This material is being used by me in a campaign in which the Camarilla are strictly NPC badguys. It's highly likely that the rules would need a little jiggering if you wanted to have vampire PCs. However, this at least gives you a place to start.
These rules are a mixture of White Wolf canon (at least in terms my incomplete knowledge of the World of Darkness) and the descriptions of Vampires in the "Savage Worlds" book. It does not give you all of the options and capabilites that a WoD vampire has. In particular, vampiric disciplines have been simplified. If anyone would like to provide a more complete treatment of disciplines, feel free.
Have fun. Comments/Corrections would be appreciated.
Once a human being becomes a Vampire, he changes as per the following rules:
* A long process that takes one evening to perform. The victim takes three days to awaken. This is regulated by custom and tradition and the approval of a Prince is required to create another Vampire.
** Victim must drink a point of the Vampire's blood on three separate occasions. The victim then becomes the slave of the Vampire.
*** Once bitten by a Vampire, a human being goes into a hypnotic trance and no longer resists as his blood is drunk.
**** Can drink 6 Blood Points per round from an unresisting victim.
Wild-Card status of Vampires: Vampires are Wild Cards. The only exceptions are the Weak-Blooded.
Every Vampire has a clan, choose from the list below.
Caitiff -- Technically, the Caitiff have no disadvantage. But actually they have the disadvantage of being Clanless. The internal structure of the Vampire clans are brutal and authoritarian, but they still provide for some form of defense against other Vampires and some form of aid when a Vampire is in trouble. A Caitiff is on his own. And everyone in Vampiric society knows that.
Brujah -- If ever frustrated or insulted, a Brujah must make a Spirit roll. If they fail, they will lash out at the source of their anger.
Gangrel -- the Gangrels all have some form of animalistic feature. At first it's something minor, like cat-eyes or tufted ears. But as the decades wear on, it steadily gets worse. Older Gangrels look more than werewolves than anything else.
Malkavian -- all Malkavians have the Delusion disadvantage. All of them are at least a little crazy. It's 50/50 whether it's a minor Delusion or a major Delusion.
Nosferatu -- most members of this clan have a major Ugly hindrance (-4 instead of the normal -2 to Charisma). About one in six of the Nosferatu have the usual Ugly hindrance (-2 to charisma) instead. The Nosferatu tend to have a lot of mental hangups about beauty and ugliness.
Toreador -- if exposed to something that the Toreador thinks is extremely beautiful (note, of course, that "beauty" is subjective), the Toreador must make a Spirit roll or be frozen in admiration. This can go on for hours. While, they will snap out of it for the sake of survival (i.e. being attacked, the sun is about to rise, etc), they are capable of ignoring non-immediate threats or other important things while they are fascinated.
Tremere -- all members of this clan are Blood Bond to the Elders of their clan. So a Tremere's freedom of action is circumscribed by the needs of his Clan. Also, nobody trusts them, since it's well known that each Tremere is utterly loyal to his clan and would do anything to advance the clan's interests.
Ventrue -- each Ventrue has a restriction on feeding. It's usually pretty restrictive. For example: only red-headed women, or only adult males under thirty years of age of Welsh descent.
Generation: As in the WoD, all Vampires are descended from Caine -- the first Vampire. Every Vampire has a generation -- the number of generations of descent from Caine. So if a 6th generation Vampire creates a Vampire, the new Vampire is 7th Generation. The higher a Vampire's generation, the larger their "Blood Pool".
Age: Vampires are effectively immortal -- they only die of starvation and trauma. There are vampires who are millenia old.
Experience: As a rough rule of thumb, I'd roll 1D10 per year of age for a fairly active Vampire. The total is how many XP, they earned during that year.
That has some ominous implications. Look at the chart below.
| Age | Average XP |
|---|---|
| 50 years: | 275 XP |
| One century: | 550 XP |
| Five centuries: | 2,750 XP |
| Two millenia: | 11,000 XP |
After "Legendary" rank is reached (80 xp -- 16 "level ups"), a character requires 10 XP instead of 5 XP to get a "level up". However, that still means that a Vampire with 50 years of experience will have advanced a total of 35 times, the century-old Vampire 63 times, the five century-old Vampire 283 times, and the two millenia vampire 1108 times.
Ouch.
OK, here's the good news. Older Vampires tend to spend more and more time in a state called "Torpor" -- a form of suspended animation. The eldest Vampires can literally spend centuries in torpor. Obviously, they're not gaining XP when they're asleep.
Bad news. When a really old Vampire awakes, it's a bad time for everyone else. He's really, really hungry and really, really powerful. The Vampire concept of the Apocalypse is the time when multiple Elder Vampires (Third Generation, 5000+ years old) awaken simultaneously.
Something to keep in mind about Vampires: No matter how old, or whatever generation they are, a Vampire is in big trouble if he finds himself in daylight. That's the ultimate advantage of a vampire-hunter.
Many Vampires build their lives around that vulnerability. Their homes are deep underground and heavily defended. They have blood-bonded humans, ghouls, and other Vampires serving them as defenders. They build influence among the mortal authorities, such as the police. They accumulate vast amounts of wealth. They have strong contacts in the criminal underworld. In effect, they build personal empires.
And all of that is to avoid someday seeing the sunrise.
Vampires have "Disciplines" -- powers in SW terms. Note that these are very simplified versions of the WoD Disciplines. A Vampire Discipline is like a power. You must expend power points (blood points for a Vamp) and make a succesfull skill roll with the power in order for it to work. When a Vampire gains a discipline, he starts with a D4 skill with it. The skill is not linked to a characteristic and must be bought up at a cost of 5 XP per dice type.
A vampire will gain disciplines in the following way -- his first two disciplines must be from the set group of three for his/her clan. The third discipline may be from "outside" the set group. The fourth must be the last set discipline for a clan (if the vampire doesn't have all three already.)
Disciplines in SW terms
Vampire Power Points are actually Blood Points. The "Blood Pool" of a vampire is the max number of Blood Points that he can have. Blood Pool size is generational -- a vampire is not able to increase his Blood Pool by expending XP. However, there is an ugly little thing called "Diablerie" (see below).
Earlier versions of these rules gave vampires and ghouls smaller blood pools. Consequently, the ability of a vampire or ghoul to use disciplines "burned out" quicker under those rules. If you think the new blood pool rules makes vampires too powerful, simply reduce blood pools, the amount of blood a vampire can drink per round, and the number of blood points that sources can supply, by half.
Generation/Blood Pool Size:
| Generation | Blood Points |
|---|---|
| 4th | 100 |
| 5th | 80 |
| 6th | 60 |
| 7th | 40 |
| 8th | 30 |
| 9th | 28 |
| 10th | 26 |
| 11th | 24 |
| 12th | 22 |
| 13+ | 20 |
A vampire replenishes his blood pool by drinking blood. A vampire who is feeding from an unresisting victim can consume 6 points of blood per round. However, he can take no other action that round. If he wants to take another action, he can only consume 2 points of blood per round.
When bitten by a Vampire, normal humans enter into a state of ecstasy and no longer resist the Vampire.
A human being contains 20 points of blood. If 10 (or half) of a victim's blood points is drained, his life is in danger and he needs medical assistance to survive. If 15 (or three-quarters) points are drained, immediate hospitalization within a matter of minutes is the only way he even has a chance to survive.
Note that this section is a BIG change from previous versions of these rules. Vampires (and Ghouls) are now getting a lot more blood points -- while the number of blood points needed to use a Discipline have remained the same. So this obviously makes vampires/ghouls more powerful. In the original version of these rules, the amount of blood points, number of blood points that could be drunk in a round, and the number of blood points in a resource (normal adult, child, cat, etc.) were all half of the give figures. The original rules might be more appropriate for a grittier game.
Sunlight -- exposure to sunlight inflicts 2D10 damage per round.
Feeding Requirements -- a Vampire must maintain blood in his Blood Pool. A Vampire expends two blood points a night to simply stay "alive". If he runs out and can't replenish his Blood Pool, then he will lose one hit point per day until he is down 4 hit points, then he enters an extremely deep version of torpor.
Running on Empty -- Note that a Vampire low on Blood Points (1/3rd of his normal full amount) gets hungry and can easily lose control. A vampire in such a state must make a Spirit roll to maintain control. Otherwise, they will do everything in their power to immediately feed if they are given the opportunity.
Torpor -- during the daylight hours, Vampires go into a sleep so deep that it's resembles a coma. If being roughly handled or attacked, a Vampire can awaken on a Spirit roll of 8 or higher. Older vampires have been known to go into a state of torpor that lasts for years on end. Note that the version of torpor that a vampire enters as a result of running out of blood points is even deeper. Essentially, outside aid (being fed blood) is required in order to be revived
"Death" -- Vampires can simply run out of hit points and die just like anyone else -- or maybe not. A "dead" vampire (down 5 hit points to Mortal Wound status) can usually be resurrected, as long as he hasn't been burned or so massively damaged that its ridiculous to assume that he can come back. As you might expect, resurrection involves giving the "dead" vampire blood. However, recovery is not immediate. Badly injured vampires will need considerable time to recover.
Conversion to a Vampire: a Vampire is created by another Vampire in a long, complex process that involves draining the victim of all his blood, and then giving the victim back some of the creating Vampire's blood. The Camarilla strictly regulates the creation of new Vampires (it requires the permission of a Prince).
Blood Bond: If a victim (Vampire or human) drinks the blood of a Vampire on three separate days, he becomes the thrall of that Vampire. He will obey all orders from his master and will literally sacrifice his own life if ordered to.
Ecstatic Effect While Feeding: when bitten by a Vampire, normal humans enter into a state of ecstasy and no longer resist the Vampire.
Diablerie: the greatest vampire sin. If one Vampire drains another Vampire of greater Generation, then the killer gains the dead Vampire's generation. This is the only way for a Vampire to increase the maximum size of his Blood Pool.
Weak-Blooded: these are Vampires whose Generation is 14th or greater. They show a lot of hybrid human/Vampire characteristics. Many Vampires view the Weak-Blooded as an abomination that should never be created, and should be destroyed when found. Some view them as potential servants.
If carefully covered, a weak-blooded vampire can go about during the day. If exposed to direct sunlight, they do not take damage. However, they find the experience painful and uncomfortable and will seek to find cover immediately. They are at -1 for all die rolls while operating during the daytime.
Weak-blooded vampires are limited in terms of the Disciplines that they normally learn. They can learn Celerity, Healing, Fortitude, and Potence. Weak-blooded vampires of the indicated clans start with the indicated Discipline.
Ghouls: a human who drinks the blood of a Vampire becomes a Ghoul. Of course, if he drinks the blood of the same Vampire on three separate occasions, then he becomes Blood Bonded as well. As you might guess, a lot of Vampires don't mention that fact to their new Ghouls.
A Ghoul has a Blood Pool, but it can only be replenished by Vampire blood. A Ghoul does not age while he is regularly drinking Vampire blood. He has a size 6 Blood Pool. All Ghouls start off with the Potence discipline. They can learn Celerity, Healing, and Fortitude. With special instruction, it's possible to learn other disciplines, but that is rare.
Ghouls are incredibly important to a Vampire because they are loyal and they can operate during daytime.