A thrilling mystery masterpiece – a chilling psycho-drama of blood-lust.

Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (translated as Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror; or simply Nosferatu) is a 1922 German Expressionist horror film, directed by F. W. Murnau, starring Max Schreck as the vampire Count Orlok. The film, shot in 1921 and released in 1922, was an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897). Various names and other details were changed from the novel: for instance, “vampire” became “Nosferatu” and “Count Dracula” became “Count Orlok“.

Stoker’s heirs sued over the adaptation, and a court ruling ordered that all copies of the film be destroyed. However, a few prints of Nosferatu survived, and the film came to be regarded as an influential masterpiece of cinema.

The film was released in the United States on 3 June 1929, seven years after its original premiere in Germany.

In Nosferatu, Count Orlok is a vampire who poses as a nobleman from the Carpathian Mountains who moves to the fictional city of Wisborg, Germany, and brings death with him. He lives in a vast castle high in the mountains, which is badly neglected and has a highly sinister feel to it. Local townsfolk refuse to go anywhere near his castle. Orlok is visited by the film’s protagonist, the young Thomas Hutter, the assistant of a Wisborg estate agent, who travels to his castle to show properties for sale in Wisborg. Orlok conceals himself in one of his soil-filled coffins and is loaded onto a ship bound for Wisborg. On board the ship, he kills every crew member until only the captain and his first mate remain. Later when the first mate goes to the cargo hold to investigate, Count Orlok rises from his coffin, terrifying the first mate who jumps overboard in fear. The captain ties himself to the wheel of the ship when Count Orlok creeps up on him and kills the captain. Upon his arrival in Wisborg, he spreads disease and plague, forcing the local authorities to declare a quarantine and provoking hysteria amongst the citizens. At the end of the film, Orlok attempts to attack Hutter’s young wife in her room, but is caught unaware by the rays of the rising sun, which burns him away in a cloud of smoke.

Legacy

Orlok is the main model for a style of fictional vampire that is often nicknamed nosferatu after the movie. Although based upon Count Dracula, Orlok possesses none of his predecessor’s aristocratic charm or seductiveness. He resembles something between a rat and a spider and is much more analogous to historical accounts of vampires. He sleeps in soil infected with the Black Death, and brings plague and disease with him. He is followed everywhere by rats, traditional carriers of the feared Black Death. In terms of horror movie stereotypes, other vampires based upon this character are creatures bordering between a vampire and a mutant.

Roleplaying

Nosferatu (CR +2)

Fan Content

Source: Pathfinder d20pfsrd.com

Vampirism is a living curse. Since before the earliest of elven records, accounts of the bloodthirsty dead stain the growth of civilization. Yet nothing that counts its age in millennia remains the same forever. Deemed the progenitor of modern vampirism by some scholars, the curse of the nosferatu lacks the elegance and romance of its modern form, hearkening to a forgotten age of verminous hunger and eerie powers. Granted immortal life but not immortal youth, nosferatu are the withered, embittered corpse-sires of vampirekind. In their ancient memories they bear the cruelty of epochs past and age-spanning plots devoid of the modern affliction of morality.

Creating a Nosferatu

“Nosferatu” is an acquired template that can be added to any humanoid or monstrous humanoid creature (referred to hereafter as the base creature).

A nosferatu uses all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here.

• CR: Same as the base creature + 2.
• AL: Any evil.
• Type: The creature’s type changes to undead (augmented). Do not recalculate class Hit Dice, BAB, or saves.
• Senses: A nosferatu gains Darkvision 60 ft., Low-Light Vision, and Scent.
• Armor Class: Natural armor improves by +8.
• Hit Dice: Change all racial Hit Dice to d8s. Class Hit Dice are unaffected. As undead, vampires use their Charisma modifier to determine bonus hit points (instead of Constitution).
• Defensive Abilities: A nosferatu gains the following abilities in addition to all of the defensive abilities granted by the undead type.
• Channel Resistance +4.
• Damage reduction 5/wood and piercing (this includes all wood-shafted weapons like arrows, crossbow bolts, spears, and javelins, even if the weapon’s actual head is made of another material).
• Resistance to cold 10, electricity 10, and sonic 10.
• Fast healing 5. If reduced to 0 hit points in combat, a nosferatu assumes swarm form (see below) and attempts to escape. Additional damage dealt to a nosferatu forced into swarm form has no effect. Once at rest, the nosferatu is helpless. It regains 1 hit point after 1 hour, then is no longer helpless and resumes healing at the rate of 5 hit points per round.
• Weakness: Nosferatus have all the weaknesses of normal vampires.
• Speed: Same as the base creature. If the base creature has a Swim speed, the nosferatu is not unduly harmed by running water.
• Melee: A nosferatu gains a claw attack if it did not previously have one. If the base creature does not have this attack form, use the appropriate damage value from the table below according to the nosferatu’s size. Creatures that have other kinds of natural weapons retain their old damage values or use the appropriate value from the table below, whichever is better. Its natural weapons are treated as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
• Size Damage Fine 1 Diminutive 1d2 Tiny 1d3 Small 1d4 Medium 1d6 Large 1d8 Huge 2d6 Gargantuan 2d8 Colossal 4d6
• Special Attacks: A nosferatu gains several special attacks. Saves have a DC of 10 + 1/2 nosferatu’s HD + nosferatu’s Charisma modifier unless noted otherwise.
• Blood Drain (Su): A vampire can suck blood from a grappled opponent; if the nosferatu establishes or maintains a pin, it drains blood, dealing 1d4 points of Constitution and Wisdom damage. The nosferatu heals 5 hit points or gains 5 temporary hit points for 1 hour (up to a maximum number of temporary hit points equal to its full normal hit points) each round it drains blood.
• Dominate (Su): A nosferatu can crush an opponent’s will as a standard action. Anyone the nosferatu targets must succeed on a Will save or fall instantly under the nosferatu’s influence as though by a dominate animal or dominate person spell (whichever applies; caster level 12th). The ability has a range of 30 feet.
• Telekinesis (Su): As a standard action, a nosferatu can use telekinesis, as the spell, as if it were a 12th-level sorcerer.
• Special Qualities: A nosferatu retains all the special qualities of the base creature and gains those described here.
• Spider Climb (Ex): A nosferatu can Climb sheer surfaces as though with a Spider Climb spell.
• Swarm Form (Su): As a standard action, a nosferatu can change into a bat swarm, centipede swarm, rat swarm, or spider swarm. The swarm has the same number of hit points as the nosferatu, and any damage done to the swarm affects the nosferatu. While in swarm form, a nosferatu cannot use its natural claw attack or any of its special attacks, although it gains the natural weapons and extraordinary special attacks of the swarm it transformed in. It also retains all of its usual special qualities. While in swarm form, the nosferatu is still considered to be an undead creature with its total number of Hit Dice. It can remain in swarm form nosferatu is still considered to be an undead creature with its total number of Hit Dice. It can remain in swarm form until it assumes another form; retakes its original form as a standard action; or until the next sunrise.
• Telepathy (Su): A nosferatu can communicate telepathically with any creature within 60 feet that speaks the same languages. In addition, a nosferatu can communicate with any animal, magical beast, or vermin.
• Abilities Strength +2, Dexterity +4, Intelligence +2, Wisdom +6, Charisma +4. As an undead creature, a nosferatu has no Constitution score.
• Skills A nosferatu has a +8 racial bonus on Stealth, Perception, and Sense Motive checks.
• Feats Nosferatus gain Alertness, Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, and Skill Focus for two separate skills.

ECOLOGY

Environment any, usually same as base creature
Organization solitary
Treasure double standard

Vampire Weaknesses

Vampires cannot tolerate the strong odor of garlic and will not enter an area laced with it. Similarly, they recoil from mirrors or strongly presented Holy symbols. These things don’t harm the vampire—they merely keep it at bay. A recoiling vampire must stay at least 5 feet away from the mirror or Holy symbol and cannot touch or make melee attacks against that creature. Holding a vampire at bay takes a standard action. After 1 round, a vampire can overcome its revulsion of the object and function normally each round it makes a DC 25 Will save.

Vampires cannot enter a private home or dwelling unless invited in by someone with the authority to do so.

Reducing a vampire’s hit points to 0 or lower incapacitates it but doesn’t always destroy it (see fast healing). However, certain attacks can slay vampires. Exposing any vampire to direct sunlight staggers it on the first round of exposure and destroys it utterly on the second consecutive round of exposure if it does not escape. Each round of immersion in running water inflicts damage on a vampire equal to one-third of its maximum hit points—a vampire reduced to 0 hit points in this manner is destroyed. Driving a wooden stake through a helpless vampire’s heart instantly slays it (this is a full-round action). However, it returns to life if the stake is removed, unless the head is also severed and anointed with Holy Water.

Section 15: Copyright Notice – Pathfinder 8: Seven Days to the Grave

Pathfinder 8: Seven Days to the Grave. Copyright 2008, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Author: F. Wesley Schneider.