Harm to Vampires

The Sun

The sun is the bane of vampires, moreso than any other thing in the world. Sunlight has two effects on vampires. The first, and most dramatic, is that sunlight burns a vampire much faster, and much more thoroughly, than it burns humans. In seconds, a vampire can be reduced to a smoking pile of ash. A narrow beam of sunlight can burn off a hand or limb. The second effect is that during the daytime, vampires sleep. The call of the daytime slumber is nigh irresistable, and only with great effort can vampire remain conscious into the later morning. What follows are the systems for these two effects.

Game Systems on Damage from Sunlight

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Sunlight does damage based on two factors: intensity and exposure. In game combat terms, the intensity is the DMT, while the Exposure determines the # of points of damage inflicted. The various intensities are as follows:

Indirect sunlight, sun is still over the horizon DMT 4
Indirect sunlight, sun clearing the horizon DMT 5
Direct Sunlight DMT 8

Exposure inflict damage as follows:

Narrow beam (hand) High 1A, Low 1A
Ray of light (limb) High 2A, low 1A
Window-sized exposure (half body) High 3A, low 2A
Full exposure High 5A, Low: 3A
  • Heavy clothing covering your whole body will give you advantage against the DMT of -indirect- sunlight only. Clothing does nothing against direct sunlight.
  • Remember that the damage-prevention aspect of Fortitude is halved (rounded up) when dealing with aggravated damage.
  • Frenzy checks for sunlight are particularly nasty. The first round of exposure, you check for frenzy for exposure, regardless of whether you take damage or not. Only one check per scene is necessary. If you continue to take damage for subsequent rounds, one more check for taking damage is required.

Game Systems on Daytime Slumber

Almost all vampires have the ability to stay awake until the actual moment of dawn. Staying awake beyond that point requires more effort. The basic system is simple, and takes place in fifteen minute increments. Staying awake for the first fifteen minutes after dawn requires a check of WP vs (2 x your number of Beast Traits). The second fifteen minutes requires a check of WP vs (2 x Beast Traits)+1. The third fifteen minutes, (2 x Beast Traits)+2, then +3, +4, and so on. You may spend WP for advantage on this contest. As soon as you fail… you fall asleep.
Waking up during the day is impossible without some stimulus. If there is sufficient stimulus, a vampire may attempt to awaken with a contest of WP vs (2 x # of Beast Traits)+2. Vampires who are awakened during the day give away advantage on all contests.


Fire

The outer tissues of a vampire's body are unusually dry compared to humans, since all endocrine systems have ceased functioning. A burn for a human is a blistering and cracking of the skin under heat. For a vampire the burning is more thorough and quick - It does aggravated damage. Subsequently vampires have an instinctive fear for fire. In game terms fire functions as a frenzy-trigger and may send them into a fear-frenzy.


Harmful Agents

While the vampiric condition is resilient to damage, wounds, etc. and it is unaging, it is not immune to the ill effects of toxins and germs. While stories of getting "high" drinking blood from drunks and dope fiends are not uncommon, for the most part the incidents of disease, poison, venom, bacteria, and virus infestation are not well known. They are available ingame via lore-locked newsfiles. We provide the information in these newsfiles for your reference here, but your character may only willfully employ knowledge that they have access to.

Policy Note: People employing such items should have a showable JNOTE(REAGENTS) or otherwise cooperatively negotiate such things. This JNOTE / cooperative negotiation policy applies to all lore-locked pages in +news sys/harmful.

Locked to Vampire Lore 1:

Vampires and Caustic Materials: (Acids, Bases, etc.) work to full effect on vampiric flesh, causing aggravated (flesh needs to be replaced) wounds, which are able to be healed once no longer exposed to the material.
The Fortitude discipline generally applies more to macro-effects - so while it may help against an Adder's fangs or hypodermic needle, it provides no assistance against anything injected.

Electrical: Electrical damage is very difficult to quantify and subject to cooperative negotiation. It has been established, however, that "Taser" technology is NOT effective against a vampire other than to make it more angry.

Locked to Vampire Lore 4 OR Vampire Lore 2 + Medicine 1

Vampires, Poison and Venom: Vampires being able to control their bodily humors can often isolate the effects of injected or ingested poison and venom (if aware of it) as well as endure the side-effects or pain-effects of the toxin until cleansed through the daily bodily refresh process.
Additionally, poison gas can largely be ignored save for surface effects because the vampire does not need to draw the gas into its interior (does not breathe). In rare cases, Vampires have indeed been known to suffer toxin-based muscular paralysis, spasming, and relaxation, though respiratory and organ failure are obviously not fatal.
Anaesthesia is not generally effective against vampires.

Locked to Vampire Lore 4 and Vampire lore 1 OR Vampire lore 2 and Medicine 2

Vampires, Bacteria and Viruses: As the host is not living, the majority of these microorganisms have no compatibility with the inert cells. However, there are rare reported incidents of even greater sensitivity to blood-borne bacteria as well as some fungal agents and yeasts that thrive in the non-living material composing the vampiric body. Vampires have been known to be _carriers_ of diseases such as Leprosy.
You have never heard of any successful viral infections - even in the blood. The general belief is the added heartiness of the system, inert cells aside, stems from the daily restoration of the body to its state at death. Treatments for bacterial, fungal, and yeast infections vary from Tremere Blood Magics to induced Frenzy where the Beast purifies the body (this method is known to be unreliable.)


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Vampire Bites

The bite of a vampire, strictly speaking, is exactly one level of aggravated damage. There are two sorts of bites, however:

1. Feeding bite, also called The Kiss
2. Fang Attack during combat.
These are typically only viable upon a willing or incapacitated subject, and in such a case Fortitude is not taken into consideration.

A vampire can heal the feeding bite by licking the wound. This is limited to healing 1 level of aggravated damage from a puncture bite caused only by the vampire's own fangs.

Q: What about for a Gangrel in wolf form?
A: The combat system will have coded effects for being bit by a Gangrel in such a form. This is also true of their use of Wolf's Claws. Follow standard combat rules for these.


Torpor

Torpor is a state, akin to coma in humans, which vampires enter when they are injured beyond their ability to recover, or when they do not have enough blood in their system to awaken from the day's sleep.
There are essentially two types of torpor: voluntary, and involuntary. The difference is simple. In involuntary torpor, the vampire is incapacitated, or suffering from an aggravated wound. Voluntary torpor includes a vampire who has entered the state willingly (which can be done at will by any vampire with Vampire Lore 3 or higher) or who has entered torpor as a result of insufficient blood.

Voluntary Torpor

'Voluntary' torpor is so-called because it is almost impossible for a vampire to fall into it accidentally. With no blood, the vampire will eventually hunger frenzy - only a deliberate effort of will is likely to hold off the Beast until sunrise claims the vampire in sleep.
To awake from voluntary torpor, a vampire must be fed blood. It need not be vitae. It is usually advisable to feed such a vampire sufficient blood to avoid frenzy when they wake.
Alternatively, a vampire can wake themselves from voluntary torpor by surrendering to the Beast. With such a surrender, the vampire awakens in an automatic hunger frenzy, at zero vitae, and will receive a new Subhuman Beast Trait.
Because of the nature of voluntary torpor, players who let their character slip into it accidentally are advised that staff will typically run a hunger frenzy scene for the character if asked to reset the torpor status.

Involuntary Torpor

Involuntary torpor can arise in a number of ways: deliberate infliction of damage till no blood remains, failure to hunt sufficiently to allow an aggravated wound to heal, or slipping off for the day with insufficient blood to heal your wounds.
To awake from involuntary torpor, a vampire must be fed the vitae of a vampire of higher Sanguinis than themselves. A single point will suffice to break the torpor, but it is advisable to feed the vampire sufficient blood (of any sort) to avoid hunger frenzy when they wake.
Alternatively, a vampire can wake from involuntary torpor by surrendering to the Beast. With such a surrender, the vampire awakens in an automatic hunger frenzy, at zero vitae, and will receive a new Monstrous Beast Trait.
Players are warned that if a character with aggravated wounds slips into torpor because they have bad luck hunting, or forget to hunt - the torpor will stand. Involuntary torpor is one of the long-term side effects of aggravated wounds.


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Staking

Staking is the process of spearing a vampire through the heart with a wooden stake, or some similar wooden pointy object. Staking another character through the heart in combat is not really possible. You need to incapacitate or restrain a character first. It is an immutable fact that a vampire that is staked through the heart with a wood object, he/she cannot take any actions other than talk quietly until someone else removes the stake.

This inability to take actions includes any use of vampire powers such as disciplines. Furthermore, all rituals maintained by the concentration of the staked vampire are broken.

Any roughly sharpened wood object through the heart will work. No coded Weapon is necessary. A broken leg of a wooden chair, etc, in the description of a room will do.


Diablerie

Diablerie is a dark, evil word that is not mentioned lightly in polite vampire society. Please refer to the vampire lore available to your character to see if you have any knowledge of such things.
For those with the lores to know, diablerie is the process of bringing another vampire to Final Death by drinking all of their blood. Diablerie consumes the very essence of a vampire, stealing the power of their blood. It is regarded as the worst sin a vampire can commit.
There are rumors, which are discouraged by Elder vampires, that committing diablerie on a vampire of stronger blood (i.e. higher Sanguinis) will increase the strength of one's own blood. It is also whispered to bring terrible burdens to the diablerist, as well as great power.
A diablerist's aura is marked distinctively for some considerable time, and the punishment for diablerie is almost invariably death.
The rules for diablerie will not be disclosed here. If your character decides to take this path, then you can discover the affects as your character does. Again, bear in mind your character's access to information about diablerie in '+news lores/vampire.


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Death

Vampires are very, very difficult to kill. A vampires meets final death if, while Incapacitated or in torpor, it receive at least one level of aggravated damage when the vampire has no vitae. (Examples of aggravated damage include fire, sun, vampire fangs, or Wolf Claws.) Any person with Vampire Lore 1 can kill any vampire if the vampire is in the person's control and the vampire is either Incapacitated or in torpor.

Many Faces of Death

Some vampires and ghouls, in particulary those with Stigmas, die in special ways, often leaving a lasting supernatural effect in the area.

+death Displays information on how your character would die when it finally comes to an end.

All vampires and ghouls who die should check +death to see what happens to their character when it dies a true death. The information revealed with +death should be integrated into any death scene.

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