Okay. You guys are considering. Folk lore and shows that give vampire the upper hand. I would personally choose to be a werewolf. Shows like Teen Wolf or Bitten show werewolves having the advantage, yes atfirst they are savage creatures who turn on the full moon, but after a while of practice and control a werewolf can learn to not lose control on the moon. You also have enhanced senses, super strength, speed. Agility. You have claws and fangs while in human form. And in Bitten the wolves don’t even shift on the full moon. It’s totally up to them to focus on not lose control. Same goes for twilight. The wolves have to stay calm, to stay normal just like vamps. The wolves are also immortal as long as they continue to shift, if they stop they can age normally. They also have super strength, and the rest of the powers listed about minus the claws and fangs. So werewolves are just as great.

lol come on vampires really? i think you all focusing on one sterotypical focus there is ALOT of folklore on werewolves almost every movie before craplight suggested they were immortal think about it they have insane regen but neither race is “truly” immortal they can be killed afterall when world of darkness MMO does come out i honestly hope it isnt biased to just a vampire POV i’d much rather play as a human/slayer up against incredible odds but still pulling shit off ;P

i would pick a werewolf…for one they r both immortal vamps and wolves 2 they both heal up insanely fast, but werewolves are not killed by silver that was added on afterwards and although vampires do have other supernatural powers…i would b happy and extatic if i was a werewolf afterall i would b so much stronger than a vampire that they would need to use extra mumbo jumbo to fight evenly with mi and i dont have to give much up..other than i would have to controll my temper more not much of a downside now is it?

I’ve been a fan of the World of Darkness for many years, and even before playing, I’ve been a fan of the creatures of lore. Now, I have to look at many different angles of this and look at the ups and downs of each one (I use world of darkness because it gives us rules to go by). First off, the Kindred (vampires): They are immortal, have many different ability’s, and have grate influence amongst mortal society. But the downside to them is they have one of the greatest weaknesses of all time, have to deal with loosing their friends and family and will never be able to grow attached t words someone do to the fact that they’ll loose that person, or be persecuted by other vampires for embracing the person and probably be killed for it. To me, immortality comes at to hi a price and is something I don’t want. Now, Garou (werewolves) have the capability to transform at will, has great strength, is in tuned with nature, able to converse with the dead, and are pretty much holy warriors. The problem with them is they are weakened by silver (not a big issue) tend to shun technology, and might loose control around an evil presence. Now, to me, the werewolves seem to have a much better deal than vampires do and so I would have to side with them… It’s also funny to see how vampires who have lived for hundreds of years still fear werewolves that have only been around for a couple of years.

If I had to become one of them, I’d definitely choose the vampiric route.

1) I already prefer the night to the day, even a little sunlight can really irritate my eyes, so I don’t go out much.

2) Related to point above, I burn in the sun easily. So sun-avoidance is something I do now.

3) Vampires live ‘forever’, until they’re killed or kill themselves. Werewolves seem to be as long-lived as a human. A human with remarkable healing powers, but still a human.

4) Werewolves seem far more animal when they turn. Vampires, on the other hand, remain themselves. They crave the blood which obviously would affect their actions, but they remain mostly themselves.

So, if, in 10 or 20 years someone happens to meet a real vampire, send me an email :p

@ Matt`: Well, I think the religious symbol is bit like a Jedi mind trick:

– only works on the weak minded
– if you keep using it on the same person, they will get used to it
– only works when the user truly believes that it will work

The symbol doesn’t really matter – what matters is the faith behind it. So for example, and atheist wouldn’t be able to use a cross. A Jewish person on the other hand would have to use a Star of David rather than a cross for example. At least that’s how it worked in WoD.

Anyone seen Being Human? TV series about a vampire and a werewolf who move into a house as room-mates, then discover there’s a ghost living there too. I think in that series the vampires have a fairly clear upper hand. Mostly because it dispenses with a lot of the old weaknesses of both species – vampires aren’t instantly crisped by sunlight, they just don’t like the sun much, might be weakened by it a bit, so they generally prefer the night.

Religious symbols… are treated oddly – the werewolf of the series is Jewish, and a star he wears around his neck repels some bad vampires, as does a Bible passage recited by a priest, but they seem to be one-use things that won’t work a second time. And his vampire friend was never affected by the star. Something funky going on there, maybe it’ll be explained when a second season rolls around.

Also seems like there’s generally some vampire/werewolf tension (vampires consider werewolves to be lower animals than humans, and are plotting a takeover of the humans to boot) but the lead vampire bucks the trend. Whilst there seem to be a lot of vampires around, only one other werewolf is ever shown.

Anyway… long story short, if you go by that setup the vampires get to be immortal and ageless, can survive the sun, and the only cost is finding sunlight a minor annoyance and having to feed occasionally. Werewolves on the other hand will turn wolfish every full moon, on the full moon and are completely uncontrolled savages for the duration of the night. They can devise ways to limit the damage (drag a chicken around in a circle centred on wherever they go to turn, so they follow that scent all night, or lock themselves away and have someone else let them out in the morning) but it’s generally a pretty raw deal with no particular upsides.

@ Alphast: Well, the joke is that White Wolf rebooted WoD because it got so complex they couldn’t even wrap their heads around it, and started contradicting themselves in the new expansions. :P

That said, I read Vampire Requiem rulebook and I liked it. They actually seemed to simplify and streamline a lot of things story wise. They made the world more open ended. Not sure about the Werewolf book – I have yet to get my hands on that one.

Well, the whole WoD story I always found a bit over hyped. And the new WoD I found even more esoterical to understand. I guess I am not really made for it… ;-)

@ Alphast: I have bad news for you: the new Werewolf edition pretty much removes the whole eco-warrior stuff. Now shape shifters are supposed to be some sort of border-patrol between the real world and Umbra. The Wyrm and Black Spiral Dancers are mostly gone.

Some people like this new twist, while others hate it. I’m actually thinking it may not be a bad idea, because I always thought that whole eco-focus was too… I don’t know… Captain Planet for my tastes. Then again, I haven’t read the rulebook myself – I’m just going by what I heard and read online.

@ Morghan: Heh, nice! I don’t think this sort of thing would fly with my GM. Diablerie was risky business.

Also, this sort of thing can’t happen in Vampire Requiem. They sort of removed the whole generation thing and replaced it with focus on blood potency. If your potency is to high you can only feed on other vampires. Eventually you will slip into torpor (voluntarily or not) and sleep for a few centuries. As you sleep your blood dilutes and when you wake up you are usually back to the baseline. Also torpor fucks you up psychologically – it’s pretty much like a long nightmare in which you relive parts of your life. When you wake up you usually can’t remember what was real and what was just imagined.

So in Requiem there are no god-like, day walking, ancient Antediluvians sleeping in some forgotten tombs getting ready for Gehenna. Or rather there might be, but when they wake up, they will be just like regular vampires – just old and experienced, though they forgot a lot of things while they were sleeping. Day walking is literally unheard of. The most you can hope for is the ability to walk in the twilight hours during dawn and sunset – and that’s only with the special Ordo Draculi powers.

Diabelerie is still an option, but it does carry a higher price. If you would become so powerful you could walk in daylight, you would probably be only able to feed on equally or only slightly less powerful vampires. Failure to feed would eventually mean slipping into torpor, and then it’s back to the drawing board.