Voi_D_ragon
Explorer
So, the first part of the question is self explanatory. Please share any good stories you have on Vampire villains in your campaign, what worked and what didn't work for you, and what Vampire lore (if any) you added/transformed into rules that aren't present in the MM.
Also, are there any sources that explain how a vampire should act day-to-day (as in, managing their life and domain if any, and preparing themselves for any enemies that might come their way)? I assume CoS would have more depth on how handle Strahd himself, is the book worth getting (I personally dislike the idea of published adventures, but I could be made to change my mind I guess)
For the second part, bear with my introduction if you will. If you will not, skip to the asterisks
***
Ok, so to avoid going crazy after moving out to go to university, I bought a few books. One of them, me needing to freshen up on horror lore and classics, is good old Dracula (which I've already read, but years ago, so I only remember the general gist of the story). I haven't re-finished it yet, but already it's given me some ideas to enrich the roleplaying aspects of Vampires, while also giving me a new vision of how the powers could work or be described. But what really got to want to make this post is, as I was reading of Dracula, I thought "hey, what if I saw that movie about Dracula's origins that came out a few years ago?" And so I went and watched me Dracula Untold.
And, while I understand how many people may not like it, I enjoyed it (because I manage to enjoy movies with lots of cheap action and little character depth). Ok, it's not thaaaat bad, but that's not the point.
***
The point is, I like the idea of characters taking power from evil creatures to serve their purposes (you know, the road to hell is paved with good intentions and all that).
And the idea of a "trial period" in which you can experience a limited amount of your full power seems really nice, with the drawback being that you must resist the an urge to follow new instincts that come with your powers because they may go against what your character believes in and, if you give in, you will be forever (or until you find a way out) beholden to the will of an ancient and powerful being.
This gives the PCs the option to find out if they like the powers mechanically and also to find how it necessarily affects the way they roleplay, seeing as Vampire powers (in particular, but any good set of powers really IMO) come with drawbacks, that need to be planned around and have an impact on a character's behavior (in a vampire's case, being careful to avoid random patches of sunlight whenever they walk, for example).
So, I suppose I'm asking (goodness, I need to really clear up my mind before I post threads):
-What kind of powers deriving from ancient/powerful creatures (sources of magic, gods, etc)[this could be represented by just being an opportunity to multiclass, ok, but in this case we talk of adding outside of class features, not adding different class features] are you willing to give to your characters?
-How would you maintain party balance in the face of one or more characters acquiring these powers while others do not?
-What are the drawbacks, if any, that these powers force the players to cope with?
-Do the rules in the MM for vampire PCs and werewolf PCs (I believe there are rules for lycanthropy, correct me if I'm wrong) seem too strong/too weak/not lore-y enough?
Alright, that's a ton of questions, I'll leave it at that (for now).
Also, are there any sources that explain how a vampire should act day-to-day (as in, managing their life and domain if any, and preparing themselves for any enemies that might come their way)? I assume CoS would have more depth on how handle Strahd himself, is the book worth getting (I personally dislike the idea of published adventures, but I could be made to change my mind I guess)
For the second part, bear with my introduction if you will. If you will not, skip to the asterisks
***
Ok, so to avoid going crazy after moving out to go to university, I bought a few books. One of them, me needing to freshen up on horror lore and classics, is good old Dracula (which I've already read, but years ago, so I only remember the general gist of the story). I haven't re-finished it yet, but already it's given me some ideas to enrich the roleplaying aspects of Vampires, while also giving me a new vision of how the powers could work or be described. But what really got to want to make this post is, as I was reading of Dracula, I thought "hey, what if I saw that movie about Dracula's origins that came out a few years ago?" And so I went and watched me Dracula Untold.
And, while I understand how many people may not like it, I enjoyed it (because I manage to enjoy movies with lots of cheap action and little character depth). Ok, it's not thaaaat bad, but that's not the point.
***
The point is, I like the idea of characters taking power from evil creatures to serve their purposes (you know, the road to hell is paved with good intentions and all that).
And the idea of a "trial period" in which you can experience a limited amount of your full power seems really nice, with the drawback being that you must resist the an urge to follow new instincts that come with your powers because they may go against what your character believes in and, if you give in, you will be forever (or until you find a way out) beholden to the will of an ancient and powerful being.
This gives the PCs the option to find out if they like the powers mechanically and also to find how it necessarily affects the way they roleplay, seeing as Vampire powers (in particular, but any good set of powers really IMO) come with drawbacks, that need to be planned around and have an impact on a character's behavior (in a vampire's case, being careful to avoid random patches of sunlight whenever they walk, for example).
So, I suppose I'm asking (goodness, I need to really clear up my mind before I post threads):
-What kind of powers deriving from ancient/powerful creatures (sources of magic, gods, etc)[this could be represented by just being an opportunity to multiclass, ok, but in this case we talk of adding outside of class features, not adding different class features] are you willing to give to your characters?
-How would you maintain party balance in the face of one or more characters acquiring these powers while others do not?
-What are the drawbacks, if any, that these powers force the players to cope with?
-Do the rules in the MM for vampire PCs and werewolf PCs (I believe there are rules for lycanthropy, correct me if I'm wrong) seem too strong/too weak/not lore-y enough?
Alright, that's a ton of questions, I'll leave it at that (for now).
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