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View Full Version : D&D 3.x Other New Playable Vampire Template 3.5 Peach



Silva Stormrage
2013-03-09, 10:50 PM
I posted this in my Necromantic Codex but I figured I should try and get comments on it as fast as possible before I send it against my players :smalltongue:

Vampire Template and Vampire Spawn:


http://www.toplessrobot.com/strahd.jpg
"Your blood will flow!." - Prince Keleseth

Vampires

Vampires are reanimated corpses that stalk creatures in the night searching for blood to drain. Hunters, tacticians and masterminds, Vampires are dangerous enemies to have and fearsome opponents.

Vampires appear just as they did in life, although their features are often hardened and feral, with the predatory look of wolves.
Like liches, they often embrace finery and decadence and may assume the guise of nobility. Despite their human appearance, vampires can be easily recognized, for they cast no shadows and throw no reflections in mirrors.
Vampires speak any languages they knew in life.

Vampire Template

Creating a Vampire

“Vampire” is an acquired template that can be added to any living creature with blood coursing through its body (referred to hereafter as the base creature). A vampire uses all of the base creature’s statistics and special abilities, except as noted here. Furthermore, a vampire’s alignment is automatically shifted to evil (LE, NE, or CE). In rare cases the DM may rule that the vampire does not shift alignments.

Size and Type: The creature’s type changes to undead. Do not recalculate base attack bonus, saves, or skill points. Size is unchanged.

Hit Dice: Increase all current and future Hit Dice to d12s.

Speed: Same as the base creature.

Armor Class: The base creature’s natural armor bonus improves by +2.

Attack: A vampire retains all the attacks of the base creature and also gains a bite and two claw attacks if it didn’t already have them. If the base creature can use weapons, the vampire retains this ability. A creature with natural weapon retains those natural weapons. A vampire fighting without weapons uses either its bite and claw attacks or its primary natural weapon (if it has any). A vampire armed with a weapon uses its bite and claws or a weapon, as it desires.

Full Attack: A vampire fighting without weapons uses its bite and two claws to attack. If armed with a weapon, it chooses whether to use the weapon or use its natural attacks.


{table=head]Size|Bite Damage|Claw Damage
Fine|1|-
Diminutive|1d2|1
Tiny|1d3|1d2
Small|1d4|1d3
Medium|1d6|1d4
Large|1d8|1d6
Huge|2d6|1d8
Gargantuan|2d8|2d6
Colossal|4d6|2d8[/table]

Damage: Vampires have bite and claw attacks. If the base creature does not have this attack form, use the appropriate damage value from the table according to the vampire’s size. Creatures that have other kinds of natural weapons retain their old damage values or use the appropriate value from the table, whichever is better.

Special Attacks: A vampire retains all the special attacks of the base creature and gains those described below. Saves have a DC of 10 + ½ the vampire’s HD + the vampire’s Charisma modifier, unless noted otherwise.

Blood Drain (Ex): A vampire can suck blood from a pinned living victim with its fangs. Successfully dealing at least 5 points of Constitution drain satiates the vampire’s thirst for blood.

If it pins the foe, it drains blood, dealing 1d4 points of Constitution damage each round the pin is maintained. On each successful grapple attack, the vampire heals 5 hit points, gaining any extra as temporary hit points. For every 4 points of constitution damage he inflicts one negative level on the subject. Each negative level grants the vampire 5 temporary hit points.

To use this ability, the vampire must hit with his bite attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action with a +4 bonus without provoking an attack of opportunity. If the vampire succeeds on the grapple he can make an additional grapple check as a free action, if he succeeds on the second grapple immediately drains blood.

Charm (Su): A vampire can control an opponent’s will just by looking into his or her eyes. This is similar to a gaze attack, except that the vampire must use a standard action, and those merely looking at it are not affected. Anyone the vampire targets must succeed on a Will save or fall instantly under the vampire’s influence as though by a charm person spell (caster level equal to the Vampire's HD) except the duration of the charm is one day. The ability has a range of 30 feet. The DC for this ability is 10+ the vampire's charisma modifier.

Create Spawn (Su): If the vampire drains the victim’s Constitution to 0 or lower or if the vampire kills a subject with negative levels from his drain attack, the victim returns as a spawn if it had 4 or less HD and as a vampire if it had 5 or more HD. Vampire Spawn are under the direct control of a vampire. The vampire rises after a single day of being dead. Vampires created through this ability always have free will. However, their attitude shifts one step further towards fanatic to the vampire and his direct allies to a minimum of friendly to the vampire and indifferent to his direct allies. Afterwords the vampire can have his attitude adjusted based on the vampire's actions just like normal.

At any given time a vampire cannot have enslaved vampire spawn totaling no more than its charisma modifier (Minimum 1); any spawn it creates that would exceed this limit are created as free-willed vampire spawn. A vampire may voluntarily free an enslaved spawn in order to enslave a new spawn, but once freed, vampire spawn cannot be enslaved again.

Special Qualities: A vampire retains all of the special qualities of the base creature and gains those described below.

Alternate Form (Su): A vampire can assume the shape of a bat or wolf as a standard action. While in its alternate form, the vampire loses its natural bite attack and charm ability, but it gains the natural weapons and extraordinary special attacks of its new form. It can remain in that form until it assumes another or until the next sunrise. (If the base creature is not terrestrial, this power might allow other forms.)

Fast Healing (Ex): A vampire heals a number of hit points equal to his charisma modifier each round so long as it has at least 1 hit point. A vampire's fast healing can only heal him up to half his maximum hit points. If reduced to 0 hit points in combat, it automatically assumes gaseous form and attempts to escape. Any additional damage dealt to the vampire is negated. It must reach its coffin home within 1 hours or be utterly destroyed. (It can travel up to about 2.5 miles in 1 hours.) Once at rest in its coffin, a vampire is helpless. It regains 1 hit point after 1 day of complete rest, then is no longer helpless and resumes healing at the rate of a number of hit points equal to his charisma modifier per round.

Gaseous Form (Su): As a standard action, a vampire can assume gaseous form at will as the spell (caster level 5th), but it can remain gaseous indefinitely and has a fly speed of 10 feet with perfect maneuverability.

Vulnerability: A vampire is vulnerable to fire damage, silver and holy weapons and holy water. Fire damage and damage from silver or holy weapons deals 1.5 times normal damage to a vampire. While holy water deals double damage.

Vampire Trait: Vampires vary from each other. When the vampire is first created he may chose one of the following abilities. This decision can not be changed by any means.

Improved Blood Drain: The Vampire deals 1d4+1 con drain each round in a grapple instead of 1d4 con damage.
Improved Fast Healing: The vampire's fast healing improves by 5.
Improved Grip: The vampire gains improved grapple as a bonus feat.
Lieutenant: The vampire can choose to make a vampire he spawned his cohort as the leadership feat.The original vampire has complete control over the cohort vampire's actions. The vampire spawned must be weaker than the main vampire by at least one level or more, regardless of the vampire's leadership score. If the cohort vampire ever dies the original must wait a week before spawning another cohort. This trait can only be selected with the DM's explicit permission.
Overcome Weakness: The vampire can remove a single weakness that normally affects vampires (Such as their inability to enter private houses, their weakness to sunlight, or their vulnerability to fire)
Persuasive Glance: The dc of the Vampire's charm increases by 2 and it only takes a move action to activate.
Swift Flight: The vampire's gaseous form fly speed is increased to 40ft.


Spider Climb (Ex): A vampire can climb sheer surfaces as though with a spider climb spell.

Diet Dependent: All vampires have an inescapable craving for blood (See Libris Mortis Pg 10). A vampire sates it's hunger for blood by using it's blood drain ability or drinking blood fresh blood (Fresh blood is blood drained within 3 days).

Turn Resistance (Ex): A vampire has +4 turn resistance.

Abilities: Vampires abilities and skills varies depending on the vampire. When the vampire is first created the vampire may choose to select one of the following templates to increase its ability scores and gain select bonuses to skills. This decision can not be changed by any means.

Savage:
Increase from the base creature as follows: Str +6, Dex +4, Int -2, Wis -2, Cha +2. As an undead creature, a vampire has no Constitution score.
Skills: Savage Vampires have a +4 racial bonus on Listen, Intimidate, Survival, Hide, and Tumble. Otherwise same as the base creature.


Dark:
Increase from the base creature as follows: Str +2, Dex +4, Int +2 Wis -2. As an undead creature, a vampire has no Constitution score.
Dark Vampires have a +4 racial bonus on Disguise, Bluff, Hide, Move Silently, Listen, Spot, and Sense Motive. Otherwise same as the base creature.


Sagacious:
Increase from the base creature as follows: Str -2, Dex -2, Int +2, Wis +4, Cha +2. As an undead creature, a vampire has no Constitution score.
Sagacious Vampires have a +4 racial bonus on Concentration, Knowledge (Any One), Listen, Sense Motive, Search and Spot. Otherwise same as the base creature.

Persuasive:
Increase from the base creature as follows: Str -2, Dex +2, Int +2, Cha +4. As an undead creature, a vampire has no Constitution score.
Persuasive Vampires have a +4 racial bonus on Bluff, Diplomacy, Hide, Intimidate, Gather Information, Move Silently, Sense Motive. Otherwise same as the base creature


Feats: Vampires gain Life Drain and Endure Sunlight as bonus feats

Level Adjustment: Same as the base creature +2

CR Adjustment: Same as the base creature +2

Vampire Weaknesses

For all their power, vampires have a number of weaknesses.

Repelling a Vampire: Vampires cannot tolerate the strong odor of garlic and will not enter an area laced with it. Similarly, they recoil from a mirror or a strongly presented holy symbol of a good aligned god or goddess. These things don’t harm the vampire- they merely keep it at bay. A recoiling vampire must stay at least 5 feet away from a creature holding the mirror or holy symbol and cannot touch or make melee attack against the creature holding for the rest of the encounter. Holding a vampire at bay takes a standard action.

They are completely unable to enter a home or other building unless invited in by someone with the authority to do so. They may freely enter public places since these are by definition open to all. They also are unable to enter any hallowed area without passing a will save (DC equal to the dc of the hallow spell) a failure meaning he can't reattempt the save or enter the area for another 24 hours.

Vampires despite being undead can still be critically hit by a holy or silver weapon. If the vampire acquires protection from critical hits from a source other than the undead template that protection protects agains crits from holy or silver weapons as well.

Slaying a Vampire: Reducing a vampire’s hit points to 0 or lower incapacitates it but doesn’t always destroy it (see the note on fast healing). However, certain attack can slay vampires.

Exposing any vampire to direct sunlight disorients it: It can take only a single move action or attack action and it cannot use any of its supernatural abilities. After 2 consecutive rounds in sunlight without protection the vampire is destroyed.

If the vampire is slain by a critical hit by a silver or holy weapon or just reduced to 0 hp by holy water he is destroyed and does not go gaseous form.

Driving a wooden stake through a vampire’s heart instantly slays the monster. The vampire must be rendered helpless to stake it. However, it returns to life if the stake is removed unless the body is destroyed. A popular tactic is to cut off the creature’s head and fill its mouth with holy wafers (or their equivalent).

Note on Vampire's Coffin's: A Vampire's coffin can be designated with an hour long ritual all vampires instinctively know which costs 1000gp of onyx gems. The coffin doesn't have to be an actual coffin and can instead be a bed, a small room or other similar object. The vampire does need to be able to sleep in or on the coffin though. If a Vampire's coffin is destroyed he can't designate another one for another month.



Vampire Spawn

Vampire Spawn are undead created draining bite of a Vampire. They have many abilities similar to a vampire but are overall quite weaker. Vampire spawns don't recall anything from their previous life and are fanatically devoted to the vampire that spawned them. However, If a vampire ever releases a Vampire Spawn the surge of free will tends to cause it to try and flee from it's previous master.

Medium Undead
HD 4d12+4 (30)
Speed 30 ft. (6 squares);
Init: +6
AC 15 (+3 Natural Armor, + 2 Dexterity); touch 12; flat-footed 13
BAB +2; Grp +9
Attack Claw +5 (1d6 + 3) or Bite +5 (1d6+3)
Full Attack: Two Claws +6 (1d6 + 3) and Bite +4 (1d6+3)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks Blood Drain, Charm, Improved Grab, Gaseous Form
Special Qualities Darkvision 60ft, Fast Healing, Turn Resistance + 2, Damage Reduction 5/Silver or Magic
Saves Fort +1 Ref +4 Will +4
Abilities Str 16, Dex 14, Con -, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 14
Skills Bluff +4, Diplomacy +6, Hide + 11, Move Silently +11, Spot +9, Sense Motive +9, Listen +9
Feats Improved Grapple (B), Multiattack, Improved Init
Environment Any
Organization Solitary or Pack (2-5)
Challenge Rating: 4
Treasure Standard
Alignment Usually Evil
Advancement by Class Level;
Level Adjustment -

Blood Drain (Ex):A vampire spawn can suck blood from a living victim with its fangs by making a successful grapple check. If it pins the foe, it drains blood, dealing 1d4 points of Constitution damage each round. On each successful grapple attack, the vampire heals 5 hit points, gaining any extra as temporary hit points.

Charm (Su): A vampire spawn can control an opponent’s will just by looking into his or her eyes. This is similar to a gaze attack, except that the vampire must use a standard action, and those merely looking at it are not affected. Anyone the vampire targets must succeed on a Will save or fall instantly under the vampire’s influence as though by a charm person spell (caster level 4) except the duration of the charm is one day. The ability has a range of 30 feet.

Improved Grab: (Ex) Whenever a vampire spawn hits a target of medium size or smaller with his bite attack he can make a grapple attempt as a free action that does not provoke attack of opportunities.

Damage Reduction (Su): A vampire spawn has damage reduction 5/silver or magic. A vampire spawn's natural weapons are treated as magic weapon for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

Fast Healing (Ex): A vampire spawn heals a number of hit points equal to his charisma modifier (minimum 1) each round so long as it has at least 1 hit point. A vampire's fast healing can only heal him up to half his maximum hit points. If reduced to 0 hit points in combat, it automatically assumes gaseous form and attempts to escape. Any additional damage dealt to the vampire spawn is negated. It must reach its coffin home within 1 hours or be utterly destroyed. (It can travel about 2.25 miles in 1 hours.) Once at rest in its coffin, a vampire is helpless. It regains 1 hit point after 1 day, then is no longer helpless and resumes healing at the rate of hit points equal to his charisma modifier per round.

Gaseous Form (Su): As a standard action, a vampire can assume gaseous form at will as the spell (caster level 5th), but it can remain gaseous indefinitely and has a fly speed of 10 feet with perfect maneuverability.

Skills: Vampire spawn have a +2 racial bonus on Bluff, Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Search, Sense Motive, and Spot checks.

Weaknesses: Vampire spawns share the same weakness with vampires (See Above)



Vampire Lord Template:



http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k140/MrCelsius/SpearVamp2.jpg
Image from http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k140/MrCelsius/SpearVamp2.jpg
"I am darkness incarnate, the terror of the night. My hordes will drink you dry!" - Vampire Lord Villath

Vampire Lords

Vampires lords are dramatically more powerful vampires who often lead vast armies of servants at their beck and call. Vampires are often ancient beings, planning for the long term and living for several thousand years.

Vampire lords appear exactly as they did in life. Their feral traits from being a vampire are removed and they return to looking like a normal creature of their previous race. Of course, lack of blood flow, a heart beat, etc, can tip off a careful observer.

Vampire lords speak any languages they knew in life.

Creating a Vampire Lord

“Vampire Lord” is an acquired template that can be added to any vampire (referred to hereafter as the base vampire). In order to become a vampire lord the base vampire must be at least 100 years old, must of either killed the vampire that spawned him or helped to kill him and must be at least 10th level. A vampire lord uses all of the base vampire's statistics and special abilities, except as noted here. Furthermore, a vampire lord's alignment is automatically shifted to whatever his alignment was before becoming a vampire, unless the DM feels otherwise.

Size and Type: Same as base vampire

Hit Dice: Same as base vampire

Speed: Same as the base vampire. Plus the vampire lord can fly with a speed of double their base land speed with perfect maneuverability.

Armor Class: The base vampire natural armor bonus improves by +4.

Attack: Same as base vampire.

Special Attacks: A vampire retains all the special attacks of the base creature and gains those described below. Saves have a DC of 10 + ½ the vampire’s HD + the vampire’s Charisma modifier, unless noted otherwise.

Blood Drain (Ex): As base vampire except for each round the pin is maintained the vampire lord drains 1d4+2 con drain. If the base vampire has improved blood drain then he drains 2d4+1 con drain each round.

Improved Grab: To use this ability, the vampire lord must hit with his bite attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action with a +6 bonus without provoking an attack of opportunity. If the vampire succeeds on the grapple he can make an additional grapple check as a free action, if he succeeds on the second grapple immediately drains blood.

Domination (Su): A vampire lord can control an opponent’s will much stronger than a regular vampire. This ability works as the base vampire's charm except that it can affect anyone who can hear the vampire and it duplicates dominate person instead of charm person. The vampire lord can only have a number of creatures dominated equal to his charisma modifier. Any further are charmed as charm person instead of dominated.

Create Spawn (Su): As the base vampire except as follows. A vampire lord can automatically control one vampire that it spawns as a cohort. This vampire must be at least one level lower than the lord to become a cohort. This cohort vampire is treated as fanatic towards the vampire lord. The vampire lord can choose to release this vampire to treat a newly spawned vampire as its new cohort. If the base vampire has the Lieutenant trait then the vampire lord can have two cohorts.

In addition, Vampire spawns gain an additional four racial HD when created by a vampire lord. Any new feats or ability score adjustments can be chosen by the vampire lord. When the vampire lord reaches 16 HD and every five HD after that, the vampire spawns gain an additional four HD.

At any given time a vampire lord cannot have enslaved vampire spawn totaling no more than half its own Hit Dice plus its charisma modifier; any spawn it creates that would exceed this limit are created as free-willed vampire spawn. A vampire may voluntarily free an enslaved spawn in order to enslave a new spawn, but once freed, vampire spawn cannot be enslaved again.

Special Qualities: A vampire retains all of the special qualities of the base creature and gains those described below.

Alternate Form (Su): A vampire lord can assume the form of any animal, as the druid ability wild shape used by a 12th-level druid. The vampire lord can use this power 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

Damage Reduction (Su): A vampire has damage reduction 15/silver and magic. A vampire’s natural weapons are treated as magic weapon for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

Fast Healing (Ex): A vampire lord heals a number of hit points equal to double his charisma modifier each round so long as it has at least 1 hit point. If reduced to 0 hit points in combat, it automatically assumes gaseous form and attempts to escape. Any additional damage dealt to the vampire is negated. It must reach a place of rest within 4 hours or be utterly destroyed. A location of rest is simply a location with soil from his place of birth. Once a location is reach, a vampire resumes corporeal form and is helpless. It regains 1 hit point after 1 hour of complete rest, then is no longer helpless and resumes healing due to his fast healing.

Gaseous Form (Su): As the base vampire except it has a move speed of 30ft (60ft if the base vampire has the swift flight trait) and the gaseous form is now pitch black.

Shadow Mist: A vampire lord secretes a black mist that covers an area 30ft radius around him which follows him around as he moves. Creatures in this mist take a -2 penalty on necromancy spells and effects and on the vampire lord's supernatural abilities. This mist is very thin and does not hamper visibility, however a vampire in gaseous form can make hide checks in this mist. In addition, this mist suppresses light spells of 6th level and lower automatically. Undead in the mist are protected from the penalties of natural sunlight. A light spell of 7th level or higher suppresses the mist. Activating or suppressing the mist is a standard action.

Shadow Telekinesis (Su): The vampire lord gains telekinesis as a supernatural ability usable at will at a caster level equal to his HD. However, this telekinesis can only be used on enemies within his shadow mist ability. In addition, if used to grapple an enemy that enemy must make a fort save each round he is grappled or take half the con drain he would if the vampire lord had pinned him. This ability can inflict negative levels this way and sates the vampire lord's thirst for blood if the vampire lord drains enough con.

Blood Link: A vampire lord is a hunter and its prey has a very difficult time escaping. If a vampire lord drains blood from a subject the vampire lord knows the exact location of the subject for a day. As a standard action he can switch his perspective from his own to the subjects, hearing and seeing everything the subject does. The vampire lord can track a subject this way if he has drained blood from the subject in the past day.

Vulnerability: As the base vampire except a vampire lord is no longer vulnerable to fire.

Vampire Lord Trait: Vampire lords vary from each other. When the vampire is first created he may chose two of the following abilities. This decision can not be changed by any means.

Greater Shadow Mist: The vampire lord's shadow mist now covers an area of 60 in radius and it only takes a swift action to activate or suppress it. In addition, the vampire lord can now control the area of the mist as a free action once per round, adjusting the mist's area into any form that has the same area. The vampire lord must be in at least one square of this new area.
Greater Spawns: All vampire spawns created by the vampire lord gain an addition 2 racial HD and the vampire lord can select feats, skills or new ability score increases as he wishes. In addition, the vampire spawns gain an additional +4 strength and dexterity. This trait can be selected twice for a +8 bonus to strength and dexterity and for four extra HD.
Shadow Form: Activating the vampire lord's gaseous form ability now only takes a swift action and dismissing it is a move action. In addition, the vampire lord gains a +4 bonus on hide checks while in gaseous form.
Profane Resistance: The vampire gains a profane bonus to saving throws equal to his charisma modifier.
Deathly Grip: When using shadow telekinesis to grapple an opponent the fort save only halves the damage that they would take instead of negating it. As well shadow telekinesis negates any non epic immunity to grappling effect or ability on the subject.
Skillful: The vampire lord gains gains an additional skill point per level (Retroactively for past levels) and may select two skills. These two skills gain a +8 racial bonus.
Turn Immunity: The vampire lord gains a +3 bonus on will saving throws and gains immunity to turn and rebuke undead.
Spell Lord: The vampire lord gains +2 caster level and gains the following spells as spell like abilities usable at will: Ray of Enfeeblement, Burning Blood, Black Light, Armor of Darkness. With a caster level equal to the vampire lord's HD (With a +2 from this trait).
Unholy Toughness: The vampire lord may now use half of his charisma modifier in place of his Constitution modifier to determine his hit points
Lesser Traits: The vampire lord may select two vampire traits from the vampire template.

Turn Resistance (Ex): As the base vampire +6 turn resistance.

Abilities: Vampire lord's abilities and skills varies depending on what type of vampire it once was. The vampire lord gains the same type as it chose when it was a vampire, thus a savage vampire is a savage vampire lord, etc.

Savage Lord:
Increase from the base creature as follows: Str +4, Dex +2, Cha +2. As an undead creature, a vampire has no Constitution score.
Skills: Savage Vampires have a +8 racial bonus on Listen, Intimidate, Survival, Hide, Move Silently, and Tumble. Otherwise same as the base creature.


Dark Lord:
Increase from the base creature as follows: Str +2, Dex +2, Int +2 Cha +2. As an undead creature, a vampire has no Constitution score.
Dark Vampires have a +8 racial bonus on Disguise, Bluff, Hide, Move Silently, Listen, Spot, and Sense Motive. Otherwise same as the base creature.


Sagacious Lord:
Increase from the base creature as follows: Str+2, Wis +2, Cha +4. As an undead creature, a vampire has no Constitution score.
Sagacious Vampires have a +8 racial bonus on Concentration, Knowledge (Same what the sagacious base vampire chose), Listen, Sense Motive, Search and Spot. Otherwise same as the base creature.

Persuasive Lord:
Increase from the base creature as follows: Dex +2, Wis +2, Cha +4. As an undead creature, a vampire has no Constitution score.
Persuasive Vampires have a +8 racial bonus on Bluff, Diplomacy, Hide, Intimidate, Gather Information, Move Silently, Sense Motive. Otherwise same as the base creature


Feats: Vampire Lords gain Necromantic Presence (LM), Necromantic Might (LM), and Life Sense (LM) as bonus feats

Level Adjustment: Same as the base creature +3

CR Adjustment: Same as the base creature +2

Vampire Weaknesses

Vampire Lords have much fewer weaknesses then regular vampires.

Vampire lords cannot be repelled by garlic or holy symbols, though they can be turned. Mere presentation of a holy symbol has no effect. They have no fear of mirrors, and they cast reflections as living beings do.
A vampire lord may now enter a home or other building without being invited in by someone with the authority to do so. They still are unable to enter any hallowed area without passing a will save (DC equal to the dc of the hallow spell) a failure meaning he can't reattempt the save or enter the area for another 24 hours.

A vampire lord is more resistant than normal vampires against sunlight. The vampire lord's endure sunlight feat now allows it to resist the sun for one minute per charisma modifier instead of one round per charisma modifier. If the vampire lord is destroyed while exposed to direct sunlight, it seems to die, but unless the body is disposed of as described below, it assumes gaseous form as soon as the sun sets and attempts to return to its coffin.

A vampire lord is not killed outright by a wooden stake driven through its heart, though the stake does cause normal damage if it can bypass the creature's damage reduction.

The only way to make sure that a vampire lord does not return is to cut its head from its body, burn the body and the head separately, scatter the ashes from the body over running water, immerse the ashes from the head in holy water, and bury the immersed ashes in consecrated ground. However, if the head ashes are ever unearthed and somehow separated from the holy water, dried thoroughly, and then subjected to an unhallow spell, the vampire lord can regenerate in a week if the ashes are placed inside one of its places of rest.

A vampire lord is not automatically destroyed by a critical hit by a silver or holy weapon and he becomes gaseous as normal.


Sanguine Wraith:



http://tuckthatinson.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/file.jpg
"Pain and suffering is all that awaits you in this dark pit!." - Kyngos a Sanguine Wraith upon meeting a sworn enemy

Sanguine Wraith

Sanguine Wraith are vampires whose bodies either gave way or who underwent a ritual to sacrifice their bodies. They are incorporeal specters who retain almost all of their vampire powers but also gain several more based on their now spectral bodies. Sanguine Wraiths who lose their body due to their body giving way often spend months in isolated areas starving for blood, eventually their spirit gives way and tries to break free from their body and thus their hunger. They still have a craving for blood but it no longer is crippling if they are denied it. Those who undergo the ritual to become Sanguine Wraiths do so out of a desire for more power and are often Vampire Lords bored of conquest or who need more strength to overpower newfound rivals or heroes opposing them.

Sanguine Wraiths look simply like spectral versions of how they looked as vampires. They often have a blood soaked aura surrounding them, a fine red mist that hovers near their skin. A Vampire Lord Sanguine Wraith is referred to as an Emperor Sanguine Wraith and they are distinguished by a swirling ring of spectral blood circling their head like a morbid halo.

Creating a Sanguine Wraith

“Sanguine Wraith” is an acquired template that can be added to any Vampire or Vampire lord hereafter referred to as the base vampire.

Size and Type: The creature’s type is unchanged. Do not recalculate base attack bonus, saves, or skill points. However, the base vampire now becomes incorporeal.

Speed: The base vampire now gains a fly speed equal to double his previous fastest base move speed with a perfect maneuverability

Armor Class: The base creature loses any natural armor bonus and now gains a deflection bonus equal to his charisma modifier due to his incorporeal nature. However whenever he uses his shadow form ability (See below) he regains his previous natural armor.

Attack: A Sanguine Wraith retains all the previous natural weapons he had. However, they now deal profane damage, only require an incorporeal melee touch attack to hit. However, they no longer gain strength to damage as the Sanguine Wraith loses his strength score. They now use the Sanguine Wraith's dexterity modifier as a bonus to hit.

Special Attacks: A Sanguine Wraith retains all the special attacks of the base vampire and gains those described below. Saves have a DC of 10 + ½ the Sanguine Wraith HD + the Sanguine Wraith Charisma modifier, unless noted otherwise.

Blood Drain (Ex): This replaces the vampire ability of the same name. A Sanguine Wraith obviously would no longer restrict itself to physical contact to drain its desired substance. For every round a target is spent being grappled by the Sanguine Wraith's telekinesis ability (See below) they are have their blood drained exactly as if they had been pinned one round in their previous form. (Thus a normal vampire would drain 1d4 con damage every round a subject is grappled, if it had the Improved Blood Drain trait it would drain 1d4+1 con drain, etc).

Create Spawn (Su): As the base Vampire except occasionally (On the DM's whim) a creature with 5 or more HD may spawn as a vampire and then within an hour of existing immediately gain the Sanguine Wraith template. Those that gain the Sanguine Wraith template immediately have their attitude towards the spawning Sanguine Wraith decrease by one step as a surge or jealousy and pride seeps into them by the transformation.

Telekinesis (Su): A Sanguine Wraith gains a similar ability to a ghost and gains telekinesis as a supernatural ability usable at will once every 1d4 rounds. The caster level is equal to his HD. If the Sanguine Wraith was previously a vampire lord this ability no longer has any cool down.

Aura of Hunger (Su): A Sanguine Wraith's desire for sustenance is overwhelming and manifests as an aura of growing hunger. A Sanguine Wraith no longer needs blood to sustain its form despite its hunger for it. Truly a Sanguine Wraith needs magic to survive and it survives by ripping off magic from its surroundings and creatures near it. A Sanguine Wraith gains a 40ft radius of hunger which drains opponents in the area. Each round in the aura a targeted creature has one random ongoing spell effect affecting the creature dispelled. The Sanguine Wraith may specify a particular effect if he is aware of it but if the Sanguine Wraith is mislead than the aura attempts to dispel the effect but fails to dispel anything on that particular creature for that round. If a creature targeted has no ongoing spell effects than the subject must make a fort save or take 1 point of con damage and become fatigued.

Special Qualities: A vampire retains all of the special qualities of the base creature and gains those described below.

Shadow Form (Ex): A Sanguine Wraith can transform into corporeal versions of any creature it could normally transform into with its alternate form ability granted by the vampire or vampire lord template. While in any corporeal form his strength score is now equal to his charisma score. A Sanguine Wraith automatically turns into a corporeal form of his base form when within the area of an antimagic field.

Gaseous Form (Su): As a standard vampire. However, due to familiarity with movement while in a state similar to gaseous form the Sanguine Wraith's normal flight speed is retained.

Unholy Endurance (Ex): The Sanguine Wraith gains one third of his charisma modifier (Rounded up) as a bonus to all of his saving throws. As well as gaining one third of his charisma modifier added to his maximum HP for each HD he possesses.

Vulnerability: A Sanguine Wraith is vulnerable to turning and has a -2 on his turn resistance as a result. In addition he has vulnerability to force damage.

Spectral Trait: Sanguine Wraith vary from each other. When the Sanguine Wraith is first created he may chose one of the following abilities. This decision can not be changed by any means.

Mass Telekinesis: While using the grapple version of his telekinesis supernatural ability a Sanguine Wraith can target up to 5 different creatures with it. If they are grappled they can all be subject to the Sanguine Wraith's blood drain ability
Regenerating Wraith: The Sanguine Wraith's fast healing doubles.
Overcome Weakness: The Sanguine Wraith can remove a single weakness that normally affects Sanguine Wraith's or Vampires (Such as their inability to enter private houses, their weakness to sunlight, or their vulnerability to fire)
Greater Hunger Aura: Regardless if a creature in the aura has an ongoing spell effect or not it must make a fort save or take con damage and become fatigued.
Controlled Hunger: The Sanguine Wraith no longer has any inescapable cravings and is no longer diet dependent on anything. The Sanguine Wraith has controlled its hunger and has mastered it.
Greater Endurance: The Sanguine Wraith's Unholy Endurance ability now uses one half of the Sanguine Wraith's charisma modifier to determine its bonuses.

Diet Dependent: A Sanguine Wraith no longer is diet dependent on blood and no longer has an inescapable craving for negative levels. It does however, now gain an inescapable craving for blood and is now diet dependent on magical energy (Which it satisfies using its Blood Aura. It must drain at least 5 levels in spells each day)

Abilities: Increase from the base vampire as follows: Dex +4, Int +4, Cha +4. As an undead creature, a Sanguine Wraith has no Constitution score and as an incorporeal creature it has no Strength Score.

Level Adjustment: Same as the base creature +2

CR Adjustment: Same as the base creature +2

Temotei
2013-03-11, 02:42 AM
Lieutenant: The vampire can choose to make a vampire he spawned his cohort as the leadership feat.The original vampire has complete control over the cohort vampire's actions. The vampire spawned can be at most 1 level lower than the main vampire regardless of the vampire's leadership score. If the cohort vampire ever dies the original must wait a week before spawning another cohort. This trait can only be selected with the DM's explicit permission.

I don't have time to read through it all, but with a cursory glance I noticed that little bolded part. That's a wording problem. It's written as if the creature must be one level lower than the vampire, the same level, or a higher level. However, the intent is that it would be one level lower than the vampire or lower than that.

I'd reword it to this:

"The vampire spawned must be weaker than the main vampire by at least one level or more, regardless of the vampire's leadership score."

Or something like that. I'm tired, so maybe you can think of something better.

Demidos
2013-03-11, 03:45 AM
Hm. Overall. Seems a bit too strong.
Concrete Suggestions:
-Fast healing could safely be brought down to 2 or so.
-Charm person could be limited to a Cha modifier of people who could be charmed at once. Ive always thought it was a little strong to be able to charm at will. Consider -- once the first save is failed, you can tell them that you are casting a spell to aid them and they wont question it. This is exacerbated by the fact that its a mere gaze. Is it even noticeable that they are using it? Especially on the vampire spawn.
-LA on Vampire Spawn?
-Gaseous form could use a limit at lower levels, say until tenth, of a limited amount of rounds per day. Otherwise, its a bit too strong.
-The stats could be brought down a tad.
-The skills are incredible. You get the equivalent of 4 levels worth of skills with 7 skill points per level, as well as two feats. Could be toned down a bit. Say, pick 4?
-Is the ability to ignore a vampire weakness supposed to allow for the ability to walk in sunlight? I just noticed it was. That seems needlessly powerful.

Veklim
2013-03-11, 10:27 AM
OK, a few suggestions and little queries, but in advance of these, I do like it! :smallbiggrin:

Firstly, it's way to much for a LA +3....but there's a simple enough solution to this. Demidos was on the mark suggesting level-dependant caps and limits to access of abilities. What I'd do is set the bonuses gained to start small, and increase them every 4 HD or so, this would alleviate much of the LA worries, since a 5th level character with this template would gain much more than a 15th level character...as it stands, I'd say it's more like LA +4 or +5 somewhere...

Limit gaseous form to duration based on HD, say 10 minutes/HD (arbitrary but about right imo), capping out at 12HD where you get a 2 hour duration.

Edit error bolded here:

Create Spawn (Su): If the vampire drains the victim’s Constitution to 0 or lower or if the vampire kills a subject with negative levels from his drain attack, the victim returns as a spawn if it had 4 or less HD and as a vampire if it had 5 or more HD. Vampire Spawn are under the direct control of a vampire. Vampires created through this ability always have free will. However, their attitude shifts one step further towards fanatic to the vampire and his direct allies to a minimum of friendly to the vampire and indifferent to his direct allies. Afterwords the vampire can have his
Last bit trails off into white. On the subject of siring though, you might want to make the proviso that you cannot create a vampire (spawn or otherwise) with equal or more HD than you, only less. Also, I'd suggest you allow creation of spawn only until the vampire reaches 6HD, just to clarify this point.

The Lieutenant ability might want to state that the cohort does not count towards your HD total for controlled vampires, just to be clear on it. You may also, whilst on the subject of control, make a proviso or comment for any clerics gaining this template, since they will almost certainly be able to control some already. This would result in you essentially using 1.5 x class levels (for a pure cleric vampire) for calculating undead/vampires controlled, so it really needs some sort of clarification.

I happen to agree (once again) with Demidos about the skill bonuses, and I have a suggestion there too...you give the choice of 4 different stat bonus lines (Savage, Dark, Sage & Persuasive), which I like btw! If you were to remove the skill bonuses currently presented, and instead give each ability set 2 thematic skills which gain a bonus, and make the whole lot scale through HD (+2 to two stats and +1 to 2 skills every 4HD perhaps?), you would probably be another step closer to LA +3, and the whole thing would be more streamlined and scalar.

With regards to being able to walk in sunlight....erm nah! If they choose to reduce their weakness to sunlight then allow them to withstand it for maybe 1 round/HD, that would be nice enough for sure...but ignoring it completely kinda messes stuff up on the whole 'destroying a vampire' front and the consequential balance issues which would emerge.

Finally I'd suggest you give staggered access to the bonus feats, giving Life Drain at creation, but only giving Endure Sunlight at 6HD (again an arbitrary number, but about right imo).

This could be a thematic and worthwhile template to use in the right setting, but as it stands I'd insist on it being at least LA +4 to allow it in any of my games.

Deepbluediver
2013-03-11, 11:23 AM
I don't think any of this style and set-up would really be a problem if vampires where only monsters, but since you want to let PC's play them than the various at-will/unlimited abilities get OP very quickly.
And while LA tends to get more out of wack the higher it gets, simply reducing it while boosting abilities does not help for balance. You should ask yourself, if one player becomes a vampire, why won't everyone want to do it? If there isn't a good answer, your template is probably too powerful.

A lot of this seems pretty standard, in that it retains many of the issues the SRD vampire had. For example, forcing alignment on players, and recoiling from holy symbols. In D&D, there are evil gods, gods of death, and even gods of undeath. Same deal with the no-entering houses rules and requiring coffins. I think these are all left over as from the original vampire stories (Bram Stoker, mostly) and are an example of fluff becoming poor mechanics.
Other things are just odd (why do we need spider climb when we can fly?)


There are a few errors from copy-pasta-ing, such as linking fast healing to Charisma, then saying that it returns to 5/round after recovering from gaseuous form. Also, abilities that scale are nice, but what if my vampire was a non-charisma based class beforehand?


We've all got vampires on the brain, apparently, because last week I posted my version of a vampire balanced for PC play. Instead of having a template that dumps a whole pile of stuff on at once, then struggles with LA, I made vampire a class so the abilities can be added on and boosted gradually, and the trade-off is the normal opportunity cost for picking one class over another.
Check it out here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=274442), for ideas about various mechanics, if nothing else.
don't judge it by the picture, that was a joke :P

Silva Stormrage
2013-03-11, 05:59 PM
Okay I fixed the typos that were here, thank you for pointing them out. It seems that the general consensus is that it is too strong. Let me address the individual comments.


Hm. Overall. Seems a bit too strong.
Concrete Suggestions:
-Fast healing could safely be brought down to 2 or so.
-Charm person could be limited to a Cha modifier of people who could be charmed at once. Ive always thought it was a little strong to be able to charm at will. Consider -- once the first save is failed, you can tell them that you are casting a spell to aid them and they wont question it. This is exacerbated by the fact that its a mere gaze. Is it even noticeable that they are using it? Especially on the vampire spawn.
-LA on Vampire Spawn?
-Gaseous form could use a limit at lower levels, say until tenth, of a limited amount of rounds per day. Otherwise, its a bit too strong.
-The stats could be brought down a tad.
-The skills are incredible. You get the equivalent of 4 levels worth of skills with 7 skill points per level, as well as two feats. Could be toned down a bit. Say, pick 4?
-Is the ability to ignore a vampire weakness supposed to allow for the ability to walk in sunlight? I just noticed it was. That seems needlessly powerful.

-I LIKE high fast healing though, the main benifit of fast healing is pretty much the same if you have 1 fast healing or 10, that is out of combat at will healing. If I need to nerf this ability I would rather it not being able to heal you above 1/2 hit points rather than reduce the amount of fast healing
-Charm person is still a first level spell, with a range of 30ft, that doesn't allow you to completely control the opponents action. And it is a signature Vampire ability, I don't feel this is too strong, it being a gaze attack makes it WORSE than being a regular spell like ability though, it doesn't work on blind opponents and you can still avert your eyes to avoid. Also it still only works on humanoids…
-Vampire Spawn are lvl adjustment -. They are not meant to be player characters and characters turned into them would become NPC's.
-What part of gaseous form? The resurrection after death or the spell like ability? The spell like ability is terrible… It doesn't prevent you from taking damage… It basically just makes you an incorporeal cloud that has a 10ft move speed and can't attack… It is utility only pretty much.
-Hm Stats may need to be brought down slightly but if you compare them to say Half Dragon a +3 lvl adjustment template that most people agree is terrible? They are a bit worse (half dragon is str +8, dex +0, Con +2, Int +2, Cha +2).
-You also lose 3 levels of skill points. That equates to a +1 bonus on any of those skills if you actually trained them. The +8 from the original vampire was equal to the lvl adjustment. +4 is fine since skill adjustments are almost always even.
-Yes it is. If you want to weaken your combat and utility abilities than you can ignore sunlight. That isn't quite as strong as you think, I would imagine that most vampires that don't have that get about 5 different ways to block sunlight, flowing robes that block sunlight, magical darkness, researching a spell ala Malack, I believe there is a type of sunblock item in Libris Mortis too. Also this spell, http://dndtools.eu/spells/forgotten-realms-campaign-setting--19/cloak-of-dark-power--1190/ while maybe a pain to get a continuous item of it is about 2k….


OK, a few suggestions and little queries, but in advance of these, I do like it! :smallbiggrin:

Firstly, it's way to much for a LA +3....but there's a simple enough solution to this. Demidos was on the mark suggesting level-dependant caps and limits to access of abilities. What I'd do is set the bonuses gained to start small, and increase them every 4 HD or so, this would alleviate much of the LA worries, since a 5th level character with this template would gain much more than a 15th level character...as it stands, I'd say it's more like LA +4 or +5 somewhere...

Limit gaseous form to duration based on HD, say 10 minutes/HD (arbitrary but about right imo), capping out at 12HD where you get a 2 hour duration.

Edit error bolded here:

Last bit trails off into white. On the subject of siring though, you might want to make the proviso that you cannot create a vampire (spawn or otherwise) with equal or more HD than you, only less. Also, I'd suggest you allow creation of spawn only until the vampire reaches 6HD, just to clarify this point.

The Lieutenant ability might want to state that the cohort does not count towards your HD total for controlled vampires, just to be clear on it. You may also, whilst on the subject of control, make a proviso or comment for any clerics gaining this template, since they will almost certainly be able to control some already. This would result in you essentially using 1.5 x class levels (for a pure cleric vampire) for calculating undead/vampires controlled, so it really needs some sort of clarification.

I happen to agree (once again) with Demidos about the skill bonuses, and I have a suggestion there too...you give the choice of 4 different stat bonus lines (Savage, Dark, Sage & Persuasive), which I like btw! If you were to remove the skill bonuses currently presented, and instead give each ability set 2 thematic skills which gain a bonus, and make the whole lot scale through HD (+2 to two stats and +1 to 2 skills every 4HD perhaps?), you would probably be another step closer to LA +3, and the whole thing would be more streamlined and scalar.

With regards to being able to walk in sunlight....erm nah! If they choose to reduce their weakness to sunlight then allow them to withstand it for maybe 1 round/HD, that would be nice enough for sure...but ignoring it completely kinda messes stuff up on the whole 'destroying a vampire' front and the consequential balance issues which would emerge.

Finally I'd suggest you give staggered access to the bonus feats, giving Life Drain at creation, but only giving Endure Sunlight at 6HD (again an arbitrary number, but about right imo).

This could be a thematic and worthwhile template to use in the right setting, but as it stands I'd insist on it being at least LA +4 to allow it in any of my games.

Hm the main problem I have with increasing level adjustment on it beyond +3 is that I have never seen any character in any campaign take a +4 level adjustment template without nerfing himself completely. +3 is the absolute minimum IMO for reasonable player templates.

For the scaling abilities, I don't know that just seems to be so much agains my personal image of a vampire. They get turned and then wake up with new supernatural powers and a need to feast on the blood of the living. Obviously you can refluff it as them becoming more used to the template but I dislike that idea. The whole point of templates with high lvl adjustment is that you gain abilities now at the expense of being weaker later.

I do like the idea of making the skills fit with the individual ability score templates though, I will probably work on that.

The walking in sunlight is once again a "Classic" weakness of the vampire yet frankly it is ludicrously easy to negate anyway. Th option of ignoring it for 1 round/HD is not really worth it either… I mean endure sunlight does that almost already with 1+charisma modifier rounds of immunity.

Also if you grant endure sunlight at 6HD that just delays it by one level… the minimum HD of a vampire is 5...


I don't think any of this style and set-up would really be a problem if vampires where only monsters, but since you want to let PC's play them than the various at-will/unlimited abilities get OP very quickly.
And while LA tends to get more out of wack the higher it gets, simply reducing it while boosting abilities does not help for balance. You should ask yourself, if one player becomes a vampire, why won't everyone want to do it? If there isn't a good answer, your template is probably too powerful.

A lot of this seems pretty standard, in that it retains many of the issues the SRD vampire had. For example, forcing alignment on players, and recoiling from holy symbols. In D&D, there are evil gods, gods of death, and even gods of undeath. Same deal with the no-entering houses rules and requiring coffins. I think these are all left over as from the original vampire stories (Bram Stoker, mostly) and are an example of fluff becoming poor mechanics.
Other things are just odd (why do we need spider climb when we can fly?)


There are a few errors from copy-pasta-ing, such as linking fast healing to Charisma, then saying that it returns to 5/round after recovering from gaseuous form. Also, abilities that scale are nice, but what if my vampire was a non-charisma based class beforehand?


We've all got vampires on the brain, apparently, because last week I posted my version of a vampire balanced for PC play. Instead of having a template that dumps a whole pile of stuff on at once, then struggles with LA, I made vampire a class so the abilities can be added on and boosted gradually, and the trade-off is the normal opportunity cost for picking one class over another.
Check it out here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=274442), for ideas about various mechanics, if nothing else.
don't judge it by the picture, that was a joke :P

I disagree that the at will abilities cause problems. The only abilities they have "At Will" are charm person, spider climb, and gaseous form. Charm Person is once again a first level spell, spider climb as you pointed out is mostly obsolete (Frankly I kept it in for the image of the vampire hanging upside down on the roof), and as I stated earlier gaseous form lets them seep through cracks but it is incredibly bad for in combat use.

The main problem of the main vampire template was it's ludicrously stupid LA and the create spawn ability. I have effectively nerfed the create spawn so that a vampire can only have vampire spawn under his control, he may be able to turn a vampire into an ally but those are npc's and risking too much on the help of someone you just murdered (Sure they see you as a friend but you still will probably be attacking their friends) isn't a good idea.


I actually did see your class but I decided to keep with the template idea just because I don't like the scaling idea of templates (That is any with high lvl adjustment). IMO a vampire shouldn't have to "Crawl up the ranks" of a being a vampire, just like when you animate an morgh with create undead it doesn't start at lvl 1 of its savage progression and you need to train it to become a threatening monster.


I think the recent reveal of Malack has made everyone think about Vampires to be honest XD.



Let me finish by comparing it to a template that I feel is a "Good" +2 level adjustment template Half Fey. I chose lvl adjustment +2 because I couldn't FIND a good lvl adjustment +3 template.
Half Fey: +2 Dex, -2 Con, +2 Wis, +4 Cha
Flight Speed (Fast)
Immunity to Enchantment
Charm Person at will
Assorted Good Spell Like abilities
DR 5/Cold Iron

Vampire: Slightly better ability scores
Spider Climb at will
Gaseous Form at will
Charm Person at will
Undead Type (Frankly this is even, it destroys a character's hit points without corpse crafter, even if it does grant a lot of immunities)
DR: 5/Silver and Magic
Natural Attacks + Grapple Bonus (Very useful to a melee vampire almost useless to a spell caster)
Bonus Feats: Life Drain (Not very common use), Endure Sunlight (Useful but it offsets a weakness the vampire gives himself. And if you negate the weakness with the trait it becomes useless)
Skill Bonuses:
Fast Healing
Altenrate Form
Create Spawn
Varied Traits
Gaseous form ressurection

Weaknesses
Inability to enter houses or hallowed areas
Vulnerability to fire and silver weapons
Vulnerability to sunlight
Recoiling against holy symbols + mirrors (Changed to only good aligned and holy deities)
If pinned can be instantly killed

Vampire clearly adds a LOT more random abilities but a lot of them are fairly niche (spider climb, gaseous form for non fleeing to coffin purposes, alternate form). It also has a lot of other downsides such as taking 50% extra damage from two common types of damage (Silver is common when fighting vampires anyway) and the inability to enter private houses without being invited.

I think it does need a bit of reduction to still be counted as +3 lvl adjustment, I think I might reduce the fast healing to only heal a maximum of 1/2 their hit points (than make draining an enemy's blood heal the vampire instead of temporary hit points). Reduce the skills slightly, I still don't see them as that strong. And also add more ways of preventing a vampire from turning gaseous form and fleeing. Turn Undead probably should just destroy the vampire, same with maybe holy water if it kills the vamp?

Veklim
2013-03-12, 08:36 AM
For the scaling abilities, I don't know that just seems to be so much agains my personal image of a vampire. They get turned and then wake up with new supernatural powers and a need to feast on the blood of the living.

Almost ALL vampire literature at least mentions, if not hinges on, the idea that the longer you're a vampire, the more powerful you are as one. My thoughts were simply to relate that to game mechanic terms. A fledgling vampire is given a sudden burst of amazing powers and abilities, I don't disagree there. Thing is, the older a vampire is, the more potent those abilities become, so it made sense to me to portray this classic trait.

It's certainly reasonable to argue that the main problem is LA itself, but of all the ideas I've seen to replace it, none of them have hit the mark for me, so I guess we're stuck with LA for now...

Silva Stormrage
2013-03-12, 10:31 PM
Almost ALL vampire literature at least mentions, if not hinges on, the idea that the longer you're a vampire, the more powerful you are as one. My thoughts were simply to relate that to game mechanic terms. A fledgling vampire is given a sudden burst of amazing powers and abilities, I don't disagree there. Thing is, the older a vampire is, the more potent those abilities become, so it made sense to me to portray this classic trait.

It's certainly reasonable to argue that the main problem is LA itself, but of all the ideas I've seen to replace it, none of them have hit the mark for me, so I guess we're stuck with LA for now...

Ah let me rephrase myself. I understand that in literature that is how it works, and it makes sense. In literature one of the main threats of the undead is that they live for so long.

As game design though I don't like scaling templates. In templates you take the LVL adjustment penalty all up front. It makes sense that you should be getting the benefits up front as well. If I went the way of scaling I would redesign the template as a class instead of making it a template.


Edit: Hopefully rebalanced the Vampire Template:

Notes:
1: Fast Healing can only heal up to 1/2 the vampires maximum hit points but his bite attack heals instead of granting temporary hit points.
2: Added two more vulnerabilities, holy weapons and holy water
3: Vastly reduced the range a vampire can travel with the gaseous form ability (reduced from ~9 miles to ~2.25 miles) and halved the gaseous form's movement speed. Now enemies can casually stroll behind the vampire when he attempts to flee. Also it takes a day to start recovering after a defeat.
4: Added another weakness, Silver and Holy weapons can critically hit the vampire now.
5: Added two new ways to kill the vampire without making him turn gaseous, finishing the vampire with a critical hit from a silver or holy weapon or just killing the vampire with holy water.
6: Reduced the ability scores each template gives and made the skill bonuses on the template chosen.

Veklim
2013-03-13, 07:16 AM
Edits look good, and certainly redress the balance quite nicely, it's much closer to LA +3 now, and certainly works in a slightly more fluid manner now, especially with the bite attack healing, makes much more sense than temporary HP ever did!


As game design though I don't like scaling templates. In templates you take the LVL adjustment penalty all up front. It makes sense that you should be getting the benefits up front as well. If I went the way of scaling I would redesign the template as a class instead of making it a template.

Now THIS is the crux of the matter isn't it..? If the power curve was a linear scale across the board in D&D then I'd more than happily agree with you and let the point lay. However, many power curves in the game are NOT linear, whereby the jump from 14th to 15th level is vastly greater than the jump between 4th and 5th, and this in an issue that LA has never really been able to address. I personally believe this is due to the lack of scaling effects in templates (on the whole, there are a few unusual exceptions I think), and the issue of a +4 bonus to a couple of skills at 5th level is SO much more important than the same +4 at 15th.

To use a parallel (but not entirely correlating) example, look at the racial flight ability of Raptorans, the idea of a template is much the same as a race (at least the bare mechanics of it) and even here, WoTC had to admit a certain balance issue for static effects in a levelling character. As such, the flight improves with extra HD, does this mean that Raptorans become a better racial choice as they level, does this mean they are inherantly flawed in conception? I don't think so anyhow...

This is in no way a criticism of your work or your ethos towards design, but I must admit I'm enjoying debating the topic here, as you seem to have both a good idea of what you like/dislike and a good personal ideal in game design. :smallbiggrin:

I'll just finish by saying again, I DO like this template, it's a vast improvement on the original and I shall look forward to testing it out in one of my games!

Silva Stormrage
2013-03-13, 05:11 PM
Now THIS is the crux of the matter isn't it..? If the power curve was a linear scale across the board in D&D then I'd more than happily agree with you and let the point lay. However, many power curves in the game are NOT linear, whereby the jump from 14th to 15th level is vastly greater than the jump between 4th and 5th, and this in an issue that LA has never really been able to address. I personally believe this is due to the lack of scaling effects in templates (on the whole, there are a few unusual exceptions I think), and the issue of a +4 bonus to a couple of skills at 5th level is SO much more important than the same +4 at 15th.

To use a parallel (but not entirely correlating) example, look at the racial flight ability of Raptorans, the idea of a template is much the same as a race (at least the bare mechanics of it) and even here, WoTC had to admit a certain balance issue for static effects in a levelling character. As such, the flight improves with extra HD, does this mean that Raptorans become a better racial choice as they level, does this mean they are inherantly flawed in conception? I don't think so anyhow...

This is in no way a criticism of your work or your ethos towards design, but I must admit I'm enjoying debating the topic here, as you seem to have both a good idea of what you like/dislike and a good personal ideal in game design. :smallbiggrin:

I'll just finish by saying again, I DO like this template, it's a vast improvement on the original and I shall look forward to testing it out in one of my games!

Oh I am fine with debate on this, not taking it offensively at all.

The main crux I feel is that D&D 3.5 is at its heart unbalanced. You have linear fighters and quadratic wizards ingrained in the system. Obviously this doesn't mean balance should be thrown out the window. But each template should have the assumption the DM manages it at least a bit.

I recently had a PC turned into a vampire in a campaign (One of the reasons I made this template). He liked the sudden boost in power (obviously) but I feel that if I gave it to him in a scaling power the template would lose some of its appeal.

And this is just another personal fluff thing but I always felt it right for the side of evil to be more about instant power grabs now rather than working for it. Maybe that leads to some unbalances but eh in the long run the LA hurts so I feel its a pretty good trade off.

DracoDei
2013-03-13, 05:44 PM
Wikipedia-like cross-indexing:
Vampire Class (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=274442)
Eripmav (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=260051)

Silva Stormrage
2013-08-13, 07:08 PM
Added a vampire lord template in the same style of the vampire template here.

Now with a +6 LA I am not sure its really that playable at the moment since I have never seen someone actually take 6 LA and still remain a useful character. If anyone has any good suggestions on nerfing the vampire lord so it could safely be +2 or reducing the regular vampire to +2 that would be wonderful as I think both of these as +4 or +5 would remain playable for PC's.

Cheiromancer
2013-08-14, 09:07 AM
I think that the vampire spawn should be strictly inferior to a vampire. If vampires don't automatically have improved grab, neither should vampire spawn. I'd drop the feat from the spawn rather than give another goodie to the vampire; it already seems strong for an LA+3, but LA +3 is about the limit for playability, so you are kind of on the edge.

Some of a vampire's weaknesses are out of place in D&D. The bit about holy wafers, say. (I know it is in the SRD, it is just out of place.)

NeoPhoenix0 and I collaborated on LA +2 versions (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=290290), treating the weaknesses as taboos. You might give that thread a look-see. Neo's version and mine have diverged a bit, but are still pretty close. (And yeah, the playground has had vampires on the brain lately!)

I really like the options for customizing a vampire with different vampire traits. It is a challenge to make them balanced with each other, though. I might steal some ideas in a future edit to my template.

NeoPhoenix0
2013-08-14, 09:48 PM
Oooo, I like the idea of giving them options to give them variety.

@ Cheiromancer: Shameless advertisement huh, love it.

Silva Stormrage
2013-08-17, 02:47 AM
I think that the vampire spawn should be strictly inferior to a vampire. If vampires don't automatically have improved grab, neither should vampire spawn. I'd drop the feat from the spawn rather than give another goodie to the vampire; it already seems strong for an LA+3, but LA +3 is about the limit for playability, so you are kind of on the edge.

Some of a vampire's weaknesses are out of place in D&D. The bit about holy wafers, say. (I know it is in the SRD, it is just out of place.)

NeoPhoenix0 and I collaborated on LA +2 versions (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=290290), treating the weaknesses as taboos. You might give that thread a look-see. Neo's version and mine have diverged a bit, but are still pretty close. (And yeah, the playground has had vampires on the brain lately!)

I really like the options for customizing a vampire with different vampire traits. It is a challenge to make them balanced with each other, though. I might steal some ideas in a future edit to my template.

The regular vampire actually has improved grab, I just wrote it into the blood drain class feature. I should probably put it in the standard format.

Your version is interesting, I personally feel its a bit too weak for lvl adjustment +2 but I do really like your version of weaknesses and the extra feats. I might try to tone down some of the abilities and make them available with extra feats. I try to guage balance by looking at characters I am currently playing and trying to see if the majority of the characters would benifit or be weaker with the addition of the template. I tend to find that with the +3 version I have I would say about 30-40% of characters become slightly weaker than just having 3 additional levels. I haven't really tested that at all with vampire lord though.

NeoPhoenix0
2013-08-18, 01:05 AM
The regular vampire actually has improved grab, I just wrote it into the blood drain class feature. I should probably put it in the standard format.

Your version is interesting, I personally feel its a bit too weak for lvl adjustment +2 but I do really like your version of weaknesses and the extra feats. I might try to tone down some of the abilities and make them available with extra feats. I try to guage balance by looking at characters I am currently playing and trying to see if the majority of the characters would benifit or be weaker with the addition of the template. I tend to find that with the +3 version I have I would say about 30-40% of characters become slightly weaker than just having 3 additional levels. I haven't really tested that at all with vampire lord though.

One of the reasons it looks a little weak is probably because I am a munchkin that feels bad when I somehow manage to do as much as the rest of the party. So I tend to err on the side of caution.

Silva Stormrage
2013-08-18, 02:28 AM
One of the reasons it looks a little weak is probably because I am a munchkin that feels bad when I somehow manage to do as much as the rest of the party. So I tend to err on the side of caution.

Fair enough, I tend to have the opposite problem and often ending up making my homebrews too powerful (See my Hellfire Lord class for a good example :smalltongue:) Erring on the side of caution is probably a good thing.

Xerlith
2013-08-18, 12:47 PM
One question - can I make a Vampire Bear with this?
Awesome! :smallamused:

Also - Does a Vampire spawn ever become a Vampire of its own? If not, then how should the "killing the vampire who created them" in the Vampire Lord template be understood?

NeoPhoenix0
2013-08-18, 01:17 PM
I think you should define living creature for the sake of who can get this template.

Undead obviously shouldn't be able to aquire it, but people might make a case for living constructs like warforged. Can warforged become vampires? Should warforged be able to become vampires?

Just a couple of questions for you to answer to help you.

I find the idea of a vampire plant very interesting.

Silva Stormrage
2014-03-20, 02:35 PM
Okay. So I was planning on trying to reduce the Vampire's LA to +2 instead of +3 (+2 is playable in certain groups +3 is reaaallly hard to justify in an optimized environment).

I ended up removing damage reduction reducing natural armor and reducing charm DC.

I ended up buffing a few minor things with the Vampire Lord as well as changing how you can become one (So you don't have to deal the finishing blow essentially). And then boosted the LA to +3 as I wanted vampire lord + vampire to be LA +5.

Is this enough to balance out the LA to +2?

Silva Stormrage
2014-10-12, 03:07 AM
Made a new template to go with this collection of vampire templates. Some input would be greatly appreciated.

Sanguine Wraith:


http://tuckthatinson.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/file.jpg
"Pain and suffering is all that awaits you in this dark pit!." - Kyngos a Sanguine Wraith upon meeting a sworn enemy

Sanguine Wraith

Sanguine Wraith are vampires whose bodies either gave way or who underwent a ritual to sacrifice their bodies. They are incorporeal specters who retain almost all of their vampire powers but also gain several more based on their now spectral bodies. Sanguine Wraiths who lose their body due to their body giving way often spend months in isolated areas starving for blood, eventually their spirit gives way and tries to break free from their body and thus their hunger. They still have a craving for blood but it no longer is crippling if they are denied it. Those who undergo the ritual to become Sanguine Wraiths do so out of a desire for more power and are often Vampire Lords bored of conquest or who need more strength to overpower newfound rivals or heroes opposing them.

Sanguine Wraiths look simply like spectral versions of how they looked as vampires. They often have a blood soaked aura surrounding them, a fine red mist that hovers near their skin. A Vampire Lord Sanguine Wraith is referred to as an Emperor Sanguine Wraith and they are distinguished by a swirling ring of spectral blood circling their head like a morbid halo.


Sanguine Wraith Template


Creating a Sanguine Wraith

“Sanguine Wraith” is an acquired template that can be added to any Vampire or Vampire lord hereafter referred to as the base vampire.

Size and Type: The creature’s type is unchanged. Do not recalculate base attack bonus, saves, or skill points. However, the base vampire now becomes incorporeal.

Speed: The base vampire now gains a fly speed equal to double his previous fastest move speed with a perfect maneuverability

Armor Class: The base creature loses any natural armor bonus and now gains a deflection bonus equal to his charisma modifier due to his incorporeal nature. However whenever he uses his shadow form ability (See below) he regains his previous natural armor.

Attack: A Sanguine Wraith retains all the previous natural weapons he had. However, they now deal profane damage, only require an incorporeal melee touch attack to hit. However, they no longer gain strength to damage as the Sanguine Wraith loses his strength score. They now use the Sanguine Wraith's dexterity modifier as a bonus to hit.

Special Attacks: A Sanguine Wraith retains all the special attacks of the base vampire and gains those described below. Saves have a DC of 10 + ½ the Sanguine Wraith HD + the Sanguine Wraith Charisma modifier, unless noted otherwise.

Blood Drain (Ex): This replaces the vampire ability of the same name. A Sanguine Wraith obviously would no longer restrict itself to physical contact to drain its desired substance. For every round a target is spent being grappled by the Sanguine Wraith's telekinesis ability (See below) they are have their blood drained exactly as if they had been pinned one round in their previous form. (Thus a normal vampire would drain 1d4 con damage every round a subject is grappled, if it had the Improved Blood Drain trait it would drain 1d4+1 con drain, etc).

Create Spawn (Su): As the base Vampire except occasionally (On the DM's whim) a creature with 5 or more HD may spawn as a vampire and then within an hour of existing immediately gain the Sanguine Wraith template. Those that gain the Sanguine Wraith template immediately have their attitude towards the spawning Sanguine Wraith decrease by one step as a surge or jealousy and pride seeps into them by the transformation.

Telekinesis (Su): A Sanguine Wraith gains a similar ability to a ghost and gains telekinesis as a supernatural ability usable at will once every 1d4 rounds. The caster level is equal to his HD. If the Sanguine Wraith was previously a vampire lord this ability no longer has any cool down.

Aura of Hunger (Su): A Sanguine Wraith's desire for sustenance is overwhelming and manifests as an aura of growing hunger. A Sanguine Wraith no longer needs blood to sustain its form despite its hunger for it. Truly a Sanguine Wraith needs magic to survive and it survives by ripping off magic from its surroundings and creatures near it. A Sanguine Wraith gains a 40ft radius of hunger which drains opponents in the area. Each round in the aura the subject has one random ongoing spell effect affecting the creature dispelled. The Sanguine Wraith may specify a particular effect if he is aware of it but if the Sanguine Wraith is mislead than the aura attempts to dispel the effect but fails to dispel anything on that particular creature for that round. If the subject has no ongoing spell effects than the subject must make a fort save or take 1 point of con damage and become fatigued.

Special Qualities: A vampire retains all of the special qualities of the base creature and gains those described below.

Shadow Form (Su): A Sanguine Wraith can corporeal versions of any creature it could transform into with its alternate form granted by the vampire or vampire lord template. In addition, the Sanguine Wraith can turn himself into a living version of his base race (Thus a human Sanguine Wraith could turn into a living human etc). While in the human version he looks alive and has a working metabolism and is vulnerable to disease and poison and the like. The one exception is that he is still healed by negative energy and harmed by positive energy. While in any corporeal form his strength score is now equal to his charisma score.

Gaseous Form (Su): As a standard vampire. However, due to familiarity with movement while in a state similar to gaseous form the vampire's normal flight speed is retained.

Unholy Endurance (Ex): The Sanguine Wraith gains one third of his charisma modifier (Rounded up) to his saving throws as a profane bonus. As well as gaining one third of his charisma modifier added to his maximum HP for each HD he possesses.

Vulnerability: A Sanguine Wraith is vulnerable to turning and has a -2 on his turn resistance as a result. In addition he has vulnerability to force damage.

Spectral Trait: Sanguine Wraith vary from each other. When the Sanguine Wraith is first created he may chose one of the following abilities. This decision can not be changed by any means.

Mass Telekinesis: While using the grapple version of his telekinesis supernatural ability a Sanguine Wraith can target up to 5 different creatures with it. If they are grappled they can all be subject to the Sanguine Wraith's blood drain ability
Regenerating Wraith: The Sanguine Wraith's fast healing doubles.
Overcome Weakness: The Sanguine Wraith can remove a single weakness that normally affects Sanguine Wraith's or Vampires (Such as their inability to enter private houses, their weakness to sunlight, or their vulnerability to fire)
Greater Hunger Aura: Regardless if a creature in the aura has an ongoing spell effect or not it must make a fort save or take con damage and become fatigued.
Controlled Hunger: The Sanguine Wraith no longer has any inescapable cravings and is no longer diet dependent on anything. The Sanguine Wraith has controlled its hunger and has mastered it.
Greater Endurance: The Sanguine Wraith's Unholy Endurance ability now uses one half of the Sanguine Wraith's charisma modifier to determine its bonuses.

Diet Dependent: A Sanguine Wraith no longer is diet dependent on blood and no longer has an inescapable craving for negative levels. It does however, now gain an inescapable craving for blood and is now diet dependent on magical energy (Which it satisfies using its Blood Aura. It must drain at least 5 levels in spells each day)

Abilities: Increase from the base vampire as follows: Dex +4, Int +4, Cha +4. As an undead creature, a Sanguine Wraith has no Constitution score and as an incorporeal creature it has no Strength Score.

Level Adjustment: Same as the base creature +2

CR Adjustment: Same as the base creature +2