Am I the only one who doesn't like the D&D Vampire? (Pointless rant, I suppose)

[KnowTheToe]

Re: I have actually never met one...

Salutations,

They definitly went with the From Dusk til Dawn vampire over the classic Bela Lugosi vampire.

The few times I have used vampires- I have altered them to meet my feelings at the time, but it is not big deal the way they are now.

FD

Definitely, not once do they EVER mention their tag line of "I vant to suck your blood" (in transavanian accent)

 

[Nightfall]

I've always preferred liches. Easier to deal with.

 

[GuardianLurker]

...or dunk 'em in running water.

Belug the Vampire: Mwah-ha-ha! You can not defeat me!
PC: Oh, yeah! Check this out! [points wondorous item at vamp]
Vamp: NOOO! Not a Decanter of Endless Water!
PC: [Whoosh!]
Vamp: Argh! I'm melting... melting....

 

[TheWiseWarlord]

Belug the Vampire: Mwah-ha-ha! You can not defeat me!
PC: Oh, yeah! Check this out! [points wondorous item at vamp]
Vamp: NOOO! Not a Decanter of Endless Water!
PC: [Whoosh!]
Vamp: Argh! I'm melting... melting....

Technically, I don't think that counts as running water. But you got a chuckle from me nonetheless.

 

[EricNoah]

I would love to see a small collection of vampire and ghost variants. Vampires, in particular, should be Lords of the Undead, in my opinion -- with the ability to command lesser undead, etc.

 

[Psion]

I thought the argument about vampires not being able to set up roots was a good answer to your question.

Not really. There is no reason that vampire have to treat humans like milk cows. They can treat them like beef cattle as well.

I have vampires that can feed of a clutch of a human in my game. All I do is make the con drain temporary. But that's an explicit decision... there is no reason vampires HAVE to feed of a group of willing cattle. They can just be killers.

 

[Psion]

I'd just like to point out the Vampire is hardly the only D&D monster that "doesn't make sense".

I'd like to point out that Vampires of D&D, much like WoD vampries, Anne Rice vampires, etc., are a conflation of various folklores and holywood tack-ons. Nothing makes one "make sense" more than another. If that vampire doesn't do it for you, swap out some abilities to make it what you want it to be or find a version that works for you. (Vlad the Impaler has a version of the vampire more true to folklore, and Ravenloafe ( ) Denizens of Darkness has some vampire variants.)

 

[LostSoul]

Not really. There is no reason that vampire have to treat humans like milk cows. They can treat them like beef cattle as well.

Humans take a lot longer to grow than cattle. So if they treat 'em like beef cattle, soon you'll have a ghost town. Or a whole horde of vampire spawn.

I guess they could feed rarely... like once a month or something. Oh well. The problem is that D&D vampires don't always fit your vision of "real" vampires. So you change them to fit that view.

Or you tell yourself to stop thinking about things.

 

[Arcane Runes Press]

It's also easy to reconcile this way:

Pretty much every item, spell, location, enviromental hazard, monster, etc. in the 3 core books is written with an eye to how it interacts with a PC party during their adventures.

From that perspective, it stands to reason that a vampire's drain would be listed as permanent; when it's facing hardened warriors and wizards, it wants to kill with its bite.

Outside of that PC party interaction, however, it's easy enough to assume that the vampire can turn off the perma-drain when it's drinking from it's "herd".

Just my 1.5 cents

Patrick Y.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

Humans take a lot longer to grow than cattle. So if they treat 'em like beef cattle, soon you'll have a ghost town. Or a whole horde of vampire spawn.

Or both--'Salem's Lot.



[edit - fix bad formatting]