Akivasha stats

[Anonymous]

I don't know if anyone has noticed, but I think the stats for Akivasha in Road of Kings are identical to those of the Devi Yasmina. Given that Akivasha is one of the few baddies to survive an encounter with Conan I think she should be quite more powerful than the Devi in hand to hand combat. :twisted:
So that's errata I guess.

Most likely it was a typical copy/paste problem, so I hope Mongoose solves this little trouble sending the stats to the SoC list, or better dropping them as a free download in the main site -since there could be people who didn't join the SoC but own RoK.

Now we are at it, I would also like to know if a vampire can "share" its "gift" -that is, make another people become vampires. In
The Hour of the Dragon Akivasha seems to imply it is possible, but she could be just fooling Conan to better kill him.
What do you think?

 

[Prof.Dogg]

She could "share" by teaching him how to learn Immortality (i.e. he learns the pen IS mightier than the sword & becomes Conan the Scholar).

 

[Anonymous]

She could "share" by teaching him how to learn Immortality (i.e. he learns the pen IS mightier than the sword & becomes Conan the Scholar).

Crom! Conan the Scholar!?
Now I know why he runned away as hell :lol:

PS:Great idea for non-Cimmerian would-be-vampires, though. And sure it beats the "get killed by a vampire to resurrect as one of them" scenario.

 

[Mythos]

Now we are at it, I would also like to know if a vampire can "share" its "gift" -that is, make another people become vampires. In
The Hour of the Dragon Akivasha seems to imply it is possible, but she could be just fooling Conan to better kill him.
What do you think?[/quote]

For some reason I do not like the idea of vampires in the hyborian setting falling into the Victorian sterotype.
IMO, a Hyborian vampire could teach the magic required to become like them, but are loathe to do so. They don't want the possible competion and, do you really want to hang with the same person for thousands of years?

One thing that I have been thinking about creating for the setting is a lesser type of vampire. Taken from a Solomon Kane story, these creatures would be little more then zombies that require the drinking of blood, any type, to maintain their exsitance.
They would be created whenever a human was killed by a Hyborian vampire and the body was not properly disposed, ie: burnt, decapitated, having the heart removed, or the traditional stake through the heart.
They could also be created when another "corpse vampire" killed a human and again, the body was not properly disposed.

The corpse vampires would have enhanced strength, night vision, damage reduction to peircing weapons and regeneration.
They would be little better then animals. No carry over of knowledge skills, only able to use natural weapons; claws and teeth, take incressed damage from fire and sunlight.

While a single one would be a small threat to any party, in isolated areas they can incress their numbers rapidly.

 

[InsomNY]

Mythos, your "corpse vampires" sound a lot like the revenants encountered by Louis and Claudia in Interview with the Vampire. I think that they could be a fine addition to a game – assuming their job isn't already taken by the ghouls who haunt the forest between Argos and Zingara.

And while we're asking questions about vampires in this game, are true vampires (Akivasha and her ilk) prone to any of the traditional weaknesses? I know they avoid sunlight, but will it cook them in 2 rounds the way it will standard vamps?

 

[argo]

Be careful with spawning undead, they can do funny (read: catastrophic) things to a capagin setting unless you have specific counters to them. Counters which in themselves will alter your setting.

I am trying to think of a clear example of a spawning undead in either Conan or Lovercaftian cannon (not too familiar with Solomon Kane) and I am drawing a blank. Undead (or things which appear to be undead) usually seem to be the result of strange necromancy or an inexplicable localized effect which itself may be the result of strange necromancy (ie: they are either a sorcorer's creation or found in some abandoned crypt or barrow). I am more partial to the idea that becomming a vampire is the result of a powerful ritual (which may or may not involve another vampire "siring" you) than a simple "infection" that you get when drained. Certainly their brief description in the bestiary section hints at this.

As for vampire weaknesses; their template doesn't list any but personally I find that specific weanesses are half the fun of creatures like these :wink: I think that choosing weaknesses speaks a lot about the setting. I would avoid most of the victorian mythology (garlic, mirrors, stakes, holy symbols) as it seems prety hokey to me; though having superstious pesants give your players false leads is always fun. The vampire template in the book seems to be modeled mostly after stock western vampires but raiding non-western vamipre myth may be a fun twist. Or maybe there is more than one way to become a vampire and thus more than one set of strengths and weaknesses. Hopping vamires rock. Also don't forget about the Star Vampire (a CoC monster).


Just off the top of my head here is a list of weaknesses I would add to the Conan vampire template:

Silver: a vampire's natural damage reduction may not be pnetrated or bypassed by a finesse attack as normal, however a silver weapon will bypass a vampire's natural DR completly thus their DR entry should read DR 6/silver. Fruthermore, a vampire can be injured by simple contact with silver. A vampire who makes physical contact with a large quantity of silver (1 pound or more) takes 5 HP of damage each round contact is mantained. (I like the concept that silver's purity somehow disrupts the energies that sustain undeath.

Light Sensitivity: a vampire has an aversion to natural sunlight and experiences disorienting pain when exposed to sunlight or artifical light of a similar intensity. Under such circumstances the vampire takes a -1 penalty to all attack rolls, saving throws and skill checks. (This gives vampires a good reason to avoid daylight activity but doesn't leave the players with an easy way to destroy them. Besides, nothing is better than that moment when your players flee the vampire's crypt into the rising sun only to realize that the monster is still following them! :twisted: )

Running Water: a vampire cannot cross running water except by a boat whose keel has been covered in earth. Fruthermore if a vampire is completly immersed in running water it looses one third of its remaning hit points per round until it is destroyed at the end of the third round. (once again, I like the concept that the purity of running water is an anthesis to vampires. Plus this weakness just sets up way too many cool in game moments, such as a flight towards a river and saftey or a balsy PC doing the insane and grappling with a vampire to force his head under water. Too cool.)

Bonded Lair: the dark ritual which transforms a mortal into an undead vampire also creates a strong bond between the vampire and the place where that ritual was carried out. So long as the vampire remains within his lair the power of the ritual continues to sustain his life and removes any need he has to feed (though he may still be killed by other means and may still choose to feed for pleasure) but should he ever leave his lair he will begin to fade. If the vampire is ever absent from his lair for more than 72 hours he looses his Fast healing ability as well as his ability to heal naturally. These abilities cannot be restored by any means until the vampire returns home and takes 8 hours of rest within his lair. Fruthermore, for each additional 24 hours he spends away from his lair the vampire looses 5 HP. He may restore these lost HP by means of his Blood Drain ability or any other means of restoring HP (but not natural healing or as the result of a Heal check). (vampires in Conan generally seem to perfer staying in their crypts or whatever rather than roaming the earth. Fruthermore vampire myth in general is filled with stories about vampires being compelled to return to some place whenever they can. I also like that this accounts for why roaming vampires are compelled to feed. Lastly this makes a roaming vampire consideribly less powerful than a vampire in its lair. Which is always good.)


This makes for a good set of weaknesses that helps explain some common vampire behavior. It also gives crafty players some leverage (mostly in escaping) without introducing any instant-kill posibilities or any easy ways to ward off a stalking vampire (unless you want to build a silver house, and even then he could just soak the 5 HP per round which is countered by his fast healing). Should make vampires just different and unpredictable enough to give any ambitious PC's a real scare.

Hope that helps.

 

[Mythos]

The corpse vampires that I was thinking about did live in caves and only came out during the night. So the damage taken by sunlight does seem logical.
As for the manor in which they were eliminated, the climax of the story had the vampires consumed by a flock of magically summoned vultures.
Vultures eat dead flesh, vampires composed of dead flesh, one of the most orginal methods of killing vampires that I ever read.

BTW, these vampires come from the Solomon Kane story, Hills of the Dead. It and the other SK stories are now avalible from Del Rey in a trade paperback format.

 

[argo]

As for the manor in which they were eliminated, the climax of the story had the vampires consumed by a flock of magically summoned vultures.
Vultures eat dead flesh, vampires composed of dead flesh, one of the most orginal methods of killing vampires that I ever read.

Ok, that rocks on toast. 8)

BTW, these vampires come from the Solomon Kane story, Hills of the Dead. It and the other SK stories are now avalible from Del Rey in a trade paperback format.

I heard, been meaning to pick that up as soon as I have the time.

Later.

 

[Anonymous]

Garlic is not a Victorian addition to Vampire lore it is part of the Vampire lore in a large number places including eastern Europe and is used as a repellent more often than a weapon.

One interesting thing about Vampires is one of the few things Buffy the Vampire slayer got right and that is most types of Vampire are Dead bodies animated by demons which meshes very well with the corruption rules. Of course this meant that people believed that all kinds of things could cause the dead to rise as Vampires.

 

[Judge Walker]

This question is OT as far as vampires in Conan, but it is something I have always wondered about. Does anyone know where the use of silver and wooden stakes comes from?

To my knowledge silver first came to be used in the Werewolf myth. And I recently heard that one way to keep a "vampire" in his grave was to bury him face down and drive a shaft through its heart, not neccessarily wood, metal could be used as well.

Just wondering.

Back to Conan. I have yet to read the Vampire Template. Am I right in assuming that in Conan the vampire is created through a spell, and not the more European Traditional method?

 

[Anonymous]

This question is OT as far as vampires in Conan, but it is something I have always wondered about. Does anyone know where the use of silver and wooden stakes comes from?

To my knowledge silver first came to be used in the Werewolf myth. And I recently heard that one way to keep a "vampire" in his grave was to bury him face down and drive a shaft through its heart, not neccessarily wood, metal could be used as well.

Just wondering.

Not sure about the silver but according to Swedish folklore, if you bury someone and don't want them to come back to life and haunt you, you have to drive a pole or three through the body (into the earth). This would "bind" the corpse to the grave.

Nice touch with the vultures, by the by! Very cool, Argo. 8)

 

[Anonymous]

Damn! Make that "...Very Cool, Mythos."

 

[Mythos]

Does anyone know where the use of silver and wooden stakes comes from?

AFAIK, the stake has been a part of vampire folklore for almost as long as the belief in vampires. Only in the last couple of centuries has it become a method of actually destroying vampires.
Before that it was the method used to "pin" a vampire to its grave. By driving the stake through the body and into the ground, the vampire was trapped in it grave. Later on it was belived that the best form of wood to use for this was the same type used to crucify Christ. Prior to this belief any type of a wooden or metal stake was thought to be able to do the job. It only needed to be long enough to pass through the body and into the ground.

As for silver, I belive that this is a modern invention of Hollywood. I know that it was mentioned in relationship to werewolves, however, I do not ever remember reading about it having any effect on vampires. If I am in error on this, please let me know.

 

[argo]

re: stakes. A lot of vampire myth revolves around keeping corpses in their proper place. Many myths attribute the creation of a vampire to a corpse being buried in unconcerated ground, etc. Staking was meant to pin a vamp to the ground. Headstones were also origionally intended to keep a corpse pined down (as well as prevent other animals from digging it up). On a more scholarly note; a possible explination for the origin of vampire myth (loosely: a corpse rises and sucks the blood of the living) which seems to appear in every culture is that it is the result of a lack of knolwedge about the decompisition process. A corpse that is buried, as opposed to being exposed to rot and be eaten, will appear prety wierd if you dig it up a few weeks later. It's hair and nails will continue to grow, blood will leak out of the mouth and other ruptures in the skin, bloating from trapped gases will cause the eyes to open and, if the grave isn't too deep, the ground to buckle as if dug up and the corpse to turn and when you actually do open the grave those escaping gases will make noises. It's easy to see how a superstious folk can jump to conclusions (particularly if there also happens to be a plague or something at the time) and start mutilating the corpse to prevent it from "rising"

As for silver. In myth it is often assoicated with purity and cleanliness. How exactly it got integrated into vampire myth I don't know. Hmm, maybe I oughta go look that up....