Vampires in Supers Setting

[Dr. MID-Nite]

Re: Vampires in Supers Setting

 

One thing to remember is that in some literature....there are differences between "full bloods" and "half breeds" or lesser vampires.

 

To me...you don't need to have every vampire ability ever catalogued to be a good vampire character....take Blade for example.

 

Some powers I'd include as a given:

 

Regeneration...including Resurrection.

 

Enhanced STR

 

Some Life Support

 

Fangs

 

And something to represent extra resilience.

 

 

Beyond that....the other powers are optional depending on the role the character needs to play in the campaign. If you want more supernatural...go mist form....less....lots of stealth...and so forth.

 

Rob

[Captain Emu]

Re: Vampires in Supers Setting

 

Throw in the fact that there are as many vampire legends as there are nations and cultures in the world and you have a pretty big buffet of vampy abilities.

[freakboy6117]

Re: Vampires in Supers Setting

 

i have to say an average wooden teleaphone pole would also make a great vampire huntin weapon if you where that strong don't have to be to accurate hit the chest and there probably staked.

[OddHat]

Re: Vampires in Supers Setting

 

Chinese Vampires can be master martial artists. Here's one example. Western vampires who are master fencers and wrestlers are a possibility as well, all without breaking the archetype if you like a Fallen Noble theme.

 

Vampires can have as wide a range of mental powers as you like, at any level you like. A Mentalist who can desolidify or take even a very solid punch is not a minor threat.

 

Count Nefaria style, you can always throw in a Superman level Vampire.

 

The Plague aspect of Vampires can be devestating in a Supers setting, and more so if there's no cure. When dozens or hundreds of innocents, even sweet Aunt DNPC and beloved Doctor Girlfriend, are not only turned into the living dead but damned to Hell forever, finding and stopping the Vamps becomes a top priority.

 

Ultimately Vampires won't and shouldn't scare Superheroes with their raw power; fighting Evil is the whole point of being a Superhero, and Dracula himself was chased off by normals. However, they still remain useful character types.

[Trebuchet]

Re: Vampires in Supers Setting

 

Well, you could always have vampire ninja. Imagine a small band of ninja with vampiric powers and literally centuries of ninja training.

 

Vampiric high DEX and STR 30 plus martial arts; and swords become a much more dangerous prospect even for supers.

 

Throw smoke bomb or flash grenade, then dissolve into mist and vanish (or attack!).

 

Teamwork and Mind Link for those coordinated attacks.

 

Perform reconaissance as a bat.

 

Control (or infiltrate!) guard dogs; be invisible to IR cameras (no body heat), summon fog...

 

The evil possibilities are practically endless. Considering I've driven supers to near-conniption fits with some artful teamwork by merely human ninjas, some vampiric ones ought to really raise hackles.

[Bloodstone]

Re: Vampires in Supers Setting

 

I think the big downside is that vampire weaknesses are legion and most people (especially gamers) know all the common ones. So to make it playabe in a super hero game, you may need to ditch some or even most of those.

 

The alternate animal forms offer some really good versatility, but unless you buff the hell out of the wolf form or make the bat form a giant, both are probably fairly useless in combat with supers. But out of combat, this nets you some neat abilities, especially if you keep slightly superior stats and all your skills. And a small bat with supernatural strength could still make an intersting foe. The animal summoning is again, probably not a great raw combat ability but could prove usefull. All that said, the mist form is pretty powerful if you give them other desolidification tricks to go along with it. You ever seen what happens to a somone when you resolidify inside their lungs

 

You can easily improve the hypnotic/mind control aspects, possibly adding in other mentalist type powers. Could even say the character had a chance to study with a great mystic or sorcerer at some time, giving them the option of being an immortal spellcaster.

 

You can buff up vampire defenses and make them virutally unstopable demi bricks. Even if you do "kill" them, there are only a few things that should eb able to put them down for good.

 

With centuries of experience in combat, you can justify lots of martial arts, skill levels and so forth. This is to say nothing of the fact that you can greatly improve their speed, strength and toughness to help them compete with bigger Superhumans. Dracula readily goes toe to toe with entire super teams over in the Marvel books. If you don't want their stats to be super high all the time, give them the ability to buff themselves when they drink blood. Work it as a Transfer or a self only Aid. Might even make it so only superhuman blood gives them superhuman stats, possibly with the effect varying on who they drink from.

 

Infact, that same immortality can let you justify all types of extraordinary skills in any number of fields (barring solar powered engineering). A suite of "hyper intelligence" type powers could even be appropriate.

 

A variety of super sense could be justified as well, though many of them might overlap with your animal form senses.

 

But really, all of that takes a back seat to one of the vampires best comic book style powers: weather control. Anything you have ever seen the lieks of Storm do, a vampire in a supers game could do. You could esily make a 500pt character on this aspect alone...

[Captain Emu]

Re: Vampires in Supers Setting

 

Also keep in mind the number of items and objects of interest and power a vampire can aquire over the centuries. All the arcane and secret lore he may have access too.

 

In addition, think about a vampire who uses supertech to his advantage. Pesky stakes got ya down, then implant a vibranium heart armor cocoon. Good ol' vampire claws not enough to rend the likes of the Hulk. Upgrade with supertech claws.

 

You can really run with a vampire.

[Enforcer84]

Re: Vampires in Supers Setting

 

none of the cinematic monsters were ass kickers, unless you were a human with little or no combat training. Agents fear vampires; supers? Not so much.

[Vondy]

Re: Vampires in Supers Setting

 

Most anything can work in generic superheroic settings, but truth be told, I've always felt undead in general, and vampires in specific, don't jive well with caped crusaders (and yes, I know there are Marvel-DC precedents). That's just a question of personal taste and not anything akin to a definative genre statement.

[Enforcer84]

Re: Vampires in Supers Setting

 

Most anything can work in generic superheroic settings' date=' but truth be told, I've always felt undead in general, and vampires in specific, don't jive well with caped crusaders (and yes, I know there are Marvel-DC precedents). That's just a question of personal taste and not anything akin to a definative genre statement.[/quote']

Well as minions to the dark villains, sure.

[Twilight]

Re: Vampires in Supers Setting

 

none of the cinematic monsters were ass kickers' date=' unless you were a human with little or no combat training. Agents fear vampires; supers? Not so much.[/quote']

 

Tell that to the X-Men, when they faced off against Dracula he curb stomped them and only Nightcrawler's faith enabled him to save the day. Dracula nearly killed Dr. Strange as well. 'Tis a silly super who underestimates the vampire.

 

Here's a site that should shed some light upon Dracula's Marvel exploits: http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/draculav.htm

[assault]

Re: Vampires in Supers Setting

 

Part of the problem here is the difference between Champions and the source material.

 

Very few of the X-Men, for example, have serious defences. Dracula can tear them apart just as well as he can with humans. In Champions, that's less likely to be the case.

 

On the other hand, if he was to go up against the JLA, he would have to mind control Superman and use him to beat up everyone else... (good old Claremont and Byrne )

[Twilight]

Re: Vampires in Supers Setting

 

Yes but during the Marvel years he also fought the likes of Silver Surfer and Thor. Check the link I provided, it's all in there.

[wcw43921]

Re: Vampires in Supers Setting

 

none of the cinematic monsters were ass kickers' date=' unless you were a human with little or no combat training. Agents fear vampires; supers? Not so much.[/quote']

 

Hmm.

 

Most anything can work in generic superheroic settings' date=' but truth be told, I've always felt undead in general, and vampires in specific, don't jive well with caped crusaders (and yes, I know there are Marvel-DC precedents). That's just a question of personal taste and not anything akin to a definative genre statement.[/quote']

 

And again, Hmm.

 

My feeling on this is that if muggers, burglars and burning-house rescues can be considered Superhero 101, then vampires are Superhero 401. If you can fight and destroy a vampire single-handed, then to my mind you've got some serious stuff as a superhero.

 

(Which is why the Smallville episode where Lana became part of a lesbian vampire sorority disappointed me, despite the hot vampire-on-vampire action. Clark seemed pretty much helpless against Vamp-Lana, who ended up killing the head vamp herself. Sure, he may not have been able to bring himself to hurt Lana, but couldn't he bring himself to resist? This is the future Superman we're talking about here.)

 

Anyway, as you said Von D-Man, it's a matter of taste. It's just that to my taste they work really well.

[Kirby]

Re: Vampires in Supers Setting

 

Marvel is hardly the official source on vampires. Marvel is hardly an official source on itself. People don't stay dead, the Hulk spontaneously gains regenerative powers once he and Wolverine fight, and the victory in a fight depends on the writer's whims and storyline. It's a universe where most everyone hates/despises everyone else.

 

One of the problems with creating a vampire in a superhero game is that vampires aren't really in the same genre. Playes want to be a vampire because of how "cool" they are, but when they're created, realize how equal footing they are (if not weaker) on the "super" scale. That's when power gamers and munchkinism takes over with "boost strength and defenses" as well as "wear armor to protect from sunlight/wooden stakes" etc.

 

If you want to roleplay a vampire in a supers genre, then roleplay it. Utilize the stregths and accept the weaknesses. Be the character that takes out the normals/agents. Be the one who does the investigating. But please stop thinking that you have to be a "combat wombat" if you're going to play a vampire.

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: Vampires in Supers Setting

 

Part of the problem here is the difference between Champions and the source material.

 

Very few of the X-Men, for example, have serious defences. Dracula can tear them apart just as well as he can with humans. In Champions, that's less likely to be the case.

 

On the other hand, if he was to go up against the JLA, he would have to mind control Superman and use him to beat up everyone else... (good old Claremont and Byrne )

 

The other problem is what source material you mean. Marvels Dracula would have taken out Van Helsing and his merry men in about 2 phases without breaking a sweat. If we're talking about classical Stoker style vampires, then they are lethal to normals, dangerous to heros, and toast against supers. Comicbook vampres are a different ball of wax.

[Kirby]

Re: Vampires in Supers Setting

 

Clark seemed pretty much helpless against Vamp-Lana' date=' who ended up killing the head vamp herself. Sure, he may not have been able to bring himself to hurt Lana, but couldn't he bring himself to resist? This is the future [i']Superman[/i] we're talking about here.)

DC has -to my knowledge- always show Superman being vulnerable to the supernatural. This is nothing new.

[OddHat]

Re: Vampires in Supers Setting

 

Marvel is hardly the official source on vampires. Marvel is hardly an official source on itself.

 

Whole post was good, but this was the bit that we need to remember. Superhero Comics are places where power levels surge and wane constantly. Spiderman can take Firelord one day and get knocked out by a middle aged guy with robot arms the next. In RPGs power levels may mean something; in comics, not so much.

[OddHat]

Re: Vampires in Supers Setting

 

The other problem is what source material you mean. Marvels Dracula would have taken out Van Helsing and his merry men in about 2 phases without breaking a sweat. If we're talking about classical Stoker style vampires' date=' then they are lethal to normals, dangerous to heros, and toast against supers. Comicbook vampres are a different ball of wax.[/quote']

 

This is also worth remembering. Dracula got his hat handed to him by a gang of normal people with moderate knowledge and training. Frankenstein's monster is no match for peasants with pitch forks. Wolf men can be shot. If you want to use classic literary or movie monsters in a Supers setting, you either need to ramp up their powers or work with their skills and have them avoid direct confrontation.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Vampires in Supers Setting

 

The most fun I ever had with a vampire character in a supers setting was the leader of a VIPER nest in one of my past campaigns. "Seraphina" was patterned after the child in Interview With The Vampire: trapped for four hundred years in the body of a nine-year-old girl. Physically she was no stronger than an athletic adult male, but she had massive power over the minds of others, and centuries of experience in manipulating people, including exploiting her apparent helplessness. Seraphina had the self-centeredness, lack of empathy and casual cruelty of many children taken to the nth degree, and loved making adults suffer due to her envy of them. Her schemes often borrowed the themes of nursery rhymes or childhood games, with a deadly twist.

[Twilight]

Re: Vampires in Supers Setting

 

This is also worth remembering. Dracula got his hat handed to him by a gang of normal people with moderate knowledge and training. Frankenstein's monster is no match for peasants with pitch forks. Wolf men can be shot. If you want to use classic literary or movie monsters in a Supers setting' date=' you either need to ramp up their powers or work with their skills and have them avoid direct confrontation.[/quote']

 

The only point I was trying to make is that you can do classic vampire with the classic powers and have him capable of challenging a superteam. For most of the fights I mentioned Dracula was not powered up, nor had any major cheese added to him. He just used the powers that he had intelligently. Now of course if you know his weaknesses he can be easily driven off.

 

Also, has anybody pointed out a vamp's defences yet? As I recall the classic variety could only be damaged reliably by wood and silver, anything else either didn't hurt them or was recovered from quickly. So while he's probably not 'combat wombat' you could justify one as being a 'damage sponge' without stretching the concept much, particularly if the vamp in question was clever enough to hide the nature of his abilities.

[David Johnston]

Re: Vampires in Supers Setting

 

Incidentally, when I did vampires they had no particular vulnerability to wood or silver. Driving a stake into one's heart just stops him regenerating and holds him still long enough to decapitate or burn him. Of course my vampires were Damage Reduction + Regeneration from death characters.

[Twilight]

Re: Vampires in Supers Setting

 

Well to each thier own David. That said, if the regeneration is high enough the damage sponge thing I mentioned could still work.

 

Also, I'm curious as to how making Frankenstein's Monster more powerful would go counter to the concept. Couldn't you just make him a brick and have done with it?

[Trebuchet]

Re: Vampires in Supers Setting

 

The greatest weapon in the arsenal of classic vampires like Bram Stoker's Dracula was their opponents didn't really understand what they were up against until halfway through the story. Once they figured that out, the normals chased the vampire all over England and eastern Europe with just some crosses and a few bottles of holy water. A vampire might be a better mastermind than straight combatant (although they might still be a formidable adversary to many martial artists, penetrators, and maybe some speedsters). Lots of minions (perhaps including some of the PCs' loved ones) might make them more threatening or creepy to face.

 

What vampires can do is too well known to modern roleplayers (as opposed to when Bram Stoker wrote Dracula back in the 1800's when few in England or America had even heard of the legends), so you've got to either beef him up substantially to fight supers or give him some sort of unexpected twist. Ultimately, they're more horror than supers genre, and it might be best to tailor the scenario to two or three specific characters rather than a whole superteam. In a recent Champions adventure I played in*, we had only our team's mystic Le Magister and my low-defense MA/speedster Zl'f fighting a vampire and two other undead. The scenario just wouldn't have worked with most of our team, but it worked for those particular characters.

 

 

* You can see my short story about this adventure here: http://herogame.dans.cust.servlets.net/forums/showthread.php?t=46582

[assault]

Re: Vampires in Supers Setting

 

If we're talking about classical Stoker style vampires' date=' then they are lethal to normals, dangerous to heros, and toast against supers. Comicbook vampres are a different ball of wax.[/quote']

 

I grant the distinction, but...

 

In the comicbooks, most supers aren't invulnerable, either. That means that most comicbook supers would be vulnerable to Stoker style vampires too. Using "mind control Superman" style tactics can allow them to bother the invulnerable ones as well.

 

In Champions, Stoker style vampires will often have problems due to the large quantities of resistant defences most characters have. That pretty much begs the use of "comicbook vampires". And that's fine.

 

In any case, vampires are scary when you don't know where they are, and less scary when you do. That's true of most monsters, and a bunch of other character types as well. (Ninjas come to mind).

 

Saying they are "toast against supers" is assuming that they are standing around in the open, ready to be mowed down like chumps. If the supers don't know where they are, or even that they are there(!), things are a lot more even.

 

One advantage the supers may have, though, is that they often hunt in packs. In many cases, vampires don't. A solo hero may be more at risk from vampires than a member of a group, who hopefully has someone guarding his back.

 

Of course, you could always make your vampire a member of a group.