ShiftyRail
commented
5 years ago Third vampire idea (I was running out of space in the main body of the issue)
- The Patriarch (a bit less developed than the last ones)
General gimmick: thralls, familiars, flamboyant vampire capes, empowering your minions. Individually, this is the weakest archetype by far.
Succ mechanic: you can enthrall the person you succ. This may seem very strong, but unlike the other two archetypes, the Patriarch has no real powers beyond that. Your thralls can be given a wide range of abilities and upgrades. To dethrall them, you need a slightly complex ritual performed by the chaplain.
Griff tools and unique abilities: You can empower your thralls to be more resistant to stun, to see in the dark, or to even communicate telepathically with you if you spend enough blood. Your vampiric touch will heal your thralls. You can call and summon familiars (mice, cats, bats, crows...) controlled by ghosts (?) to help you scout around and provide assistance in a fight. If you die, your thralls know where to find your body. Putting your corpse in a coffin resurrects you (unlike the two previous archetypes.)
GoodG1448
spoonylove
kilozombie
Blithering
Foreword
People don't like vampire, it's a fact. The main point that people dislike are, from what I gathered :
the succ mechanic. It forces you to remove people from the round, and even if you decide to be classy and bring them to medbay (which is a bit rare), it's by far the most frustrating point of the mode.
not a very variable mode, with the vampire being the designated maint rapist and not doing much after that
not very thematic, with abilities being a mix and match of escape tools, free griff tools, and things to be used for maint rape
Suggestions
What I had in mind was to give the vampire a choice between a few "archetypes" that will drastically change how the game is played, notably, changing the succ.
All vampires should get the basic escape tools (jaunt, shadowstep), with possibility to increase those in power in time.
I'm not sure if glare or hypno should stay ; those are mandatory for a succ, but I believe there's a better way to implement them than the current method.
Your other powers (read : griff tools) should depend on the aspect you've chosen.
Small note on the succ mechanic
All the succ mechanics, regardless of the aspect, should follow the basic following bullet points
I feel those are reasonable and ensure the "archetypes" are more or less balanced.
Vampires archetypes I have ideas for (so far)
General gimmick: corpses, gunk, blood
Succ mechanic: the person being succ'd becomes instantly a bloodless husk, with a language only understandable by the vamp. They have antag freedom, but are NOT slaved to the vampire ; however, the necromancer can easily make their bodies explose if they turn against him. The husk is effectively a stronger and more robust wizard zombie, able to use weapons and to destroy equipment. When a husk dies, it can be cloned. The original person is then brought back.
Griff tools and unique abilities: Most of them will be related to fuck around with bodies, blood, and general piece of gunk they find laying around. Examples spells: Corpse explosion: makes a body explode, inflicting damage to the non-vampires, non-husks in the area, covering it in blood. Diseased touch: the classic vampire AIDS, except it spreads. However, it's less debilitating than the current vamp touch. Animate limbs: make limbs and body parts hostile to non-vamps and non-husks in the area. Effective with corpse explosion. The necromancer moves a lot faster on blood tiles. They can also clear the area of blood to regenerate themselves.
General gimmick: the closest possible to "old" vampire (without being bad). Powerful in the dark, maint rapist, paranoia. Uses the shades of their victims as fuel for power.
Succ mechnic: the person being succ'd transforms into a shade slaved to the vampire. This shade is effectively immortal and "killing" it only makes it retreat to its original body and regenerates itself. The kicker is that the vampire needs to take a lot of care to preserve the bodies of its victims in that fashion. Indeed, if you hide the body of your victim in a welder locker in space, the shade will not be able to help you, likewise if you polyacid the head. The shades are central to the vampire abilities and can communicate with their master telepathically. If the body is cloned, you will lose the shade.
Griff tools and unique abilities: the shades can hide "in" the vampire's body to remain stealthy, then burst out to assault your enemies. Your powers get stronger the more shades there is around you. Your powers get stronger in the dark, so ask your shades to burst out the lights. Face-wearing: you can wear the face of any of the shades around you. Useful to sneak on enemies. Using a vampire ability will reveal you. Haunt: send your shades after someone. They will appear to them with your appearance. Shadow-step BUT STRONGER: instantly sweep your position with one of your shade. The Nightlord will inherit the vampire classic abilities to terrify people in the dark and to be semi-invisible in the shadows.