Homo Sapiens Draculis

[Michael Hopcroft]

I would like some help coming up with a raical profile for a modern supernatural camapign idea I have inmind to write up someday. teh idea is that vampires are real -- but they aren't what you think.

 

There is a supspecies of humanity called homo sapiens draculis that needs in ingest human blood to survive. However, while they are supernatural in origins they are inherently no more good or evil than anybody else. They onyl need to feed once a week to surive, and if they drink moe blood at a feeding they can go longer without. They only need about a pint per feeding to survive. Thus, they do not need to kill to live. They are not vulnerable to daylight. They die when you put a stake through their heart -- but then again, who wouldn't? Their speical powers are limited -- a little bit stronger, a little bit faster, a bonus to COM and PRE perhaps, and longevity.

 

Their bite is actually intensely pleasurable to the "victim" -- maybe it's a pheremone in their saliva or something that not only serves as an anesthetic (masiking the pain from the wound) but also activates the pleasure centers of the victim's brain. Once you've been sampled from, you will want it again. This comes in pretty handy, as it enables many of these pseudo-vampires to establish long-term relationships with normal humans who serve as companions and lovers as well as the occasional food source. If the vampire takes adequate precautions, the feeding can actually do very little harm to the victim. Maybe the victim will feel a little weak for a day or so until they replenish their blood supply, but that's about it. However, if the bite is delivered to the wrong place -- such as the carotid artery -- the bleeding cannot be stopped, the blood flow to the brain is cut off, and death results. If you want your victim to live, you will bite them someplace where you will be able to staunch the bleeding right away as soon as you're done feeding. vampires killed a lot more people by acident when less was known about first aid and how bleeding actually worked -- now a vampire who knows what their doing never kills unless they somehow want to.

 

"Vampires" are vulenrable to blood-borne pathogens such as HIV and Hepatitis B. Exposure to these pathogens leads to rapid physical deterioration and death with no cure possible.

 

The act of feeding is often associated with the act of sex. "Vampires", unlike their undead eqivalents, do experience phsyical and social pelasures outside of the drinking of blood (and do have a natural reproductive urge -- see below). Many victims find that the pleasure response associated with the bite is also sexually arousing -- not only does it feel as good as a really good orgasm, but it could also serve to heighten seuxal desire. Many places on the human body that are good places to bite someone if you want to be able to staunch the bleeding quickly are also erogenous zones (such as the female breast).

 

If you are bitten by a 'vampire" and die from ti, you just die. You don't rise from the dead. Homo sapiens draculis reproduces the same way every other species does -- by having children whose vampiring nature arises during adolesence. it's something you're born with -- you can't become a vampire if you weren't born that way without the intervention of powerful magic.

 

As I said, these are no more inherently good or evil than anyone else. They are, however, grossly misunderstood, partially due to the actions of the more sadistic members of the subspecies and those who do in fact "hunt" and kill 'prey". Many who know these creatures exist hunt them down, and don't distingiuish based on the individual's ethics. However, most of the hunters really do believe all the old cliches about vampires -- that they're really undead killing machines. They don't recognize that it's a genetic trait passed on from father or mother (or both) to offspring.

 

How would you write this up in HERO terms? And what would the effect of such characters be on a campaign?

[Rene]

Re: Homo Sapiens Draculis

 

Did you ever read a novel called "Fevre Dream" by George R. R. Martin? If not, you should, it does a wonderful job of presenting vampires like the ones you're describing.

[Intrope]

Re: Homo Sapiens Draculis

 

Neat idea! And not too difficult to write up, I think.

 

For limitations:

A physical lim (needs blood weekly to survive)

A vulnerability (to blood-borne diseases; it sounds like Draculis dies fast from these)

A Secret ID (vampiric freak)

And frequently DNPC (the blood source)

 

For powers:

a linked mind control (enjoy this bite) and minor transform that adds a limitation (wants to/enjoys being bitten/drained).

 

Other than that, they really just need a few points of life support and characteristics and they're ready to go!

 

BTW, the first character idea that popped into my head was a vampire hunter: after all, if you know you are a vampire, hunting the psycho vamps is good bull; that way, you can get rid of the bad apples and hide the evidence, all at the same time.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Homo Sapiens Draculis

 

 

Player:

 

Val	Char	Cost
18	STR	8
15	DEX	15
10	CON	0
10	BODY	0
10	INT	0
10	EGO	0
15	PRE	5
15	COM	3
4	PD	0
2	ED	0
2	SPD	0
6	REC	0
20	END	0
24	STUN	0

6" RUN02" SWIM03 1/2" LEAP0Characteristics Cost: 31

 

Cost	Power	END
30	Blood Binding: Minor Transform 3d6 (Normal person into person who enjoys and seeks out being fed upon by character, Death of user)	3
9	Blood Enthrallment: Mind Control 4d6 (Human class of minds) (20 Active Points); Linked (Blood Binding; -1/2), Lesser Power can only be used when character uses greater Power at full value (-1/4), Set Effect (Enjoy this bite) (Causes mental reaction like a good orgasm; -1/2)	2
3	Bite and Blood Drain: Killing Attack - Hand-To-Hand 1 point (1/2d6 w/STR) (5 Active Points); Linked (Blood Binding; -1/2), Lesser Power can only be used when character uses greater Power at full value (-1/4)	1
7	Vampriic Endurance: Life Support (Eating Character does not eat; Longevity 200 Years; Sleeping Character does not sleep)	0

Powers Cost: 49

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total Character Cost: 80

 

Val	Disadvantages
5	Dependence: Human Blood Takes 3d6 Damage (Difficult To Obtain, 1 Week)
10	Vulnerability: 2 x BODY Blood-borne pathogens (Uncommon)
15	Social Limitation: Must keep vampirism secret (Occasionally, Severe)

Disadvantage Points: 30

 

Base Points: 200

Experience Required: 0

Total Experience Available: 0

Experience Unspent: 0

 

That's what Hero Designer came up with when I inpout the data I wanted. I need to make this coherent and make it apparent that these are adders to the base character -- not the complete character.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Homo Sapiens Draculis

 

Here's the better-looking version:

 

STR +8 (8)

DEX +5 (15)

PRE +5 (10)

COM +6 (3)

 

Powers

Blood Binding: 3d6 Minor Transform (Normal person into person who enjoys and seeks out being fed upon by user, cured by death of user), Linked to Blood Entrallment ; 4d6 Mind Control, based on CON, Set effect (Enjoy this bite,-1/2), Speical Effect (produces mental effect like a good orgasm, 0); Linked to Bite and Blood Drain; 1 point HKA modified by STR; 55 Active Points; Real Cost 42

 

Vampiric Enduance: Life Support (does not eat, does not sleep, Logevity 200 years); 7 Active points; Real Cost 7

 

Disadvantages:

 

Social Lim: Must keep vampirism secret -- 15 points

Vulnerabilty: 2x BODY from blood-borne pathogens; Uncommon -- 10 points

Dependence on Human Blood; once per week, difficult to obtain, 3d6 damage -- 5 points

 

Total cost of template: 50 points

[ghost-angel]

Re: Homo Sapiens Draculis

 

Use Hero Designer to make it a Template.

 

Input the same base character you did to get the points you posted here, then Save As Template.

 

To make a vampire you open from that Template and modify as needed. It'll be exactly what you're looking for.

 

Or you can use a Package Deal as described in the book.

[tkdguy]

Re: Homo Sapiens Draculis

 

Have you seen the movie, The Breed? It stars Adrian Paul of Highlander fame. He plays a vampire cop out to get a renegade vampire running amok. Vampires are a separate species and live quietly (for the most part) among themselves.

 

Interestingly enough, Geraint Wyn-Davies, who popularized the vampire cop role in Forever Knight guest-starred in an episode of Highlander. Of course, he and Adrian Paul worked together in the short-lived series Tracker.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Homo Sapiens Draculis

 

Have you seen the movie, The Breed? It stars Adrian Paul of Highlander fame. He plays a vampire cop out to get a renegade vampire running amok. Vampires are a separate species and live quietly (for the most part) among themselves.

 

Interestingly enough, Geraint Wyn-Davies, who popularized the vampire cop role in Forever Knight guest-starred in an episode of Highlander. Of course, he and Adrian Paul worked together in the short-lived series Tracker.

No can;t say I've seen that one.

 

What's Adrian Paul doing these days, anyway? He must be going through a terrible bout of typecasting.

 

A variation of draculis might be appearing in one of the books Michael Hopcroft Press will be publishing if I can get the first few books out the door, get my other ideas organized properly, and figure out what systems I want to use. (I;'ve made a strong personal commitment to multi-system books after seeing how good Omlevex was, and I'm waiting to hear back from Darren on the HERO license for a couple of my current books. It's going to be a campaign bpook about a high school where several misunderstood and hunted supernatural creatures dwell, and find themselves fighting a dual-pronged battle against the forces of Hell (some of the characters are actually "defectors" from Hell who want to experience the true joys of human life -- there's going to be a hevay CLAMP influence in this book, and if you haven;'t read their manga Wish yet you're missing out on one of the best comcis ever made -- I guaruntee you'll go through an entire box of kleenex at the end) and intolerant humans who see anything supernatural or magical as evil and meriting painful death. one of the characters will be a teenage girl who happens to have recently matured to the pioint that she is a vampire -- thankfully she already had a steady boyfriend when she made this disocovery, and he is niow her confidant and weekly "dinner guest" with the approval of her mother (her father, who passed o his vapiric genes, got staked by a vampire-hunter when she was a little girl). Valerie practices "a safe relationship" with her boyfriend -- she chooses where to sink her fangs in carefully, has a supply of gauze handy ont he scene to staunch the bleeding immediately when she's done, and always banadages him up afterwards. They always "have dinner" on a Firday so he has the full weekend to heal, but his friends wonder what those strange marks on his chest are when he takes a shower in P.E. class.

 

Her classmates include a witch who was actually an escapee from the Salem withchunts of 1692 (the real witches, benevolent protectors of the Earth, got away before the hunters cpould get them by dispersing themselves throughout time and space), a were-creature (haven;'t decided which type yet), and an ex-demon. Their homeroom teacher is an immortal who has been faking her own death every twenty years since 1722 to keep the hunters off her trail. But the forces of darkenss are convering on new Salem (California) High School from all sides, and all the msytics of the school may have to work together for their own survival, as they overcome their own prejudices and (hopefully) save the world from everlasting doom.