Vampire Coffin Question

[LordAshenshield]

Ok so my Vampire player wants to know a few things and I don't honestly know the answers.

1. Can he have a dozen Coffins stored in secret hide outs around the countryside?
2. What can be counted as a coffin when the PF Dread Vampire says a Coffin for a new Dread Vampire counts as anything thing that can hold a human body.
3. What are common or interesting ways for the Vampire to protect his coffin?

[Psyren]

1) This falls in the same sort of category as "can a lich have multiple phylacteries" and is ultimately your call - there isn't really a clear answer either way.
2) A coffin is a clearly defined item in the rules, (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ultimateEquipment/gear/adventuringGear.html#_coffin) so no. Also, Dread Vampires appear to be 3rd-party.
3) Whatever any bad guy would protect his lair with, really. Traps, minions, inaccessible locations, what-have-you.

[LordAshenshield]

1) I know but I was looking for more insight.
2) Perhaps it is but this is what the Dread Vampire Create Spawn states (Dread vampires can create spawn only if their victims are kept in coffin homes, a special receptacle, until they rise. A coffin home can be any container capable of accommodating the corpse. This container is often a coffin because ignorant family members of a dread vampire's victims often bury their lost loved ones in the traditional manner.)
2.5) I am aware it is.
3) Ok so he was wondering if he got a Improved Familiar and had a coffin shrunk and placed in an open bag of holding would this work?

[Chronos]

On point 3, remember that vampires have gaseous form, and whenever they really need their coffin, they're using it. So you should have your coffin in a room just barely big enough for it, with very thick stone (or other material) walls, and no access to the room except for very narrow pipes or tubes (with bends in them, so there's no line of sight or effect to the inside).

[Psyren]

1) My personal opinion is that it should be one coffin/phylactery per person but that's not based on anything more than avoiding the silliness of having such items strewn about the countryside like horcruxes.

2) It sounds like you're leaning towards the more liberal ruling so just go with it.

3) You can enter a BoH in gaseous form so that part is fine. Shrinking the coffin may not be - you can "pass through small cracks and narrow openings" but there's not much there about simply remaining in a tiny space for hours. You should be able to get a full-size coffin inside the bag though anyway, or simply dispel/wait out the shrinking spell once it is inside.

[LordAshenshield]

Not so much going liberal with it just confused and wanted to know if this was something I needed to know about.

Though housing a coffin in a dungeon room only accessible via one or two bendy pipes does sound pretty useful.

[TuggyNE]

1) I know but I was looking for more insight.

I would say no, based on general folklore and a desire to make the limitation real without having to brew up a whole new subsystem to make acquiring a new coffin/phylactery expensive but possible.


2.5) I am aware it is.

Third-party material is only useful for determining proper readings from possible ambiguity (precedent) in the same book, not for rules questions in general, even if you're using it. Attempting to figure out what PF core vampires need based on a third-party book is simply impossible.

In contrast, first-party material is valid for precedent in all cases.


3) Ok so he was wondering if he got a Improved Familiar and had a coffin shrunk and placed in an open bag of holding would this work?

This seems unwise, but is probably possible (though shrinking might not be, and is probably not essential anyway).