Buffy-verse House Rules

Creating a house rules thread so that we keep track of specific rule changes that may affect PC/NPC actions.

Vampires:
1. Vampires reduced to zero or fewer hitpoints are not slain unless one of the following are used:

• Fire or Radiant energy damage (Holy Water does Radiant damage).
  
• A medium to large sized bladed weapon. (Something that can decapitate a vampire).
  
• A wooden piercing weapon. (A wooden stake or an arrow works)
  

2. A "dead" vampire is one who is brought to zero of fewer hitpoints but not slain/"dusted".

3. A slain vampire turns to dust.

4. "Dead" vampires may take a single move action and occupy a square. They can not attack and do not provide flanking or threaten a square.

5. "Dead" vampires may be healed. They can then act normally.


Surprise:
To gain a surprise round a combatant must have LOS to at least one of their enemies. Any enemy that can perceive the combatant at the start of the surprise round may react in the surprise round.



If there is something that needs to be added or corrected, let me know.

The Buffyverse has a lot in common with the real world with some key changes: NoDoze=SleepBGone, Craigslist=Merlinslist, Hollywood CA=Hollygrove Hills... more to come and I need player help adding to the list.

Also, the Buffyverse universe is going to be a little more "wild west" than the mundane world... cities, towns, are as real world, but there are no states, provinces, countries. Everything is city-states like Sparta era ancient Greece, and the UFC, United Federation of Cities, is kind of like the United Nations. (Except run by undead Vamires...) The UFC also has it's own military in case of "national emergencies".

Languages in various areas may vary and there's a huge mix of lots of Humanoid races coexisting, more or less. There are wars and civil unrest somewhere on the globe usually.

Dwarmaj wrote:Creating a house rules thread so that we keep track of specific rule changes that may affect PC/NPC actions.

Vampires:
1. Vampires reduced to zero or fewer hitpoints are not slain unless one of the following are used:
[list][*]Fire or Radiant energy damage (I think Acid works too, not sure)...

acid does not dust Vampires, but holy water could also dust a Vamp. Basically, all the stuff from the tv show works.

I think you and Stu are the only ones who watch the show so you'll need to let us know.

I knew this had to be out there somewhere.


http://buffy.wikia.com/wiki/Vampire

Another link that does just the vampires.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire_%28Buffy_the_Vampire_Slayer%29


Killing a vampire:
Vampires cannot be killed except by beheading, fire or other burning, or penetration of the heart by a wooden object. A vampire explodes in a cloud of dust when killed; the act of slaying a vampire is often referred to as "dusting" on the show. They heal quickly from most injuries, but do not regrow lost limbs and can acquire scars. Their flesh burns in direct sunlight, and on contact with blessed objects such as holy water, recently consecrated ground, or a Cross. They can enter consecrated buildings but appear to feel ill at ease. Vampires are said to dislike garlic and it is sometimes shown in use as vampire repellent, but its effect is never stated or shown. In the episode "The Wish", it is stated that vampires are attracted to bright colours.

Thanks Chris, that helped a lot.

Dwarmaj wrote:Thanks Chris, that helped a lot.

Yeah Chris, that rocks! & Ross, I would have, except for the acid/holy water correction, Ken pretty much got it all anyway though. The concecrated ground stuff likely won't come up too much, and the PCs logically wouldn't know all that right away anyway...

Yes, $=gp, but right now, you guys are the only market. Later, when you find more Toknosfar, they'll be a market too, but the general public won't believe they're real & selling magic is high alert activity for the Vampire Nation...


On Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 8:17 AM, Ken Mills <kmills@q.com> wrote:

Is 1 dollar equal to 1gp?

It looks like Ember is in the magic item creation business and I wanted to make sure how much things will cost. Before I request things to be made.


Note: 4e changed it so that items cost the same to make as to buy, but in a world where magic items are scarse supply and demand may change that.

It looks like Ember is in the magic item creation business

Not true.
If she was, it would be a 10% or 20% markup.
$10 for an hours work is like any other job. Her time has some worth.
Selling to an NPC would be for a markup but she would be doing it for her team mates w/ no markup, just time spent.

Mick wrote:

It looks like Ember is in the magic item creation business

Not true.
If she was, it would be a 10% or 20% markup.
$10 for an hours work is like any other job. Her time has some worth.
Selling to an NPC would be for a markup but she would be doing it for her team mates w/ no markup, just time spent.

Business of sorts...

True, 4E removed making items for profit because it caused an imbalance between crafters and non crafters in previous editions.

It doesn't make much sense that items cost the same to create as to buy, but the alternative does create problems they wanted to avoid.

Detecting Vampires...

Brad, earlier you mentioned that anyone trained in Insight could detect a vampire as well as another undead, or someone considered a vampire.

Is there a set DC?

Also, under the Religion Skill it says that anyone can make a Monster Knowledge check using the Religion Skill to identify creatures with the Immortal or Undead types.

A DC15 skill check is all that is needed to determine the Race, Type, and Keywords of the creature.

Also a PC can use the skill passively (taking 10) or actively using a Minor action and a roll.


Can a PC use Religion to make a DC 15 check to detect a Buffy-verse vampire?


Instead of making up new rules for Buffy-verse, how about using the existing rules. You could then say that vampires are more difficult to detect and have a +5 penalty to be identified.

The fewer house rules the better... Just a thought...

Ember is trained in religion too

Dwarmaj wrote:
Is there a set DC?...

I've been using the same DC20 the whole campaign. I guess we can switch it to religion (trained only) for when they're in Human form... Insight seemed to make more sense to me though.

Thoughts?

I think it's valid to use whatever skill makes sense in the encounter.

Ross wrote:I think it's valid to use whatever skill makes sense in the encounter.

Alright, I just looked up in the PP&T and every PC has Religion trained except Blade, whose 1/2 Vampire. We'll switch & from now on say it's a trained only religion check or racial class Undead to detect other Vampires or Undead. This way we're consistent with the PHB. All the Slayers so far can detect Vampires, which makes sense... (DC20)

bradly wrote:
Alright, I just looked up in the PP&T and every PC has Religion trained except Blade, whose 1/2 Vampire. We'll switch & from now on say it's a trained only religion check or racial class Undead to detect other Vampires or Undead. This way we're consistent with the PHB. All the Slayers so far can detect Vampires, which makes sense... (DC20)

Does it still require an action? Can we make a passive Religeon check vs DC 20?

Dwarmaj wrote:
Does it still require an action? Can we make a passive Religeon check vs DC 20?

I thought only insight & perception were passive? Minor action seems better.

bradly wrote:

Dwarmaj wrote:
Does it still require an action? Can we make a passive Religeon check vs DC 20?

I thought only insight & perception were passive? Minor action seems better.

From the PHB:

Passive Checks

When you’re not actively using a skill, you’re assumed to be taking 10 for any opposed checks using that skill. Passive checks are most commonly used for Perception checks and Insight checks, but the DM might also use your passive check result with skills such as Arcana or Dungeoneering to decide how much to tell you about a monster at the start of an encounter.

For example, if you’re walking through an area you expect to be safe and thus aren’t actively looking around for danger, you’re taking 10 on your Perception check to notice hidden objects or enemies. If your Perception check is high enough, or a creature rolls poorly on its Stealth check, you might notice the
creature even if you aren’t actively looking for it.

To force an active check you may want to give Buffy-verse vampires a bonus to hide their nature or increase the DC.


I believe all of the PCs have Religion of 14 or less so DC25 would currently force an active check.

In Paragon you'll have to have the higher level vampires have a higher DC or bonus.

An opposed check is my stealth roll v your perception roll, or my bluff roll v your insight roll. One is defaulted to '10' to simplify things (& probably to cut down variability). Since it's a set DC and not dependent on their bluff rolls, active check only (minor action). This is consistent with the PHB and the tv show. :-)

The examples given are Arcana and Dungeoneering; neither of which require an opposed roll.

Krystoff wrote:The examples given are Arcana and Dungeoneering; neither of which require an opposed roll.

Yes, and those are 'might', at GM discretion. If it's important and your passive is high enough I may do that occasionally for unopposed rolls, but the way I read it is the passive check is only automatic for opposed rolls, which this isn't.

Oh, other Buffyverse house rules, (and except for what kills a Vamp, one of the few thing the evil Watcher, Gwendolyn Post told Aura truthfully), a Vampire cannot enter the residence of the living unless invited. Once invited always invited.

Also, as in Jalalabrad, all the females in the Buffyverse are hotties (16-18+ Cha) with 32-pt buy for other 5 stats.

From your Watcher training with Giles, all the Slayers have the following memorized:

Newly sired Vampire (up to 1 century Undead)
Init: +6 Darkvision
HP:1 (never damaged on miss)
AC:20 Fort:17 Ref: 18 Will: 17
Speed: 7, climb 4
Immune: disease, poison (most, some specials still affect)
Resist: Necrotic 5
Vulnerabilities: destroyed by sunlight/radiant
Claw: standard, at-will +11 v AC, 5 necrotic
flurry: 7 hits
Alignment: always evil (with very rare exceptions)
typical stats: Str18 Con14 Dex20 Int10 Wis12 Cha14 (much higher for females)

+racial abilities as living, all knowledge from former life.

After this level, the Slayers will also have memorized the stats of the 'Sped' Vamps over 1 century sired too (the former 'bosses' from last level), but not the 'specials' who are usually much older...

Buffyverse house rule... When a Vampire turns to dust, all items on their person (except future possible artifacts) are dusted as well. This includes magic items carried or weilded.

GM hint: It might be good to pay attention to that this battle...

From your Watcher training with Giles, all the Slayers have the following memorized:

1-2 century undead Vampire ('Speds')
Init: +10 Darkvision
HP:88 regen 5 (not in sunlight or after radiant)
AC:22 Fort:21 Ref: 20 Will: 18
Speed: 7, climb 4
Immune: disease, poison (most, some specials still affect)
Resist: Necrotic 5
Vulnerabilities: sunlight/radiant 5 +suppress regeneration
Claw: MBA, at-will +13 v AC, 2d6+5 damage
Blood Drain: standard, recharges if adj to bloodied living, +11 v Fort 2d8 +6 +weakened (save ends), Vampire regains 24 hits
Rending Pounce: standard, at-will, shift 7 +claw attack anytime before, after, during shift
flurry: 8 hits 1x/rnd with hit
Alignment: always evil (with very rare exceptions)
typical stats: Str20 Con16 Dex20 Int10 Wis12 Cha14 (much higher for females)

+racial abilities as living, all knowledge from former life.