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	Comparison of Vampire Myths in Popular Fiction - Page 1 of 3 last update: 2 Apr 2003
	Myth	BtVS	AB	VF	WoD
	General
	Vampires are inherently evil	Yes	Maybe	No	Mostly
	Vampires are a kind of undead	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Vampires are 'normal' humans, just altered	No	No	Yes	No
	Vampires are a different species (subspecies) than humans	No	No	No	No
	Vampirism can be cured	*Very Rarely1	No	No	*Rarely1
	Identifying features	BtVS	AB	VF	WoD
	Vampire skin is unnaturally pale and cold to the touch	Yes	Yes	No	Usually
	The pallor and coldness decreases after feeding	probably	Yes	n/a	Yes
	Vampires are hideously deformed	No	*No1	No	Some
	Vampires tend to have long and pointed fingernails	No	No	No	No
	Vampires have claws/talons	No	No	No	Some
	Vampires gain monstrous aspects when angered, stressed, using vampiric abilities, etc. (e.g. glowing eyes or deformed features)	Yes	*No2	No	*No
	Vampires change appearance when angered, stressed, using vampiric abilities, etc. (e.g. flushed or less dead-looking)	No	No	Yes	Rarely
	A vampire's heart beats.	No	Usually*3	No	Rarely
	A vampire's heart only beats if the vampire wills it to	n/a	n/a	No	maybe
	Vampires need to breathe	No	No	No	No
	Vampires, in fact, don't breathe, unless they consciously intend to	*Yes2	some-times	Yes	Yes
	You become a vampire by ...	BtVS	AB	VF	WoD
	... being killed by one (normally via blood loss) (with no further action necessary)	No	No	No	No
	... drinking (or being injected by) a vampire's blood (without dying first)	No	No	Rarely	No
	... suffering fatal blood loss and drinking (or being injected by) a vampire's blood	Yes	No	n/a	Yes
	... dying after being bitten by or drinking from a vampire	No	No	Rarely	No
	... dying after repeatedly being bitten by or drinking from a vampire	No	Yes	Rarely	No
	... participating in some sort of ritual	No	No	No	*Rarely2
	... committing suicide, dying unbaptized/apostate, not being buried in consecrated ground, etc	No	No	No	No
	... being the victim of an explicit curse	No	No	No	No
	... being born that way	No	No	No	No
	... getting infected by some kind of 'virus'	No	No	Yes	No
	The subject must be willing for the transformation to be effective.	No	No	Yes	No
	The new vampire appears dead for some time (often 3 days) before rising	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
	A newly made vampire will wake ravenous and will tend to attack anyone within range (unless fed as part of the process)	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
	Killing/Hurting Vampires	BtVS	AB	VF	WoD
	A stake through the heart causes permanent death	Yes	Usually	*Yes1	No
	A stake must be made of special wood to be effective (e.g. ash or rowan or whitethorn)	No	No	*Yes	No
	A stake must be made of special wood to be effective (e.g. from the true cross)	No	No	Yes	No
	A stake through the heart causes paralysis only	No	some-times	No	Yes
	A stake must be made of wood to be effective.	Yes	Yes?	No	Yes
	Sunlight causes nearly instant combustion and is nearly always fatal	Yes	Yes	No	No
	Sunlight causes severe burns and discomfort and is fatal after extended exposure	n/a	n/a	Yes	*Yes3
	Sunlight inflicts no or mild (sunburn) damage	n/a	Rarely	n/a	No
	Sunlight must be direct to be effective	Yes	Yes	Yes	usually
	Any UV source (e.g. tanning lamps) will function the same as real sunlight	*No3	No?	No	*slightly4
	Sunblock provides some protection from sunlight	No	No	No	No
	Sunblock provides total protection from sunlight	No	No	No	No
	Vampires suffer more than usual damage from fire	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
	If invulnerable to normal attack, fire is one of the few substances that will harm a vampire	n/a	n/a	No	n/a
	Vampires suffer more than usual damage from silver	No	Yes	No	No
	If invulnerable to normal attack, silver is one of the few substances that will harm a vampire	n/a	n/a	No	n/a
	Vampires suffer more than usual damage from wood	No	No	Yes	No
	If invulnerable to normal attack, wood is one of the few substances that will harm a vampire	n/a	n/a	Yes	n/a
	Beheading causes permanent death	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	It takes special effort to make a vampire stay dead (e.g. cutting off the head, sewing the mouth shut around a clove of garlic and burying the body at a crossroads)	No	Yes*	No	No
	Dead vampires disperse to dust regardless of age	*Yes4	No	No	No
	Dead vampires decompose/disintegrate as a function of age	n/a	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Vampires become more resistant to these methods as a function of age	No	Yes	No	No
	Animals	BtVS	AB	VF	WoD
	Vampires can be sustained by animal blood	Yes	Yes	Yes	*Usually5
	Vampires can be sustained indefinitely by animal blood (without suffering deleterious side effects)	*Yes5	No	Yes	*Usually5
	Animals can become vampires	?	No?	No	No
	Animals can gain vampiric traits or be otherwise affected by drinking vampire blood.	?	No?	No	Yes
	Vampires have control over animals	no info	Some	Yes	Some
	Vampires have control only over specific animals	No	Yes	n/a	n/a
	Vampires can summon certain animals	no info	Some	No	Some
	Animals can sense vampires and feel threatened by them	Some	Yes	Yes	Some
	When you are bitten by a vampire (and live) ...	BtVS	AB	VF	WoD
	... they gain some power over you	No	Yes	No	No
	... you acquire some vampiric traits	No	*some-times4	No	No
	When you drink from a vampire (without being dead first) ...	BtVS	AB	VF	WoD
	... they gain some power over you	no info	*Yes5	No	Yes
	... you acquire some vampiric traits	no info	*some-times6	No	Yes
	Fangs	BtVS	AB	VF	WoD
	Vampires have fangs	All	All	Yes	Most
	Fangs are retractable	Yes	No	Yes	Usually
	Fangs are hollow (sucking)	No	No	No	No
	Fangs are hollow (injecting)	No	No	No	No
	Invitations	BtVS	AB	VF	WoD
	Vampires require an invitation to enter a private dwelling (of the living)	Yes	Yes	No	No
	That invitation can be simply retracted	No	Yes	n/a	n/a
	That invitation can be retracted, but requires special procedures (e.g. specific wording or a spell)	Yes	n/a	n/a	n/a
	Crosses ...	BtVS	AB	VF	WoD
	... repel vampires	Yes	*Usually7	No	Rarely
	... require the belief of the wielder to repel vampires	No	*Yes7	No	*some-times6
	... are more effective in the hands of believers	No	Yes	n/a	*some-times6
	... require the belief of the vampire to repel vampires	No	No	n/a	*some-times6
	... if effective, burns vampiric flesh on contact	Yes	Yes	n/a	Yes
	... if effective, burns everything on contact	Yes	Yes	n/a	No
	... may be replaced with other religious symbols according to the belief system of the wielder and/or vampire	No	Yes	n/a	Yes
	... are ineffective	No	No	Yes	No
	... only have a psychosomatic effect (that is, they only work if the vampire believes that they should work)	No	No	n/a	*sort of6
	Holy Water	BtVS	AB	VF	WoD
	... is ineffective	No	No	Yes	*Usually7
	... if effective, burns (like acid) and can cause severe damage in quantity	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
	... can reverse or halt effects of vampiric attack	n/a	Yes	No	No
	Eucharistic wafers can be substituted for/function similarly to holy water	*Yes6	Yes	No	Yes
	Mirrors	BtVS	AB	VF	WoD
	Vampires have no reflection in mirrors or water	*Yes7	some-times	Yes	*Rarely8
	Vampires leave no image on photographs or on film	No	No	No	*Rarely8
	Vampires are repulsed by mirrors	No	No	n/a	No
	Daytime	BtVS	AB	VF	WoD
	Vampires are completely nonfunctional (e.g asleep or corpselike) during the day	No	*Usually8	Yes	*Yes9
	If at all awake, vampires are sluggish during the day	No	Yes	n/a	*n/a9
	Vampires can function normally during the day, provided they avoid the sun	Yes	No	No	No
	Vampires can function normally during the day (without exception)	No	No	No	No
	Vampires can function normally during the day, but without their vampiric abilities	No	No	n/a	No
	Only the oldest/most powerful vampires can function during the day	n/a	*Yes8	n/a	*No9
	Supernatural Abilities	BtVS	AB	VF	WoD
	Damage resistance, high strength and fast healing	All	All	Yes	All
	Truly supernatural strength (like throwing cars)	All	All	No	Some
	Superhuman perception (e.g. sight, hearing, mystical)	Most	Most	Yes	Some
	Hypnotic mind control	*Some8	All	Yes	Some
	The mind control requires eye contact	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Shapeshifting (often a wolf or bat)	*No9	very rare	No	Some
	Mist or intangible form	*No9	Some?	intan-gible	Some
	Ability to move through solid/airtight objects	No	No	Yes	No
	Superhuman speed	maybe	Most	Yes	Some
	Flight/Levitation	No	Some	Yes	Rarely
	Inhuman stealth (Sometimes to the point of invisibility)	maybe	*Yes9	*Yes2	some-times
	Control over weather	None	Some	No	Rarely
	Saliva has healing properties (usually used to close bite marks)	No	No	No	Yes
	Miscellaneous Supernatural Restrictions	BtVS	AB	VF	WoD
	Vampires are repelled by garlic	*Yes10	No	No	Rarely
	Vampires no longer need 'regular' food	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Vampires are not physiologically able to eat solid food.	No	Yes	Yes	Usually
	Vampires can no longer eat or drink at all (other than blood)	No	Yes	No	Usually
	Vampires can eat or drink, but get nothing out of it	Yes	No	n/a	No
	Vampires can become intoxicated by directly ingesting drugs or alcohol	Yes	No	n/a	No
	Vampires can become intoxicated by drugs or alcohol secondhand (e.g. by drinking from an intoxicated victim)	Yes	Yes*	Yes	Yes
	Vampires must sleep with a sample of their home soil	*No9	No	Yes	Rarely
	Vampires cannot cross running water	No	No	Yes	Rarely
	Vampires cannot cross a line of salt	No	No	No	No
	Vampires are compelled to stop and count numerous objects (often grain) thrown into their path	No	No	No	No
	Hierarchy/Society	BtVS	AB	VF	WoD
	Vampires are societally compelled to obey their sire/creator	Maybe	Yes	No	Yes
	Vampires are mystically compelled to obey their sire/creator	No	Yes?	No	No
	Beyond the 'generic', vampires tend to have the same supernatural traits/abilities as their sire/creator	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Older vampires will, on occasion, weed out the population of younger vampires	No	No	No	*Yes10
	Vampires are loners that cannot abide to share territory	No	No	No	No
	Relationship with Other Supernaturals (especially Shapeshifters)	BtVS	AB	VF	WoD
	Vampires and Werewolves (shapeshifters) are natural allies	No	sort of	n/a	No
	Vampires and Werewolves (shapeshifters) are natural enemies	No	No	n/a	Yes
	Vampires and Werewolves (shapeshifters) could care less about each other	Yes	No	n/a	No
	Werewolf (shapeshifter) blood is extra yummy	no info	*Yes	n/a	Yes
	Werewolf (shapeshifter) blood is indigestible	no info	No	n/a	No
	Vampires can be infected with lycanthropy (become werewolves, etc.)	no info	No	n/a	No
	Werewolves (shapeshifters) can become vampires	no info	No	n/a	*Yes
	Werewolves (shapeshifters) can become vampires (but lose all of their were abilities)	no info	No	No	No
	Age and Power Level	BtVS	AB	VF	WoD
	Old vampires tend to be stronger than newer ones	generally	generally	No	Yes
	Old vampires tend to be stronger but generally just because the strong ones are better at not getting killed	generally	generally	n/a	No
	Vampires get stronger as they age	No	Yes	No	*No
	A vampire's strength varies according to the strength of their 'sire'	No	Yes	No	Yes
	A vampire can become stronger by drinking from another vampire	No	No	No	some-times
	Something about the person as a pre-vampire mortal has an effect on the powers/power level of the vampire	Yes	?	No	No
	Vampires appear the age at which they became a vampire	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
	Vampires age (physically)	No	No	No	No
	Miscellaneous	BtVS	AB	VF	WoD
	When a vampire feeds, it is fatal (to the donor)	Usually	No	No	Often
	Being fed on is pleasurable for the human victim	*some-times	Yes	No?	maybe
	Blood must be 'fresh' (from a living person, not stored or refrigerated)	No	No?	Yes	No
	Vampires must drink blood frequently (at least once every day)	Yes	No	No	Usually
	Vampires feed on something other than blood (life essence, emotions, etc)	No	*some-times	Yes	No
	The blood of other vampires is more sustaining or more powerful than that from a mortal	no info	?	No	Yes
	A vampire is 'frozen' at the moment of conversion. That is, hair and nails can be neither shortened nor lengthened, tattoos don't stick, etc.	No	No	Yes	Yes
	A vampire is immune to mortal diseases	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
	A vampire can no longer contract mortal diseases, but can still be a carrier	no info	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Vampires are still sexually functional	Yes	Yes	n/a	*Some
	Only women vampires are still sexually functional	n/a	n/a	No	n/a
	Vampires can bear children	*No11	Rarely	No	*No11
	Vampires can father children	*No11	Rarely	n/a	*No11
	A child of a vampire and a mortal results in a 'Dhampir', with some vampiric abilities and fewer of the weaknesses	n/a	No	Yes	*n/a11
	Vampires actively conceal their existence from mortal society	*No	No		Yes
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