this is sort of a world building thing- i have vampires in my story (some of you may have read it already, in the novel section), and i need a weakness for them. i dont want it to be anything mainstream like sunlight or garlic. any suggestions?
Okay, we have talked about this a fair amount, however I have two new suggestions. A. Perhaps they only can be killed by blunt weapons because they are incapable of bleeding, hence the reason why they choose to use katanas at that. B. Perhaps the opposite, make it where they can bleed to death quite easily, meaning if they go get hit, they'll bleed to death quite easily. This again makes sense with katanas because weapons emphasize speed and timing, something they would need lots of anyway in order to deal with that weakness.
Anne Rice done the whole, bad blood thingy i.e blood drunk from an already dead corpse. so, ill do a quick brain storm. (btw i'm drunk) Vampires can only survive so long without drinking the blood of another vamp. Think haematology. Vampires that DON'T live forever. In fact the advantages of their life are way'd off against a shorter life-span. LOL, they have a requirement for alcohol? I.e they cannot survive without thinning out the gloop that runs in the their veins with something. Imagine the hilarity of drunk vamps!! Umm, ill get back to ya! P.S I love the elder scr....
I'm not sure if this one is a cliche like garlic and stuff, but what about fire. Perhaps their skin is like paper to fire or something. That's all I got, sorry I'm a little slow today.
As it seems in most vampire stories, vampires have the ability (as they are undead) to live without oxygen. I think it would be interesting to give them the same need for oxygen as humans, and then perhaps deprive them off it? Or, you can have the certain blood types be undetectable poisons for the characters, that when they are digested, cause immense suffering, and possibly death, lest it be taken from them by a fellow vampire. Hope this helps!
I like my vamps to be very Vampire: The Masquerade. A lot of vampires there had weaknesses to types of blood. For example, some had to have a certain blood type. A+ was fantastic but O- was fatal. Or they had to drink the blood of a person in a certain mood, such as post-coital, happy, upset, etc. For some vamps, it was done by gender or race... all sorts of things.
Maybe they are color blind? Certain colors keep you from looking appetizing or being detected at all... Or they can only bite with consent. Or, moonlight reveals their true nature (try not to get this too similar to 'sparkly in sunlight' or pirates of the carribean skeletons)
Vamps that cannot drink milk?? LOL that is epic. reminds me of Anchor Man. "Oh, Milk was a bad choice!"
So, are they fantasy (as in genre) vampires or romance vampires? Two different things believe it or not. In most Fantasy for example, the vampires tend to be no different than orcs or goblins. They're simply creatures that drink blood and are rarely sentient. Ot if they are sentient, they're linked to magic or magical workings can be used to bring them to life. In romance, the vampires are uncommonly sexy. Oh, and sexy is automatically linked to being GQ model material. I think Night Play by Sherrilyn Kenyon is the only book I've ever read where the main character, a werewolf, falls head over heels for an woman who is rubenesque. Just once I'd like to see the reverse with the man being overweight, maybe with an odor problem he can't help, having the knock out gorgeous woman falling madly inlove with him. Without the aid of chemicals. As far as weaknesses go, I have plenty of unique weaknesses for my own vampires and I don't soon plan to share them beyond what I all ready have shown in the character development clinic.
What?? We see this all the time. It's the opposite of what you just described that's rare. Have you ever heard of Ugly Guy, Hot Wife? Please look it up. That's been done quite a bit and you see it a lot in real life as well. Writing fantasy vampires is going to be a little hard for you in this day and age when any vampire is considered a romance vampire. However, a weakness for a fantasy vampire could be the very thing that killed them in the first place. For example if Sid died due to a brain tumour and then turned into a vampire, his weakness would be the cause of the brain tumour. I used to have vampires in my novel, but I scrapped them. I'm handing this gem over to you. Hope it helps out in the future.
Traditional vampires are weak enough already... Garlic, crosses They can't cross running water They have to be invited in They can't go for long at all without blood They have to sleep with dirt from their native place They're weak/dead in sunlight They can't enter consecrated land just go with these
Most of those you cited are fictional elements. Traditional vampires vary depending on the tradition of the culture they're surrounded by. Google Croglin Grange vampire for one such example.
Let's see... Vampires that starve to death pretty quickly if they don't get blood. Vampires that don't heal very well, since they're undead - ínjuries tend to add up over time.
my vampires are very powerful- they are much stronger than the average human, and much more nimble/agile/fast (unchartable reflexes), their ability to use magic is greatly increased. they heal from injuries much quicker than normal humans, but they need blood to do so. disadvantages (so far): they need blood quite often. the LESS blood they have, the more powerful they will become, but they will become more animalistic, and will eventually go feral and die. Sunlight does not hurt them, but only weakens/fatigues them a bit. They cannot cross onto holy ground (that has been blessed by a clean priest or holy man). if they do, they will suffer extreme fatigue and pain, and actual physical damage as well if they stay long enough. thats what i have so far, but i still want to expand on it. thanks for all the suggestions so far!
Are you trying to avoid cliche, or do you just not care either way? Fear of holy symbols or an inability to be near them is pretty much done too. You seemed to ask for suggestions that went above what was normally done, so this kind of does the opposite of what you seemed to be asking.
the sunlight dosnt affect them that much. its how i want it and i might change the holy thing. im sorry if i offended you haha
