Vampire - is this a fair fight?

[evisiron]

My players, you have already read too much. :smallamused:

Everyone else, I am running a 10th level gestalt game with 3 players (Wiz//Monk, Rogue//Barb and Kensai//Archavist), pretty high powered with great stat rolls and additional gold.
While making characters I rolled up a Wizard//Monk which ended up not being used. I am planning to make this character a vampire and send him at the party while they sleep.

Will this be fair?

I can see the vampire is listed as CR+2 of base creature, but also has a level adjustment of +8, and I am finding it hard to gauge how this will go.
I am hoping this guy can escape to become a recurring villain so I do want it to be a tough fight, just not a slam dunk TPK.

Note: At least two have mirrors and the archivist is bound to have Knowledge: Religion.

Cheers for any advice.

[Anxe]

So the vampire is the same level and even the same classes as one of the players? This should be a fine challenge for them. Keeping the vampire alive will be the biggest problem. Fortunately, vamps have tons of ways of getting away. Wolf form to move fast, bat form to move fast and fly, gas form to move through spaces that only liquid could fit, and spider climb. The gas form is the only one you can be sure the players won't follow, but the other resources are still useful.

Ooo! Also, the summoning monsters ability. If done before the vamp's situation is dire then the animals will show up to cover its escape.

Also, it's high enough level that you could just give it a magic escape item.

[Lord Vampyre]

It should be a tough fight, but one the players would win. The CR increase gives you a fairly good gauge of the difficulty the party will have with it.

Now, with a vampires mist form, he should be able to get away as soon as he gets knocked down to 0 hit points. If you make it foggy when they encounter him, the players will have a difficult time tracking the vampire to its lair.

[Aspenor]

If they are even remotely properly equipped, your PC's should mop the floor with the vampire. Vampires lose to level 1 commoners.

[Divide by Zero]

The main reason for the +8 LA is because it's a lot easier for the PCs to abuse vampire spawn, and it's still probably higher than it should be. Your players will probably have an easy time with this.

[Tvtyrant]

If they are even remotely properly equipped, your PC's should mop the floor with the vampire. Vampires lose to level 1 commoners.

How do you figure? A vamp can summon creatures better then a level 1 commoner, and can shift into dire wolves.

[Zonugal]

While we would be persuaded from popular culture and such, Vampires in DnD should not be engaging their opponents in physical combat. Action economy alone makes this a tough encounter for a Vampire and with their list of weaknesses known very well to most players they have to be played to their strengths. The wizard aspect of the build synergies with Vampires pretty well but any properly prepared fighter/barbarian/melee class will destroy a Vampire in a straight on fight.

You need to sit down and figure out some solid tactics, techniques and situations for this Vampire to use against the party. Environment/Atmosphere tend to help in a lot of ways (not only for mood but for the fight). The use of minions, Vampire spawns and summons can really sell the idea of the undead aristocrat, which most Vampires are...

Also, if you hoping to have this character be a re-occuring villain, perhaps take a look at the Vampire Lord (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mm/20021018a) template which turns Vampires into real villains.

[holywhippet]

If all else fails, you have a copy of their character sheets right? Either run the battle by yourself running both sides of the combat or get someone else to run one of the two sides. You should get a feel for how the combat could go after just one run through.

[Mystify]

For NPCs the CR adjustment is probably more indicative of their power than LA is, despite them having class levels. CR tells you how much better they will do in a single combat; LA tells you also how much they gain as a player in a campaign. It also tries to represent the difference in use of abilities between NPCs and PCs. What is awesome for a PC may be significantly weakre for a NPC. for instance, DR/silver. As a player, few monsters can deal silver damage, and most NPCs don't carry silver without reason. As a monster, most parties have access to silver, so the DR counts for less. A player also benefits more from a wide range of abilities than a monster does, since action economy will not let the monster use more than a few before being killed, while a player has the entire campaign to utilize them.

So the +2 CR is the more accurate value.