Updating the vampire

[Michael Thayne]

Originally Posted by maximara

Interesting. So you toned down ST and got rid of the ability to heal FP. I kept the ST for damage and Powers suggests Leech (Heals FP, +60%; Blood Agent, -40%) [30]; Sharp Teeth [1]) as the way to do Vampiric Bite.

Re: ST, I did make a conscious decision to preserve Basic Lift rather than damage. Thanks for pointing out I need Heals FP on there—I knew 15 points seemed too cheap.

[SolemnGolem]

Tangentially related, I did a few thematically disparate vampires as part of my "undead ruling the living" campaign. The discussion thread is here. The idea was that true vampires should be very rare and extremely high-powered, so I was trying to avoid the idea of a standard "vampire template".

Summarized, to save the reader a click:

• The standard "magical blood-drinking nobleman". He has wolf/bat/mist alternate forms, some arcane spellcasting, drinks blood, etc. His resting focus is the traditional coffin.
  
• The cosmopolitan temptress. Physically less powerful, but doesn't fear sunlight and doesn't need blood to survive. Instead, she leeches off the energy and emotional vitality of her thralls, leaving them listless and indifferent to death.
  
• The military revenant. Based on a draug template, this is a physical powerhouse of a dead soldier. It carries a returning spear, an axe for carving through armor, and a broadsword for lifestealing healing.
  
• The faithless preacher. She can command emotions in living listeners, swaying the skeptics to faith, and moving the faithful to tears. As the harbinger of a false religion, she also projects a Static aura around her which obscures and disrupts priestly magic.
  
• The jiangshi alchemist. This Kargat head hails from an Eastern land, and has mastered a mix of herbalism and alchemy, as well as two of the five wuxing elements (water and wood).
  
• The parasite collective. This Kargat head is a collection of wormlike parasites (tsochar) that grow more intelligent the larger their number. Limited by the mass of their human hosts, they seek a massive sapient creature to infect and overcome.
  
• The Pyrewraith. An elven agent once betrayed her people in return for the king's favor - her fellows burned her at the stake. The Kargat brought her back, as an ash-flaked spirit full of vengeance.
  
• The Barrener. A dwarven Kargat head ruling over the mountain forests, who drains the essence of the earth she stands on, leaving a trail of blasted and stunted vegetation. She cannot be killed as long as she touches the earth.
  
• The Undercity Oracle. A dreaming nosferatu can absorb memories from eating its victims. The Kargat police keeps it sedated in an underground stronghold, feeding it victims who hold valuable knowledge, as well as multitudinous swarms of vermin, to keep millions of eyes on the city.

(All references to "Kargat" are referring to the in-campaign name of the undead secret police.)

[maximara]

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

Re: ST, I did make a conscious decision to preserve Basic Lift rather than damage. Thanks for pointing out I need Heals FP on there—I knew 15 points seemed too cheap.

True as GURPS Update says that Classic's Bite [30] is replaced by 4e's Vampire Bite [30] though with the way Powers did it Vampire Bite (Leech (Heals FP, +60%; Blood Agent, -40%); Sharp Teeth) is [31] not [30].

[AlexanderHowl]

One possibility for vampire abilities would be Terror (Awe; Active, +0%) [30], which would represent the ability of vampires to enslave lesser beings by crushing their wills, with older vampires developing higher levels of Will and/or higher levels of Terror. Terror could even function as the core ability for vampire mental powers, with every other ability being an alternative ability of Terror.

[maximara]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

One possibility for vampire abilities would be Terror (Awe; Active, +0%) [30], which would represent the ability of vampires to enslave lesser beings by crushing their wills, with older vampires developing higher levels of Will and/or higher levels of Terror. Terror could even function as the core ability for vampire mental powers, with every other ability being an alternative ability of Terror.

While the Stunned results (4-11, 16) fit this idea the rest of the Basic Set's Fright Check table doesn't.

More over the higher the Terror the more likely one will get Fainting, Panic, additional mental disadvantages results. At really hight levels (where rolls of 28-30 are possible) your victim goes into a coma. Sure you could play result 12 (Lose your lunch) for laughs (Vampire: I hate when that happens. Especially when it winds up all over me.) but the Fight Table is just too erratic.

Then you have Unfazeable which makes you immune to Fright Checks (and therefore immune to Terror).

[awesomenessofme1]

Originally Posted by maximara

While the Stunned results (4-11, 16) fit this idea the rest of the Basic Set's Fright Check table doesn't.

More over the higher the Terror the more likely one will get Fainting, Panic, additional mental disadvantages results. At really hight levels (where rolls of 28-30 are possible) your victim goes into a coma. Sure you could play result 12 (Lose your lunch) for laughs (Vampire: I hate when that happens. Especially when it winds up all over me.) but the Fight Table is just too erratic.

Then you have Unfazeable which makes you immune to Fright Checks (and therefore immune to Terror).

You should be looking at the Awe table (P85). Personally, I would just call the advantage Awe rather than Terror (Awe). The Awe table does give results that would mostly make sense for what's being described.

[AlexanderHowl]

Yes, it is the Awe Table on page 85 of Powers. Starting at 14, victims start accumulating quirks/disadvantages that cause them to align with the attacker (or obey them). For example, at 22-23, you might receive Reprogrammable, with the attacker as your master.

[maximara]

Originally Posted by awesomenessofme1

You should be looking at the Awe table (P85). Personally, I would just call the advantage Awe rather than Terror (Awe). The Awe table does give results that would mostly make sense for what's being described.

Well "at the GM’s option, Awe and Confusion are separate advantages" so that makes sense. But it does show the reasons one people think GURPS needs a 5e version as rules are scattered around too many books or in some cases contradict what the Basic Set says.

[maximara]

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

Re: ST, I did make a conscious decision to preserve Basic Lift rather than damage. Thanks for pointing out I need Heals FP on there—I knew 15 points seemed too cheap.

Actually you can due both with Striking ST (+5 for each +1) or if you think that is too much a point bonanza an inverted Lifting ST (ie -3 for each -1):

ST+7 [70] + Striking ST+3 [15]: 85

ST+10 [100] + Lifting ST-3 [-9]: 91

[Dragondog]

Kromm made the following post on regaining HP with Unhealing. So, unfortunately, Regeneration and Unhealing cannot be combined.

Originally Posted by Kromm

The limitations on regaining HP are these:

Either Level

• Supernatural healing – healing potions and spells, psionic healing, the Healing advantage, etc. – works normally on you.
• Gross technological repair with a skill like Mechanic or Surgery (depending on what kind of being you are) works normally on you.
• Natural healing is limited:
  
  
  1. No daily HT rolls to recover lost HP – meaning that things that merely accelerate this process rather than restore HP directly and on their own are also useless.
  2. No HP restored by using the First Aid or Physician skill to help the body recover from shock. Surgery only!
  3. You cannot have any level of Regeneration. Yes, for this purpose, Regeneration is considered "natural."

Partial

• Restriction #1 is suspended when a rare condition is met. When that condition applies, you get daily HT rolls.
• You can heal by stealing HP from others supernaturally, through means like the Leech advantage or the Steal Vitality spell; in effect, these are added to "supernatural healing" at this level.

Total

• Restriction #1 is never suspended. You never get daily HT rolls.
• You cannot heal by stealing HP from others. "Stealing HP supernaturally" is treated as different from "being healed supernaturally" – the former doesn't work but the latter still does.

—

In short, Unhealing is essentially a restriction on whether you can make daily HT rolls to heal, get First Aid, have the Regeneration advantage, or steal HP. Neither level prohibits being healed via supernatural means (e.g., Healing spells) or extreme physical intervention (e.g., Surgery skill), both of which always work on everyone. Invent a new, higher level to forbid those as well.