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When a vampire turns into a bat or mist does their clothes change also or do they just run around naked?

depends if the game is PG or NC-17. is the short answer.

but vamps are not naked even if they are nude.
Naked's main meaning is 'to be without protection'. And a Vamp always takes its immunities with it, unless there has been some magic worked on it to take them away.

This is addressed in text description. Not sure which Vampire description (Rifts, Palladium Fantasy, etc) you have/using, but the one in LotD2 states when they use their metamorph abilities they do take their clothes with them (along with personal artifacts, though there are limits to just what can be taken). This is unusual/unique since metamorphosis won't take clothing with them (at least going by spells and IIRC creature examples like Dragon).

Question is less "PG or N-17" and more "Male or Female".

Terry Pratchett answered that question in Thud! Iirc

Vampire Kingdoms Revised gave the offical answer: Vampires clothing small weapons always magically reappear when the vampire returns to human form after metamorphing, as do small personal items they are carrying, but only if those items are their property, stolen items cannot come with them during a metamorphasis. Body armor and large, cumbersome weapons also cannot come with and fall to the ground when they change shape.

Where they go is a mystery and not explained, just "It's magic" is the only explination.

Mysteries of magic actually kind of explained this to a degree, though not directly. Essentially, things that are within the vampire's aura, and have the touch of his aura (owned things) are what transform. Same idea with burster's and their fire field, and intangible heroes and what they can carry. The aura extends out a small distance from the person, and you leave a touch of your aura on things you own (almost like radioactivity). This also explains how things like locate, object read and remote viewing work, as the users of these powers are tapping into the left over aura on the object to track back to the source.

That explanation though doesn't really apply here.
Transformations are almost always pretty clear that they do NOT apply to clothing. Vampires are pretty unique in that their transformation does affect clothing and small items. Very few others do, actually, I am not able to think of any others of the top of my head at the moment to be honest.

You get to bring your stuff in all 3 types: bat, wolf or mist.


Prior to revised, it was also in the original Vampire Kingdoms on page 23.

PRPG vamps (179-180) and BTS Vamps (183) didn't mention this, so at the time I would've assumed they traveled naked, seems Vampire Kingdoms could be where this originates.

I'm not really sure why the modesty, since vampires are bound to be more naked in Rifts anyway due to the SDC clothes and MD weapons problem. Of course, PRPG/BTS were just generally more gruesome and brutal settings compared to Rifts, so it's to be expected.

As others already have answered the question, vampires take their clothes with them during metamorphosis.

To throw out a sideways question....Based on the above....Does that mean that people affected by a meta- spell get their clothes back at the end of the spell?

IMHO, no - that's a special for vampires. Imagine a dragon in human form metamorphosis back to it's true dragon form will shret it's human clothes and vice versa will be naked . The spell it self will do the same. That's how I handle metamorphosis as a GM and player.

*nods* I just had a sideways thought.
Thou, if I was GMing a PG game (like one at a convention) I might just include that little cordial in the game.

Would be like a scene in Terminator, when Arnie was sent back in time and arrived naked .

To avoid the nude part of that scene, yup.