Does this fit the lore of NWN?

Synthro · Post by **Synthro** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 4:18 am

I was wondering.. do vampires fit the lore of NWN? More specifically, do they fit the lore of Drow?

I am brand spanking new to NWN and its lore and was wondering if vampires would be plausible.

And if there are vampires, are they frowned upon in RP like in most games with RP groups?

I am an AVID fan of the preternatural and would LOVE to rp a vampire, or a werewolf for that matter. But as of now, my character best suits a vampire.

CrankyOzzie · Post by **CrankyOzzie** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 4:33 am

Vampires are certainly part of the D&D setting. Nowhere near as numerous as White Wolf games, though.
As for playing one? Well, I, personally, don't think [i:2xguynm2]any[/i:2xguynm2] form of D&D undead should be playable. Considering they get, as a racial standard, immunity to mind spells, critical hits, sneak attack, death magic, negative level, negative energy (it heals instead of harming), attacks that drain constitution (they don't have a con score, being undead), and a few others that I forget right now.

This means you* either a: nerf the character to the point you might as well be playing a normal race, or b: Have an insanely powerful character from level 1.

*I use the term 'you' in a generic sense, not specifially you.

Synthro · Post by **Synthro** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 4:44 am

Well, I was going to use a vampire strictly for their elegance, grace, and their beauty. I wasn't going to focus on their powers at all.

All that would be is that during the daylight, they are weaker and drained and during the night they are at regular strength.

By regular strength I mean like everyone else.

And like any vampire, need sustenance in the form of blood to keep surviving (A vamp doesn't need to kill to get what he needs, only to feed enough to satisfy his hunger).

So as for power, no he wouldn't be invincible, because no Vamp truelly is invincible and for all the mind trick and virus resistances and what not.. blah to that.. I just like the lore of Vampires.

Post by **Shir'le E. Illios** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 11:30 am

I think that [i:6spy7t2r]technically[/i:6spy7t2r] vampires in D&D are supposed to always be evil and always DM-controlled monsters (as soon as your PC gets turned into a vampire they turn into an NPC).

Of course, players rarely follow the rules if they don’t feel like it.

I’ve seen a fair number of players play vampires of varying degree. Some who don’t want to bother too much with the vampires’ weaknesses (burn up in sunlight and such) tend to say they’re playing “half-vampires”, while others just tend to ignore whatever they don’t like (which isn’t always a good thing; a vampire freely walking around in sunlight tends to light up ‘powergamer’ flags and such).

I’m also certain that there are drow vampires; if I recall correctly there’s at least one and possibly a number of them living in Menzoberranzan at least (if I recall my Menzo sourcebooks).

Since we’ve already got people playing some unusual and powerful characters I’m inclined to allow someone playing a vampire as well. Just remember the first rule of roleplaying with others: make certain the other players are enjoying playing with you.

Love -x-x-x-

Shir'le

Bhaern Quel · Post by **Bhaern Quel** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 3:20 pm

3.X allows PCs to become vampires, LA +8 in 3.5. There is one drawback any PC aquirering the vampire template must be aligned Evil (any). Thus in table top play yes a PC can become a vampire.

I do not know if the computer implimentation will permit vampires though.

Tyrmer · Post by **Tyrmer** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 5:27 pm

If you get the savage species rulebookthen there is a nice little loophole in the whole undead are bad characters arguement.

The Emancipated Spawn Prestige Class allows yoyu to regain any lost abilities and alignment etc as well as givign turn resistance.

Shando · Post by **Shando** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 6:12 pm

As long as you aren't sending people through walls with a flick during daylight hours, I think a vampire should be fine

Synthro · Post by **Synthro** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 10:00 pm

The thing is, I've roleplayed vamps in many other RP games and have always abided by the sunlight rule, but made it so my character can atleast be around while it's sunlight.

I would make Synthro significantly weaker then normal and unable to duel or fight a PC character at that stage, but at night he would be normal like anyone else.

And, if Vampires can only be evil in NWN or the tabletop rules, then I will not make my character a Vampire. I like abiding by the rules, in most cases.

Bhaern Quel · Post by **Bhaern Quel** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 10:07 pm

[quote="Synthro":p2yh2bjb]

And, if Vampires can only be evil in NWN or the tabletop rules, then I will not make my character a Vampire. I like abiding by the rules, in most cases.[/quote:p2yh2bjb]

There are core rules, then there are expansion rules.

Core rules say vampires must be somekind of Evil, expansions permit vampires to be other alinements.

I still can not speak for the computer aplication, however a hak or other code adjustment can also make many things posible.

CrankyOzzie · Post by **CrankyOzzie** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 10:17 pm

NwN has a hak, possibly more than one, that allows players to play proper Vampires. They get the benefits of being a Vampire, as well as the drawbacks.

My distatse for the idea of people playing one comes from having played on a server where Vampire PCs were allowed. The amount of people I saw running around "flashingf their fangs" and "licking their fangs" and proclaiming the fact they WERE vampires. They should have been hunted down and killed by normal PCs.

Nedylene · Post by **Nedylene** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 12:19 am

Well considering my nymaru and ellithyri are..in some ways, vampiric..what i do is severally limit what the book says vamps can do and make them level adjusted characters

Post by **Shir'le E. Illios** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 11:39 am

[quote="CrankyOzzie":1f7dwfif]My distatse for the idea of people playing one comes from having played on a server where Vampire PCs were allowed. The amount of people I saw running around "flashingf their fangs" and "licking their fangs" and proclaiming the fact they WERE vampires. They should have been hunted down and killed by normal PCs.[/quote:1f7dwfif]
Interestingly enough that’s the attitude a lot of people have towards drow player characters. Just consider that.

Love -x-x-x-

Shir'le

Unen_Stealthfoot · Post by **Unen_Stealthfoot** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 10:26 pm

[color=darkred:8i6wh0j4]If my PC was a wizard or a cleric, and I wanted to play [i:8i6wh0j4]un[/i:8i6wh0j4]dead

I'd screw the vampire class/race and go for lichdom.

[/color:8i6wh0j4]

Bhaern Quel · Post by **Bhaern Quel** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 10:32 pm

Lichdom is hard to achieve, also as you indicated is only available at all to some spell casting classes.

CrankyOzzie · Post by **CrankyOzzie** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 1:10 am

[quote="Shir'le E. Illios":1xabahbw][quote="CrankyOzzie":1xabahbw]My distatse for the idea of people playing one comes from having played on a server where Vampire PCs were allowed. The amount of people I saw running around "flashingf their fangs" and "licking their fangs" and proclaiming the fact they WERE vampires. They should have been hunted down and killed by normal PCs.[/quote:1xabahbw]
Interestingly enough that’s the attitude a lot of people have towards drow player characters. Just consider that.

Love -x-x-x-

Shir'le[/quote:1xabahbw]

I dislike a lot of the drow characters I've seen too. A lot of people equate Drow to being "A black Elf" which is not true. Drow culture is very different to surface Elf culture*, even among those Drow who choose to not be evil. I guess, what irritates me is people who don't bother to do even a bit of research into the type of character they're playing, then act all upset when someone points out they're playing them 'wrong' and carry on like you've insulted them. While I think people should have complete freedom to play their characters as they see fit, when they go totally against accepted lore concerning the race, class, or whatever they are playing it makes things awkward for players who DO mostly follow the lore, especially, i nthe case of vamps, if the character was totally against them. I played a Cleric on one server, and gave up in frustration after about 2 months of seeing these bloody Vampires running around in broad daylight, flashing their fangs and behaving like it was 'cool' to be undead. There was not much my character could do but stand there feeling useless. In the end, NwN devovled into just another MMORPG style game, with people more interested in having 'the l337 itamz' and 'teh powerful char!!111'.

Yes, I am a cranky fellow, and I feel I've derailed this topic too much.

*An example of this is someone playing a good, Eilistraeen following drow on the last NwN server I played on. When I started talking to the person in Tells about Eilistraeen dogma and such, they replied that they'd never heard any of it. The character was played like a ... I can't really say here. But wearing practically nothing in public, and acting as the 'slave' of another woman. While Drow in general are quite proud of their bodies, I'm sure they would'nt wander about in what amounted to a few leather straps, strategically placed. And aren't Eilistraeen Drow supposed to be for freedom?