Sunlight 

Sunlight burns the undead, boiling their Blood and roasting their flesh. A vampire exposed to sunlight takes a number of Aggravated Damage equal to their Bane Severity at the end of each turn she remains exposed. When only partially exposed to sunlight, such as through thick curtains, protective clothing, or heavy cloud cover, a vampire takes a number of Aggravated Damage equal to their Bane Severity at the end of every other turn.

Vampiric powers such as Fortitude do not reduce the amount of damage vampires take from exposure to sunlight. It is possible to reduce the amount of damage with thick clothing, but a vampire will always take at least 1 point of damage per turn from sunlight unless there is something solid and opaque between her and the sun. (The roof of her haven is her best friend). 

Fire 

Fire is the only other natural way to deal Aggravated Damage to a vampire. Any partial exposure, such as shoving a hand into an open flame, deals one Aggravated Damage. Having roughly half of one’s body covered in flame, such as an explosion where they are shielded from the waist down, would cause two points of Aggravated Damage. Being completely engulfed in flame, such as falling through the floor of a building into a raging inferno, would cause three points of Aggravated Damage. Damage taken from the fire continues until the vampire removes themselves from the source of the flame completely and spends a simple action putting the flames out. 

A weapon with the Bane (Fire) quality converts its Normal Damage to Aggravated Damage. Extreme Cold 

Vampires cannot die from exposure to extreme cold; even the lingering effects of frostbite mend eventually if the vampire can return to normal temperatures. After an hour of exposure to sub-zero temperatures, a vampire cannot Rouse the Blood. After two hours of exposure to sub-zero temperatures, she must take a test of her Stamina + Resolve (Difficulty 4) to keep moving. Each consecutive hour she remains exposed to subzero temperatures, she must test again, increasing the difficulty by one. If, at any point, she fails, she cannot move, freezes solid, and enters torpor. 

Decapitation 

A vampire who has damage in all health levels and is in torpor may be decapitated. No test is required because the target is torpid. Decapitation requires a standard action with an appropriate weapon, and the resulting attack must do at least one damage. This destroys the vampire permanently. Other characters may choose to Assist Defender to prevent another from decapitating the target (see page XX). 

Stakes 

A vampire may be paralyzed by plunging a length of natural wood into their heart. Staking an enemy requires a weapon with the Staking quality to attempt a Staking Combat Maneuver (see Core Systems, page XX). To stake a target in the heart, instead of making a normal attack challenge, immediately make three contested challenges using Strength + Melee for a melee

weapon or Dexterity + Marksmanship for a ranged weapon against the target’s Dexterity + Athletics. If all three challenges succeed, the target is staked and suffers the following, depending on their creature type: 

● Vampires: They suffer the Helpless Condition and take 1 Normal Damage (instead of the damage the attacking character would normally assign). While staked, a vampire cannot move, act, or utilize Disciplines. They remain aware of their immediate surroundings, able to hear and see everything in their field of vision. If the stake is removed from a vampire’s heart prior to them falling to torpor, they are healed of paralysis immediately, resolving the Helpless Condition. 

● Mortals (and Thin-Bloods without the Vampiric Resilience Merit) and Ghouls: They suffer the Weakened Condition and three Aggravated Damage. The Weakened Condition lasts until all damage on the victim is healed and they have rested for 48 hours. 

● Thin-Bloods with the Vampiric Resilience Merit: They continually suffer the Staggered Condition (until the stake is removed) and take one Aggravated Damage (instead of the damage the attacking character would normally assign). 

If any of these challenges are lost, the attacker misses and does no damage. A character already suffering from the Helpless Condition can be staked automatically. Removing a stake from another character during a combat scene requires a standard action. 

Torpor 

Vampires exist in a state between life and death. When living creatures would die, vampires fall into a hibernation state called torpor. While in torpor, the only thing that separates a vampire from Final Death is the destruction of her body or decapitation. A vampire in torpor gains the Helpless Condition. They are unaware of and cannot react to their surroundings, cannot use any Disciplines, and appear to be a shriveled corpse. 

Vampires enter torpor in three ways: 

● When a vampire character has no remaining empty health levels and takes one or more points of damage (Aggravated or Normal), she falls into torpor. 

● If, when Awakening, a vampire fails their Rouse check while at Hunger 5, they fall to torpor. In game, this is only applicable when the Storyteller is enforcing Rouse checks to Awaken (see page XX) AND the character’s Hunger is unable to return to its base value between games (see page XX). 

● A vampire may enter torpor voluntarily.

Unless Awakened early (see below), vampires remain in torpor for a length of time dictated by their Humanity score (see Humanity, page XX), even if they entered torpor willingly. A staked vampire will remain in torpor until the stake is removed. Once this period of torpor has passed, an unstaked vampire Awakens at Hunger 5, immediately enters Hunger Frenzy, and begins hunting for the closest source of blood. Once they reach Hunger 4 or lower, the vampire’s Frenzy ends and they regain their faculties. 

In order to Awaken from torpor early, a vampire must be fed enough blood from a vampire of higher Blood Potency to Slake at least one Hunger. In this case, a vampire Awakens with Hunger 5 minus one for each level of Hunger Slaked from the vampire of higher Blood Potency. 

Final Death 

Vampires are more difficult to kill than mortals. To permanently destroy a vampire, the attacker must knock them into torpor by dealing more damage than they have health levels and either decapitate them (see above) or destroy their entire body. To destroy a vampire’s torpid body without decapitating them, the attacker must expose their entire body to fire or sunlight for one turn. Other suitably destructive forces, such as acid or the crushing power of junkyard car compactor, can destroy a torpid vampire if the vampire is subjected to these damaging forces for 3 standard turns. These turns do not have to happen consecutively, but they must all happen within 10 minutes. 

A vampire who is destroyed leaves behind mortal remains that appear as old as their true age. Most vampires leave behind desiccated skeletons unless they are very old. Vampires older than 500 years turn to ash. Vampires younger than a year leave behind a fresh corpse that begins decaying normally. Vampires older than one year but younger than 500 leave behind a desiccated corpse. If a vampire has a limb cut off, the missing piece will return to its normal age and expected appearance based on the vampire’s age as described above.