[Lords of the Night] Is it much more dangerous to play a vampire?

[EisenKreutzer]

Since undead are instantly destroyed when reduced to 0 HP, it seems very risky to play a vampire character.
I love Lords of the Night, thematically it's awesome and all the content is great, but it seems to me like being undead means you are much more likely to lose characters in combat. And since raise dead and similiar effects explicitly do not work on undead (you return as who you were before you became a vampire, basically) I feel like a vampire campaign will be a brutal, lethal affaire.

To counteract this, it seems like amassing an enormous HP pool would be the number one priority for vampiric characters. They have the capacity to regain HP through their bite and claw attacks, so a frontline fighter would more or less need to focus on natural attacks and gaining HP through feats and spells.

Is my logic off here?
Also, what books (paizo or 3rd party) contain feats suitable for undead PCs and NPCs?

[atemu1234]

Eh, it's a 10-hp difference and the fact remains that vampires aren't dead at zero hit points, they're a gaseous form that travels back home to the coffin. If a normal PC reaches 0 HP, they're dead anyway from a coup de grace or somesuch.

[Lord_Gareth]

Since undead are instantly destroyed when reduced to 0 HP, it seems very risky to play a vampire character.
I love Lords of the Night, thematically it's awesome and all the content is great, but it seems to me like being undead means you are much more likely to lose characters in combat. And since raise dead and similiar effects explicitly do not work on undead (you return as who you were before you became a vampire, basically) I feel like a vampire campaign will be a brutal, lethal affaire.

To counteract this, it seems like amassing an enormous HP pool would be the number one priority for vampiric characters. They have the capacity to regain HP through their bite and claw attacks, so a frontline fighter would more or less need to focus on natural attacks and gaining HP through feats and spells.

Is my logic off here?
Also, what books (paizo or 3rd party) contain feats suitable for undead PCs and NPCs?

This is part of the reason I set your max temp HP from feeding at an essentially-constant 1/2 your maximum; it can be a lot more dangerous to be undead. If you're worried about lethality as a player, look into additional sources of temporary HP and defensive items (in D&D 3.5, sample vampire NPCs - such as those in Monster Manual V - had large amounts of defensive items for precisely this reason). If you can afford them, two levels in Greater Vampire can turn that cushion of defense into healing as well.

[EisenKreutzer]

Eh, it's a 10-hp difference and the fact remains that vampires aren't dead at zero hit points, they're a gaseous form that travels back home to the coffin. If a normal PC reaches 0 HP, they're dead anyway from a coup de grace or somesuch.

I don't think that rule applies to the Lords of Night vampire template.

[Lord_Gareth]

I don't think that rule applies to the Lords of Night vampire template.

That is correct; LotN vamps don't have designated coffins.

[Air0r]

I got the chance to make a LotN vampire once. was the aegis class from ultimate psionics. The evasion and stalwart customizations helped tremendously, but I noticed a large sum of my resources went into items that let him function during the day (such as a ring of protective penumbra (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ultimateMagic/spells/protectivePenumbra.html)) so that I could still assist the rest of the party without giving away my nature.
Also a ring of sustenance. I know some people would say that shouldn't negate the vampires need to feed, but the DM decided that vampires would be smart enough to make it work for the sake of maintaining cover long-term.

[EisenKreutzer]

I got the chance to make a LotN vampire once. was the aegis class from ultimate psionics. The evasion and stalwart customizations helped tremendously, but I noticed a large sum of my resources went into items that let him function during the day (such as a ring of protective penumbra (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ultimateMagic/spells/protectivePenumbra.html)) so that I could still assist the rest of the party without giving away my nature.

Did you ever feel more in danger than the other party members because of the instantly destroyed at 0/no resurrection rules?

Also, I think the best way of using LotN is to have all characters be vampires and build a campaign specifically around that. Not the only way, but certainly the easiest.

[Air0r]

Did you ever feel more in danger than the other party members because of the instantly destroyed at 0/no resurrection rules?

Heck yes! I was the tank! Also, the party slowly started figuring out that I wasn't normal, and the one guy that figured out that I was vamp didn't care (he was way into plants and didn't care much about anything else).


Also, I think the best way of using LotN is to have all characters be vampires and build a campaign specifically around that. Not the only way, but certainly the easiest.

That is certainly a good way, but that group I was in had two players who were very... set in there ways. (the husband only played human rangers whose favored enemies were illogically hated enemies, the wife only played druids, bards, or monks, and if she could get away with it, half-janni. She was always a brewer.)

[Ninjaxenomorph]

Don't LotN vampires just get really weak in sunlight?

[EisenKreutzer]

Don't LotN vampires just get really weak in sunlight?

Yeah, they take some pretty massive penalties but don't actually take any damage.