News Files - Vampires Weaknesses
Allium Intolerance: Vampires are allium intolerant. They are unable to eat anything from the allium family, such as onions, garlic, chives, leeks, and scallions. Alliums will not kill a vampire in and of itself, but when ingested, may cause sickness, vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, constipation, bloating, and or tiredness. Most vampires have been conditioned through experience to associate the scent of alliums, especially garlic, with these symptoms. Paradoxically, some vampires have developed a fondness for the taste of alliums, despite the symptoms they experience afterwards.
Decapitation: It is possible to kill a vampire through decapitation. Unlike staking, where the vampire immediately turns to ashes, a decapitated vampire may be saved through outside intervention. Were the head to be held to the neck, it will eventually reattach. Without that, it will eventually turn to dust. How long it takes is dependent on a number of factors, including the age, willpower, and overall health of the vampire prior to decapitation.
Blood Consumption: Vampires must consume blood on a regular basis in order to regulate their bodily functions. Failing to do so will cause a vampire to weaken in a manner similar to a human lacking basic nutrition. The difference is that a human will perish relatively quickly. Vampires are known to have survived for years without feeding. A vampire so affected will waste away, becoming little more than a bag of bones.
Tainted blood, whether by disease, radiation, or drug use, is no more appealing to a vampire than spoiled food is to a human. Most will refuse to eat it unless circumstances leave them little choice. A vampire may become sick from drinking tainted blood. While human blood is by far the preferred source, pigs blood is considered a valid substitute. Some vampires like to add food items to their blood for texture and taste.
Fire: Vampires, like nearly every other immortal and undead being, abhor fire. Vampiric tissue and ichor is extremely flammable, and even if they don't burn to ash, it takes a long time to fully heal, and even then, not without some scarring. This is because fire, both physically and metaphysically, is an elemental cleansing force, and is anathema to their curse.
Food: While vampires are able to ingest and digest normal food and drink, they only have a normal human-level sense of taste in comparison to their other heightened senses, and thus are often unsatisfied with this food in comparison to blood. Furthermore, food and drink provides no nutritional value to a vampire.
Holy Items: It doesn't matter if the vampire itself believes or not. Vampirism is a diabolic curse and all infected by the curse are repulsed by the sight of a holy symbol, either it be wielded by someone with faith in what the symbol they hold represents, or the symbol itself has been blessed by someone ordained of that faith (or imbued with holiness by someone with mystical abilities). The touch of a faith powered holy symbol causes the vampire extreme agony and will start to burn them, a wound that heals only as fast as a human would normally heal a similar burn. The severity of the repulsion, pain, and agony is in direct correlation by the holder or imbuers level of faith.
Holy Water: Rarer than Holy Symbols, since fewer religions practice the blessing of water as intrinsically as their symbols, the physical effects on a vampire are still much the same.
Invitations: Vampires have a magical aversion to entering any human dwelling, unless they have been previously invited by a current permanent resident. The vampire need not know that the person is a permanent resident, nor that it is a dwelling. Were someone to become homeless and forced to live in their car, a vampire would not be able to get into the car, even if it were unlocked, without first being invited by the owner, or leasee. Once invited, they may enter at any time thereafter. There means of magically rescinding an invitation.
Reflections: Vampires do not cast reflections, and their images cannot be captured on film, or other recording devices. The magic involved prevents their clothing and belongings from being captured as well.
Silver: Silver is probably the most toxic material to vampires. Its mere touch causes burning, similar to that of a holy symbol. A silver blade, stake, or bullet will not only pierce a vampires skin more easily than any other material, but if it pierces the heart, it will cause a vampire to burn up from the inside out, leaving nothing but ash.
Sunlight: Sunlight (and ultraviolet light) burns a vampire from the outside inwards, and if they don't find cover within a few moments they will burn to ash. Most vampires have enough sense to avoid the sun, while a select few treat it as a mere inconvenience.
Wood: If the heart of the vampire is pierced with a wooden object, the vampire will immediately turn to ash. It does not matter what form the wood takes, be it a wooden arrowhead, wooden chopsticks, or a wooden stake, just so long as it is wood and pierces the heart. A puncture other than the heart, or by a material other than wood and silver, will cause great pain, but not kill, the vampire.