ITT we discuss the powers and abilities that should be available to playable monsters and creatures (vampires, werewolves, etc.) over the course of a game, they don't strictly have to start with these abilities, but they should be acquirable.
Vampires: Regeneration, night/thermal vision, enhanced physical abilities, enhanced senses...I could go on.
Vampires could begin with night vision, the ability to drink blood and a supernatural agility that allows them to climb on walls and skitter from place to place. As they age they could learn to hypnotize, shapeshift into mists, summon bats, rats and wolves, and other appropriately Draculaesque things.
Werewolves should be able to double down on their weakness to silver in return for greater resistance to everything else.
So, like, at the start they only take a little extra damage from silver, and take a little less damage from other sources. So silver is still their weakness. But if they keep doubling down on it, they can get tot he point where they can survive an actually goddamn nuclear blast because "that wasn't silver, 0 damage", but a silver sewing needle to the pinky does 999999999 damage, x4 that on a crit.
How about Zombies too? How do you guys like your zombies? Immune to all damage except for those that hit them in the head? How about fire or acid?
I think having a special rule for zombies that you can remove their limbs with a high damage roll is good.
If they touch a silver spoon, do they explode like a grenade?
The werewolf, not the spoon.
Nah, it didn't break the skin. They would only have their hand shred itself on contact.
Don't give superstrength and superspeed to vampires. People forget that being a vampire is a curse.
I'd say there are ways to do damage reduction that are more zombiesque. Say, be able to spend limbs to regain health, so they can regain HP but represent what they lost as a limb being cut off, but there's probably more elegant way to do that.
What I'd honestly like to see is what sort of traits we can put in that force players to change the way they play. Like, say, a vampire cannot drink blood from a dead (wo)man. Therefore, in combat, if they are fighting someone, they have to reduce their health to just before they die before they can drink so that way they'll die from the bite and won't resist. Admittedly this don't work too well with standard DnD rules what with negative hit points but I there are systems it can and I think that quirks should change how players use mechanics as much as how they roleplay.
I dunno, that actually sounds like a pretty elegant way to do it, I actually really like that idea, its different to just 'if you do 10 damage to a limb it falls off' you know?
Vampires should start with bloodsucking and taking damage from the sun but as they become more vampiric(e.g excessive bloodsucking, nocturnal tendancys etc.) they should gain more strengths and weaknesses in relation so they gain the ability to turn into mist but can no longer enter houses uninvited or gain super speed but can't cross running water.
Like but making it so they aren't to op as they gain strength and making them more like pic related than Edward Cullen.
OP here
Feel free to post monsters that aren't as well known too, we can discuss that here.
Please, take it. That's the thing, you do want ghouls to actually have bonuses, so instead of saying they are fragile, say that they are able to endure any damage and recover. More player agency. It was just off the top of my head, but if you think it'll do Godspeed
for vampires:
charm/distraction/transfix gaze
possession/ mind control
heartrate manipulation which evolves into true Haemokinesis and temperature drain
This, this is actually something I'd be autistically interested in discussing.
>Vampires
Vampires I still appreciate as a kind of magical disease/curse, so in that sense it is a degenerative issue: the more powerful you become, the more explicit your weaknesses are. Entry-level Vampires start out with low-light vision, improved speed, dexterity, scent, & hearing with just GORGEOUS bishonen looks and no 'supernatural' weaknesses, while mature Vampires get enhanced strength, speed, supernatural senses, immortality, the ability to shapeshift into swarms of things, miasma, or large 'evil' animals, domination over weak-willed individuals, retractable claws and fangs, night vision, thermal vision... BUT they can't enter into houses uninvited, running 'natural' water burns them, exposure to sunlight will disintegrate them, they can eat normal food, garlic is toxic to them, and most religious iconography and silver repulses them. Even in terms of feeding: an entry-level Vampire would only need blood to 'benefit' from their powers (still capable of eating normal food), but a 'mature' Vampire would need blood or they'll just go into withdrawal (turn into a shriveled nosferatu) before just fuckin' dying.
Typically, I like to set the difference between an 'entry-level' Vampire vs a 'mature' Vampire as the point in where their natural life would have ended, Id Est: if a young man turns at age 25, he won't become a 'true' mature Vampire until he's at least 89 or 100- where in his body has officially died and he is now an actual undead. He'll still progressively develop minor powers, abilities, and weaknesses, but he won't really be at his most 'Vampire'ness' until he's died of old age.
That's what I've been doing at least.
I'll post more monsters though, it feels good to share this.
Another one.
>Undead
Undead is, of course, a 'type' of monster and not just one individual monster or creature, but they've got a number of universal qualities and weaknesses that I think I'd at least bring them up and maybe it'll inspire others or they'll have something to contribute in turn. It's important to mention that even though Undead can be 'made' or created with a higher degree of quality, these weaknesses aren't based on how good or how shitty you are at making Undead, they're intrinsic flaws to Undeath.
First and foremost, all Undead can't handle sunlight: it blinds them, it burns them, ghosts can't 'manifest' under direct sunlight, and skeletons will fall apart back into normal ol' bones until darkness falls once more. All Undead give off 'miasma', miasma is a kind of magical cloud of negative-energy that Undead produce as a waste product while they functions: miasma spreads out all around an Undead and poisons everything around it and in sufficient quantities can spawn further Undead, change the environment, and even affect the local weather with big, thick, miasma fogs. Other weaknesses include salt (which burns and irritates Undead, Ghosts can't phase through or hover over salt) religious iconography, and various herbs n' so forth- all shit you've probably heard before.
When it comes to features or strengths, though, things become way to varied to really say anything about anything, but Undead do, typically, have two universal 'traits' or qualities: one is they have a pervasive 'spiritual sight' that allows them to see the physical and ethereal world in a kind of black and white mess- regardless if they have eyes or not. The other one is that all Undead can subsist off of some form of flesh, doesn't have to be 'people', but all Undead can and do crave flesh- even a Ghost in it's own weird Ghosty way, will take it's pound of flesh out of you in the form of your body heat.
I mean, I LOVE things that go against the grain but still end up working, you know?
I think it might need some fine tuning, like...they can only discard a limb thats already been damaged or something like that, but still, its pretty slick to me.
How about...powers and abilities for ghosts/wraiths?
Phase through objects at will, resistance to all physical damage (except magical items, silver, cold iron and salt), telekinesis...etc
>Vampires
Start off with enhanced senses (especially the ability to smell blood, see at night, and hear heartbeats), enhanced celerity, enhanced strength, corpse-like resistance to damage, the ability to sprout small but sharp claws, and moderate regenerative abilities. At first they can walk under the sun but are greatly weakened and sluggish, as they get older their abilities grow and they gain additional powers such as controlling animals, mesmerizing through eye contact, shapeshifting into animals and/or mist, etc - but as their powers grow, so does their aversion to sunlight and their need for fresh blood, until eventually they can no longer even stand the slightest touch of the sun.
>Werewolves
Highly enhanced senses, enhanced strength/toughness/regeneration that varies with the phases of the moon, the ability to sprout claws, the ability to transform into a monstrous wolf-man of incredible physical prowess and nigh invulnerability to mundane damahe. At first their transformations are involuntary or difficult to control, but they can be mastered with time and effort.
>Vampiro
+ Blood Sense - detect when someone who has been bitten previously is in the vicinity.
+ Wall-Walker - can walk upon any surface.
+ Nostalgia - advanced hypnosis upon target. When target is bitten, experience a memory of the bite recipient as though present.
+ Mist - disperse into mist to quickly traverse land, reforming elsewhere.
+ Exhibit - transform into an unsightly, feral, more primal version of oneself. All physical abilities enhanced by a magnitude of x1.5; cognitive reasoning lost to an insatiable bloodlust.
A doppelganger would be cool. I'm thinking they have some sort of advantage on diplomacy rolls but take double damage on attacks.
Start with diplomacy boons, restrict or diminish any basic weapon proficiency default for their region or penalize their combative skills. Double damage from all sources is a good way to get a dead PC, even if they are keen to talk their way out of things.
Later cultivate more skills; face reshaping for disguise bonuses, then later still full body reconfiguration. Add in linguistic skills with the former, picking at least two or three more at that point, then for the latter make it a very short-term requirement to pick up languages by immersion (passable after a day in a populated area with no prior knowledge of the language, fluency in a few days.)
Reduce their base skill kit a bit to balance out the bonuses to Diplomacy, Charm, Bluff, Disguise, etc, but remember that they'll need to play the part eventually too. Hackmaster had a neat class called a Charlatan that had a % chance to succeed at any skill recently witnessed, growing with character level. Point-buy systems could probably scale it up some other way, but getting outted from your persona as a great tinker because you couldn't figure out which one was the hammer might go badly, and this give the Doppleganger a wide variety of utilities to at least pass as the person they're impersonating.
Though if masquerading as an artist, just starting a dadaist or abstract phase might do it for the public eye.
I prefer True Ancestor vampires to jobbing ass garbage.
>Magic in the blood. Can learn any type of spell/occult ritual. Magical potency is proportional to amount of time spent learning and practicing [I.E xp]. Casts through will and internal magical energy alone. Traditional abilities[charm/shapeshifting/etc] are simply spells or powers they "set".
>Immortal, but ages if starved of blood. Eating a soul through drinking blood restores youth.
>Can drink blood to heal wounds/ temporarily increase physical or magical power.
>Can absorb memories [thus skills and powers] through drinking blood.
>Can create Familiars/Ghouls through feeding them blood after completely draining them. Familiar is immortal, but does not have nearly the same amount of power, and completely servile to vampire.
>Can create other vampires through a similar ritual but if there is no intent, it doesn't create a new vampire. A new vampire has a familial bond, but if parent dies, they are fully free. Victim must willingly accept. If they don't they become ghouls/familiars.
>Vampires are grounded in the physical plane. If afterlife exists, they lose all rights to ascension, apotheosis, reincarnation, or rapture. If they are "obliterated" and regenerate from it, their souls are tied to the physical plane.
>Vampiric energy is naturally negative and predatory. Even if they identify as "good", any type of supernatural detection or sense shows that type of energy. They also have trouble using powers that rely on positive energy and have to expend twice the amount. They also take more damage from positive energy.
>Monstrous Psychology. Must use considerable energy repressing desires and instincts. Primed for predatory urges. Primary triggers are blood, other supernatural creatures, perceived threats of violence.
TLDR: Regen/Stat up/blood magic/Blood Sharing/Blood Drain/Ability Absorb.
Any "literary powers" is them using some spell or power they made or learned. (celerity=haste)
OP here
On the subject of these monsters...whats your absolute LEAST favourite itteration of their abilities?
For me, I hate in movies where vampires are a bunch of hissy faggots, like...all they do is hiss at people and pose like a Jojo character.
Werewolves that just turn into big wolves suck ass too.
>True Ancestor
Are those the Type Moon vampires? Sound pretty cool.
>like a Jojo character
Fuck you i'll wryyy all i want. And vampires were sick in JoJo. DIO even beat the thunder cross split attack! The perfect balance of offence and defence.
Type moon ones are like that, but instead have inherent dominate, and instead of magic have reality marble (Which is magic essentially, but earth itself takes the mana cost)
For me, I gained my inspiration from a couple of other sources mostly.
>Negima/UQholder has True ancestors as well, and like what I stated, they aren't any stronger than normal humans. They get strong through training, which they can do a lot of, cause immortal
> Rebirth (Manwha)
Main character was a vampire, and they explored the idea that each vampire's powers were kind of free reign. One of them turns into bats and such, but he's like "that's my shtick".
MC uses Evil taoist inspired magic
>Bram Stoker's Dracula
Obviously. D is a par excellence alchemist/wizard/occultist. Powers are rumored to have been work of the devil (Sorcery). Controls man, beast, and nature.
>Vampire the *INSERT*
I love most of the mechanics. If they had not taken the Anne Rice/Joss Wheden route and made vampires burst in sunlight, It would have been perfect. Well, almost perfect. I would not have not made vampires dead emotionally, because it makes for a boring fucking game.
>Bravely Default/Wild arms 2
Successfully made vampires into a helpful and powerful addition to gameplay without overpowering them.
Blood drinking, ability stealing and stat boosting mechanics stolen from here.
>Supernatural. Not for their vampires, but actually for the psychics in the early seasons.I like how they did the powers, and how each one of them had unique ones, but eventually were able to duplicate the others.
>MONOGATARI
Fucking Bat
>Pathfinder
Psychic magic is my inspiration for the casting. Just *hnnnngggg*, and voila. Tied to dark, creepy, occult shit.
If I made it in pathfinder? Spell point caster. Undead at level 1, No inherent spell list, but can learn spells from all. Takes money for research. Equal to scroll's cost. 2 free spells per level. Prepares spells like a shaman, Other stuff are class abilities
I meant the whole 'annoying hissing and doing stupid poses and undulating' thing that they always do in stuff like Twilight and whatever.
Oh and when they're drinking blood and mostly get covered in it themselves, wasting half of their dinner.
Alright...here's a fun activity.
One person has to post a power, and the other one has to post a monster that they want to give that power to, and come up with a good reason.
I'll start.
Spunkomancy.
How do you like to represent people who are so fat that its more difficult to damage them? Like Fist of the North Star bad guys.
Extra toughness value? More health? Severely reduced agility and increased likelihood to have a heart attack and browse Veeky Forums?
How about a cloud of sentient mustard gas that chases you around so it can force you to take a deep breath? :D
Yeah, I'd say not being able to go outside during the day without dying horribly, having to murder people to stay alive and being ostracized from society is a pretty good trade.
Oh of course! It's an RPG - people oughta have the opportunity to be rewarded for playing something well that they couldn't possibly in real life. As far as limb damage goes, I was thinking that if you play with a system where you have damage to portions of the body, you could do the inverse. Allow ghouls to trade life points in exchange for removing injuries, and their effects. That could be the central mechanic of the ghouls, the ability to determine how they take damage. They still take it, but it's less a hindrance when you are already dead - players can determine for themselves how hindered they are.