Not wishing to hijack this thread, I’ll ask it here: when facing a Jewish vampire, is a cross an effective deterrant, or should I use a Star of David? And, for that matter, what should I use against Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu or Pagan vampires? And if I’m up against an aetheist vampire, am I up shit creek, too? I know that in certain stories, a cross is only effective against vampires if the user has faith in its power, but I don’t remember the faith of the vampire ever coming into play.
Forget the symbols, just eat lots of pork.
A cheese collar.
There’s no intelligent answer to this question, obviously. Since vampires are wholly ficitious, they take on whatever characteristics a given author chooses to give them.
So, Bram Stoker might say the cross would work against ANY vampire, regardless of what religion he’d belonged to, since the cross has supernatural powers.
Richard Matheson might say that talismans have no supernatural powers, and religious symbols frighten only vampires who adhered to the relevant faith while they were human.
You could write your own vampire novel and make up your own rules.
There’s no reason to take any horror author’s work as Gospel.
I’d lob medium-rare bacon cheeseburgers at it, but that’s just me.
Yes, but it’s much more entertaining to discuss them as if they were real. This is meant to be a funny thread, not an informative one.
Personally, I’d guess that tactical nukes are a great defense against vampires of any faith.
I don’t think that the blood of victims is exactly kosher. ;j
If you’re going against a Hindu vampire…well, it rather goes against the concept of *ahimsa *(non-violence) to begin with but I guess you could wave a really bloody hunk of beef.
A crossbow with a wooden stake comes to mind. In terms of holy symbols, none, as a modern vampire will just pull out a pistol and shoot you if you wave a holy symbol at him. “Let’s see Jesus stop this ! < BAM ! >” 
Death by fire is always a proven method in the older books from different countries.
Well, there’s always the Jewish equivalent of Holy Water, so… Manischevitz?
I always thought that it was the faith of the wielder, not the vampire that mattered; but with nukes, you’ll need thermo-nukes to generate genuine sunlight. Ordinary nukes will just make the vampire radioactive.
Mad magazine once came out with a solution : drive a Cadillac through their heart.
You know, I’m surprised that this never came up on Buffy. They had black vampires, asian vampires but they remained altogether silent on their vampires’ religion. Of course, in the Buffyverse, a demon takes over the body of vampire’s victim. Its pretty clear that the demon retains the memories and some of the personality of the body it invades. Therefore, if that person was religious, then the vampire it became would probably be affected negatively by the religious symbols it once revered.
The Star of David really isn’t the Jewish equivalent of a cross. It has no intrinsic holiness. Maybe if you hit the vamp with a torah though…
I never played the game, but I’ve been told that old-time World of Darkness vamps are immune to nukes, because they aren’t magic. I also recall a vampire short story where aliens burned away all life on Earth with radiation, and were astonished to find survivers. They brought them on board to investigate, and the crew started getting weaker and sicker and weaker . . .
Quoting from memory ( so I’m sure it’s wrong ), when the Captain questions one of them at the end :
“The ancients knew how to deal with us, so well that by your arrival we were thought to be myths. Until you came, and your radiation burned away the stakes and melted the chains.”
“Nothing human could have survived what you did to Earth. Nothing human did. Now, you will take us to your world, where your people shall meet their new Masters.”
[Throwing matzoh soaked in wine] “Take that, you schmuck! Vhy ist tonight different from every other night, Count?!”
A pork steak through the heart, duh.
Am I gonna get accused of anti-semitism if I suggest a retail price sticker… :wally