A lot of vampire weaknesses are stupid because more often than not they feel like plot conveniences for the player characters than actual weaknesses. Like seriously, GARLIC AND SALT? RUNNING WATER? I can sort of understand burning in sunlight and fire in general, but I shouldn't be able to kill a powerful vampire by just spraying some water on it. I also shouldn't be able to be protected from them by just HAVING A HOUSE. I want ACTUAL WEAKNESSES like not being able to ever sleep again if their coffin is destroyed, eventually killing them over time from exhaustion.
You could also have stuff like immediately failing saving throws that are against being knocked prone and taking double damage from falls and magnify gravity because their bones would crack more easily due to lack of proper nutrients.
This is also coming from someone whose never played Curse of Strahd or Vampire the masquerade so do with that what you will.
One thing to consider is that a vampire will likely have spent a LONG time living with these weaknesses, and will have learnt skills and magic to overcome them. This can lead to really dramatic moments in games, where the vampire reveals that their plan won't work. It's deifinitely worth making sure that some of it works, so it's not a "gotcha" moment, but instead a real plot point.
Examples:
The Vampire has spent hundreds of years building up an immunity to garlic. It still burns, but it doesn't damage.
The vampire has learnt how to cast Control Water, allowing them to cross streams using magic.
The vampire has become the landlord of most properties in the town, meaning they can walk in uninvited.
The vampire doesn't burn for just any holy symbol - they only flee from one specific one, and they aren't telling which.
The vampire wears protective clothes. Everyone pictures vampires as wearing silk capes, but if they are facing vampire hunters, they will have sealed armour, thick chest-plates, and they will be wielding weapons - not trying to bite them. Good luck getting garlic to work against a fully-sealed vampire knight in plate armour.
They will drive fashions to have people use umbrellas to keep out of the sun, allowing them to move in daylight without drawing attention.
They will use magic to create permanent clouds to block the sun, but make it seem natural. When they are tired, they will let it get sunny for a while. Elders know to fear the end of sunny spells, for the vampires always wake up hungry.
Vampires aren't some evil being waiting for party proximity to trigger them. They will have laid roots in their local area, with plans and schemes to overcome their weaknesses. They might have high positions of authority, and will likely be well-loved in the area, as this will make them unsuspicious when it comes to "who is the vampire?".
First off, I take issue with the claim that vampire weaknesses are boring. A lot of them are historically accurate and real world people actually believed that vampires could be defeated in those ways.
Anyways, there was a vampire, the Abhartach, who could only be killed by being slain by a sword made out of yew wood.
Lots of vampires could be "killed" but they would rise the next day. To prevent this, people focused more on preventing them from rising from the grave. There is of corse the example of the vampire being buried with a sickle stuck above their throat so when they sat up their head would be cut off, but there are a lot of others. Some, like the Abhartach above had to be buried upside down and they wouldn't be able to rise from the grave. Other times they had to seal them underground by putting large stones above their graves. Some had to have a tree planted above their grave and as long as the tree was alive they would be trapped. I like to think that the vampire is tangled in the roots of the tree in the earth.
A lot of vampire weaknesses are stupid because more often than not they feel like plot conveniences for the player characters than actual weaknesses. Like seriously, GARLIC AND SALT? RUNNING WATER? I can sort of understand burning in sunlight and fire in general, but I shouldn't be able to kill a powerful vampire by just spraying some water on it. I also shouldn't be able to be protected from them by just HAVING A HOUSE. I want ACTUAL WEAKNESSES like not being able to ever sleep again if their coffin is destroyed, eventually killing them over time from exhaustion.
You could also have stuff like immediately failing saving throws that are against being knocked prone and taking double damage from falls and magnify gravity because their bones would crack more easily due to lack of proper nutrients.
This is also coming from someone whose never played Curse of Strahd or Vampire the masquerade so do with that what you will.
One thing to consider is that a vampire will likely have spent a LONG time living with these weaknesses, and will have learnt skills and magic to overcome them. This can lead to really dramatic moments in games, where the vampire reveals that their plan won't work. It's deifinitely worth making sure that some of it works, so it's not a "gotcha" moment, but instead a real plot point.
Examples:
Vampires aren't some evil being waiting for party proximity to trigger them. They will have laid roots in their local area, with plans and schemes to overcome their weaknesses. They might have high positions of authority, and will likely be well-loved in the area, as this will make them unsuspicious when it comes to "who is the vampire?".
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First off, I take issue with the claim that vampire weaknesses are boring. A lot of them are historically accurate and real world people actually believed that vampires could be defeated in those ways.
Anyways, there was a vampire, the Abhartach, who could only be killed by being slain by a sword made out of yew wood.
Lots of vampires could be "killed" but they would rise the next day. To prevent this, people focused more on preventing them from rising from the grave. There is of corse the example of the vampire being buried with a sickle stuck above their throat so when they sat up their head would be cut off, but there are a lot of others. Some, like the Abhartach above had to be buried upside down and they wouldn't be able to rise from the grave. Other times they had to seal them underground by putting large stones above their graves. Some had to have a tree planted above their grave and as long as the tree was alive they would be trapped. I like to think that the vampire is tangled in the roots of the tree in the earth.
I want to see a Princess Bride scenario with two vampires playing the cup game with garlic as the poison.