Lamentations of the Vampire Princess pt. 1 - Baptism of Blood

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part 1 here for how one turns into a vampire, feeding rules, & a list of traits common to all vampires

part 2 here for newly rise PC vampires , hunger and advancement

part 3 here for metamorphosis table

part 4 here for blood gifts

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I like vampires. They stay up all night, they drink blood, and they kill for fun. & at least three of those things are my definition of a good time.

IMO, the thrill of vampires isn't so much that they're sexy and beautiful (tho they can be that; 1/4 of my vamps are fairly fuckable monsters), but because they're damned to the dark eternities, moved by nothing except the bleak energies of the anti. They are demonic powers made manifest in human flesh; they are here to spread corruption, terror, and ruin. (Or that's my approach, anyway.)

So, to celebrate my unfailing love for vampires that's endured even through these Twilight and Vampire Diaries fiascos in our recent pop cultural history, I'll be doing some posts about how I do vampires in my LotFP games, including rules and lore.

I'll be posting rules and lore that can be used together or taken individually or whatever. These things can obv be used with your OSR game of choice, but I play LotFP and I liked the name Lamentations of the Vampire Princess so much that I'm sticking with it. Feel absolutely free to tweak this shit however you like------but honestly I think my take is rad.

A note regarding influence and as a warning to those who want sexy/lovable/redeemable monsters: my vampire lore is loosely based on classic literature like Dracula, historical vampire legends, and the darker side of modern vamp horror as opposed to Anne Rice or Joss Whedon's stuff. Don't get me wrong--I like Lestat, Angel, Spike, what-have-you. I'm just tired of that general strain of vamps being uber-present in culture.

Anyways, without further adieu ... we'll start off traits shared by all vampires, followed by their process of feeding, and finally learn how they reproduce.

TRAITS COMMON TO ALL VAMPIRES

• A vampire does not need to drink human blood but will. It will not starve to death, but it will eventually seek out mortal prey. Murder is in a vampire’s nature, and it dreams of bloodshed and disaster in its sleep.
• A vampire cannot restore hit points from ordinary rest, magic, or any method other than drinking mortal blood or resting in a coffin with at least a handful of soil from its place of burial.
• A vampire falls unconscious at zero hit points but may be restored to wakefulness if it is brought back to its coffin and given time to rest.
• If the vampire is to die a true death, it must be slain in its coffin by cutting off its head and piercing its heart, or it must killed with fire.
• When a vampire dies the true death, the demon leaves the body, which becomes mortal again and will age to its true age, with all the rot and dust that comes with it. Older vampires often turn to ash when they are slain.
• Wooden stakes do not kill vampires. However, a hawthorn stake driven through the foot will keep a vampire magically rooted in place.
• Vampires are easily flammable and take 1d8 damage per round from fire. Fire cleanses and vampires are an impurity. Holy water burns vampires much the same way, as if it were acid.
• A branch of wild rose or hawthorn placed atop a vampire’s coffin while it is resting will render the vampire unable to wake up or escape.
• A vampire cannot enter a home without first being invited in by its residents. Once an invitation has been given, a vampire may come and go as it pleases, and the invitation cannot be rescinded. Any attempt to enter a home without an invitation will cause the vampire to suffer 1d6 damage per round until they leave.
• A vampire is unable to eat or enjoy ordinary food. Doing so will cause it to vomit profusely and painfully, and the vampire will suffer 1d4 damage for each ounce of food eaten, or 1d6 if the food had garlic in it. If for some reason the food was consecrated, such as sacramental bread, the damage suffered is 1d8 per ounce of blessed food.
• The smell of garlic will make a vampire queasy. If a vampire ingests any, the garlic will harm it (see above).
• A vampire cannot be poisoned or suffer the effects of disease, though a vampire may very well carry plagues, especially bloodborne pathogens.
• The sun will not kill a vampire, but its radiance will weaken a vampire, causing it to suffer a -2 penalty to all actions.
• If it could do so in life, a vampire can cast magic, but never during the day.
• If a cleric becomes a vampire, they lose access to their cleric spells and powers. The undead are harmed by holy power and cannot wield it, because God hates the undead.
• A vampire cannot willfully cross open running water without falling unconscious. Still water is fair game. Vampires even enjoy swimming in stagnant water. (It’s a fun place to hide when ambushing mortals.)
• A vampire cannot age, neither mentally or physically. Both its body and its soul are kept in stasis by the demon that animates the body.
• A vampire cannot cry nor can it feel true happiness; a vampire can feel nothing but hunger, rage, and sadistic cruelty. Happiness, or something resembling it, is possible only as a result of murder, torture, destruction, and the immense pleasure of drinking blood.
• A vampire has no soul and casts no shadow or reflection.
• A vampire’s blood is viscous and eternally dark; it reflects no light.

FEEDING

The vampire must successfully immobilize the victim to feed from them, through binding or grappling. Once this has been accomplished, the vampire may begin feeding. When the vampire is feeding, it must remain focused on the act of feeding and cannot defend itself or cast spells.

The vampire’s fangs draw d4 blood per turn. This blood equates directly to hit points for both the vampire and the victim. The vampire restores one hit point per hit point drawn from the victim. The vampire can continue to feed even when it has maximum hit points, but it cannot exceed its maximum hit points from feeding; the excess blood will simply pass through the vampire’s body.

The fangs of a vampire induce temporary torpor in the body of the victim. Victims who are being fed on by a vampire must make a save vs. paralysis at a -2 penalty or be paralyzed for d6 rounds.

THE BAPTISM OF BLOOD

The bleak curse starts with the exchange of blood. The vampire comes to the victim on three separate nights, each night three days apart from the other. When the vampire visits the victim, it bites them on the neck, feeding from them. In exchange, it then feeds the victim its own black blood. This ritual is called the Baptism of Blood. If the victim is unwilling, as many often are, the ritual will take place when they are asleep; if it possesses such a gift, the vampire will hypnotize the victim, insuring that they will not remember the process.

Throughout the protracted ritual, the victim will begin to exhibit changes both mental and physical, and the severity of the changes will grow as the final night approaches. These changes include:

• The elongation of the victim's teeth, especially the canines. Eventually the canines become fangs.
• A growing loss of appetite, and eventually the victim feels complete revulsion towards food.
• The victim sleeps longer and longer into the day. Eventually, this sleep becomes a deathlike coma which ends only at night.
• That which is holy, such as holy water or sacramental bread, will cause psychological distress to the victim and eventually physical harm, as they would to a vampire.
• The victim steadily goes mad and dreams vividly of murder.

On the final night of the Baptism of Blood, the vampire drains the victim to the point of death and puts its blood on the victim’s lips for the last time. Then it leaves the victim to be found, given funerary rites, and buried. The victim’s death is often thought to be from illness, as vampires are not often known to exist by the general populace. That said, if there are hunters in town (who can often tell apart the signs of a vampire’s exsanguination from ordinary disease), or if the townspeople burn those that appear to be dead from sickness, the vampire often buries the victim itself.

There is a 1 in 20 chance that the ritual will fail and merely kill the victim. If this is not the case, the victim will rise as a vampire the night following burial.

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part 1 here for how one turns into a vampire, feeding rules, & a list of traits common to all vampires

part 2 here for newly rise PC vampires , hunger and advancement

part 3 here for metamorphosis table

part 4 here for blood gifts

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