Concept: Vampire Overhaul

[Xanatov Valerius]

Alright. So, on-again-off-again on here I read people complaining about how Vampires are either underpowered or overpowered, and when they are actually able to do stuff their entire schtick boils down to a super-powered murderous rampage that is exceedingly difficult to stop due to a number of factors, and overall is just boring. I thought about it a little bit, and came up with some ideas that I think might help if they are doable.

So here's the gist of it:

#1: Give Vampires two new abilities. Firstly is the ability to make new, lesser vampires. They shouldn't be able to infinitely self-propagate, but it should be enough to convert 1-3 people. The second is the ability to convert people into zombies, which both vampire types should be able to do. The playable kind of zombies that eat brains and such to make more zombies. Vampires and Zombies created by vampires should be mind slaved to their vampire master.

#2: Give Vampires new objectives based on these mechanics. Instead of assassinating people like a traitor might, their goal is to turn specific members of the crew into their vampiric progeny, and convert a certain number of crew members into zombies.

I'm not sure how vampire mechanics would need to be adjusted to make this balanced, or how the above abilities would need to be balanced to not be impossible to deal with, but the idea of this revised Vampire would be to have some station-threatening goals that can be fought against but which removes few people from actual play while letting them cause an infestation of undead that slowly threatens to take over the station.

[KikiMofo]

These would make pretty quick round where everyone is just getting steam rolled by the vamp and it's cohorts. Honestly I like the idea but I dunno if this fixes vampire.

[Morphing_Dwarf]

I think this basically makes the vampire into a spyleader and turns the vampire round mode into gang/spy. Is that really a good thing?

[KikiMofo]

I think this basically makes the vampire into a spyleader and turns the vampire round mode into gang/spy. Is that really a good thing?

Eh. It sounds like a fun mode for every once in awhile. I mean I don't see vamp rounds much in the first place.

[atomic1fire]

I think it would be neat as a mode seperate from vampire but still sorta related to it.

My suggestions:

Roundtype should only ever happen when there's a chaplain selected in the game.

Chaplain should get an advanced warning like "The spirits detect a great evil, do something about it". That way chaplain's skills of being chaplain are actually useful ahead of time.

Zombies and vampire underlings should die as soon as the main vampire dies. That way the crew knows for a fact they killed the main vampire and everything is fine now.

On that note the only vampire who can convert the crew should be the main vampire, so if they need reinforcements he or she have to expose themselves to the crew. This will keep them from hiding from kill happy crewmen.

I can't see this ever happening though.

[Dauntasa]

suggestions:
First off, have them gradually lose their powers when exposed to any kind of light and not gain them back until they hide in darkness for a while. Space and the chapel no longer burn them, but immediately saps them of all of their powers and blood. They can survive indefinitely but will be incredibly weakened in power by even a second exposed to space and will need to drink a good deal of blood and hide in the dark for a while to recover.

Vampires are immortal unless killed in one of a few specific ways, but enough burn/brute damage puts them into a deep regenerative sleep(which their stun-breaking power will not wake them from). To kill a vampire you would need to knock them out and then splash them with holy water, cremate them, or drive a stake through them. Give the chaplain an "in case of vampires" kit with a bunch of stakes in it and a special crossbow that can fire them at vampires and fuck them up bad but is fairly wimpy against anything else.

When a vampire bites someone he can choose to make them a lesser vampire or just drain their blood.

lesser vampires have a few of the same powers that the main vampire does but cannot make more vampires by biting people

If the main vampire is killed all lesser vampires die.

if a lesser vampire drains the blood of the main vampire then they become the main vampire, with all of his powers, and he crumbles to ash and dies. This is the goal of a lesser vampire: to become the main guy. Main vampire can only be drained if he's unconscious but the main vampire can drain lesser vampires and kill them instantly at will.


Essentially this is all with the goal of making an interesting group dynamic: the Main Vampire can make helpers and in a group they will be very hard to kill as you need to first damage them enough to put them to sleep and then apply one of a few specialized tools to their body to finish them for good. So in a group it'd be easy for the other vampires to protect a fallen one while it recovered. But the goal of every lesser vampire is explicitly to betray the main vampire and eat him if he ever goes down. Since he can kill them instantly they have an incentive to stay in line until they think he's vulnerable. The more lesser vampires the main vampire makes the stronger the group will be but also the more likely it will be to disintegrate into fighting for power.

[Kovirii]

Give the chaplain an "in case of vampires" kit with a bunch of stakes in it and a special crossbow that can fire them at vampires and fuck them up bad but is fairly wimpy against anything else.

[Frank_Stein]

What if, when a vampire bites someone, it didn't do brute damage? Instead, it just sucked up their stamina leaving it at 0 until they got some sugar or something in their system to raise it back up? Make hypnotize last a bit longer, and give the vampire a warning for when the victim is about to wake up.
Instead of explicitly needing to kill people to get maximum blood, a vampire could choose to just stun them, suck up what they need, and disappear into the darkness until they find their next victim. He could still choose to kill them by traditional means, make them into a lesser vampire, or just let them go and spread the fear.

Also, in another thread someone suggested the idea of letting the vampire mark an area as a lair, sorta like how wizards would corrupt the station. A coffin would appear and they could go inside it to recharge their powers. I liked that idea, and with vampire minions around to guard them it makes a bit more sense.

[Zadeon]

If lesser vampires were added, pouring holy water on them should cure them, not kill them. Wooden steaks would just kill them though. This way the chaplain could plan his tactics and save his holy water for curing people.

[Crumplehat]

If stakes are implemented, maybe make it so you can chop down Botany's trees for lumber, and let you use a chainsaw/knife on the wood to sharpen it into stakes? Just an idea, and probably not one that really helps the core value of overhauling the mode itself.

[Amuys]

Just a question, do vampires take extra burn damage like Changelings do?

[Sundance]

Just a question, do vampires take extra burn damage like Changelings do?

No, just some serious burn damage from being on a space tile.

Also don't want to sound snarky about this thread but my vampire thread was stickied for a reason. Please read the underlying issues (Pay particular attention to what Daeren said, he seemed to summarize it most), and post there instead of posting a new thread that will (inevitably) fall to the abyss of the suggestion fourm