuahua, so they'd probably book it away from a snarling vampire. A group of 10-year-olds who stood their ground might make relatively short work of a Wretched Vampire (although given their low ST's and the fact they'd likely be using crushing attacks/weapons, they'll probably score a lot of 0 damage hits), but most wouldn't have the nerve to actually stand their ground.

Of course, a Wretched Vampire who expects to survive more than a few days out of the grave won't be charging at groups of 10-year-olds, he'll be snatching babies from cradles, grabbing unattended toddlers, and ambushing 7-year-olds who sneak away from their parents to explore the woods.

[RedMattis]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

The difference between a veteran soldier and the above vampire is probably +4 ST and +4 DX, so the former would drive off the children without anything more than a bruise or two (if that) while the latter would be turned into fertilizer.

Realistically? I dunno, a veteran soldier would intimidate them, much like the vampire would; as @Varyon pointed out. That said, being outnumbered is probably even more dangerous in GURPS than in real-life. Those kids will circle the veteran soldier and start hitting from back flanks and the back. Without armor he is in trouble, especially if one AoAs (strong), or grapples him from the back hex. Actually hitting an AoD (Dodge)'ing kid would be hard, which realistically the ones in his front hexes would mostly do.

To be clear when I say veteran soldier as in someone who is/was a soldier professionally and had been in a war. 'Axe/Mace-13, Spear-14, and Combat Reflexes'-kind of guy. Not a whirlwind striking weapon master who practices with his peers half his waking hours.

I'm not sure what we are arguing about here. The wretched vampire, as Varyon pointed out, wouldn't be charging groups of kids in the first place. The whole point of that design is that it preys on the weak (as most predators do, tbh.) and sets traps. Why are we discussing it fighting groups of 10-year old kids in the first place?

[Kromm]

How "early" do you want?

In the earliest stories that are identifiably at the root of the vampire family tree, vampires aren't well-distinguished from werewolves and other monsters that assume human form at least some of the time. It isn't even important to distinguish them, because the many and varied monsters are merely guises adopted by demons from Hell to deceive mortals. Give them whatever powers and weaknesses go with demons in your religious and esoteric cosmology. Powers can get pretty godlike . . . but weaknesses can be as severe as "a pious person says a prayer and you're toast."

The question "If they're so godlike, why don't they take over?" never arises. These aren't beings of the temporal world who seek dominion there; they are agents of Hell who couldn't care less about ruling mortals in life, because their goal is to rule damned souls in some other realm ("plane of existence"). Their goal in the mortal world is to damn people for future use. In many cases, these vampires are contemporary with societies that deem their rulers anointed by divine right, so vampires – being the anti-divine – simply cannot rule. Attempts to do so would result in summary annihilation by the gods.

Once you get into post-Classical European vampires that are vaguely linked to these ancient and Classical ones, you have two channels: Folklore, which retains most or all of the old powers and weaknesses in half-remembered or reimagined form, and literature, where the powers and weaknesses are whatever that specific author thought would make for a good story. In the latter case, read the novel and ignore other sources. Trying to synthesize several novels into a coherent picture results in dodgy Hollywood vampires that aren't even a little traditional. That's how you get RPG vampires and, worse, sparkly ones.

[ericthered]

To be clear: A mob of 10 year old boys with whatever weapons they can get their hands on is not a good baseline for "children". Such a group is moderately dangerous and can be fearless on occasion, and is self-selected for these qualities. I've seen such a gang armed with cane knives dragging an eight foot dead crocodilian down a street.

That makes no comment on the danger the creature poses in ambush to a lone six year old, let alone a toddler.

I suspect the fragile vampire is the same way: Its in trouble if it ever gets cornered by a mob of 10 year olds with sticks, but it can be pretty dangerous if its able to be sneaky and take targets of opportunity.

The "Wretched Vampire" is an interesting build and idea. It seems the sort of creature that can be cleared up by a single traveling rather mundane vampire hunter who is no more impressive than a rat trapper.

[DangerousThing]

Originally Posted by Kromm

That's how you get RPG vampires and, worse, sparkly ones.

Sparkly vampires or sparkly rpg's?