Force Vampires

by Craig Feely


There are a few authors out there that have made an attempt at making Star Wars Vampires. The only RPG systems that I know of that can truly carry Vampires (of any type) are Vampire (by White Wolf), AD&D, GURPS, and Rifts. Well, here's my spin on them, only these Vampires are Force Vampires. Note that this supplement for Force Vampires is based on the Human species only, and doesn t bother to deal with any alien physiology. Also, if you see an FV scattered throughout the supplement, it stands for Force Vampire.


ATTRIBUTES

A Force Vampire's attributes increase with age. Common to all Force Vampires is phenomenal Strength and Dexterity. Also, because of incredibly keen senses, a Force Vampire's Perception is usually also well above Human normal. Knowledge and Mechanical skills aren't increased that much in Force Vampires from the outset, but as the Force Vampire ages, these too are increased considerably above normal Human standards for just experiencing these skills and learning from them over their extended lifetime. The Technical skill isn't affected at all by their genetic disorder. Force Vampires have to increase that in the normal ways if they so desire to do so. The table that follows shows the attribute increases for Force Vampires based on their age range. Note that, because the gift is genetic, a Force Vampire may improve their Strength skills like normal characters, however they can only do so at a cost of double the normal character points. When a Force Vampire's attributes reach the point where their age warrants an increase to that of their base attribute, that new die code becomes the new base attribute and affects all new skills that are developed at any point subsequent to the time in which the Force Vampire reached the age of their increase passing their base attributes. Also note that a Force Vampire's Move attribute cannot be increased other than by aging as per normal standards.

Force Vampire Age

  0 - 99 100 - 199 200 - 299 300 - 399 400 - 499 500 - 999 1000+
DEX +2D +2D+2 +3D+1 +4D +4D+2 +5D +6D
KNO +0D +1D +1D+2 +2D+1 +3D +3D+2 +4D
MEC +0D +2 +1D+1 +2D +2D+2 +3D +3D+2
PER 4D 4D+2 5D+1 6D 6D+2 7D 8D
STR 5D 5D+2 6D+1 7D 7D+2 8D 8D+2
Move 14 16 18 20 22 26 28


SPECIAL ABILITIES

The most important thing to remember about Force Vampires is that each one is different. What may be deadly to one Force Vampire may be little more than a gust of wind to the other. Therefore, while all young Force Vampires will exhibit most all the special abilities listed below, some may not. Also, as a Force Vampire grows older, it has a tendency to develop unusual abilities and skills, suited to the individual. Therefore, the Force Vampire is in no way limited to the abilities listed below.

All Force Vampires are strongly connected to the Dark Side of the Force. They are all bad. This is simply because the power Drain Life that each FV must use to survive gains them a Dark Side point every time they use it. Also, the Dark Side has no weakening effect on the Force Vampires. A Force Vampire will not decay and rot with using the Dark Side as Emperor Palpatine once did (or will rot-depending on where your game falls on the Star Wars timeline). Since the Force Vampires were connected to the Dark Side at birth, the Dark Side does not punish them for extended use.

A Force Vampire cannot be turned back to the Light Side unless they are cured of their genetic disorder in some way. This incredibly hard to accomplish mainly because the strands of DNA holding the genetic disorder are nearly impossible to find and even when (if) they are located, no one has ever figured out a way to cure the lust for life energy. In any case, a Jedi will sense a Force Vampire coming from a mile away (figuratively). Force Vampires have a certain smell to them. Not so much a sensory smell, but more like a Force smell. This is not a power per say, but is somewhat like the Dark Side power Aura of Uneasiness, only much more substantial. All Jedi will be incredibly uncomfortable in close proximity to a Force Vampire.

Brawling: A Force Vampire in hand-to-hand combat may use the brawling parry skill with no multiple action penalties to block any attack. The exception to this is from an edged melee weapon (i.e. vibro-weapons) or an energy weapon (i.e. lightsaber). The Force Vampire's bare hands and feet can parry any blunt melee weapon or other physical attack.

Climbing: Force Vampires get a +20 bonus to any climbing/jumping skill roll when trying to climb any surface.

Regeneration and Healing: Any weapon can injure a Force Vampire. However, they can regenerate wound levels very quickly. The table showing their regeneration speeds is shown below. Note that Force Vampires do not benefit from normal medical healing, like medpacs and bacta, or from Force healing techniques, such as Transfer Force or Heal Another's Pain. In fact, uses of Heal Another's Pain on a Force Vampire will Mortally Wound it (this is a good thing to know for all those who are fighting the Force Vampires).

Age Levels Healed
0 - 199 1 / 2 rounds
200-399 1 / round
400-499 2 / round
500-999 3 / round
1000+ 4 / round

A Force Vampire cannot regenerate damage from fire in this way. Wounds from fire heal at the same pace as mortal wounds do, as per the chart in the Revised and Expanded Second Edition rulebook. A Force Vampire must heal fire wounds naturally. The exception to this is a 1000+-year-old Force Vampire. Those Vampires can regenerate any wound at the advanced Force Vampire pace. You cannot kill a Force Vampire with normal wounds. Destroying Force Vampires will be discussed later on in this supplement.

Shape Changing: No Force Vampire has the ability to shape change. The only exception to this is when a Force Vampire is injured beyond the Mortally Wounded level, in which it then turns into a mist-like form. This gaseous Force Vampire must immediately float to a place of shelter. Note that these Force Vampires are not limited to a sanctuary, or coffins. Therefore, they could shelter anywhere that is away from immediate danger to them.

Flight: Most Force Vampires can fly/hover/float at will. Their flight Move is equal to their normal Move. They have a flight ceiling of the atmosphere of whatever planet they are on, and cannot freely move into vacuum without normal apparatus needed for Human survival.


WEAKNESSES

Force Vampires and the Force: As previously stated, Force Vampires have a strong connection to the Dark Side. Therefore, any Jedi powers that are made to defend against the effects of the Dark Side are useful against Force Vampires. Any Jedi power meant to heal damage to Jedi actually has negative effects on Force Vampires. Accelerate Another's Healing, for example, temporarily suspends a Force Vampire's regenerative ability for a period of time. Transfer Force will cause nausea and other similar effects (GM discretion) to a Force Vampire. Although Force powers to defend the Dark Side will harm a Force Vampire, they still can only be killed by the means discussed below.

Mirrors and Holy Symbols: Bull. Plain and simple. Force Vampires can see their own reflections. And crosses and the like don't do jack.

Invitations into homes and other sanctified places: Once again, bull. Plain and simple. A Force Vampire can go anywhere it pleases at any time.

DESTROYING A FORCE VAMPIRE

The only sure way to destroy a Force Vampire is to burn it to a cinder and scatter the ashes. If the ashes aren't scattered all into space, the Force Vampire will reform in about a month, although very disfigured and also very mad. This disfiguration will heal over time, however the anger may not. Decapitation is also a permanent solution to ending a Force Vampire's life. A stake through the heart will induce paralysis, but will not kill. Indeed, if the Force Vampire succeeds in a Heroic Willpower roll, it can move a few centimeters while staked. It may take a year and several Character Points to get the stake out, but the Force Vampire has the time. Besides, if someone else pulls the stake out, the Force Vampire is immediately returned to normal. Finally, running water has no effect on a Force Vampire other than getting it wet.

Sunlight: Sunlight does not harm a Force Vampire. However, if a Force Vampire comes in a very close proximity to a sun, it will, as per standard laws of physics, catch fire. Thus, the rules for killing a Force Vampire with fire come into effect.


FEEDING AND THE FORCE

Updated Force Power:

Drain Life

Control Difficulty: Very Easy for non-sentients; Difficult for humans, Very Difficult for near-humans, Heroic for aliens. If the subject is Force-sensitive, add 10 to the difficulty. If the subject is a non-carbon-based lifeform, add 10 to the difficulty.

Sense Difficulty: Very Easy for passive non-sentients; Easy for resisting non-sentients or a willing victim; Difficult for an unwilling victim.

Alter Difficulty: Special - See below

This is the specific perversion of the Dark Side of the Force that allows the Force Vampire to feed itself with the life force it needs to sustain its own life as well as gather up additional energy for future use. Only Force Vampires are able to use this power. No other Dark Jedi are able to use this power because it requires the genetic deviations to be employed. The user of this power gains a Dark Side point at every use. This power will drain the life from any organic based living form, or the life from any sentient being, whether carbon-based or otherwise. Only very alien races might be immune to this power (GM discretion). Droids are positively immune to this power, as they have no connection to the Force.

The range of this power is touch, with a restriction. The Force Vampire must be in contact with the victim's blood. Typical means of doing this are through biting, or making a wound with a knife and then touching the wound with any part of the body. Force Vampires do have dedicated fangs for drawing their victim's blood. These fangs are concealable and can be shown or hidden as desired.

To use this power, the Force Vampire must first have hold of a victim, usually through Brawling or using a stun beam (unless of course the victim is willing). Because of the unique range restrictions of the power, it cannot be used on a single punch, even if there is physical contact with the victim's blood. Use of the power requires at least one round, but other actions can be done at the same time (at the appropriate die penalty) to a maximum of 3 total actions (2, with the third being using the power Drain Life). No movement or dodge actions may be taken during the same round, however parries can be made.

Once the victim has been secured, the Force Vampire begins to activate the power. If the Control and Sense difficulties are made, the Force Vampire then rolls his Alter against the victim's STR + KNO skills, or if the victim is a Jedi, against the victim Jedi's Alter dice. If the Alter roll fails, the Force Vampire was unable to overcome the victim's life force, and cannot drain from them that round. They may attempt to drain the victim again next round assuming the victim remains stunned or willing, whatever the case may be. If the Alter roll succeeds, use the table below for number of points drained

The power must be kept up with a Moderate Control roll, and another Alter attack must be made each round until a successful drain has been made. Only one drain can be made on any same being per day. After the first drain, any additional attempts will fail.

Alter Roll

Succeeds By Result
0 - 3 The Force Vampire drains the number of CPs equal to the number of dice used in the Alter roll (i.e. If the Force Vampire has 8D in their Alter skill and thus rolls 8D, Alter then equals the maximum of 8 character points possible to drain). If the victim has fewer than that number, all of their life force has been drained and they are killed.
4 - 8 The Force Vampire has made a strong connection with the victim's life force, and drains 2 character points per every die used in the Alter roll (i.e., used 8D Alter = up to 16 character points drained). The FV may also drain 1 Force Point in addition to the maximum of 16 character points. If the victim has fewer than that number, all of their life force has been drained and they are killed.
9 - 12 The FV has the option of, in addition to the above result, of draining a second Force Point, and draining one pip from either the STR or KNO skill for every 2 dice used in the Alter roll (i.e., rolled 8D Alter = up to 4 pips drained in addition to the above results). For each pip drained, the FV gains 2 character points. (This pip drainage is permanent to the victim and cannot be gained unless the victim earns more character points and adds pips in the standard way.) If the victim has fewer than that number, all of their life force has been drained and they are killed. Additionally, if the victim has Force Skills, the FV may drain 1D from a single skill, gaining 10 character points. The victim suffers from a -1D penalty to the drained Skill for 4D6 hours.
13 - 15 With this result, the victim is at the mercy of the FV. In addition to the above results, the FV may drain 1 pip of the victim's STR or KNO per dice used in the Alter roll (i.e., rolled 8D Alter = up to 8 pips drained). As stated, this is a permanent result, and the FV gains 5 character points per pip. The FV may also drain 1D from the victim's Force Skills per every 2 dice used in the Alter roll (i.e., rolled 8D Alter = up to 4D Force Skills drained). For every die of Force Skill drained, the victim suffers a penalty to that specific drained Skill (or Skills) equal to the number of dice that were drained for 1D6 days. At the end of the 1D6 days the victim returns to normal. The FV gains 15 character points per die of Force Skills drained. If the victim has fewer than that number, all of their life force has been drained and they are killed.
16+ The FV has completely drained the life force from the victim. All character points and Force Points are drained for the normal results. The victim's STR and KNO are drained to 0, as well as any Force Skills, and the FV gains the appropriate amount of character points. The victim is now dead and there is no saving them.

On the above table, consider the term Force Point as interchangeable with Force Points and Dark Side Points. Each are worth the same amount in terms of character points, but the Force Vampire does not have a choice to which they drain. Force Points will always be drained first, and then Dark Side Points. A Force Vampire does not have to convert drained Force Points and Dark Side Points to character points unless they so choose to do so.

When draining a non-sentient (for instance, a Bantha) consider it to have 1D6 character points, 0 Force Points and 0 Dark Side Points, unless otherwise stated.

All Force Vampires are able to use the Force, and are Force-Sensitive. All Force Vampire's know the following powers upon becoming aware of their Force Vampirism: Drain Life, Rage*, Life Detection, Life Sense, Sense Force, Aura of Uneasiness, and Place Another in Hibernation. They begin with 2D in each of the Force Skill categories (Control, Sense, and Alter).

*While using Emptiness (if learned), Hibernation Trance (if learned) or Rage, the Force Vampire does not need to feed during that period of time, but will need to feed 1 extra character point per day in the trance for an equal number of days to those spent in the trance when he/she awakens. For example, if Launa, an Age 1 Force Vampire, went into Rage for 20 days, she would need to feed for a total of 6 character points for the next 20 days.

In order to learn new powers, the Force Vampire must find a teacher (usually but not always, another Force Vampire) or a holocron, or similar source and spend 10 character points per new power they wish to learn, using standard Jedi training times.

If they wish to learn powers on their own, the Force Vampire can spend 25 character points and learn powers without the aid of a teacher or holocron. (Subject to GM approval.) It is assumed that over a long lifetime, a Force Vampire will grow increasingly stronger in the Dark Side of the Force and will come to know almost all known Force powers.


FEEDING HABITS AND EFFECTS

A young Force Vampire must feed enough each evening to reduce at least one victim to Mortally Wounded level. Of course, draining one person for one level and another for two will accomplish the same, or any combination of three wound levels thereof. Fangs only do Strength damage, but the Force Vampire causes 4D damage each round of draining in addition to the character points and Force points drained. Note that a Force Vampire can drain more slowly if it wishes, doing less damage. Conversely, it can drain faster, up to 7D damage a round.

If a Force Vampire doesn t feed sufficiently one day (night), it is reduced in power to the age level below it. So, if the 300-year-old vamp from above were to not feed one day, all of its attributes, Move, and other powers would go to the 200-299 category until it feeds enough again. A Force Vampire regains an age category per night of sufficient feeding. Below the 0-99 category, a Force Vampire loses all attribute bonuses and its move goes down to 10 after one day of starvation. After that, the Force Vampire dies. This is one of the few ways to certainly kill a Force Vampire.

Also, Force Vampires have no need of eating traditional foods as most other Humans do. Their food is of course the life essences of their victims and thus conventional nourishment is not necessary for survival. A Force Vampire can go an entire lifetime without eating or drinking food as long as they feed each day.


SLEEP

Force Vampires may sleep whenever and wherever they please. No questions asked.


MAKING NEW FORCE VAMPIRES

The only way to make a new Force Vampire is to drain a being into the Killed category (by succeeding by 16+ on the Alter roll) by using the Drain Life power. Immediately thereafter, the Force Vampire must then spend 50 character points to install the essence of themselves in the new Force Vampire. This new Force Vampire will rise and begin at Age 0 with 15 character points and 1 Dark Side Point in the next 1D6 days. The father Force Vampire may speed up this process by spending 2 character points per day, or 15 points for an immediate revival. The father Force Vampire may also pass on some of his experience to the child Force Vampire. The father Force Vampire can spend extra character points to grant the child Force Vampire extra starting character points, on a ratio of 1-to-1. In the same manner, the father Force Vampire can pass on some of his age abilities, and age his child one year per extra character point. The child cannot be "aged" past the age of the father however.


MISCELLANEOUS

PCs and Force Vampires: Player characters should only be allowed to play Force Vampires only if they are in a very advanced campaign. These Force Vampires could kick most PCs butts from here to the Outer Rim and back a few times. But, like I said, if your campaign is geared to this (epic Jedi Master campaign, etc.), then go ahead. In either case, these should be a lot of fun to kick some butt with.


AUTHOR'S FINAL WORDS

As a side note, some unknown author created various, small pieces of this supplement, and some credit should go to him - whoever he is. However, I edited and changed almost everything.

Feel free to not use any of the rules you don't like. Also, I would very much like to hear comments or complaints. And, if you use any of this material in a campaign, please let me know about it. Enjoy!



Journal Table of Contents Go to Journal Main Page