Vampire Slayer

By Luminos

The Old World is infested with multitudes of disgusting vile creatures, and equally populated with those who would destroy them. Some of these heroes become obsessed with the destruction of the evil forces. Most of these become Witch Hunters. Some of those with the burning desire to kill of the evils of the Old World, though, have more personal reasons, and concentrate on one specific monster. The most common of these are the infamous Vampire Slayers, who for some reason or other have a vendetta against the Undead, especially Vampires. Because of their common intermingling with normal humans, Vampires are the most commonly singled out monster, as they have more opportunity to cause trouble within human social circles. Many a family have been the prey of a blood-crazed Vampire, and the youngest children watched as their parents were drained of their precious lives. These men dedicate their lives to the destruction of Vampires, joining Witch Hunter's Guilds as a sort of specialized Hunter.

INTRODUCTION

STARTING AS A VAMPIRE SLAYER

Weapons

Vampire Slayers are a unique brand of fighter, and have certain weapons not common to other warriors that they prefer wielding against the forces of the Undead. When creating a Vampire Slayer, a choice must be made between a Short Spear or a Leather Whip. Whichever weapon is chosen will be replaced by similar but more powerful weapons as the Slayer increases in levels. Both the Short Spear and the Leather Whip cause normal damage (1D6+Strength). When using his "specialty weapon", as the whip and spear are called, a Vampire Slayer may never cause a deathblow.

Armor

The Vampire Slayer starts out with a Leather Jerkin, which grants +1 Toughness and is destroyed if he is ever reduced to zero Wounds.

Equipment

Vampire Slayers start out with a dagger and a bottle of Holy Water (besides their specialty weapon). The dagger causes 1D6+1 damage, and also may be thrown on a successful BS roll. The Holy water may also be thrown (on a successful BS roll unless the target is adjacent to the warrior), and causes 1D6 Wounds on any Undead creature, without modifiers for anything. In addition, any Undead monster adjacent to the target of the Holy Water suffers 1D3 Wounds without any modifiers. Damage caused by Holy Water may not be regenerated until next turn.

Starting Skills

Vampire Slayers have different starting skills depending on their specialty weapon. If the Slayer uses a Short Spear, he has the Thrust skill, which allows him to cause an extra two Wounds (1D6+5 damage) on a natural hit roll of 6. If he wields a Leather Whip, he has the Backlash Skill, which attacks the monster behind the Slayer when he attacks (providing there is a monster directly opposite the one he is attacking) causing 1D6+1 Wounds.

Vampire Slayers and Treasure

Slayers can use any knife or dagger, a Throwing Axe (may not be used in hand to hand combat), and Throwing Stars. They may never use any other hand to hand or missile weapons outside these restrictions (in other words, no swords, bows, guns, etc.). For armor, restrictions for Vampire Slayers vary with their specialty weapon. Firstly, any Slayer can wear only Leather Armor or Light Armor. If the Slayer uses a spear, he can wear a Leather Helm or Open Helmet, but will not wear a Warhelm and cannot carry any kind of shield. If the Slayer carries a whip, he may also carry a shield (not a Great Shield), but may never wear any kind of helmet. Slayers can generally use any treasure item within their weapon and armor limitations, and will not use any one-race-only items.

ADVANCED RULES

VAMPIRE SLAYERS IN SETTLEMENTS

UNEVENTFUL DAYS TABLE

1 - The populous are afraid of you. From now on, each time you visit a shop or special location roll a D6. On a 1 or 2, you will not be let in.

 

2 - You make your innkeeper nervous. He charges you double gold for living expenses for the rest of your stay.

 

3 - You find a pouch of gold in an alley near the Witch Hunter's Guild. You bring it inside...(roll 1D6)

3-	to be greeted by cries of "thief!" You must leave the settlement immediately to avoid a jail sentence from the local authorities for "stealing" from a Witch Hunter's Guild member.
4+	much to the relief of a resident Vampire Slayer, who had lost it. For your honesty in conduct and loyalty to the profession, he offers you some items to aid you in the further destruction of vampires. Make 1D3 rolls on the Items table (see Training section).

 

4 - It really is an Uneventful Day!

 

5 - Zombies from the local cemetery have been terrorizing the populous. You decide to investigate the situation, and soon discover a Necromancer hiding out in the town who raises the dead in the night. He doesn't seem to be of any competence, and you figure doing a good deed for the general public will at least slightly better your reputation. So, you (obviously) try to kill him. Roll 1D6+ (your Weapon Skill) for you and 2D6 for the Necromancer. Whichever roll is higher (re-roll if a tie) is the winner. If you lose, he beats you badly, stealing 1D6x50 gold, but he leaves the town anyway for fear of you ratting him out to the local authorities. You try to tell them about your heroic act, but they don't believe you. If you win, you beat him senseless then take him in to the Town Guard. They give you 1D6x50 gold as reward, and you get to watch him burn at the stake.

 

6+ - You see a familiar face in the crowd-a vampire that you recognize! He drank the blood of your... (roll 1D6)

1	dog.  Maybe you'll meet up with him again...roll 1D6-1 on the Hunt table (treat a 0 as a 1).
2	friend. He will pay for the demise of your close confidante and fellow Vampire Slayer. Roll 1D6 on the Hunt table.
3	sister. She was lured in by his unholy charms, then he feasted upon her lifeblood. Roll 1D6+1 on the Hunt table.
4	brother, and former partner in vampire slaying. Not even your closest friends now can rekindle a bond the likes of which you had with him, and now it is gone forever, just for an instant's bloodlust of the unholy Undead creature. Roll 1D6+1 on the Hunt table.
5	mother. You watched as he descended upon her, his fangs sinking into her neck. Your father was away on his own Vampire Hunt, and you were too young to do anything about it. You're not too young anymore. Roll 1D6+2 on the Hunt table.
6	father, he who taught you the arts and skills of vampire slaying. While on a trip to further your training, you were attacked by a vampire, and your father fell to the unholy monster. You luckily escaped with your life, but will never forget that day, and will not rest until that very vampire lays still with a wooden stake in his heart. Roll 1D6+2 on the Hunt table.

HUNT TABLE

1: You do not see the vampire for the rest of your stay, and end up wondering whether or not you were just seeing things. Maybe you need a vacation from slaying for a while...

 

2: Tracking the vampire expertly (or so you think), you traverse the forest and end up in a small clearing, in the middle of unfamiliar woods. He has led you into a trap! He is fortunately not hungry right now, so your life is spared after he beats you into unconsciousness. It takes you 1 week to find the settlement again, and you are at -1 Starting Wounds.

 

3-4: You follow him for a few days, then he seems to disappear. Maybe you will come across him again, but even if not-all vampires will pay the price for the murder!

 

5-6: Being careful not to be discovered you follow him through the settlement, and all the way back to his castle. You cannot sneak in quickly enough, though, and you assess that there are too many Undead there for just you to make it inside alive, much less return alive. You do, however, remember the location of this castle and if you can get the warriors to agree to go with you you can return there with them. Make a random dungeon deck (preferably including the Catacombs of Terror board sections) and run it as a normal adventure . The monsters should be all Undead (this is easy if you use the Catacombs monster tables). If you are level 5 or below, the Objective room contains only a Vampire Count. If not, the first time you roll a Vampire Count, this is the one you are looking for. If no Vampire Count appears in the adventure, there will be one in the Objective room (choose a group of monsters at random which contains a Count). You will go into a frenzy until he is dead (double attacks), and try to only attack him. If you kill him, you get double his gold value.

 

7: Following the evil creature with true skill, you craftily make your way into this Vampire Lord's castle. It is nearly daybreak, so the vampire readies himself for sleep in his coffin. You hide in the shadows until he is well asleep, then you make your move. If you have a wooden stake, you may simply pop open the coffin's lid and impale the surprised vampire. If not, the only way to kill him is to get him out in the sunlight. Roll 1D6:

 

1-2: Unfortunately, the vampire is thoughtful and located his coffin below the ground level in his castle. There is no way you can drag this thing all the way up the stairs and not wake him up. You escape from the castle, hoping to return another day (see Hunt Table entry 5-6, treat the Vampire Count as a Vampire Lord).

 

3-5: The room his coffin is located in the center of the castle, and therefore has no windows. You can drag the coffin to a room with a window, first on a successful Strength test to pull the coffin and then a successful Initiative test to be careful enough not to wake him up. If the Strength test is failed, you may escape from the castle as above. If the Initiative test is failed, the vampire wakes up! On a 1D6 roll of 1, he catches you and drinks your blood to the last drop. Otherwise, you escape from the castle as above. If you passed both tests, of course, you take his coffin to a room with windows, and prepare for the final act. Pulling open the coffin's lid, the first ray of sunlight hits the body of the vampire and smoke emits from the coffin. He begins to scream, and burn, and continues to scream louder and burn brighter. By the time the last scream ends and the last ash falls, you are satisfied.

 

6: Are you sure this is a Vampire Lord?! If you didn't know better, you'd call the room his coffin is in the "sun room"! You pull back the curtains on the massive 2-story windows, chuckling to yourself. Then you go over to the vampire's coffin. You throw open the lid of the coffin and a startled vampire is met with the morning sunshine, at which he instantly bursts into flame screaming. You watch contentedly as his last scream dies down and the ashen body crumbles to the floor.

 

If you killed him, you get double the Vampire Lord's gold value and one item of Dungeon Room Treasure from the Magic Items table (keep re-rolling if necessary until you find something you are allowed to use).

 

8: Same as 7, but with a Vampire Lord Necromancer. If you kill him you gain double his gold value and 2 items from the Magic Items table.

TRAINING

 

Level	Weapon	Description
3	Spear	attack in ranks; +1 Initiative in 1st round of combat; Thrust skill ignores armor
3	Bullwhip	attack in ranks; +1 Strength; Backlash skill causes 1D6+2 Wounds
5	Pike	attack in 2 ranks; +1 Initiative in 1st round of combat; ignores armor; Thrust skill adds +3 Strength
5	Chain Whip	attack in ranks; +2 Strength, +3 Strength on a natural hit roll of 6; Backlash skill causes 1D6+3 Wounds, 1D6+4 on a natural hit roll of 6
8	Trident	attack in 2 ranks; +2 Strength; +1 Initiative in 1st round of combat; ignores armor; Thrust Skill adds +5 Strength
8	Morning Star	attack in ranks; +2 Strength; +1D6+3 Wounds on a natural hit roll of 6; Backlash skill causes 1D6+4 Wounds, 1D6+6 on a natural hit roll of 6

IN BETWEEN BATTLE-LEVELS

BENEFITS OF TRAINING TABLE

Witch Hunter Table

The Vampire Slayer may use some items in common with the Witch Hunter. These are only things found on either the Witch Hunter's "Items and Equipment" table or the "Invocations" table. Roll 1D6 to see what you get.

 

1	Amulet of Power (4 on Items and Equipment Table)
2	Holy Book (11 on Items and Equipment Table)
3	Ring of Protection (12 on Items and Equipment Table)
4	Bane Curse of the Undead (1 on Invocations Table)
5	Bane of Vampires/Necromancers (2 on Invocations Table)
6	Banish Magic (4 on Invocations Table)

Vampire Slayer Table

Roll 1D6 on this table then roll on the appropriate sub-table below.

 

1-3	Skill
4-5	1D3 Items
6	Artefact

SKILLS*

Spear Table

1 - Launch

Sacrifice all attacks and throw spear as a projectile weapon. The attack requires a successful Ballistic Skill roll and causes double damage.

 

2 - Whirlwind

Give up all attacks and twirl spear around, attacking the 3 monsters facing you twice each.

 

3 - Vault

Run and use your spear to vault yourself over a chasm or pit, or just into an enemy. You cannot have already moved this turn, and you must have a "running" start. Trade in all your attacks, and make an Initiative test. If the test fails, and you are over a pit, you fall in (make reaction test not to), if you are not, you just fall down and your turn is over. If you succeed, you can vault yourself up to 4 squares away. Every square you vault requires one "running start" square before the vault. Thus, you may actually move 8 squares on a successful vault (4 running and 4 in the air). If you land on a monster (on purpose, hopefully), it takes (your Damage Dice + 2) D6 Wounds, and you take (your Damage Dice) D6 Wounds from the impact. If you land in an empty square, you take no damage.

 

4 - Impale

This skill may be used on a monster with twice your battle-level or less Wounds left, and uses up all your attacks this turn. It does not work on Large Monsters or monsters that can fly. Roll to hit. If you do, you impale the monster with your spear then hold it upright, watching him slowly slide down the shaft. The monster is (obviously) dead.

 

5 - Throw

Pick up a monster with your spear and throw him into a wall or another monster. This uses up all your attacks, and may only be performed on a monster smaller than an Ogre and that does not fly. Roll to hit. If successful, the monster takes (your Damage Dice) D6+ (your battle-level) Wounds if he hits a wall. If he hits another monster, they both suffer (your Damage Dice + 1) D6 Wounds.

 

6 - Choose any skill

Whip Table

1 - Reach

If there is some weapon or item that you cannot reach for some reason, and it is within the range of your whip (or on the ceiling, etc.) you may wrap the end of your whip around it and pull it to you on a successful hit. It counts as a normal attack.

 

2 - Disarm

Wrap your whip around a monster's weapon and pull. Make a Strength test versus the monster. If you lose, you snap your whip back to you, and you wasted 1 attack. If you win, you rip the weapon out of the monster's grip and he may not add his strength to any damage he causes. It counts as a normal attack.

 

3 - Choke

Giving up all your attacks this turn, you coil up your whip and wrap it around the neck of one adjacent monster who is not facing you. The monster must make a Strength test at -1. If it wins, it breaks free, you wasted all your attacks, and it attacks you in the following Monster's Phase. If it loses, you cut off its air supply and it passes out on the floor. It will wake up in 1D3 turns. While it is unconscious, it may be hit automatically. This does not work on Large Monsters or monsters that can fly.

 

4 - Swing

Wrap your whip around a stalactite and swing across a chasm, pit, etc. or just into a monster. Has the same effect as the "Vault" spear skill, but no running start is required, and a successful hit roll is required in addition to the Initiative test.

 

5 - Snap

Once per adventure, give up all attacks this turn, and wrap your whip around a monster's head and pull with both hands. The monster must have a gold value of 100x (your battle-level) or less. After a successful hit roll, make a Strength test at +1 versus the monster's Toughness test. If you lose, you snap your whip back to you, and you wasted all your attacks. If you win, the monster's neck snaps, killing it instantly.

 

6 - Choose any skill

ITEMS

1 - Wooden Stake

causes normal damage unless attacking a Ghoul, Necromancer, or Vampire. If attacking one of these, roll 1D6:

1-2	The stake splinters into a hundred toothpicks.
3-5	The stake causes normal damage.
6	The monster is reduced to half of his current Wounds (round down).

 

2 - 1D3 Cloves of Garlic

can be thrown on the ground in any square. Any Undead who occupy a square containing garlic at the end of a turn suffer 1D3 Wounds which can't be regenerated until the next Monster's Phase. The garlic will stay in the square it was put in indefinitely, but may not be picked back up again.

 

3 - 1D3 Bottles of Holy Water

can be thrown at unholy monsters. Make a Ballistic Skill roll (not necessary if the monster is adjacent). If successful, the Holy Water causes 1D6 Wounds on any Undead creature with no modifiers at all. Any Undead monsters in squares adjacent to the target monster suffer 1D3 Wounds without any modifiers.

 

4 - 1D3 Bunches of Laurels

Eating one bunch of Laurels grants invulnerability to Tomb Rot, Chill Attacks, and damage caused by Vampire Abilities for 1 turn.

 

5 - 1D3 Healing Potions

restores either full Wounds, Starting Wounds, Strength, or Toughness.

 

6 - Crystal Orb

There are three Crystal Orbs: white, blue, and red, in that order. This item may only be rolled a maximum of three times, and if it is rolled a fourth time, re-roll on this table.

The first time it is rolled the White Crystal is received. It allows the Slayer to attack first (ignoring whoever has the lantern and whoever has the highest Initiative) whenever Undead appear in an event.

The second time this is rolled, the Blue Crystal is received. It shields the Slayer when encountering Ethereal monsters. If they try to pass through him, they suffer damage as if they Chill attacked themselves.

The third time this is rolled, the Red Crystal is received. It warns the Slayer when a vampire is near. Anytime a vampire is encountered, the Slayer will make his attacks from the Warrior's Phase before the vampire makes his Ambush attacks, and will then not attack in the Warrior's Phase. On a D6 roll of 5+, he also warns the other warriors in time and the vampire's Ambush is cancelled altogether.

ARTEFACTS

1 - Diamond

This large crystal is not actually a diamond, but a magical weapon of unknown origin. It is thrown at a diagonal, and bounces off walls at right angles and straight back from corners as it damages the monsters in its path, until it makes its way back to the Slayer (see diagram below).

This allows the Slayer to either hit several monsters once each or a few monsters several times, and is especially harmful in an Objective Room if you stand in one corner. In multi-level rooms, the lower level is counted as its own room, and if the Diamond is thrown from the upper level, it travels as normal, but does not hit monsters on the lower level (it passes over their heads). If it hits a staircase, the Diamond clatters to the ground and may be retrieved after all the monsters in the room are dead. It causes 1D6 wounds unmodified for anything to every monster it hits. One use per adventure.

 

2 - Cross

This holy symbol stops the forces of the Undead in their tracks. Once per dungeon, it may be used to make all Undead in the room to lose all their attacks and cause 1D6 Wounds on each of them, unmodified for anything, that cannot be regenerated this turn.

 

3 - Hourglass

One time per adventure this artefact can slow down time, canceling one Monster's Phase. The turn goes right from the Warrior's Phase to the Exploration Phase (so the warriors can search for treasure before resuming the fight!).

 

4 - Sacred Flame

The Sacred Flame is a spell scroll which may be cast once per dungeon. It has the same effect as the Breathe Fire 4 ability listed in the Bestiary.

 

5 - Gold Knife

One time per adventure the Gold Knife can be thrown at a monster, causing damage as the Frostblade (35 on Objective Treasure Table). If it kills the monster, it may continue to the monster behind it, only stopping when it fails to kill a monster or hits a wall.

 

6 - Fire Ring or Lightning Orb

The Fire Ring can be attached to the shaft of any spear and causes it to burst into green flames when wielded. The spear now causes double damage on a successful hit, and may cast a special spell, Fire of Wrath, once per adventure. Fire of Wrath: Flames of green spew forth out of the spearhead, consuming every foul creature in the dungeon. Every monster on the board section suffers (battle-level) D3 Wounds, all in adjacent rooms suffer (battle-level -1) D3, and any others (far away!) suffer (battle-level -2) D3, unmodified for armor.

The Lightning Orb can be attached to the handle of any whip and causes it to crackle with magical lightning. The whip now causes double damage on a successful hit, and may cast a special spell, Ball Lightning, once per adventure. Ball Lightning: Glowing blue spheres of lightning fly towards monsters, attaching themselves to the monsters and electrocuting them. 1D3+3 monsters in the room (chosen by Slayer) suffer 1D3 hits causing (Damage Dice + 1) D6+ (battle-level) Wounds each.

ROLEPLAYING

Vampire Slayer based on Castelvania series by Konami (mostly from Simon's Quest and Bloodlines), written by Luminos