"Healing" a Vampire??

[LostSoul]

I want it to be possible but i don´t want it to be easy nor do i want it to be part of a "standard" ritual.

The standard ritual being: kill the vampire, True Res the corpse. I think that should work. However, you don't want to do that, so you might want to make up some kind of Epic spell.

I need ideas concerning the ritual and the way of finding-out and expressing True Love (tm). I don´t just want the player to say "yes I truly love her" but something more RP Fulfilling (and luckily the players all want the same thing and not an easy shortcut)

This is, as I understand, the meat of your question. How to make it go down well? Romance isn't too hard to get right; just play all the mushy parts via third person.

In order to get the right effect, you need time to pass. They have to overcome challenges together. Something has to happen just as they are almost ready to express their True Love that will drive them apart, and then bring them back together even stronger.

But you know, since it is a vampire you're dealing with, it might be better to have everything become bittersweet. Something like, the Duelist wants to fall in love with her, but finds himself unable to really go all the way - she's a vampire, he can't really trust her. That makes it kind of hard to commit. Don't know how to fill the middle, but in the end she should die, a real death, saved from her unlife by her True Love of him.

Anyway, I'm rambling here. What about some more background?

 

[Warbringer]

How about make the vamprisim tied to a curse. The curse and the vampirism are entwined. Undo the curse, undo the vampirism...

 

[Saeviomagy]

Well, the real nasty one is:

Go with the slay/true resurrection angle. Naturally of course the vampire should probably not be willing to be killed without an awful lot of RP to convince her that it's really worth it.

Then - have her soul refuse to come back. After all - the vampire and the person are distinct and seperate entities. Why should the original person love the character? She almost certainly wouldn't have killed people and drunk their blood while alive. The vampire was using her memories and body, and somehow living off her soul, but they're not one and the same.

And now of course you're left with the much more difficult quest of finding out how to bring back whatever it is that fuels a vampire (some sort of spirit remaining on the negative energy plane? Adventuring on the NEP is pretty tough...), and then combine it again with the spirit of the dead woman (and decide if he SHOULD do that - and again, that's "adventuring on another plane", which is what high level should be all about). And of course he'd need to convince whatever diety has promised to care for her soul that he really needs it back for a cause that the deity would approve of. Either that or come up with a seriously clever plan to nick it.

So - tell the priest that if the vampire is slain, the woman can be true resurrected hale and healthy. Of course if you're routinely an RBDM, then the next question out of their mouths will be "what's the catch?"

 

[CyberSpyder]

After all - the vampire and the person are distinct and seperate entities.

That's a rather unusual way to look at it. The usual interpretation is that the person is somehow changed by being turned into a vampire, not that they're two entirely different beings.

If they are entirely different, why can't the vampire and a True Resurrection of the original person coexist?

Myself, I'd have a moderately complicated and definitely involved ritual, perhaps involving a god of Death. Perhaps the duelist has to donate a portion of his soul to the vampire he loves - you can have mechanical consequences of that or not, as you prefer, but the thought of it could easily be enough.

 

[Funeris]

CyberSpyder, read my post above

The vampire is another soul that basically imprisons the original soul...a type of confining ethereal parasite of some sort...and it is unique...and it goes against typical mythological ideas...and it'll be completely out of left field.

That's why it would work

~Fune

 

[Saeviomagy]

That's a rather unusual way to look at it. The usual interpretation is that the person is somehow changed by being turned into a vampire, not that they're two entirely different beings.

And yet a lawful good paladin in life will still murder and manipulate once he's a vampire. He's certainly no longer the same person he was when alive.

Likewise, once restored, he's not very likely to keep the same friends, enjoy the same pastimes etc. He's effectively a totally different being.

You could play on the idea that despite that, love conquers all. Or, you could be darker and more depressing and say that it doesn't.

If they are entirely different, why can't the vampire and a True Resurrection of the original person coexist?

Because being an undead is somehow relying on the soul of a person as fuel or something. You can't even resurrect someone who's been turned into a zombie (Although that's a bit debateable given the wording... although it would finally explain why animate dead is an [evil] spell! Huzzah!).

 

[Drowbane]

While the Slay and Rezz method would work...

consider the Mind Switch / Clone method. Basicly use magic/psionics to transfer her Mind and Soul into a living body... then burn the vampiric corpse...

Or reincarnate her. hehe.

 

[Herobizkit]

Convince the vampire to take the same route of redemption that a paladin must take for committing an unwilling evil act.

Purify the Mind: a high level atonement, paid for by the mother of all geases for getting the Cleric to even consider such a thing is possible. The item/place/quest must deal with destroying other vampires, and killing the sire of the NPC is a great idea.

Purify the Body: Bathe in Holy Water on hallowed ground contained within a magic circle against evil... oh, and the fount has to be willingly created by a high-level angelic being.

Purify the Soul: The PC and NPC must both be willing to sacrifice a full character level, or a set amount of XP, whichever is worse.