Vampire Player Aid Ideas

[GamingFreak]

I was wondering if items could help if you had someone who was a vampire, Vampire Spawn, or Dread Vampire in your party. Something that helps with the sunlight issues, the water crossing issues, etc. Nothing permanent fixes but maybe situational remedies?

I had an idea, I know the Dread Vampire is only a +1 CR higher then the base but doesn't die instantly in Sunlight, in fact it takes 5 damage per turn which at higher levels is manageable with a potion after a few rounds, ect.

But that got me thinking. Maybe something akin to the Wolfsbane potion in Harry Potter, the potion made specially or Werewolfs like Lupin but not the same effect.

A potion that can for 24 hours reduce the damage the sun deals or works for normal vampires as a sunscreen making it instead of straight death on the second round instead make it deal damage of 10 points per turn their outside in the direct sun.

Maybe a ring or necklace with a limited charge, they must expend a charge to get the desired effect. But when it is empty they need to go on a mini quest to refill it.

The potion would be costly perhaps 1,000 - 4,000 GP per bottle depending on the 'strength of the vampires blood' IE player level.

What do you all think?
Got any other ideas?

[ArcturusV]

Well, there already is an alchemical item in the game, in Libris Mortis which protects a vampire (Or any creature vulnerable to sunlight I suppose) for 1 hour. It's not a potion you drink though but more like zinc oxide that you apply directly to exposed skin.

If I remember, it costs something like 100 GP per dose. So you have a baseline for a 24 hour version (Or more realistically about a 16 hour version as that's likely to be the maximum daylight hours you run into continuously) for 1,600 GP - 2,400 GP.

Now remember how WBL works. At level 5 you have.... 8k if I remember off the top of my head? So you can maybe afford doing something like that once, at that level. Maybe twice if you have an alchemist in your team who is willing to give it to you at cost.

But either way if you're running standard adventures it gets really expensive, really fast. And soon you find yourself spending almost all your loot on it.

The water thing isn't AS bad a limitation. As long as you can either get someone to carry your coffin. Or maybe have something like a magical Folding Boat on hand. It's still a pain in the ass. But there are methods to deal with it.

Your best option for the sunlight issue is just to make a low level spell that protects them from sunlight. You can probably swing it as a level 1 or 2 spell if you add in a caveat like "Does not protect a vampire against magical effects which trigger their sunlight weakness" (There are quite a few in Book of Exalted Deeds alone, sure there are others). If the endurance of the spell is hours per level you could probably make an affordable continual item of protection from sunlight. Or at the very least have Vampires take a dip in Cleric/Sorcerer so they can cast it enough times per day to accomplish most of their sunlight demanding goals.

[Divayth Fyr]

There is a 4th level cleric spell (Night's Mantle) in Lords of Darkness which gives you immunity to sun (and spells up to level 4 triggering the weakness). It last 10 min/level and has a costly material component.

[ShurikVch]

Relevant post. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16116626&postcount=13)

[Werephilosopher]

The Endure Sunlight feat from Libris Mortis gives a creature weak against sunlight a few rounds (1+Cha mod) of endurance before they need to get back into darkness.

[Raven777]

Protective Penumbra (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/p/protective-penumbra), from Pathfinder (featured in Ultimate Magic, so pretty mainline), is a 2nd level arcane spell that grants sunlight protection for 10 minutes per caster level. By Pathfinder's crafting guidelines, an item of permanent Protective Penumbra would have a market value of 18,000gp. It starts being pretty affordable by 10ish level, especially if you craft it yourself.

[GamingFreak]

Thanks for all the help. The Campaign is starting at lvl 10, its a mid run campaign idea.

So he could swing the permanent ring of shadows thing.

Also as a Dread Vampire they just take 5 points of damage per round their in the sun, Their fast healing doesn't repair this damage or the damage from running water.