How would you fine people build using ars magica Rules, the vampire pumpkin and/or watermelon?
Stats in Against the Dark
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But obviously it would be a vampire gourd. Pumpkins are a new world fruit, while watermelons are only just beginning to be grown in Spain in the period.
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Actually, what's stated there is a Vampire tree. I have no idea if it's the same thing or not as while it's relatively easy to find mention of vampire pumpkins in folklore, I can't find any stories featuring them or description of what they were said to do...
I did stat out vampire gourds in the first draft (as they are part of Romanian (?) folklore), but the playtesters thought it too silly and I replaced them with the vampire tree instead.
Mark
3 Likes
Here is my original version. Note that while the thing we call a pumpkin today is a North American native, the pepon / pepo (which is the origin of the word 'pumpkin') was a gourd or bitter melon, and was very much part of the medieval diet, particularly in southern Europe
Vampire Gourds and Melons
Gourds and melons can also become vampires. The change takes place when they are fighting one another. If the vegetables have been kept for more than ten days, gathered pumpkins stir all by themselves and make a sound like "brrrl, brrrl, brrrl" and begin to shake themselves. Sometimes traces of blood can be seen on them. These vegetables go around the houses, stables, and rooms at night all by themselves and do harm to people, but they cannot do great damage, and people aren't greatly afraid of this type of vampire.
Vampire Melon
Faerie Might: 5 (Herbam)
Characteristics: Cun 0, Per +2, Pre 0, Com 0, Str –8, Sta 0, Dex –1, Qik –2
Size: –4
Virtues and Flaws: Feast of the Dead, Lesser Powers, Passes for Plant*; Little x 2; Freshly Sprung x2, Incognizant, Limited Movement**, Poor Characteristics x 3, Traditional Ward: sunlight
*Equivalent to Passes for Human
** Realms of Power: Magic , page 42
Personality Traits: Hostile +2
Combat:
Bump*: Init –2, Attack –1, Defense –2, Damage –8
*because it lacks the Brawl Ability, vampire melons have three extra botch dice on any Attack or Defense rolls
Soak: +0
Wound Penalties : –1 (1), –3 (2), –5 (3), Incapacitated (4), Dead (5+)
Pretenses: Area Lore 3 (fields), Awareness 3 (other vampire plants), Native Language 5 (local dialect), Leadership 3 (menacing), Penetration 4 (Cause Fatigue), Stealth 3 (hiding), Survival 2 (harsh autumns)
Powers:
Cause Fatigue, 1 point, Init –5, Corpus : This faerie can cause a human to lose a fatigue level. PeCo 15 (base 10, +1 Touch) Lesser Power (15 levels, –2 Might cost)
Vis: 1 pawn Herbam, in seeds
Appearance: Much like any natural vegetable or fruit; this vampire is about twelve inches in diameter. Red streaks can be seen on it if it has drained fatigue recently. The vampire gourd or melon can move or turn in place, and even shuffle itself slowly and bump into things, but it takes it about an hour to move 10 paces. Vampire melons can understand human languages, but cannot speak.
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So that's what happened. I was sure I'd see them before somewhere.
Same with @Timothy_Ferguson I suspect.
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