The developers of Vampire: The Masquerade chose to pare the vulnerabilities of their vampires down to three primary weaknesses: sunlight, which burns them to a crisp, fire, which keep them from regenerating, and stakes to the heart, which paralyze them until they're removed. VTM VampiresВ - TheirВ VulnerabilitiesД¬lassic European folklore vampires вЂ“ Dracula being the classic example вЂ“ have oodles of weaknesses: stakes, garlic, silver, holy symbols, sunlight, fire, piles of seeds they're compelled to stop and count. As of the 5th edition of Vampire the Masquerade,В vampires also absorb emotions from the blood of creatures they drink, forcing them to be picky about their targets if they want to have a 'balanced diet' and a stable psyche. They can even grant a more limited form of immortality by regularly feeding humans and animals drops of their own (addictive) blood (a common tactic used to create half-vampiric servants called Ghouls). WithВ some exceptions, a vampire'sВ body is fixed in appearanceВ from the moment of their 'Embrace,' making them functionally immortal as long as they drink blood regularly. The average vampire is stronger and more resilient than the average human, thanks to their ability to consume their own blood to enhance their physical abilities and heal their injuries (represented in the games by spending points of 'Vitae'). In the World of DarknessВ setting where the Vampire: The MasqueradeВ and other games like Werewolf: The Apocalypse take place, vampires, who refer to themselves somewhat pretentiously as 'the Kindred,' are created when a vampire drains the lifeblood of a human, then feed them some of their own vampiric blood. VTM VampiresВ - Basic Biology And Strengths At the same time, the character creation rules offered in both the tabletop and video game versions of Vampire: The Masquerade empower players to tell their own vampires story by creating creatures with unique combinations of cruel abilities and cursed afflictions. To certain degree, the developers of the original Vampire: The Masquerade tabletop RPG did the same thing, cherry-picking certain bit of vampire folklore to create a type of vampire that can blend in with humans in urban environments and look good in black trench coats while still being tormented by their immortality and inhuman appetites. Related: Vampire: The Masquerade вЂ“ Shadows of New York Review: Better Suited As A ComicД«ecause vampires are such a flexible horror concept, storytellers and creatives love toВ create their own custom 'rules' for vampires, adding or subtracting powers, features, and weaknesses in order to tell the sort of vampire story they want.

Vampires can also be metaphors for various social ills and dangers, ranging from plague and sexual predation to aristocratic tyranny and addiction. Outside of this general criteria, a vampire can take any form, from the Eastern European ' Dracula' archetype to odder creatures like the Chinese Jiangshi (a moldy hopping corpse that drains life force) or theВ Filipino legend of the Aswang (a shapeshifting witch with a long proboscis). What is a vampire, exactly? In mostВ monster stories and tales of folklore, vampireВ are undead, un-aging supernatural creatureВ who drink the blood of the living.

Nearly every book, movie, or game about vampires tries to put their own spin on the Vampire legend, and Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2В is no different, introducing a variety of different Vampire Clans with abilities and banes that embody different cultural archetypes of the Undead. To no one's surprise, the upcoming action-horror RPG Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 is pretty vampire-centric, revolving around the antics of a newly-transformed vampire as he tries to navigate the cutthroat politics of Seattle's secret Vampire society and figure out who exactly turned them into a blood-drinking monster.

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