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Vampire Genetics [Supernatural; Style •• - •••••]
You've won the genetic lottery; you're one of the so-called "vampires" running around and making trouble. You've heard the rumors about "real" vampires, but come on; you're the real deal, man. All those stories are just exaggerations or propaganda.
Follower (••): OK, you aren't a full vamp; you're just a bit pale and have a thing for goths. You stay out of the sun, but most people assume that's an image thing. Really, you don't have anything special going on; you get the benefits of the Unseen Senses [Genetic Vampires] merit, except you can only "focus" on characters with more than three dots in this merit. The "sixth sense" manifests as an undefinable desire to hang around anyone who triggers it.
Dhampir (•••): You're essentially half-albino; your eyes are a pale blue from lack of melatonin, and you look like you've lived out of the sun for the last month. In addition to the Unseen Sense a Follower gets, you are aggressively healthy; you are immune to most non-Supernatural diseases, and you age half as quickly as other mortals. As a side benefit, you get more bang for your buck when spending Willpower at night; between Dusk and Dawn, Willpower spent on Physical or Social rolls gives you [Vampire Genetics + 1] dice instead of just three.
Drawback: Of course, nothing comes for free; between Dawn and Dusk, spending Willpower to improve any roll gives you only [5 - Vampire Genetics] dice, while spending it for resistance only gives you a +1 bonus.
Living Vampire (••••): If you're on this level, you haven't "triggered" yet; don't worry, it'll come. You're pale, thin, and strangely beautiful; your blue eyes have faded to the bloody pink of an albino. On top of the benefits and drawbacks of being a Dhampir, you've reached "alpha" status amongst Genetic Vampires. To wit, you gain a +2 bonus on all Social rolls made against Followers, no longer suffer Breaking Points due to witnessing the Supernatural, and gain a +3 bonus when spending Willpower to boost Resistance traits between Dawn and Dusk. Finally, you may treat "Drinking Human Blood" as a second Vice, and can suck the stuff down without risking nausea.
Drawback: You're also an obligate carnivore; you can synthesize vitamins and minerals from raw or rare meat, but attempting to eat your veggies will just make you vomit. Additionally, you sunburn easily; you treat direct sunlight as if it were a Level 2 Extreme Environment.
Dead Vampire (•••••): A serious misnomer; you aren't dead, just "differently alive". At some point (usually triggered by hanging around with other Genetic Vampires too much), a Living Vampire (i.e. you) drops into a death-like coma for a few days; when you wake up, you're something... different. On top of the benefits of being a Living Vampire, your metabolism has been tweaked for maximum efficiency; you age at one-tenth the "normal" rate and double your natural healing rate. You also regrow lost teeth regardless of how many times you've lost them, deal Lethal damage when biting people (you still are limited to doing so while Grappling), and no longer suffer Aggravated damage due to massive bodily trauma; your body holds together incredibly well. As a side benefit, anyone who drinks your blood receives a "phantom" version of this Merit at two dots for the next week, unless they already have a better rating.
Drawback: Your body has stopped producing melatonin, meaning that sunlight leaves hellish burns on your body if you spend too much time outside; you consider even indirect sunlight to be a Level 3 Extreme Environment, meaning that the corner office is out of the question. Additionally, you are allergic to garlic; just smelling the stuff makes you suffer the Sickened (Moderate) Tilt until you can get somewhere else, while eating the stuff means you suffer from Sickened (Grave) instead. In the latter case, the Tilt lasts until you vomit up whatever you ate and "cleanse" yourself by drinking human blood; you must drink enough to fulfil your second Vice. Finally, you cannot spend Willpower to enhance a Resistance trait between Dawn and Dusk; any attempt to do so just results in wasted Willpower.
Vampires and other Merits: Genetic Vampires are known to develop further supernatural abilities; even Followers have been known to become Mediums or spontaneously discover "gifts" like Biokinesis. In game terms, this Merit is a perfect justification for developing Supernatural merits related to death, improved senses, or impressive physical ability.
Vampires and Genetics: To make it perfectly clear, Genetic Vampirism is not only rare and recessive, it's downright bad for your fertility. Followers are the only "sufferers" who suffer no negative effects; Dhampirs are roughly half as fertile as a healthy man or woman of their age, while Living Vampires usually have to adopt if they want kids and aren't really lucky. "Dead" Vampires are straight-up sterile; there are rumors going around that if you could get one pregnant, the kid would be born without a soul. As such, Vampire "society" develops new members by taking in the children of Followers; while most of their kids are just going to be Followers as well, a small number are going to natural-born Dhampirs or Living Vampires.
Followers: Followers get a bit of a raw deal; sure, they can spot Vampires, but they are easily snared by their charms, and don't much else. However, their main benefit is that they're still fertile, meaning that their Vampiric "elders" tend to treat them well. After all, you don't want to cut off the next generation, do you? Of course, older Vampires (especially Dead Vampires, who can live over 700 years if they don't get killed first) tend to start taking the long view, and that gets... hairy. "Artificial" Followers created through drinking Dead Vampire blood can use that state as a justification to buy the first two dots of the Merit; after all, such an event can epigenetically force them to express their vampiric genes.
Vampires and the Kindred: I don't understand what you're asking me here. Any stories about Vampires are clearly just exaggerations of the stories about these guys. I mean, seriously, who believes silly stories about the walking dead? It's a ridiculous concept that you shouldn't think about. Trust me on this one.
This was inspired by this.
You've won the genetic lottery; you're one of the so-called "vampires" running around and making trouble. You've heard the rumors about "real" vampires, but come on; you're the real deal, man. All those stories are just exaggerations or propaganda.
Follower (••): OK, you aren't a full vamp; you're just a bit pale and have a thing for goths. You stay out of the sun, but most people assume that's an image thing. Really, you don't have anything special going on; you get the benefits of the Unseen Senses [Genetic Vampires] merit, except you can only "focus" on characters with more than three dots in this merit. The "sixth sense" manifests as an undefinable desire to hang around anyone who triggers it.
Dhampir (•••): You're essentially half-albino; your eyes are a pale blue from lack of melatonin, and you look like you've lived out of the sun for the last month. In addition to the Unseen Sense a Follower gets, you are aggressively healthy; you are immune to most non-Supernatural diseases, and you age half as quickly as other mortals. As a side benefit, you get more bang for your buck when spending Willpower at night; between Dusk and Dawn, Willpower spent on Physical or Social rolls gives you [Vampire Genetics + 1] dice instead of just three.
Drawback: Of course, nothing comes for free; between Dawn and Dusk, spending Willpower to improve any roll gives you only [5 - Vampire Genetics] dice, while spending it for resistance only gives you a +1 bonus.
Living Vampire (••••): If you're on this level, you haven't "triggered" yet; don't worry, it'll come. You're pale, thin, and strangely beautiful; your blue eyes have faded to the bloody pink of an albino. On top of the benefits and drawbacks of being a Dhampir, you've reached "alpha" status amongst Genetic Vampires. To wit, you gain a +2 bonus on all Social rolls made against Followers, no longer suffer Breaking Points due to witnessing the Supernatural, and gain a +3 bonus when spending Willpower to boost Resistance traits between Dawn and Dusk. Finally, you may treat "Drinking Human Blood" as a second Vice, and can suck the stuff down without risking nausea.
Drawback: You're also an obligate carnivore; you can synthesize vitamins and minerals from raw or rare meat, but attempting to eat your veggies will just make you vomit. Additionally, you sunburn easily; you treat direct sunlight as if it were a Level 2 Extreme Environment.
Dead Vampire (•••••): A serious misnomer; you aren't dead, just "differently alive". At some point (usually triggered by hanging around with other Genetic Vampires too much), a Living Vampire (i.e. you) drops into a death-like coma for a few days; when you wake up, you're something... different. On top of the benefits of being a Living Vampire, your metabolism has been tweaked for maximum efficiency; you age at one-tenth the "normal" rate and double your natural healing rate. You also regrow lost teeth regardless of how many times you've lost them, deal Lethal damage when biting people (you still are limited to doing so while Grappling), and no longer suffer Aggravated damage due to massive bodily trauma; your body holds together incredibly well. As a side benefit, anyone who drinks your blood receives a "phantom" version of this Merit at two dots for the next week, unless they already have a better rating.
Drawback: Your body has stopped producing melatonin, meaning that sunlight leaves hellish burns on your body if you spend too much time outside; you consider even indirect sunlight to be a Level 3 Extreme Environment, meaning that the corner office is out of the question. Additionally, you are allergic to garlic; just smelling the stuff makes you suffer the Sickened (Moderate) Tilt until you can get somewhere else, while eating the stuff means you suffer from Sickened (Grave) instead. In the latter case, the Tilt lasts until you vomit up whatever you ate and "cleanse" yourself by drinking human blood; you must drink enough to fulfil your second Vice. Finally, you cannot spend Willpower to enhance a Resistance trait between Dawn and Dusk; any attempt to do so just results in wasted Willpower.
Vampires and other Merits: Genetic Vampires are known to develop further supernatural abilities; even Followers have been known to become Mediums or spontaneously discover "gifts" like Biokinesis. In game terms, this Merit is a perfect justification for developing Supernatural merits related to death, improved senses, or impressive physical ability.
Vampires and Genetics: To make it perfectly clear, Genetic Vampirism is not only rare and recessive, it's downright bad for your fertility. Followers are the only "sufferers" who suffer no negative effects; Dhampirs are roughly half as fertile as a healthy man or woman of their age, while Living Vampires usually have to adopt if they want kids and aren't really lucky. "Dead" Vampires are straight-up sterile; there are rumors going around that if you could get one pregnant, the kid would be born without a soul. As such, Vampire "society" develops new members by taking in the children of Followers; while most of their kids are just going to be Followers as well, a small number are going to natural-born Dhampirs or Living Vampires.
Followers: Followers get a bit of a raw deal; sure, they can spot Vampires, but they are easily snared by their charms, and don't much else. However, their main benefit is that they're still fertile, meaning that their Vampiric "elders" tend to treat them well. After all, you don't want to cut off the next generation, do you? Of course, older Vampires (especially Dead Vampires, who can live over 700 years if they don't get killed first) tend to start taking the long view, and that gets... hairy. "Artificial" Followers created through drinking Dead Vampire blood can use that state as a justification to buy the first two dots of the Merit; after all, such an event can epigenetically force them to express their vampiric genes.
Vampires and the Kindred: I don't understand what you're asking me here. Any stories about Vampires are clearly just exaggerations of the stories about these guys. I mean, seriously, who believes silly stories about the walking dead? It's a ridiculous concept that you shouldn't think about. Trust me on this one.
This was inspired by this.
) I can also take it out entirely, and let natural jadedness take its course... I think I'll do that.
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