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jjpickar
2007-08-19, 12:34 PM
Vampire Lite Template
In D&D vampire (or vampyr if you want to sound all fancy) is a very powerful template filled with so many powers and abilities (and weaknesses) that it is unrealistic to have vampire PCs. However, I feel that PCs should be allowed to become vampires with minimal level adjustment and fuss. Thus the lite version becomes nescessary. You can either take out both the vampire spawn and regular vampire or replace the vampire spawn with this template or even add this as another type of vampire whichever nails your coffin.

Size and Type: Size is unchanged, type changes to undead.

HD: The vampire’s HD become d12s.

Special Attacks:
Drink Blood: the vampiremay drink the blood of a helples, pinned, or Fascinated opponent draining 1d4 Con from the creature and gaining 5 temporary hit points that last one hour. They also gain immunity to sunlight for 24 hours after drinking blood. If the creature Con is dropped to zero it dies as normal. 6 days upon expiring there is a chance that the creature will rise as a vampire depending on its alignment. 10% for Good, 40% for Neutral, and 100% for evil (this is also the chance for someone who died wishing to become a vampire).

Fascination: A vampire may exert his will on weaker creatures to obtain his beverage of choice. If he is alone with a creature that has 5 HD or less, the vampire may stare into their eyes and fascinate them. The effect can be resisted by a successful will save DC 10 + Half the vampire’s HD+ Plus the vampire’s Cha.

Special Qualities:

Dark Vision 60 ft.

Power of Personality: A vampire has an unatural charm gaining a + 4 profane bonus to all charisma checks.

Weaknesses: Vampires are harmed by sunlight taking 1 damage every round of exposure. They gain immunity tosunlight for 24 hours after drinking blood or sleeping for 8 hours in a coffin buried in consecrated ground. They cast no reflection in mirrors or water. They can be killed instantly if a stake is driven into their heart while they are sleeping in their coffins. They can also be destroyed by being hacked up, crushed, melted, decapitated, digested, or by any other conventional means. Holy symbols really don’t work at all.

Abilities:
+2 Strength, +2 Int, -4 Wis.

Vampires are stronger and smarter than the average human (or bear for that matter) but their sanity is just not what it used to be. Some vampires are totally bonkers.
Alignment:

Always Evil. Just think of it like this: what sort of alignment do mosquitos have?

Level Adjustment: +1

Vampires in society: Vampires look and act very human and if properly fed or buried can remain unnoticed for centuries. But they do often gather in formal cabals or “Courts” which are color coded for two reasons. One Its easier to remember and vampires think its just about the coolest thing ever.

The Blue Court is made up of noble vampires. They will only drink the blood of the mortal nobility. Any member of the Blue Court caught drinking common blood is cast out.

The Red Court is made up of vampires who weren’t cool enough to get into any other Court so they made their own. These vampires often end up becoming lackeys of other Courts in the hopes of gaining future membership. They are also very gullible.

The Black Court thinks it is one of the most secret of secret Courts and has very elaborate initiation rituals and tests. It is actually the most well known of all the Courts because members love to show off and drophints of their exclusive membership.

The White Court is odd.

The Green Court is madeup of feral vampires that hunt in packs much like wolves. Gaining membership is easy, just kill an existing member.

The Yellow Court is even more odd than the White Court.

There is no Pink Court.

Edit: Oops sorry about the line breaks.:smallredface:
Edit Edit:Its -4 Wis now.
Edit Edit Edit (also wik): +4 to Charisma checks. Thanks for the suggestions.:smallsmile:

jjpickar
2007-08-19, 01:13 PM
Here are some more smaller, "metallic" Courts.

The Bronze Court: This is a pretty laid back Court but the entry requirement is tough. Applicants must have an icredible tan. This is tough for vampires as they usually burn.

The Silver Court: This is the smallest Court. They believe that they can only be harmed by silver weapons.

Sir Conkey
2007-08-19, 03:20 PM
Wait, so are these guys without level adjustment, or do they have a low level adjustment, other than that looks spiffy and I would consider using it

jjpickar
2007-08-19, 06:33 PM
Sorry I forgot to bold the level adjustment. Its +1 so its viable for PCs. Is that balanced enough?

Thanks for the interest.:smallsmile:

mikeejimbo
2007-08-19, 07:24 PM
Vampire Lite Template
Alignment:

Always Evil. Just think of it like this: what sort of alignment do mosquitos have?


Neutral, like all animals.

Dryad
2007-08-19, 07:30 PM
-6 wisdom is hardly playable, and will result in most vampires being so damn right autistic that Raymond Babbit from Rain Man looks like the most sociable person on the planet.

jjpickar
2007-08-19, 07:57 PM
Would a -4 or -2 be better? I would like to keep the level adjustment at +1 if possible.

@mikejimbo I live in the south and around here mosquitos are less tolerable than cancer. :smalltongue:


Edit: This is a joke. Cancer is a horrible, horrible disease and I did not mean to offend anyone who suffers from it.

Anxe
2007-08-19, 09:13 PM
I think the problem with vampires is that each new movie/TV series/book has a new interpretation for their powers, so you can get very confused about what the vampires should be able to do.

I agree with your vampire idea though. The one in the MM is a very powerful vampire. Buffy only faces one vampire with all of those powers, Dracula. All the other ones she faces have super strength, a bite attack, and the bonkers wisdom thing.

Like the template! Cool stuff man!

jjpickar
2007-08-19, 09:23 PM
Thanks!:smallsmile:
I'm still waitng for feedback on the wisdom penalty though. -6, -4, or -2?

knightsaline
2007-08-19, 09:41 PM
Heres some other colour Courts

The Purple court have the best parties and are the most hedonistic, sampling pleasures only one with an eternal lifetime can partake in. Many of the members of this court "play for the other team" or "play for both teams"

The Grey Court: What the Black court fails in, the Grey court succeeds. this court is extremely secretive and members don't even know that they are members of a court

The Brown court has the oddest membership requirement, Partake in making a were into a vampire, then make the were bite you. Most members tend to hold even wilder parties during the light of the full moon. This Court is in an uneasy Alliance with the Green court, as sometimes, their interests overlap. They participate in the Hunt, Howl at the moon, and do other things weres do. The Court is not referred to as such, but as the legendary "Black Spiral Dancers" Pack

The Transparent court: Not really a court per se, this "court" is made up of all the wannabe mortals who want to be vampires, but have a thing about having their blood drained.

The Steel court breaks the rule of "stay in the shadows". This court would have been the one Lestat would have joined, during his time as a rock star. The Steel court and the Purple court are Allied to each other

The Octarine Court: These are the mages of the vampire world, eternally researching ways to circumvent the sunlight. Many of them carry Sunlight grenades and wear bodysuits to block the light

Xefas
2007-08-19, 09:43 PM
At least lower the wisdom penalty to -4...

Also, a +10 bonus to charisma checks is pretty steep. Can you imagine a 1st level vampire (ECL 2) having a 4 (ranks) + 10 (profane) + 2 (we'll assume he isn't a cha-dependant class) = +16 modifier for his bluff or diplomacy check?

If you optimize it a little more, it's even worse. Try an ECL 2 character with 4 (ranks) + 10 (profane) + 6 (synergy) + 3 (skill focus feat) + 2 (negotiator human feat) + 4 (charisma) = +29 modifier?

That's enough that if he rolled a 1, he could still make the random guy on the street whose never met him before go to great lengths and risks to help him out in any way he can. And that's at ECL 2! It just gets higher as you go up in level...

So, I say lower the penalty to Wisdom to at least -4, and lower that profane bonus to, at maximum, +4

EvilElitest
2007-08-19, 10:08 PM
1. Cool idea, but could go into a bit more detail about the courts, pertically the strange or weird ones
2. I think -6 wisdom is way to steep. I think you should make it +2 strength, +2 Int, +Con, -2 chrisma, -2 wisdom, maybe -4 wisdom
from,
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jjpickar
2007-08-20, 09:31 AM
Thanks for the feedback everyone! I think later today I'll describe the yellow and white courts.

I was wondering if anyone had some ideas for varients of this template. Especially werewolf template ideas.