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The Ship's dog
2016-10-19, 04:52 AM
So I was looking through the Heroes of Shadows classes and noticed that the Vampire was one that didn't seem to be getting a lot of love, not only from WOTC but also from the community as a whole. I was wondering why this was and realised there were no really interesting Vampire-specific Epic Destinies that I could see; so I decided to make my own and here they are!



Demon of blood

Prerequisite: Vampire

After many years of fighting your vampiric lust for blood and violence; you have learned to embrace it and, when threatened, completely lose yourself to the madness within.

Many Vampires unfortunately lose themselves to the addictive qualities of blood quite early on in their un-lives. Many become sadistic monsters that eventually get themselves hunted down because of their lack of control around mortals. Some however, learn to control their impulses and bodily functions. Either through year of meditation and honing their body or constant adventuring, travelling and meeting many new people, these vampires become especially effective at controlling their natural instincts.

Whether it be for the purpose of re-integrating themselves into society to feel a sense of belonging again, or whether they merely seek easier ways to fool their prey into a false sense of security; these Vampires are often the most feared, not only because it is so difficult to tell if they are Vampires or not, but also because the carnage they can inflict so easily when they unleash their inner-thirst.

Their never-ending thirst is legendary, even said to be able to stop the Vampire from dying through a combination of dark shadow magic as well as the sheer willpower that these Vampires posses over their bodies. The distinctive screeching howl that these Vampires emit having released their true-self is one to be feared and only the brave, powerful, confident and stupid answer the call to battle with a Demon of Blood.

Living the Destiny:
Despite the ever-calling whispers for complete submission to their dark instincts that all Vampires face; through the force of your indomitable will and iron self-control, you are able to suppress these urges and function properly in society without having to experience many of the problems associated with the vampiric condition.

However, when you engage in combat or call upon your dark abilities, your suppressed impulses are released, leaving a mindless demon that rampages through the masses; inflicting horrific wounds and bathing in blood. The name hunters give you is feared throughout the lands; Do you revel in the carnage you so easily inflict? Or are you disgusted and try to make personal penance through heroic and righteous deeds? The blood of your foes calls out to be taken and nothing can stop you.

Level 21: Baleful Transformation
As your vampiric ways become more and more disassociated with your regular self, the dark and ancient magic that has bound your life to Vampirism has been pushed into a second half of yourself. As a result, whenever even the simplest of your vampiric abilities, such as gaining sustenance from blood, the full personification of your vampirism will manifest itself, breaking all disguises and rouses.

Effect:
Whenever you do anything to do with your Vampire abilities, then for the next 15 minutes after you have finished using them, you sprout dark red horns from your forehead, claws from your hands as well as a pair of dark red wings corresponding with your size.

All of these features are merely manifestations and do not posses any physical qualities, nor do they carry any weight, they simply appear floating half an inch away from your body, wreathed in dark shadows.

Level 21: Strength from Blood
Your constant assimilation of the life forces of your enemies has seemed to strengthen you permanently; your skin has become less vulnerable, your body faster and muscles stronger.

Benefit: Gain +2 to any ability score of your choice

Whenever you take Radiant damage, you can make a DC 15 saving throw against the bonus damage, this saving throw gains a bonus equal to your Charisma modifier.

Whenever you have more than 2 healing surges, you gain +5 to your Armour Class for each Healing surge you have over 2.


Level 24: Surrendered to the Call
Whilst in combat, the pounding of the blood of your enemies incites a deep thirst in your heart; the promise of gorging after the conflict makes you push yourself harder to get that taste, your strikes become faster, more powerful and rend the weak into pieces.

Benefit:
Whenever you use your 'Blood drinker' ability, gain +1 to damage and attack roles upon targets for each time you have used your 'Blood drinker' ability this encounter. This effect persists for two rounds. This effect refreshes each time you use an ability that gains or uses a healing surge.

When attacking bloodied targets, if you hit them then the target makes a DC 12 saving throw with a disadvantage equal to half of your Charisma modifier. If the saving throw succeeds, nothing happens. If it fails, then the target takes an extra 2d8 damage and takes 4 ongoing bleed damage (save ends).

Level 26: Bathe in Blood
As you delve deeper into the blood-crazed half of your psyche; you throw away all remaining semblance of who you were, allowing you to perform monstrous acts in order to make yourself stronger that you would not usually even under the direst of conditions.

Benefit:
Gain the 'Bathe in Blood' Utility power.

Bathe in Blood
As you lather yourself in the blood of your enemies, you can feel their life force soaking directly into your being, the effects seeming more prominent the more frenzied you are.

Minor action - Utility

Encounter - Blood

Once per encounter,as long as you are beside a corpse or bleeding target, you may use a minor action to cover yourself in the sticky residue; causing you to gain 3 temporary hit points per times you have used your 'Blood drinker' ability during this encounter.

Level 30: Born in Blood
As you have been reborn in the blood of a Vampire, so that same blood will rebirth you again in a sacrilegious defilement of the Raven Queens will and right. Your body melts instantly to a pool of thick blood, then reconstructs the wounded form of your being away from immediate danger.

Benefit:
Once per day, when you drop to 0 hit points or fewer, your body runs quickly into thick dark blood. As an immediate interrupt action you may move up to 8 squares in any direction, not provoking opportunity attacks. At the start of your next turn, unless your blood has been burned with non-magical fire, then you reform at where you moved to during your immediate interrupt move action.

Before reforming, you cannot be healed and any spell, power or attack you are targeted with, has no effect on you, except for anything that uses non-magical flame. If you are set alight before the start of your next turn with non-magical flame, then must make a saving throw against death, if you fault this saving throw, then you die, your body reforms and is not on fire anymore. You can be revived by spells or rituals as long as you body isn't destroyed.

When you reform you spend all healing surges and regain hit points equal your bloodied value. You regain a number of uses of your 'Blood drinker' equal to the number of healing surges spent when reforming.



General of the Shadowfell

Prerequisite:
Vampire, level 21

Over your years of being a Vampire, your constant pull on the Shadowfell for power has made you a master of the shadows, wreathed in darkness, death comes for your enemies by your hands and by your will.


Vampires are, first and foremost, creatures of the night and darkness. Their constant interaction and living within the dark places of the world brings them as close as possible to the shadow fell whilst still being on this plane of existence. As a result, the harsh light of this world brings harm upon them and many choose to live only in the night and darkness. Some Vampires however, are different. Instead of simply living in the night and clinging to the shadows, these Vampires bring the shadows with them to the daylight.

Whether it be through some dark ritual discovered in the tomb of an ancient Vampire, or through a magical accident conducted within the Shadowfell, these Vampires have completely assimilated the essence of shadows into their bodies. Whilst some individuals have learned how to utilise shadow-magic and bend it to their will, these Vampires have become so integrated with the shadows within, that they are the undead avatar of the Shadowfell. No longer do they struggle to keep their Vampiric urges under control, but embrace and enhance them with their newly found power.

These beings are the perfect balance of life and darkness, using both aspects to sustain themselves as well was crush their enemies, feeding off of their life forces. It is a dark day indeed if you meet one of these Vampires, even if you are a powerful adventurer, for their mastery over their own powers is un-matched and to challenge one without help is almost certainly suicide.

Living the Destiny:
Most likely, you have been to, or lived in the Shadowfell for a number of years; the spirit of that world seeping into your very being. You have become one with the Shadow and it is under your complete control. Some denizens of that dark place worship you as a god, others cower before you. If you accept their worship, you probably command them as acolytes, eager to do your bidding; however be careful of the power-hungry as there's is no telling what they will do.

Most likely you see those Vampires who have not utilised their shadow magic as insolent curs; fools for ignoring the power that they could gain from this dark pact. Perhaps you are angered by their objection from throwing themselves deeper into the dark road that is the one of shadow magic. You are the pure embodiment of the dark side of Vampirism and the way you interact with others is your choice; but know this.

As long as people know of how strongly you have bound yourself to the Shadowfell, there will always be those that seek your downfall.



Level 21: Shadowfell incarnate
Because of the incredible of dark power contained within your soul, the tell-tale shadows of a shadow-caster emanate from within your body and leak outside; into the daylight world.

Effect: Unless you wear heavy clothing or some sort of full-body cloak, dark shadows will be caused to excrete from all over your body in the form of a black mist. Any practitioner of shadow-magic will be able to sense the shadows although they will need to perform a perception check to be able to recognise if it is you that the shadows come from.

Level 21: Wreathed in Shadow
The eternal shadows that now live within you, give you strength. Your shadow magic has never been stronger and will only continue to grow with each kill's soul you send to the Shadowfell.

Benefit:
+1 to any ability score of your choice and +1 to any ability score of your choice (can be the same ability score again). The range and area of effect (if they are an area of effect ability) of all of your shadow abilities are increased by 5 when you are in or beside darkness or a shadow not created by 'Shadowfell incarnate' and by 3 when standing in the light. If your shadow abilities target an enemy creature, then the ability deals bonus damage to the target equal to 4+ your Charisma modifier. If your ability's target is personal, then it lasts for more rounds equal to 1 + 1 quarter of your dexterity modifier.

Level 24: Shadowed feasting
The shadows that have created your Vampiric form have only grown stronger since you have assimilated them completely into your being. They manipulate your Vampire self more and more as you delve deeper into the Shadow-magic that you contain within yourself.

Benefit:
Whenever you use your 'Blood drinker' ability, it deals bonus damage equal to the number of non-at-will shadow abilities you have expended this encounter.

Level 26: Marked for the Shadowfell
The intimacy that you share with both blood and shadow magic means that they intertwine and create new abominations of the dark arcane. The shadows give you incredible power, but only when you incite the ancient lust for blood that all your race share.

Benefit:
You gain the 'Marked for the Shadowfell' Utility power.

Marked for the Shadowfell
The victims of your hunger are sought out by the shadows that you instinctually command.

At will - Utility - Blood - Shadow

Minor action

Trigger:
You gain temporary hit points from a Vampire ability or use your 'Blood drinker' ability.

Effect:
You may choose to mark the target that you hit with a Vampire ability for three rounds. Whilst they are marked, they take extra 2d8 damage from your shadow abilities and you can make opportunity attacks on them from 5 squares away from you.

Special:
You can use this ability a total of 3 times before your next extended rest but whenever you kill a target with your 'Blood drinker' ability, you regain 1 use of 'Marked for the Shadowfell'.

Level 30: Avatar of Vampirism
You have broken free from the bonds that tie you to the Raven Queen completely. You are born of the Shadowfell, but she does not control that place, nor does she control you. You embody what it means to be a dark immortal and you constantly outwit that shadowy mistress, easily evading her claiming hand.

Benefit:
Once per day if an attack would drop you to 0 hit points or fewer, prevent that damage that would be done to you and mark all creatures within 5 squares of you as well as the creature one that would have dealt damage to you for 2 rounds. Whilst these creatures are marked, you are invisible to them and they must make a perception check with a disadvantage of -5 to the roll if they want to detect where you are. Attacking or using an ability on these creatures breaks invisibility for the creature attacked and you deal an extra 2d8 damage and gain a healing surge.

I am very willing and asking for feedback, perhaps questions on certain aspects of the Epic Destiny.

The Ship's dog
2016-10-31, 06:10 PM
I'm bumping this because I have finished the second epic destiny and I thought people might be interested in seeing it.

Nightgaun7
2017-01-11, 10:05 PM
Look pretty good, I'm about to run a high level evil campaign and one of the players is interested in a Vampire. I'll make these available to her and see how they go.

The Ship's dog
2017-01-13, 04:28 AM
Look pretty good, I'm about to run a high level evil campaign and one of the players is interested in a Vampire. I'll make these available to her and see how they go.

Oh my god, someone replied! Do you think they are too strong or the lore doesn't match up?

Ursus Spelaeus
2017-01-13, 04:43 AM
It's so nice to see 4E materials here! You don't get to see that often enough. :)

The Ship's dog
2017-01-13, 04:50 AM
It's so nice to see 4E materials here! You don't get to see that often enough. :)

It's nice to finally having someone reply to my 4e Homebrew! Do you have any opinions on this? I do like feedback.

Ursus Spelaeus
2017-01-13, 05:07 AM
Well, the Vampire is a fairly weak class. It could really use more powers at Heroic tier to build on, if anything.

Baleful Transformation
Duration should be 'until the end of the encounter'. 4E tracks duration abstractly; not in minutes.
The feature should also have an actual mechanical effect. 4E is built for reskinning in the first place, so such cosmetic effects are redundant.

Strength From Blood
The rules should be written more cleanly. One of the strengths of 4E is how organized and precise the rules and their wordings are.
We can infer what "make a saving throw against the bonus damage" means based on our prior knowledge of earlier editions, but it needs to be spelled out here.

Surrendered to the Call
There are no Fortitude saving throws in 4E.

The Ship's dog
2017-01-13, 05:39 AM
Well, the Vampire is a fairly weak class. It could really use more powers at Heroic tier to build on, if anything.

Oh I thoroughly agree! But the point of this wasn't to make the Vampire class easier to play at lower levels, it was to make the Vampire class have access to class-specific Epic Destinies (which it doesn't) which are decent and strong enough to possibly pull it out of the gutter.


Baleful Transformation
Duration should be 'until the end of the encounter'. 4E tracks duration abstractly; not in minutes.
The feature should also have an actual mechanical effect. 4E is built for reskinning in the first place, so such cosmetic effects are redundant.

So my intention here was to make something purely and entirely fluff based because, literally giving your entire self to your Vampiric nature must have some sort of outward effect. That's why I put 15 minutes instead of '150 rounds' or 'until the end of the encounter. If your character is living in a city and they need to feed to stay alive, then I thought it would be an interesting idea to force them to be creative in how to hide that they are a Vampire.

Also, it doesn't serve any mechanical functions at all and is purely cosmetic, your are correct in saying that cosmetics are entirely redundant...from a mechanical point of view.

From a roleplaying point of view, it adds nuance to the way that your character is played out of combat, it helps to build on how your character's lifestyle is, the kind of people they mix with; finally; it makes you look totally bad-ass.


Strength From Blood
The rules should be written more cleanly. One of the strengths of 4E is how organized and precise the rules and their wordings are.
We can infer what "make a saving throw against the bonus damage" means based on our prior knowledge of earlier editions, but it needs to be spelled out here.

Surrendered to the Call
There are no Fortitude saving throws in 4E.

Thank you for those, I have amended them.