[Prince Charon]

I've been working on an article on the various types of vampires that exist on the Grimoire worldlines (mostly ritual magicians with peculiar styles), but it's taking me longer than I'd like (as usual), whereas this template for a more 'traditional' vampire is ready now:

Infectious Vampire Template, Grimoire-1 and 4

Attributes

ST +4 (Magic, -10%) [36]

Secondary Characteristics

Per +2 [10]

Subtotal: 46


Advantages

Hard to Kill 3 [6]
Hard to Subdue 3 [6]
Longevity [2]
Magery 0 [5]
Night Vision 4 [4]
Regeneration (Slow; Magic, -10%) [9]

Craftiness Talent +2 [10]

Perks

Sharp Teeth. [1]

Subtotal: 43


Disadvantages

Frightens Animals [-10]
Social Disease (Vampire) [-5]
Uncontrollable Appetite (Blood) (12) [-15]
Weakness (Sunlight, very common, 1d per 30 minutes) [-15]
and -25 points in Phobias, Obsessions, and/or Compulsive Behaviors related to vampiric weaknesses that the victim is aware of.

Quirks

Low body temperature. [-1]
Pale complexion. [-1]

Subtotal: -72


Features


Skills

Mage Sense [Per/E] [2] Per+1
Running [HT/A] [2] HT
Sex Appeal [HT/A] [2] HT
Stealth [DX/A] [2] DX+2*

*Includes +2 from Craftiness Talent.

Subtotal: 8

Total: 25


Notes

This type of vampire first appeared in 1902 CE on both Grimoire-1 and Grimoire-4. It is generally believed that an unknown mad scientist (magician) infected the likewise unknown Patient Zero (or made him or her self Patient Zero), as part of an experiment, the goal of which we can only speculate on. This is the only known form of vampire on these worldlines that is able to pass on the curse easily or by accident (via Social Disease, in this case). In nearly all other cases, either it is not a curse in the usual sense (most often it's a magical style, or in some cases a fetish, if the 'vampire' is still alive), or passing it on requires a ritual.

While the disease may be passed on by a bite or kiss, the target is at HT+5 to resist the infection from a kiss unless already having an open wound inside the mouth, and HT+3 to resist this illness from a bite wound (or a kiss with a wound in the mouth). In the event of sexual contact or blood exchange, the victim resists at straight HT, unless other factors modify it. If failing to resist on the initial roll, the victim rolls each day for 1d+1 days, or until rolling a critical success or critical failure on that roll. A critical success ends the infection immediately, while a critical failure ends all resistance, but means that the victim takes 1d+3 tox damage over the course of that day. During the period of change (the 1d+1 days mentioned above), the victim will be feverish, nauseous, sleepy, and take 1d-4 tox each day. The canine teeth will grow during this period, and the victim's skin will become pallid, and later cool to the touch. At the end, the victim has the above template in full.

Some vampires of this type learn or develop Per-based Ritual Magic styles, often with some form of Esoteric Medicine as the core skill. If the victim already has Magery 0, add the five points to Per, instead.

Mage Sense is the skill of detecting the various things mages are capable of detecting - not only sensing magic items, but being the target of hostile rituals (see Sensing Ritual Attacks, Thaumatology p138; note the Per-4 roll, which is the same as the default for a Per/Easy skill), changes in mana level, and anything else the GM agrees can be detected by a Per+Magery roll. In case it needs to be explicitly said, Magery Talent helps this skill.

A somewhat similar disease-based vampire exists on Grimoire-2, created by ritual alchemists employed by Nazi Germany in 1935, intended to be used as nocturnal shock troops. By the time the full downsides of the disease were understood, it had already escaped containment via certain prostitutes and some nurses and orderlies. The template is modified as follows: replace ST+4 with ST+6, and add DX+1 & IQ-1; remove Mage Sense and replace Magery 0 with a further +1 to Per (total of Per+3); replace Craftiness with Strangler; add Damage Resistance (Magic, -10%; Tough Skin, -40%) 2 to Advantages; add Berserk (12) & Bloodlust (12) to Disadvantages, and Feral Manner to Quirks. Cost is 25. ('Feral manner' is quirk-level Bestial: you do understand civilization, but you don't always pay attention or care that much when you don't think you need to, which can lead to trouble in social situations.)


Thoughts?