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2019-05-22, 05:49 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2018
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- The Moral Low Ground
What animal forms would actually be good for vampires?
Picture this; You're an undead legend, you go to monster school, they teach you to turn into a wolf/bat, but you're not Wallachian, so why?
Perhaps a feline would better fit the undead form than a canid? because of your undead nature you don't need the extra stamina or the intelligence, the more carnivorous teeth are to your benefit as a blood sucker, and the specialisations of an ambush-predator build comes with increased power and agility,climbing ability, claws and sight (yes, dogs aren't colour blind, but from what I've read the cats win out) The only area a vampiric canid would win out in is smell, and maybe that godly-dog-scent power is enough to go team dog, but there are plenty of other options.
For the bat... Yeah, that's probably the best flier there is for a vampire, a bird would be far less convenient. A bat-sized insect could be a good answer... would such an insect be able to fly at that size, given vampire stamina?
Let's set out some undead guidelines
-Doesn't tire, doesn't breath.
-Resistant to low temperatures,
-All forms get fangs if they have teeth
-Animal forms must be predators.
-Additional powers are subject to the individual.
Additional rules: Your size is a limit, everything normally larger than yourself would instead be your size, and some things get upscaled to be your size. Imagine a Wolf, Bear, Tiger, Racoon and Rat that all weigh 65kgs; What's the best fighting form given equal mass?
Now metaphysically I can see it thus; The Vampire finds it easier to transform into canids because "man's best friend" and perhaps it's easier to dumb-down less on brains (being an intellegent soul in a cat brain might be harder to achieve). The Vampires likely prefer bats because they want all the nice mammal features (bats have hands!) and flying squirrels would be too OP for a lawful vampire society.
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2019-05-22, 06:50 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2010
- Location
- Toledo, Ohio
- Gender
Re: What animal forms would actually be good for vampires?
If everything scales to your size, then you want a cat. Not much can take a cat without a significant size advantage.
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2019-05-22, 08:18 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2013
- Location
- Bristol, UK
Re: What animal forms would actually be good for vampires?
Maybe a wolverine?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WolverineThe end of what Son? The story? There is no end. There's just the point where the storytellers stop talking.
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2019-05-22, 09:30 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2010
- Gender
Re: What animal forms would actually be good for vampires?
Skunk. A skunk is about a pound, a vampire is at least 100 times as large, which means it is going to expel a burning, blinding, noxious agent over ten feet. A normal skunk shoots 15CCs, a Vampire Skunk would shoot 1/3 of a gallon (up to a full gallon for a big vampire.)
Similarly Cone Snails are extremely poisonous and can shoot darts, tarantulas shoot clouds of irritating hairs, and spitting cobras can accurately blind someone. A giant poison dart frog would also be pretty cool.
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2019-05-22, 10:03 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2016
Re: What animal forms would actually be good for vampires?
For the bat... Yeah, that's probably the best flier there is for a vampire, a bird would be far less convenient. A bat-sized insect could be a good answer... would such an insect be able to fly at that size, given vampire stamina?
That said ... you're positing a scenario in which a fairly typical humanoid turns into a big insectoid. Physically-implausible flight capability for your overgrown mosquito man shouldn't exactly be straining credulity, here; this is already a situation where any explanation of how it works boils down to "because magic."Last edited by Aeson; 2019-05-22 at 10:04 PM.
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2019-05-23, 02:00 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2014
- Location
- Tulips Cheese & Rock&Roll
- Gender
Re: What animal forms would actually be good for vampires?
A baboon.
Monkeys are basically the only animals that form city gangs and harrass people in their own houses in the real world. They're a bit less sneaky in getting into a crack in the window than bats are, but they can always just crack the actual window if needed.
And the added ability to upscale a baboon to human size is just scary:
Must be predators my donkey.Last edited by Lvl 2 Expert; 2019-05-23 at 02:01 AM.
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2019-05-23, 04:41 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2011
Re: What animal forms would actually be good for vampires?
Hyena and hawk.
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2019-05-23, 12:08 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2016
Re: What animal forms would actually be good for vampires?
My vote goes to the Mantis Shrimp! At their normal size of 10 cm, they throw a punch at 52 mph: the force of a .22 caliber bullet. That's twice the speed of world class boxers, and fast enough to generate a literal shockwave that kills the shrimp's prey even if the punch misses. Now imagine that the size of a person.
Do you look silly? Yes.
Can you punch a hole clean through anyone that calls you silly? Also yes.Last edited by El'the Ellie; 2019-05-23 at 12:09 PM.
Spoiler: Small Grammatical Library: use as desired. Please return links to front desk after checking them out.
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2019-05-23, 01:44 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2018
- Location
- The Moral Low Ground
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2019-05-23, 02:10 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2010
- Gender
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2019-05-23, 04:22 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2018
- Location
- six feet under
- Gender
Re: What animal forms would actually be good for vampires?
VELOCIRAPTORS! Why wouldn't you be a (double sized) killer dinosour? (Or cat. But partly just because I like cats.)
Also, have you considered a peregrine falcon for an arial option?
—CaeruleaLast edited by Caerulea; 2019-05-23 at 04:26 PM.
Non caerulea sum, Caerulea nomen meum est.
Extended Signature.
I'm not not a humanoid. Come not not be one too.
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2019-05-23, 04:28 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2010
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- Toledo, Ohio
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Re: What animal forms would actually be good for vampires?
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2019-05-23, 06:05 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2018
- Location
- The Moral Low Ground
Re: What animal forms would actually be good for vampires?
Yes, but would that liquid get any nastier? There's only so much surface area it can cover, and would the substance be relevant to the undead vampire?
See, cats look choice, due to the high-energy muscles and the less specialised limbs.
But I don't know enough about bears, rodents or much else to solidify cats as top choice. An additional problem I have with cats is that there's a significant bias towards them because of the cats vs dogs debate. It's harder to get fair sources for them because the people who've got enough interest in the subject to talk about it tend tobe talking out of their...have a vested interest in their choice of pet.
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2019-05-23, 07:17 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2010
- Gender
Re: What animal forms would actually be good for vampires?
The substance gets much, much worse when it gets in your airways or orifices. The skunk shoots a tiny amount normally, so you have to be unlucky not to just get a noseful of scent but with big amounts it is going to blind you and choke you.
The advantage to a Vampire is it works like hyper-pepper spray that lasts for weeks on targets.
Cats are fine, a Cougar would be just about the same size as a person anyway and are very good at killing.
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2019-05-23, 07:35 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2011
Re: What animal forms would actually be good for vampires?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUajncWmFWA&t=385s
Tier Zoo is an amazing channal.
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2019-05-23, 07:59 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2010
- Location
- The Great White North
- Gender
Re: What animal forms would actually be good for vampires?
The Honey Badger because it's fearless. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3WjnLn9p3U
How do you keep a fool busy? Turn upside down for answer.
˙ɹǝʍsuɐ ɹoɟ uʍop ǝpısdn uɹnʇ ¿ʎsnq ןooɟ ɐ dǝǝʞ noʎ op ʍoɥ
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2019-05-23, 10:16 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2018
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- six feet under
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Re: What animal forms would actually be good for vampires?
Last edited by Caerulea; 2019-05-23 at 10:16 PM.
Non caerulea sum, Caerulea nomen meum est.
Extended Signature.
I'm not not a humanoid. Come not not be one too.
Answer trivial questions in the OOTS trivia thread!
she/her
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2019-05-24, 01:32 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2019
Re: What animal forms would actually be good for vampires?
Turning into a snake would be great. Like He Who Must Not Be Named
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2019-05-24, 02:23 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2007
- Location
- Switzerland
- Gender
Re: What animal forms would actually be good for vampires?
Does it have to be nocturnal or is darkvision in the vampire package?
Resident Vancian Apologist
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2019-05-24, 04:19 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2018
- Location
- The Moral Low Ground
Re: What animal forms would actually be good for vampires?
Last edited by The Jack; 2019-05-24 at 04:21 AM.
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2019-05-27, 09:37 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2005
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Re: What animal forms would actually be good for vampires?
We're already mutilating conservation of mass with this thought exercise, so I think we can get away with playing games with the square-cube law as well.
NOW COMPLETE: Let's Play Starcraft II Trilogy:
Hell, It's About Time: Wings of Liberty
Does This Mutation Make Me Look Fat: Heart of the Swarm
My Life For Aiur? I Barely Know 'Er: Legacy of the Void
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2019-05-28, 07:44 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2007
Re: What animal forms would actually be good for vampires?
I thought part of the goal was to avoid mutilating conservation of mass. If you wanted a nocturnal flier, you'd want an owl. If you wanted to conserve mass, you might wind up with something like a pteranodon or Haast's eagle (Haast's eagle may have preyed on humans before extinction, but still was unlikely to mass anywhere near a human).
A wolf form may be more useful in more urban areas where an exotic form may attract undo attention. The big problem is that most of the wolves advantages (endurance hunting) would be already covered by "vampire powers": the wolf form isn't particularly powerful, just better camouflage (same goes for the owl, but owl is essentially an upgraded bat).
And yes, this is a question straight out of tier zoo. Just slap the vampire template on a tier zoo "build" and see where it stands.
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2019-05-28, 08:26 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2012
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Re: What animal forms would actually be good for vampires?
I have to imagine rats would be rather good when human sized. The big ones can already go toe to toe with animals much bigger than them, at least well enough to make the other animal avoid confrontation, they're great climbers and good at jumping, have dexterous paws that could crudely grip things, can squeeze through tight spaces and have big ol' rodent teeth, which can leave some pretty deep wounds.
Sanity is nice to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.
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2019-05-28, 09:27 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2018
Re: What animal forms would actually be good for vampires?
Cat isn't the upgrade from wolf that you're looking for. Just say tiger and be done.
More imaginitively, consider that if spiders were the size of cats the human race would be in trouble. A man - sized jumping spider would be terrifyingly lethal. The tiger would fear it.
You'd have to remove the predator requirement, though, to reach the ultimate form. Imagine driving down a narrow road late a night, miles from the nearest settlement, bleary lights casting just ahead of your position at even a cautious rate of travel. You round a blind curve and suddenly it's just standing there, and in a split second you must decide between colliding with it or swerving to miss, but your choice is irrelevant as the creature chose this spot to damn you no matter how you react. You try to hault, skidding and clattering you brace for impact but hit nothing, your heart beats wildly as all motion ceases. Relief is fleeting, because the creature is upon you before you grasp your bearings. Blistering speed, uncanny senses, and more martial prowess than most realize, there can be no more opportunistic menace for a cunning vampire to choose than the Pennsylvania whitetail deer. Just ask any auto insurance adjuster.
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2019-05-28, 11:02 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2018
- Location
- six feet under
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Re: What animal forms would actually be good for vampires?
Last edited by Caerulea; 2019-05-28 at 05:47 PM.
Non caerulea sum, Caerulea nomen meum est.
Extended Signature.
I'm not not a humanoid. Come not not be one too.
Answer trivial questions in the OOTS trivia thread!
she/her
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2019-05-28, 01:40 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2018
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2019-05-28, 04:35 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2007
- Location
- Switzerland
- Gender
Re: What animal forms would actually be good for vampires?
Eh, a tardigrade doesn't really give anything a vampire doesn't usually already have in fiction. Vampires already go into a death-like sleep where they last for centuries and are difficult to kill.
Plus, the internet is super-memey about tardigrades. Their indestructibility? Doesn't work that way.
Anyway, there seem two general paths for this. Mobility and terrifying predator. For the first, I'd say a form that can both fly and swim would be ideal, so maybe some kind of waterfowl. For the second, I'd say Jaguar or Hyena (because size isn't really a factor since everything is scaled up, so I'd take Jaguar over Tiger.) For a combination of both, a crocodile is pretty damn hard to beat.Last edited by Eldan; 2019-05-28 at 04:37 PM.
Resident Vancian Apologist
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2019-05-28, 05:01 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2013
- Location
- Bristol, UK
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2019-05-28, 05:11 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2010
- Gender
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2019-05-28, 09:32 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2007
Re: What animal forms would actually be good for vampires?
Crocodile (and any water based critter) has the issue of being a cheaty way of defeating the "can't cross running water" penalty. I doubt it would be allowed.
I have to question the 65kg bug. I've heard of dragonflies with >1m wingspan, but they certainly didn't weight 65kg. Also insects during this time enjoyed an atmosphere with three times the oxygen and no vertebrate predator/competitors. They aren't viable now.
65kg fliers also have the issue of preferring to soar and finding climbing extremely expensive. Expect them to live near cliffs full of useful thermals to avoid manually climbing (in the aircraft sense with wings, not claws). The typical assumption is that the vampire would assume the form when pressed, but a large flyer would assume that the vampire would get into position (probably at the top of a tower) and then change form. Of course if he had both a bat and a pteranodon form, that would be the best of both worlds.
The deer form has some issues. Should the vampire posses/hypnotize/control other deer and launch them toward a victim, that would be terrifying. A vampire simply attacking vehicles is bad enough (assuming that they are indifferent to anything but special (typically silver) attacks and nothing but a good staking will finish them off), but eventually somebody will finish the job and happen to have silver bullets (perhaps leftover from the zombie craze), and become suspicious. Also the deer has to be sufficiently mobile after being hit by a car to bite the driver and/or passenger, this may require the vampire using a "real" deer to attack the vehicle. Moose are considerably more dangerous (you simply *must* brake for moose), but only the >>100kg are the ones that commonly lethal.