The legendary vampire hunter, how to?

[B33rm4n]

I'm looking to create a pc based off of the concept of the Vampire Killer wielding Belmont clan...complete with sub-weapon goodness and holy power. I'm asking the fellow playgrounders to help me recreate (and optimize if possible) this idea with feats, equipment, classes ect ect.

[Gerrtt]

That's such a wide range of character concepts though.

I mean, the original Simon Belmont was pretty boring. Richter Belmont, on the other hand (let alone some of the other crazy ones) could do all kinds of special combat maneuvers.

[Suteinu]

I don't have his character sheet with me right now, but I've got one built as a Fighter (Exoticist, Drgn #310) - 4, Warblade - 1, Lasher - ?, with an eye on one or two Undead-Hunter-type PrC's.

However you build him (or her), the key thing is going to be the whip. His is tricked-out with a couple of Craft-related special abilities and the Ancestral Relic feat, but the cool part of it's design comes from the Castle Ravenloft book. Here they mention Vampire-hide armor. Reasoning that one could make a whip from the same stuff, it strikes as a silver weapon (without the -1 to damage). Even if the piled-on magic is somehow countered, it is, with the right feats, maneuvers, and levels of Lasher, an effective weapon.

Oh, and always put laurels in your soup. Always.

[Man on Fire]

Depending on the game - in pathfinder you go with Inquisitor (Dhampires even have special racial variant which basically makes you Blade). In 3.5 I would say to go with Swordsage, maybe with some levels in Ranger for favored enemy (also, with Wolf or Hawk animal companion you'll be very cool Vampire Hunter).

[SowZ]

A level of Ranger for favored enemy and Track would be flavorful.

[Seharvepernfan]

Well, I think this (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/inquisitor) would fit pretty well. Or ask your DM to play a half-ranger, half-cleric character who gets full ranks in key skills like listen/spot/sense motive, full favored enemy, and full casting/turning in the important areas (like the sun domain).

[KillianHawkeye]

A key issue would be getting the whip to do lethal damage without tying a knife to the end, since vampires (as undead) are immune to nonlethal.

[Zonugal]

Try taking a look in the Dungeon Master's Guide for the Ranger variant, Undead Slayer. It is pretty much designed for this.

But it is a very niche path.

[Crinias]

I suggest taking a good look at Libris Mortis. For shame, people, nobody mentioned the Vampire Hunter feat? Immunity to dominating gaze and being able to detect them unfailingly as a move action? There's some other goodies in there for fighting undead in general.

[krai]

A key issue would be getting the whip to do lethal damage without tying a knife to the end, since vampires (as undead) are immune to nonlethal.

Light the whip on fire that'll make it work better.

[Gerrtt]

Wasn't there a whip variant called Thorn Whip or Briar Whip that did normal damage? I want to say...Savage Species maybe?

Looked like a thick braided whip with thorns all over it?

[B33rm4n]

Inquisitor is neat, but my DM's knowledge of the pathfinder content is very small...The nonlethal thing isn't an issue, he's already agreed to let me take a 10 foot chain whip variant that deals 1d8 lethal damage...my ancestral relic, no doubt. Also tome of battle is not available to me to use either, I've thought of the ranger stuff, but it's hard to get the holy warrior theme tagged on the end of that class, any thoughts?

[Amnestic]

A key issue would be getting the whip to do lethal damage without tying a knife to the end, since vampires (as undead) are immune to nonlethal.

It should be noted that the nature of the Vampire Killer changes depending on the game. Sometimes it's a straight up leather whip, sometimes it's a metal chain thing. Sometimes it's a metal chain which is on fire. Sometimes it's a metal chain with a large ball on the end which is on fire. There's flexibility with the actual 'whip' and what weapon you use for it.

[KillianHawkeye]

Light the whip on fire that'll make it work better.

I like the way you think. :smallamused:

[ShneekeyTheLost]

As far as sub-weapons... sleeves of infinite daggers, vials of holy water (use a haversack to store them), Boomerangs (cross-shaped), and some throwing axes. That covers the most popular ones, I believe. Well, there's the hourglass, but that's going to be awfully hard. Maybe a Time Stop effect?

As far as Belmont himself? There's several ways to go about doing this:

1) Swordsage. Uses a Spiked Chain as his 'whip', and focuses heavily in Desert Wind for bonus fire damage.

2) Crusader using a Spiked Chain as his 'whip', and does solid melee damage, plus some battlefield control with Thicket of Blades. Take levels of Bloodstorm Blade if you want to do more damage with your sub-weapons Dagger and Axe. Possibly also Master Thrower.

3) Paladin/Sorcerer/Spellsword/Swiftblade(can duplicate the Hourglass effect). Focus on self-buffs. Use spiked chain as your whip.

[B33rm4n]

I like these ideas, lets step back then, I would like to make the whip itself a legacy weapon, I'm able to do this under, stipulations with which i have to run by the DM, what kinds of abilities and upgrades do the playground think fit this weapon. I'm modeling it after the combat cross in Lords of Shadow, but this is purely aesthetic.

[Deadline]

Weapon-wise, the whip could mechanically be a spiked chain (which lets you hit adjacent squares too, but is a two handed weapon), or you could go with the Kusari-Gama from the DMG pg. 145 (a one handed reach weapon). Of course, given that in Lords of Shadow Gabriel doesn't really do anything with his off hand while wielding the whip, the spiked chain works better here.

For enchantments, I would think that Holy and Undead Bane are givens. Flaming would be nice, but figuring out a way to make this bad boy into something like a sun blade would be fantastic.

OT: Having just read your title, I came in here ready to suggest a Warlock with Flee the Scene, Flight, a Hat of Disguise, and a good bluff check. He'd enter a town disguised as a vampire, and terrorize it's citizenry. Then he'd slip out of town at dawn, enter as his "vampire hunter" self, track the vampire to his "lair", and enter alone. After making a large sounding scuffle, the "vampire" would come sailing out a window (flight) with a crossbow bolt apparently stuck in his chest, catch fire in the sunlight and incinerate to nothing (flee the scene to teleport back into the building). The successful "hero" would then emerge and collect his fee before moving on to a new town.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

A good item to use as the base would be a Water Whip (MIC pg. 63). Deals lethal damage, effectively cannot be disarmed or sundered, and can have either fire or frost aspect. So use the flaming property instead of the frost property, and you've got a good start.

Good properties to follow up with would be Ghost Touch (or Force) and Sacred (bonus damage against undead and evil outsiders).

[Hunter Noventa]

There's a listing of a 'Scorpion Whip' in Pathfinder that does lethal damage. They also have what is effectively a chain whip somewhere in ultimate combat.
The moment you attach a spiked ball at the end you have more of a flail. You could probably create an exotic weapon that's a flail with reach.