Vampiric Warrior, can it be done?

[tadkins]

Basically a dark knight-type character that specializes in draining the life from their opponents during a fight and healing themselves. Think Blood Death Knight from WoW among others existing elsewhere. Such a character tends to be the sturdiest out there and is exceedingly frustrating to kill. In every game I've played where draining was possible, all encounters can be beaten by simply matching your avoidance + leeching amount with the boss' damage output, and for that reason it's probably my favorite archetype in fantasy.

All I know is that there are a couple spells out there that can do this, so I'm not certain that this even a possible concept. much less one that can be optimized.

Once again I seek the insight of you D&D geniuses on this dilemma. xD

[Zanos]

There's a +3 weapon enchant from the 3.0 book enemies and allies that heals you for 50% of the damage you deal. Probably the most straightforward way I can think of.

[Nosta]

There's a +3 weapon enchant from the 3.0 book enemies and allies that heals you for 50% of the damage you deal. Probably the most straightforward way I can think of.

that's wrathful healing right?

[Zanos]

that's wrathful healing right?
Yeah, forgot to post the name.

[J-H]

A Duskblade can do Arcane Channeling of Vampiric Touch, but the temporary HP doesn't stack with itself if I remember correctly - so you'll never get more than a few d6s of temp HP once per round. The problem is that a full attack from an ubercharger or dragon can do 100+ damage pretty easily, and Vampiric Touch just doesn't keep up with that.... plus there's problem of resisting and saving against magic.

[GilesTheCleric]

Crusaders have maneuvers that heal allies (read: you) when you hit foes, and there's both a vampiric weapon enchant and the weapon crystal.

[Jack_Simth]

that's wrathful healing right?

There's also the Vampiric weapon enchantment from Magic Item Compenidum - increases the damage by 1d6 vs. living opponents, and heals the weilder by the amount dealt. +2 equivalent.

In general, though, offence in D&D outpaces defence by a lot.

the weapon crystal.The problem with the weapon crystal for the OP's purposes is that it's got a per-day HP limit.

[tadkins]

Thanks folks.

Yup, the fact that there are so many ways to lose a fight in D&D/Pathfinder that doesn't involve combat or HP loss made me wonder if the concept would be viable.

Weapon enchants seem to be a big part of making it work, thanks for those suggestions. I've never looked at the Crusader class but that looks promising for a baseline. Maybe a RKV?

[Zetapup]

I'd probably go something like Binder 1/Crusader 5/Hellreaver 5/Whatever 9 (incarnate or more crusader, most likely).

1 level in binder lets you bind naberius, which lets you recover from ability damage really quickly. Crusader gives you the delayed damage pool, plus the stance that heals you (or a nearby ally) for a little bit every time you hit. Hellreaver lets you heal yourself (or a nearby good ally) for 20 damage as a swift action, and you can do it as often as you want thanks to naberius. The primary cost is swift actions, which you probably aren't doing much with anyway.

Therapeutic mantle from Magic of Incarnum might or might not be useful, depending on whether your dm lets it trigger on healing effects in addition to spells. If they do, that's a nice little bonus to most of your sources of healing, if not, feel free to drop it.

Finally, add a Vampiric Wrathful Healing weapon with the one vampiric weapon crystal on it, and try to get a high amount of damage per turn for maximum healing.

Alternatively, you could add more levels of binder and nab dahlver-nar as well to get a shield other-esque ability that you use on enemies to make them take half the damage you would have taken (they get a save to resist, but might be nice to have up your sleeve)

[Milo v3]

If PF and DSP-content is an option, I suggest a Path of War Warlord who uses the Unquiet Grave discipline from Lords of the Night (which is a vampire themed book), since it's a whole martial discipline based around things like draining the life out of your enemies.

[Lagren]

Basically a dark knight-type character that specializes in draining the life from their opponents during a fight and healing themselves. Think Blood Death Knight from WoW among others existing elsewhere. Such a character tends to be the sturdiest out there and is exceedingly frustrating to kill. In every game I've played where draining was possible, all encounters can be beaten by simply matching your avoidance + leeching amount with the boss' damage output, and for that reason it's probably my favorite archetype in fantasy.

All I know is that there are a couple spells out there that can do this, so I'm not certain that this even a possible concept. much less one that can be optimized.

Once again I seek the insight of you D&D geniuses on this dilemma. xD

You might want to consider the Soul Eater or Thief of Life prestige classes; Soul Eater is an energy-drainer that bestows negative levels and gains bonuses from doing so, while Thief of Life gains temporary HP and Essentia whenever it kills something using Sneak Attack. There are almost certainly other classes that are similar out there, but none of them leap to mind immediately for me.

[Charizander]

Psychic warriors have several powers that do this. Claws of the Vampire, Vampiric Blade, and others. They can even suck feats out of other creatures.

If you want to see Claws of the Vampire optimized to its logical extreme, look up the King of Smack. Its claw attacks deal somewhere around 96d6 base damage and heal half that to you.

[Necroticplague]

This is only one step away from the default fluff of Evil crusaders, who can heal themselves while laying the smackdown. At the very least, a dip for Martial Spirit seems a good step towards this concept. Soul Eaters inflict negative levels on hit (and there's a weapon enchantment that lets this be done through your weapon. Forget what it's called, it's in LM), and as a side effect, gives temp HP. There's a feat that improves the amount of damage caused by your negative levels inflicted by your CHA mod, for even more damage (also from LM. I think it's Improved Life Drain).

[SirNMN]

This is only one step away from the default fluff of Evil crusaders, who can heal themselves while laying the smackdown. At the very least, a dip for Martial Spirit seems a good step towards this concept. Soul Eaters inflict negative levels on hit (and there's a weapon enchantment that lets this be done through your weapon. Forget what it's called, it's in LM), and as a side effect, gives temp HP. There's a feat that improves the amount of damage caused by your negative levels inflicted by your CHA mod, for even more damage (also from LM. I think it's Improved Life Drain).

Necrotic Focus: The magic weapon serves as a channel for
the wielder’s ability drain or energy drain supernatural ability,
allowing the wielder to deal ability drain or bestow negative
levels through the weapon as if attacking with its natural
weapons. If a saving throw against the effect is allowed, add
the weapon’s enhancement bonus to the save DC. Only melee
weapons can have the necrotic focus ability.
Moderate necromancy; CL 7th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor,
enervation, spectral hand; Price +3 bonus.