Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Myst_the_Moonscout Mar 27, 2004 20:40:15	Okay this might be off but I fiqured this was the better board to put this on. I am fascinated by Ravenloft but know next to nil about it (I just got the campaign setting). I love the Ravenloft-style vampires and decided to put one in Faerun. This never really occured to me but how'd he get there? The Vampire himself is native Faerunian but the thing that bit him sure wasn't! Any thoughts? Also, as I said I am very new to Ravenloft so if there is anything that is crucial to, or will help in the understanding of the setting feel free to post, it would be most helpful. Thanks.
#2 zombiegleemax Mar 27, 2004 21:12:54	It's possible to escape Ravenloft even if it's tough. And you can just apply the aging rules to vampires in Faerun. They don't have to come from Ravenloft.
#3 Myst_the_Moonscout Mar 27, 2004 21:46:35	I could, but that wouldn't be nearly as interesting:D Maybe something could be done with the lunar anomelie(sp) this guy was born under?
#4 zombiegleemax Mar 28, 2004 0:42:08	For my part, I use the Ravenloft version of most undead for mine, anyway. The Scarred Lands game I run has a rank 5 ghost, a lich with salient powers, and a mature vampire in it to boot. There's nothing stopping a DM from just applying the Ravenloft rules for undead to other campaign settings as well. Now, if you've used a number of vampires who didn't use the Ravenloft rules, well, I suppose that can change things a bit. But even then, it's not the sort of thing to likely be realized by players, anyway, and a little variety and change usually doesn't hurt, at least in this instance, I believe.
#5 zombiegleemax Mar 28, 2004 2:47:01	I'm with Trickstergod 100%. Its your campaign, regardless of the setting. Customizing monsters where possible is almost always a good thing. The half seen thing in the movies is *always* scarrier than the thing you can put under bright lights and quantify. So too in D&D. The critter that you're not quite certain how to kill (or what powers it has) is always more fearsome in the minds of the players than the critter whose stat block they can guess down to the last number. Though in truth how you run something can be far more important than its stats. Even the most powerful/weirdest set of stats and abilities can fail to reach its potential if used in a hack and slash encounter. If you don't want to just have all vampires of FR have the RL powers and abilities I would suggest having your vampire experiment with drawing more energy from the negative material plane via magical experiments. -Eric Gorman
#6 Alzrius Mar 29, 2004 2:30:05	I always thought that the advanced aging powers were specific to vampires in Ravenloft. I.e. a 1,000 year old vampire from another world enters Ravenloft, and slowly gains the Patriarch powers (how else could van Richten have faced the two Patriarch vampires he talked about in his Guide to Vampires?). Likewise, if a Patriarch vampire left Ravenloft, he loses his age-gained powers (since vampires in other worlds obviously displayed none of those powers).
#7 zombiegleemax Mar 29, 2004 3:36:53	Originally posted by Alzrius I always thought that the advanced aging powers were specific to vampires in Ravenloft. I.e. a 1,000 year old vampire from another world enters Ravenloft, and slowly gains the Patriarch powers (how else could van Richten have faced the two Patriarch vampires he talked about in his Guide to Vampires?). Likewise, if a Patriarch vampire left Ravenloft, he loses his age-gained powers (since vampires in other worlds obviously displayed none of those powers). False history comes to mind for the patriarch's Van Richten faced; just like elves with a few centuries already under their belt could pop up when Sithicus first formed, nothing stops patriarch vampires from being formed with the domains. Perhaps those who come into existence when a domain first forms are drawn from somewhere else in the first place, but the point is, they still believe themselves natives, and the truth to their existence is a questionable one. And I rather don't believe the empowered creatures of Ravenloft were meant to be Ravenloft only, for the most part. Rather that since those creatures are so intrinsic to the setting, they were worth fleshing out into further detail for it. Though no products come to mind, unfortunately, I'm rather positive that the Ravenloft rules for certain monsters had been used outside Ravenloft. I look at them more as a setting fleshing out the rules more for certain monsters, as opposed to a setting changing the way certain monsters work within it.
#8 Myst_the_Moonscout Mar 30, 2004 1:04:48	Originally posted by HvF I'm with Trickstergod 100%. Its your campaign, regardless of the setting. Customizing monsters where possible is almost always a good thing. The half seen thing in the movies is *always* scarrier than the thing you can put under bright lights and quantify. So too in D&D. The critter that you're not quite certain how to kill (or what powers it has) is always more fearsome in the minds of the players than the critter whose stat block they can guess down to the last number. Though in truth how you run something can be far more important than its stats. Even the most powerful/weirdest set of stats and abilities can fail to reach its potential if used in a hack and slash encounter. If you don't want to just have all vampires of FR have the RL powers and abilities I would suggest having your vampire experiment with drawing more energy from the negative material plane via magical experiments. -Eric Gorman I never thought of that. I gave him the fire resistance salient ability to through people off guard but drawing energy from the negative e. plane (this guy IS a necromancer after all) deffinately opens more doors. Especially since everything else around him is standard DnD.
#9 zombiegleemax Mar 30, 2004 1:37:26	Originally posted by Myst the Moonscout I never thought of that. I gave him the fire resistance salient ability to through people off guard but drawing energy from the negative e. plane (this guy IS a necromancer after all) deffinately opens more doors. Especially since everything else around him is standard DnD. Just don't forget to adjust the CR accordingly. If they beat a tougher monster, they deserve the points. PS: nice .sig