Am I missing something?

I don't see anything in the Creature Guide etc. about undead such as vampires not liking sunlight. Leaving aside other lore, earlier edition warhammer had vampires not liking sunlight and some other things.

Did I miss a generic reference somewhere in rules or has 3rd edition dropped the sunlight problem for vampires (which drops quite a drawback for them).

If houseruling, I would have the Blood Pool tracker lose one space per minute in direct sunlight, and give the Vampire a Challenge die as if "blinded" (translating earlier edition). At "empty Blood Pool" it would face an Automatic Critical each round, with "dissolution" when the # exceeds To (to the extent a vampire is ever destroyed, once again using earlier edition concepts).

Some vampires might have the Defy the Dawn ability from Night's Dark Masters (call it a support action in this edition), an Easy Willpower check for one hour in the sun, next hour add a Challenge die and repeat. More likley found among Lahmia or Von Carstein types that like to socialize and less among Strigoi or Necrarchs who like the night for hunting and other reasons (mechanically take other actions instead). Strongly overcase days would let any vampire attempt this without the ability.

It would be easier to spot them for what they are (or at least for something unnatural) in sunlight (for those that have any chance of appearing human to start with), say a couple of fortune dice on the test.

Rob

I'm really not familiar with the vampire rules in this edition or any previous one, but if or when I ever get around to seriously thinking about how to introduce them, this is an issue I'll need to think more about. I'll be guided much more by what I want for the setting than what various sets of rules have said.

It's always bothered me how the vampires' supposed weakness to sunlight has never seemed to have prevented endless battles taking place - presumably during the day as there aren't any night fighting rules - in Warhammer Fantasy Battle.

But quite apart from that; I'd like my vampire protagonists to be able to at least attempt to pass themselves off as human. I'd like the claim that vampires don't exist (having been wiped out some centuries ago) to sound at least vaguely credible - and that means some way of vampires being able to at least appear during the day.

Rather than have the vampires suffer damage just for being in the sun, I'm leaning more towards their powers being greatly reduced in sunlight, so that their stats, abilities, etc. become much more like a normal, mortal human. I might have some kind of aversion to sunlight (perhaps with penalties similar to those affecting humans in darkness), and/or I might make it simply a habit. Through a mixture of fear and arrogance, the vampire sees no need to appear during the day very often, being content to let scandelous (and no-doubt punishable) whispers further their reputations as dreaded feudal overlords.

I agree that vampires should be able to pass for human at times for good stories.

In earlier edition, the vampires have 5 bloodlines with different histories, attitudes and powers - rivals who don't get along.

You can buy Nights' Dark Masters as a pdf from rpgnow etc, as with many of the earlier edition stuff (alas not the Enemy Within era campaign). It has lots of good background fluff stuff and helps with the background of the different bloodlines. Two of them, Lahmia (vamp vampires who would be comfortable in an Ann Rice novel) and von Carstein (dracula clones) are pretty classical takes/variations on them and can pass with some effort and do in some former Warhammer edition adventures. Others are more monstrous in nature and not passing even in bad lighting - the bestial Strigoi, lich like Necrarchs " The appearance of the Necrarchs has grown so hideous and unnatural that an ordinary man cannot bear to look upon them, and many run screaming at the sight. " and (rather odd to my tastes) Blood Knights.

I have Lahmia and Strigoi recurring vampires in my campaign at present and am thinking of running a Thousand Thrones (or adapted/edited version of it) take off and it has vampires in it at several points, which is the reason I'm pondering the critters.

Oh, by the way, earlier edition did as you suggest halve vampire stats in daylight while they were taking constant wounds (but at a rate that gave them plenty of time to get to safety unless heroes are making it hard).

valvorik said:

I've got the book; just not got round to reading it. I am vaguely familiar with the 5 bloodlines and some earlier stuff (I'd forgotten that they had rules for reduced stats in sunlight - or just never noticed it). I've never been very interested in using them in WFRP though, and wasn't a fan of them in WFB, so I just haven't delved too closely.

I've been thinking recently though about how to incorporate/modify some of the WFB 'fluff' elements into the game (whether as fact, myth, combination of the two or just ignored altogether), and my take on the bloodlines is pretty much the same as yours. The main difference being my appreciation of the Strigoi has come almost exclusively from seeing you develop them (and their 'gypsy' herds) in the games you've been running (and writing up).

I think fantasy flight left it out because it's assumed about everyone knows vampires don't tan well. Especially the vampires. If the players are taking specific steps to make to most of their daylight hours, then they should be rewarded. If the undead monstrosity is caught in the open, I there are suitable condition cards to easily explain his lack of enthusiasm. Weakened is the first to come to mind.

Other undead never really had a problem with generating seratonin, though they usually model their social calender around vampires anyway.