GURPS 4e True Blood

[ray53208]

i will be working on creating some templates for vampires, shapechangers, maenads, and whatever sookie is.

sssukay. (you've got say it gravelly like bill does.)

any ideas from you guys?

[lexington]

Originally Posted by ray53208

whatever sookie is

Spoiler:  

In the books it turns out that she's half fairy

[Fnordianslip]

I've been thinking of running a game in this world myself. The tough part would be toning down vamps enough to work out pointwise with the rest of the party. Otherwise, psychic powers would be bought as per normal, maybe do magic as per path/book magic in Thaumatology, and changers would just use morph or alternate forms depending on their scope. Hmmm, must give this more thought and then post some specific templates...

[copeab]

Okay, we can't really discuss this without having a lot of spoilers, so I'm not going to bother. I'll note I'm coming at this thread from the angle of the books (I've read the first nine) and not the TV series (I haven't seen any episodes).

Sookie's telepathy (and probably all telepathy in the setting) works only on what the person being read is currently thinking; no digging for subconscious thoughts. Range also seems to be quite limited, unless it's a telepath-to-telepath conversation. With shifters it functions more like empathy and I think she's only picked up a vampire thought twice. There are other supernatural creatures she can't read the minds of, but of course that alerts her to the fact that they aren't human (if there was any question). While she can't read vampires, IIRC she can detect them as 'dead space' in a group of other beings.

It's not quite clear what powers her fairy ancestry give her -- her telepathy does noyt seem to have come from it. Her seeing vampires with a certain glow probably does, though, since vampires find fairies extremely ... tasty. Her looks (as well as her brother's) are also a result of this heritage. I'm not sure if there are any other abilities she has that could be linked to her ancestry.

Vampires have a vulnerability to silver (as do shifters, but they can be killed by mundane means). Weres, more than any other shifters, have a significant superiority complex (OPH, probably) despite them not being the most powerful of the shifters on an individual basis (Quinn and Sam are both clearly more powerful).

Details on fairies is pretty sketchy.

Witches seem to be pretty straightforward -- humans who can perform magic. I wouldn't use spell magic for them; 3e ritual magic (book/path in 4e?) would be much more appropriate.

[copeab]

Originally Posted by Fnordianslip

I've been thinking of running a game in this world myself. The tough part would be toning down vamps enough to work out pointwise with the rest of the party.

I wouldn't do this. Running a "mixed point" party is fine as long as each character can do something useful that the other's can't do.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

Sook-ah!Extend-O-Matic!

I don't think you should use that word on a family-friendly forum.

[Fnordianslip]

Here's my take on a newby vamp template.

Name: True Blood Vamp [150 Points]

Advantages [330]
Doesn't Breathe [20]
Dominance [20]
Energy Reserve (Vampiric) (10) (Starvation Hazard) [18]
Extra Basic Move (5) (Affects displayed Basic Move score) [25]
Extra Basic Speed (+1) (Affects displayed Basic Speed score) [20]
Extra Perception (2) (Affects displayed Per score) [10]
Extra ST (8) (Affects displayed ST score) [80]
Night Vision (5) [5]
Reduced Consumption (3) [6]
Regeneration (Fast: 1HP/Min) (Costs Fatigue (+1); Reduced Time (+1); Uncontrollable (non-destructive power)) [53]
Resistant (Metabolic Hazards) (Very Common) (+8) [15]
Resistant (Mind Reading) (Rare) (Immunity) [5]
Teeth (Fangs) (Switchable) [3]
Unaging [15]
Unkillable (1) (Achilles' Heel (Stake, Decap, Sun) (Occasional)) [35]

Perks [3]
Sanitized Metabolism [1]
Dead Sexy [1]
Vampiric Blood [1]

Disadvantages [-183]
Restricted Diet (Very Common) [-10]
Sleepy (Asleep 1/2 of the time) [-8]
Social Stigma (Second-Class Citizen) [-5]
Supernatural Feature (No Body Heat; Pallor) [-15]
Uncontrollable Appetite (Blood) (12 or less) [-15]
Vulnerability (Stake to the Heart) (Rare) (x4) [-20]
Weakness (Silver) (1d per minute) (No Wounding; Follow-Up (Agony) (+21); Occasional) [-30]
Weakness (Sunlight) (1d per minute) (Common; Occasional; Reduced Time (+5)) [-80]

Stats [0] Ads [330] Disads [-183] Quirks [0] Skills [0] = Total [150]


A couple notes here. Vamps neither have nor use fatigue, so normal activities don't tire them out at all. To use extra effort, they need to spend energy reserve or hit points. There energy reserve uses the starvation hazard, so, in order to recover their ER, they need a meal and about ten minutes per point. Fortunately, meals for these guys are small amounts of blood, like a 12oz glass of O-. Staking is set to basically whack them in one shot. Silver acts to incapacitate them with the Agony affliction, but has no real damage done, just burns outside skin and causes serious pain. Sunlight deals 1d every two seconds. Oh yeah, and they regen one point every 30 seconds when injured, but it sucks up their energy reserve pretty quick. Other than that, these guys are basically just strong, fast, and hard to kill with normal weapons. The Dead Sexy perk just means they get a bonus to sex appeal and erotic art from people who are in to vamps. The Vampiric Blood perk indicates that their blood acts as a drug. It's slightly advantageous to the vamp, but is also likely to get them in trouble with drainers.

Older vamps can do all sorts of other things, from flying to beguiling, and are often much faster and stronger.

[Fnordianslip]

A here's a much simpler, Sam style shifter.

Name: True Blood Shifter [150 Points]

Advantages [160]
Extra ST +1 [10]
Extra HT +1 [10]
Fit [5]
Morph (Nuisance Effect: ability physically inconveniences you (Suffers familiarity penalties); Reduced Time (+3); Specialized: Animals Only) [130]
Rapid Healing [5]

Disadvantages [-10]
Secret (Shifter) (Utter Rejection) [-10]


Shifters are a little tougher, a little healthier, and faster healing than normal humans. As far as shifting goes, it takes them about two seconds to change forms. As usual, they need to either see an example of what they're changing in to or have the form memorized. They suffer familiarity penalties to every action in forms they haven't practiced intensely with. As a side note, Shifters will need extra morphing capacity to take on really tough forms like tigers or bears. However, this should be a nice start for a beginning Shifter.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Fnordianslip

Older vamps can do all sorts of other things, from flying to beguiling, and are often much faster and stronger.

From the TV series even very new vampires can be taught to hypnotic gaze humans quite quickly.

On the other hand, older vamps sunlight affect goes up quite sharply. Merely century and a half old Bill Compton can survive measurable amounts of sunlight but 2000 year old Godric caught fire and burned like paper soaked in lighter fluid.

[copeab]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

From the TV series even very new vampires can be taught to hypnotic gaze humans quite quickly.

Reminds me, Sookie is completely immune to this. At first, it seemed it might have been a side effect of being a telepath but faeries appear to be immune to it as well, so it might be the faerie blood (hmm, not sure if a vampire ever used it on a shifter either).

(I can't remember if a vampire ever tried to glamour Jason or not, since that would give a better idea of where the immunity comes from. Or if vampires ever tried to Jedi mind trick Barry. Could be both telepaths and (half)faeries are immune. Maybe any other supe))