Vampire, Hopping
| Statistic | Value |
|---|---|
| Climate/Terrain | Any land |
| Organization | Solitary |
| Intelligence | Low (5–7) |
| Alignment | Chaotic evil |
| No. Appearing | 1–4 |
| Armor Class | 16 |
| Move | 90 |
| Hit Dice | 6–9 |
| To Hit | +2 |
| No. of Attacks | 2 |
| Damage/Attack | 1–8/1–8 |
| Special Attacks | See below |
| Special Defenses | See below |
| Magic Resistance | 10% |
| Size | M (5–6 ft. tall) |
| Stunts | M 1d8, F 1d6, C 1d6 |
Description
Hopping vampires are the most fearsome undead in Tianguo. When a body is buried improperly or in an inauspicious location, the po soul returns to the body and animates it; however, the hun soul has already moved on to Heaven. The po soul, already suffering after death, reverts to animalistic behavior and hungers to kill mortals. Without the heavenly spark of the hun soul, the body is not truly alive, so it retains the rigidity of death. The result is a hopping vampire. This spectacle of these creatures hopping around looking for victims is vaguely ridiculous; they are deadly opponents, however, and not to be underestimated.
The return from death gives the hopping vampires a greenish tint to their skin, fangs in their mouths, and razor-sharp fingernails that are virtual claws. They are usually dressed in the decaying remnants of funerary wear. In combat they use both claws and bite, each inflicting 1d8 of damage.
Hopping vampires are very difficult to kill. They take only half damage from weapons and martial arts, unless the attacks count as magical (such as blows from a magic weapon or martial arts attacks dealt by a high-level Righteous Fist). Fire-based attacks also inflict normal damage.
Experienced vampire hunters know that hopping vampires can locate humans only by “seeing” their breath. By holding their breath and covering their nostrils, the hunters are virtually invisible. This trick is easy to get wrong, however, and many adventurers have been killed when they thought they were safe. A character who wants to hide from the vampire must make a Fortitude feat with a TN of 10. If successful, the character can hold his or her breath for a number of rounds equal to the result of the stunt die (minimum 1 round). Once the feat is performed, the character can take actions as normal on subsequent rounds.
Anyone who suffers more than 15 points of damage from a hopping vampire runs the risk of becoming a vampire in turn. Exactly how this occurs is a mystery, but most shamans agree it is a form of curse. After combat is over, the injured character must roll percentile dice. The chance of turning into a vampire is equal to the amount of damage he or she sustained (so if the vampire inflicted 20 points of damage, the chance would be 20%).
Those who succumb to the curse slowly turn into vampires themselves, growing fangs and long fingernails and becoming more bestial as their po soul takes over. This process takes 1 day, plus an additional number of days equal to a Fortitude stunt roll. To stop the transformation, a shaman must cast the remove curse spell on the victim before the process is complete. Once become a vampire, the victim cannot be changed back without the intercession of a major spirit or god.
Astute readers will notice that hopping vampires have a respectable stunt die in Charm. This does not mean a vampire is eloquent or seductive. Rather, this score represents the vampire’s ability to terrorize hapless humans with displays of supernatural power. Hopping vampires can make Charm feats, but only to induce fear and terror. You’ll never see one using a Charm feat to induce pathos in the PCs for its pitiful existence. In Dragon Fist, vampires are monsters, pure and simple.