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

[The Serge]

You've made the case that a Vampire can and will smack around mortals. I don't know what else an unarmed, super-strong, invulnerable Vampire would do against a large group in a melee. In a Victorian or modern setting, is he supposed to pull a gun?

Not necessarily. He could pull a knife, a dagger, a sword (rapier), or bash someone's head in with a heavy cane or walking stick in the case of the Victorian Vampire. The modern Vampire could pull a knife, or some kind of small, easily concealed weapon. Heck, she could even pull a gun is she wanted to, although I don't see why she would when she could pound the victim into the ground and then drink his/her blood.

At any rate, I don't see how this implies he's draining levels (or draining anything, for that matter). Van Helsing certainly doesn't cry out, "Don't let him touch you! His negative energy will eat your soul!"

You are partially right. Most legends associated with Vampires do not confer a "weakness of the soul" when they approach or attack. However, as it's already been mentioned here, there are a few folklorish legends that do mimick such an ability. And, I recently re-read Stoker's Dracula and I think Van Helsing does mention something at some point about vampires having a terrible touch or something. I can't claim that entirely since I don't really remember...

 

[mmadsen]

He could pull a knife, a dagger, a sword (rapier), or bash someone's head in with a heavy cane or walking stick in the case of the Victorian Vampire. The modern Vampire could pull a knife, or some kind of small, easily concealed weapon. Heck, she could even pull a gun is she wanted to, although I don't see why she would when she could pound the victim into the ground and then drink his/her blood.

I'm reminded of the Far Side cartoon with the two scientists in a jeep on safari. Two bull elephants are coming out of the tall grass in front of them. "Look out, this one's got a knife!"

 

[mmadsen]

A passage from Dracula (available on-line) that seems appropriate:

[Mina Harker speaks"...Beside the bed, as if he had stepped out of the mist, or rather as if the mist had turned into his figure, for it had entirely disappeared, stood a tall, thin man, all in black. I knew him at once from the description of the others. The waxen face, the high aquiline nose, on which the light fell in a thin white line, the parted red lips, with the sharp white teeth showing between, and the red eyes that I had seemed to see in the sunset on the windows of St. Mary's Church at Witby. I knew, too, the red scar on his forehead where Jonathan had struck him. For an instant my heart stood still, and I would have screamed out, only that I was paralyzed. In the pause he spoke in a sort of keen, cutting whisper, pointing as he spoke to Jonathan.

"`Silence! If you make a sound I shall take him and dash his brains out before your very eyes.' I was appalled and was too bewildered to do or say anything. With a mocking smile, he placed one hand upon my shoulder and, holding me tight, bared my throat with the other, saying as he did so, `First, a little refreshment to reward my exertions. You may as well be quiet. It is not the first time, or the second, that your veins have appeased my thirst!' I was bewildered, and strangely enough, I did not want to hinder him. I suppose it is a part of the horrible curse that such is, when his touch is on his victim. And oh, my God, my God, pity me! He placed his reeking lips upon my throat!" Her husband groaned again. She clasped his hand harder, and looked at him pityingly, as if he were the injured one, and went on.

"I felt my strength fading away, and I was in a half swoon. How long this horrible thing lasted I know not, but it seemed that a long time must have passed before he took his foul, awful, sneering mouth away. I saw it drip with the fresh blood!"The remembrance seemed for a while to overpower her, and she drooped and would have sunk down but for her husband's sustaining arm. With a great effort she recovered herself and went on.

The passage establishes that Dracula can take gaseous form, that he scars (if attacked with a holy weapon), that he dominates with a stare, and that he drains with his bite (not just his touch).

With that he pulled open his shirt, and with his long sharp nails opened a vein in his breast. When the blood began to spurt out, he took my hands in one of his, holding them tight, and with the other seized my neck and pressed my mouth to the wound, so that I must either suffocate or swallow some to the. . .Oh, my God! My God! What have I done?

And Mina becomes a (partial) vampire spawn by drinking some of Dracula's blood in return.

That's how Stoker's Dracula "works".

Edit: Forgot to put in e-text URL!

 

[The Serge]

The passage establishes that Dracula can take gaseous form, that he scars (if attacked with a holy weapon), that he dominates with a stare, and that he drains with his bite (not just his touch).

And Mina becomes a (partial) vampire spawn by drinking some of Dracula's blood in return.

That's how Stoker's Dracula "works".

Point.

I still think there's something in the text that suggests a physical touch from a Vampire, excluding the bit, drains, but I've neither the time nor the inclination to look it up.

Well done, though, mmadsen.

 

[mmadsen]

I still think there's something in the text that suggests a physical touch from a Vampire, excluding the bit, drains, but I've neither the time nor the inclination to look it up. Well done, though, mmadsen.

Thank you. It's pretty amazing what you can do with an e-text and a simple search for "touch".

 

[mmadsen]

The passage establishes that Dracula can take gaseous form, that he scars (if attacked with a holy weapon), that he dominates with a stare, and that he drains with his bite (not just his touch).

And Mina becomes a (partial) vampire spawn by drinking some of Dracula's blood in return.

Given those factoids, how do we modify the existing D&D Vampire to get a Stoker Dracula Vampire? I don't think we have to do much. We just remove the level-drain from "slamming" and apply it only with a bite. And we may need to boost the Vampire's Strength even more. A typical Vampire has just Str 16 -- impressive for a mortal man, but not enough to throw adventurers around.

It only gets complicated when we try to handle spawning and partial spawning. Does any victim rise from the grave? Or did Dracula have to feed them? He certainly feeds Mina, and she comes partially under his thrall. That certainly seems like a great dramatic scenario for a game -- chasing down the Vampire with the help of a character partially linked to him, yet hoping to kill hime and free herself of his domination, etc.

 

[The Serge]

Given those factoids, how do we modify the existing D&D Vampire to get a Stoker Dracula Vampire? I don't think we have to do much. We just remove the level-drain from "slamming" and apply it only with a bite. And we may need to boost the Vampire's Strength even more. A typical Vampire has just Str 16 -- impressive for a mortal man, but not enough to throw adventurers around.

It only gets complicated when we try to handle spawning and partial spawning. Does any victim rise from the grave? Or did Dracula have to feed them? He certainly feeds Mina, and she comes partially under his thrall. That certainly seems like a great dramatic scenario for a game -- chasing down the Vampire with the help of a character partially linked to him, yet hoping to kill hime and free herself of his domination, etc.

In my campaign, Vampires come about either by a curse, a special arrangement with one of three gods of evil (two my own, the other Orcus, Demon Prince of Undeath), or by consuming the blood of another vampire after most of the victim's blood has been depleted. As a result, I don't bother with vampire spawn in my world. For my world, Vampirism (and Lycanthropy) are the results of a supernatural and evil disease that corrupts the soul and makes it evil and depraved. Also, most Vampires and Lycanthropes in my world are not interested in sharing their "dark gift" (to steal a Rice phrase) and revel in murdering those lesser than they. A Vampire most likely to inflict a mortal with vampirism does so out of lonliness, because she herself was cursed, or because she has been ordered to do so by the god/goddess she serves.

However, that's my world. Most legends confer vampirism on any person killed by a Vampire's bite (which differs from classic Lycanthropy in that only a survivor of a werewolf's attack becomes a werewolf). This, of course, reinforces the suggestion that vampirism is an unholy, unnatural blight that cares nothing for the natural world concepts of not over hunting and such (which in itself is something of a falsehood. African Elephants are notorious for tearing stuff down... One could argue that this helps out other, smaller animals, but it's unlikely that the Elephants are even considering this beyond their desire for more room and food).

There's no indication in Dracula that Lucy is forced to drink the Count's blood (although her character says as much in the movie Bram Stoker's Dracula, it is never mentioned in the book. That much I remember). Yet and still, she becomes a vampire when she dies. Also, we want a more classic, Dracula inspired D&D vampire, we would have to include other changes as well. Dracula moves around in broad daylight in that book, although he's weaker and trapped in the form he was last in when the sun rises... D&D Vampires and most movie and book adaptations of Dracula ignore that oft overlooked fact (except Bram Stoker's Dracula.

 

[mmadsen]

Dracula moves around in broad daylight in that book, although he's weaker and trapped in the form he was last in when the sun rises...

Was that the extent of his weakness to daylight? He certainly kept nocturnal hours, sleeping by day, and only meeting Mr. Harker by night (when they met in Transylvania).

 

[mmadsen]

I have developed a Vampire class that scales to level 20, and I also have a special Vampire Prestige Class. I'll have to post them up here shortly!

Please do, SHARK. They should tie in nicely with How Would You Defend a Mountain Fortress?.

 

[CRG]

Well, after reading the last 20+ posts I'm convinced.

You need one "Yep, its a vampire" template/whatever.

Vampire spawn should probably be represented by some number of templates...
- the "Oops, drank some of the fiend's blood once" template
- the "I'm sitting at two and its going to be hard to pull me back and now I've got a taste for blood call me Lucy (wasn't that her name?)" template

Beyond that, the process kills the person in question and makes them a vampire.

Perhaps each step represents a 1/3 (1d6?) CON loss. Vampire has a limit to only being able to drain this amount once per 24 hours.

And, if you're really freaked about the negative-level-bestowing-touch, you could simply make it a special ability that he gets as a full round action - he can toss you around and beat the crap out of you or focus and hit you for some negative levels. Those levels go away once the vampire (or you) are dead.