CARMILLA KARNSTEIN, ABILITIES AND WEAKNESSES. note: carmilla does follow specific traits of classic vampire lore, albeit mostly with my own modern twist. she fits best with the vampires of iwtv, tvd, and minor inspiration from sinners.
ABILITIES.
superhuman strength (capable of fighting off someone five times her size with ease), speed, agility, durability, and enhanced senses.
quick healing factor: superficial wounds never last long, and even a grievous injury (for a human) can be healed swiftly with a little fresh blood.
shapeshifting: carmilla possesses the ability to transform into a large, panther-like beast, black as shadow.
shadow-travel: though it may look like teleportation to the naked eye, carmilla merely has experience moving through and bending shadows to her will during her long, vampiric life.
vampiric visage: when enraged or starving of bloodlust, carmilla's truest face shows itself. irises black as pits, a red ring around them, teeth gnarled and sharp, fingernails extended like talons, the skin of her face thin and stretched like a ghoul's. she prefers her more lowkey countenance, when only the fangs extend from her gums. far less dramatic. far less monstrous.
dream walking: though she rarely indulges, one of her own strange abilities she has manifested is to weave another's dreams. the catch is they must be mortal, and prone to her influence. her sire used to command that she use it on occasion, to soften a target prior to the arrival of their fate. she hated it.
overall as an elder vampire, or at least older than most that remain, carmilla is more apt to survival and durability than some. left to her own devices, she has pulled a stake from her own heart before. vampires only grow stronger and more resistent with age.
WEAKNESSES.
though holy symbols have lost their effect on carmilla since she lost her faith, there are other items of purity that still wound her psychologically. silver burns because she allows it to in her belief of being unpure, garlic overwhelms the senses, consecrated grounds remain inaccessible unless she is given explicit permission to enter.
a stake, or any other weapon through the heart, will incapacitate her until it is removed.
beheading will kill her, but other appendages will grow back.
sunlight: the mere presence of it weakens her, effectively making her a nocturnal creature. direct contact will burn her and, through prolonged exposure, eventually kill her. she has acquired a daylight ring in recent decades that allows her to walk unfettered, but she still prefers to be most active at night.
carmilla requires an invitation to enter someone's home.
spellcraft. these witches be bitches, man.
blood hunger. in modern times, carmilla has dealt with her thirst for long enough to control it outside of the most extreme cases, but the longer she goes without blood, the weaker she becomes, and the harder it is to fight her instincts. in a case of starvation, she is only a vessel to the animalistic urges of vampirism.
