I've got a few vampires and vampire-adjacent villains on the blog already, but none that really equate to the "ancient ancestral bloodsucker" yet. So here's a spin on that that isn't some Johnny-come-lately from Mesapotamia, much less a pathetic European infant with delusions of grandeur. Vampire myths are as old as humanity, and so is this creature of the night. This thing is old enough to have killed Abel, but it sure wasn't his brother.
The Sire
The first and by far the oldest of its kind, the Sire has almost completely forgotten its original humanity as well as whatever awful event that made it what it is. Some few humans have reached a pale imitation of true vampirism through ritual or curse, but the most potent vampires were turned by this thing over its impossibly long lifespan, spawning their own "children" in turn during their few centuries or millennia of existence. Most of its immediate descendants were created by accident - the Sire has always been careless with its kills - but every few centuries one mere mortal might attract enough interest to be infected deliberately. What motivates such interest is never clear, but nothing as comprehensible as lust or hate or mercy seem to be involved.
The Sire has been known to stalk supers, and on rare occasions a daring hero (or team of heroes) might seek to turn the tables and hunt the hunter. The best most can hope for is to drive off the oldest of vampires, and many simply vanish or, worse, return as pawns of the creature. Like most predators, the Sire is intolerant of competition poaching on their hunting grounds, and an outbreak of lesser vampires may draw its attention, leading to crusading heroes finding something else is pursuing the blood-suckers besides them.
Description: As a shapeshifter it can look like almost any species that fed its thirst in the past. The traditional vampiric forms - wolves, bats, rats - are supplemented by stranger shapes, some long-extinct. Its precision at imitating living humans is somewhat lacking, mostly due to sheer boredom and lack of need. Still, its base shape remains a mostly-human ghoulish figure, lean, gray and hunched with traces of other things in the odd scattering of scale or fur or wolf-like eyes. It rarely speaks, and when it does its dry croaking betrays a lack of recent practice.
Gender: Forgotten Age: ~300,000 Years Height: Base 5'10" Eyes: Varies, Often Wolf-Like
Hair: Varies, Often None Skin: Varies, Often Graying Build: Varies, Often Humanoid
Approach: Ancient Archetype: Predator
Health: 45 + (5 x H)
Powers: Vampiric Savagery d12, Invisibility d10, Suggestion d10, Shapeshifting d8
Qualities: Self-Discipline d12, Stealth d12, Close Combat d10, Finesse d8, The First Vampire d8
Status: (# of Enemies Engaged) 0-1 - d10 / 2-3 - d8 / 4+ - d6
Abilities:
Cold, Calculated Perfection (A) Take a basic action using Self-Discipline. Use your Max die.
Drink Deep (A) Attack using Vampiric Savagery. Use your Max die. Hinder a target dealt damage this way using your Max + Min dice.
Gone and Forgotten (A) Boost yourself using Stealth. Use your Max die. That bonus is persistent and exclusive. Defend yourself against all Attacks until your next turn using your Mid die.
Lurking Presence (I) Double any mods of your choice involved with taking action against a target that is unaware of your presence or distracted from remembering you're still around.
Upgrades & Masteries (optional, depending on how motivated it feels there might be more than one upgrade):
Brainwashing Zone (I) +10 Health. While the scene is in the green zone, all heroes' qualities of d8 or higher are reduced by one die size. In the Yellow zone all of the heroes' qualities of d10 or higher are reduced by one additional step (two die sizes total). In the Red zone, all heroes' quality dice are treated as d4. Heroes can remove this upgrade with three overcome successes. If a hero takes a minor twist while taking these Overcomes, they lose access to a quality entirely until this upgrade is removed. If a hero is knocked out while this ability is active, create a new friendly minion with a die size equal to the hero's largest power die to represent the brainwashed hero.
Master of Superiority (I) As long as you are manifesting an effect related to a power you have at d12, automatically succeed at an Overcome involving usage of those powers.
Tactics
The Sire is a hunter, out to feed their endless thirst rather than engage in anything like a fair fight. If they do engage in combat, they rely on Cold, Calculated Perfection to use Overcomes to fade away from sight and memory, then Gone and Forgotten to prepare themselves. When they strike, Lurking Presence will make their first use of Drink Deep even stronger. If possible they prefer to repeat a two-round vanish-and-attack cycle as often as possible. If their stealth tricks get countered through heroic Overcomes and they get ganged up on they'll use more Overcomes to divide up their enemies or escape the scene to return another night.
Their upgrade reflects them pushing their psychic domination of the lesser beings around them, making the hunt all the easier. Their mastery makes concealment tricks far simpler as well.
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