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Old 03-18-2017, 02:13 PM   #1
Apollonian
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Shoreline, WA (north of Seattle)
Default Vampire Templates for Cabal

I'm putting together a (Victorian London) Cabal campaign framework, and as part of that I'm building quite a few monsters-as-PCs templates. The intent is that PCs will take mandatory Nature template (vampire, mage, werewolf, etc.) and an optional Role template (infiltrator, negotiator, enforcer...) and then have a few points left out of 150 points (or 200, I haven't settled on the cap) to tweak characters to their satisfaction.

The campaign is TL5, 1850s London, using Ritual Path Magic. Characters are Outer Circle Cabalists concerned with conspiratorial occult doings in the Material Realm, with the occasional jaunt into the Astral.

All that said, I'd like some feedback on the vampire templates I'm designing. They're meant to be for lower-powered vamps, so quite a bit less oomph than the vampires from Monster Hunters, for example. Let's start with the Nosferatu.

Nosferatu
The Nosferatu are vampirism as contagion. They are hideous, strong, and stealthy. Often dominated by bestial appetites, they must control those appetites to maintain the secret of their existence. When they feed, they spread disease among their prey, including their own condition. They have a bond with certain vermin, and affiliation with the decans of disease and decay.

Newly Infected Nosferatu [75]

Attributes (70): ST +5 [50]; IQ-1 [-20]; DX +1 [20] HT +2 [20]
Secondary Characteristics: HP +5 [10]

Advantages [142]: Acute Taste & Smell 3 [6]; Can burn HP for extra effort [1]; Doesn't Breath [20]; Immunity to Metabolic Hazards [30]; Injury Tolerance (Unliving) [20]; Night Vision 5 [5]; Unaging [15]; Vampiric Bite [30]; and 15 points from Optional advantages.
Optional: Acute Hearing [2/lvl]; Acute Taste & Smell [2/lvl]; Claws (Sharp Claws) [High Pain Threshold [10]; Silence [5/lvl]; Speak With Animals (Vermin and graveyard animals only, -50%) [13]

Disadvantages [-162]: Appearance (Hideous) [-16]; Draining (blood) [-5]; Dependency (Graveyard or plague ground earth; common, daily) [-30]; Infectious Attack [-5]; Secret (Vampire; possible death) [-30]; Supernatural Features (No Body Heat*, Pallor*) [-6]; Trademark (traces of disease and death) [5]*; Unhealing (Partial) [-20]; Weakness (Sunlight, 1d per 5 minutes) [-30]; and 15 points from Optional Disadvantages.
Optional: Bad Smell [-10]; Disturbing Voice [-10]; Odious Personal Habit [-5 to -15]; Uncontrollable Appetite (human blood; mitigator, not if at full HP, -60%) [6]**

Features: Affected by Path of Undead (instead of Body/Mind) magic; Neither has nor uses FP.

Skills [15]: Brawling (E) DX [1]; Observation (A) IQ+1 [4]; Stealth (A) DX+1 [4]; Survival OR Urban Survival (A) Per+1 [4]; Wrestling (A) DX [2]

* This represents the nosferatu leaving the smell of decay, various diseases and parasites, and particles of grave dirt or what have you wherever it goes and on its victims. It takes no time at all to apply, but it is completely involuntary and automatic. It could be mitigated by someone else's Housekeeping skills, I suppose...
** A little unsure about the mitigator on this one. As long as the Nosferatu is at full HP, i.e. fully fed, it ignores Uncontrollable appetite, BUT Draining means that it's hungry at the beginning of every night. Does it seem legitimately costed?

I'm trying to build a creature that is physically formidable but socially badly hampered, has good reason to stay underground and in the dark, and has the skills to physically hunt down and subdue prey. As a PC, it'd be a good choice for someone who wants to work up a bruiser or a stalker, or wants to play up the angst of being forced out of mortal society and into the shadows. Any ideas on how I can improve the template? Missed traits or skills? Stuff that looks unnecessary or conflicts with the concept?
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