Vampire
The temple was cool and quiet. Evensong had concluded and the novices were being escorted back to their dormitories. Few of the faithful still lingered, but one woman remained at her pew, head bowed in prayer. She raised her head suddenly when a figure sat sown beside her. Recovering, she realised it was a priest, dressed in formal robes and regalia, fresh from the ceremony. His manner was calm and serene. His skin was pale, as though he didn’t leave the confines of the temple much, and in his eyes the woman could see ageless wisdom radiating. Her troubles seemed to melt away. Would she like to come back to the sacristy and speak to the priest in more privacy, he asked? Yes, she would, the woman found herself replying. Then she was walking quietly behind the tall priest as he softly made his way across the great space. A pale hand turned the iron handle on a thick wooden door. The woman frowned. Was this the sacristy? She looked up into the priest’s eyes questioningly, but then the entire notion melted away. With a smile, the priest indicated that she should step through the door. The woman stepped through the door. Casting a careful glance around him, the vampire cleric closed the door smoothly behind him.
With a glass of what looked like a rich bodied red wine beside her, the troubadour turned her attentions to the lute on her lap and started up a complex melody. Her fingers flew over the strings and fretboard in a mesmerising display of dexterity. The audience sat dumb, completely captivated. Faster and faster she played. Pale face down, brow furrowed in concentration. The tempo and melody rose and fell, grew louder and softer. It spoke to the primitive hindbrains of those that listened. It whispered to their higher selves and stroked fingers across the deepest secrets buried within their souls. Some members of the audience began to weep. There was a thud as a body slumped from a chair. On the musician played. More bodies fell to the floor. They were snoring. The vampire changed the melody suddenly and the audience jerked in their seats as though tugged by strings. One by one they sprang to their feet and began dancing frenetically. Chairs overturned. Food and drink toppled to the floor. There was a crash as someone fell over a sleeping form. On the musician played. On she played. She did not need to pause for food or water. She did not tire or need rest. But one by one the audience fell. Although their minds were still caught by the Bard’s hypnotic melodies, their bodies simply could not go on. Finally, the vampire paused, and her fingers left the strings. She tucked a dark strand of hair back behind her ear and reached for the glass beside her. Snores rose up to fill the silence where her music had once been. After another deep pull form the glass of dark liquid, the troubadour began to tour the room, emptying pockets and lifting money purses.
The vampire is a creature of contradictions. They are undead yet pleasing to look upon. They feed off the blood of other creatures yet are tolerated more than the flesh-eating walking corpses that they call their cousins. Vampires can be just as callous, murderous and destructive as the walking corpses, bet still they find it easier to be accepted into ‘warm’ society. They appear less threatening and nightmarish- and so they utilise this to their own advantage.
Typically, a vampire appears as a pale-skinned human. Vampires can be created from all the mortal races, however, so it has been documented that vampiric orcs, dwarves and elves have been encountered. Regardless of original race, a vampire becomes extremely adverse to daylight. It pains them both physically and mentally to be touched by the sun’s rays. So, the first adjustment a fledgling vampire has to make is adopting a nocturnal lifestyle. Their pale skin will therefore grow even paler. Often their fingernails lengthen, and of course, their canine teeth elongate to suite their new dietary requirements, which can look quite dramatic and fearsome on an orcish or beastly vampire.
Some other unnatural boons that becoming a vampire offer are increased speed and strength, hypnotic powers of suggestion, and heightened healing abilities. More powerful and aged vampires can even create or ‘turn’ other mortals into vampires and hold them in thrall.
Like all other races, there are both good and evil vampires. Savage and murderous blood letters that hold no value in mortal lives and take them indiscriminately are common but attract a lot of attention and often live short un-lives. There are certainly many powerful vampiric scourges of great power, but there are too many decent, altruistic and good members of the vampiric race that work with the other mortal races, rather than march against them in the massing armies of the cold.
Costume Requirements: Pale / white skin, red eyes and of course fangs are the staple of the Vampire. They will cover themselves from head to foot if even daring to venture out during daylight hours.
Bonus: Vampire Nature- The player benefits from 2 unique abilities- Bite and Blood Pool.
Bite: Damage effect - Player must act out ‘feeding’ from a target, dealing them 1 damage. The player gains 1 Blood Point. Usable once per battle but can also be used outside of combat.
Blood Pool: Passive effect - All vampires have a reservoir of blood that they can draw on to fuel some of their Race abilities. All Vampires start with a Blood Pool of 1, but this will increase with level. This is represented by a red Blood Band worn on the belt, similar to a Mana Band. A Vampire must feed at least once in an event or they will start to starve and lose 1 life point at the start of the next event and so on until they feed. This can be from another player, NPC or even an animal (must inform the Elder they are going to hunt for animals).
Weakness: Burns in Sunlight- For every minute that an unprotected Vampire stays within direct sunlight, they will take 1 damage that cannot be healed using Healing Blood.
Vampire Ability List
Lvl 3: Healing Blood: Heal effect. Player may Call: ‘Healing Blood’ and spend any number of Blood Points to heal the same number of Hit Points.
Lvl 6: Blood Pool: Passive effect. Grants +1 Blood Point for a total of 2.
Lvl 9: Lightning Speed: Dodge effect. Player can spend 1 Blood Point to Dodge an attack.
Lvl 12: Blood Thrall: Alter effect. Player must bite a target 3 separate times over the course of 3 different events for this effect to work. Once bitten 3 times, the target is now a Thrall and is suggestable to vampiric control. Player can spend 1 Blood Point to bring a Thrall up to 10 ft away under their control for 5 minutes. The Thrall retains all skills and abilities and will follow the commands of the player for the duration or until killed.
Lvl 15: Blood Pool: Passive effect. Grants +1 Blood Point for a total of 3.
Lvl 18: Turn Other: Damage & Alter effect. Once a player has turned a target into a Thrall (see above), they can opt later on to fully turn them into a vampire. Player must spend 3 Blood Points and act out wounding themselves to feed the Thrall 1 Hit Point worth of their own blood.
The Thrall must then roleplay going into a deep stupor or trance. They cannot move or talk in any way for 30 minutes. (This is a long time because of the dramatic change to gameplay that this effect has- a player is changing race!!) This is an intense and painful period for the Thrall, after which time they will no longer be a member of their original race and will become a full Vampire player.
Note: Upon becoming a vampire, a player will need to liaise with the Elder team to convert their character. They will lose all of their old Race abilities and transfer over to the vampire Race abilities for their character level.
The temple was cool and quiet. Evensong had concluded and the novices were being escorted back to their dormitories. Few of the faithful still lingered, but one woman remained at her pew, head bowed in prayer. She raised her head suddenly when a figure sat sown beside her. Recovering, she realised it was a priest, dressed in formal robes and regalia, fresh from the ceremony. His manner was calm and serene. His skin was pale, as though he didn’t leave the confines of the temple much, and in his eyes the woman could see ageless wisdom radiating. Her troubles seemed to melt away. Would she like to come back to the sacristy and speak to the priest in more privacy, he asked? Yes, she would, the woman found herself replying. Then she was walking quietly behind the tall priest as he softly made his way across the great space. A pale hand turned the iron handle on a thick wooden door. The woman frowned. Was this the sacristy? She looked up into the priest’s eyes questioningly, but then the entire notion melted away. With a smile, the priest indicated that she should step through the door. The woman stepped through the door. Casting a careful glance around him, the vampire cleric closed the door smoothly behind him.
With a glass of what looked like a rich bodied red wine beside her, the troubadour turned her attentions to the lute on her lap and started up a complex melody. Her fingers flew over the strings and fretboard in a mesmerising display of dexterity. The audience sat dumb, completely captivated. Faster and faster she played. Pale face down, brow furrowed in concentration. The tempo and melody rose and fell, grew louder and softer. It spoke to the primitive hindbrains of those that listened. It whispered to their higher selves and stroked fingers across the deepest secrets buried within their souls. Some members of the audience began to weep. There was a thud as a body slumped from a chair. On the musician played. More bodies fell to the floor. They were snoring. The vampire changed the melody suddenly and the audience jerked in their seats as though tugged by strings. One by one they sprang to their feet and began dancing frenetically. Chairs overturned. Food and drink toppled to the floor. There was a crash as someone fell over a sleeping form. On the musician played. On she played. She did not need to pause for food or water. She did not tire or need rest. But one by one the audience fell. Although their minds were still caught by the Bard’s hypnotic melodies, their bodies simply could not go on. Finally, the vampire paused, and her fingers left the strings. She tucked a dark strand of hair back behind her ear and reached for the glass beside her. Snores rose up to fill the silence where her music had once been. After another deep pull form the glass of dark liquid, the troubadour began to tour the room, emptying pockets and lifting money purses.
The vampire is a creature of contradictions. They are undead yet pleasing to look upon. They feed off the blood of other creatures yet are tolerated more than the flesh-eating walking corpses that they call their cousins. Vampires can be just as callous, murderous and destructive as the walking corpses, bet still they find it easier to be accepted into ‘warm’ society. They appear less threatening and nightmarish- and so they utilise this to their own advantage.
Typically, a vampire appears as a pale-skinned human. Vampires can be created from all the mortal races, however, so it has been documented that vampiric orcs, dwarves and elves have been encountered. Regardless of original race, a vampire becomes extremely adverse to daylight. It pains them both physically and mentally to be touched by the sun’s rays. So, the first adjustment a fledgling vampire has to make is adopting a nocturnal lifestyle. Their pale skin will therefore grow even paler. Often their fingernails lengthen, and of course, their canine teeth elongate to suite their new dietary requirements, which can look quite dramatic and fearsome on an orcish or beastly vampire.
Some other unnatural boons that becoming a vampire offer are increased speed and strength, hypnotic powers of suggestion, and heightened healing abilities. More powerful and aged vampires can even create or ‘turn’ other mortals into vampires and hold them in thrall.
Like all other races, there are both good and evil vampires. Savage and murderous blood letters that hold no value in mortal lives and take them indiscriminately are common but attract a lot of attention and often live short un-lives. There are certainly many powerful vampiric scourges of great power, but there are too many decent, altruistic and good members of the vampiric race that work with the other mortal races, rather than march against them in the massing armies of the cold.
Costume Requirements: Pale / white skin, red eyes and of course fangs are the staple of the Vampire. They will cover themselves from head to foot if even daring to venture out during daylight hours.
Bonus: Vampire Nature- The player benefits from 2 unique abilities- Bite and Blood Pool.
Bite: Damage effect - Player must act out ‘feeding’ from a target, dealing them 1 damage. The player gains 1 Blood Point. Usable once per battle but can also be used outside of combat.
Blood Pool: Passive effect - All vampires have a reservoir of blood that they can draw on to fuel some of their Race abilities. All Vampires start with a Blood Pool of 1, but this will increase with level. This is represented by a red Blood Band worn on the belt, similar to a Mana Band. A Vampire must feed at least once in an event or they will start to starve and lose 1 life point at the start of the next event and so on until they feed. This can be from another player, NPC or even an animal (must inform the Elder they are going to hunt for animals).
Weakness: Burns in Sunlight- For every minute that an unprotected Vampire stays within direct sunlight, they will take 1 damage that cannot be healed using Healing Blood.
Vampire Ability List
Lvl 3: Healing Blood: Heal effect. Player may Call: ‘Healing Blood’ and spend any number of Blood Points to heal the same number of Hit Points.
Lvl 6: Blood Pool: Passive effect. Grants +1 Blood Point for a total of 2.
Lvl 9: Lightning Speed: Dodge effect. Player can spend 1 Blood Point to Dodge an attack.
Lvl 12: Blood Thrall: Alter effect. Player must bite a target 3 separate times over the course of 3 different events for this effect to work. Once bitten 3 times, the target is now a Thrall and is suggestable to vampiric control. Player can spend 1 Blood Point to bring a Thrall up to 10 ft away under their control for 5 minutes. The Thrall retains all skills and abilities and will follow the commands of the player for the duration or until killed.
Lvl 15: Blood Pool: Passive effect. Grants +1 Blood Point for a total of 3.
Lvl 18: Turn Other: Damage & Alter effect. Once a player has turned a target into a Thrall (see above), they can opt later on to fully turn them into a vampire. Player must spend 3 Blood Points and act out wounding themselves to feed the Thrall 1 Hit Point worth of their own blood.
The Thrall must then roleplay going into a deep stupor or trance. They cannot move or talk in any way for 30 minutes. (This is a long time because of the dramatic change to gameplay that this effect has- a player is changing race!!) This is an intense and painful period for the Thrall, after which time they will no longer be a member of their original race and will become a full Vampire player.
Note: Upon becoming a vampire, a player will need to liaise with the Elder team to convert their character. They will lose all of their old Race abilities and transfer over to the vampire Race abilities for their character level.
