Passing off a vampire as human....

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Its how you treat sunlight. If the curse actually is "when the sunlight touches the vampire's flesh" then the clothing protects it. If the curse is "When the vampire is exposed to sunlight" then the clothing shouldn't protect it.

I guess it depends on how much you consider Vampirism to be a curse. I guess I see it more as a biological (or necrological) state. A more scientific and less magical view, I suppose. I understand that most powers of vampires are physically impossible, and need magic to be explained, but in my low-magic view, their weaknesses are based on biological fact, not magic.

It would be different if an NPC was cursed by a vistani to be hurt by the sun. In that case, there's a magic effect following the NPC around and interpreting the curse. In the case of the vampire, if we assume something within his skin is disturbed by the pure sunlight, disrupting his powers, and we further assume that a diffuse reflection changes the light in a way that a direct reflection does not, then if no photons travel directly from the sun (or via a direct reflection) and hit his skin, how can he be hurt by it?

This is why I see thick clothing as a similar effect to buildings, coffins, and earth. If some magic aura surrounded the vampire's clothing, why not his coffin, or castle? It's Occam's razor, I suppose. It seems more simple to me that the light only affects the vampire himself. And we're not talking a t-shirt and shorts. It would be excessive bundling up for a cold-weather expedition, including a hooded cloak, scarves, goggles, furs. (since the vampire's "cover" is a bumbling young monk, the comical effect of his excessive preperation should deflect suspicion.)

But why doesn't every nosferatu have a head-to-toe leather suit that covers its body completely, along with a mask with smoked glasses for eyes or something similar to be completely immune to sunlight?

A good question, and my answer is this: Few nosferatu would find a reason to do so. There is very little that a vampire cannot accomplish at night. Why risk the discomfort or death a possilbe tear in the suit would give? What could a vampire be doing in the day that would not be hindered by the bizarreness of such a suit? The only thing out in the daylight that isn't there at night are other people, and they would be scared off by the freakish suit. A vampire might long to go out in the sun as he did as a mortal, just to feel and see the sunshine again, but the suit won't help there. Also, for most Nosferatu, losing their powers temporarily isn't such a big deal, since they can retreat to their coffin and get them back.

But yes, as a player I would prefer to be outsmarted than finding out that he used magic to cover its weakness. However, using clothes would seem far worse to me.

And here's where I say that it's personal preference. Clothes seem to fit more in the gothic tradition to me than a magic ring. Think of the Invisible Man wrapped in his bandages, or Frankenstein in the blind man's hut. Being hidden by mundane means seems more fitting to me.

On another topic:Why you believe the ring is rule-bending? You said personal preference, but I am interested to know. (Really, not just backing my opionion).
My opinion is that magic is reality bending, so doing something with magic isn't rule-bending (just difficult).

Agreed, magic is inherently reality-bending, but in this case, I see it as rules-bending for three reasons.
1) Such a ring doesn't exist in any published product. I know, I can make up whatever I want, and I often do. But in this case it seems like I made up EXACTLY what I needed, which is too convenient. It's such a niche use of magic that I find it hard to believe the character would just happen to have it. If I had a problem that could be solved with a ring of invisibility, or a ring of levitation, sure, I might use it. But a ring of protection from sunlight for Nosferatus? It's a bit contrived feeling.
2) If such a ring did exist, I would expect it to be a one-of-a-kind legendary object for vampires (compare with the Ring of Amara from Buffy/Angel), much sought after by those angsty vampires who just wanna sunbathe again. It should be the focus of an adventure, not a side element added to make part of another adventure work.
3) My Ravenloft is supposed to be low-magic, so the ring seems out of place, for all the reasons Stygian Inquirer gave.

PS Rotipher, I like your idea with the "healing potions." Might use that.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

I just thought of a sort of analogy. In Feast of Goblyns, we see that Dominiani's coffin is stored in a secret room, accessable only by a tiny crack. Dominiani can get through by turning into mist, but a non-vampire has to break the wall or use magic to get in. This is taking an ability that vampires are known to have (gaseous form) and using it in a way that a smart vampire might think of.

Strahd has coffins hidden in caves around Barovia, and a contingency spell to teleport him into one if he is in danger of being destroyed. This is logical for him because he's a wizard in a addition to being a vampire. But it's a very high-magical solution to the problem.

If Dominiani's coffin was in a room with NO entrances or exits, deep within the earth, and the only way in was to teleport with a ring of teleporting, I would cry foul. It's an inelegant and unneccesary complication, in my opinion, and not one that the (mostly scientific) Doctor would think of.

That's how I feel about the magic ring idea. I don't know if that clarifies it all, or just muddies the water.


Anyway, I'm glad to see everyone's opinions on this. I'm surprised it's not as cut and dried as I thought.

[AdamGarou]

This SORT OF involves the sunlight issue (as far as the vampire having to remove his scarf in order to eat), but it also involves another traditional vampiric weakness--the inability to consume normal food (or at least keep it down for long).

I don't know if 3e nosferatu can ingest regular food without any ill effects, and I don't know exactly how you're planning on the party getting their food in Lamordia, but here's an interesting idea:

Have the pseudo-monk volunteer to be the party's cook. And even better, make him a GOOD cook.

Having culinary skills isn't out of character for a monk, IMHO--their whole philosophy involves keeping themselves from being dependent on outside forces, so why couldn't the character know how to cook, and cook well?

Your players may be a touch paranoid, so they might think this new acquaintance of theirs is trying to poison them--this could be a snag, and I'm not sure the best way to deal with it. Maybe the monk could mention that he's heard of magic that can neutralize poisons, and have HIM suggest that another PC cast the spell (assuming it's available).

But, if the vampire is the party's cook, he can always take the last watch before dawn and can have a hot breakfast cooked and ready for them most mornings. IMO, few PCs are going to be suspicious of the guy who makes hot pancakes or stag stew and fills their stomachs every morning. With his supersharp senses, he'll probably know when someone's about to wake up, and he can time the cooking so it looks as though he's just finishing his own meal when the first PC wakes up--presumably to the smell of good food.

This tack deflects suspicion in two ways--first, it means he doesn't have to worry about exposing his skin to sunlight to eat (assuming the group eats jerky or other trail rations for lunch), and second, it provides a rationale for why the PCs never see this guy eat anything. As far as the midday meal is concerned, maybe the party just needs to eat on the go, rather than sitting down and having a lavish feast. It'd be easy enough for an agile vampire to palm food he's supposedly eating if the entire group is riding/walking/etc.

Don't know if this helps or not, but it's an idea. And, if you're playing up the monk to be comical, then have him bumble through a few other necessary functions (like tracking, hunting, etc.) and screw them up tremendously. Then, have him volunteer to cook--and if the PCs won't agree, have him do it anyway, and have the food turn out great. You can play him as so happy to be of some use that it'll actually drum up some sympathy from the PCs.

And of course, when he turns on them, it'll be that much more shocking.

[alhoon]

Gonzoron: Well, if you see vampirism that way clothing is a good protection and would work. Excuse me if I brought you to a defensive position, I was just trying to help. I didn't try to force you come to my way of thinking, I just expressed my concerns to a fellow DM.

about the coffins and the cracks. I almost always put the vampire's coffin in places unreachable except in mist form. Depending on the vampire's resources (mainly the time it had to prepare its lair as it wanted) I place obstacles.
Once I put a coffin behind a wall that on the top had a crack that only a bat could pass through. The PCs surmised that this was just a ruse, being sure that every vampire would have its coffin hidden in a place that could only be reached by mistform.
They were wrong but not absolutely. Behind that wall, there was a small room with a heavily trapped empty coffin. The vampire would turn to mist, enter the trapped coffin and then exit the coffin through small cracks underneath it to move to another secret compartment with its real coffin.
When the PCs cracked the coffin and the poison cloud, the needles etc burst on them and found nothing, they spent the whole hour looking the rest of the room for cracks and secret doors, ignoring the trapped coffin.
When the vampire came out of the coffin they have searched, well. . . that was a surprise and they accused me for cheating. Later they found out however. Just a trick for you to use if you want.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Gonzoron: Well, if you see vampirism that way clothing is a good protection and would work. Excuse me if I brought you to a defensive position, I was just trying to help. I didn't try to force you come to my way of thinking, I just expressed my concerns to a fellow DM.

Not at all, my friend. I appreciate the input. Just trying to clarify my view of things...

[Gemathustra]

My problem with such scenarios is how would a vampire be able to bring a coffin into a room that can only be entered through mistform?

[alhoon]

They use dominated thralls later to brick up the passage, leaving tiny cracks. That simple.

Note that a slightly paranoid vampire could become quite formidable with this trick. How much would it take to break through a reinforced masonry wall 10' thick? 15' thick? 40' thick?
A vampire such inclined would need just to dominate a couple of masons and not suck them dry for a few years (or just replace them).
Put a leaden coating on the walls (this must probably be done by the vampire) and a leaden "door" that shuts the mist-hole and no mage can use gaseous-form to enter while the vampire is there and can't scry there (so he can't teleport in). Dimension door is a problem but who would guess that the wall in front of them is actually more than 10' thick?

[Gemathustra]

Then, what would the paranoid/careful vampire do about suspicious vampire hunters who are armed with spackle?

[alhoon]

Ahem, What's spackle? I haven't found it in the dictionary?

[Gemathustra]

A kind of plaster that's specifically made to seal up cracks in walls.

[Tobias Blackburn]

The Vampire gets trapped and starves to death. That exact situation is described in Van Richten's Guide to Vampires. An intelligent Vampire will leave enough room to get out of his coffin and beat the wall down if he has to (or another crack to sneak out of).

[alhoon]

The Vampire gets trapped and starves to death. That exact situation is described in Van Richten's Guide to Vampires. An intelligent Vampire will leave enough room to get out of his coffin and beat the wall down if he has to (or another crack to sneak out of).

In the case of the paranoid vampire with the 40' wall (I haven't used that ever) I would put another safe passage with cracks (40' too) and a couple of pickaxes in the coffin room.
About enough room, I make the coffin rooms about 10'x 20' or larger as the vampires stock their personal treasury there. Remember Strahd? He kept this memoirs in his coffin room.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Back to the topic, why not have most of the trek take place in the mountain's shadow? Starting on the western slope in the morning, have the nosferatu pace things so that they cross around to the southern/northern slope around noon (depending upon the time of year) and then around to the eastern in the evening.

If this trek is a day or less, the vampire might make the entire trip that way with no one the wiser. Longer might require excuses, but there are plenty of them:

--"Let's stay off the main path for this part, to avoid being seen."

--"Let's stick to the path for this part, it's faster."

--(summons wolves, comands them to guard the path further up) "Whoa, those look like sentries! Let's go around."

--"These switchbacks are terrible. Let's circle around some more to break into more even ground."

--"These switchbacks are terrible. Let's sprint this part straight up, I bet I can beat you!"

or even

--"Let's approach from the mountain's shadow, where it will be easier to stay out of sight."

If there's a rational explanation, most players will go along with it. Even those that figure he's up to something will make the wrong assumption about what he's up to ("he's searching for something else up here!"

What season is it, anyway? That will determine how long the shadowas are throughout the day, and how long he needs to get creative.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

It's early January, so the shadows should be long, and the days short. That should help. Using the shadow of the mountain is a great idea. It will be a short trek, since the interesting stuff is up on the mountain. But a few clues on the way wouldn't hurt...