Get Up, Come On Get Down With the Sickness

After much deliberation and conversation with my players, it has been decided that where you have werewolves you must also have vampires. Thank you Twilight and Underworld for the modern intertwining of age old legend.

It's not so simple, however, to just say "ok there's vamps and lycans". You have to establish where they come from. Is it magical or (super)natural? Is it considered a gift or a curse? And if there are monsters, it stands to reason there are also going to be monster slayers. After all, what is an RPG campaign without monsters....I'll tell you what it is, BORING!

So I'll be working into the world/story the introduction of both races. Each race has it pros and cons that come with "the blood". Each race has its prejudice and outright opposition toward each other, as well as, the stigma from the rest of the world. Whether players want to consider it a blessing or a curse to be bitten is up to them.

The logistics I've worked out so far are that a player is weakened when bitten (obviously) because they have been drained of blood/HP/Stamina. If bitten by a werewolf, they will uncontrollably turn with the next phase of the moon. I haven't decided yet if that will be the next full moon, or if it's sooner. The next moon phase would occur about once a week. I'm talking from new, to half, to full, to half again - I'm not figuring in all the various degrees and quarters. They player can either accept this change and the new stats that come along with it, or they must seek to heal themselves. If they cannot be healed, the change is inevitable. At that point they can keep player the character as a lycan, or they can say the lycan runs off, leaving the party for the pack, and they begin a new character.

If bitten by a vampire the character doesn't automatically change, like they do with a lycan bite. If the player wants to become a vampire and get the new stats, they must in turn feed off the blood of a vampire. If a player does not suckle from a vampire, they cannot fully turn. But they will still crave blood and be weakened by sunlight. This means that they will become night stalkers, drawn to attacking NPCs (or perhaps other party members) to feed their thirst. If the player cannot handle this monstrous, corrupt lifestyle, they must be healed. An obvious drawback of being a vampire is that they cannot be exposed to sunlight, and they must sleep in the dirt of their native territory. An easy solution to this is that a roaming vampire can carry a jar of their native dirt with them and sprinkle it over themselves when they bed down. However, there is a finite supply of this dirt, so they must go home to get more, or carry more for longer periods away.

Both races, as nocturnal predators, are fervently hated by sun priests/paladins and are exterminated at every opportunity. If their is such a player within the group already, they cannot coexist with a lycan or vampire unless the DM specifically allows for it.