Children of the Night details

[Opterix]

Uhm, so, go look in your 3.5 monster manuals, under elite vampire, and look for the ability "Children of the Night."

This ability is also explained in the SRD (listed here)

Children of the Night (Su)

Vampires command the lesser creatures of the world and once per day can call forth 1d6+1 rat swarms, 1d4+1 bat swarms, or a pack of 3d6 wolves as a standard action. (If the base creature is not terrestrial, this power might summon other creatures of similar power.) These creatures arrive in 2d6 rounds and serve the vampire for up to 1 hour.

The entry doesn't list range. Anyone have any RAW on this? Is the range unlimited? Person only? I'm stumped.

[Thurbane]

I don't believe there is any explicit RAW. I believe the Druid/Ranger ability to summon a replacement Animal Companion is similarly vague on specifics.

Maybe treat it as a Summon Nature's Ally or Summon Swarm, with the Vampire's HD as CL to determine range? Not RAW, but maybe workable?


Unless otherwise noted, a supernatural ability has an effective caster level equal to the creature’s Hit Dice.

[atemu1234]

I don't believe there is any explicit RAW. I believe the Druid/Ranger ability to summon a replacement Animal Companion is similarly vague on specifics.

Maybe treat it as a Summon Nature's Ally or Summon Swarm, with the Vampire's HD as CL to determine range? Not RAW, but maybe workable?

That seems a fair assumption.

[Florian]

The entry doesn't list range. Anyone have any RAW on this? Is the range unlimited? Person only? I'm stumped.

Why do you need a range? You activate it, roll 2d6 and wait till they show up at where the vamp is right now. It´s simply a thematic version of SNA that will work for a vamp, wherever it is.

[Opterix]

I don't believe there is any explicit RAW. I believe the Druid/Ranger ability to summon a replacement Animal Companion is similarly vague on specifics.

Maybe treat it as a Summon Nature's Ally or Summon Swarm, with the Vampire's HD as CL to determine range? Not RAW, but maybe workable?

Right, thanks, that makes sense.

[Opterix]

Why do you need a range? You activate it, roll 2d6 and wait till they show up at where the vamp is right now. It´s simply a thematic version of SNA that will work for a vamp, wherever it is.

We needed range to determine if a player who was running from the vampire, and was 200ft away when he used the summon, would have to encounter the summoned bats, also if the vampire could use the bats on him. The roll had put it at 6 rounds until they arrived making them a max of 240ft (bat fly speed is 40ft).