Human:Dhampir::Elf:?

[Hexmonk21]

Its an easy, but odd, question. I was curious what you guys thought about it, and I need to know for an undeath-influenced elf in a game I wish to run.

My friends all leaned immediately towards "Dhampir can be any race, duh", but I disagree because Erotic Fantasy's crossbreed table was actually surprisingly specific about interbreeding with this sort of thing. Also, I found out that Human:Tiefling::Elf:Drow and that blew my mind. I figured that if elves reacted differently to demonic influence, they would react differently to the touch of undeath as well.

Thoughts?

[AmberVael]

You've got three options.

1) Elves and vampires don't mix.
2) The resulting offspring is unique.
3) Elves can be dhampirs too.


The first one is boring and doesn't really fit with D&D. Seriously, everything seems to be able to interbreed somehow else there wouldn't be so many half-X templates. Plus its exclusive without much reasoning to it.

The second one is potentially interesting, but also daunting. I mean, you're not going to use some preexisting race or template, are you? Which means making something unique. That wouldn't be too bad except the implication is that each race gets its own unique thing so be prepared to make like twenty race specific versions of dhampirs.

The third one fits with the D&D template system and is just really the simplest and most fair option.


(Also, pretty sure drow aren't elven tieflings in most settings).

[Hexmonk21]

I do like making custom things, so I might make an Elf form of Dhampirs, but I'd probably just change around their racial bonuses a little.

Also I was all like "What they're totally demon elves" and was wrong, Drow lore is just that evil elves become Drow at high levels. Which also might mean that elves turn into different elf forms based off of alignment, i.e. high level paladin elves might have a new Elfolution (see what I did there) unique to them, and that seems neat.

Ty for the input, AmberVael.

[T.G. Oskar]

Its an easy, but odd, question. I was curious what you guys thought about it, and I need to know for an undeath-influenced elf in a game I wish to run.

My friends all leaned immediately towards "Dhampir can be any race, duh", but I disagree because Erotic Fantasy's crossbreed table was actually surprisingly specific about interbreeding with this sort of thing. Also, I found out that Human:Tiefling::Elf:Drow and that blew my mind. I figured that if elves reacted differently to demonic influence, they would react differently to the touch of undeath as well.

Thoughts?

Recall that the Book of Erotic Fantasy is 3rd Party, therefore not exactly canon. It's also built for 3.5 rules; it may not fly with PF changes to lore.

Also, Drow are not Elves that have cross-bred with fiends; that happens because the stats are Open Gaming, but the story behind the creation of Drow isn't, so they have to improvise. Elves and Drow are actually cousins; even in PF, they retain this connection. In 3.5, the mating of Drow and fiends had another name, and explicitly wasn't a Tiefling.

That said, Dhampir could emerge from any humanoid, since Vampires are a template after all. PF assumes that Aasimar have the same stats but could have an appearance from other races (I think Blood of Angels has that tidbit), therefore having an Aasimar with elven features rather than humanoid ones. Dhampir are their own race, so you could build one that has external elven features, but it wouldn't have any of the elven racial traits.

[atemu1234]

Everyone here has basically said what I would've. Maybe just have elf- like Dhampirs that have the same racial stats?

[thethird]

In 3.5, the mating of Drow and fiends had another name, and explicitly wasn't a Tiefling.

That's one tidbit I've missed reading, is it from a dragon magazine?

The thing that comes to mind Fey'ri from races of faerun, but those are sun elves that matted with fiends.

[DrMotives]

That's one tidbit I've missed reading, is it from a dragon magazine?

The thing that comes to mind Fey'ri from races of faerun, but those are sun elves that matted with fiends.

Nah, it's from Monsters of the Faerûn, also again in whatever the FR Drow sourcebook was called (Drow of the Underdark, I think). It's called a Draegloth.

[torrasque666]

Nah, it's from Monsters of the Faerûn, also again in whatever the FR Drow sourcebook was called (Drow of the Underdark, I think). It's called a Draegloth.

Just Underdark actually.

[Hexmonk21]

Oh Pelorian Cows, Draegloth are absolutely terrifying! Thank you for mentioning those, I would never had known those existed otherwise.

Seriously, that's like what I'd imagine Grue to look like if they'd ever step into the light. Ima have nightmares now.

[Honest Tiefling]

Nah, it's from Monsters of the Faerûn, also again in whatever the FR Drow sourcebook was called (Drow of the Underdark, I think). It's called a Draegloth.

I don't believe they are true tieflings, as I thought they were explicitly half-fiends? I thought they were even sterile, so no getting more of them from breeding.

As much work as it is, I'd lean to making a new Dhampir for each race, or assigning the different sub-races to a different mortal race as needed. I thought the Dhampir was a little underpowered anyway, so adding one ability from the mortal parent race probably won't break much.

[Vhaidara]

Well, using PF Tiefling as an example (Dhampir are to vampires what Tieflings are to fiends)

The creatures of the depths of the Outer Planes do not limit their foul miscegenation to humanity. Elves, dwarves, halflings, and gnomes all have tales of tieflings in their histories, and those who appear among them now often suffer even greater stigma than those born to humans.

Other humanoids see tieflings in their midst as well. Many of the monstrous races of the world have demonic origins—most notably gnolls, who still thank the Mother of Monsters for their birth. Ogres, orcs, half-orcs, goblins, and other creatures that call upon the powers of the evil Outer Planes are equally likely to see tieflings living among them, but unless a given race holds to a code of racial purity, tieflings are far less likely to be shunned by such populations

It should be noted that while any monster or animal that breeds with a fiend may give birth to half-fiend offspring, only humanoids may give birth to tieflings. Thus, while it’s possible to encounter a half-fiend dragon, bear, or otyugh, any children of such creatures would be either half-fiends or normal members of their race. (And just as often, these less conventional half-fiends are simply sterile.) When discussing half-fiends and tieflings, it’s important to distinguish them from both true fiends (devils, demons, etc.) and simple fiendish creatures (creatures with the fiendish template, which are themselves denizens of the evil Outer Planes but similar in many ways to their Material Plane counterparts).

In game terms, the difference between non-human tieflings and human tieflings is purely a matter of size. Unless they have specific tiefling-related size modifiers, the tieflings of each of these races are the same size as their non-fiendish ancestors. They gain any of the bonuses or penalties related to that size, but gain no racial bonuses except those of the tiefling; beyond size, their humanoid ancestry is purely cosmet

tl;dr: They are statistically the same, you can pick medium or small.