NeedsAnswersNao
2012-10-29, 04:12 PM
PBMC has a vampire build that doesn't suck. He got banned for being too useful or something. See below:
Build 10 [Making a Vampire PC that Doesn't Suck - figuratively, of course.]
Note: This build assumes that PC class-level requiring templates that advance by character class have no LA.
You will need:
1. Savage Progression Vampire template classes (https://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20030824a) (only the first 5 or 6 LA levels)
2. The Savage Vampire variant (LM170) (because otherwise your DM won't like you basically being a diplomancer to everyone you can merely talk to)
3. The Vampire Lord template (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mm/20021018a) (notice that although its +CR3, for PCs its listed as by character class -> +LA0)
4. The Swarmform Vampire variant (LM170)
5. A long-arched campaign (will require you age 100 years. Best if between your level 18 and 19)
Optional: Half-vampire [LM107], Dragonspawn and Draconic Vampire Templates.
The idea is a fully bought off (undead via different manner) build with everything a vampire would have but the last:
2 dex 2 cha and 2nat,
2 Bluff, Hide, Listen, Move Silent, Search, Sense Motive & Spot
4 turn resistance
<3/day gaseous form
combat reflexes feat
only 1 rat swarm, a bat swarm, or 1d3 wolves
only 1 energy drain on the slam attack
The last two big thing missing is Create Spawn which is campaign-breaking if used correctly
In exchange for killing a subordinate vampire, having a dead master vampire, and spending 64k xp:
any LA0 with 6 levels deep in the savage progression or LA1 + 5 levels deep in the savage progression humanoid or monstrous humanoid with necropolitan thrown in there somewhere:
+22str, +10nat, +10dex, +6cha, +6wis,
+6Bluff, +14Hide, +14Listen, +14Move Silent, +6Search, +10Sense Motive, +14Spot, +8jump, +8diplomacy, +8intimidate, +4scry -> gather info? (It can be removed, it doesn't matter)
Alertness, Dodge, improved initiative, lightning reflexes, Iron Will & Leadership feats
50' fly (perfect)
1 energy drain on slam and both claws (soul-stealer anyone?)
Alternate Form (Su) -> wild shape used by a 12th-level druid. At will as a move action.
3 wolves, 1 rat and bat swarms permanently. You can sense through their senses and communicate empathically at 10 mile range!
24 hours to get any soil from its place of birth instead of a cramped old coffin
3/day gaseous form
spider climb
Telekinesis (Su): A vampire lord can use telekinesis (caster level 12th) at will.
Telepathy (Su): living creatures in 100 feet with language or vampires under your direct control within 1 mile[/b].
Turn Resistance +4
Divine Grace= cha -> saves as a paladin
Control Weather (Sp): control weather or fog cloud as a 12th-level sorcerer at will.
Blood Drain (Su): inflicts 1d4+2 points of Constitution drain each round the pin is maintained.
No vampire weaknesses at all (even reflections) except you can't use SUs while in sunlight
Really hard to make stay dead (decapitation, burning, burying, scattering, etc)
Fast Healing 8 (if you have fast healing as ex by the 6th template class level or from another source)
DR 10/Silver (according to the 3.5 update rules)
Congradulations you are a fully bought-off kick-arse vampire, though you did gain vampirism and later undeath in a novel manner. You did burn your CON off before undeath, right?
1 unique thing:
By applying the swarmform variant last, it is arguable that this will allow WSing into any applicable swarm. Yes its sketchy, but there doesn't exist any other way to do this in all of DnD 3.5! Besides this is a melee (ie savage) vampire, not some caster with "I win" buttons.
The Optimal Reverse Engineered Vampiric Dragon Version:
Note: This build assumes that the nearly identical Vampiric Dragon template has a mirror Savage Progression to that of the Vampire Template Savage Progression. If you think allowing a +1 version of celestial armor (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicArmor.htm#celestialArmor) heresy against the sacred RAW then, even with the above LA assumption, this build is not for you.
Qualifying: dragonwraught kobold is easiest but White Dragonspawn is an easy LA+1 @lvl3 for: Dragon type, cold subtype, fly=x2ms (avg), d4bite+str, d4claws@-5+50%str, 10'd6DT & 30' cone 2d6BW DC10+50%HD+con mod, +1sorc level, +2dex, +2con, Nat=10 (if better)!
First of all lets contrast the type templates in Regular vs Vampiric Dragon format
Blood drain any vs Blood drain 1 size smaller than the dragon or any equal or larger
Coffin vs Horde
Str +6, Dex +4, nat+6 vs Str +4, Dex +6, nat+2
cold&elec res 10 vs cold&elec res 20
Spider Climb (Ex) vs none
DR10/silver&magic vs none
natural weapons as magic weapons for DR vs none
standard action 30' gaze as dominate person CL12 vs standard action 30+10'/Age Category gaze as dominate monster CL18
slam vs none
garlic, cross, mirror, water immersion, sunlight slow & direct 1 round vs cross, sunlight slow & direct Age Category rounds
No reflexion or shadow, cross running water, invitation vs No reflexion or shadow, invitation
Auto & at will (CL5) gaseous form 4.5mi/hr vs Auto gaseous form 9mi/hr
bat, dire bat, wolf, or dire wolf form until sunrise but no natural slam attack and dominate ability vs none
(Su) 1/day 1hour 1d6+1rat or 1d4+1bat swarms, 3d6wolves in 2d6rounds vs none
augmented vs Loses subtype but KEEPS IMMUNITIES
d12/HD vs d12+4/HD
may only have spawn totaling 2xHD but those spawn can have spawn vs any number of spawn, zombie dragons if not adult or vampiric dragons if adult
any natural weapon -2levels 1/round vs claw -1level
Nothing vs charm monster 30'/Age Category upon full round speaking (no sight needed)
Lastly there is a significant difference between the vampire template and the full savage progression vampire class: the undeath allows anything that used con to use cha. Wow. Therefore we are going to reverse engineer this as a Savage Progression vampire if it were a vampiric dragon rather than as a vampiric dragon if it were a savage progression vampire in order to keep this insanely buffed change to undeath.
The Vampiric Dragon Savage Progression would then look like:
1, Str +2, Con -2, spawn slavery, blood drain (~-2size), res cold&electric 10, +2 Bluff,Hide,Listen,Move,Search,Sense,Spot, fortification (light), vampire bonus feats (Alertness, Dodge)
2, Cha +2, Dex +2, res cold&electric 20, fast healing 1 on Horde, +4 Bluff,Hide,Listen,Move,Search,Sense,Spot, fortification (moderate), vampire bonus feats (Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes)
3, Str +2, Wis +2, blood drain (greater), fast healing 5 on Horde, +6 Bluff,Hide,Listen,Move,Search,Sense,Spot, Charm&Dominate 1/day 10', natural armor +2, no reflexion&shadow, cross, private areas
4, Dex +2, Int +2, undeath (4+d12's), fast healing 1, +8 Bluff,Hide,Listen,Move,Search,Sense,Spot, Charm&Dominate 3/day 10', turn resistance +4, Slowed sunlight, 3xAgre Category rounds to die
5, Dex +2, Cha +2, Create vampire or spawn or vampiric dragon or zombie dragon of any HD, fast healing 5, 1 energy drain upon claw, no per round limit, Charm&Dominate at will 30'+10'/Age Category, vampire bonus feat (Combat Reflexes), Direct sunlight now gives Age Category rounds to die.
Further Variant and Template Considerations
Savage Vampire variant: Of course the negative level abilities stacks with your existing one but due to poor editing the +8 racial Hide, Move & Spot bonuses overlap. Considered replacing them with Tumble, Climb & Balance.
Vampire Lord template:
The slam attack is the default vampire's natural attack. Our draconic vampires default natural attack is the claws. Therefore they give a total of 3 negative levels a hit.
Too bad the draconic vampire doesn't have Children of the Night (Su). See below for how to get this awesome upgrade.
The improved Create Spawn (Su): should instead never create zombie dragons, only vampiric dragons.
The garlic & mirrors immunity should be traded for the ability to enter private dwelling without invitation (since this is supposed to close the vulnerabilities and this is the only one left) while the running water and immersion vulnerability upgrade should be traded for a swim speed (since they sort of assume the lesser vulnerabilities of aquatic subtype vampire)
The -4stats,saves,skill&attacks should instead be what takes the Age Category-1 delay before sunlight has an effect.
If No Children Of the Night's Buff is Bothersome Considering the Vampire Lord Template Buff
Be a half vampire. Remember, we can start out with any old humanoid. I assume the first LA level would have first the option for Blood Drain or the Charm or Children of the Night ability. Guess which one we choose. That's one ability. The rest are:
Str+2
Dex+2
Cha+2
Nat+2
Improved Initiative (end of LA1 mark)
Cold Resistance 5 (start of LA2 mark)
Elec Resistance 5
+2 Racial Bluff
+2 Racial Hide
+2 Racial Listen
+2 Racial Move
+2 Racial Spot
DR 5/Magic OR silver
1d6 slam
Natural Weapons count as Magic for DR
Fast Healing 1 if above 1HP and less than 50%
DCFS the Improved Initiative bonus feat or it won't stack with the regular vampire template. The other things of course don't stack since they are the most vampirish (duh) and should compose the second level of the theoretical LA breakdown. 5 or 6 abilities balance out the 12 or 11 others I think.
If you think the theoretical LA 1 version of the template is a stretch, you can still include it. But it will require one mild level draining break to buyoff the extra LA. Honestly I'm avoiding the cheese here.
Now be a dragonborn (yay more con to burn before undeath!) sometime before being an evil vampire. Prey on only evil dragons specifically if the Bahamut fluff bothers you. Some vampire fluff says evil creatures 'taste' better anyways -- I am not making this up.
Why is it worth it? Its a really cool ability and the other bonuses are comparable for their one LA. Its one of the few in all of DnD that allow you to sense through multiple creatures at the same time. Yeah. "The vampire lord can sense through the senses of any such commanded creatures." There is no action or restriction on your normal senses. Hello 10 mile perimeter of continuous scouting. Now if only there was some way to permanently (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/permanency.htm) give those summons magical detection....
Note: the (Su) Children of the Night from the half-vampire template is a nerfed version. Since the nerf should carry over, we can expect after the Vampire Lord template to only have 4 rat swarms, 3 bat swarms and 6 wolves, see-through-their-senses-able and 10 mile empathically communicating permanent summons. You miss out on 3 rat swarms, 2 bat swarms, and 12 wolves, buts diminishing returns means these last few summons don't help as much. Also this is me assuming that the 'serve until released' clause doesn't simply allow you infinite summons -- similar to how the vampire spawn pyramid actually works RAW. And me assuming you can't split the swarms and see with hundreds of lone bats and rats....
The Tally
This (all reverse engineered savage progression) Half-Vampire, Dragonborn, White Dragonspawn, Savage, Swarmform, Vampire Lord, Vampiric Dragon is fully bought off and can fit into an ECL20 build.
What you get for the playing t4 or below & 64k XP (or 79k xp and a temporary extra savage progression with level drainage) is:
Undead (5+d12's) with cha for con & cold subtype
30'cone 2d6BW & 10' 1d6DT DC10+50%HD+cha
Fly = MSx2 (avg) or 50' (perfect)
Str +22, Dex +16, Int+2, Wis+6, Cha+10, Nat+10 (nat=20 if <11 originally)
Unnamed bonus: cha -> saves “as a paladin does”
+8racial Bluff,Hide,Listen,Move,Search,Spot,Jump,Listen,Tum ble,Climb,Balance,Diplomacy,Intimidate, +12Sense, +4gather info
+1sorc level
turn resistance +8
res cold&electric 20
Alertness, Dodge, Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Combat Reflexes, Iron Will, Leadership
Fast Healing 8
DR 10/Silver
Children of the Night (Su): Permanently summon 4 rat swarms, 3 bat swarms and 6 wolves, seeing through their senses and communicating empathically within 10 miles.
Telepathy (Su): A vampire lord can communicate telepathically with any living creature within 100 feet that has a language, and with any vampiric dragon under its direct control to a range of 1 mile.
Telekinesis (Su): CL12 at will.
Dominate at will 30'+10'/Age Category by gaze or voice, no LoS if heard normal volume
Create Spawn (Su): any HD only vampire or vampiric dragon, never spawn or zombie drag. Enslaved vampire until death, and cannot break free.
Control Weather (Sp): A vampire lord can cast either control weather or fog cloud as a 12th-level sorcerer at will.
Alternate Form (Su) -> wild shape used by a 12th-level druid. At will as a move-equivalent action. The vampire lord can change from one animal shape to another without having to revert to its humanoid form.
2 d8claws & 2 d8slams with 3 energy drain, no per round limit
d4 bite & after grapple+pin Blood Drain (1d4+2 con damage)
Direct Sunlight (not even light spells) -> only -4stats,saves,skill&attacks + no harm but ~(su) uses
Death in sunlight -> gaseous at sunset unless decapitate then burned separately & body ashes into running water but head buried while immersed in holy water
Then 24 hours to any piece of soil from homeland
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