What's so great about vampires again?

they are capable of being 3 or 4 of the 5 kinds of horror threat by themselves.
>the predator: hides in plain sight, at least as smart as humans and manipulates people in order to feed off of them
>the monster: destructive, aggressive and extremely physically powerful
>The horde: unending mass of bodies, usually with the ability to make more quickly
>the conspiracy: pretty self-explanatory, secretive and powerful, good at manipulating power from behind the scenes
>the environment: something about the world or the situation, a force of nature more than a character

vampires are by default the predator, usually also cover the conspiracy, in some settings can reasonably be the monster and in action vampire hunter focused movies are usually also a horde. That makes it easy to vary up the kind of story while still operating with a monster your audience is likely to know well and thus doesn't require explanation.

>But they're incredibly gay
Hey, you can afford superior tastes when you don't need to concern yourself with trifles like breeding.

It's kinda sad that that these days having a little class is considered "incredibly gay".

Or that the automatic assumption when people hear vampire is Twilight, not Dracula.

>the automatic assumption when people hear vampire is Twilight, not Dracula.

Anne Rice started it.

This is Veeky Forums for fucks sake. Why are we basing our perception of an iconic monster on novels written for teenage girls?
Retarded teenage girls at that.

>Why are we basing our perception of an iconic monster on novels written for teenage girls

Probably because of how damn pervasive it's been for the past two decades. Only recently has it begun to die down.

There was a time when they weren't.

Oh the irony

>if someone does a modern distilled take on vampires it's gay
>if someone does a weird insectoid or other kind of vampire, it's not a vampire
>if someone does a bestial/monstrous vampire it's furry shit

Just can't win

It was pervasive because of how shit it was. Like the room. Those movies were the pop culture punching bag for years

...

I refuse to acknowledge this.

Purely out of spite.

How do you like your vampires, Veeky Forums? How do you do them in your campaigns?

petite and overwhelmingly smug

Subservient slaves of the sexual sort

Wtf, I respect Twilight now

Undead.

They protect the free state of Walachia from Ottoman Kebab.

A race of living blood drinkers on the run from power-mad wizards hunting them for their potent blood.

Think Nazis and Jews.

Not only are they an intelligent and powerful enemy who can be as simple as a random encounter or as complex as the unseen villain behind a while story, you can push the psychological drama about addiction or obsession or power corrupting or whatever too.

Vampires shouldn't fear magic.

The thing about vampires is their modern aspect and this is proven by both their origins as well as the way the mythos evolved. At first the vampire appears as an aristocratic figure, most probably a feudal lord, who terrorizes a population composed by peasants and country men who live in a badly treated land which gets worse and creepier the closer they get to the vampire's territory.

However, nowadays the vampire has evolved from his feudal tendencies and has become a social monster. The city flows fast, hordes of people walk from one way to another in order to get to their own destination, thousands of faces each day. So the vampire's appeal resides in the possibility of it being anyone, anywhere..

The smugness

Wizards control magic. Vampires are magic.

>monster that is whatever you want it to be
>for you it is incredibly gay
Really gets the noggin joggin

In the original Dracula novel, vampires can control wolves, bats, rats, and lizards, which possibly makes them "the environment" as well.

There's some real pussy bitches on that list. Scoob and Shag might not even be a joke pick.

Dracula was also a proficient sorcerer.

Aren't vampires dead? Wouldn't a necromancer be a hard-counter? Or god forbid a lich?

What about a slightly bi vampire who murders annoying teenage shitstains and causes daddy issues?

>slightly
DIO was Bi as fuck. Fucked Pucci so hard the man had a damn near religious experience.

They straight up fuck your bitch.
Or your mom, depending on what's available.

>>if someone does a modern distilled take on vampires it's gay
If you insist on writing teen drama, that's on you.
The last three vampire-related urban fantasy games I played had one be a drug dealer and strip club owner who was literally untouchable through seven layers of crime rings before even getting to the fact that he could tank bullets like they're soap bubbles. The other two were a cult leader and a mental asylum's director.

Psychic.

They're fucking terrifying.

They're immortal and possibly ancient. They can strip you free will with a glance, if you're unlucky. Anyone you meet could be under their power, so you're not even safe during the day.

They'll transform into a bat, or a wolf, or mist. They'll get stabbed through the stomach and laugh it off. They will drink the blood right out of your veins, or make you pour them a glass of it so they don't dirty their nice evening wear.

They've made a deliberate choice: "I'm willing to kill, enslave and violate you in exchange for power."

They're nigh impossible to kill compared to mortals. Even if they aren't supernaturally strong & fast, they'll stick to vertical surfaces like a gecko, shrug off bullet wounds, and have a chance to get back up after being fucking decapitated.

Last but not least, they've got all the time in the world. How many henchmen can 300 years of compound interest buy? How many languages can you learn in eight decades? An hour a month of casual knife-throwing could make you an expert at it by a century or two. Imagine all the knowledge of multiple human lifetimes in a body more capable than an adult human at their prime.

If you put a (classic) vampire in your system/game, assume...

-they're smarter than the PCs.
-(or at least more widely read.)
-they have better social connections than the PCs.
-(or enough cash to buy them.)
-They know their weaknesses & take measures in order to not die.

tl;dr: they're human-level intellect on a superhuman monster, most likely with nobleman/crime boss-level social pull & resources.

Well said user.

I juat realized why chomos are attracted to pedophilic vampire depictions. As a chomo they play the part of a vampire themself hidden in the masses but secretly afflicted with abhorrent lusts.

My fifth level Cleric could kick his ass.

Highly paranoid and manipulative.

>implying the vamp hasn't used their 200 year lifespan to take levels in Cleric

>implying lifespan has any actual merit in D&D

>implying we're playing d&d

Also if they're anything like Dracula even the classic vampire killing methods can only incapacitate one, and given the right circumstances they might still be revived or regenerated by loyal minions or cults.

Benedict Cumberbatch

Who?

Bendydick Cuminhersnatch

How many of Dracula's supernatural powers are derived from his nature as a vampire, and how many of them were acquired from his studies as a black magician?

His control of the weather. It's one of the signature magics of the Solomonari.

Shapeshifting maybe.

What about NOT being a cancerous weaboo may may factory?

His sorcery is powered by Satan. His vampirism is also a gift of Satan as well. So it's kind of murky.

It's sketchy. The entity under the Scholomance may or may not have been Satan.

>What's so great about vampires again?

Watch them burning alive at the sunrise

When they're based on fictional Wallachian sorcerer-princes based on real world ultraviolent Wallachian noblemen heroes they're pretty damned cool.

We'll never know, that's Stoker's greatest genius.
He made a true nightmare creature.

>Dracula
>a true nightmare creature

Yeah no

Count Dracula vs Frankenstein's Monster

Who wins?

>Vlad the Impaler
>gay
Nigga, do you even history?

Sticking fallic objects up people's asses sounds pretty damn gay to me.

He impales men with his stake

:^)

Pretty much always a mutual kill. Nobody gets out alive but Abbott and Costello.

Hell, in the original mythos vampires could shapeshift into wolves, bats, and even mist. They can literally BE the environment.

>I can understand my mom...
>But why my dog?!

>They can literally BE the environment.

Nice exaggeration. The closest thing in their myths is mist rolling through the woods.

And that's not terrifying? Unless you are willing to suffocate to death there is literally no way to keep them out.

>Unless you are willing to suffocate to death there is literally no way to keep them out.

Magic circles, faith, vampire hunters, sorcery

Mine are basically the ultimate enemy of mankind. Your cruelty is judged by vampires, and if you are deemed sufficiently broken or otherwise destructive, you are given the Mark of the Betrayer. This means you no longer age, nor have need for sleep or drink or food, so long as you are sufficiently destructive to mankind. This is because The Betrayer was cast from grace by his peers who speak for Man.

The Mark doesn't make you cruel, if you are cruel enough to the bone you will be given the mark. Suffering is more than just sustenance now, it empowers you. Vampires have superpowerfull charisma, qualities of the body, and plenty of psychic magic.

Madram, The Mother, hates the Betrayer and his servants. If her heavenly eye falls upon a vampire, he will be destroyed. It is easier for her to see more powerful vampires, and difficult for her to see new ones. A fledgling vampire can walk in the light of day for many hours. The Pope cannot have the light of a candle fall upon him for even a moment.

It's pretty edgy, but in campaigns they work out to be mostly regular vampires.

>species of mary sue

k

>implying most Mary Sues aren't entire species
>implying that my vampires are a species

They're just an evil order of maniacs with supernatural powers who the sun hates. Also they have essentially equal powers to traditional vampires. And a holy symbol can kill a sufficiently advanced vampire.

A facade of kindness hiding a brutal twisted undead monstrosity without any redeeming qualities that slaughters the party in the most creative and horrible way possible for the aesthetics and escape from boredom.

i liked the bit about the candle light

>Chinese cartoon for fags
I bet you think you are so cool for not liking stuff

They can embody all that is flawed and glorified in man, and depending on how much you want to nerf them, what we all wish to be.
If Christ is the exemplar of what a human SHOULD be. The Vampire is that turned on it's head. It's the god of THIS world, immortal, all powerful, and able to hold nations under his sway.

Vampires are a perfection of the human being in the wrong direction. An Anti-christ instead of a messiah; A Rakshasa instead of a Buddha.
Instead of being in a state of satisfaction, they crave, and they eat, and whatever they consume becomes theirs.

They are the kings of the supernatural because they represent tyranny itself. Where man was given the authority to rule, They are demons that were initially human that obtain the world by sacrificing their satiety.

Crunch wise, They aren't undead, but Demonic (Spirit and Flesh); They aren't initially stronger than humans, but have two routes to power:

One being the fact that from blood they can make slaves of any creature that sups from them, make familiars from any creature that they wholly consume, and make children anyone who mutually agrees; also, the blood carries powers, and knowledge that the vampire can then absorb as their own.

The 2nd route to power is the fact that they have unlimited potential for growth. A vampire's strength is proportional to the time and effort they spend in perfecting their skills and abilities. If a vampire will not do one push up, they will be no stronger than any other person; However,for the vampire, there is no ceiling for Physical, Mental, or Psychic and Magical prowess.
Such is why old vampires are strongest. Because they have trained for many years, unlike a vampire who is a week old.

As they are demons, they have the highest affinity for the occult and can freely learn and develop powers and magic that suit them,

The sole weakness of vampires is their weak state after rebirth. With maturity they become unstoppable.

It starts with him being homo-fucked by muslims all day every day. He then proceeds to homo-fuck those muslims with his stake.

Are those two distinct things? Being a vampire would itself count as black sorcery.

Cute vampire girls.

Read 30 Days of Night for edgy predatory vampires.

More mary sue shit

Drinking blood is hot.

How would one kill a twampire if they're harder than diamond and as fast as the flash and have IQs of 300

Mainly by being a vampire

By bringing in stronger characters from other works of fiction.

Hardly.
Just blue mage with immortality mechanic and no level cap.

wrong pic

Which of these classic vampire attributes does your setting have for them?
1: having to ask permission before entering someones home
2: being unable to wade through running water
3: having a compulsive desire to count every grain of rice if any falls to the floor in front of them
4: needing to consume blood
5: transforming into a bat
6: can't stand the sun
7: biting makes another vampire
8: no reflection
9: holy symbols burn
10: weakness(garlic)
11: wooden stake through heart is fatal

Just because someone is refined that doesn't mean they like cock, user.

But you're probably overweight, hairy and your mom dresses you so I'm not expecting much from you anyways. I bet you think that men should smell bad too because "that's the way men should be, not sissies".

>responding to a day old post

You sure showed him

>1: having to ask permission
Not so much permission as invitation by someones own free will. They cannot ask, they must be invited
>2: being unable to wade through running water
They can't walk over a bridge over running water, and must be carried over in a sealed container.
>3: having a compulsive desire to count every grain of rice if any falls to the floor in front of them
Nah, though it may irrationally anger them
>4: needing to consume blood
It's a need, but it's a few hundred mls every six months rather than a daily thing.
>5: transforming into a bat
Bats, wolves, mist, rats, toads, any aggressive vermin/scavenger (everything from rodents to vultures)
>6: can't stand the sun
Depending on the age, they burn very very quickly (freshly turned) to being Daywalkers (the original three Magi who got the curse placed on them)
>7: biting makes another vampire
Yes, with a fraction of the power of their progenitor.
>8: no reflection
Yes reflection, the myth comes from an ancient hero using a brightly polished shield to reflect sunlight on a vampire, the mirror itself is not dangerous to them
>9: holy symbols burn
Gods dislike vampires because they're soulless undead predators, so church grounds, sanctified graves etc are a thing. The curse was started when a trio of not-zoroastrian fire-worshipping priests tried to burn their souls as tribute, which their god took offense to. A true believer can cast them out of anywhere other than the vampires own den, but a sufficiently strong vampire can just kill the believer before they can be compelled to leave.
>10: weakness
Sunlight, heat when in mist form, silver, powerful acids, divine intervention
>11: wooden stake through heart is fatal
Fatal, but if one is experienced enough with their shapeshifting it's very hard to hit a target that can move around inside a body, or selectively turn into mist

LET ME TELL YOU
ABOUT VAMPIRES

>What's so great about vampires again?

NOTHING.

I like your style user. Do you roll old school by any chance? Would love to collab on historical fantasy ideas with you. Like, Chrisian Dwarves and Welsh Elves and whatnot. Not to mention, Tengri worshipping Ottoman Empire, lol.