advice for fighting a vampire

[Moginheden]

My level 8 cleric of Moradin with 19 wisdom just found out our group will be facing a vampire in the near future, (like 1 or 2 sessions away.)

I'm trying to decide what spells to prepair to fight it. I'm restricted to PhB spells for the most part, but might get an exception on specific spells if I bring them to the DM.

Next session I will be stopping by my temple to recruit some low level clerics to join our party temporarily so we might end up with somewhere between 3 and 10 level 1-4 clerics to use too.

I'm wondering if create water (level 0) would count as submerging the vampire in running water to destroy it in 3 rounds? how many clerics of what level would be needed to make enough water to simulate a small creek for 3 rounds?

These clerics will all have holy symbols to hold the vampire at bay and I'm thinking a magic circle against evil cast on them before hand should prevent them getting dominated and turned against us.

I'm also considering using wind wall to try to hold the vampire in place if it goes gassious, but how can I stop it from just going above the wall or going solid, walking through the wall, then going gassious again?

Any other tips to fighting a vampire?

[Moginheden]

I'm also considering summoning a lantern arcon to help fight, but would a lesser planar ally work better? if so who should I call?

[kudosmog]

I'm wondering if create water (level 0) would count as submerging the vampire in running water to destroy it in 3 rounds? how many clerics of what level would be needed to make enough water to simulate a small creek for 3 rounds?

The water idea won't (or shouldn't) work. Has to be a decent sized body of running water. You can throw water on a vamp, they just get wet.

Using the holy symbols will keep the vamp from progressing towards you, but if you move towards it, the effect is broken.

Also be careful of dominate. You have one of those lowbies fail their will save and you're going to have some problems.
They naturally heal 5 points per round too, so I'm thinking the best way to destroy it is to get a strong enough cleric who can destroy it via turns.

Or just cast sunburst on it all day.

[Tar Palantir]

Protection from evil will help against the dominate, and your scrub clerics can cast that no problem. The bigger problem is that level draining slam attack; two negative levels a turn is downright savage. Death ward is therefore a must. Searing Light has good damage output at 1d8/level, no save, so a couple of them will help. Prepare or buy a wand of lesser restoration to deal with potential Con drain (a wand is probably a good thing to have anyway) and a scroll or two of Restoration in case someone is level drained (DON'T rely on preparations for this, since if your Death Ward goes down you could be the one being level drained and lose it).

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Try to pick up a few choice items and you should be able to turn or even outright destroy him in a single shot. Here's a list of items that improve your ability to turn/destroy undead, in order of benefit value relative to cost:

Lyre of the Restful Soul (LM, 3,000 gp) (DC 15 Perform: String, someone else can use it, undead within 60 ft. gain -4 Turn Resistance)
Ephod of Authority (MIC, 800 gp) (+1 level for Turn Undead)
Rod of Defiance (MIC/LM, 7,312 gp) (Undead within 30 ft. are treated as having 4 fewer HD for Turn Undead)
Scepter of the Netherworld (MIC/LM, 9,000 gp) (+3 levels for Turn Undead)
Phylactery of Undead Turning (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#phylacteryofUndeadTurning) (DMG/SRD, 11,000 gp) (+4 levels for Turn Undead)
Sacred armor/shield ability (BoED, +2) (+2 levels for Turn Undead)
Circlet of Persuasion (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#circletofPersuasion) (DMG/SRD, 4,500 gp) (+3 to Cha-based checks, including the turning check for Turn Undead)
Nightstick (LM, 7,500 gp) (Allows you to use Turn Undead four more times per day than normal, not expressed as a bonus so having more than one will stack its benefit.)

The more of those you can get, the better. If you can only get a few, then definitely start from the top of the list; the Lyre and Rod of Defiance combined make all undead count as 8 HD lower, which significantly increases your chance of destroying a given creature as well as how many creatures you can turn per check. It would be even better with the Sun domain, but that's not extremely important. A Lesser Metamagic Rod of Maximize or Empower combined with Searing Light makes a decent backup plan if the DM decides his boss vampire is immune to turning after seeing that you can destroy him in one shot. Definitely use Magic Circle against Evil to prevent domination, and Death Ward to prevent negative levels.

[Moginheden]

I'm not seeing destroying it with a turn being an option. It's got +4 turn resistance, I've got 12 cha, and I don't have the sun domain. Also all items in this campaign are up to the DM, he gives us a list of what's avalible on each merchant, we can't just pick what we want.

The reason I was planning on using my spell for the magic circle instead of having the low level clerics do it is the duration, (80 minutes vs 1-4 minutes from their protection vs evil spells.) If someone gets dominated I don't want their protection wearing off before the vampire is dead. Unfortunatly it's the same spell level as the searing light and that's likley to be our biggest damage dealer. (entire party is level 8, got a warrior, swashbuckeler, sorcerer, and me)

Wind wall is also level 3 though. Would I be better trying to hold it in using that or should I just prepare a 3rd searing light?

The lowbie clerics are to fence the vampire in, not to attack it, so I don't see the can't approch clause being a problem, just have to suround him before starting. Still duno what to do about him flying over them though.

[HunterOfJello]

Magic Circle Against Evil

Light of Venya from the Spell Compendium filling up a portion of your spells memorized (does 2 rays as a standard action that deal 6d6 damage each)

Searing Light readied if the Light of Venya spell or its lower level versions are banned. (it does less damage overall)

~

Spawn Screen (SpC) is a good spell to protect the entire group with just in case

Definitely have a few vials of Holy Water ready to pour down its throat

Consecrate should definitely be prepared in at least 1 of your slots. It could allow you the boost you need to Turn it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

You might also want to prepare some spells for the eventuality that the vampire tries to turn into its Gaseous Form and run away. Wall of Good (SpC) and something like Holy Storm (SpC) would be good to do some damage in that situation. Shape Stone could also be useful to block exits.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Cha doesn't really matter all that much, you can use Eagle's Splendor ahead of time anyway. What matters is your effective Cleric level. You can even cast Consecrate first to get another +3 bonus to the turning check, even see about getting a Circlet of Rapid Casting (MIC) to cast that as a swift action. The first thing you should do is ask about buying an Ephod of Authority, it's extremely cheap and shouldn't be hard to find. Other magic item merchants may know of where to get one, or Gather Information could help.

See if you can hire at least one Cleric with Craft Arms/Armor or Craft Wondrous Item, and be sure at least one has Extra Turning. If not, see if you can hire an NPC Psion to use a Psychic Reformation (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/psychicReformation.htm) on you and/or the Sorcerer to pick up those feats. You or the Sorcerer should take Craft Rod at 9th level. Remember that multiple characters can cooperate to create a magic item, as long as their combined capabilities can meet all the item's prerequisites.

Someone with Craft Wondrous Item and a Cleric 10 can make the Lyre of the Restful Soul and Phylactery of Undead Turning. With Craft Rod and no additional effort you can make the Scepter of the Netherworld, if you also have someone on hand with Craft Arms/Armor you can make the Rod of Defiance. If you or someone else has Extra Turning you can also make Nightsticks with Craft Rod.

That's the Lyre of the Restful Soul, Rod of Defiance, Scepter of the Netherworld, Phylactery of Undead Turning, and Nightsticks all craftable by your party and accompanying NPCs within two levels. I'd say odds are pretty good for obtaining an Ephod of Authority as well.

With all those items combined a Cleric 10 using Turn Undead will count as 18th level, and undead within 30 ft. will each be considered to have eight fewer HD for purposes of the effects of turn undead on them. That means a given undead creature whose actual HD plus turn resistance equals 17 or lower will be destroyed when you turn undead. Even if the boss vampire isn't destroyed (there are feats and items in LM to increase turn resistance) he'll definitely be turned, and all of his minions will be destroyed easily. If anything, that boss vampire should run in fear any time he sees your character!

[Pigkappa]

He already said it will happen in the next 1 or 2 sessions and he's restricted to PHB. o_o.


Must-have to survive:
- Protection from Evil for any party member, or Magic Circle against Evil.
- Death Ward for you and as many party members as possible. Requires a lot of spell slots but it's important.

Useful spells to actually kill him once he turns into gas and runs away:
- Gaseous Form for you and as many party members as possible. (can be replaced by other effects)
- Locate Creature. (an Arcane caster needs to have it)

If he's decently organized (e.g. huge castle with a lot of defenses), these aren't likely to be enough anyway, and you'll have to beat him several times before you actually find where he sleeps.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

He already said it will happen in the next 1 or 2 sessions and he's restricted to PHB. o_o.

Ok, I could have swore I'd read that he expected to face the vampire within 1 or 2 levels, so forget the idea of crafting those items. Though he's only restricted to PHB for his spells.

[Emperor Tippy]

Remember that Vampires can't approach within 5 feet of someone holding a mirror or holy symbol and taking a standard action to keep the vamp away.

If you have a party of 5 people you can have 4 of them create a box with the 5th one in the middle. All of them are protected against the vamp unless he has distance attacks. With 6 people and flight you can hedge a Vampire in so that it can't move, at which point you can just wait until the sun rises to kill the vamp.

If you don't want to be "cheap", Freedom of Movement will prevent blood drain, Death Ward will prevent negative levels from Energy Drain.

Vampires are undead, so Cure Serious/Critical Wounds is an excellent way to damage them.

If you want to be sure of killing it easily, buy a scroll of heal. Vamp's lack SR and a will save for half will still deal 45 damage. Look at buying one at CL 15 for a guaranteed 75 damage, which will drop most Vamps to 1 HP.

Searing Light is probably your best attack spell. 3rd level, 8d8 damage. Ranged touch attack so only need to hit touch AC.

A scroll of Secure Shelter could be nice if you will have a bit of notice. A vamp can't enter a building uninvited. Not the best choice but it provides you with a nice retreat do run to if one of the party is heavily injured.

[Darrin]

Alchemical Flare Stake, from Expedition to Castle Ravenloft. It does 1d6 fire damage every round, *forever* (no duration listed). Takes a standard action to remove the stakes, so if you can keep hitting him with more every round, he may never get a chance to do anything nasty to you.

Also, garlic is cheaper than mirrors/holy symbols, and doesn't take any action to prevent the vampire from getting near you. No duration on that one, either.

[Tokuhara]

Would creating a room of mirrors nullify a vampire?

[Medic!]

What kind of resources are available to your party (what is everyone else, etc?)

[Coidzor]

Holy Water is relatively cheap, and a fairly good way for any spare hands to contribute en masse if he decides to stay in one place or get up close and personal with anyone. So I'd have each of them have several flasks on hand, between 4 and 6, I'd say, maybe sub out a couple of those for alchemist's fire/acid.

Good news is, unless your DM really hates you, you're only looking at a vampire (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/vampire.htm), not a vampire lord (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mm/20021018a).

Check with your DM to see if insubstantial due to gaseous form is equivalent to incorporeal insofar as holy water operates while you're at it.

[Shadowknight12]

There IS a way to kill him creatively with Create Water. You need to lure him into a trap. But first, you must have every single spellcaster with the ability to cast Create Water use up all their spell slots on that for as long as you possibly can. Have them cast, rest for 8 hours, cast again and so on.

Let's have ourself some physics, shall we? (DIE CATGIRLS, AHAHAHA)

Q = V.A

Where Q is your flow rate, V is velocity and A is area.

Let's assume a typical dungeon corridor, 10 feet high and 10 feet wide. The height times the width gives us A, the area. Modify this value according to the location you'll be setting the trap in. The average speed of a stream (which qualifies as 'running water') is roughly 5 km/hr. Converting this gives us a speed of 4.556722076 feet/second. We'll round it up to 4.6 to be safe.

Make a simple multiplication and you have the flow rate (460 cubic feet/second, in my example). Multiply that by 18 (which is the amount of seconds you want that flow rate to last) and you have the minimum amount of cubic feet of water you will need to kill this guy (8280 in my example). Since 1 gallon = 0.133680556 cubic feet (let's round it up to 0.1337), we can figure out how many gallons of water we'll need (61930 gallons for me).

The trick is to fill a room or two with water right above the aforementioned corridor, and open a trapdoor when the vampire is in position, thereby starting the flow. How many castings will we need? Let's do the math.

You are an 8th level cleric with a 19 wisdom. That gives you 22 spell slots per day to spend on Create Water (your domain slots don't count, sadly). Each time you cast that spell, you create 16 gallons of water. Per day, that means 352 gallons. Worst case scenario, you have to fill up the entirety of that room yourself. If the DM is nice and lets you refresh your spell selection thrice per day (cast, sleep 8 hours, rinse and repeat), you will need 59 days to create that much water. If your DM is strict and only lets you cast spells once per day, you'll need 176 days. That doesn't look too good.

If you can enlist the aid of clerics to set up the trap, you can reduce the preparation time significantly (an average 1st level cleric contributes with 10 gallons of water per day, an average 2nd level cleric contributes with 28 gallons, an average 3rd level cleric contributes with 54 gallons and an average 4th level cleric contributes with 96 gallons). If you can afford it, you can buy castings of Create Water from NPCs. And if you can recruit druids, paladins and adepts, well, they can cast Create Water too! Also, luring him into a smaller location helps wonders too. A 5-by-10 corridor halves the amount of gallons you need.

If you have specifics on how many clerics you'll have at your disposal and the location of the trap, working out the math behind it would be easy as cake.

[Coidzor]

Considering he can summon swarms for up to an hour, if he knows about you coming then he can use swarms immune to weapon damage to chew up your clerics, since as long as they get close enough to the clerics to make it so the necessary AoEs hurt them too, they'd be doing their job. So I'd recommend knowing what you'll do about those to a certain extent, since bat swarms are immune to weapon damage.

Thing about vampires is, you're potentially fighting one 8th-10th level vampire and his vampire slaves and spawn in addition to anyone they've dominated. As well as potentially blood ghouls (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20030607a), which can reach fractal levels as a side effect of how the vampires can reach fractal levels. (At least, I haven't seen anything about vampires having trouble retaining or vamping a creature of their HD.)

So it's more like you're figuring how to take down most of a fortress than a single creature, even if the single creature at the heart takes the most trouble, you'll still need counters to its defenses/counters.

[Tokuhara]

Weild a whip, carry holy water, and throw axes

[Talionis]

Can' t you use wind wall to make a ceiling? It's not a physical wall and physics won't drag it down.

[CIDE]

My level 8 cleric of Moradin with 19 wisdom just found out our group will be facing a vampire in the near future, (like 1 or 2 sessions away.)


I realize what you said but I have to be sure; YOU or your CHARACTER found out...? And how did your character find out?

I ask because metagaming/cross roleplaying is a HUGE peeve for me. And if it was in fact you and not your character I'd have to ask the thread stop as the knowledge couldn't be passed back and forth.

That's just me.

[gorfnab]

Decanter of Endless Water + Item of Continuous Bless Water

[Anarchy_Kanya]

I realize what you said but I have to be sure; YOU or your CHARACTER found out...? And how did your character find out?

I ask because metagaming/cross roleplaying is a HUGE peeve for me. And if it was in fact you and not your character I'd have to ask the thread stop as the knowledge couldn't be passed back and forth.

That's just me.
You would ask the thread to stop because you don't like it? :smallconfused:

[Shadowknight12]

I realize what you said but I have to be sure; YOU or your CHARACTER found out...? And how did your character find out?

I ask because metagaming/cross roleplaying is a HUGE peeve for me. And if it was in fact you and not your character I'd have to ask the thread stop as the knowledge couldn't be passed back and forth.

That's just me.

Pardon my enquiry, but... who are you, exactly, to 'ask the thread to stop'? If you don't like metagaming... just don't visit this thread? Or am I suggesting something too far-fetched and bizarre?

Honestly, you wouldn't like it if someone came to your thread and told you they disagreed with it for whatever reason and that it should stop, now would you?

[CIDE]

That depended entirely on the reasoning.

In this case IF he were metagaming then he's not roleplaying. Which at is what all this is supposed to be about at the core of D&D. It's not about winning every game or encounter and if that's required for you to have fun? You're in the wrong game or have the wrong DM.

Edit: Basically, if the player and not the character knows about the encounter then realistically the character doesn't know how to prep for the encounter. Thus, there is absolutely no point in the discussion to even exist since it can't affect what happens.

[Shadowknight12]

That depended entirely on the reasoning.

In this case IF he were metagaming then he's not roleplaying. Which at is what all this is supposed to be about at the core of D&D. It's not about winning every game or encounter and if that's required for you to have fun? You're in the wrong game or have the wrong DM.

Edit: Basically, if the player and not the character knows about the encounter then realistically the character doesn't know how to prep for the encounter. Thus, there is absolutely no point in the discussion to even exist since it can't affect what happens.

Allow me, sir, to provide you with a few counterpoints.


Your assertion that "metagaming is not roleplaying" needs to be sustained by evidence in order to be taken seriously. There is a pivotal difference between the player and the character. It is entirely possible for the player to metagame without affecting his roleplaying of the character in the slightest. Or even better, he can metagame precisely to enhance his roleplaying. Example: Characters with high Intelligence or Wisdom in stories usually come up with clever plans on the spot or offer sagacious insight within a time limit that ordinary humans are not capable of matching. In this case, his 'metagaming' is helping him roleplay his incredibly wise character better, because when the time comes to face the vampire, he will be able to effective roleplay his 19 Wisdom as he creates a wise, sensible plan to defeat him in no time. In short, your premise is invalid.
Your assertion that 'roleplaying is what all this is supposed to be about at the core of D&D' is similarly unfounded. What makes you think that the way you view D&D is correct and therefore worthy of being standarised? Why can't the OP and his friends play D&D the way they want to? Are you aware that there are Arena games where no roleplaying ever takes place? Yet they are D&D all the same.
Your assertion that 'it's not about winning' is also utterly unproven. Why is it not about winning? He's not a player at your table, so his actions affect you in absolutely no way. If his actions have no effect on you, what's the problem with him having fun any way he wants to? You surely can't presume to have a right to tell people what is "Right" and what is "Wrong" now can you?
As for your Edit, I have already disproven its somewhat shaky logic in my first item. Preparing a plan or several beforehand can actually improve his roleplaying as it better helps him portray his character's superhuman mental stats.


Oh, and by the way, my previous point about you not reading the contents of this thread if they displease you remains uncontested. You starkly remind me of a person who reads fan fiction that clearly says "Slash! Don't like it, don't read!" and then proceeds to flame the author for daring to write slash.

Don't take this the wrong way, though. It's for your own good. Not reading something that you know will upset you will make your life slightly less stressful.

EDIT: Oh, I thought of another example. A person who buys a cup of coffee that clearly says "WARNING: HOT!" and then goes to complain when they accidentally burn themselves.

Or a person who complains about the side effects of medication! Side effects that are clearly spelled out in the bottle.

I think you get my point.

[Lord Vukodlak]

I realize what you said but I have to be sure; YOU or your CHARACTER found out...? And how did your character find out?

If the DM decided to inform the party of a future encounter, all fault of Metagaming is on his head. It doesn't matter if the DM told the player or the character found out.


I'm not seeing destroying it with a turn being an option. It's got +4 turn resistance, I've got 12 cha, and I don't have the sun domain. Also all items in this campaign are up to the DM, he gives us a list of what's avalible on each merchant, we can't just pick what we want.


Don't under estimate the power of driving it off if things go wrong.

[Talionis]

Also, common knowledge and practicing with your spells and powers iand watching and talking to other people who have used these spells before is impossible/impractical in a game session. Talking on the boards here is a good analog, for those kinds of things.

In role play, clerics would have gone to schools and talked about what to do in these kinds of situations. In affect this is probably is the type of discussion that would occur in their training.

[CIDE]

"Allow me, sir, to provide you with a few counterpoints."

I'm only copying and pasting one line to avoid having a post full of primarily quotes. Here goes...

You're using the unquantifiable nature of a stat to try to back up your claims. Or that is the validation I'm getting from you. That depends ENTIRELY on how his DM runs the game in regards to things like that. For instance; he may have to roll a 15 for the character to remember something that you or I could do effortlessly. Another DM may require a 5. It's all a gameplay mechanic that doesn't successfully transfer between real life and the game in any way.

As for your point about the PVP this game clearly is not one of those. In fact those are special cases and not your standard campaign type of game. Obviously, the Arena PVP is almost 100% out of character unless integrated into an existing campaign.

'Disproving' anything too gets difficult when arguing semantics about an inherently gray issue.

As well as with your examples of guys flaming all that? Not even close. Asking for advice on something is a general topic and unless I began to the read the thread would I have enough information to make the comment that I did. Had he left some details out it could've been a far more general question; how does Y character beat X monster? No debate about metagaming in anyway.

Obviously, I would know what a slash fanfiction was about if the title announced it. Or that the cup of coffee is hot. Fail examples are fail.

"If the DM decided to inform the party of a future encounter, all fault of Metagaming is on his head. It doesn't matter if the DM told the player or the character found out."

I can agree to this though if it was entirely the DM's fault. Still, if the DM had announced it OOC (out of character) and prior knowledge were applied IC as well (without justification behind it such as the character already knowing how to deal with vampires) then he could still debate against whatever this Cleric ends up doing.

[Shadowknight12]

You're using the unquantifiable nature of a stat to try to back up your claims. Or that is the validation I'm getting from you. That depends ENTIRELY on how his DM runs the game in regards to things like that. For instance; he may have to roll a 15 for the character to remember something that you or I could do effortlessly. Another DM may require a 5. It's all a gameplay mechanic that doesn't successfully transfer between real life and the game in any way.

Let's say that's the case. Let's say that the DM asks for such a roll and it succeeds. If the player hasn't planned an array of strategies beforehand and he can't come up with some on the spot (because his cleric has the 19 Wisdom, not him), how is he going to properly roleplay his character's high mental stats?

But that's not even the problem. What if metagaming isn't a problem in his table? What gives you the right to criticise him as though he's doing something wrong? If he's doing something he shouldn't because his DM doesn't like it, that's on him. We're not here to judge. We might, at the most, politely advise him that this counts as metagaming and that he should consider the implications of doing so, but your attitude is a far cry from that.


As for your point about the PVP this game clearly is not one of those. In fact those are special cases and not your standard campaign type of game. Obviously, the Arena PVP is almost 100% out of character unless integrated into an existing campaign.

I never said PvP, that was all you. There are Arena games with zero PvP, where the DM runs monsters and the players take their turns to defeat them. Regardless of it, I was countering your point that "roleplaying was the core of D&D." That is just patently false. A roleplaying game doesn't need to be exclusively about roleplaying at all times.


'Disproving' anything too gets difficult when arguing semantics about an inherently gray issue.

Yet you were very assured when you first posted. Odd.


As well as with your examples of guys flaming all that? Not even close. Asking for advice on something is a general topic and unless I began to the read the thread would I have enough information to make the comment that I did. Had he left some details out it could've been a far more general question; how does Y character beat X monster? No debate about metagaming in anyway.

You seem to be missing the point of what I said. The moment you knew the thread was about metagaming (or strongly suspected it), you should've left the thread and moved on to something else, because it's clearly discussing topics that upset you. After all, the sentence that you quoted to justify your disdain for metagaming was the very first sentence in the post. You know, like a warning that says "don't like it, stop reading."


Obviously, I would know what a slash fanfiction was about if the title announced it. Or that the cup of coffee is hot. Fail examples are fail.

Yet you read a thread that was clearly about that, all the way to the end, left a post and continued responding. I think you might want to spend a little more time thinking about your counterpoints, because my examples fit all too well here.

[Moginheden]

My character found a letter from the vampire we are going to fight to the necromancer we just defeated in his lair.

It mentioned trying to convince the local noble to become a vampire at the upcoming party at her mansion, (said party is being thrown in honor of my group for pushing back an invading force of non-undead.)

So my character does have a few days to plan, and in his back story his temple has been competing with a temple of Palor for who's temple can take out the most undead. ("Anything you can do I can do better" type mentality.) He has plenty of in-character reason to know anything brought up in this thread, (with the exception of spells/items the DM has disallowed from the world.)

[jiriku]

CIDE, in any event, only mods possess the authority to lock a thread (and only under specific circumstances of which this is not one), and it's presumptuous (and rude) for you to order strangers to do your bidding. Please treat us with the same respect that I'm sure you'd like to receive in turn.

Moginheden, I'd tend to worry that any NPC of 2nd level or lower in this fight will be more of a liability than an asset, given that they are only one slam away from being energy-drained to death. Such characters should probably be put to use in a non-combat role.

Hide from undead is an obvious choice that hasn't been mentioned yet, and can potentially allow you to bypass mooks or set up an ambush on moredeadly foes. Also, even if you can't optimize your turning enough to destroy the vampire, don't underestimate its effectiveness vs. vampire spawn. Spawn are effectively 6HD undead, so if you can get your effective cleric level up to 12, you can potentially destroy several of them with a single turning attempt. Even if you can't destroy them, forcing half the undead in a difficult encounter to flee effectively turns one hard encounter into two easy encounters, which can save lives.

I'd suggest lesser restoration and remove paralysis as well, perhaps prepared by the NPC clerics. Vampires don't usually deal Strength damage since their slam is so much more effective, but they're often encountered with other sorts of undead, and you want to be able to handle the debuffs those undead are likely to inflict. Some undead (and some of the creatures a vampire is likely to summon) can inflict disease as well, but if anyone is infected, you can probably just wait until the following day to prepare an appropriate number of remove disease spells.