3.5 How to Fight a Vampire

[Amoren]

So, my party is on a quest to acquire some vampire fangs, and we've decided to hit the vampire general of the local magelord in Ravenloft. My cleric rolled a 37 on his knowledge religion, so he's pretty much an expert on vampires and thus I'm trying to devise ways to kill the guy.

So far what we know is that he lives in a mansion, a half days travel away from the magelord's city. He's most likely got guards.

So, what I'm looking for is tips and tricks to slay a vampire, and get past his defenses. So far we've looked at burning down the mansion during the day, although we've shied away from this because of any potential slaves.

I've thought of getting a bunch of holy symbols and mirrors, or at least another, and tie them to the fighter and my shield so that we can hold the vampire at bay so it can't make touch attacks and level drain (it's only a single standard action to guard for the rest of the encounter, right)? Other than that, I can only think of using a stake and trying to get it into his heart, pry his fangs off, and then drag him into the sunlight.

[Forum Explorer]

Get a flask of ever flowing water and make a river run through his mansion.

[Divide by Zero]

Hire an evil cleric with a cheesed-out rebuke check and make him give them to you.

[Amoren]

Get a flask of ever flowing water and make a river run through his mansion.

Great idea, where's the spell located so I can show it to the DM in case he asks for proof?

Also, I'M a... Lawful Good cleric, but a bone knight so I can rebuke... Although I've only got a +5 on my check. However, it's very unlikely to find an evil cleric, yet alone a cheesed out one, that'll help us since they're very likely to be in service to the magelord or unlikely to turn against the vampire.

[Divide by Zero]

Wait, can vampires regenerate their teeth? Offer to buy it from him. Make a lot fewer enemies that way.

[Alleran]

Stake him with a ballista bolt from a thousand yards?

[Boci]

Get a flask of ever flowing water and make a river run through his mansion.

Couldn't the DM just rule that it doesn't count as a river?

[Saintheart]

Have you got 6th level cleric casting yet? If so, Antilife Shell for your backliners and pump your Will saves through the roof via Mass Conviction spells. Most of the vampire's most serious attacks require touch or grapples to activate, and Antilife Shell kills all of those, or at least forces the vampire to cast Dispel Magic to get rid of it before attacking. As I said, gaze attack is Will-based, so bard up and drink Conviction potions before you go in.

They also won't go into an area that has garlic laced in it, so stop by a vegetable stand before you go in and use the stuff for battlefield control.

Minor points: keep a couple of Gust of Wind spells ready if it goes to Gaseous Form -- you can't hurt it, but you can control where it goes. Downdraft is also very handy if it goes to a bat or flying form -- vampires don't have SR, if I remember right, which means Downdraft is autowin or at least a 4d6 splat and prone if you hit him with it.

Heal spells will knock it down to 1 hitpoint.

[ericgrau]

1. Find someone with knowledge(religion) so you're not metagaming.
2. Make sure the DM knows how vampires work in case he unintentionally runs them differently, or find out his houserules (with the knowledge check) if he intentionally runs them differently. Rarely have I seen them work normally.
3. If working by RAW, in a fight you must pin or otherwise immobilize the vampire, stake it, cut off its head and fill its mouth with holy wafers. You need to coordinate the party and act fast before the vampire gets his turn and goes gaseous. If you find the vampire in its home, you can stake it or expose the area to sunlight. If there is running water nearby in either case you can grapple it, move the grapple to the water (see grapple rules), and hold him underwater.

Mirrors and garlic are mainly useful to protect your squishies or people with low HP. If everybody uses them you'll only make the vampire flee.

[huttj509]

Bow big a fan is your DM of Ravenloft? Does he have various Van Richten guides?

If so, you MUST do research on the specific vampire you're hunting, in game, as a big theme with ravenloft beasties is that individuals can be different. Different weaknesses, immune to common things, different powers. The vampire may only be held at bay by a holy symbol of a particular pantheon, held by a true worshipper of them, as opposed to all holy symbols. May have abilities not in the standard vampire template. Maybe instead of being repulsed by garlic, he's fascinated by it, or enraged. Maybe a stake needs to be a particular type of wood.

Learn about the vampire, who he is, who he WAS, everything may hold clues to his weaknesses.

[Jukebox Hero]

Just hit it with Heal and Cure spells.

[Eldariel]

Disintegrate works pretty well on most types of Vampires (on most bases anyways; some Vampires can have decent Fort-saves though they still have no Con-bonuses), provided you have an arcanist. Indeed, it's one of the most efficient ways of disposing of bothersome undead.

[under_score]

Have you got 6th level cleric casting yet? If so, Antilife Shell for your backliners

I don't think this would be very useful:


The effect hedges out animals, aberrations, dragons, fey, giants, humanoids, magical beasts, monstrous humanoids, oozes, plants, and vermin, but not constructs, elementals, outsiders, or undead.


Edit: Granted, the spell is otherwise awesome and would be a great choice if you are for some reason expecting living minions to get in the way.

[Pigkappa]

Bow big a fan is your DM of Ravenloft? Does he have various Van Richten guides?

If so, you MUST do research on the specific vampire you're hunting, in game, as a big theme with ravenloft beasties is that individuals can be different. Different weaknesses, immune to common things, different powers. The vampire may only be held at bay by a holy symbol of a particular pantheon, held by a true worshipper of them, as opposed to all holy symbols. May have abilities not in the standard vampire template. Maybe instead of being repulsed by garlic, he's fascinated by it, or enraged. Maybe a stake needs to be a particular type of wood.

Learn about the vampire, who he is, who he WAS, everything may hold clues to his weaknesses.

Yeah, this is important. A lot of things in Ravenloft work in different and obscure ways. Even if you know an effective way to kill most vampires, this one could laugh at you while he takes your holy simbol and eats it.

If he is just a common vampire, anyway, can't you just use Scrying during daylight and teleport near his grave?

[OracleofWuffing]

Mouthful of Holy Wafers? Healing Spells? Gaseous Forms? Bah, all the best Vampire Slayers I know of used whips and everything turned out fine for the next hundred years or so. :smalltongue:

[myancey]

Instead of killing it, ask it to turn you guys into vampires. Then fast forward 100 years and kill him, and make yourself a vampire lord.

Killing vampires is lacking the entrepreneurial spirit necessary to truly experience D&D. :xykon:

[Tokiko Mima]

I've thought of getting a bunch of holy symbols and mirrors, or at least another, and tie them to the fighter and my shield so that we can hold the vampire at bay so it can't make touch attacks and level drain (it's only a single standard action to guard for the rest of the encounter, right)? Other than that, I can only think of using a stake and trying to get it into his heart, pry his fangs off, and then drag him into the sunlight.

Be careful, this doesn't work as well as you might hope. The vampire cannot make melee or touch attacks, true, but dominate works fine, and any spells it knows are not restricted, nor are Children of the Night summons. Plus it is only held at bay from the person presenting the object.

Remember, that if you get the vampire to 0 hp, what's going to happen is it automatically turns to mist, at which point all non-magical stakes are useless, and magic ones have a 50% miss chance. Then it's a race to get to the vampires coffin before it can rest for 1 hour, or you will have to fight it again.

So you need to plan for staking it in its' coffin while it's helpless, or preventing it from becoming mist and escaping somehow.

Or as a more innovative solution, there's always the old "Flesh to Stone > Rock to Mud > Purify Food & Drink > add sugar and coloring > Serve result as a new sports drink to the local town's track team. Call it Blood Lite or Crazy Vlad's Homeopathic Vampire Reduction" trick. Get's 'em every time. :smalltongue:

[Mayhem]

Or as a more innovative solution, there's always the old "Flesh to Stone > Rock to Mud > Purify Food & Drink
That's awesome! :smallcool:

Replace rock to mud with soften earth and stone, and you'd need to cast it twice. Disturbingly, it won't kill the vampire- just make it forever trapped as water.

[marcielle]

Or as a more innovative solution, there's always the old "Flesh to Stone > Rock to Mud > Purify Food & Drink > add sugar and coloring > Serve result as a new sports drink to the local town's track team. Call it Blood Lite or Crazy Vlad's Homeopathic Vampire Reduction" trick. Get's 'em every time. :smalltongue:

And how will this get them the fangs?

If you're group is strong enough, I suggest you sneak around, or invis your sneaker(wands, rings, manual casting, whatever), find his coffin or at least its general location, and set an ambush for him there. Kill him and take his fangs and then take your sweet time trying out every method you have for perma-killing him. Once he is dead his minions shouldn't give you any trouble.

If you aren't strong enough or can't keep up invisibility for long enough, just take hutts advice and make sure you know how your DM plays vamps.

[Tokiko Mima]

And how will this get them the fangs?

If you're group is strong enough, I suggest you sneak around, or invis your sneaker(wands, rings, manual casting, whatever), find his coffin or at least its general location, and set an ambush for him there. Kill him and take his fangs and then take your sweet time trying out every method you have for perma-killing him. Once he is dead his minions shouldn't give you any trouble.

If you aren't strong enough or can't keep up invisibility for long enough, just take hutts advice and make sure you know how your DM plays vamps.

Remove the fangs from the statue after the Flesh to Stone spell, would be my advice. Stone Shape works ok for that purpose. As soon as you've disposed of the rest, you can always Break Enchantment to change the petrified teeth back into normal vampire teeth. It's also a good way to extract almost any vampire part you want without all the gory mess. It's also about the only way to get an intact set of vampire ribs, or spine.

I was thinking though.. should you carbonate your transformed water? I mean, some people might be turned off by sparkling vampire mineral water. And others might prefer it.

[marcielle]

Are vampire ribs tastier than pork ribs? Also, sparkling vampire ANYTHING is just plain wrong.

[hewhosaysfish]

My best Vampire-hunting tip: make good use of Protection from Evil

Second, the barrier blocks any attempt to possess the warded creature (by a magic jar attack, for example) or to exercise mental control over the creature (including enchantment (charm) effects and enchantment (compulsion) effects that grant the caster ongoing control over the subject, such as dominate person). The protection does not prevent such effects from targeting the protected creature, but it suppresses the effect for the duration of the protection from evil effect. If the protection from evil effect ends before the effect granting mental control does, the would-be controller would then be able to mentally command the controlled creature. Likewise, the barrier keeps out a possessing life force but does not expel one if it is in place before the spell is cast. This second effect works regardless of alignment.

Emphasis mine.

Requires a 1st level spell slot for each member of the party, or a one 3rd level spell slot (for Magic Circle) if everyone stands within 10' of each other at all times.

Just be sure to take the vampire down before the duration expires:


If the protection from evil effect ends before the effect granting mental control does, the would-be controller would then be able to mentally command the controlled creature.

[shadmere]

Oh weird, I'm a Bone Knight who's going to end up in a fight with a vampire fairly soon.

I need to get myself to a library and make some knowledge checks in game. So far my guy's plan is a lot of Protection From Evil, scry for coffin, and stake. I need to check with my DM first, to make sure my guy would know about coffins and stakes. But it seems like that would be fairly basic folklore, even if I didn't have Knowledge (Religion) as a class skill.

I'm scared of the Dominate thing, though. I'm hoping my character learns about that skill before we go up against this guy. I . . . I really don't want to fight the rest of my party. :smalleek:

[Techsmart]

bullrush him into a lit fireplace and pin him in there with holy symbols/mirrors until golden brown.
If his teeth are all you are after, I would second the suggestion to buy them if they grow back. Would give a good chance for some roleplay ( instead of another "KILL IT" moment), and opens up options for other quests later on (Vampire knows they got the money/skills, might offer to hire them later).
Another option is to offer a trade, use that to get close to him (might have to do the quest before you earn enough trust to do so), then take advantage of that trust in one form or another.
Just as a note, if I remember correctly, it takes a standard action to focus on a holy symbol/mirror to force back a vampire.

[shadmere]

Hrm. Is there a cleric equivalent of Dominate Person? It'd be hilarious to try that back at him. :p

[Master_Rahl22]

Undead are immune to mind-affecting things, so Dominate Person won't work. There is however the spell Control Undead, Sor/Wiz 7. It lets you control 2 HD/level of undead creatures for 1 min./level. It does however explicitly state that intelligent undead remember that you controlled them, so you'd then have a vampire coming after you on his terms instead of you going on your terms.

[Anxe]

My players defeated vampires by casting magic weapon on their stuff and then hitting them for awhile. After the vamp went gaseous they'd chase it to its coffin. Once they saw the coffin they'd fill it up with garlic. The vamp can't go in, so it dies. The vamp does die while in Gaseous Form though, so I'm not sure if that'd get you the teeth. Still, you could chase it to the coffin the same way and then stake it once it materializes. Then the teeth stick around.

[Canarr]

+1 on the Ravenloft research tip.

Now, it's been a while since I read anything from Ravenloft; but a vampire general doesn't sound like your basic vampire guy. He's bound to be centuries old, with different kinds of minions in different age groups. If his magelord values his services, he might even have a golem of some sort hanging around, or any other kind of constructed or bound servant.

Following the mist to the coffin sounds easy; but remember, the vamp can turn gaseous any time, so there's really no compelling reason for him to have a door leading to his coffin - a couple of holes in the wall would do just fine. Plus, the room with his coffin would be warded and trapped to hell and back - if he's never setting foot on the floor, he isn't sweating any trapped floor tiles. And since Undead are immune against poison, he can have poison gas traps or moulds wherever he wants them. Unless, of course, he's a neat freak and wouldn't like that --> research!

Now, if he's a high-ranking officer of that magelord, then he's bound to be at official functions on occasion, or maybe even host some of them. That means, he's in a (more or less) open locale with other people that he's likely not allowed to kill, so maybe better chances there. And his coffin might be far away, too...