A Vampire in the Elemental Plane of Water?

[Matafuego]

Hello everybody:

My group is going to pay a visit to the bottomless deep and I was just wondering. How would a Vampire visit the Elemental Plane of Water?
Is it even possible?
Vampires cannot cross running water, sometimes they even substain damage while being submerged (I remember something in 2e saying that after 3 rounds of being submerged a vampire turned to mist).
I know the Plane of Water isn't "running" per se, but one could see the argument there.
What do you think?

Also, do you know of any precedent (i.e. adventure or module, probably Planescape) for this?

Thanks a lot,

Lucas

 

[jonesy]

Just to be clear, are you a player in the group or the DM? And are you talking about a PC or an NPC?

The rule you are thinking of said that vampires who are submersed in running water for three rounds lose all of their hitpoints, and are then forced to assume gasous form and attempt to escape the situation (with a two hour time limit) or be destroyed.

I'd say a vampire in the elemental plane of water with such a rule in place would be dead. Though I'm not entirely sure now what the differences between editions on that are. What edition are you playing? 2nd Ed.?

If this was a PC and I was the DM I'd seriously consider giving the character an artifact of somekind which would enable him to go there. Something specific to the plane so that it couldn't be exploited elsewhere. An amulet of safe passage or something.

Can't think of any precedents, sorry.

 

[SkredlitheOgre]

Running water is that it was thought to be holy, hence vampires taking damage and being unable to cross it. Honestly, I'm not up on my cosmology, but I don't think the Plane of Water is Good aligned, so I don't see any reason why a vampire couldn't visit.

Seeing as how they're dead and don't have to breathe, I could see vampires doing well on the Plane of Water. No breathing, high Strength for swim checks, plus they also tend to have relatively high Charisma scores, making them good 'faces.' Might work out well, honestly.

 

[steeldragons]

An interesting concept and conundrum...

I would say, if the ruling is that a vampire on the Elemental Plane of Water is "submerged in running water", perhaps you could argue that some spell or device (a submarine or "air bubble" -like an area effect Waterbreathing spell or some such) that allowed the vampire to be in a pocket of air, even though he needn't breathe, would be safe. Yes, there is water all around him, but he is not being "washed over". But, somehow, that bubble/space popped/was breached, then you'd have 3 rounds to get out before turning to gaseous form (which I imagine would end up being a swarm of bubbles underwater).

In any event, I'd say a contingency planeshift would be in order for any necessary emergency sitch.

--SD

 

[Umbran]

Running water is that it was thought to be holy, hence vampires taking damage and being unable to cross it.

There are a bazillion justifications for this particular myth. That running water is holy stems from Christian belief, as various saints were baptized in running water. However, vampire myths, and the idea that supernatural evils (the folklore is not limited to vampires) cannot cross running water, predate Christianity. And, your D&D world probably didn't have Christian saints baptized in its waters, so if we are thinking about justification, we have to look a bit deeper.

In a more basic form, running water is (usually) more drinkable, and thus more pure, in general. It is cleansing, and in various belief systems tends to ground or wash away magical energies or impurities. And the traditional connection to the grave makes a vampire a creature connected to a particular place, and in general rivers and streams have always been seen as natural boundaries of locations.

To me, all of this says that it the issue of water is strongly tied to contrasts - water runs through and off an area, a contrast to the static land. I would normally say those conditions don't exist on the elemental plane - there is no earth to be in contrast to. And the purity argument an washing away of magical energies do not seem to hold well for the plane - there are evils aplenty in those bottomless deeps, and the whole bloody place is magical in the human sense of the word.

 

[Stormonu]

Well, there are vampiric ixilitichl (however you spell that), so there's precedent for underwater vampires being possible. I could see vampires native to the watery deep not having that vulnerability, but vampires brought there from elsewhere having issues.

 

[avin]

There was an old Swamp Thing story where Constantine made him return to a place where he killed a lot of vampires by making them drown.

Some of them survived, hidden in freezers, until the waters of barrage calm down and get stagnate... they mutate and survived.

In my game I would rule that pure waters from the elemental plane would instantly kill the vampire.

 

[Thanael]

Speed

Same as the base creature. If the base creature has a swim speed, the vampire retains the ability to swim and is not vulnerable to immersion in running water (see below).

from the vampire template.

This accounts for the vampire ixitchathingamagog.

 

[MarkB]

I'd tend to visualise the Plane of Water as being (generally) more like an endless ocean than an endless river. So, probably the first question to ask is: Do you count oceans as running water in relation to vampires in your setting?

 

[Hand of Evil]

Here you go: Vampire squid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It has always been my thought that vampire would have protection from the things that would cause them harm. Maybe a magic item or even a deal with a higher power but they always seem to be one step ahead of the game.

As to the water thing, it is your game, change the vampire up some. My games, it is based on the ley lines and purity of the water. Rivers cross planes and can lead to the after life, this is a barrier to vamps.