D&D 4E Why Vampires Suck in 3.X, and How 4e Can Fix Them

[Green Knight]

And in general, I don't quite follow your certitude as to the abilities and vulnerabilities that a vampire must have. As Anthtriel has pointed out, these can be quite varied across fictional sources (eg Dracula is not destroyed by sunlight).

I'm talking about what's most iconic. Isn't a vampire who's destroyed by sunlight iconic? Isn't a vampire who dies when staked in the heart iconic? If you were to do something like a Jaywalking segment, asking about Vampire weaknesses, what do you think the answers would be?

The base vampire should be the most iconic representation of the vampire they can make. Not some weird variant. Save that garbare for Monster Manual II.

The GM could make sure the vampire doesn't have items eg by not handing any out, or by requiring the vampire PC to pay a "tithe" (perhaps justified as purchasing the rare ingredients necessary to maintain a degree of un-health, or whateverk), or by other techniques that I haven't thought of yet, but that every other game in which items must be paid for using character points has used.

These things you say can't be done - other game systems do them. Why can't D&D?

Have you noticed how those other games handle it?

In White Wolf, EVERYONE plays a vampire. That's balanced. But do you really want ot run an entire party of vampires? But hey, if you want to, then it's easy enough to alter the rules to suit your tastes.

In point buy systems, vampirism is purchased as a package, and everyone is equally powerful. That's not the case with D&D. Every other PC won't suddenly zoom up in strength because one character became a vampire. That's the equivalent of playing a point buy system like Mutants & Masterminds, giving every player 750 points to create their characters, and then giving ONE player another 250 points on top of that. It's completely unfair.

D&D is not White Wolf and is not Mutants & Masterminds/GURPS/Hero System. What can be implemented in those systems can't be implemented in D&D, because D&D is fundamentally different from both in how characters are created and balanced.

 

[Derren]

I also think that vampires should not become more PC friendly in 4E.
I rather like how vampires in 3.X are still a lot like mythological vampires with their weired weaknesses and not pop culture emo vampires whose only remarkable trait are pointy teeth.

And imo those weaknesses should stay in 4E. Not crossing running water, not going into homes unless invited etc.