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PostPosted: Oct 7th, '09, 01:40 
Level 15 Player Character
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Joined: Feb 15th, '05, 12:02
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Location: Panik Manifesto
Sources: Ravenloft forums, Monster Manual, Dungeons and Dragons 3.5, d20.Org, Ravenloft Player's Handbook, Van Richten guide to the Vampire, Monstrous Compendium 1&2, Libris Mortis, PlanetADnD.com, d20: "Undead"

The Undead

"One touch, one bite - one moment of pain and an eternity of pleasure"
- Katriona Solemntue, Vampire.


The Seekers

How difficult is to seek the undead state and what kind of people wish to do so? The stereotype of an undead is that of a powerful, innately evil creature whose only goal is to gain enough power to plunge the world into darkness. An interesting impression, but only occasionally accurate. It is certainly not a complete representation of the mortal that once existed before making the choice to become undead.

The fear of death is natural human response. We are frightened of things we cannot understand and throughout our existence as humans, the secrets of death always elude us. When we die, are all the things we have fought for in this life rendered to dust? Are our struggles of any value beyond our immediate existence? These questions have plagued mortal intellect from the day we first gained awareness. The passage into undeath is a means to answer to those questions.

The first type of individual seeking undeath wishes to know and conquer death itself. They are looking for a means to extend their life, to face death and prevail. In many ways, they wish to cheat the cycle and step outside of the realm of nature. By doing so, they manage to escape the end of their lives. For some, this is enough. There are many individuals who live their lives in pain, afraid of death, concerned that when their life ends, so too will all of their works. These people look to undeath as a way to master the world around them. They use it as means to prevent the end of the legacies. The magical power or prowess that is not of concern to them beyond being a means to remain alive.

Another sort of individual who seeks to become undead are the guardians and protectors. In life, they are dedicated and loyal, believing in their mission or their leader above all other things. This leader may be an icon of faith, or a symbol of great power, but to the individual, it is something whose worth is beyond mortal death. When mortal life leaves the body (As direct result of such a ritual), the individual rises again as an undead guardian. In the case of mummies, the individual actually pledges their souls to the defence and protection of this item, icon or place, and by doing so, binds themselves to that goal. A person who pledges his eternal existence to the defence of the Princess's Tomb may become a walking undead guardian of that tomb, fighting against anyone who would dare disturb the sleep of his dead charge. A spectre that has been bound to an artifact remains, in spirit, close to that item. If it is disturbed or used wrongly, the spectre arises to defend its charge.

Some can achieve this undead guardian effect without the courtesy of a magical ritual. When destiny goes awry and someone's fate is stolen from them, their soul may reach beyond mortal limits and refuse to let go of its emotional need. Whether this driving goal is vengeance, duty, love or honour, is it enough to allow the body to rise beyond death and continue to exist in a surreal state of undeath. Unlike mummies and other ritual guardians, however, this form of undead ceased to exist once their purpose is negated or fulfilled. Death knights, remnants and wraiths fall into this category of undead. Their need to become undead was created at the moment of their death. They became undead following a tragic incident that their soul cannot ignore. During life, they did not necessarily seek undeath- they may have shunned it or not known about its existence, but at their dying moment, their souls found reason to cling to this world despite the loss of their lives.

Undead that can create others of their own type are also sought out by those who wish to cheat death, to negotiate for the gift that these undead offer through their dark infection. Vampires, in particular are sought out with such requests. Some of these undead amass a great deal of money and power by choosing the successor of their blood-curse.

Others swear to raise the petitioner into undeath, but then cheat and allow the individual to die while the vampire takes the payment without offering the reward.


The Lost

"I did not chose this path, but if I must follow it, then I shall damn the rest of you as well"
- Bakahr Legacybane, General of the Undead Armies on Tyrrich Plain.


Other individuals do not choose to remain beyond death. Corpses that rise do not always become undead of their own bidding. Occasionally events occur that scar the very fabric of reality, leaving behind a legacy of remorse and despair. Great battles often leave behind warriors, soldiers that do not accept death and continue to march across barren and desolate fields. Even smaller tragedies spawn ghosts and allips (Commonly known as Madness-wraiths) that continue to repeat the actions which lead to their own deaths. Night after night, such undead return to the site of their greatest remorse. There they mechanically go through the motions of their last moments, reliving the moment of their demise time and time again. Such undead are not necessarily evil. Indeed, they may not realize that they are dead at all, so long as their eternal loop is not interrupted. If they are constrained from performing their necessary actions, they go mad and lash out violently until the provocation is gone, at which point, they return to their cycles, as if undisturbed.

Magic that goes horribly awry can create such restless spirits. Trapped by some flux of the ethereal, the spirit of the newly dead may find itself lost between realms, damned to an eternity as a ghost or spectre. Curses, cast by powerful mages or unleashed through thoughtless action, can also condemn the innocent into an eternal unlife. Many powerful artifacts and relics are capable of tearing the soul from the body and destroying the flesh. Some such items can enslave the souls it steals into a legion of undead protectors. Others leave the lost soul on its own, forever cut off from its life but also forbidden the peace of true death.

In some cases, a member of the undead chose them as a legacy. Many of the undead have their own means of procreation through the passing of a taint of their existence. Those undead seek someone to share their immortality. These creatures spend their unlives creating more remnants of their twisted races and war upon eachother through those who are an extension of their curse. Wights, ghouls and vampires are the most common of these self-replicating undead. Their choise for servant to pass on their legacy may be made completely without the individual's knowledge. The creature stalks and chooses its prey as predator might do. Once captured, the target is forced to undergo a ritual and become undead (for vampires, this involves the ingestion of blood; for Wights, the ritual communion of flesh). Immediately thereafter, the creator undead then kills the target's mortal flesh in order to force their return to an unholy life.

For such restless spirits, damnation may not be an eternal punishment. Those who do not stain their soul by willingly accepting the curse of the undead can still seek atonement. For some, this atonement must come through spiritual prowess and the absolution of faith. For others, their goal must be achieved in order to allow such a spirit to give this world release. Undead that remain in this world because they are trapped whiting a cycle, or because they have lost their place in fate can be restored if their quest are accomplished. Unlike those undead that willingly walk into the jaws of eternal damnation, these souls exist in a form of purgatory where their souls are removed from death, but not necessarily removed permanently from the cycle.


The Soul

"The replication of the soul within an undead is not unlike the lizard's illusion of color. Though these blasphemies may seem to be our daughters, sons, and loved ones, they are nothing more than ruined shells, filled with the darkness of evil"
-Hammund's Journal of Purification.


When an undead is created, the person's body and their mind undergo certain physical transformations, but how do we quantify the changes within the soul? Most religions consider undead to be a blasphemy against life and dark transition of the soul. Undead are twisted beings, their souls condemned by powerful magics and removed from the course of natural life and death.

The philosophy of undeath is simple, but the understanding of the metaphysics is far more complex. When an individual exchanges their life for undeath, the spark of energy that fuels their existence is stamped out and replaced by a darker force, a negative energy that feeds on life and pain. This energy (some term it the negative soul) replicates the original soul of the individual and establishes a continuance of life. Some faiths believe that this soul is not the original soul, but a negative duplicate, while others believe that it is the original soul of the creature now tainted and twisted by the energy of the negative plane. Based on these beliefs, some people that hunt the undead justify their actions as a cleansing of the flesh that has been taken over by an evil spirit or as a cleaning the spirit that is tormented by this evil energy.

If we continue with the ideal that the soul of the individual is destroyed and replaced with a negative replica of that individual's essence then we must also believe that this negative reflection can exist for all of us. Is it the source of Evil? Does it have any connection with the normal every day person? There are those psychopaths that believe a darker force drives their actions, perhaps this negative energy has its own goals and desires. When it comes right down to it, this belief allows us to think that. These horrible creatures are not truly human.

_________________
"No motion has she now, no force;
She neither hears nor sees;
Rolled round in earth's diurnal course,
With rocks, and stones, and trees."


Last edited by AcidZealot on Oct 7th, '09, 04:01, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Oct 7th, '09, 01:45 
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The "Necrology" of Vampires

It should come as no surprise that a vampire's metabolism is not like that of a mortal; in fact, strictly speaking, a vampire has no metabolism whatsoever. Although all of the biological systems present in a living mortal are also present in a vampire, most of these systems are changed in function. For example, most vampires do not need to breathe, and can function equally well in an airless crypt or in the vacuum of a void. Provided that immersion in water is not deadly to them, they can function unimpaired on the ocean floor. Vampires do retain the use of their lungs, but only for speech.

Because vampires have no metabolism in the normal sense, metabolic toxins and poisons – ingested, inhaled, or absorbed – have absolutely no effect on the creatures. This is not to say there are not certain substances which, when insinuated into the body of a vampire, cause it serious or even lethal damage. These substances, although they may seem to function like poisons, are more like allergens and are usually specific to individual creatures. For example, I myself have dispatched a vampire that was sensitive to holly, and I have heard that the ash of burned alder wood is lethal to another certain vampire.

Some examples of vampiric allergens are yew leaves, rose petals, salt, rice, silver, mistletoe, and lilies. The digestive tract of a vampire is greatly modified from that of a living mortal. The stomach is frequently reduced in size, often to the size of a man's clenched fist, simply because no vampire needs to ingest large volumes of solid food. There is wide variation among vampires with regard to the ability to eat solid food. Some vampires are unable to eat normal food at all, and any attempt to do so results in immediate regurgitation. Others can eat solid food with no ill effects, although they extract no nourishment from the food, and pass the material through their bodies over a course of hours, as mortals do. In the middle ground, there are some vampires that can eat solid food, but must regurgitate it within a period ranging from minutes to hours. This issue may seem incidental, but it obviously has significant effects on a vampire's behaviour, should the creature try to masquerade as a living creature.

The circulatory system of a vampire is little changed. The heart still pumps blood throughout the vessels of the monster's body. There are some differences, however. Because vampires have no need to extract oxygen from the air, their blood absorbs nothing from the lungs. This renders them completely immune to noxious gases that must be breathed to be effective. A vampire might inhale the gas – that is, draw it into its lungs – but the toxic chemicals in the gas would not cross from the lungs to the blood.

The blood of a vampire is also somewhat different from the blood of a mortal. When viewed normally, it has the same rich, red colour as a mortal's blood. When it is viewed by transmitted light, such as when a vial of vampire blood is held up to a light source, it has a distinctive golden colour. Blood drawn from an undestroyed vampire can manifest a wide variety of powers. In some cases, the blood is highly caustic, causing severe acid-like damage to anyone who touches it. In other cases, the blood bursts explosively into flame when exposed to sunlight. In still other cases, anyone who touches so much as one drop of the blood with bare skin instantly falls under the mental sway of the vampire. It is impossible to predict beforehand what effects the blood of a particular vampire might have, if any. There is one common factor: at the instant a vampire is destroyed, any samples of his blood immediately become completely inert, and frequently become corrupted and rancid within seconds.

The sensory organs of vampires become much more sensitive than those of their living analogues. If they did not already possess the power in life, vampires gain the ability to see in total darkness (i.e., infravision), typically with a range of some 90 feet. Their hearing also becomes much more acute, as does their sense of touch and smell; a vampire is exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to surprise.

Because a vampire does not require oxygen and, as is usually the case, must feed only once per day, where does it draw the energy required, for the prodigious feats of which the creature is capable? Many sages disagree, but my own belief is that the creature has an innate link with the Negative Material Plane.

Whatever the reason, vampires are much more resilient and robust than living creatures. They seem generally immune to exhaustion and to the debilitating effects of pain and exposure, and seem able to shrug off the negative consequences of many magical effects. They are totally immune to the effects of sleep, charm, and hold spells, and to other magical or psionic effects which mimic these spells. They are also totally immune to any magical effect which specifically causes paralysis. It is important to stress the word "specifically." While a vampire would be immune to the paralyzing touch of a ghoul or the dweomer of a wand of paralysation, it could be affected by a potent enchantment, such as alter reality or wish that emulated the effect. (Any mage capable of casting such powerful magic would almost certainly choose an effect more significant than paralysation, of course.) Like many other types of undead creatures, vampires sustain little damage from any effect based on cold or electricity, whether caused by spell, item, breath weapon, or even the elements.

Vampires are totally resistant to several beneficial spells as well. The creatures are completely immune to the effects of priestly curative or healing magic, such as cure light wounds, heal, etc. Because the failure of such spells might well give away the monster's true nature, a vampire masquerading as a mortal will often go to great lengths to avoid exposure to such magic.

A vampire's hair will never turn gray, nor will the creature show any other physical signs of aging unless it already had before death. In general, as long as the creature is well fed and functions according to whatever other restrictions are relevant to its existence, it will never appear any different from the way it did on the day of its mortal death. This does not mean that vampires will flaunt their unchanging appearance, because doing so will certainly attract too much unwanted attention. A vampire that chooses to live within or on the outskirts of the society of men will, in most cases, go to great lengths to masquerade as a normal human or demi-human, pretending to age and even to "die" to remove suspicion.


Vampiric Powers

Vampires are perhaps the most individualistic of undead. What is true for one is an outright – and dangerously misleading – falsehood for another. The differences between individual vampires typically become more pronounced as the creatures advance in age and power: while most fledgling vampires typically show at least some similarities with each other, the differences between the aged Patriarchs are often so great as to make one suspect that they are completely different types of creatures. The following discussions deal with the most common powers and weaknesses of vampires. Many vampire hunters have died – or worse – through over-generalizing such discussions, however. An assumption that any individual vampire has any particular power or weakness is a dangerous assumption, indeed!

Great is the power of the vampire. These undisputed masters of the undead have an abundance of powers from which to choose, giving them an advantage in nearly every combat and noncombat situation. These monsters enjoy significant benefits in nearly every aspect of their being. Their senses, strength, reasoning, and intelligence are all far beyond human norms. In fact, if not for their special vulnerabilities (which I will discuss later), vampires would be nearly unstoppable.

Although all vampires are extremely powerful, there is a moderating effect on the abilities of vampires, and this is time. A newly-created vampire (in the vast majority of cases) is relatively weak when compared to those that have been in existence for decades or centuries. On the other end of the scale, a vampire who has existed for a millennium or more is unimaginably more powerful than a newly-created fledgling.

No one knows exactly why this is so. Some scholars believe this progression to be "an innate characteristic of vampiric nature,” which of course is no answer at all. My personal belief is that all vampires are created with the potential to use all the powers available to a 1.000-year-old individual, but that actually using those powers is something that must be learned. Presumably, the more "advanced" powers require more subtlety to control, or are more taxing on the vampire, or perhaps both. To use these greater powers the vampire must practice the precision required and must build the willpower and mental fortitude needed to wield them.

Age Categories

Like dragons, vampires are divided into age categories. Essentially, as a vampire grows older, its power also grows. The creature gains new abilities that it did not previously have and becomes increasingly less susceptible to past weaknesses. In short, the older the vampire is, the more formidable a foe it becomes.

Happily, I know of only two Patriarch Vampires in existence. Patriarchs are extremely rare, for seldom do vampires survive this long. As will be discussed later, the strain of immortality is frequently too great for them. I see the hand of Providence in this, because to encounter a Patriarch is almost certain to become totally subject to its will.

Each vampire age category has a title associated with it. The titles and related ages are:

Fledgling: 0-99 years
Mature: 100-199 years
Old: 200-299 years
Very Old: 300-399 years
Ancient: 400-499 years
Eminent: 500-999 years
Patriarch: 1000+ years


These titles are more of academic interest than of practical value; one would not normally refer to a vampire by its title.

Animal form

In addition to the ability to assume gaseous form, a vampire can physically change its form into that of a wolf or a bat. This transformation is always voluntary, unlike that to gaseous form; a vampire cannot be forced to assume animal form. (In other words, a vampire cannot assume an animal form when physically defeated in battle.) The animal form that a vampire assumes will always be slightly larger than the norm, and more menacing. Some experts claim that the animal form of a vampire is always close to the archetype for that creature, the perfect form of the species; others state that the animal form always has the spark of intelligence visible in its eyes. Personally, I believe both statements to say more about the experts than about vampires. A hunter trying to recognize a vampire in animal form should not depend on such subjective measures.

Even behaviour is not a foolproof way of determining whether a particular wolf (or bat) is actually a vampire. An animal-form vampire is, of course, completely in control of its own behaviour, and hence can act either in ways totally in or out of character for the natural animal. Thus, if it suits the monster's purposes, it can blend undetectably with the normal members of a pack of wolves or bevy of bats. Unless the monster commands otherwise, however, the natural members of such a group will consider the animal form vampire to be the dominant leader of the group, and will treat it as such unless the vampire commands otherwise.

The transition from human to animal form takes one minute (1 round), and during the change, the monster is unable to do anything else. Vampires are generally unable to transform directly from animal to gaseous form, or vice versa, but must change to human form as a transitional step. Thus, changing from animal to gaseous form would take the creature two minutes (2 rounds) – one minute to change from gaseous to human form, then another minute to change from human to animal form. The only exception seems to be when the vampire in animal form suffers massive physical damage. Then and only then the creature seems able, indeed forced, to transform directly from animal to gaseous form.

Considering that the transition from human to animal form takes one minute, and that the monster is unusually vulnerable during the transition, why would the fiend choose to change forms at all? The most obvious use for this ability is camouflage, allowing the creature to stalk victims unseen, or to escape detection by those with the temerity to hunt it. There is another major benefit, too. When a wounded vampire changes form, it often seems to totally shake off all damage it has suffered up to that point.

_________________
"No motion has she now, no force;
She neither hears nor sees;
Rolled round in earth's diurnal course,
With rocks, and stones, and trees."


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PostPosted: Oct 7th, '09, 01:52 
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Becoming a Vampire

There are three ways to become a vampire. Each of these paths to darkness has its own unique character, but the end result is always a creature of unsurpassed evil and power.

The first path: generally known as that of deadly desire, is perhaps the most awful. In this case, the individual who is destined to become a vampire actually wishes to cross over and become undead. While it has been said that they must sacrifice their lives to attain this goal, a greater cost is often paid. Those who desire to live eternally and feed on the life essences of their fellow men must give up a portion of their spirits to the dark powers themselves. In this way, they are granted the powers of the undead, but also stripped of the last vestiges of their humanity. In the centuries to come, many find this loss too great to bear and seek out their own destruction.

The second path, that of the curse, is often the most insidious of the three. In this case, the individual is often unaware that he or she is destined to become a thing of the night. The transformation into “unlife” might occur because of a potent curse laid down by someone who has been wronged by the victim. Occasionally, an individual might find that he or she has inherited (or found) a beautiful and alluring magical ring-only to find that it cannot be removed and that the character is slowly . . . changing. There are those who accept this curse and embrace their new existence as a vampire, while others despise the things they have become. In nearly every case, these are the most passionate and “alive” examples of this evil race.

The final, and surely most tragic, path to vampirism is that of the victim. This is the route most commonly taken to vampirism, for it is the way in which those slain by a vampire become vampires themselves. Vampires created in this way almost always detest themselves and the creature that made them what they are. More information on this type of vampire is presented in the next section, which details the relationship of such creatures to their masters. All in all, the victims of other vampires are unhappy in their new lives, for few ever accept their fates happily-and many do not have the strength of character to seek an end to their wretched “unlives.”

Vampire Masters & Slaves

When a vampire decides to create new slaves, it does so by taking their lives in some special way. For most, it is simply the draining of their life energies or the drinking of their blood. Whatever the end result, if the victim dies from the feeding of the beast, he or she rises again as a vampire. At this point, the victim of the attack is enslaved by the vampire that created it. The newly created monster seldom has any fraction of its master’s power and is thus unable to challenge its master’s authority.

Further, the master exerts a powerful form of charm over their subjects that prevents them from acting to destroy it. This does not, however, mean that the vampire’s minions cannot act to undermine the vampire’s plans in minor ways, only that they must do as they are ordered by their lord. Unlike the limitations of a traditional charm, the vampire’s power enables him to order his slaves to destroy their loved ones or act against their own self interest without resistance.


Creating vampires

Traditional Methods

According to most related tales, a vampire can create another simply by killing a mortal either with its life-energy draining power (draining all the character's experience levels) or by exhausting the mortal of his or her blood supply. If the victim's body is not properly destroyed, it arises as a vampire, under the control of the creature who killed it, on the second night following the burial. As an aside, I pose the question: What exactly does it mean when the victim "arises" as a vampire? When the sun sinks fully below the horizon on the second night after the burial, the victim in the grave "awakens." The occupant of the grave is now a Fledgling vampire with all the characteristics, powers, and weaknesses which accompany that condition. Most vampires remember the instant of their death and the nature of their killer, and understand immediately their new nature. Certainly their new hunger gives them a good idea of what they have become.

They must immediately free themselves from their grave, either by breaking it open from within or by assuming gaseous form and diffusing out. If this is impossible, the vampire will die in about a week unless it can somehow summon minions such as a pack of wolves to dig it out. Once free of its grave, the vampire's first and only priority is to feed. Only after it has fed sufficiently might it remember to conceal the fact that the grave has been opened and is now empty.

There are several non-traditional processes of creating new vampires as well, but these are much less widely known.

Vampiric Saliva

This method is, thankfully, exceptionally rare. The saliva of certain vampires contains various necrological substances. First among these is a slow-acting but highly lethal poison. A single bite from a vampire can inject enough toxins to kill a robust warrior. Unlike most poisons, however, this toxin does not kill the subject for several days. Few people make the connection between the vampire bite and the victim's collapse; hence the body is quite likely to be buried improperly. Meanwhile, within the dead body of the victim, other necrological agents from the vampire's saliva are having their effect. Several nights after the victim's death, he or she comes to consciousness as a vampire.

Vampiric Curses

Some of the monsters also have the dread ability to import vampirism via a curse. With their voice and their gaze they are able to afflict a victim with a terrible wasting disease that drains body strength. After a number of days, the victim dies and then rises as a vampire the night after burial. The only means of saving the victim known to me is to destroy the cursing vampire before the victim finally succumbs. Of course, the body can be destroyed to prevent it from rising, but this is obviously too late to help the victim.

In general, any victim brought to death by any draining effects of a vampire, but not by normal combat or spell damage, is a candidate to become undead.


Vampire Companions

As the years pass, vampires often find that their greatest enemies are not would-be heroes, but time and boredom. The immortality they may once have craved now looks like a bleak and endless chain of suffering that they must wear eternally. To ease their misery, many vampires seek out a special companion. The most commonly encountered form of this is regarded, by those unfamiliar with the depth of the bond to be established, in the same way that they might look upon any normal person taking a wife or husband. In truth, there-is far more to this process. The process of vampiric bonding is as murky as the fog that often shrouds the vampire’s movement. When the vampire decides to take a companion, it generally (although not always) seeks out an individual of the opposite sex that reminds him of someone he loved in life. The vampire repeatedly visits the victim, feeding on him until he is at the point of death. At the last, when all hope seems lost, the vampire draws away the last vestiges of the companion’s life and infuses him with its own energies. The process is both traumatic and passionate, for this mingling of essences is far more intimate than any purely physical act of love. When the bonding is completed, both the vampire and its victim are exhausted and all but helpless for upwards of an hour. At the end of that time, the victim has become a vampire.

While the newly created companion is as much a slave of its master as any vampire spawned from an act of violence, there is something special about it. The companion shares a special metaphysical link with its master. Both can experience the other’s senses at certain times of day or under the influence of certain charms and enchantments. In many cases, this bond is fleeting and exists only briefly, at dawn and dusk for example, while for others it is a continuous exchange that cannot be broken without the death of one or the other. In many cases, a vampire’s companion also has the ability to command its master’s slaves, so long as no action is ordered that would place them in direct confrontation with their creator.

From the point of their bonding on, the two vampires are utterly loyal to each other. While the master might willingly sacrifice its other minions as pawns, it will protect its companion as if it were a king or queen. Likewise, the companion will take no action against its master and will do all that it can to protect him or her from harm. Both will even give up their own lives to save that of their companion. In fact, the bond between the two is so intense that if the master is slain, its companion retains the ability to command its slaves as if he or she were the vampire that had created them.


Physical Effects of Feeding

When a vampire feeds, its body shows various physical signs. Its skin, normally cool and pale, becomes warmer and takes on a healthy, almost ruddy tinge. In addition, the creature's levels of energy and activity seem higher.

In contrast, when a vampire has gone without feeding for a period of time, the reverse effects occur. Its skin becomes colder and paler, sometimes inhumanly so. The creature also becomes more sluggish. (Do not misunderstand this: the monster is still capable of incredible feats of exertion when necessary. The "sluggishness" relates more to its preferred level of activity than to its capabilities. A sluggish vampire is very much like a sluggish shark: to consider either of them to be weak is a dangerous error.) These symptoms become even more pronounced if the creature has been unable to feed sufficiently, as discussed in the following section.

Generally speaking, a "typical" vampire must feed once in any 24-hour period. Not doing so causes the vampire to grow weaker until, with prolonged denial of sustenance, the creature is destroyed.

Kin-Nectar

The majority of vampires can feed only from a willing, charmed, or otherwise immobilized but living victim. Can one of these creatures feed from another vampire? Apparently, yes. The following discussion will concentrate on those creatures that drink blood, because these are the most common. Similar conditions apply for other types of feeders. One vampire can drink the blood of another. In fact, vampiric blood, described by one vampire as "kin-nectar", is a better source of sustenance than the blood of mortals at least in one sense. Vampires need to drink much less kin-nectar than they would mortal blood in order to meet their food requirements. Yet few vampires enjoy drinking kin-nectar, it seems; they vastly prefer the taste of blood, supped from the vessel of a living (demi)human. It may be that there are some vampires that prefer kin-nectar, and perhaps one or two who requires it.

These creatures are in the unenviable position of depending upon other vampires for their survival - not a particularly secure position in which to be. If one vampire drinks the blood of another, the creatures enter into a close relationship: for several (1d3) hours following the feeding, the two creatures' minds are so intimately linked that they can communicate telepathically as easily as by speaking. This telepathy persists regardless of distance or intervening matter as long as both vampires are on the same plane. One vampire cannot "overhear" thoughts not intended as communication, however. In addition, the vampire who drank the blood has a significant level of control over the vampire who provided the blood for as long as the telepathic link exists. The creature who fed can issue orders telepathically and the second creature must obey them, within reason. Most vampires will find this interconnection distasteful and, in the case of the creature who was fed upon, downright dangerous, so the monsters usually shun kin-nectar. Most will only participate in this kind of feeding on either side if they totally trust the other participant (which is very rare) or if they simply have no choice in the matter.

It is nearly impossible for two vampires to feed exclusively from each other for a protracted period of time. They can do it for the short term, but it will become debilitating to both creatures in the long term. Such "mutual" arrangements would be incredibly rare in any case, because both vampires would in turn make themselves vulnerable to the telepathic orders of the other.


The Experience of the Victim

I shake in horror to think about it now. But at the time, as the fiend spoke, I felt its velvet voice thrilling through my body. So seductive were its words that I gladly opened the collar of my coat and bared the skin of my neck, and then stood trembling as I awaited the approach of the dark figure. I gasped aloud with pleasure as its tips touched my flesh, and its hands grasped my shoulders. Then came an instant of pleasure so piercing it was like pain - or pain so sweet it was like pleasure. I could hear the throbbing of my heartbeat in my ears, and also a deep and distant thudding that must have been the beating of the vampire's heart. The drumbeats synchronized until the sounds were one. I cried out from the ecstasy of it...
- From the journal of Alathea Greenbough


How can a vampire charm a victim into submitting to having his or her blood drunk? Surely the very nature of a charm, which cannot force its recipient to put itself in imminent danger, prevents the subject from accepting a command so obviously self-destructive. Then again, the vampiric charm-gaze is not the charm spell. This is one of the most insidious factors in the nature of vampirism. It would seem that there is some deep and dark desire within the psychology of (demi)humans that makes submitting to a vampire's "kiss" somehow attractive. Vampires are often portrayed as creatures with an intense sensual appeal. This, it seems, allows charmed victims to believe that offering their throat to a vampire is not the self-destructive nor even suicidal act that it is.

In addition, some victims who have survived the attentions of a vampire report that the experience was highly pleasurable, much as this may fly in the face of reason. They felt no pain as the beast opened the wound in their flesh, and described the actual sensation of the feeding as one of "voluptuous pleasure". (I find my gorge rises when I consider this, but I have heard it from so many sources that I cannot disregard it.) I have also heard the words used by a vampire while attempting to charm a victim into allowing it to feed. The monster seems to instinctively perceive a desire to submit that lies in the dark recesses of the human mind. It plays upon this desire, talking about "the gentle joy of surrendering", of "opening oneself", and of "experiencing the unequalled bliss of total sharing". Vampires will often feed from sleeping victims. If the victim is not awakened when the vampire makes the wound, he or she will remember nothing of the experience when they awaken normally. At the very most, the victim will recall that he or she experienced a dream of intense and sensual pleasure.

Notes: Unless the subject of the charm-gaze has some concrete reason to believe that the vampire will kill him or her out of hand, submitting to feeding is not a self-destructive act within the parameters of the charm spell effect.

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She neither hears nor sees;
Rolled round in earth's diurnal course,
With rocks, and stones, and trees."


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PostPosted: Oct 7th, '09, 02:12 
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Vampire Weaknesses


Some of the most common vampiric vulnerabilities are holy symbols, blessed accoutrements, sanctified places, mirrors, garlic, and running water.

One thing that the potential vampire hunter should remember is that not all vampires are affected by the same things. The discussions below relate to "typical" vampires – which, of course, is an oxymoron; no vampire is "typical." In practice, there is no guarantee that any individual vampire will suffer from any of the above "standard" weaknesses.

This holds particularly true with respect to uniquely powerful vampires, or the heads or progenitors of vampires lines. (A "vampire line" is defined as "all those 'subsidiary' vampires created by the same progenitor vampire, or by vampires who were created by the progenitor, etc." A progenitor is a vampire whose creator has been destroyed, or one who was not created by another vampire, but came into being by some other method.) These creatures tend to be unusual and will commonly possesses strengths and weaknesses altogether different from the "standard" vampire.

This same is true for the original set of vampires created personally by a head of a vampire line. These creatures are referred to as the first brood and comprise the progenitor's strongest and best "children." Typically, a first brood will be approximately five-to-ten vampires in size. The first brood will exhibit many of the same qualities as their progenitor but modified in form. For example, if the head of a vampire line were able to shapechange into the form of a fly, his first brood might be able to summon and command swarms of flies. As another example, if the progenitor were held at bay by anyone reading from a holy book, the sound of such readings might cause physical harm to members of the monster's first brood.


Keeping Vampires at bay


Good Holy Symbols

There is no consensus among experts as to exactly why the holy symbols of good aligned faiths hove such an effect on vampires. No one can argue with the fact that this effect exists, however.

The majority of philosophers believe that the symbol itself is not significant; it is the faith of the person holding the symbol that is important.
It should be noted that a holy symbol need not be a traditional one, such as a cross or star, to have power over a vampire. Any symbol of a deity dedicated to the precepts of Goodness will serve the purpose.

Evil Holy Symbols

As with other undead, vampires are sometimes subject to control by priests of evil-aligned faiths. Just as a good-aligned priest can use a holy symbol in an attempt to turn or banish a vampire, so can an evil-aligned priest use his symbol in an attempt to control the vampire. In both cases, the priest's faith and willpower are key issues, and the outcome is never certain.

There is no equivalent of presentment with evil-aligned holy symbols. A vampire is totally unaffected by an evil symbol presented by a layperson or by a priest of insufficient experience.

Turning Versus Presentment

In addition to priestly turning as discussed above, many vampires are also subject to the presentment of a good aligned holy symbol by a layperson or by a priest of insufficient experience to actually turn the creature. It should be noted that presentment of a holy symbol will never drive a vampire away: it will only keep it at bay temporarily. A presented holy symbol in the hands of the most virtuous and pious believer will force a vampire to remain at least five feet away from the character holding the symbol.

Blessed Accoutrements

In addition to holy symbols, there are a number of other religious items that can be used to exert control over the majority of vampires. Although they are usually not as effective as holy symbols, they can be used in a pinch. Some examples of blessed accoutrements are holy wafers, holy water, prayer beads, blessed books or tomes, and robes or clothing. Again, only to keep a Vampire at bay.


Additional Protection

There are three additional items that are useful for keeping vampires at bay. Once again, one must realize that not all vampires will be subject to these items.

Mirrors: It is this fact that likely explains a vampire's negative reaction to mirrors. If a mirror is presented boldly and with conviction to a vampire, the monster will recoil from it. Exactly why is this? It appears that vampires often resent their undead stale, and yearn for the warmth of humanity and feeling of being alive. Mirrors, because they do not reflect the image of vampires, remind the creatures in a most painful manner of their undead state.

Garlic: Garlic also has a strong effect on vampires. The reasons for this are unclear, but some innate quality in the plant causes vampires to cower from it. Some sages believe the reason is simply that vampires find the odour extremely offensive – so offensive, in fact, that a vampire will never approach any significant quantity of garlic, but I find this explanation much too simplistic. Perhaps vampires find garlic to be toxic to their necrological processes, as wolvesbane (actually aconite) is to werewolves. In any case, garlic can be used as a partial protection against the monsters.

Running water: Many legends tell of vampires being kept at bay by running water, and conclude that running water somehow has some warding power over vampires as does garlic and mirrors. If the benefit is great enough, vampires will risk such means of crossing running water, but will always do whatever it takes to minimize the risk. If circumstances allow, however, the fiends will shapechange to bat form and fly across a river. There is one exception: a vampire in gaseous form is strictly prohibited from crossing a body of running water that is more than three feet wide.


Sanctified Places

There are certain structures and locales that can strongly influence or prohibit vampires. These structures and locales can best be described as sanctified places. As a general rule, these locations are rare.

In order for a structure, building or area to be considered a sanctified place and to hold power over a vampire, it must be one of two specific types of establishment.

The first type of safe house from the vampire is one that is expressly owned. An individual or strongly defined group must own the location. If the location is inhabited, it must be inhabited by the owner or by a member of the owning group. The following are examples of locations that meet this criterion:

- a house, owned by the residents
- a monastery, owned by the order of priests that dwells within it
- a graveyard, owned by the priestly order that oversees it



The following locations would not qualify:

- an inn, because the residents staying in the various rooms do not own them
- a public area, such as a village green
- a town’s public graveyard, because the area would generally be "owned" by an elected (and hence ephemeral) town council
- a trading coaster’s warehouse, because the building is owned by - a "corporation," which is a legal fiction


Churches, temples, and the like, even when officially owned and operated by amorphous groups such as a town council qualify because they are symbolically owned by the deity to which the buildings are dedicated.

The second type of place that is off-limits to a vampire is one that is in some way hallowed. In the case of personal homes, they are the retreat or sanctuary of the owner, and are inherently hallowed. Churches and temples are obviously hallowed by their nature. Note that, in this case, the word "hallowed" does not necessarily mean religious or holy: rather, it means “respected or “venerated.” The following list of structures/areas gives a general idea of what might be considered hallowed ground. As with holy symbols, the types of hallowed ground vary with different cultures and religions:

- house or home
- church
- holy burial sites
- hallowed hunting grounds


In general, even the most powerful priest is unable to sanctify a location that does not have some tradition of sanctity or veneration associated with it. Thus, even a high priest could not buy the title to an abandoned estate- actually the lair of a vampire- and then somehow sanctify it, just to aggravate the vampire if nothing else. Unless the estate had some tradition of sanctity attached to it, the priest would have to establish the building as a temple, attract a body of other priests and a congregation, hold services, etc. Then and only then might the building be considered sanctified. (And if you think the vampire in the catacombs would abide that, then you would not last very long in the Land of Mists.)


Homes

Homes, that is, houses or other spaces where individuals or families have their permanent residence, enforce their own restrictions on a vampire. Homes are not actually sanctified places (except in the most unusual of cases) and so give priests or laypersons no benefits when turning or holding at bay vampires and other undead. They do, however, give those within a unique protection against vampires.

In short, a vampire is completely unable to enter a home unless invited by a resident; the creature is simply unable to physically enter the residence. A few important notes do apply. First of all, to qualify as a "resident" of a home, a person must have been invited to live there indefinitely. This can be the actual homeowner, the spouse, a relative of the owner, a live-in servant, etc. A guest of the owner does not qualify as a resident. Second, the invitation must be overt, stated in words. An implied invitation, such as an open door, is not sufficient. A single invitation to enter a home will allow the vampire to enter that home but once, immediately after the invitation is extended. The sole exception is if the "man of the house": the oldest member of the household offers the invitation. If it is the "man of the house" who formally offers the invitation to a vampire, the creature is thereafter always free to enter that home without further invitation. Third, just because a vampire is unable to actually enter a house, those within are not totally protected from the
creature’s wrath. A vampire has a number of options open to it. For example, it could attempt to charm someone inside the house, or otherwise convince him or her to officially invite the creature to enter. It could summon minions, who are not forbidden to enter the house. Alternatively, it could burn the house to the ground or otherwise force its potential victims to leave the structure. In short, fleeing to one’s home to escape a vampire offers temporary protection at best.

In the Land of Mists there are a number of exceptions to the above remarks. Strahd von Zarovich is the absolute ruler of Barovia and thereby owns all properties contained in it. This mighty vampire lord can enter any building or structure that he wishes, simply because he "owns" them all.


Graves

Many experts find the statement hard to believe, but it seems that that most vampires, the "lords of the undead," are unable to physically open the grave, crypt, or other final resting place of another who was interred according to the precepts of the religion the person followed in life. (They can obviously open their own resting-place with impunity.) Although surprising on the surface, when viewed symbolically, this makes perfect sense. An interment site is, in one manner of speaking, the only property owned by its inhabitant, for eternity. And, assuming the deceased was interred with the formality and ritual associated with his or her faith while alive, the interment site is thus sanctified, at least to a degree. For these reasons, a “typical” vampire is unable to enter, break open, or otherwise physically disturb an interment site without the express permission of the "inhabitant" (who, obviously, is unable to give it).

This does not prevent a vampire from magically animating the inhabitant of a grave, however, and then having the animated corpse break out of the internment site. This restriction also does not apply to unfortunates who were interred without benefit of clerical rites and rituals: bodies buried in a mass grave, criminals who were excommunicated, etc.


Destroying a Vampire.

Mirror - A vampire will recoil from the sight of a mirror and will do all they can to avoid them; this fear is irrational. They also do not emit a reflection in front of a mirror;
Garlic - Whilst not lethal to vampires, garlic is a strong allergen and they are turned off by large quantities of it. They can hardly tolerate the smell.
Holy Symbols - For a symbol to be effective, the wielder must present it with conviction and full and devout faith to their religion. A simple follower who is used to giving lip service or a faithful wielding the symbol of another god doesn't count. Holy Symbols keep the vampire at bay, thus at a safe distance. However, they do not stop the vampire from attacking. A vampire held at bay could hurl rocks or arrows, attempt dominating the wielder of the symbol or do anything else he wishes to do so long as he doesn't approach the person. Vampires find it hard to touch, move or otherwise manipulate good-aligned holy symbols.
Blessed Accoutrements - Those work similarly to Holy Symbols, but in a weaker form; some examples of blessed accoutrements are holy wafers, holy water, prayer beads, blessed books or tomes, and robes or clothing. They must have been blessed by a priest of the right faith to have any effect.
Wooden Stakes - To kill a vampire with a wooden stake, it must be driven through the heart. This is a very hard process, especially if the vampire is conscious. To pierce a vampire's heart, the attacker must have a strength of 18 and be able to drive the stake through the thicker and denser muscle tissue of the vampire and aim for the heart. If the vampire is conscious, it will likely move and attempt to push the other away, making it nearly impossible as it takes a mallet to drive a stake through. It is also very hard even if the vampire is unconscious as it takes time to drive a stake home. A stake through the heart paralyzes the vampire, but does not destroy it. To destroy it, the head must be subsequently cut off the body, otherwise as soon as the stake is removed, the vampire will come back to "life".
Running Water - Vampires immersed in rapidly flowing water (excluding oceans, creeks, slow streams, and the like) for three minutes or more automatically turn to gaseous form and must fly to their coffin. However, it must be immersed to the three quarters, thus including its heart. Vampires can float or swim across running water just like any human, so for a vampire to be trapped for that long, it must be held down under the water for three minutes. After one minute under water, the vampire will suffer damage and after three, it will be destroyed and turned to gaseous form. A vampire under running water cannot assume gaseous form at will however, but can turn in one of its other shapes. It can use its other abilities normally.
Sunlight - Exposure to sun light can destroy vampires. Just mere indirect exposure to it causes significant pain and prolonged exposure can mean permanent death. A vampire destroyed by sunlight will turn to dust and be killed forever. A vampire in gaseous form destroyed by sunlight will dissipate into the air to never reform. However, a vampire could stand inside an inn with windows if it wasn't standing in a beam of sunlight. As a general rule of thumb, if the vampire cannot see the sun directly, it is not a direct source of light. Light reflected in mirrors counts as a direct source if the vampire could see the reflection of the sun in it. Under sunlight, vampires have only one thing in mind: finding shelter from it and they will do all they can to do so. Also, under the sunlight, vampires cannot use any of their abilities such as shifting shapes or turning into a gaseous form, all they can do is run for the nearest safe place; it dominates all their thoughts. Vampires can be tricked or forced into sunlight, but it is very rare and hard as they possess great strength and cunning.

_________________
"No motion has she now, no force;
She neither hears nor sees;
Rolled round in earth's diurnal course,
With rocks, and stones, and trees."


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PostPosted: Oct 7th, '09, 14:13 
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Useful, thank you

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