Half vampire character

[de-trick]

I want to make a half vampire for a level 6 game and not sure what class. I want a class that has hide and move silently, but can handle Melee, but not ranger because he's a urban character)


the template
Half-vampire template

Natural Armor bonus to AC
improves by +2
Cold Resistance 5.
Electricity Resistance 5.
+2 Racial bonus to Bluff,
Hide, Listen, Move Silently,
& Spot checks.
Damage Reduction 5 / silver
or magic
Str +2
Dex +2
Cha +2
Lvl +2
CR +2
Gains a Slam Attack (Category 6 damage).
The Half-Vampire’s Natural Attacks are considered ‘magic’ for
purposes of bypassing Damage Reduction.
Gain Feat: Improved Initiative.
Fast Healing – 1 hp per round as long as the vampire has less than
half its hit-points (but at least 1).
Gain 1 of the following abilities (DC is 10 + ½HD+Cha mod):
Blood Drain – If pinning an opponent, the vampire can make a
bite attack that does 1d4 Constitution damage each round &
the vampire gains 5 temporary hp each round. If you do not
drain at least 1 Constitution point of Blood each day from a
living creature, you are Fatigued (FortNeg, DC 15 + number
of days since you last drunk). If you still do not drink, you
become Exhausted (FortNeg, DC 20 + number of days since
you last drunk). Drinking blood removes the Fatigue –or–
reduces Exhaustion to Fatigue.
Charm Gaze – by making a gaze attack against a target within
30’ as a Standard Action, the target is affected by Charm
Monster, using the Half-Vampire’s HD as Caster level.
(WillNeg). If the target’s save is successful, he/she is immune
to this Half-Vampire’s Charm Gaze for 24 hours.
Children of the Night – Once per day, the vampire can call
forth 1d4 Rat Swarms, 1d3 Bat Swarms, or 1d6 Wolves.
Calling the creatures is a Standard Action, they arrive in 2d6
rounds, and server for up to 1 hour.

fluff and other stuff
My mother was a priest of Lathander she was hunting a vampire and the vampire wanted to give the church a black spot to which it could not rid of, When I was born the clerics were about to destroy me when they heard the voice of Lathander, saying I was meant for great things,

quote "I am a warrior of darkness and protector of light"
race human
class need idea
roll 4d6b3
books almost any faerun book, and core,

[excrtd]

There is a variant urban ranger if you are not completely dead set against ranger.

[Mewtarthio]

How about the Urban Ranger variant class?

Here's (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a) a web supplement that details urban variants on all the wilderness-oriented classes. If you can get some of these approved for a class like, say, Ranger or Scout, that could work (though your description is pretty vague). You could always just go with Rogue.

[FireSpark]

For stealth-capable class choices, the obvious ones are all pretty good in their own right. It really all boils down to what you want to do when your not involved in combat.

- Ranger = Whether urban or not, you'd be a great hunter of specific targets (undead as a favored enemy comes to mind), and could even make it your sole profession. Very Van Helsing even.

- Rogue = You could be the underground contact that the pious and above reproach church would need when drastic times call for drastic measures.

- Scout = Kind of ranger-ish, but more skill choices, and the ability to constantly move around a battlefield and still do some decent damage.

- Ninja = Don't know if it would really fit with your character fluff, but just the concept of a half-vampire ninja, sounds cool.

[horseboy]

Please tell me you're not naming it simply "D"

[Kaelaroth]

Have you considered Rogue with melee feats? Or the Vigilante prestige class, which combines loads of cool stuff. Assassin... My last one used a bastard sword.

[Ranis]

Isn't it illegal to put that information down? That's straight out of LM.

Be a shadowdancer. Fits with the whole "I am a warrior of darkness" thing.

[Kiero]

Isn't it illegal to put that information down? That's straight out of LM.

Unlikely, there's "fair use" attached to most documents meaning you can reproduce portions of them, just not the whole and not massive tracts.

[Overlard]

A rogue with some other class mixed in would work well. Maybe some duskblade, or hexblade if those were somehow available. Lurk could have worked too. Otherwise, I'd say a rogue/ranger mix for combat deadliness.

Alternatively, maybe you could go a bit weirder and be a bard. Access to the whip, and having higher str & dex means you could be a deadly tripper (setting them up for your allies or summoned creatures to finish off), and maybe you could disarm some people too (your LA and 3/4 BAB would limit you to most spellcasters though - but disarming them of their holy symbols and component pouches could be very cool). Add whip-dagger for actual damage too. Plus your performances could be an extension of your vampiric presence, "hypnotising" your friends into resisting fear, striking truer etc. The other bardic abilities meld quite well with the race too, fascinating enemies, charming them etc. Your bonus to Cha will help there.

Hell, this is inspiring me to make a character like that actually...

[Arakune]

A rogue with some other class mixed in would work well. Maybe some duskblade, or hexblade if those were somehow available. Lurk could have worked too. Otherwise, I'd say a rogue/ranger mix for combat deadliness.

Alternatively, maybe you could go a bit weirder and be a bard. Access to the whip, and having higher str & dex means you could be a deadly tripper (setting them up for your allies or summoned creatures to finish off), and maybe you could disarm some people too (your LA and 3/4 BAB would limit you to most spellcasters though - but disarming them of their holy symbols and component pouches could be very cool). Add whip-dagger for actual damage too. Plus your performances could be an extension of your vampiric presence, "hypnotising" your friends into resisting fear, striking truer etc. The other bardic abilities meld quite well with the race too, fascinating enemies, charming them etc. Your bonus to Cha will help there.

Hell, this is inspiring me to make a character like that actually...

actually, I already have one of those. But he are specialized on unnarmed attacks (to take the improved grapple feat) and he is the diplomatic/bluff guy, Altough he is NE.

[Overlard]

actually, I already have one of those. But he are specialized on unnarmed attacks (to take the improved grapple feat) and he is the diplomatic/bluff guy, Altough he is NE.
I had a half-vampire psychic warrior for a while. He took some time to buff, but he was a tough bugger.

Not so good out of combat though. His boost to Cha brought it up to a mighty 7...

[Paragon Badger]

Please tell me you're not naming it simply "D"

Don't even get me started on how maddeningly impossible half-vampires are, in any setting. :smalltongue:

It's a 'disease' that's carried on by blood! A virus even!

You can't be pregnant and give birth to a child with 'half-aids!'

*grumbles* Half-anything is completey insane! Half-dragon? Sure, the dragon could polymorph, but then it would be polymorphing it's genetic make-up as well! So any resulting child would just have human genes! Even if a dragon kept it's DNA and the....vehicle to transport that DNA, it woulden't even work! Sure, you can mate a donkey and a horse- and you get a mule, but that's because they are vaguely similiar animals, and that example is a rare occurance! How can a human and a dragon have any semblence of compatible DNA with which to make half-babies!? Yaaaarrrghhh. *mumbles*

Errr... Anyways. With the racial skill bonuses, you could always go rogue as they said... or be a monk/fighter that specializes in grapples.... Heh, your blood sucking attack will be painful..

[Overlard]

Don't even get me started on how maddeningly impossible half-vampires are, in any setting. :smalltongue:

It's a 'disease' that's carried on by blood! A virus even!

You can't be pregnant and give birth to a child with 'half-aids!'

*grumbles* Half-anything is completey insane! Half-dragon? Sure, the dragon could polymorph, but then it would be polymorphing it's genetic make-up as well! So any resulting child would just have human genes! Even if a dragon kept it's DNA and the....vehicle to transport that DNA, it woulden't even work! Sure, you can mate a donkey and a horse- and you get a mule, but that's because they are vaguely similiar animals, and that example is a rare occurance! How can a human and a dragon have any semblence of compatible DNA with which to make half-babies!? Yaaaarrrghhh. *mumbles*
Psst - magic.

[Kiero]

You can't be pregnant and give birth to a child with 'half-aids!'

There are plenty of genetic disorders in which the manifestation varies depending on whether you inherit one or both alleles. Take haemophilia, for example. If you're female and only get it on one of your X chromsomes, you're "merely" a carrier. If you're male on the other hand, having no backup X chromosome you exhibit the disease.

[Fireball.Man.Guy.]

Fast Healing – 1 hp per round as long as the vampire has less than
half its hit-points (but at least 1).
Gain 1 of the following abilities (DC is 10 + ½HD+Cha mod):
Blood Drain – If pinning an opponent, the vampire can make a
bite attack that does 1d4 Constitution damage each round &
the vampire gains 5 temporary hp each round. If you do not
drain at least 1 Constitution point of Blood each day from a
living creature, you are Fatigued (FortNeg, DC 15 + number
of days since you last drunk). If you still do not drink, you
become Exhausted (FortNeg, DC 20 + number of days since
you last drunk). Drinking blood removes the Fatigue –or–
reduces Exhaustion to Fatigue.
Charm Gaze – by making a gaze attack against a target within
30’ as a Standard Action, the target is affected by Charm
Monster, using the Half-Vampire’s HD as Caster level.
(WillNeg). If the target’s save is successful, he/she is immune
to this Half-Vampire’s Charm Gaze for 24 hours.
Children of the Night – Once per day, the vampire can call
forth 1d4 Rat Swarms, 1d3 Bat Swarms, or 1d6 Wolves.
Calling the creatures is a Standard Action, they arrive in 2d6
rounds, and server for up to 1 hour

You do know you only get one of these, right?

[R4ph]

There are plenty of genetic disorders in which the manifestation varies depending on whether you inherit one or both alleles. Take haemophilia, for example. If you're female and only get it on one of your X chromsomes, you're "merely" a carrier. If you're male on the other hand, having no backup X chromosome you exhibit the disease.

Yes, but you can, for lack of a better word "catch" vampirism. You can;t catch haemophilia. Hence vampirism is a disease, not a genetic disorder.

Also, if you're a carrier then you are physically indistinguishable from someone who has no trace of haemophilia. The only difference is that you're children might have it. However it doesn't make you stronger, faster, or better. Or, in crunch terms, being a carrier for something doesn't affect your stats in any way.

[Overlard]

Yes, but you can, for lack of a better word "catch" vampirism. You can;t catch haemophilia.
I think Queen Victoria seemed to develop it without inheriting it. Scientists are still wondering about that one.

[Mewtarthio]

You do know you only get one of these, right?

I believe he's either not yet decided which one to choose or is open to suggestions.

[Citizen Joe]

Don't even get me started on how maddeningly impossible half-vampires are, in any setting. :smalltongue:

That was exactly my feeling when I saw the thread title. I'm glad I'm not the only one that noticed.

[Mewtarthio]

Yes, but you can, for lack of a better word "catch" vampirism. You can;t catch haemophilia. Hence vampirism is a disease, not a genetic disorder.

A disease which gives you the ability to turn into mist, summon bats and wolves, hypnotize people, and drain the life from your victims? Sorry, it's not a disease. It's a magical curse.

Half-Dragons are similar, incidentally. When a dragon is polymorphed, it does yield a human child, but dragons are inherently magical. As such, the draconic magic remains with the child and mutates it in the womb.

Now, the real question is where a half-vampire comes from in the first place. The answer I've heard is that it comes from a mother becoming a vampire in the middle of the gestation period, but that doesn't make much sense if vampires are undead. Can a dead body carry a child, even one that's under a magical curse (particularly if it doesn't get the Blood Drain ability)? And wouldn't the mother just finish up the vampirism process upon the birth of the child? The... alternative solution isn't much better, as it requires that the undead be capable of reproduction (not to mention desiring of it). Plus the vampire would probably end up draining the mother anyway, and we're right back where we've started.

[Indon]

Scenario: You're a Human Half-dragon Trollblood Lycanthrope Vampire.

You have a kid with an Elf.

What is it?

[Citizen Joe]

I'd say its a snack

[FireSpark]

Scenario: You're a Human Half-dragon Trollblood Lycanthrope Vampire.

You have a kid with an Elf.

What is it?

Not pretty? :smalltongue:

[Tengu]

Scenario: You're a Human Half-dragon Trollblood Lycanthrope Vampire.

You have a kid with an Elf.

What is it?

A hopeless Mary-Sue.

[Overlard]

A disease which gives you the ability to turn into mist, summon bats and wolves, hypnotize people, and drain the life from your victims? Sorry, it's not a disease. It's a magical curse.

Half-Dragons are similar, incidentally. When a dragon is polymorphed, it does yield a human child, but dragons are inherently magical. As such, the draconic magic remains with the child and mutates it in the womb.

Now, the real question is where a half-vampire comes from in the first place. The answer I've heard is that it comes from a mother becoming a vampire in the middle of the gestation period, but that doesn't make much sense if vampires are undead. Can a dead body carry a child, even one that's under a magical curse (particularly if it doesn't get the Blood Drain ability)? And wouldn't the mother just finish up the vampirism process upon the birth of the child? The... alternative solution isn't much better, as it requires that the undead be capable of reproduction (not to mention desiring of it). Plus the vampire would probably end up draining the mother anyway, and we're right back where we've started.
I think in Blade, his mother was bitten by a vampire and rushed to hospital. The baby was delivered before she "died".

[Citizen Joe]

The distinction between a half-dragon and a half-undead is that the dragon is still alive and thus capable of viable offspring.

Vampires have their own means of reproduction that does not require intercourse or a long gestation period.

A more likely method is an artificially applied vampire template. Rather than getting bitten/killed/rise from the grave, instead you inject vampire blood into your system to get the benefits similar to undead grafts. I think Van Helsing did something like that in Dracula 2000.

[Gryndle]

psst...its a game whre dragons, magic, faeries and the undead are realities....quit trying to apply real world logic and science to it, you will enjoy it more and blood pressure will drop.

Also there a series of books out there starting with one titled Dhampir. Good books, and all center around a "half-vampire"

The first few books are really good (after that they kinda lose steam in my opinion) and deal with how and why a dhampir might be created, and what pruposes they may serve.

[Citizen Joe]

Being a game with magic allows you to set up how physics, genetic, etc. works in that game setting. However, once defined you should remain consistent. My point about making the half vampire is that it has major repercussions that will resound through the entire game world. If the DM creates a half vampire and defines it as a genetic trait passed on, then the implication is that undead can reproduce naturally. If a Player introduces a Half-vampire character with this stuff in his fluff, he just made a drastic change in the entire game setting. This is not the player's prerogative, it is the DM's.

Besides, I thought the need for 'half-vampire' was done away with when vampire became a template. Just be a vampire. If you need to be good, get a helm of alignment change. Occam's Razor...

EDIT: Wow, I just read through the crunch part of the Half vampire template.
Normal vampire template: LA +8
Half vampire with most of the benefits and none of the hindrances: LA +2

Anyone see a problem with that?

[Indon]

A hopeless Mary-Sue.

More like helpless, considering the massive ECL it would require for a level 1 character.

"Congratulations, your level 1 rogue gets to fight a Balor!"

"Eep."

[Overlard]

Being a game with magic allows you to set up how physics, genetic, etc. works in that game setting. However, once defined you should remain consistent. My point about making the half vampire is that it has major repercussions that will resound through the entire game world. If the DM creates a half vampire and defines it as a genetic trait passed on, then the implication is that undead can reproduce naturally. If a Player introduces a Half-vampire character with this stuff in his fluff, he just made a drastic change in the entire game setting. This is not the player's prerogative, it is the DM's.
Not really, it doesn't establish vampirism as a dominant genetic trait (as if it did, the child would be a full vampire), but a co-dominant one. Obviously this isn't the case though, as it completely overwrites the DNA of the victim. It's more likely it's a non-specific "disease" that is partially filtered by the placenta.

And vampires reproducing "naturally" would involve a mummy vampire and a daddy vampire who love each other very much giving each other a special hug. That's not the case. Maybe vampires are sterile, that doesn't stop them passing on vampirism with a bite.


Besides, I thought the need for 'half-vampire' was done away with when vampire became a template. Just be a vampire. If you need to be good, get a helm of alignment change. Occam's Razor...
And if you want to be a swashbuckler, just be a fighter rogue. And if you want to be a druid, just be a cleric with the nature domain. And if you want to be a sorcerer, just be a wizard and change the fluff. And if you want to be a barbarian, just be a fighter and shout a lot. And who needs bards when you can be a fighter/rogue/wizard? Why not just go back down to warrior, expert and magic-user classes? They're simpler, and if you're using Occam's Razor...

It's not the same mechanically, and without mechanics to support thematics, you're left hanging a lot. Dismissing people who want to play a half-vampire because you think they should play a full one which would cost them another 6 levels of LA, put their alignment on the evil end of the spectrum, and disrupt the entire game by restricting at what time of day they can act is just plain silly.


EDIT: Wow, I just read through the crunch part of the Half vampire template.
Normal vampire template: LA +8
Half vampire with most of the benefits and none of the hindrances: LA +2

Anyone see a problem with that?
No, seeing as half-vampires don't get most of the benefits. They get some of the lesser benefits. They're not undead so they don't get the associated immunities, they don't turn into mist when you kill them, they just die. They get a few minor stat boosts, a couple of resistances an ability (of which the charm one is the dodgiest) and some easily overcome DR. Compare that to other LA+2 templates, and it's not too dissimilar.

[Anxe]

Monk? Or you could be a Cleric that takes that Domain that gives you hide and move silently. Thievery I think.

[Overlard]

Monk? Or you could be a Cleric that takes that Domain that gives you hide and move silently. Thievery I think.
Trickery IIRC.

[The White Knight]

Scenario: You're a Human Half-dragon Trollblood Lycanthrope Vampire.

You have a kid with an Elf.

What is it?

Dragonblooded, Trollblooded, Naturally Lycranthropic Half-Vampire/Half-Elf?

Two halves, two diluted descents, and lycanthropy. Seems at least as plausible as the parent.

PS: Where's Trollblood from?

[Indon]

Dragonblooded, Trollblooded, Naturally Lycranthropic Half-Vampire/Half-Elf?

Two halves, two diluted descents, and lycanthropy. Seems at least as plausible as the parent.

PS: Where's Trollblood from?

Troll Bloodline, I guess I should say. It's in the SRD at www.d20srd.org I do believe. I think book-wise, it's in Unearthed Arcana?

[Leliel]

Scenario: You're a Human Half-dragon Trollblood Lycanthrope Vampire.

You have a kid with an Elf.

What is it?
A kickass BBEG!

That or your basic, garden-variety Super Soldier. Who probably will work for the Ancient Conspiracy and become an Anti Villian(Read the TV Tropes and Idioms Wiki). Just so you know.

:biggrin:

[de-trick]

It said in Libris Mortis, that it's rare, but can happen the vampire must have alot of blood, making him more human like and give him the male part of unit including the gift of life, but I think I'll go with a fighter rogue combo

[Hyrael]

A disease which gives you the ability to turn into mist, summon bats and wolves, hypnotize people, and drain the life from your victims? Sorry, it's not a disease. It's a magical curse.

Half-Dragons are similar, incidentally. When a dragon is polymorphed, it does yield a human child, but dragons are inherently magical. As such, the draconic magic remains with the child and mutates it in the womb.

Now, the real question is where a half-vampire comes from in the first place. The answer I've heard is that it comes from a mother becoming a vampire in the middle of the gestation period, but that doesn't make much sense if vampires are undead. Can a dead body carry a child, even one that's under a magical curse (particularly if it doesn't get the Blood Drain ability)? And wouldn't the mother just finish up the vampirism process upon the birth of the child? The... alternative solution isn't much better, as it requires that the undead be capable of reproduction (not to mention desiring of it). Plus the vampire would probably end up draining the mother anyway, and we're right back where we've started.


Another possibility I came up with is someone who is NEARLY killed by a vampire (reduced to neg HP, or blood drained down to 1 con, ect), but survives, can sometimes develope lesser versions of vampiric powers.

For class, I'd go monk or monk/fighter. you could make good use of those high ability scores, and grapple would make that blood drain ability NASTY (I would pick blood drain, as the blood dependancy is pure gold for RP, even if it is a bit overdone in lame vapire movies.)

[Fax Celestis]

you could make good use of those high ability scores, and grapple would make that blood drain ability NASTY (I would pick blood drain, as the blood dependancy is pure gold for RP, even if it is a bit overdone in lame vapire movies.)

Sanguinary animism is another good source of RP.

[lord_khaine]

for classes i would recomend warblade or swordsage.

[Citizen Joe]

I still don't like the idea of undead procreating. However the following methods of becoming 'touched' by vampirism may be plausible.
1) A pregnant mother is energy drained by a vampire. Although she does not die, the baby technically did, but the lack of grave dirt and being encased in a womb prevented the full transformation into a vampire.
2) Some sort of preparatory magics were placed on the adult character, who was then drained by a vampire. Again the ritual prevented the full transformation.
3) Character is a full vampire, but through some gypsy curse or divine blessing has much of his vampiric abilities diminished and humanity restored (ala Angel of Buffy the Vampire Slayer).

The point is to apply half a template, not make a chimeric half breed.

[Fishies]

How do vampires have children? o.O

[Citizen Joe]

How do vampires have children? o.O

When creatures are energy drained to 0 by a vampire and then buried, they rise up in 1d4 days as vampire spawn. If the vampire chooses, it can release the bond on the vampire spawn making it a full vampire.

[AtomicKitKat]

Hmm, here's another possibility. Connor(Angel: The Series) is technically Dhampir(not said as such, but implied). Strictly speaking, he should probably also have died of syphillis, which his mother had before being vamped the first time(but thinking back on it, she was revamped after being True Resurrected).

Anyways, assuming someone was pregnant(without knowing), got raised as a vampire, put down, True Resurrected(can you Raise Dead if the spawn is put down and the original character's death is still within the legal limit?), all within the 9 months gestation, the child would be "touched with vampirism". Dragon had something similar, for ghouls, zombies, and a couple others. The "Site which must not be named" had a couple of said templates/races.