Holy Water Injection?

[Corrupted_Loremaster]

Possibly true Carcer, but not really the point. Anyway, about the needle breaking, I was thinking something along the lines of if the attack misses by 5 or more it breaks, maybe less depending on the situation.

One thing I was wondering is why a vampire with access to armorsmiths just doesn't arrange to have a small metal plate he can strap over his heart. Would seem like a damn handy bit of equipment, and would make our idea about the syringe pretty much futile, wouldn't it?

[Wiccy of the Fraternity]

But not on Gothic Earth where finding a piece of armour would be pretty difficult. I am basing my side of this discussion for Gothic Earth rather than the demiplane of dread

However, a vampire would have easy access to armour in the dread realms, so the holy water syringe would be a weapon best reserved for adventurers on Gothic Earth.

[Hashmalum]

I'm surprised that no one has yet mentioned the most obvious disadvantage to a syringe as a weapon in the D&D game: as an improvised weapon, no one is proficient with it (PHB p.113) and thus anyone attacking with one would be at -4 to hit. Unless, of course, you persuaded your DM to allow you to spend a precious feat slot on Exotic Weapon Proficiency (syringe) to negate the penalty. This actually seems fairly appropriate to NPC doctors in an asylum who are used to trying to inject sedatives into uncooperative (and occasionally violent) inmates--and what else do Experts have to spend their feats on, anyway, besides Skill Focus?--but I can certainly think of better feat choices for the average PC. Especially considering that I agree with the idea of only maximizing the damage if used to deliver holy water to an undead.

[alhoon]

I really believe that skill focus is a better feat than Syringe proficency. . .

Anyway, even in Gothic earth, a small plate of armor to cover the heart (a heart-plate) can certainly be made. The vampire would just have to order ir.
I would say that a plate on the heart has an armor penalty of -1 and gives a +8 armor bonus for attacks aimed at the heart.

[Wiccy of the Fraternity]

I would allow characters with a significant number of ranks in relative skills (churgeon, surgery, medicine, herbalism, etc) to be able to weild a syringe in combat without needing a weapon proficiency in it.

alhoon, nice ideas for the armour plate over the heart, that AC and penalty modifier would work really well

[Brandi]

But not on Gothic Earth where finding a piece of armour would be pretty difficult. I am basing my side of this discussion for Gothic Earth rather than the demiplane of dread

Gothic Earth is late 19th-early 20th century, right? IIRC there was some use of chain mail as 'bulletproof vests'/covert armor among a few people (notably some of the high-ranking Tong members in Chinatown), and WWI soldiers experimented with sniper armor (though that was usually very heavy and visible).

Mind you, unless the chainmail is a really close weave the syringe might still have a chance of getting through.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

If the vampire in question is old enough, it might simply have saved a bit of torso armor from the time of its mortal life.

[Wiccy of the Fraternity]

I can see it now.

Enters dreamscape

Vampire comes running down the stairs, screaming about vampire hunters and syringes. Igor comes out to see what is going on, vampire spots Igor and starts screaming at him.

"Get my breastplate Igor, it's those damned slayers again, I thoughtit was just Mormons until I opened the door. I need my breastplate or those syringes will get me!"

"Right away thir." Answers our pluckly lilttle friends named Igor and tromps off, returning momentarily with a breastplate, with help the vampire puts it on.

"Igor, why is it all rusty? I though I told you to keep it all shiny and dry?"

"I though I did thir, but the houndth of hell mutht be uthing it ath a toilet again thir."

The vampire sags visible right before a group of vampire slayers charge down the stairs, grab him and plung the syringe straight into his cold still heart. As he starts to crumble he utters these final fwords to his manservant.

"Igor, get the blood, there's a good chap and order me a new breastpla..."

Exits Dreamscape

Well, kay it might not happen, but it could

Also, I hope the Nightmare Court don't mind me collecting frequent dreamer miles with these visits to their realm.

[Hashmalum]

The vampire in question would be well advised to dominate the armorsmith before placing the order for the heart plate. Sure, the heart is a universal vulnerable spot, but what other sort of creature has the heart as their only vulnerable spot? And the vampire is probably walking into the armorsmiths' shop after dark, too! Hope there aren't any strong-willed witnesses, either.

[Wiccy of the Fraternity]

Of course, it would also be better to have a plate on bot hthe front and back, in case someone tries to stick you from behind, you can never be to careful.

[Malus Black]

All right, now I'm officially astonished. Three pages discussing undead-slaying syringes?

But to stay on topic, I agree that the average Masque hero wouldn't wasily get his hands on anything magical, much less syringes. When even a simple Magic Weapon spell can potentially corrupt your soul, you'd think the average hero would much rather stick to the good old vials of holy water and a few stakes. Or rather, many stakes. In a multitude of materials.
That said, not all undead have damage reduction, and a few holy water-filled syringes for those times when zombies come smashing through the bedroom door might come in handy. The truly inventive hero might even think of using the syringes instead of arrowheads for his next ammunition batch for his bow. Horrible accuracy, certainly, but it might do the trick.
In Ravenloft, magic holy water-syringes might be slightly more possible, if only temporarily through Magic Weapon or similar spells. Of course, we're not talking needle-thin, skin-piercing-without-pain syringes here, but rather nasty, painful things capable of flicking that "primal terror" switch. Imagine that nasty syringe from Van Helsing, filled with holy water, in the hands of a van Richten-wannabe. It should be enough to give any vampire night.. er.. daymares.

As for why vampires don't make metal plates to cover their hearts, well, beats me. Unless you count tradition, that is. After all, what with vampires being immortal, cunning, and intelligent, you'd think they'd come up with a good idea to keep themselves from getting staked by now. And I'm not just talking Gothic Earth here - Ravenloft vampires would benefit greatly from something like this as well, especially without the acquiration-problems Masque vampires face.
Imagine a particularly ancient and powerful vampire in Ravenloft. Now, this guy is obsessed with not getting staked, stakeophobia if you like. So, he forces a wizard to make him a magic breastplate, which is actually welded upon creation, making it impossible to remove by conventional methods. This is not some big, cumbersome lump of metal, but a Roman-esque, body-fitting piece of armor. Since non-magical objects can't damage magical objects (unless I'm wrong, which I might very well be), the vampire is effectively immune to staking, as surprisingly few adventurers carry +1 Stakes.

[Jester of the FoS]

Well, when I was thinking of writing advanced staking rules one of my thoughts was that any armour heavier than Light negates staking attacks. A single breastplate would stop alot of attempts on a vamp's life, at least during the night and combat.
At the day when sleeping though... who likes to wear a giant set of metal PJs?

[Wiccy of the Fraternity]

Why not have the vampire rest in a chamber that may only be accessed by small passages only a few inches in diameter? Of course there would be more than one of these tiny passages, most likely dozen a dozen at the very least, some of them positioned to run up to the roof of his abode.

[Gemathustra]

Why not have the vampire rest in a chamber that may only be accessed by small passages only a few inches in diameter? Of course there would be more than one of these tiny passages, most likely dozen a dozen at the very least, some of them positioned to run up to the roof of his abode.

Why not simply have an iron door to the rest chamber, with several locks on the inside?

[Wiccy of the Fraternity]

You have something like that in a game and the players will spend three weeks tryingto get the thing open, just knowing there is something on the other side. I like my vampires (and other villains) to show amazing cunning and intellect when designing their lairs. So small openings are the way to go. The players can still spend 3 weeks trying to get inm, but it is more fun when they discover that the only way in is only just big enough for the party mage's rat familiar