Alucard Tepes (Dropped)

"Dhampir" is the word for a being that is half-human and half-vampire. This tends to grant that being a more powerful existence than a mortal being. Alucard has the strength of at least ten strong humans, he can move so fast that he leaves afterimages of himself in his wake, can jump several times his own height, and can withstand damage to his body that would leave a human's body in tatters.

As a dhampir, Alucard is functionally immortal (he can be killed, but he won't die of old age, as he doesn't age). He also has the ability to drain blood from an enemy (if it has blood) and can either use it to heal himself of damage, or to take a measure of an opponent's power -- not to copy power, but to restore himself more with their blood if it holds more power, or, if he is not injured or damaged, he can increase his own physical statistics for about an hour. This is possible if a being has power (Perks that are not NPC-based).

Dracula is a very powerful mage, and in his bid to groom Alucard into the perfect soldier for his revenge on humans, gave him a thorough schooling in dark magics. Alucard can summon fireballs from his cape (either normal fire or lava/magma-like fire), absorb blood through touch, drain the lifeforce from a target, or summon between one and four spirits that home in on enemies. Alucard can also channel his magic through one of his Familiars, a sapient sword, for a devastating attack that fires out spiritual copies of the sword in a circle around itself. Finally, he can use telekinesis for a variety of effects such as follows: he can float or simulate unaided flight for short distances, retrieve weapons knocked away from him or make a weapon attack on its own, manipulate his cape with magics to glide and save himself from falling, or to "flap" briefly to give a jump a bit more height.

The sword Alucard uses is an heirloom from his mother, who taught him the sword style of her family. Combined with his unnatural vampiric strength, this allows Alucard to wield a greatsword -- normally a two-handed weapon -- one-handed, and use a shield besides. Between his strength and his skill with the sword, he can strike with force enough to knock a human away easily, or parry/block strikes of immense strength. Combined with his vampiric speed, he can get around a normal human's guard easily, moving so fast that he appears to teleport around the fighting area. Alucard can also wield one of his Familiars, a sapient sword.

Being a hunter -- not just of vampires, but of all manner of supernatural nasties -- Alucard has a great deal of knowledge about these supernatural nasties' weaknesses. Outside of his own world, it's not always clear whether his knowledge will be accurate, but some of these basic principles carry over -- for zombies, destroy the head, also fire works reasonably well; vampires are generally put down by a stake through the heart and/or decapitation; werewolves can be dealt with via wolfsbane and silver; et cetera. More than that, he recognizes hunting/predatory behavior, even in creatures he might not otherwise recognize, and has seen (and hunted) enough to know when something is hunting him or others.

Alucard can change into a large black bat, and this gives him access to the ability to fly, to use echolocation for both navigation and for attacking purposes, and the ability to charge through the sky at enemies. He can also change into a white and lavender wolf with the typical abilities of a wolf -- that is, biting and pouncing -- as well as a similar charging ability. He can actually swim while in this form. Finally, he can change into mist, allowing him to exit through small cracks in walls and floors, so long as the area isn't airtight. He can fly in this form, but his flight speed is quite slow. Alucard can choose whether to change into regular white mist or a cloud of yellowish, acidic mist that is poisonous to breathe, but he must decide this before he changes. Changing his mind about it requires him to shift back to human form and then into the preferred mist form.

Alucard has five Familiars at his disposal -- Fairy can pick out odd features in the environment and heal him; Imp (small flying demon) can set fires, stab with a small trident, or fit into small spaces; Ghost (a skull with ghostly blue fire burning around it) can drain life from an enemy; Bat can bite and spit fireballs; and Sword (a sapient sword) can attack enemies on its own. Each spirit has its own personality -- Fairy is loyal and devoted to Alucard, Imp is a troublemaker, Ghost is... kind of a dope and tends to leave Alucard's side temporarily when he shifts into bat form, Bat is devoted to Alucard and tends to admire him more when he's in Bat form, and Sword is courageous and eager to defeat strong enemies. Only one of these spirits may be active at any point.

Much like his father, Alucard possesses an alternate form, that of a horrific monster, though he has no wish to use it, for fear of losing himself to its power. This hulking, demonic form increases his already high physical attributes with a demon's power, making him a terror on the battlefield. However, he loses access to most of his magic, as he's not quite mentally "there" enough to use it. He retains only a fire attack, and this becomes a breath weapon. For physical attacks, the form has horns, sharp claws, a tail, and wings. And due to the latter, he can also fly. However, Alucard would only be tempted to take this form in the direst of circumstances, when there are no innocents around for him to hurt. But it could possibly be drawn out of him with dark magic. Whether he takes this form by choice or he is forced into it, however, once the "charge" is spent or he is defeated in this form, Alucard loses consciousness and (if he survives the battle) must be placed into a dark place where he can slumber to regain his strength. Failing that, he can be fed a large quantity of powerful blood -- "powerful" blood would be the blood of demons or other supernatural creatures, a Belmont, sufficiently powerful magic-users, or something along those lines. The amount required depends on the strength of the blood.

As for his senses, he is able to see in near-complete darkness and his ability to pick up small movements in his field of vision is surpasses that of cats. He can smell the difference between people's personal scents from about fifty yards away, can always smell blood in the area, and can even pick up some small details about people based on smell -- their species, if they are demonic or vampiric, or if they possess some kind of power (though he may not always know what the power is). Use of werewolf blood can be an effective means to mask other scents, since its scent is so powerful and quite repugnant to his nose. His sense of touch is sharp enough to accurately tell what surface his hands are on, and if he is very still, semi-accurately check a room for hidden passages based on air currents in the room. And his sense of taste is sharp enough to detect the presence of harmful chemicals such as arsenic or cyanide in food or drink -- mind, he usually isn't sure WHAT they are, just that they're dangerous.

While Alucard is only half vampire, these weaknesses still affect him. Garlic acts as a food allergy (fortunately he can usually smell it), if he's submerged over his head in running water he will start taking damage, holy powers and weapons will always do more damage to him (as will anything meant to harm specifically undead), and silver weapons will always cause wounds that must heal normally and will scar without outside assistance. Sunlight generally doesn't bother him, but he sunburns critically easily, and contracts heatstroke much faster. Additionally, if he's left in the sun after being injured badly, he could die. UV lasers/concentrated UV light will also damage him, though small "blacklights" don't. They can, however, temporarily blind him if shined directly in his eyes.

Alucard's power is great, even for a dhampir. Unfortunately, in his case, with great power comes great creepiness. That dark power radiates from him like heat from a fire. Most PCs won't have a problem with it, but it IS a good way to know that he's in the area. It can also be used to track him, even when he's vulnerable -- such as when he's in torpor (deep, deathlike vampire hibernation). Worse, it makes stealth missions hard because his presence (ostensibly as a predator) is almost always going to set off people's creep radar in the area he's skulking about in, even if he's not immediately visible, making people more likely to spot him due to being more aware of their surroundings thanks to being creeped out. To say nothing of how he tends to send normal animals (except bats, rats, wolves, and the like) scampering for the hills. Which in turn makes it harder to not go after humans for their blood, since animals generally flee his presence...

As much as Alucard IS very much on the side of good, he was born and raised as an aristocrat, and everything about his bearing shows that. He is, at first blush, taciturn and aloof-seeming, and this can make him come off as unsympathetic to the plights of others. Not only that, but his pride won't accept insults to his honor or his family (though he knows that Dracula is evil and doesn't respond to this particular note), particularly (God forbid) his mother. This becomes more of a problem in modern worlds, where the easy way "bastard" is thrown around -- this word meaning a child born out of wedlock, thus insinuating the mother is "of loose morals" -- could actually rile him into violence if applied strongly enough. Beyond his pride, Alucard is accustomed to being one of the strongest beings in his world; out there in the other worlds connected to the World Tree, this isn't going to be the case. His penchant for wading into a supernatural horror show without a thought, or making a potential ally think he's a monster so he can test their power and conviction, both because he thinks he can take it without really thinking about it, is easily a setup to get him wrecked in all kinds of new and interesting ways.

One of the downsides of being half-vampire is the craving for blood. This doesn't, by itself, lead him into anything particularly heinous, as his willpower is pretty strong. And most of the time he can feed upon the things that would prey upon mortals, so it's not usually a terrible problem. However, there are times when he needs the blood more than usual, particularly when he's been injured and requires the strength to regenerate damage done to his body. In these situations, he is more vulnerable to temptation, and can be coaxed into taking blood from a mortal. And in this state, he's more likely to kill said mortal. Additionally, though his willpower IS pretty strong, the urge to take blood is always there, even when not injured. It's difficult when some part of you sees everyone you meet as potential prey...

Alucard may come off as not seeming to care much about the plight of those around him. But in actuality, of all his mother's teachings, the one he took to heart the most was her last words, of humans having a hard lot in life. And it's true, with all the powerful supernatural things out there, humans are kind of like cattle to many of those things. It's in his mother's memory that he hunts the things that would prey on innocent mortals. This regularly puts him at odds with powerful supernatural creatures. But it's also not too terribly difficult to exploit this. Someone pretending to be in distress or in need of rescue could easily catch him off-guard; a hostage can be used to force him into surrender, retreat, or just a badly disadvantageous position -- a number of situations advantageous to an adversary could be forced via threatening an innocent life. It's never "just" a mortal's life at stake for him.

It's kind of a tragedy, really. Alucard seeks to protect mortals from creatures that would prey upon them, and would never wish harm on any he would protect. But he himself is a predator and frightens those same mortals. It's given him a hesitation to mingle with those mortal beings, which is sad, because half of his soul is mortal and craves the contact. And at the same time he feels that he is a monster and does not belong amongst mortals. It leaves him with a hesitation to bring his concerns to others, leaving his ill feelings to pile up with nothing to do but bottle them up inside him. More to the point, his hesitation makes him seem aloof and unapproachable, leaving him possibly without allies when they're needed, or causing people who could use his assistance to seek it elsewhere.