Late Halloween living corpses: vampires

[Max Schreck]

Hello again.

More Halloween-inspired creatures slither forth, this time that old favourite: the vampire. These vampires have been adapted loosely from GURPS Blood-Types.

The same cave-at from my previous Halloween post on Lovecraftian critters applies here: these are rough drafts, so math errors and omissions probably abound. Feel free to comment, correct and criticize.

Gothic Vampire, 230 points
Attribute Modifiers: ST+6 [60]
Secondary Characteristic Modifiers: Perception+3 [15], HP+5 [10]
Advantages: Alternate Form (Wolf, Dog or Cat and Body of Air (gaseous form) [30], Dark Vision [25], Doesn’t Breathe [20], Dominance [20], Immunity to Metabolic Hazards [30], Injury Tolerance (Unliving) [20], Mind Control (Vision-Based, -20%, Accessibility: Only on mortals, -10%) [35], Shtick (Always appears well-groomed) [1], Supernatural Durability (Except Fire) [150], Unaging [15], Vampiric Bite [30]
Disadvantages: Dependency (Native Soil; Daily) [-60], Divine Curse (Cannot enter home without invitation) [-10], Draining (Human Blood) [-10], Dread (Garlic, Sacred Objects, Running Water, Wild Roses) [-50], Frightens Animals [-10], Nocturnal [-10], Supernatural Features (No Body Heat*, No Reflection, No Shadow, Pallor*) [-26], Uncontrollable Appetite (Human Blood, 12 or less) [-15], Unhealing (Partial) [-20], Vulnerability (Decapitation; Impalement through the heart, ×2 damage) [-20]
Features: Sterile. Vulnerable to True Faith.
* Not after feeding.

This is the classic Gothic vampire from the Gothic fiction of the early to middle 19th century. You will notice that it is not destroyed by sunlight, merely Nocturnal and that it can be impaled by anything through the heart to kill it (again). This is not an oversight. Vampires from Gothic fiction (ca. 1800-1870) don't go up in flames in sunlight and can be killed by destroying their hearts, burning them or decapitating them, among other grisly things. Vampires didn't start going up in smoke or turning to dust in sunlight before Hollywood thought they should.

Nosferatu, 134 points
Attribute Modifiers: ST+6 [60]
Secondary Characteristic Modifiers: Perception+3 [15], HP+5 [10]
Advantages: Innate Attack – Bubonic Plague 1d-2 toxic (Always On, -20%; Area Effect: 2 yards, +50%; Blood Agent, +100%; Cyclic: 6 hours, 12 cycles, highly contagious, +140%; Emanation, -20%; Onset: 1d+1 days, -40%, Resistible: HT -2, -20%, Symptoms: Severe Pain and Unnatural Features 1: buboes, 1/3 HP, +123%) [8], Alternate Form (Rat) [15], Dark Vision [25], Claws (Sharp) [5], Doesn’t Breathe [20], Immunity to Metabolic Hazards [30], Injury Tolerance (unliving) [20], Pestilent* (bubonic plague, cholera or typhus) [1], Supernatural Durability (Except Fire) [150], Terror [30], Unaging [15], Vampiric Bite [30]
Disadvantages: Appearance (Monstrous) [-20], Bad Smell [-10], Dependency (own grave; Daily) [-60], Draining (Human Blood) [-10], Dread (garlic, sacred objects) [-20], Frightens Animals [-10], Infectious Attack [-5], Lifebane [-10], Supernatural Features (No Body Heat, No Reflection, Pallor)** [0], Uncontrollable Appetite (Human Blood, 12 or less) [-15], Unhealing (Partial) [-20], Vulnerability (Decapitation; Impaling spike or stake through the torso; sunlight, ×2 damage) [-60], Weakness (sunlight, 1d pr. minute) [-60]
Features: Sterile. Vulnerable to True Faith.

* Perk from GURPS Horror 4e.

** The nosferatu receives no points for these features, as it is already Monstrous.

Now this vampire is annihilated by sunlight. Whether it is consumed by flames, turn to dust or just fade from existence as in F. W. Murnau's classic Nosferatu from 1922 is up to the GM.
It is the vampire immortalized in that same film, superbly played by German actor Max Schreck (hey, what a coincidence). It is a hideous travesty of life, looking like the living corpse that it is, and not like a suave Transsylvanian noble. A nosferatu is the fear of plague and wasting diseases personified, and spreads sickness by its very presence. The Nosferatu has roots that go back further than the 1922 film, and therefore have some folkloristic traits. First of all, it is anchored to its grave and must return to it. Second, it is not necessary to stake it through the heart to finish it. Impaling the torso will pin it down in its grave like an insect and keep it from rising again.

More vampires to come.

Max

EDIT: Added Alternate Form (Body of Air) [15] instead of Insubstantiality [80] to simulate the vampire's gaseous form.

[JAW]

+6 (or so) HT is a must for almost any vamp IMO. Alsmost superhumanly high HT covers so many typical vampiric advantages that it's much easier to start with it and rule out the unvanted side effects with disadvantages than othervise.

- hard to kill/subdue,etc , true for almost all vamps
- lot of FP, -"-
- rarely gets normal diseases, -"-
- high move, true for many vamps
- high default for sex appeal, -"-
- high default for singing, um yeah - vampire karaoke!

[Max Schreck]

Originally Posted by JAW

+6 (or so) HT is a must for almost any vamp IMO. Alsmost superhumanly high HT covers so many typical vampiric advantages that it's much easier to start with it and rule out the unvanted side effects with disadvantages than othervise.

- hard to kill/subdue,etc , true for almost all vamps
- lot of FP, -"-
- rarely gets normal diseases, -"-
- high move, true for many vamps
- high default for sex appeal, -"-
- high default for singing, um yeah - vampire karaoke!

That they are hard to kill and immune to toxins, disease and what have you are covered with Immunity to Metabolic Hazards, Injury Tolerance and Supernatural Durability or Unkillable. As for the high Move and high Sex Appeal, that is only true for some vampires, mainly those in comics and newer Hollywood films, and I haven't gotten to them yet. There is nothing sexy about the Nosferatu, and I don't have the impression that it moves very fast. As for the Gothic vampire, it is mainly described in the books as being very cunning and very strong. Other traits attributed to the vampire are mostly individual. E.g., Carmilla von Karstein is described as being extraordinarily beautiful, but that doesn't necessarily imply that all vampires are beautiful and sexy, just that she is, so I don't think that it justifies giving the Gothic vampire high appearance and Sex Appeal. But don't worry. I'll probably get to the sexy and barebreasted vampire, when I cover the Hammer Films' vampiress. :)

It's probably just taking the Gothic vampire, adding Appearance: Beautiful, racially learned skills Erotic Art and Sex Appeal and the Quirk: Often bares breasts.

Max

[Max Schreck]

Okay, by popular demand (okay, actually only suggested by JAW's mention of Sex Appeal) here is a "sexy" vampire. Actually, it's not a real vampire, but an evil spirit of some sort. But it steals life force and it's sexy, so there.

Succubus, 475 point
Attribute Modifiers: None.
Secondary Characteristic Modifiers: Perception+3 [15], HP+5 [10]
Advantages: Affliction – Life Drain 3 (Accessibility: Only while having sex with victim, -30%, Attribute Penalty (HT) -5, +25%, Incapacitating: Ecstasy (secondary), +20%, Melee Attack: C, Cannot Parry, -35%, No Signature, +20%) [30], Appearance: Very Beautiful [16], Doesn’t Breathe [20], Immunity to Metabolic Hazards [30], Insubstantiality [80], Invisibility (Switchable, +10%) [44], Morph [100], Unaging [15], Unkillable 3 [150], Vampiric Bite [30]
Disadvantages: Dependency (human lifeforce; Daily) [-30], Dread (sacred objects) [-10], Nocturnal [-10], Supernatural Features (No Body Heat, No Reflection) [-15]
Features: Vulnerable to True Faith.

[Mgellis]

I suspect vampires should either have Doesn't Eat or Drink [10] or Restricted Diet (Blood) [-10]. As far as I know, vampires don't eat normal food. So they either don't have to eat at all (and the blood thing is necessary because of the Draining) OR they do have to eat, but can only eat blood (in which case, the Draining might be redundant).

This raises one of those "no right answer...depends on the campaign" questions...how much blood does a vampire need?

Doesn't Eat or Drink and Draining makes it easy. A vampire must drain 6 HP of blood from a victim to gain back the 2 HP he loses every day from the Draining. This is what I would recommend.

I hope this helps.

Mark

[JAW]

OK - seems like you're fdone you're homework on these. I still maintain that HT16-20 would give a pretty good approximation on many vampiric advantages. SO if you need a quick NPC vamp just slapping it with high HT would pretty much do the trick.

The succubus is absolutely delightful - very beatifull - and then invisibility and morph ;) - contradictory - but that's not a bad thing here. I suppose being victimised by succubus would drain quite a lot of FPs too - but maybe that's covered by the natural FP drain of the - umm - activity..

[Max Schreck]

Originally Posted by Mgellis

I suspect vampires should either have Doesn't Eat or Drink [10] or Restricted Diet (Blood) [-10]. As far as I know, vampires don't eat normal food. So they either don't have to eat at all (and the blood thing is necessary because of the Draining) OR they do have to eat, but can only eat blood (in which case, the Draining might be redundant).

This raises one of those "no right answer...depends on the campaign" questions...how much blood does a vampire need?

Doesn't Eat or Drink and Draining makes it easy. A vampire must drain 6 HP of blood from a victim to gain back the 2 HP he loses every day from the Draining. This is what I would recommend.

I hope this helps.

Mark

Yeah, it does. Funny thing is, I used the vampire template from Basic Set as a basic template to work from, changing it to fit different views on vampires, and the template in Basic does not have Doesn't Eat or Drink. Hmm... An oversight or intentional?

Most certainly a vampire does drink. It drinks blood. But does that count?

I'll have to think about it.

Thanks.

Max

[Max Schreck]

Originally Posted by JAW

OK - seems like you're fdone you're homework on these. I still maintain that HT16-20 would give a pretty good approximation on many vampiric advantages. SO if you need a quick NPC vamp just slapping it with high HT would pretty much do the trick.

The succubus is absolutely delightful - very beatifull - and then invisibility and morph ;) - contradictory - but that's not a bad thing here. I suppose being victimised by succubus would drain quite a lot of FPs too - but maybe that's covered by the natural FP drain of the - umm - activity..

The succubus' Invisibility can be switched on and off. I forgot to include that Enhancement. So you can enjoy the succubus' attentions visually too, if she lets you.

Max

[Dangerious P. Cats]

Reading these tempts me to do a victorian era vampire campaign.

[Victor Maxus]

Just something to work into the Gothic Vampire. Something I tried to do but fail, maybe you can do it. In Dracula, the book that is, he was very capable of walking about in the day time. However, he could not use his power, change forms and so on. He was very much an ordinary man in those situations. Just wondering how to work that in. Also, he would miss the benefit of resting and regaining lost energy from his native soil if he did this. Kind of like a human going on an all nighter, then trying to go to work first thing in the morning.

Anothe aspect is the ehole blood drinking thing for Dracula. From what I could from the book, it seem to me to be something he did not need to do on a regular basis. And the biggest side affect to not doing it was that he grew older. To me, that is his real motivation for drinking blood, not so much to stay alive like we eat food to do, but to just avoid the aging process. I could be wrong, but it is something to look into. I know they have that option some where in the rules, but added to that is the fact he could grow young again if he drank enough blood. As he did with the crew of the Demeter.

Just a couple of things that can be worked into the basic template to make one specific vampire. Because I do know that Dracula was NOT the first vampire story, he was just the most famous. And Stoker put a few of his own twists on the Gothic legend to make him. And yes, he was stabbed in the heart with a Bowie Knife, not a wooden stake.