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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dykstrav" data-source="post: 5044289" data-attributes="member: 40522">Here's an idea, one that combines the question of minions and a clue (besides people disappearing) that might "smoke out" the vampire.Let's say your vampire is a reasonably smart critter. People might start noticing that they never attend services at a temple or always have to be home before sunrise (even if they work a night job). A peace officer might certainly be called before whatever judiciary body governs the city during the day, especially to testify at trials and the like.How much does a hat of disguise cost? Can your vampire mentally dominate other creatures?Your vampire might have several minions throughout the city that can use the hat of disguise to appear as the vampire, especially during the day. They could be mentally dominated, or if your vampire is a peace officer, low-rent thugs that they look the other way for in exchange for these services. Certainly, a member of the thieves guild or a street gang would love to impersonate a peace officer from time to time, so it's quite possible that they thug is not aware of their true nature. Maybe they even bribe the peace officer for taking part in "their" scheme.Your characters could become wise to such a scheme when the peace officer in question is seen in multiple locations in the city throughout the same night (or when they were with the vampire themselves) and they give evasive answers when questioned. Maybe the "internal affairs division" or the king's intelligence network suspects a traitor when the criminals always seem to be a step ahead.All that being said, I'm not entirely sure that having the vampire be a member of the city watch or whatever is necessarily a great idea for the long-term of the campaign setting. it's an interesting idea, but consider the ramifications. I'd expect this thing to snowball ridiculously once the truth came out.When the PCs discover a vampire working in an official position, the fallout would send ripples and even shockwaves throughout the city's administration and government. The entire hiring and review process for the watch would be scrutinized, people could lose their jobs for their lapse in awareness (or even be criminally charged themselves). I'd certainly expect the ruling body to mandate a top-down review of all official positions within the government to ferret out other possible influences like that. A given temple or faith could gain a prominent position by offering to investigate government agencies for undead infiltrators, quite possibly allowing them to gain other privileges in the city and edge out other temples and faiths. Every criminal trial for the past several years (and possibly even further back) would be called into question. People would lose faith in the government's ability to fairly perform criminal trials, possibly resulting in a net increase in crime.It might be an interesting scenario, but I think it's bigger than a simple "hunt the vampire" adventure.</blockquote>

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