Vampires

Vampires are members of a broad category of Undead, usually viewed as Monsters, who are found in pockets across Wisteria and presumably across the surface of Ahren, including some that are native to the Depths. The origin of vampirism is the subject of numerous conflicting mythologies, but in general, the following traits describe Vampires broadly: they retain, at least some of the time, their full mental faculties they had in life; they are deathless, and; they require feeding upon the living, usually in the form of feeding on the blood of living victims (or, in some cases, willing human hosts). Ars Magica scholars and the scholars of similar schools of magic understand vampire through a germ theory of disease, where the tainted humours of an older vampire contaminate those of a victim under certain circumstances, ultimately leading to the victim becoming a new vampire. In some cases, early treatments can undermine this contamination and restore the victim to life, but it is broadly considered impossible to cure a vampire that has "fully converted". Because of this germ theory of the Vampiric condition, vampires can largely be grouped into clans or houses in the same way that many living sophonts track their lineage - "Bloodlines" defined by lists of sires and dams. In many cases these bloodlines are organized enough to even keep such records, though obviously doing so in great secret. There is some significant variation among the Bloodlines in terms of the particulars of diet and the development of certain supernatural powers. Many of these distinctions are, of course, completely unknown to the layman - this knowledge is more the purview of Via Lemurae wizards and specialist vampire hunters. Depending on the area in which a person lives they are likely to believe that any given vampire could exhibit all the powers of all the Bloodlines which are active in their region.

Vampire Basics

While various Vampire Bloodlines may pick up specialty traits representing particular powers, as varied as shapeshifting, mind control, flight, and so forth, all vampires share a few common defining traits as a result of their Undead nature and the nature of carrying some form or other of the Vampiric Germ.

Weakness to the Sun

All vampires are intolerant of sunlight. This intolerance affects them any time they are exposed to direct sunlight; indirect sunlight scattered from nearby objects, reflected by mirrors, or passing through windows does not usually cause them damage, but does trigger an almost-unignorable circadian response compelling them to rest. A vampire who somehow finds themselves exposed to the direct, unfiltered light of Vita, Ahren's sun, takes cumulatively-increasing damage bypassing all of their natural resistances until they burn away into ash and have their bodies destroyed. For most intents and purposes, this effectively kills the vampire. It is the onset of this trait in particular that draws the line between curable and incurable vampirism; this usually sets in within three to nine days of contamination - though in some cases, the effect may be instantaneous.

Since the effects of sunlight are continuous, a vampire loses access to its regeneration trait until it is removed from direct sunlight, either by seeking shelter, the passing of a cloud, or the use of magical means.

Weakness to Positive Energy

As implied by their sunlight weakness, positive energy (in 5e parlance, "Radiant Damage") bypasses any resistances they have (other than those granted by equipment). A vampire who has suffered any of a number of different kinds of damage conditions, including Positive Energy Damage, loses access to the regeneration ability described below.

Stasis and Negative Energy Healing

All Undead share a common condition of a disruption of the relationship between Soul, Mind, and Body. In the case of Vampires, their misalignments bind their souls to Stasis, the celestial antipode of the sun. Their souls will "go there" when they die, regardless of the activities of any faith or lineage they otherwise possess. For that reason, a slain vampire cannot be restored to life by the ordinary means available to the living (if any such means exist).

Negative Energy (5E Parlance) "damage" is restorative to vampires; they heal, rather than being damaged, in the same magnitude that they otherwise would have been damaged by it. Some rare vampire bloodlines feed through this means (inflicting Negative Energy damage and restoring health to themselves), but for most vampires this is only effective when they themselves are the targets of the effect that caused it. If a vampire is bolstered by Negative Energy in the same round as being harmed by Positive Energy, they may regenerate at the start of the next round as though they not been so damaged.

The Blood Hunger

Vampirism stands apart from other forms of Mindful Undead in that the nature of the Soul-Mind-Body disruption leaves the body in a state where it still must feed - after a fashion. While most vital functions of the body have diminished, the body must be fed. Almost universally, this feeding is done by consuming the blood of living beings. A vampire's choice of feedstock is ultimately up to them, however, it is not an uncomplicated, purely moral choice.

Vampiric hunger passes through a series of levels, from 0-5, with 0 being fully satiated. A fully satiated vampire has best access to their regeneration ability as well as all their bloodline abilities, and this level of power is possible only through feeding on the blood of sophont beings - not necessarily those of the same race as the vampire, but certainly sentience is a requirement. Animal blood will suffice for any meal, but can never fully reduce the Blood Hunger to zero. The vampire gains a point of hunger each night, which must be balanced with sufficient feeding so as not to reach the fifth stage of hunger and become feral. The use of certain abilities specifically granted by the vampire's bloodline may (or may not) incur additional Blood Hunger.

Killing the host of the meal is not a requirement (but see feral vampires, below), though some vampires may prefer to do so for a variety of reasons, such as fear of discovery as a vampire (when passing among living populations), personal satisfaction, or inability to control the hunger. In gameplay-mechanical terms, the amount of hunger restored per blood meal depends on the amount of hit points of damage dealt to the target in the feeding process. Such a feed can be sustained for many rounds provided the vampire can continue to overpower their increasingly-weakened prey. Very often, younger vampires or vampires that are feral or have nearly become feral cannot control themselves and would require Wisdom/Willpower saving throws (or their equivalent in your engine of choice) to stop themselves early enough to save the host.

There is a chance, based on the virulence of the Vampire's bloodline and their "generational" closeness to the progenetor of the bloodline that a host left living at the end of a feeding session has contracted the Bloodline's humouric germ and will themselves become a vampire. For this reason, particularly virulent vampires (for whatever reason they happen to be so virulent) will often kill their prey to prevent the uncontrolled spread of their "Vampiric Gifts".

The damage dealt by a vampire feeding on a host, regardless of whether or not the host survives (or is contaminated with the germ), is gained by the vampire as hit points. If the vampire gains more hitpoints than needed to reach their maximum health, they have advantage on their rolls to stop feeding (provided they aren't feral), and gain the surplus as temporary hitpoints that will remain available to them until sunrise.

The mechanics for feeding (and going feral) are the same for vampire bloodlines which have alternative modes of feeling.

Feral Vampires

Vampires who fully reach the bottom of the hunger curve without feeding within one night of doing so become Feral. As best suits the tastes of the party and the Facilitator, in the case of player vampires this may lead to the vampire being removed from player control. In any event, the vampire has become uncontrollably hungry. They will use all of their abilities, and further-enhanced physical strength, to attempt to feed on the nearest available living creatures, preferring sophont races over base animals. The vampire will remain in this state until they have managed to either: feed to satiation; or, feed minimally and be put to sleep by the break of day and their exposure to indirect sunlight (or destruction by direct sunlight). A vampire in this state automatically fails their saving throws to stop feeding prematurely. For a sufficiently advanced vampire, one victim may not be enough to fully recover their sanity in a single night.

A vampire who falls asleep, having fed but not becoming satiated, will regain their sanity when they reawakening the following nightfall. A vampire who goes feral and does not feed in that evening instead falls into Torpor at daybreak and will remain so until reanimated by a blood sacrifice. If a blood sacrifice is not sufficient fully restore the vampire's hunger that vampire will awaken feral and remain feral until the previous conditions are met.

For most vampires, this state is obviously unpleasant and will be avoided at all costs.

Regeneration

Vampires regenerate a number of hit points per combat round as long as they have not been exposed to sunlight or taken positive energy damage in the previous round. In this way, vampires may be wounded, but never lastingly. However, a number of sources of damage are not fully recoverable via regeneration: [*] Sunlight and Positive Energy/Radiant Damage cannot heal until the start of a round where none was taken in the previous round [*] Silver weapons deal damage to vampires that cannot be regenerated until the vampire's next feeding. [*] Holy Water damages vampires as though it were radiant damage, and, like silver, cannot be regenerated until the vampire's next feeding.

Physical Resistances and Immunity

In addition to their regenerative abilities which reconstitute their bodies almost immediately upon suffering damage, Vampires are merely a facimile of life, and not actually living. For that reason, they are immune to critical hits. They do not require breathing, and are immune to all poisons, unless explicitly stated otherwise in the poison's stat block. Becoming a vampire grants a number of (un)natural bonuses to various basic physical attributes such as strength and endurance. Since they don't need to breathe they are never winded, and cannot be fatigued (though there are still physical limitations on their encumbrance). Unless otherwise stated in their bloodline, Vampires do not age visibly, and even the ones that do do not suffer any physical detriment as they age, though their mental faculties may continue to sharpen.

Torpor

All vampires are subject to torpor, either through advanced blood starvation or through the special condition of having been staked - that is, having their heart pierced by a stake or similar weapon made entirely of wood. A vampire which is in Torpor is unconscious, unmoving, and ceases regeneration. They continue to accrue hunger at the regular rate of one point per night, but cannot awaken until the exit condition of the Torpor is met. This makes the vampire incredibly vulnerable, and they are just as aware of this vulnerability as mortal men are. A staked vampire can be easily let out into the sunlight to be burned away to Stasis. All vampires gain a point of Blood Hunger as soon as they enter torpor, even if the torpor is reversed by the following nightfall.

If the vampire was put into torpor by being staked, they will awaken instantaneously when the stake is removed, and may be Feral if they had been staked long enough to accumulate that many points of Hunger.

If the vampire was put into Torpor by going feral from blood hunger and failing to feed before daybreak, they can be awakened by a blood sacrifice. The size of the sacrifice determines whether they will be feral, or not, when they awaken. Since the vampire cannot feed on its own while in torpor, the sacrifice must be presented to them in a form where the blood can be fed to them, and it must also be fresh. If the sacrifice itself is not enough to take them fully to satiation, they will remain feral until they have fed to that level, or the other exit conditions for the feral state have been met.

Vampire "Bans"

Vampires can be subject to a number of "bans", or artificial restrictions on their behaviour, depending on the bloodline. By many (both vampires and laypeople), these limitations are not always immediately apparent and are often considered signs of divine involvement in the nature of vampires. Common bans include the inability to enter a dwelling without explicit invitation, the inability to pass over bodies of running water, the requirement to return to their literal grave (or carry with them the earth of their grave), and so forth.

For a "wild" vampire who was sired by accident or left unsupervised by their progenitor, sorting out which bans are real and which ones are not is left to their experimentation. For laypeople, the notion that any of these Bans holds true for a vampire they are encountering can lead to false senses of security. Some shrewed vampires will feign compliance with bans that don't actually apply to them, and some scholars believe that some bans, like exposure to garlic, may not be true for any bloodline but are actually fabrications of organized vampires left in the public folklore after generations of deliberate deception.

Communion of the Bloodline

While any feeding session with a surviving host can potentially lead to a vampire, all vampires possess an automatic understanding of, and ability to execute, a ritual known as the Communion of the Bloodline. While some may dress this ritual up with full ceremony to rival the services of the grandest mortal temples, the important germ of the process is that the vampire must injure themselves and allow the injured victim to feed on a quantity of their blood. The ritual does not actually require that the vampire be the one to injure the victim; the "newborn" vampire having been gravely injured only to be "rescued" by the gift of this communion is so common an origin story among Wisterian vampires that it borders on being a trope. This process trades the vampire's blood in the form of accumulating points of Blood Hunger, to a minimum of 1 point.

An injured host who receives the Communion of the Bloodline is instantly converted to a vampire and enters the state of being a vampire with 1 point of Blood Hunger. Because this conversion is instantaneous, they have no grace period in which they could be cured.

An uninjured host who receives the Communion of the Bloodline is rendered temporarily a thrall of the vampire in question. They gain temporary hitpoints equivalent to as many points of Blood Hunger the vampire is willing to accrue to feed them (that is, "enough" HP to have satisfied that level of hunger if the process was reversed). For as many days as points of hunger thus transferred, the thrall has disadvantage on all saving throws against the vampire.