How would you make a vampire?

Here's somewhat of an abstract question for you. After playing through Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and basically swooning over what is probably Alucard's coolest incarnation in visual media (I really don't like Hellsing), this was just the natural next step - how can I make my own ripoff of him in City of Heroes? Of course, I don't want to remake Alucard, partly because I dislike cheesy ripoffs and partly because I don't actually want to make a new character at this time, but let's consider this a thought experiment on the broader question of how to make a vampire.

This comes down to what a vampire should be able to do, first and foremost, and with all the fiction we've had concerning vampires, from Bram Stoker's Dracula to the horrible Blade movies, what a vampire is and isn't has varied a lot over the years. For the sake of utility, I want to keep off replicating a vampire's weaknesses, partly because City of Heroes can't replicate weaknesses anyway, and partly because a lot of their weaknesses are just absurd, like not being able to cross flowing water or not being able to enter a home unless they are invited. Let's stick to what they CAN do and just ignore what they can't.

*Turning into a bat or into a swarm of bats. This is probably the most classic move short of sucking blood, and it's going to need to be available to any vampire wannabe character. Of course, we can't have that in City of Heroes, but let's think laterally here - a vampire typically turns into bats in order to disappear, or in order to reach unreachable locations, like inside locked rooms or on top of high ledges. With a bit of a fudge, that could actually fit into Teleportation reasonably well.

*Turning into mist. I've no idea when that first showed up, but both Castlevania's Alucard and Legacy of Kain's Kain can turn into mist to pass through grates. Alucard, furthermore, can stay in mist form to avoid attacks and move around enemies. Essentially, if you're quick on your fingers, you can "mistify" just long enough to avoid most attacks. In City of Heroes, we can't turn into mist, and I'd avoid going for things like Arctic Air or Steamy Mist just for the fact that this transformation is almost always used either for purposes of damage avoidance or obstacle avoidance, and covering yourself with mist is rather different from BECOMING mist. However, there is a power in the game which has both - Phase Shift. This power allows you to pass through doors, at least, as well as through other people, which combined with the other powers from the pool would achieve sort of a similar effect.

*Hypnosis. A vampire is almost always shown to have some degree of hypnotic power, unless he's going for full-on badass effect, in which case the power is simply never used. But older, more suave vampires will almost always be able to enchant the ladies and lead them around like a puppet on a string, and he's able to confuse and misdirect vampire hunters, at least. That I'm not really sure what to do with this, since that's pretty much Mind Control, and I don't fancy a controller for the job. Council/Column Vampyri do sort of a fudge of this by combining Dark Melee and Mind Control, but that's obviously not an option for me. I'm drawing a blank here.

*Kickass fighting. Less so in older stories, but newer vampire stories definitely have this. D from the anime of the same name is very much this, as is the vampire he's hunting in Bloodlust, who seems to have the ability to transform his cape's edge into a metal blade and cut people with it. Alucard is another good example in very much his every incarnation, specifically being a mean fighter in Castlevania. Along with his bag of tricks, he's just one tough bugger. Here, this sort of requires a fighter archetype, which is why I didn't want to pick a Controller or Dominator or some such. I want to say "just sword," but I'm hesitant.

*"Soul Steal." I'm calling this after the spell of the same name in Castlevania, which essentially hurts people while healing you off of them. This is sort of a common theme of vampires in video games, though, as biting on a person's neck works less well with wonky controls and suspect clipping. Raziel sucks souls from a distance, Kain draws people's blood out and shoots it into his mouth, Alucard has the Soul Steal and even our very own Vampyri use Life Drain (at range, no less). In-game, this is obvious - Dark Regeneration. You draw power from everyone around you and heal yourself while hurting them. Point for point exactly.

*General purpose regeneration. Basically, Vampires can't be hurt by ordinary means. Cut them, stab them, shoot them, they'll just heal it all back without any lasting problems. This seems to suggest Regeneration, and our very own Vampyri actually have Dull Pain for this express reason. But that doesn't actually seem to make it into any of the actual vampire games I'm aware of. Most vampires heal by drinking blood directly or from potions and cheeseburgers (seriously?), rather than just from standing around and, in fact... Most I'm aware of don't heal on their own AT ALL. In this case, I'm willing to go with the latter and just lump this into Dark Regeneration and call it a day.

*Sucking blood. Then there's... Well, this. That is what very much defines a vampire, but it's also the one thing that an action-packed vampire almost never actually does. And even when they do it, it's more biting people's necks off their spines than the stylish act of lowering a lady as though in a dance, biting her neck and covering it all with your over-large cape. What's more, since we lack grappling of any kind, we're essentially restricted to non-contact life-syphoning, which is basically Syphon Life. Or Dark Regeneration, which is the same mechanic only at range and on a larger scale, so I'm willing to lump this in there.

*A cap AND wings. It's interesting to note that all non-Blade vampires are obligated to wear a large cape that's black on the outside and red on the inside. It's true. It's right there in the handbook, just above the Romanian accent which never existed and isn't actually Romanian. They also often have the ability to transform that cape into a pair of bat wings and fly or jump with it. Kind of like Batman does, come to think of it. Even Castlevania's Alucard has that in his double jump, as his cape flaps like bird wings to give him an extra jump. That's not doable in this game, however, since we can only ever have wings OR a cape, and even costume changing doesn't quite cut it.

*Flight. Before I forget, this one is largely hit-and-miss. Vampires can generally dissolve into bats or mist in order to fly, but a few ones are just so awesome they can fly in human form. It's never really explained how they do that, and it's generally assumed they're just so cool that flying is the natural result of this awesomness. But it's fairly rare, and mostly restricted to game final boss vampires. Most live action movies lack this for reasons of budget (and lack of imagination), and it does tend to work against the "badass fighter" theme, so it's rarely ever allowed even in games or cartoons. One way or the other, though, that's easy enough to replicate via Hover and, push come to shove, Fly.

*Shooting fire? This may be more a game cliché, more a Japanese trope, as the Japanese tend to have a very loose interpretation of Western myths and religions, but it seems like a lot of really powerful vampires in animé and manga seem to have abilities that cross over into the "totally absurd." Kind of like how very powerful ninja shoot fire from their moths, teleport and turn into giant foxes. Hellsing's Alucard is the perfect example of this, having "locked" powers less typical for a vampire and more typical for some deranged psychopath's interpretation of what the devil would look like. As such, the door is open to giving such a character "exotic" abilities, such as laser beam eyes, fire blasts and so forth.

That's basically all I can think of at the time being. I'm not sure what AT/Powerset combo I can actually create this as, and I'm not even sure my view of what a vampire is or does is actually on the money. Which is why I put this as a question: How would YOU make a vampire in this game?

*edit*
If I'm making a lot of these threads lately, it's because I have a lot of free time at work. I have work to do, just at home, so I'm passing the time. Please, try to find it in your heart to forgive me.

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Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

Well Sam you could go troller and do a Mind/Storm w/fitness,speed,fly,concealment,and psionic mastery pools.That way you get the mind/terrify and weather abilities that figure into so many vampire stories.
Don't know about macros but maybe you could have a natural human look and when you wanted fly then hit the mac and transform into a more bat like look.

Or you could go dk/dk/dk defender lotta options there,same pools would apply of course.

You could do a dm/bs/kat or db + da for a scrapper maybe regen just not so shiny unless your goin for a Edward Cullen look() w/dark mastery.

Maybe a da/dm tank.

A dm brute w/either da/inv/wp or sr w/soul mastery.

A dk corr w/storm or dark and soul mastery once again.

A necro/dark or storm mm and GW again.

A dm stalker w/wp/regen/sr/or da lotta possibilities with that if ya think about it.

That's just the off the top of my head stuff I can come up with.So many different stories in various cultures have vampires doing just about anything.Which you have touched base on from media to lore,I think the final decision is yours,you already have some good ideas.
Making the toon and fleshing him out should be fun..gl.

Just be sure to get the sparkles aura at level 30.

Judging by your post you want a DM/DA Scrapper. Brute could work, or a Tank if you want it tougher. The only thing you won't be able to do is the hypnotism. Everything else is either covered by the prim/sec or pool powers.

I actually think I'll break character and NOT run a character against his grain this time around. I already have a bunch of good-guy demons and a bunch of bad-guy good-guys, so I think it's only fitting to make a vampire a villain. I don't have enough concepts I can actually make villainous anyway, so I don't want to recycle the only obvious villain I have as a hero. I might make him a Rogue, though... But for the moment, that limits me to villain ATs.

Also, before I move on:

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Originally Posted by The_Larker Don't know about macros but maybe you could have a natural human look and when you wanted fly then hit the mac and transform into a more bat like look.

Hmm... Treat it like flight positions, then? I could do that. I'll still fly naturally in-missions, but I can transform if I want to. Not bad. And since I'm going for an aristocratic vampire with this one, rather than the Twilight look, I won't actually have very many costumes to give him.

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Well Sam you could go troller and do a Mind/Storm w/fitness,speed,fly,concealment,and psionic mastery pools.That way you get the mind/terrify and weather abilities that figure into so many vampire stories.

Controller won't really do. For one, it lacks the "kickass fighter" aspect no matter what I do, and for another, I actually don't so much want weather control as just turning into mist, and as only a sort of side order. Certainly the rest of Weather Control could fit under the "Spitting fire?" clause, but I'd rather reserve that for literally spitting fire. Like... BLOOD FIRE! I am so awesome!

Ahem...

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Or you could go dk/dk/dk defender lotta options there,same pools would apply of course.

A Defender is less subject to those problems, but is subject just the same. "Kickass fighter" is pretty much the one thing I can't do without and which is central to why I like vampires, so ATs that can't replicate that really won't work. Unlike a Controller, a Defender actually has focused offence, but is still not what I'd call a fighter. That, and Defender are hero-side only.

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You could do a dm/bs/kat or db + da for a scrapper maybe regen just not so shiny unless your goin for a Edward Cullen look() w/dark mastery.

This rings true. I said I didn't want more Broadsword users... Mainly because I already have three, one at 50, two at 40, oh, and a Stalker at 20-ish... But I keep neglecting Dual Blades. I'll be honest here - they're not my favourite powerset. Too weak on burst damage, too formulaic. But then, I only have a single Dual Blades user among the four ATs that can use them. Katana, maybe, but Katana is... Kind of imposing. Plus I have two Scrappers and a Stalker with it, and again, one Katana is 50. Though, again, that's actually a pretty good idea.

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Maybe a da/dm tank.

Tank, no, but the idea has merit. I've seen "vampire" discussions before, but they've all been unsatisfying, as they sacrifice too much of a vampire's unspoken cool factor for authenticity. One of the usual suspects always ends up being Dark/Dark, but I wanted to stray away from this for two reasons. First, I already have a Dark/Dark Scrapper, and while Dark Melee is a decent set mechanically, it's just really dignified enough to belong to an aristocrat, to be honest. Yeah, yeah, I know it has the Fear (hence, mind control) aspect to it, but it's basically just a lot of debilitating punches. I always thought Hellisng's Alucard looked silly when he breaks out into tumorous eyes, hell hounds and mouths on his hands, which is what this reminds me of.

Essentially, Dark Melee works best either for a stern fighter or for a demon of darkness. For a vampire, I want a weapon. That, and I can't get the image of Castlevania's Alucard fighting with sword and shield out of my head, which probably colours my perception. That, and D's big sword and wait a minute...

D has always been a cool concept, but for one reason above all else - that hat of his. We got a Magic booster pack, but did we get a hat like that for men?

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A dm brute w/either da/inv/wp or sr w/soul mastery.

Dark Melee, not really. Dark Armour, probably. Brute... Yeah, very much definitely. I've given it some thought, and I think one specific aspect of "kickass fighter" is what I want to achieve. It's something the vampire said to D, and as is usual for me, my concepts of feel come down to a single sentence: "Taking on a vampire at night is a task for morons and fools. Which are you?" Basically, I want a character that, taking him on is a mistake. Not someone who's constantly behind the 8-ball and has to survive on skill like a Stalker is, but rather a stand-and-fight fighter who can... Well, who can act like a level boss

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A dk corr w/storm or dark and soul mastery once again.

Same problem as with the Defender. They're just too easy to kill and don't hit nearly as hard.

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A necro/dark or storm mm and GW again.

That actually fits a lot of the vampire myths. It's actually a point-for-point match for Hellsing's vampires, who tend to break out in "epidemics" of ghouls. Very much every time a vampire shows up, it's a whole infestation of zombies/ghouls that Alucard has to basically shoot full of holes until he gets to the vampire he's making them. That's essentially the entirety of the first episode of the latest OVA.

That said... I already have a Necromancer with those exact powersets, and Masterminds in general are very unkind to personal power. At best, I can sell him as a powerful sorcerer who hides behind lairs of minions and spells, but in the end, he's a frail old man. Certainly I've seen vampires like this in fiction, but in practice, I want a front-line fighter more so than a sinister mastermind.

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A dm stalker w/wp/regen/sr/or da lotta possibilities with that if ya think about it.

I've always wanted to try a Dual Blades Stalker, if for no reason other than to do the Build Up + Assassin's Strike + Placate combo and laugh like a lunatic, but I think I need something a lot sturdier than a Stalker in this case. In fact, I'm not sure I'd even be able to play a resistance-based Stalker set. So far I've played Super Reflexes and Ninjutsu, and they really help me keep from breaking Hide. But a resistance-based one... I don't know. That never sat well with me.

As a final note, on armour sets:

I think I'm pretty much sold on Dark Melee just for concept mandate, but... I'm not actually against the other sets. It'll have to be something that replicates regeneration, as I REALLY don't want to go Dark Melee, which basically limits me to Regen, Dark, Invulnerability and Willpower. I'm not really counting Fire, Electricity and Energy as they're more elemental and not as much what I have in mind, and I WANT a shield, but I don't want Shield Defence. Invulnerability does have healing, but in a lot of ways, it builds itself on out-and-out toughness, which may not be what I want. Regen I already have several times over, and while this has healing out the wazoo, it just lacks the draining of enemies. Willpower is an interesting choice, as it actually fits one of the key aspects of vampires - they can't be killed by ordinary means as long as they are fighting back. It also has a lot of regeneration. But combining that with a sword set doesn't really produce the image of a vampire, now does it?

Dark is a serious contender in part because it has a copy of Alucard's Soul Drain AND it has a bunch of debilitating clouds. It even has Cloak of Fear, which I've never, EVER been able to justify taking, but that might work as mind control in and of itself. Most importantly, it has one of the most impressive self-resurrect powers in the game, and to me that counts a lot. One of the key aspects of vampirism is that you can shoot them, you can cut them, you can crush them and you can essentially kill them as many times as you want. They won't die. True, Regen and Willpower do have their own self-resurrect powers, but they're uninspiring by comparison. Draining the life from the living and using that to return yourself to life is very much what seals the deal.

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Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

I went for Katana/Regen for mine. He's a bit of a lazy fighter, but he's also just ove a thousand years old, so not only is pain something mundane now, but he's incredibly good at healing and/or changing to avoid it. He did have fly, but I changed it to teleport as it really does work better.

Katana suits him down to the ground because it's graceful and balanced, and, given a vampires strength, I'm pretty sure he can shove it through even a titan.

Of course, I'd love to make him Dual Pistols/SR, but, hey, pipe dream

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Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

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Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

I'd go with dark/dark stalker. In fact I did and is level 24 at the moment.

I am unsure which Patron pool to take though.

I think you need to go DA scrapper. Ideally, if we could have fingernails for a claws weapon, that would work out well. Without that, DM had some health and essence drains that would make sense, as would a sword of some sort. If SS ever becomes a scrapper primary, that would work quite well, too.


Do the flying pool with a quick costume change before you take off into a smaller body with the bat wings, and bam!

Dark Armor also lets you turn into mist with Cloak of Darkness.

If you want to be like Castlevania's Alucard, I'd definitely go with DB/Kat/BS and Dark Armor. If you go Scrapper you could pick from the Blaze Mastery pool for his fireballs, or if you go Brute you could get GW's PPP for dark blasts.

As for pools, if you're specifically going for CV Alucard, I'd go jumping. Yeah, he can fly as mist or a bat, but in CV you spend the majority of your time running and jumping. As an alternative, you could go full-out concept and do stuff like get Hover and only use it when you have Cloak of Darkness on, and get Super Speed and only use it with a wolf-form costume slot. If you went this way, you could fill the jumping hole with judicious use of Ninja Run.

Of course all of these suggestions relate to CV Alucard, whom you mentioned a lot in your first post. There's about a million other ways to make a vampire, so deciding and focusing on a particular kind of vampire is probably a good idea.

I made mine a scrapper, simply because the AT made more sense for him than a stalker. My excuse for him not changing sides before GR is that it was MAGI who resurected him and bound him into service for them. It was only recently he actualyl became aware of this, and has been working against this from then on.

I've entertained different Sets for him, but none of them seem to work. He' staying a scrapper, but...hmm.

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Originally Posted by Zwillinger GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.

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Originally Posted by Captain_Photon NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

[QUOTE=Kyasubaru;2442075]Dark Armor also lets you turn into mist with Cloak of Darkness.[quote]

Good point! Let's see... Cloak of Darkness on its own is kind of a mist transformation. Cloak of Fear (or possibly Oppressive Gloom if I can't find an actual real reason to take Cloak of Fear) would work as hypnosis, or at least mental suggestion. Soul Transfer works well as a self resurrection ability (which is what it is) and doubles as a soul steal (which, again, it is). Dark Regeneration IS the set's soul steal. And I even have Death Shroud for a bit of a more obscure use of Darkness. Groovy!

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If you want to be like Castlevania's Alucard, I'd definitely go with DB/Kat/BS and Dark Armor. If you go Scrapper you could pick from the Blaze Mastery pool for his fireballs, or if you go Brute you could get GW's PPP for dark blasts.

I think you're very much on the money here. I'm not yet quite sure where I'll go exactly, but at this point it seems to be a choice between Katana and Dual Blades. I'd have to look through the Katanas, but I have two and a half of them to one Dual Blades, so we'll see. I'll probably go with a Brute. Ghost Widow's pastel darkness should actually complement his powers well.

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As for pools, if you're specifically going for CV Alucard, I'd go jumping. Yeah, he can fly as mist or a bat, but in CV you spend the majority of your time running and jumping. As an alternative, you could go full-out concept and do stuff like get Hover and only use it when you have Cloak of Darkness on, and get Super Speed and only use it with a wolf-form costume slot. If you went this way, you could fill the jumping hole with judicious use of Ninja Run.

Castlevania's Alucard is really cool, but when you come down to it, he's a sword-swinging MegaMan (which I suppose makes him Zero O.o), in that he's bound by game limitations to conform to the platforming nature of his game. And even then, I solved most of the inverted castle's movement puzzles either via bat flight, or by repeated Super Jumps, which actually count for flying in my book, the way they're used. That, and I spent a lot of time flying around bosses as mist and using the... Damn, the spell that teleports you and shoots fireballs. That goes through enemies and traps unimpeded. So he does a lot more, it's just that gameplay emphasises the double jump a lot.

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Of course all of these suggestions relate to CV Alucard, whom you mentioned a lot in your first post. There's about a million other ways to make a vampire, so deciding and focusing on a particular kind of vampire is probably a good idea.

Well, kind of, yeah. But I'm actually drawing on at least three, possibly four famous vampires when I list these. One is, obviously, Castlevania's Alucard. However, I'm also drawing on Hellsing's Alucard. I wouldn't try to make him with his dual handguns since I can't really make a Blaster into a fighter like he'd need to, but he brings the weird crap to the table. Demon hounds, devil eyes, Akira-style tumorous mutations. Oh, and utter psychosis, let's not forget. I'm also looking at Legacy of Kain's Kain. He's not a very typical vampire, but he CAN sort of fly/glide, is super strong, regenerates, can turn into mist an I think dissolves into bats when he dies, or at the very least when he "travels." And he's a Devil May Cry style fighter, too. I'm also looking at Vampire Hunter D's D, who's a Dunpeal (in the dub, but he's a half-breed, basically) and has enhanced strength, immortality, girlish good looks, a healing factor and, above all else, kickass sword skills.

I never really copy characters per se, as in I never copy a SINGLE character. Right now I'm looking for something of a mix of these four. They're all very similar in their approach to combat, but each is distinct in his style and visual appeal. I'd stay away from Bram Stoker's Dracula and vampires like him, simply because movies and stories about them are more thrillers than anything else, and thriller characters aren't as good a source material for an action game as action game/movie characters.

And to complete my cycle of unimaginativity, here is something I whipped up as a sample. For those who don't feel like opening the link, it's basically an all-black Occult Baron set with black tights top and bottom, a plain high-collar cape that's black on the inside and red on the inside, and a pretty-boy face with black hair tucked inside his collar. Yeah, it doesn't get any less original than that, but hey! If it looks good, I won't complain

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Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

Well Sam you could go DM/DA it has the soul drain,siphon life,and touch of fear(plus some melee).
Dark armor would be good remember it is all res,except for cloak of darkness.
Power pools would of course be fitness(alot of toggles in DA),flight,concealment since you said something about phase shift,and maybe Presence for intimidate and invoke panic.That might free up a toggle(cloak of fear).
If I was you I wouldn't use death shroud or oppressive gloom(frees up a couple toggles) and I don't recall anyone getting stunned or hurt in proximity to a vamp(other then getting torn up or bit).
Brutes are rather limited on somethings,wouldn't have minded seeing BS coming across on the last issue but maybe in the future.

Although,you could go FM and just color is black or blood red,that way you would have a sword too.In addition you could have your "blood fire" w/breath of fire.

Balls in your court...

Honestly... I wouldn't make him a scrapper or mind control dom or what have you. If I wanted something a little more classical... I'd go with a mastermind. This is mostly from Bram Stoker, admittedly - but with all his various servants (living and undead,) it fits the idea better to me.

If you don't mind undead minions - Necromancy gives you minions and "draining life energy," both in the primary.

See my Guides and Tutorials

If you weren't sold on having a weapon for some ridiculous reason that I'll never understand no matter how many times you try to explain it, your vampire would be extremely easy to make. DM/WP scrapper or brute with a fly/costume change macro that turned your statuesque regular form into a tiny hideous bat-demon looking creature. Also, pick up the concealment pool and use another costume change to have an obscuring white smoky aura when you phase shift or use invisibility. Touch of Fear can be your hypnotism power.

I just don't understand why a super-strong immortal being would feel a need to carry around a sword when he could kill people just by slapping them. Plus vampires generally have superhuman reflexes, so other beings with weapons aren't really that much of a threat. If the look is where the problem is, power customization lets you make all of the lingering effects of dark melee powers barely noticeable.

The thing about aristocratic vampires is that they're only sophisticated when they're walking around being social, and when it comes time to fight you or kill you, they tend to just overpower you with their bestial viciousness. It's the contrast that makes vampires scary in the first place. Even then, the dark melee animations aren't exactly sloppy-looking.

You know what, I changed my mind, you shouldn't go with a DM/WP brute for a vampire, it would be stupid...

*goes off to make a DM/WP brute for a vampire*

Hmm let's see....

Well from the Castlevania series you've got:

Alucard: Well the changing into a bat thing, thanks to the SCIENCE! booster pack we can now change sizes so you could simple make one costume a very small batlike creature and go 'bamf' into that whenever you want to use fly...heck set up a keybind/macro for it. I would probably say go Broadsword or Katana/Dark Armour because...well virtually every protaganist in the Metroidvanias is a sword user (unless you're playing Aria of Sorrow or Dawn of Sorrow extra mode as Julius Belmont).

Dracula:Your classic 'one winged angel' type of boss in 99% of the Castlevania games. His powers are generally teleport (either the snazzy kind or the disperse into bats and reform kind), raise his arm and fire 3 fireballs at you and the occasional area effect spell. Of course going monstrous in his second costume allows pretty much whatever the heck you feel like really...Probably best to go Fire melee/Dark Armour Brute since Dracula is usually about as subtle as a brick to the face in the Castlevania games.

Carmilla: Vampire Sorceress extraordinare and tends to ride about on a skull or attack you with just her mask crying deadly bloody tears of acid. Considering she's a 'throw magic at it' kind of vampire rather than a 'I vant to suck you blood' kind of vamp, pretty much any ranged damage set will do. Or you can take her second phase from her Rondo of Blood appearance and make her a backside kicking, martial arts using demoness.

Olrox: Teleports, monstrous form, dark magic...he's pretty much a lesser version of Dracula.

Elizabeth Bathory: Draculas Neice and commands fire, earth, water while also able to turn into Medusa, so she's basically Carmilla with more 'oomph'.

What...I'm a Castlevania fan...yes I know there's loads from the N64 and the modern 3D games but bah! I'm giving a run down of the most famous ones from the 2D ones.

TENNIS DAMN YOU!TENNIS!

Not some teabagging incident goin horribly wrong!

I don't have a problem with a vampire with a sword, I just don't understand why it's necessary. If there's a special reason for the sword, then it's all groovy, but otherwise I don't get why it's a deal-breaker.

Well considering that Samuel is using Castlevania: Symphony of the Night as his basis then well it makes sense to have a vampire with a sword since Alucard was all about the swords in that game (as have every other 2D Castlevania since).

Swords are refined weapons of the aristocracy of those years gone by, so it makes sense that a Vampire, who is often the refined noble hiding the savage beast within, would use a sword, especially if he has flair with it.

I made my vampire as an Illusion/Storm controller. Yeah, I know you've already ruled controllers out, but it fit quite well with my concept, specifically that he ISN'T a skilled hand-to-hand fighter, but instead uses fear, intimidation, and mind control to make others do his bidding for him.

Sure, I don't use many powers from the storm set, but so far (at level 30 currently) I've not missed them. He controls the winds, can give life to others, and can become a darkened steamy mist. And with his Illusions color customized in a black/slight red combo, he looks sharp as he mesmerizes people, or blinds them with a his own brand of a darkness cloak (flash tinted black). He can cast shadow spectral wounds on a single foe, cast a shadow spectral terror at a group, and he has a cadre of phantom shadows to do his heavy fighting.

For that extra damage, he's got Sands of Mu, the Blackwand, and the Runes of Purification and Warding, as well as several other temp powers. I've taken the health, presence, teleport, and flight power pools. Plus, thanks to the science pack, he now can even shapeshift into a tiny bat.

I'm quite pleased with him so far (more so once he reached Croatoa-level), especially seeing how having so many temp powers helped me thematically flesh him out while still allowing me to keep Storm Summoning despite not using many of its powers. The only thing I'd change would be if they finally brought dark miasma in as a controller secondary. If so, I'd re-make him an Ill/Dark pretty quickly (in my mind, anyway, Illusion re-colored black works passibly well as a Dark Control set).

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How is killing someone by poking them to death more elegant than cleaving their skull in twain with all the force of a mighty tsunami, washing away life in a wave of crimson mist?