Vampires

If you have read the entry on vampires in the bestiary you may, if you're a sick and twisted wierdo (and I know that you are) have wondered if it was possible to play a vampire character in SLuRP. The answer, officially, is no. But if you meet me in the alley behind Dodgy Dave's Bar and Grill with a bundle of used fivers in a brown paper bag, I may just tell you the truth.

If your supply of used fivers is limited, or you can't get to Dodgy Dave's Bar and Grill until next Tuesday at the earliest, then you could just read the rest of this page.

Vampirism in SLuRP is treated in a not dissimilar way to Charm, but it veers more towards the magical in places. A vampire can choose skills and spells from the Vampire skill-list at base cost, just as if it were any other list. A non-vampire simply cannot, indeed should not know it exists (unless they have bribed me of course).

Some of the skills are just that. Some are spells, and require spell points to cast. As you buy the skills, your character is gradually corrupted by the increase in power. There are no rules for this corruption, but as a guide you should be acting noticeably differently by the time you have spent 100 eps in Vampire skills.

So, how does one get to be a vampire? There are two ways, but they both come down to the same thing.

You must aquire the skill Drink Blood.

Drinking Blood

This is the first, and most basic Vampire skill. It can be learnt, but not taught. You must aquire it through practice. However, you will need a basic idea of how it is done first. This is achieved either by stumbling across some arcane tome that details the process, or by being drained of blood yourself by a vampire.

Anyone who survives being drained by a vampire will, unless they immediately seek to prevent it (by religious purifications and so forth), develop the urge to drink the blood of living, sentient creatures. Because it is an instinctual urge, you will instinctively know how to go about it.

After the fifth seperate drink of blood, you will aquire the skill and achieve vampirism.

So what does this skill do? I mean, any fool can get a bowl, fill it with blood and drink it. This may be true, but the skill is more than that. It is the skill of actually consuming the blood, absorbing it into your system and deriving sustenence from it. A kind of Resist Poison in reverse. Every skill in the Vampire skill-list has Drink Blood as a pre-requisite, and it is the only way of aquiring and recharging Vampiric Spell Points.

Draining Blood

Until you get yourself some Vampiric Teeth you cannot actively drain a victim. Instead, you must improvise with knives and bowls and wotnot. You must slash your victim either across the throat or the wrist (or any other good artery you know about) and pour the flow into a convenient container. Note that unless you have the skill Cut Throat (which requires surprise to work) the victim must be unable to resist.
You can essentially choose how much blood to let free but, as 1 Life Point of blood is around half a pint, you must make sure your bowl is big enough. It will take 1 second per Life Point bled. Also, the blood must be drunk immediately as it cannot be stored for later consumption.

Of course, none of these things are a problem once you get yourself some decent fangs.

To actively drain someone with your sharp pointy teeth, you must be close enough to bite them. You must mimic the action of biting some exposed flesh (actual biting is not strictly necessary, role-playing will suffice), and you must maintain contact until you have drained the desired amount of blood.

Blood is drained at a rate of 1 Life Point per second. A person drained to zero Life Points has been drained dry and is dead. Note that you cannot tell how much blood is left in a victim until it has all gone.

Once you have begun to drain, the victim can struggle no more than the odd spasm or twitch. The act of being drained is so horrific it puts them into shock. Once released, even if they have plenty of Life Points left, they will collapse to the ground and gasp a lot. It is not uncommon for victims to blot out the memory of the experience, but this cannot be relied on if you are trying to cover your tracks.

Vampiric Spell Points. (Blood Points)

Spell Points for Vampire magic work in exactly the same way as they do in the mainstream schools of magic. You buy Spell points, and then use them to cast spells. You can keep casting a spell until you run out of spell points.
You get your first Spell Point free when you aquire the skill of Drink Blood.
Vampire spell points cost one ep each, and are recharged by drinking the blood of living, sentient creatures. For every Life Point drained, one Spell Point is recharged.

Because of how they are recovered, Vampire spell points are more commonly refered to as Blood Points.

The Pros of Being a Vampire.

Vampires are extremely powerful creatures. It could be argued that they are the most powerful form of undead, and only a lich would have grounds to disagree. They are immune to many forms of damage, they are stronger and faster than any human, they wield magicks that no-one else has access to, and of course they will never die.

These strengths and immunities are bought as skills, with the magicks being treated the same way as all magic, utilising the aforementioned Blood Points. Once you have aquired your first Blood Point (ie once you have aquired the Drink Blood skill), you will never grow old, and you will never die of natural causes while you have at least one blood point left.

The Cons of Being a Vampire

The cost of immortality is not as high as some would have you think. Sure, you become a blood-sucking fiend and lose all touch with your humanity, but that's not so bad when there are politicians to be compared with. The main price is a social one, and it can be best summarised by the word jealosy.

You see, certain influencial parties (Churches mainly) like to keep control over what people think, in order to keep them under control. Part of this involves dictating what is good and what is evil. Often these dictates vary between churches and factions, but they universally agree that all manifestations of the undead are evil incarnate and must be destroyed at all opportunity.

If anyone finds out you are a vampire, they will kill you. And what's more, everyone they tell will help them. You may be powerful, but there is always someone out there who can take you out.

Apart from this, there are only two downsides to vampirism. Two vulnerabilities to be weighed against all your invulnerabilities. Not a bad deal really.

Firsty, as an unnatural creature, you will be vulnerable to the efforts of priests. With holy symbols and fervent praying they can repel any unnatural creatures, demons, zombies, undead and you. The more vampiric you get, the more you will be affected by this.

Secondly, you will develop sensitivity to sunlight. No-one knows why, but it could be a symbolic natural/unnatural thing. At first, bright sunlight will merely be uncomfortable, then painful and dazzling, and finally it will be lethal. Most vampires are forced into a nocturnal lifestyle because of this.

However, do note that anyone in tune with nature will instinctively detect that you are unnatural. This generally means animals, who will squawk or hiss or whinny or simply avoid you like death on legs. People however are stupid creatures, and will completely fail to notice anything odd about you (or even about the way the animals are behaving). You should be wary of Shamen though. They're not daft.

How to Kill a Vampire

At first, you will be dispatchable by any of the usual methods. However, as you grow more and more powerful, it will take more extreme measures to kill you. No matter how powerful you get, there are a couple of things that experienced vampire-killers will rely on.

• Fire: Fire will damage you as much as it will damage anyone. Vampires are commonly burnt once they're rendered dead, just to be on the safe side.
• Sunlight: This only starts to actually damage you after you're quite powerful, but it's very effective as sunlight can be difficult to get rid of.
• Decapitation: If someone takes the time and effort to remove your head from your body, they are seperating your blood supply from your ability to control it. In other words, they prevent you from using any vampiric powers, for instance to regenerate the massive amount of damage you've just endured whilst having your head removed.
• Staking: As the heart is responsible for circulating the blood, and the blood is responsible for your vampiric powers, if the heart is pierced with something significant (a knife, an arrow, etc.) you cannot use any powers until it is removed. You are also immobilsed with pain, and cannot remove the object yourself.
  This process is known as staking, as the peircing object is traditionally a wooden stake.
  Note: If the heart is removed you cannot use your powers at all. This will generally mean death for the same reason as decapitaion.
• Holy Symbols will NOT harm you, but if they come into contact with your body, they will hurt. All holy symbols must be officially consecrated as sacred by the relevant church, and wielded by a true follower, otherwise their effect is vastly diminished.
  Note that holy water is treated as a holy symbol. Thus, if you get it all over you, or worse, drink it, it will not be nice.

The Descent

Right, so you've learnt how to drink blood properly, you've got your first Blood Point or two, the question on your lips must be "So now what?". Now, you start buying your vampire skills.
You adventure, you pick up ep's, you buy vampire skills, or indeed any other skills you fancy. Just 'cos you're a vampire doesn't mean you can't still learn mortal skills or magic or anything.

(Important Note: If you are a Priest or other devoted follower of a god other than Necros, and you become a vampire, you will instantly lose all favour with your god. Indeed, you stand a good chance of being struck down by a divine thunderbolt.)

Also, as you spend ep's and develop as a vampire, you will develop the vulnerabilities and character changes that go with the territory. As mentioned earlier with the character thing, there are no rules to govern this, only a few guidlines.

After spending 50 eps on Vampire skills, sunlight and holy symbols will make you uncomfortable. People who know you might notice subtle changes, like complacency or arrogance that weren't there before.

After spending 100 eps, sunlight and holy symbols will make you very uncomfortable, so much so that you will feel compelled to avoid them. This will probably be noticed as odd by other people. Anyone who knows you will notice you acting strangely.

By the time you have spent 200 ep's, you will be unrecognisably different in temperament. You will be actively repelled by effectively wielded holy symbols and you will take damage from sunlight at a rate of up to 1 Life point per second (the cloudier the day, the slower the rate of damage).

Mind you, by the time you've spent 200 ep's on vampirism, you're not going to care anymore.

So now we get to the bit you've all been waiting for... Ladiieees and Gentlemen, wierdoes and sickos, I give to you the one, the only, the SLuRP Vampire Skill-List!!!

The Vampiric Skill-List

If you are a vampire, the Vampire List-Multiplier is assumed to be x1. If you are not a vampire, you shouldn't be here. Get out.

Many of the things here are duplicates of skills or spells from elsewhere. If you already have said other skill, you have no need to re-buy it here, not even if it's needed as a pre-req.
Notice that it is cheaper to buy skills as a vampire. Evil is seductive isn't it?

Vampiric Skills have two costs. Cost to buy is in ep's, cost to use is in Blood Points. If it costs zero Blood Points to use, it is treated as a normal skill (and will be labelled as single-use or unlimited use), otherwise it is treated as a spell.

Drink Blood
[To use: zero ; To buy: Special ; Unlimited uses]
The technique whereby you derive sustenance from the blood of living, sentient creatures and convert it into Spell Points. Comes with a free Spell Point.

Vampiric Teeth
[To use: zero ; To buy: 5 ; Unlimited uses]
For the better biting of victims, you need a decent set of fangs. The teeth you develop with the purchase of this ability can be extended or contracted at will.
This skill is necessary if you want to drain people direcly, without having to use knives and things.

Vampiric Claws
[To use: zero ; To buy: 10 ; Unlimited uses]
These especially evil-looking fingernails are used to do damage in unarmed combat. As with Vampiric Teeth, claws can be extended and retracted at will. Although they only do a single, you can't be disarmed, and strength bonuses still apply. If you have Unarmed Combat as a skill, claws add +1 damage.

Vampiric Regeneration
[To use: varies ; To buy: 15]
You can heal one Life Point for every Blood Point you spend, at a rate of up to one per second.

Vampiric Immunity
[To use: zero ; To buy: 15 ; Unlimited Use ; Pre-req: Regeneration]
You are now immune to all those petty mortal concerns like diseases and poisons. Although a particularly strong poison, or virulent disease might make you feel awful, it will do you no real harm.

Vampiric Strength
[To use: zero ; To buy: 30, 50 ; Unlimited Use]
This skill can be bought up to 9 times. The first four purchases cost 30 eps each, and correspond to the equivalent Strength skills of Body Building, Orc Strength, Ogre Strength and Giant Strength. The next five purchases cost 50eps each. Each level confers a +1 damage to every successful hit.

Vampiric Feat of Strength
[To use: zero ; To buy: 15 ; Single Use]
As the Strength skill, Feat of Strength.

Vampiric Fortitude
[To use: zero ; To buy: 25 ; Unlimited Use]
You are just so hard, you can be considered to be wearing 1 level of armour. You don't require Wear Armour, or Transcend Armour, and it acts cumulatively with any other armour you have (including Avoidance and previous purchases of Vampiric Fortitude).

Vampiric Invulnerability
[To use: zero ; To buy: 35 ; Unlimited Use ; Pre-req: Fortitude (level 5)]
You cannot be harmed by ANY weapon, unless it is magically enchanted or a consecrated holy item.

Vampiric Speed
[To use: zero ; To buy: 20 ; Single-use]
You are just so damn fast, you can call your own Time Freeze. You can take a single action or move up to five paces. You essentially get a couple of seconds free to yourself.

Vampiric Suggestion
[To use: zero ; To buy: 7 ; Single-use]
As the Charm skill Suggestion.

Vampiric Command
[To use: zero ; To buy: 15 ; Single-use ; Pre-req: Suggestion]
As the Charm skill Command.

Vampiric Gaze
[To use: zero ; To buy: 15; Single-use ; Pre-req: Suggestion]
The hypnotic stare of a vampire can enthrall his victim and leave them unable to do anything more useful than stand there staring at the vampire. They are extremely susceptible to suggestion, making this skill combination of the Charm skills Enthral and Suggestion.

Vampiric Fear
[To use: zero ; To buy: 20 ; Single-use ; Pre-req: Teeth]
Vampires are scary creatures after all. With this skill, anyone without Resist Fear will feel distinctly uneasy around you. If you do anything threatening and vampiric-looking (bareing your teeth and hissing for example, they will run.

Vampiric Dominate
[To use: zero ; To buy: 20 ; Single-use ; Pre-req's: Command, Fear]
Essentially analogous to the Charm skill Dominate, but a lot more slavishly zombie-like. The victim is dominated through fear and awe. It is perhaps more comparable to the Charm skill Posess.

Vampiric Sight
[To use: zero ; To buy: 10 ; Unlimited Uses]
Confers the abilities of Aura Sight, and enables you to see in the dark.

Vampiric Mind Read
[To use: zero ; To buy: 18 ; Single-use ; Pre-req: Sight]
You can now stare into the very soul of your victims, to see their fears and their thoughts. You won't get very precise information, but can determine their mental state and roughly what they're thinking about. You can also detect truth and falsehood. This skill is like a more potent Read Emotions.

Vampiric Stealth
[To use: zero ; To buy: 15 ; Single-use ; Pre-req: Sight]
Effectively a Hide plus an infinte Sneak. You cannot vanish from plain sight, and if you do anything to draw attention to yourself (e.g. attack someone) the effect is nullified.

Vampiric Elusion
[To use: zero ; To buy: 12 ; Single-use]
Damn tricky those vampires. With this skill you can wander around without leaving a trace of your passing. Effectively a combination Conceal Tracks and Conceal Scent (and any other similar concealments).

Vampiric Obscurement
[To use: zero ; To buy: 20 ; Unlimited Use ; Pre-req: Elusion]
Damn tricky, I say damn tricky them vampires. With this skill, you will not be detected by anything intended to detect things. You will not show up in scrying portals, in clairvoyance visions or prophesies. You will have no reflection and will cast no shadow. You will not set off traps or be detected with the Detect Enemy skill. The only forms of detection that will work are ones targetted specifically for vampires, or for you personally.
Note however that you can still be seen if looked at directly with eyes, and Detect Hidden will still work as it should.

Vampiric Invisibility
[To use: zero ; To buy: 30 ; Single-use ; Pre-req's: Stealth, Obscurement]
One of the only ways to achieve true invisibilty. You can vanish from direct sight, you can only be seen with a Detect Invisible, and you will stay invisible for up to five minutes, regardless of what you do, unless you decide otherwise.
Note: Even true invisibility can be counteracted with enough cunning.

Vampiric Wraith-Form
[To use: zero ; To buy: 40 ; Single-use ; Pre-req's: Invisibilty, Invulnerability]
With this power, you can turn yourself incorporial. You can only be seen as a shimmering, misty form and then only in dim light. You cannot interact physically with the environment at all, which means you can pass through solid objects and cannot be harmed by any physcal objects.
Note that you cannot drain blood while in Wraith-Form.