Do vampires die like Obi Wan?

[Three_Haligonians]

The 3.5 MM says vampires exposed to sunlight or emersed in running water for long enough, they are "destroyed". Does that mean they disappear (a la Obi Wan?. . . perhaps with some dust left over)? And, if so, what happens to their gear? Does it go with them, or fall to the floor with a dramatic swish?

Thanks,

R and J from Three Haligonians

 

[Umbran]

Well, you've read the MM entry. There isn't any othner canon material. So, your interpretation would be as good as anyone else's. It is a call for the individual DM to make.

The only thing I can think of to keep in consieration is that the game is designed for characters to get loot from the enemies they beat. If gear is destroyed with the vampire, they may take a lot of risk for little reward. Sometimes this is okay, sometimes it is not.

 

[alsih2o]

I ruled that their physical body dissappears, but all alse remains. Tragically ( ) It seems that many of the magic items they create seem to lose all function when the creator dies, but just the oens they created themselves.

 

[DonaldRumsfeldsTofu]

When a vampire is staked in killed, I like to imagine that their body remains the same. Dusting is far too Buffy the Vampire Slayer. However, there is nothing more climatic than a vampire turning into dust when exposed to sunlight.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Personally I go with the older traditions. A vampire in sunlight is a dead body, when night comes he gets up. (Daylight destroying vampires actually began with Morneau's Nosferatu. Even back when movies started they were changing the plot for cool special effects. ) Even Dracula had no problem with daylight until the movies, read the book sometime.

As for what happens to dead vampires... I have the body age until it is the same age as a corpse of the vampires age. So a fresh vamp looks someone who died recently, while an ancient one would be crumbling bones. Teeth for what it is worth can last an amazingly long time so I can see one over a thousand years old crumbling to dust and teeth.

The Auld Grump

 

[Telperion]

I like the Blade-version.

Negative energies are set loose and they ravage the corps with burning - cold fire that has no side-effects other than disintegrating the body and leaving everything else untouched .

 

[Bagpuss]

Dusting is far too Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Dusting of staked vampires has been part of the myth before Buffy. Buffy just made it more popular. Ultraviolet had vampires dust on being staked (well shot with carbon bullets), that dust would then return to vampire form if exposed to blood. I think Dust til Dawn did as well. Blade & the Lost Boys did as well (but then Lost Boys also claimed no two vampires died the same way).

Of course V:tM and a number of Hammer movies, just had vampires being paralyzed.

Personally I like the idea that no two vampires behave the same way, keeps the players guessing.