what happens if a vampire doesn't drink blood?

[Ettina]

In Libris Mortis, it says vampires are 'diet dependent', meaning they lose abilities when they don't feed on blood. But it doesn't say what they actually lose. Where can I find that out, or barring that, what would be a reasonable houserule?

[aleucard]

As far as a reasonable house rule is concerned, maybe reduce the benefits that they have over the average zombie (slowed movement nonwithstanding), with the end result being the vampire only has the benefits of the Undead Template over normal. Try and make this gradual, and stretched out over at least a week, though more likely a month max. After that, they start taking damage they can't heal by normal methods (which heals up in full when they do drink) per day they don't drink, or per month/year/decade/etc. (depending on the vampire's strength) if they're hibernating.

[Zanos]

There's a blurb on page 10 about it. It's a variant rule that says they take Wisdom damage if they don't feed, default is just that you can go 3d6 months without feeding.

[Psyren]

As a practical matter it's up to the DM to decide. Libris Mortis (3.5) and Blood of the Night (PF) provide suggestions on how to handle it but the goal is not to constrain the DM.

If your DM incorporates either of these sources then you end up bound by those rules, but they are variants rather than hard & fast expectations.

[jedipilot24]

In Libris Mortis, it says vampires are 'diet dependent', meaning they lose abilities when they don't feed on blood. But it doesn't say what they actually lose. Where can I find that out, or barring that, what would be a reasonable houserule?

Libris Mortis, pg 10; there's a variant rule at the bottom of the page for handling diet dependent undead.
I would fluff it as the reverse of the Elder Scrolls approach; whereas Elder Scrolls vampires get stronger when they don't feed (except for Lord Lovidicus), D&D vampires get weaker when they don't feed.

[Ettina]

There's a blurb on page 10 about it. It's a variant rule that says they take Wisdom damage if they don't feed, default is just that you can go 3d6 months without feeding.

But the 'inescapable craving' type of hunger involves Wisdom damage too (even more than diet dependent), and yet the description of inescapable craving implies they don't lose abilities for not feeding - they just get more desperate to feed. So it seems to me that the Wisdom damage is supposed to reflect how desperate the undead is to feed, and how they'll be thinking less rationally because they need to feed. That's something that applies to both 'diet dependent' and 'inescapable craving'. Whereas this:


Diet Dependent: Some undead must feed on the living to retain either their mobility or some of their other abilities. The link to the Negative Energy Plane for undead of these sort grows increasingly tenuous the longer they are denied the necessary food. At some point, their mobility or one or more specific abilities are suppressed until they can feed again. However, no matter how enervated by lack of feeding, undead cannot be starved to the point of permanent deanimation. A fresh infusion of their preferred food can always bring them back to their full abilities. Most diet-dependent undead can go for 3d6 months before losing all mobility.

suggests there's more than just Wisdom damage when a diet dependent undead doesn't feed. But apart from 3d6 months until becoming immobile, they have no clear rule for what abilities the undead loses, and when. The whole thing reads like it should be supplemented by creature-specific rules, but I can't find any.

[The Insanity]

Dunno what happens when a vampire doesn't drink blood, but I know what happens when he does - he gets frisky, if you know what I mean. :smallamused:

[Ettina]

OK, I found this template (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/vampire).

[Psyren]

OK, I found this template (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/vampire).

Right, those are the "Blood of the Night" hunger rules I mentioned in my previous post. These apply (a) in Golarion/PFS or (b) if your DM wishes to use them.