Urban Fantasy: On Vampires, Part 3

If one know the Vampire, they can kill the Vampire. This isn't exactly easily done but it can and has been done before.

Fighting Vampires

Soul Reaver's Melchiah by Jakub Bazyluk

Generally speaking, Vampires tend to shun open battles. This come as a direct contradiction, since they have been established to be monstrously powerful by themselves but this ties into their mentality. Vampires grow weary with age and they tend to draw a line between a 'hunt' and a 'battle'. A vampire will hunt alone, relying on stealth and manipulation until it can get close to its victim and consume it. On the other hand, an open and direct battle can be bad news for a vampire especially if it is faced with foes that might actually be able to harm it. Most vampires are just plain bastards and would simply rather use their minions to dispose of their enemies, only fighting when they have the upper hand. There is also the fact minions might not share the vampire's weaknesses.

A bloodthirsty or battle-hungry vampire is a monster to face, however. It revel in its raw physical power and will exert its immense strength to brutalize foes, ripping them apart with their bare hands or swallowing smaller foes whole. Others have had centuries to learn hand to hand combat and can unleash strikes which would shatter bones. All Vampires have the following abilities:

• Hardy Nemesis: A Nemesis Vampire has +3 HP by default and receive +1 additional HP every 3 other HD.
• Blood Drain: Any time a Vampire damage a living being in melee (be it with natural weapons or an held weapon) they regain 1 HP.
• Weakened by Sunlight: The light of the sun (and in some cases, a magical equivalent) is the bane of Vampires. Each round of exposure they must make a Saving Throw or become weakened. In this state. they lose half their AC, attack bonus and movement speed. In addition they cannot regain HP in any form. Once weakened in such a fashion they must spend 6 hours in darkness to fully regain their full power.
• Weak to Fire: Vampires always suffer at least 1 point of damage against fire and heat.
• Store Effort: Vampires can exceed their base Effort through the draining of living beings, storing excess energy. Consuming their HD worth of life force grant +1 Effort. Sucking someone and not killing them count as half their HD value.

Name	HD	HP	AC	Atk	Dmg	Move	ML	Ski.	Svs	Effort
Vampire	5	19	16	+5 x2	1d12	20m	9	+2	13+	5 (Base)
Master Vampire	7	32	18	+7 x2	1d12	20m	8	+3	12+	7 (Base)

Each Vampire should be treated as a unique NPC, a major antagonist (or even ally, in some odd cases!) with a name and fully fleshed out personality. Each is a unique monster which has spent centuries refining their powers, developing unique and terrifying techniques which manipulate the stolen life energies of living beings.

Vampiric Abilities

These are but a sample of the dark powers available to True Vampires:

• Rebuke The Light (Constant): As long as the Vampire isn't in combat, it doesn't need to make Saving Throws for sunlight expose. As soon as it begin to exert itself, it must immediately make a Saving Throw or become weakened.
• True Regeneration (On Turn): The Vampire sacrifice 1 Effort and regain 2d12 HP. Should the Vampire use its own 'base' Effort for this ability, it become Weakened.
• Blood Servant (On Turn): The Vampire Commit Effort, creating a 4 HD worth of servants as long as it remain committed. These can be split into any number of servants. These creatures aren't truly alive and mindlessly loyal to the Vampire.
• Charming Gaze (Constant): The Vampire has mild hypnotic abilities. Anyone it interact with (who isn't a Worthy Foe) is immediately friendly with the Vampire. In addition, the Vampire can sacrifice 1 Effort to force someone to take a single, one sentence command. Worthy Foes get a Saving Throw and cannot be affected by this ability more than once per 24 hours.