Myth | |
| |
Vampires are inherently evil | No |
Vampires are a kind of undead | Yes |
Vampires are 'normal' humans, just altered | No |
Vampires are a different species (subspecies) than humans | No |
Vampirism can be cured | No |
| |
Vampire skin is unnaturally pale and cold to the touch | Yes |
The pallor and coldness decreases after feeding | Yes |
Vampires are hideously deformed | No |
Vampires tend to have long and pointed fingernails | No |
Vampires have claws/talons | No |
Vampires gain monstrous aspects when angered, stressed, using vampiric abilities, etc. (e.g. glowing eyes or deformed features) | Yes |
Vampires change appearance when angered, stressed, using vampiric abilities, etc. (e.g. flushed or less dead-looking) | Yes |
A vampire's heart beats. | n/a |
A vampire's heart only beats if the vampire wills it to | n/a |
Vampires need to breathe | No |
Vampires, in fact, don't breathe, unless they consciously intend to | Yes |
You become a vampire by ... | | |
... being killed by one (normally via blood loss) (with no further action necessary) | No |
... drinking (or being injected by) a vampire's blood (without dying first) | No |
... suffering fatal blood loss and drinking (or being injected by) a vampire's blood | Yes |
... dying after being bitten by or drinking from a vampire | Yes |
... dying after repeatedly being bitten by or drinking from a vampire | Yes |
... participating in some sort of ritual | n/a |
... committing suicide, dying unbaptized/apostate, not being buried in consecrated ground, etc | No |
... being the victim of an explicit curse | Yes |
... being born that way | Yes |
... getting infected by some kind of 'virus' | No |
The subject must be willing for the transformation to be effective. | No |
The new vampire appears dead for some time (often 3 days) before rising | No |
A newly made vampire will wake ravenous and will tend to attack anyone within range (unless fed as part of the process) | Yes |
| |
A stake through the heart causes permanent death | No |
A stake must be made of special wood to be effective (e.g. ash or rowan or whitethorn) | No |
A stake must be made of special wood to be effective (e.g. from the true cross) | No |
A stake through the heart causes paralysis only | Yes |
A stake must be made of wood to be effective. | No |
Sunlight causes nearly instant combustion and is nearly always fatal | No |
Sunlight causes severe burns and discomfort and is fatal after extended exposure | No |
Sunlight inflicts no or mild (sunburn) damage | Yes |
Sunlight must be direct to be effective | Yes |
Any UV source (e.g. tanning lamps) will function the same as real sunlight | n/a |
Sunblock provides some protection from sunlight | Yes |
Sunblock provides total protection from sunlight | Yes |
Vampires suffer more than usual damage from fire | Yes |
If invulnerable to normal attack, fire is one of the few substances that will harm a vampire | n/a |
Vampires suffer more than usual damage from silver | n/a |
If invulnerable to normal attack, silver is one of the few substances that will harm a vampire | n/a |
Vampires suffer more than usual damage from wood | No |
If invulnerable to normal attack, wood is one of the few substances that will harm a vampire | No |
Beheading causes permanent death | Yes |
It takes special effort to make a vampire stay dead (e.g. cutting off the head, sewing the mouth shut around a clove of garlic and burying the body at a crossroads) | No |
Dead vampires disperse to dust regardless of age | No |
Dead vampires decompose/disintegrate as a function of age | No |
Vampires become more resistant to these methods as a function of age | Presumed |
| |
Vampires can be sustained by animal blood | Yes |
Vampires can be sustained indefinitely by animal blood (without suffering deleterious side effects) | Usually |
Animals can become vampires | n/a |
Animals can gain vampiric traits or be otherwise affected by drinking vampire blood. | n/a |
Vampires have control over animals | n/a |
Vampires have control only over specific animals | n/a |
Vampires can summon certain animals | n/a |
Animals can sense vampires and feel threatened by them | n/a |
When you are bitten by a vampire (and live) ... | | |
... they gain some power over you | n/a |
... you acquire some vampiric traits | n/a |
When you drink from a vampire (without being dead first) ... | | |
... they gain some power over you | n/a |
... you acquire some vampiric traits | Yes |
| |
Vampires have fangs | Yes |
Fangs are retractable | Yes |
Fangs are hollow (sucking) | No |
Fangs are hollow (injecting) | No |
| |
Vampires require an invitation to enter a private dwelling (of the living) | Presumed |
That invitation can be simply retracted | No |
That invitation can be retracted, but requires special procedures (e.g. specific wording or a spell) | No |
| |
... repel vampires | Rarely |
... require the belief of the wielder to repel vampires | Yes |
... are more effective in the hands of believers | Yes |
... require the belief of the vampire to repel vampires | No |
... if effective, burns vampiric flesh on contact | Presumed |
... if effective, burns everything on contact | No |
... may be replaced with other religious symbols according to the belief system of the wielder and/or vampire | Yes |
... are ineffective | No |
... only have a psychosomatic effect (that is, they only work if the vampire believes that they should work) | Presumed |
| |
... is ineffective | n/a |
... if effective, burns (like acid) and can cause severe damage in quantity | n/a |
... can reverse or halt effects of vampiric attack | n/a |
Eucharistic wafers can be substituted for/function similarly to holy water | n/a |
| |
Vampires have no reflection in mirrors or water | n/a |
Vampires leave no image on photographs or on film | n/a |
Vampires are repulsed by mirrors | n/a |
| |
Vampires are completely nonfunctional (e.g asleep or corpselike) during the day | Some |
If at all awake, vampires are sluggish during the day | No |
Vampires can function normally during the day, provided they avoid the sun | Some |
Vampires can function normally during the day (without exception) | Some |
Vampires can function normally during the day, but without their vampiric abilities | No |
Only the oldest/most powerful vampires can function during the day | No |
| |
Damage resistance, high strength and fast healing | Yes |
Truly supernatural strength (like throwing cars) | Yes |
Superhuman perception (e.g. sight, hearing, mystical) | Yes |
Hypnotic mind control | Yes |
The mind control requires eye contact | Yes |
Shapeshifting (often a wolf or bat) | n/a |
Mist or intangible form | Yes |
Ability to move through solid/airtight objects | Probably not |
Superhuman speed | Yes |
Flight/Levitation | Yes |
Inhuman stealth (Sometimes to the point of invisibility) | Yes |
Control over weather | No |
Saliva has healing properties (usually used to close bite marks) | No |
Miscellaneous Supernatural Restrictions | | |
Vampires are repelled by garlic | No |
Vampires no longer need 'regular' food | Yes |
Vampires are not physiologically able to eat solid food. | No |
Vampires can no longer eat or drink at all (other than blood) | No |
Vampires can eat or drink, but get nothing out of it | Yes |
Vampires can become intoxicated by directly ingesting drugs or alcohol | Yes |
Vampires can become intoxicated by drugs or alcohol secondhand (e.g. by drinking from an intoxicated victim) | Yes |
Vampires must sleep with a sample of their home soil | Some |
Vampires cannot cross running water | Some |
Vampires cannot cross a line of salt | n/a |
Vampires are compelled to stop and count numerous objects (often grain) thrown into their path | No |
| |
Vampires are societally compelled to obey their sire/creator | Yes |
Vampires are mystically compelled to obey their sire/creator | Some |
Beyond the 'generic', vampires tend to have the same supernatural traits/abilities as their sire/creator | Some |
Older vampires will, on occasion, weed out the population of younger vampires | n/a |
Vampires are loners that cannot abide to share territory | No |
Relationship with Other Supernaturals (especially Shapeshifters) | | |
Vampires and Werewolves (shapeshifters) are natural allies | n/a |
Vampires and Werewolves (shapeshifters) are natural enemies | n/a |
Vampires and Werewolves (shapeshifters) could care less about each other | n/a |
Werewolf (shapeshifter) blood is extra yummy | n/a |
Werewolf (shapeshifter) blood is indigestible | n/a |
Vampires can be infected with lycanthropy (become werewolves, etc.) | n/a |
Werewolves (shapeshifters) can become vampires | n/a |
Werewolves (shapeshifters) can become vampires (but lose all of their were abilities) | n/a |
| |
Old vampires tend to be stronger than newer ones | Yes |
Old vampires tend to be stronger but generally just because the strong ones are better at not getting killed | Yes |
Vampires get stronger as they age | Yes |
A vampire's strength varies according to the strength of their 'sire' | Yes |
A vampire can become stronger by drinking from another vampire | Yes |
Something about the person as a pre-vampire mortal has an effect on the powers/power level of the vampire | Yes |
Vampires appear the age at which they became a vampire | Yes |
Vampires age (physically) | n/a |
| |
When a vampire feeds, it is fatal (to the donor) | No |
Being fed on is pleasurable for the human victim | Yes |
Blood must be 'fresh' (from a living person, not stored or refrigerated) | No |
Vampires must drink blood frequently (at least once every day) | No |
Vampires feed on something other than blood (life essence, emotions, etc) | n/a |
The blood of other vampires is more sustaining or more powerful than that from a mortal | Yes |
A vampire is 'frozen' at the moment of conversion. That is, hair and nails can be neither shortened nor lengthened, tattoos don't stick, etc. | No |
A vampire is immune to mortal diseases | No |
A vampire can no longer contract mortal diseases, but can still be a carrier | Yes |
Vampires are still sexually functional | Yes |
Only women vampires are still sexually functional | No |
Vampires can bear children | Yes |
Vampires can father children | n/a |
A child of a vampire and a mortal results in a 'Dhampir', with some vampiric abilities and fewer of the weaknesses | n/a |
Vampires actively conceal their existence from mortal society | Yes |
| |
COMMENTS
-