Question regarding vampires

[Nexahs]

So I was looking at the vampire in MM, and it says whenever a vamp hits 0 HP, they turn into mist and run to their coffin. But it also says they can still be hit by spells, and I thought I read somewhere that if anything hits -10 HP, it dies no matter what. So can you kill a vampire completely without destroying its coffin, or no?

[NinjaTBB]

Any additional damage dealt to a vampire forced into gaseous form has no effect.

Not really any way to get a vampire to -10 hit points. (Though, being undead the vampire *should* die when it hits 0 hit points as per the undead type description. :smalltongue:)

But as for killing the vampire without destroying the coffin, there's always sunlight, running water, and stake through the heart.

[Nexahs]

Not really any way to get a vampire to -10 hit points. (Though, being undead the vampire *should* die when it hits 0 hit points as per the undead type description. :smalltongue:)

But as for killing the vampire without destroying the coffin, there's always sunlight, running water, and stake through the heart.

So even though spells and magic weapons can hit them while they're in fog cloud form (I can never remember what the ability is actually called), they can't actually be reduced to less than 0 HP?

[Waker]

No, but you could use spells to slow them down or render them immobile and thus kill them when they can't return to their coffins in time.

[Gray Mage]

Undead are an exception to the usual rules and get destroyed when they reach 0 HP, not -10. So, actually reducing them to -10 HP and beyond doesn't do anything.

[NeoPhoenix0]

Weird thing about the vampire. By RAW it is destroyed when it is reduced to 0 hp, but there is an automated process described in its fast healing section that doesn't require the vampire to be "alive" to work, and at the end of the process the vampire gains 1 hp making it no longer destroyed. So, every time you force a vampire to go gaseous form you have destroyed it. It just becomes undestroyed later if you don't take precautions. This might be why the SRD phrases it as "utterly destroyed" when a vampire fails to get back to its coffin, since it is already technically destroyed.

[kreenlover]

Also, you can't reduce a vampire to -10 by any conventional affect. This is because those are almost always death effects, which undead are immune to. No affect will reduce it to -10, unless it is a death affect (I challenge you to find one!)
Damage alone will only reduce it to it's lowest possible HP, which for undead and constructs is 0. So, you cannot reduce a vampire to less than 0 HP unfortunately :smallfrown:

[TuggyNE]

So even though spells and magic weapons can hit them while they're in fog cloud form (I can never remember what the ability is actually called), they can't actually be reduced to less than 0 HP?

Gaseous form activates in two circumstances: if they decide to mist, and if they drop to 0 HP. It's only in the latter case that they have effective immunity to damage, per the entry in their Fast Healing:
A vampire heals 5 points of damage 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. It must reach its coffin home within 2 hours or be utterly destroyed. (It can travel up to nine miles in 2 hours.) Any additional damage dealt to a vampire forced into gaseous form has no effect. Once at rest in its coffin, a vampire is helpless. It regains 1 hit point after 1 hour, then is no longer helpless and resumes healing at the rate of 5 hit points per round.

[Yael]

Oh, no! I cannot use my god-killer epic magic item to destroy this undead! I'll use this wood stake I found on the way here!

[TuggyNE]

Oh, no! I cannot use my god-killer epic magic item to destroy this undead! I'll use this wood stake I found on the way here!

OK, and how are you making sure you get it through the heart specifically when you can't see anything more than a featureless mist? Moreover, how do you know it actually has a heart in gaseous form?

[NeoPhoenix0]

OK, and how are you making sure you get it through the heart specifically when you can't see anything more than a featureless mist? Moreover, how do you know it actually has a heart in gaseous form?

And yet there is nothing preventing you form staking a vampire in mist form.

Then again, it nevers says how you are supposed to stake a vampire in the first place.

[Beelzebub1111]

Oh, no! I cannot use my god-killer epic magic item to destroy this undead! I'll use this wood stake I found on the way here!

And thus the paradox of vampires. They are really hard to fight, unless you are going to specifically go and slay one. Then they become mind-numbingly easy.

Sure you god-killer won't work, but a one copper piece clove of garlic means that they can't get near you. Hell, just holding a mirror will keep them at bay. If you have the cash and ability, get a scroll of Forcecage and have your wizard or rogue use it once it's at zero. It can do nothing but wait for death.

Of course the danger lies if you aren't expecting a vampire. Aside from a few specific and glaring weaknesses, they are invincible. and if you set out to slay a dragon and she happens to have one in her employ that you weren't ready for you're kind of boned.

[NeoPhoenix0]

And thus the paradox of vampires. They are really hard to fight, unless you are going to specifically go and slay one. Then they become mind-numbingly easy.

Sure you god-killer won't work, but a one copper piece clove of garlic means that they can't get near you. Hell, just holding a mirror will keep them at bay. If you have the cash and ability, get a scroll of Forcecage and have your wizard or rogue use it once it's at zero. It can do nothing but wait for death.

Of course the danger lies if you aren't expecting a vampire. Aside from a few specific and glaring weaknesses, they are invincible. and if you set out to slay a dragon and she happens to have one in her employ that you weren't ready for you're kind of boned.

no no no. A vampire specifically can't tolerate the smell of garlic and can't enter areas laced with it. If you have garlic on you they can still attack you. They can even eat garlic, but they won't like it. The only thing they can't do with garlic is enter an area laced with it.

However, a 10gp steel mirror or a 1 gp wooden holy symbol will keep them back. Find a room with open windows and corner a vampire with a holy symbol until dawn.