I cannot find all that much information about vampires in SR. I get the allergic to sunlight, wood, etc etc. All the stuff you can surmise from the critters part of the SR4 Core book. But what about everything else? Do they need to sleep, does hair still grow? Do they need to breath, or do they breath out of habit only? Does the heart beat? Etc etc. We have been going with White Wolf Vampire fluff for this stuff at the moment. But I just wanted an idea of the fluff info on Vampires. Thanks!

Best first to recognize that SR vampires are not "undead". They're people with a magical virus that messes up their biology in crazy ways. That said, they don't breathe (out of habit or otherwise), and thus have no buoyancy. (They sink like rocks and I'm pretty sure they can go comatose underwater.) I'm not sure about the other things, though I don't think their hearts beat. Blood doesn't keep them alive, really. The stolen Essence is what does it.

Oh boy, he opened the Vampire-can-o'-worms. This will turn ugly real fast.

They are not like WoD Vamps (who are essentially animated corpses), but still alive, or at least alive again. So, they should have a heartbeat, hair should grow and they definitly breath (see dormancy weakness).

It'll be addressed in upcoming books.

I, too, am fairly certain they have to breathe, what with the falling dormant when they can't.

Facing a vampire? Remember to bring the trash bags and duct tape.

I am making a few changes to Vamps in my game. For instance, I am switching the allergies around (Wood isn't quite as deadly as sunlight in my game... makes no sense to walk down a staircase, grab the bannister, and take damage from the wood, but hit by a stray stream of sunlight, and damage should happen). I am also giving vampires the ability to Control Actions on those of their brood. Give a little control over those they create, but only when within LOS.

How much blood does a vampire need? Just enough to cover its essence loss per month, or do they have to have some amount per day or they will get hungry?

Far as I can tell, they don't need the blood at all, at least not in the sense you mean. They are sustained by the essence they drain. The blood is merely the means by which the essence is taken. So they wouldn't need any other blood.

In the original novelization of Dracula, vampires weren't harmed by sunlight; it just prevented them from using their powers. Vampires being killed by sunlight is a Hollywood invention with no basis in fact.

Do vampires need to sleep?

Actually, something just dawned on me as well, what is the fluff rules for spirits inhabiting bodies? Flesh form? Do they need to eat, sleep, breath etc etc. Or not?

Ah, the good old days. But not anymore, they now have the Dietry Requirement (Blood) Weakness. It's so sad.


Nothing hints at them no needing sleep.


If the host does not gain any immunities or is already dead, the spirit would need to do all those things to keep it's host alive. But that might be totally wrong, I don't remember reading anything on that topic in any of the magic supplements through the editions, so I'm just making an educated guess. Or something

As opposed to all the other aspects of vampires, which are rooted firmly in proven science.

Exactly.

Incidentally, the Mommy is a Vampire children's coloring book gives me some nifty ideas.

Given, but if I remember correctly - which is not always a good thing, wood only caused a temporary death or paralysis, final death was caused by cutting the head off and stuffing with garlic or some nonesuch. Then again,t hat may be Hollywood provided as well, we are dealing with my memory after all and it has been several years since I read the novel. But, considering that the Shadowrun Vampires are not the ones from the novel, it doesn't matter anyhow.

This is also true in Shadowrun. Vampires have the Regeneration power, which means that it is very likely that they'll survive a stake through the heart.

Dracula was killed by being chopped up with bowie knives made of good American steel. This turns him to dust and the cheese stand alone.



In Shadowrun, a Vampire is allergic to Wood, so while touching a wooden stake a vampire does not Regenerate. So a wooden stake in the heart would be fatal to a Vampire.

-Frank

See, I told you that my memory was faulty... now where did I put my meds?

Thanks for the correction sir.

The letter of the rules in SR4 is that a creature doesn't get to make a regeneration test until the allergen is removed and cannot die until it makes a regeneration test. Together, these rules suggest that the vampire cannot die from a stake wound until the stake is removed.