Playing a vampire in a fantasy game with humanss

[Sergeantbrother]

I have been talking twosome of the gamers in my group about the idea of playing a fantasy campaign were one of the characters is a vampire but the others are normal humans. I think that this is a neat idea, but I'm not sure how to balance it.

The vampire should probably be stronger than the other characters in a variety of ways, especially at night, but should also have some major disadvantages that counter this - such as being inactive during the day. How should a DM go about balancing this? Perhaps having the vampire character play some sort of ghoul or mortal servant during the day?

Has anyone tries this? Has it worked or failed?

[The Rose Dragon]

Mages are technically humans, yet would likely mop the floor with any Kindred if they are cautious enough. Then again, they aren't exactly "normal".

The biggest problem in answering the question is, essentially, we don't know much about the game's details, aside from "fantasy". What counts as a normal human? What powers and weaknesses does the vampire have (there are centuries of vampire legends, from various parts of the world, with various contradictory details, and the whole sun = death thing isn't even a hundred years old)? Will the vampire's strengths help him with what is expected from the characters (a vampire whose only advantages are physical won't have a lot to work with in a game of courts)? Will his weaknesses prevent him from doing what others take for granted as a part of the game?

[awa]

inactive during the day is a bad choice becuase it means either it doesn't come up in which case it's not a weakness or the vampires weakness is he doesn't get to play sometimes. taking damge is honestly better becuase then he can still at least do stuff in doors even better might be he is just weaker.

I agree we need to know more about both the system being used and the rules for vampires in general.

[comicshorse]

In first edition Shadowrun I played a Vampire. We ripped of Bram Stoker's Dracula by having my P.C. having vampiric powers at night but losing all his powers by day (no magic, no cyberware, no nothing). It meant he could still keep up with the plot and use his brain to help out but that was it.

[PersonMan]

It depends a lot on the system, game, players and characters.

An ultra-powerful vampire in a game with a few average folks is different from a vamp'd average dude with non-vamp'd average dudes.

[Lorsa]

It's very difficult to balance which is why I would recommend against it unless your players have VERY good out-of-character dynamic. I've never had players with which such a scenario would work myself.

In the D&D rules, vampires would have a level adjustment which supposedly should balance them with ordinary humans. Which it might, especially if the humans are wizards.

The problem with using "daytime" as a drawback is that either the vampire player won't participate in half the play at all (which is very unfun for everyone) or it will all take place during night (in which case it isn't a drawback). Disadvantages that never comes into play aren't real disadvantages. Letting him play a mortal servant during the day just means that half the time he's über powerful and the other half he's like the rest, which is more than the others.

I've never seen ideas like this play out right, even though it is technically possible.

[Black Jester]

The power balancing issue is usually only a problem if you make it one (for instance for believing in the hole balancing is relevant myth), so if the players are okay with it, it should work, especially because vampires are usually not without their weaknesses, and generally speaking, characters don't matter as long as everybody has fun.
The more important question is the one that occurs every time when a player comes up with a unique snowflake build: Namely: Will the character take up considerably more time focused on his character than the others or is the character likely to overshadow the other PCs?
RPG groups usually have no main character, for an obvious reason and it is bad form to reintroduce ones through the back door.

[Ravian]

4th Edition actually has a host of options for playing a vampire character. There's a vampire class, a vampire-like race (vyrlocka) and a vampire bloodline (dhampyr daywalker). So the option for going incredibly overkill as a vampire vampire with a vampire bloodline exists (unfortunately the vampire class kind of sucks, being dependent on draining blood rather than any conventional healing means.

While this may not be very helpful if you're playing another edition, one thing that I do bring up is that the writers of the vampire class included a way for them to function in the daytime. A vampire takes radiant damage when exposed to sunlight each round (which he is already vulnerable to from being undead, so ouch) but it's mentioned that a very heavy coat can allow one to move about during daylight without burning to death. This still means they're very vulnerable during daylit hours since a good grapple check from an opponent could probably rip it off and leave him to wither.

It's a possibility at least.

[Set]

Regardless of the rules system, having one of the characters useless 50% of the time (all day) is going to just arbitrarily impose restrictions on everyone else. It becomes less of a 'balancing' issue, and more of a pain in the butt to the other players, as the 'balancing factor' means that they have to arrange their characters plans and schedules around sir-sleeps-all-day.

Like the Paladins code, back in 1st edition, the 'weakness' of the class ends up punishing everyone else, in a laughable attempt at 'balancing' out its advantages, ending up punishing everyone who didn't play this particular race or class *twice,* once by restricting their actions and again by existing in the shadow of an arbitrarily stronger character.

I would suggest toning down the daylight vulnerability (which is a terribly recent invention anyway) to light sensitivity or something, and likewise toning down the vampire powers to something like +2 Str and +2 Cha, low-light vision, scent, +2 to Perception and Stealth, 40 ft. base move, +1 natural armor, 1d4 bite attack with blood drain. Less Dracula-at-level 1, and more 'weak fledgling that Buffy would stake in a cold second.'

As levels accrue, new vampire traits could unlock either by some sort of monster class levels, or through feats, or just automatically, in some cases, as you wish, so that the vampire race can eventually *grow into* less of a 'vampire that Blade kills five of with one throwing blade' and more of a 'creatures of the night, obey me!' sort of figure.

More overtly supernatural abilities, like weather control, shapeshifting, gaseous form, animal control and mind control, can be saved for later. Start out with a Buffy/Blade/30 Days of Night/Underworld/I Am Legend sort of vampire who is strong and fast and tough (and, between the +2 Str, 40 ft. base speed, +1 natural armor and bite attack, will have a small advantage over a human of equal level in a fist fight), and go on from there.