Friday Creature Feature: Blood Spirit

There's no vampire listing in the Peryton RPG monster section. That's because I was picturing a more medieval folk tale version of vampires and werewolves, primarily a manifestation of possession by certain kinds of spirits.  It's pretty easy to do that with the tools provided in the game, but, to speed up the process and maybe spark some inspiration, here's a more firmly defined vampiric spirit.

BLOOD SPIRIT Medium Outsider (Spirit) Hit Dice: 4d12 Speed: Fly 40 Armor Class: 15 (+1 Dex, +4 Natural) Attack Bonus: +5 melee Damage: 1d4 claw or 1d6 bite Special Qualities: Damage Reduction 10/silver, Spirit (Draining Touch, Malevolence) Saves: Fort +4 Ref +4 Will +5 Abilities: Str 11, Dex 12, Con -, Int 14, Wis 16, Chr 16 Environment: any Although many spirits thrive on blood or crave it as a luxury, this spirit is named for its particular dependence on blood to keep its host body functional.  In spirit form, it generally appears as a humanoid bat creature with red eyes.  Blood spirits are fascinated by human society and often adopt emotional attachments and personality quirks from the lives they've taken over.  They generally regard these beings as interesting toys rather than true companions, however. Paralyzing Gaze: Looking into the blood spirit's eyes (or those of its host) can root its victim to the spot, as a hold monster spell (Will Save, DC 18). Limited Malevolence: In order to use its malevolence ability, the blood spirit must kill its victim by draining one of his or her attributes to zero.  Once this is done, the spirit can automatically take over the body as if it were alive and unharmed, even gaining access to the deceased character's memories, but must feed on blood from a fresh kill at least once per night in order to keep it animated.  If a blood spirit misses its feeding or leaves its host body, the body decays immediately and will be of no further use to it. Physical Enhancement: The Strength, Constitution, and Dexterity scores of a blood spirit's host body are all increased by four points. Daylight Vulnerability: Blood spirits are crippled in natural sunlight (not merely a daylight spell) and flee from it.  Any roll the spirit makes in sunlight is done at a -4 penalty and any saving throws against its powers or spells are at +4. This applies even when the spirit is in possession of a material body.  Also, a blood spirit in direct sunlight loses its damage resistance, can be permanently destroyed, and, if not in a host body, is fully corporeal. Unnatural Aura: Animals, whether wild or domesticated, can sense the alien presence of a blood spirit at a distance of 30 feet. They will not willingly approach nearer than that and panic if forced to do so; they remain panicked as long as they are within that range. In addition to their inherent abilities, many blood spirits have adventured among humans as members of the standard character classes.

So, will this simulate the vampires you see in movies or more familiar RPG's?  No, not really.  It'll be similar, but encountering this spirit in any form will be a different experience.  Like I said, I was going for a something closer to the pre-Stoker legends, but still with some of the familiar vampire feel.  If you want the more famous version, you can always just go here.  You shouldn't have any trouble adapting that one if it's more your flavor.

And, hey, Happy New Year!  I think 2011 is going to be fantastic.