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Gastronomie
2016-11-02, 10:13 PM
So, I'm thinking of creating a mini-campaign about dragon-slayers, and suddenly the image of a black vampire dragon as the arc-boss popped into my mind. I found the idea cool (if not Mary Sue, but dragons are already Mary Sue from the start, and they're proud of it), but a question arose together with it:

Why would a dragon ever want to become a vampire? Dragons are already near-invincible, have a life span of several thousand years (no matter how stupid this concept is), and are free to roam whereever they want, any time. Even if they wanted to become a powerful undead monster with immortality, they're better off becoming Dracoliches.

Vampire Dragons bind themselves to the night. They can't roam out freely in the day. I don't see anything a dragon can gain from becoming a vampire. Does anyone have good ideas of a motivation for becoming one?

Or perhaps, the boss vampire dragon I'm thinking of did not willingly turn into a vampire. But in that case, can someone think up an explanation that does not make the vampire dragon seem futile, or goofy, or ignorant of danger? Because most explanations would make the vampire dragon seem rather stupid and unwary.

Mr Beer
2016-11-02, 10:49 PM
- Could be involuntary vampirism, inflicted upon them by another Vampire Dragon or a sneaky human vampire.

- Vampires are stronger and harder to kill than the base creature, so still some benefits there.

- Not being out in sunlight is just fine for some dragons anyway.

- Shadow Dragons make obvious vampire choices. The dreaded Shampire Dragon, if you will.

EDIT

- A lot of dragons can assume human form, so it would be kind of badass to have a human adversary that the players gradually realise is a vampire. And then he unexpectedly turns into a dragon. Oh, you were thinking Dracula? Bam! Shampire Dragon suckas!

kieza
2016-11-02, 11:49 PM
Maybe they turned the dragon when it was young and easily subdued or manipulated, and it outlived its creator?

Actually, that'd make for an interesting reveal--as a vampire, the dragon wouldn't have gotten bigger as it aged, so you'd have this old, but really small, dragon, with all the powers of an ancient vampire, plus possibly the magical powers of an ancient dragon...

Tvtyrant
2016-11-03, 02:20 AM
"I hated a congenital heart disease. I grew, as all dragons do, but as I did my heart got less and less capable of carrying my blood. I prayed to our beloved goddess for succor, and she responded by telling me to find the Vampire Lord of Mt. Edna. He would cure me, but I would have to pay a terrible price.

You aren't a hero, little one. You are not a protagonist, not even a victim. You are but the coin by which I pay my price."

Red Fel
2016-11-03, 08:19 AM
So, I'm thinking of creating a mini-campaign about dragon-slayers, and suddenly the image of a black vampire dragon as the arc-boss popped into my mind. I found the idea cool (if not Mary Sue, but dragons are already Mary Sue from the start, and they're proud of it), but a question arose together with it:

First: NPCs generally aren't Mary Sue. The term applies to a protagonist for whom everything is perfect forever, not an antagonist. They can approach Mary Sue-dom if given plot armor and way too many concessions of coolness, but general badassery is perfectly acceptable in an NPC.


Why would a dragon ever want to become a vampire? Dragons are already near-invincible, have a life span of several thousand years (no matter how stupid this concept is), and are free to roam whereever they want, any time. Even if they wanted to become a powerful undead monster with immortality, they're better off becoming Dracoliches.

Vampire Dragons bind themselves to the night. They can't roam out freely in the day. I don't see anything a dragon can gain from becoming a vampire. Does anyone have good ideas of a motivation for becoming one?

Or perhaps, the boss vampire dragon I'm thinking of did not willingly turn into a vampire. But in that case, can someone think up an explanation that does not make the vampire dragon seem futile, or goofy, or ignorant of danger? Because most explanations would make the vampire dragon seem rather stupid and unwary.

Several options come to mind. One, as you say, is that it didn't willingly become a Vampire. I can see an image where an even bigger badass villain tried to enslave the Dragon, and in an effort to ensure its loyalty, turned it into a Vampire Dragon. This had two effects - first, it became substantially limited, as you say, and thus much easier to control and contain; second, it had a compulsion to obey its "sire," the bigger villain.

Another option - maybe this particular Dragon doesn't have the arcane aptitudes common to its race. Dracolich is a great option for magically gifted Dragons, but maybe this one just didn't have the magical juju to make the whole "skeleton reanimated by the darkest magics" thing work. Vampirism is, after all, much easier and more accessible than Lichdom.

Or, a related alternative, maybe this Dragon is a deviant. Either he wants to be different from the other Dragons who all go Dracolich in their advanced years, or he's rebelling against a society that has a special hatred for blood-suckers. Or maybe it's a religious thing. Maybe the Dragon worships a deity of blood (similar to Tvtyrant's example), and thus sees Vampirism as the most holy sacrament a living creature can make. Or maybe he grew bored and wanted to handicap himself - power, yes, but with severe limits - just to allow himself to continue to enjoy a challenge.

LibraryOgre
2016-11-03, 09:06 AM
I like the mental image that, at some point in the distant past, this dragon battled with a vampire and "won"... but was turned into a vampire as a side effect.

Palladium Fantasy also has a God who is also part Vampire Intelligence... basically, a fusion of a mortal and the vampire intelligence he tried to enslave. Perhaps the vampire dragon took a weird turn in a bid for power, and got turned into a vampire as a result? I like the idea that he's stuck at his dragon age, but has continued to grow as a vampire, to his frustration.

Thinker
2016-11-03, 09:08 AM
I got a bit of inspiration from your ideas.

Deandre as an orphaned teenager living on a farm outside of Redfield Village. She toiled away in the fields all day and dreamed of a better life by night. She dreamed of soaring through the air with the wind on his wings and of sleeping in a luxurious bed covered in gold. She'd always awaken to the same boring life, but it wasn't so bad. There was always had a warm place to sleep and she made a few coins to put away to see the city someday. Then, the night of shadows happened.

Deandre woke with a start to hear the cries of the other villagers. There was a banging at her door and scratches at her windows. Someone or something was trying to get in. Deandre curled up in his blanket and tried to ignore the noise, hoping that if she could ignore the noise for long enough it would go away. Then, the roof caved in and a snarling man with red, glowing eyes approached. He pounced on Deandre and bit into her neck, draining the girl of blood. Just as she started to lose consciousness, she felt a surge of power coursing through her veins.

Her neck and head grew, wings sprouted from her back, and the hovel burst apart as Deandre took on a form that felt more natural than her human one ever did. As a dragon, she stood over the creature that had attacked her and with a quick huff, engulfed him in flames for his insolence. Her confidence growing, she began to attack and burninate the other vampires roving around the village. She had killed a half dozen before she felt her body refuse her.

An ancient-looking woman approached Deandre. She looked pleased and called the other vampires over to welcome the newest member of their "family". Deandre felt helpless and before long was forced into her human form. In a rage, she tried to regrow her wings, to regrow her snout, but to no avail.

Over the years, Deandre became desensitized to human suffering, all but forgetting the early trappings of her own life as she helped the others rampage through the valleys on an endless search for blood. Then one day the Mistress left on some journey and Deandre saw her chance. She laid waste to her brothers and sisters and destroyed their fortress. She would suffer as no one's patsy.

Often traveling as a human to avoid detection, Deandre searched high and low for a cure for her vampirism, but finding none. She would prey on animals to reduce the chances of being caught and exposed in human lands, but would prey on lone travelers in the wild. Finding no cure, she instead turned her attention to making it impossible for the Mistress to reach her and influence her again. She began to recruit followers and an army, clerics who would provide her with sacrifices to sustain her, and magic and artifacts to reduce her vampiric weaknesses.

She was challenged by another nearby dragon who didn't like the competition on his lands, but she made quick work of it and destroyed its wings. She then enslaved it as she had been enslaved all of those years ago and made it her flightless lieutenant.

Now, the Mistress has returned to these lands, but needs a capable group of adventurers to help dispatch Deandre's defenses so that she can reclaim her prized possession. If only there were some fools willing to take up the challenge...

shadow_archmagi
2016-11-03, 09:12 AM
It's pretty common that you become a vampire by drinking a vampire's blood. Obviously the dragon just swallowed a knight whole without realizing it was Vladelot, Vampire Swordsman. (Brother of Vladahad, Vampire Paladin)

MrStabby
2016-11-03, 09:23 AM
So there are ways to become a vampire other than being bitten. Greed that caused a cursed artefact to be added to the dragon's horde and the dragon being too unwilling to let it go might be one way.

Another option is to have human mage becomes vampire, learns true polymorph and turns into a dragon, a transformation that doesn't cure the underlying vampirism.

Possibly a feud or revenge against another dragon. An ancient red dragon hates an ancient gold with an all consuming passion. They are equally matched and neither could be sure of winning a fight but the Red dragon will risk all to destroy the gold and see him suffer. He contracts vampirism to give an edge in night time fighting and to pass on to the Gold dragon in the fight, knowing that ruining the Gold dragon in this way will be a sweeter victory than just killing him.

Stealth Marmot
2016-11-03, 11:28 AM
It occurs to me that vampirism could have been a punishment inflicted on the dragon. Think about this: A dragon gains strength and power by aging. Vampirism ceases the aging, so the vampirism could have been a curse by an evil deity or an evil bigger dragon who believed the Dragon unworthy of becoming a full powered Dragon.

ExLibrisMortis
2016-11-03, 11:37 AM
Vampirism is a power boost when the sun is not out. Purely mechanically (in 3.5, other systems may not have mechanically strong vampires, but yeah...), it's five bonus feats, +18 total ability boosts, +8 on six skills, fast healing, energy drain, create spawn, charm & dominate, undead immunities... that's a long list, and vampirism is not that hard to get, so it's always right there when you're looking for a power-up to finally burn that castle. Yes, you need to invest in sun protection, but you can do so: always appear in a cloud of mist and darkness, only leave your lair at night, or even get rid of the "vampire weaknesses" SQ through instantaneous form-altering magic (this may not have mechanical equivalents in all systems, but I think it is a legitimate plot arc for any powerful vampire, regardless of system or setting).

MrStabby
2016-11-03, 12:21 PM
Vampirism is a power boost when the sun is not out. Purely mechanically (in 3.5, other systems may not have mechanically strong vampires, but yeah...), it's five bonus feats, +18 total ability boosts, +8 on six skills, fast healing, energy drain, create spawn, charm & dominate, undead immunities... that's a long list, and vampirism is not that hard to get, so it's always right there when you're looking for a power-up to finally burn that castle. Yes, you need to invest in sun protection, but you can do so: always appear in a cloud of mist and darkness, only leave your lair at night, or even get rid of the "vampire weaknesses" SQ through instantaneous form-altering magic (this may not have mechanical equivalents in all systems, but I think it is a legitimate plot arc for any powerful vampire, regardless of system or setting).

I am guessing 5th edition - OP has 884 posts in that forum, 1 in the 3rd ed forum. But I could be wrong.

Xalyz
2016-11-03, 12:30 PM
What about using an ancient white dragon? They are typically weaker than other dragons and might seek out an edge especially when they know that their life in nearing its end

Traab
2016-11-04, 12:01 AM
Make it a vampire lord. Its an even stronger version of a vampire template and removes a lot of the weaknesses. For example, simply presenting a holy symbol does nothing, though you can still do turn undead and such against them, neither does garlic, running water does nothing. The sun will weaken the vampire lord, giving it a -4 to its rolls and removing its ability to use its special skills. Also, they dont really need a coffin, a handful of dirt from its homeland is enough. Which means, theoretically, if it stays in the area it was born, you are going to have a VERY hard time stopping it from regenerating after you defeat it. Plus, and most tempting for the dragon in question, they can only be truly killed through an absurdly complicated process.

The only way to make sure that a vampire lord does not return is to cut its head from its body, burn the body and the head separately, scatter the ashes from the body over running water, immerse the ashes from the head in holy water, and bury the immersed ashes in consecrated ground. However, if the head ashes are ever unearthed and somehow separated from the holy water, dried thoroughly, and then subjected to an unhallow spell, the vampire lord can regenerate in a week if the ashes are placed inside one of its places of rest.

Now, how can you justify it? There are a couple ways. 1) Its been a vamp dragon for a long time and killed its "master" 2) As a base dragon its so much stronger than a regular vamp would be that it automatically got the upgrade. And it IS an upgrade since it does stuff like


Domination (Su): As base vampire, except that a vampire lord can do this either by gaze or voice. It does not require line of sight to the target, but the target must be able to hear the vampire lord's voice when it speaks at a normal volume level.

Energy Drain (Su): As base vampire, but a living creature hit by a vampire lord's slam attack takes 3 negative levels.

Blood Drain (Su): As base vampire, but a vampire lord's blood drain inflicts 1d4+2 points of Constitution drain each round the pin is maintained.

Alternate Form (Su): A vampire lord can assume the form of any animal, as the druid ability wild shape used by a 12th-level druid. The vampire lord can use this power at will as a move-equivalent action. The vampire lord can change from one animal shape to another without having to revert to its humanoid form.

Children of the Night (Su): As base vampire, but the creatures summoned forth serve the vampire lord until released. Further, the vampire lord can sense through the senses of any such commanded creatures, and communicate empathically with them, to a range of 10 miles.

Control Weather (Sp): A vampire lord can cast either control weather or fog cloud as a 12th-level sorcerer at will.

Create Spawn (Su): As base vampire, but vampire lords create only vampire slaves, never vampire spawn. The new vampire is enslaved to the vampire lord until its master's death, and the willpower of the vampire lord is too strong to allow it to break free of its enslavement.

Damage Reduction (Ex): A vampire lord is extremely tough; it has damage reduction 10/+3.

Fast Healing (Ex): As base vampire, but a vampire lord heals 8 hit points each round so long as it has at least 1 hit point. It has 24 hours to reach a place of rest (rather than 2 hours) if brought to zero hit points. A vampire lord can have many places of rest prepared, since the only requirement is some soil from its homeland (the place where the base vampire was born).

Telekinesis (Su): A vampire lord can use telekinesis (caster level 12th) at will.

Telepathy (Su): A vampire lord can communicate telepathically with any living creature within 100 feet that has a language, and with any vampire under its direct control to a range of 1 mile.

Turn Resistance (Ex): As base vampire +4 (see Vampire).

Saves: Same as the base vampire, plus the vampire lord applies its Charisma modifier to all saving throws in addition to its other ability modifiers (as a paladin does).

There are a few other interesting tidbits in the fluff. Like, they dont look like vampires anymore. They look just like a normal example of who they were. So until that dragon turns to green mist, its going to be tough to figure out its true nature. Plus a vampire lord always surrounds itself with wealth and opulence, so there are going to be very very few signs your adventurers are facing a vampire lord dragon until its too late. If you want to make it a guessable outcome, vampire lords often create fairly large undead forces, so before they reach the big boss they might have to fight their way through enough random undead and vampires to clue them in.

Here (http://www.realmshelps.net/monsters/templates/vampirelord.shtml) you can read the whole thing for yourself. I know I kinda jumped all over the place. As for defeating it, woof that will be tough, but the first tactic that comes to my mind is forcefully teleporting it somewhere outside its domain, then killing it, tracking its green mist for the day it has to find its safe place, then working on the elaborate method of making sure it stays dead. There are probably other methods.

Gastronomie
2016-11-04, 09:31 AM
Thanks for all the ideas guys!!

I want to make the dragons in the campaign truly terrifying, majestic creatures, and in that sense I think the "handicap because bored" and "fought with a rival vampire" seem the most thematically appropriate for the character I have in mind (although the other ideas can also be amazing for other characters, no doubt).

Though I play only 5e (as mentioned by others), the 3.5 Vampire Lord template seems interesting to add to make him even more of an menacing foe. Thanks~!

Segev
2016-11-04, 09:49 AM
I'll chime in with the "it wasn't voluntary" crowd, here, by pointing out that it has only been relatively recently in vampire stories that there are ANY willing "converts." Yes, vampires have always had more power than mere mortals, and often have lorded it arrogantly over them in myth. But it was usually seen as a cursed state, even with all the power, and "cursed with awesome" was not considered quite so cool until relatively recently.

Instead, vampires sired other vampires often because they craved servile companionship. Dracula's brides were essentially him building up an undying harem of beautiful women made more unearthly beautiful by the transition. They were part personal pleasure pool and part lure (as he frequently had them seduce mortal males) for midnight luncheons.

Converting a dragon to a servant-vampire would be quite the coup for a vampire lord. The fact that this lord gets staked or even finds his servant to be less servile than is healthy for the vampiric sire is just the misfortune of said sire.

Traab
2016-11-04, 10:13 AM
Now, the big problem as I see it is, dragons are kind of..... big. How exactly would you house rule stuff like blood draining on a creature large enough to swallow a human whole? I mean, its not like a vampire dragon can bite a human on the neck, and have that take more than one round to end in decapitation. :smallbiggrin: Best workaround I can think of is the vampire dragon can only turn creatures large enough in comparison to it that blood drain can be done. So maybe it would have vampire dragon and giant minions and such?

Segev
2016-11-04, 10:24 AM
It's usually considered horrifying that a vampire exists because he feeds on humans. If a vampire just fed on rats (significantly smaller than him) or even cattle, it wouldn't be viewed with nearly so much horror. (In fact, if they could manage like this, vampire ranchers would be more akin to dairy farmers than slaughterhouse managers, since they'd never have to kill their livestock. They want those blood-factories to stay alive as long as possible and keep producing more blood.)

Therefore, I suspect a dragon vampire would feed on other dragons.

Braininthejar2
2016-11-04, 04:11 PM
Murdered a dragon relative for his treasure, and was transformed with his dying curse.

Mastikator
2016-11-04, 05:17 PM
Make vampirism work differently for dragons, make some benefits and drawbacks that are relevant to dragons.

Gastronomie
2016-11-04, 05:25 PM
Thanks for the ideas~


It's usually considered horrifying that a vampire exists because he feeds on humans. If a vampire just fed on rats (significantly smaller than him) or even cattle, it wouldn't be viewed with nearly so much horror. (In fact, if they could manage like this, vampire ranchers would be more akin to dairy farmers than slaughterhouse managers, since they'd never have to kill their livestock. They want those blood-factories to stay alive as long as possible and keep producing more blood.)

Therefore, I suspect a dragon vampire would feed on other dragons.Yeah, I was thinking it'd pray on mainly large monsters (it might eat humans for snacks though), but "feeding primarily on dragons" is a cool idea.

Just, if he feeds primarily on chromatics, the dragon-slayers might decide he's a necessary evil, so I think the plot hook will be something like, a young Metallic Dragon asks the adventurers to help because this vampire dragon has killed all his elders in the region or something. And maybe a zombie (or vampire spawn) apocalypse on top of that (or maybe not, since I might as well keep his vampirism a secret until the characters research on their own).

Segev
2016-11-04, 05:57 PM
I suppose the alternative would be that vampire dragons maintain a blood cult of worshippers who sacrifice to them regularly. Probably sacrificing large numbers of sentient prisoners/slaves in large bloodlettings for each meal.


The trouble with "feeding on dragons," now that I think of it, is that there just aren't that many dragons. So if he is murderous about it, he'll run out of food and also diminish the majesty of dragonkind. If he isn't, it seems less of a threat (unless his bite is hazardous and spreads fear of control amongst dragonkind; perhaps he can twist metallic dragons to rampages of evil for a time after biting them?).

Vampires fill two roles as monsters: the suave monster-that-appears-human, and the stalker that cannot be seen nor avoided. Dragons are already predators, which makes the predatory gleam of the latter less terrifying as an addition. But as "the predator that stalks dragons," if it does so slowly and with enough mystery and menace, perhaps it'd work.

Going back to the rampage-causing bite, though, your PCs are human-ish creatures, not dragons, so making it scary to other dragons is only Worf-effecting it, not making it actively live up to horrifying the players. Making it a monster that can turn normally-not-dangerous dragons into dangerous dragons, and even raise questions as to whether killing the monsterous dragon is really desirable. (After all, Goldie was your friend last week, and if you discover she might recover, do you REALLY want to kill her? Can you avoid doing so while stopping her?)

Vrock_Summoner
2016-11-04, 06:59 PM
Well, the other thing for the low number and high breeding time of dragons might just be upscaling the time and fuel requirements in general to be suitable to dragons - maybe he might have to feed on dozens of mortals per week to sate his need for blood, but a dragon of even stature to himself will keep him going for decades, and lesser dragons can satisfy him for months or years (depending on just how "lesser" they are). So he can be scary on both dragon and human time scales, depending on how much danger he's willing to put himself in.

Traab
2016-11-04, 08:17 PM
I would rank bloodthirst as being less of an issue for a dragon vamp mainly because its a dragon. Humans are relatively weak but a dragon has great strength, strength of will, strength of physical might, mental prowess etc etc etc. So a vampire dragon needing to feed far less frequently than a human vampire would would make a justifiable sense. Plus, a major part of being a vampire lord is a lessening of the downsides to being a vampire. So stretching out how often they need to feed would make even more sense.

That said, I simply love the idea of a mix of skeletal dragons, zombie dragons, and vampire dragons absolutely littering the vampire lords fortress lair from the various times he has had to feed. Not too many vamp dragons though as each one would greatly increase the total amount of blood required. Maybe a rescue mission? The vamp lord has captured a number of smaller dragons that he keeps alive and imprisoned to feed on whenever the hunger strikes. A dragon who isnt strong enough to fight him wants to send your crew to save them and destroy the evil one.

Gastronomie
2016-11-05, 07:06 AM
I suppose the alternative would be that vampire dragons maintain a blood cult of worshippers who sacrifice to them regularly. Probably sacrificing large numbers of sentient prisoners/slaves in large bloodlettings for each meal.

The trouble with "feeding on dragons," now that I think of it, is that there just aren't that many dragons. So if he is murderous about it, he'll run out of food and also diminish the majesty of dragonkind. If he isn't, it seems less of a threat (unless his bite is hazardous and spreads fear of control amongst dragonkind; perhaps he can twist metallic dragons to rampages of evil for a time after biting them?).

Well, the other thing for the low number and high breeding time of dragons might just be upscaling the time and fuel requirements in general to be suitable to dragons - maybe he might have to feed on dozens of mortals per week to sate his need for blood, but a dragon of even stature to himself will keep him going for decades, and lesser dragons can satisfy him for months or years (depending on just how "lesser" they are). So he can be scary on both dragon and human time scales, depending on how much danger he's willing to put himself in.Yeah, the vampire dragon should be a menace for humans as well - in that sense, I really like that idea. As Segev says, it's unrealistic to think a vampire dragon can feed on dragons daily, due to how rare they are.


Vampires fill two roles as monsters: the suave monster-that-appears-human, and the stalker that cannot be seen nor avoided. Dragons are already predators, which makes the predatory gleam of the latter less terrifying as an addition. But as "the predator that stalks dragons," if it does so slowly and with enough mystery and menace, perhaps it'd work.

Going back to the rampage-causing bite, though, your PCs are human-ish creatures, not dragons, so making it scary to other dragons is only Worf-effecting it, not making it actively live up to horrifying the players. Making it a monster that can turn normally-not-dangerous dragons into dangerous dragons, and even raise questions as to whether killing the monsterous dragon is really desirable. (After all, Goldie was your friend last week, and if you discover she might recover, do you REALLY want to kill her? Can you avoid doing so while stopping her?)This sounds like a wonderful plot hook for the campaign! Having a metallic dragon well respected by the people in the region suddenly turn corrupted, and the player characters investigating about it....


I would rank bloodthirst as being less of an issue for a dragon vamp mainly because its a dragon. Humans are relatively weak but a dragon has great strength, strength of will, strength of physical might, mental prowess etc etc etc. So a vampire dragon needing to feed far less frequently than a human vampire would would make a justifiable sense. Plus, a major part of being a vampire lord is a lessening of the downsides to being a vampire. So stretching out how often they need to feed would make even more sense.

That said, I simply love the idea of a mix of skeletal dragons, zombie dragons, and vampire dragons absolutely littering the vampire lords fortress lair from the various times he has had to feed. Not too many vamp dragons though as each one would greatly increase the total amount of blood required. Maybe a rescue mission? The vamp lord has captured a number of smaller dragons that he keeps alive and imprisoned to feed on whenever the hunger strikes. A dragon who isnt strong enough to fight him wants to send your crew to save them and destroy the evil one.The idea of the dragon's domain being littered by dragon zombies and skeletons is amazing. Will definitely throw that in!

Thanks guys!!

Komatik
2016-11-05, 01:53 PM
I got a bit of inspiration from your ideas.

Deandre story

This is a good story, but it has a couple key bugs:

Vampire dragons can turn (monstrous) humanoids and dragons into vampires or zombie dragons, but (monstrous) humanoid vampires can only turn other (monstrous) humanoids into vampires. Can't turn dragons.

Second, even if that was possible, Deandre would be the slave of the vampire who turned her, not the mistress. Keeping the chain of control intact is key to managing undead slave-hordes.

Gollumstripes
2016-11-05, 11:28 PM
It's pretty common that you become a vampire by drinking a vampire's blood. Obviously the dragon just swallowed a knight whole without realizing it was Vladelot, Vampire Swordsman. (Brother of Vladahad, Vampire Paladin)

I second this lol

HurinSmite
2016-11-12, 06:46 PM
I just remembered this thread as I was trying to create a vampiric dragon as an experiment using some 3.5 and pathfinder dragon "rules".

I would mention Draconomicon for 3/3.5 where there's a Vampiric Dragon template. Here's the description "A vampiric dragon is forever anchored to its hoard, much like a normal vampire craves its coffin. It appears much as it did as a living dragon, though its eyes gleam with a feral and predatory glint. It dreams only of death and evil, spreading legends of its treasure to draw in unwitting adventurers in order to create vampire spawn. Thankfully, such creatures are rare in the extreme, most often created by energy draining effects or unique confluences of negative energy."

In short instead of a coffin it has a hoard. The Natural Armor bonus is lowered, can only drain from creatures one size smaller or larger, the weaknesses are mostly removed (except the big ones like sunlight) and the energy drain is lowered to only 1 level.

I started out with a very old green dragon from pathfinder. Gave it the Vampiric Dragon template. Then I threw any sense balance in the trash and added the mythic vampiric template aswell. It's almost equal to a CR 22 monster (except for the insane AC). If anyone is curiousI can post what I ended out with.

Thinker
2016-11-14, 12:54 PM
This is a good story, but it has a couple key bugs:

Vampire dragons can turn (monstrous) humanoids and dragons into vampires or zombie dragons, but (monstrous) humanoid vampires can only turn other (monstrous) humanoids into vampires. Can't turn dragons.

Second, even if that was possible, Deandre would be the slave of the vampire who turned her, not the mistress. Keeping the chain of control intact is key to managing undead slave-hordes.

You're correct for DnD, but not necessarily true in others.

Bad Wolf
2016-11-14, 10:49 PM
Dragons live for about 2,000 years, if I remember my lore correctly. In the span of Outsiders, that's not much.