Lesser Vampire?

[Malapterus]

I want to make one of my evil NPC party members a vampire without blowing the +8 level adjustment.

Does anyone know a watered-down Vampire template that is good? I am thinking this would be a physical combat class as opposed to a spellcaster.

[Troacctid]

The two that spring to mind are Half-Vampire (Libris Mortis) and the Vampire Template Class (Web (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20030824a)). Either one seems like it would work.

[Crake]

If you're making an NPC party, you should be working on CR, not ECL. There's a reason why CR isn't the same as ECL after all, something that isn't so useful in a single fight might be game changing over the course of a campaign. It's the same reason why, for example, a succubus is ECL 12, but only CR7. Teleport, ethereal jaunt, suggestion and charm are all game changing over the span of a campaign, but alright at best in the context of a single encounter. After all, if the succubus (or vampire) escapes, the encounter is still won, and the PCs get xp for the next time the fight him, so giving xp based on his ECL instead should mean they should only get xp when they defeat him once and for all, not in each individual encounter.

Thus, for your NPC party, the vampire is only CR+2, not ECL+8.

[Seto]

Vampire Spawn?

[GrayDeath]

Depending on how much Vampire he HAS to be (and if you are open to Pathfinder Rules) a Build of Undead, Attribute pts and some SLA`s in the Race Builder could be a solution as well.

[Ruethgar]

If PF is available, I like what I did with a recent build, Human Necropolitan with severe taint and a Dhampir racial feat with the race hand waved. Depending on how you read it, that can get you either two or four free feats. But let’s say just two extra.

Taint: Planar Touchstone Catalogs of Enlightenment(Hunger Domain)
Taint: Blood Drinker(Human)
Human: Troll Blooded(play it bypassing your immunity)


Would also highly suggest the PF undead hunger system so you actually have to drain blood or you start to wither.

[lord_khaine]

Thus, for your NPC party, the vampire is only CR+2, not ECL+8.

I think the relevant answer was already delivered here.

[Malapterus]

If you're making an NPC party, you should be working on CR, not ECL. There's a reason why CR isn't the same as ECL after all, something that isn't so useful in a single fight might be game changing over the course of a campaign. It's the same reason why, for example, a succubus is ECL 12, but only CR7. Teleport, ethereal jaunt, suggestion and charm are all game changing over the span of a campaign, but alright at best in the context of a single encounter. After all, if the succubus (or vampire) escapes, the encounter is still won, and the PCs get xp for the next time the fight him, so giving xp based on his ECL instead should mean they should only get xp when they defeat him once and for all, not in each individual encounter.

Thus, for your NPC party, the vampire is only CR+2, not ECL+8.


I think the relevant answer was already delivered here.

This NPC is not a stand-alone villain that the heroes will get to gang up on. It's part of a counter-party, with the same experience level, general wealth, and number of members as the main party. I'm going by character level to keep it even across the board.

I am sure a party's CR is higher than its average character level, because CR points at what a party should be able to beat based on their level, but two parties of the same level are on even footing and it's a coin toss who will come out alive.

[KillianHawkeye]

I am sure a party's CR is higher than its average character level, because CR points at what a party should be able to beat based on their level, but two parties of the same level are on even footing and it's a coin toss who will come out alive.

Yes, and putting an equal number of (CR = Party Level) enemies in an encounter generates the same kind of toss up in terms of difficulty, because the additional number of enemies effectively adds to the encounter level. Trying to use ECL in place of CR to determine the challenge of an NPC is going to ruin the math, because by definition it's not meant to measure that.

[Malapterus]

Alright, here is what I came up with to try and get these bad boys down to LA+2.

I removed some stuff, lowered some abilities like DR, fast healing, and Natural Armor, got rid of one of the stat boosts.

I took the Dominate ability down to 3/day and made it level dependent.

Got rid of some of the more random abilities.

Got rid of Energy Drain altogether, Spawn are now created with Blood Drain.

Got rid of the Slam attack in favor of a crappy Bite.

Added weaknesses concerning direct sunlight, a need to feed, a vital organ, and a need to sleep.

Took the assorted weaknesses and made it so you pick one, helping to customize your vamp.

I took away the ability to create other vampires; these can only create Vampire Spawn. I know I'd need to modify the Spawn these create, but that can wait.

Let me know if you guys think this works as LA+2

----------
A vampire uses all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here.

Alignment
-The creature becomes Evil upon becoming a vampire. As a free-willed creature, its alignment may change over time, but few vampires are motivated to do this.

Size and Type
-The creature’s type changes to undead (augmented humanoid or monstrous humanoid). Do not recalculate base attack bonus, saves, or skill points. Size is unchanged.

Hit Dice
-Increase all current and future Hit Dice to d12s.

Speed
-Same as the base creature. If the base creature has a swim speed, the vampire retains the ability to swim and is not vulnerable to immersion in running water (see below).

Armor Class
-The base creature’s natural armor bonus improves by +4.

Bonus HP
-A vampire gains bonus HP per Hit Die based on it size as shown below:
Fine 0
Diminutive 0
Tiny 1
Small 2
Medium 3
Large 4
Huge 6
Gargantuan 10
Colossal 14

Attack
-A vampire retains all the attacks of the base creature and also gains a special bite attack if it didn’t already have one. If the base creature can use weapons, the vampire retains this ability. A creature with natural weapons retains those natural weapons. A vampire fighting without weapons uses either its slam attack or its primary natural weapon (if it has any). A vampire armed with a weapon uses its slam or a weapon, as it desires.
-Bite damage is equal to the Unarmed Strike, based on the creature's size.
-Improved Grab; a vampire who makes a successful bite attack may make a free Grapple check without provoking an attack of opportunity.

Full Attack
-A vampire armed with a weapon usually uses the weapon as its primary attack along with a slam or other natural weapon as a natural secondary attack. Vampires without natural attacks usually do not fight without weapons. The vampire usually does not rely on its bite to defend itself.

Skills-
-A vampire gets +10 to Disguise and Bluff checks to appear as a living creature of the race they were before.

Special Attacks
-A vampire retains all the special attacks of the base creature and gains those described below. Saves have a DC of 10 + ½ vampire’s HD + vampire’s Cha modifier unless noted otherwise.

Blood Drain (Ex)
-A vampire can suck blood from a living victim with its fangs by making a successful grapple check. If it pins the foe, it drains blood, dealing 1d4 points of Constitution drain each round the pin is maintained. On each such successful attack, the vampire gains 5 temporary hit points.

Children of the Night (Su)
-Vampires command the lesser creatures of the world and once per day can call forth 1d4+1 rat swarms, 1d3+1 bat swarms, or a pack of 2d6 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.

Dominate (Su)
-A vampire can crush an opponent’s will just by looking onto his or her eyes. This is similar to a gaze attack, except that the vampire must use a standard action, and those merely looking at it are not affected. Anyone the vampire targets must succeed on a Will save or fall instantly under the vampire’s influence as though by a dominate person spell (caster level = vampire's HD). The ability has a range of 30 feet. The vampire may use this ability 3/day.

Create Spawn (Su)
-A humanoid or monstrous humanoid slain by a vampire’s blood drain rises as a vampire spawn 1d4 days after death.

-The new vampire or spawn is under the command of the vampire that created it and remains enslaved until its master’s destruction. At any given time a vampire may have enslaved spawn totaling no more than twice its own Hit Dice; any spawn it creates that would exceed this limit are created as free-willed vampires or vampire spawn. A vampire that is enslaved may create and enslave spawn of its own, so a master vampire can control a number of lesser vampires in this fashion. A vampire may voluntarily free an enslaved spawn in order to enslave a new spawn, but once freed, a vampire or vampire spawn cannot be enslaved again.
-Vampire Spawn have the same weakness as the vampire that created them (see below).
-Anything that would destroy or incapacitate a helpless vampire prevents a corpse from returning as a spawn.

Special Qualities
-A vampire retains all the special qualities of the base creature and gains those described below.

Alternate Form (Su) - Animal
-A vampire can assume the shape of a bat, dire bat, wolf, or dire wolf as a standard action. While in its alternate form, the vampire loses its natural slam attack and dominate ability, but it gains the natural weapons and extraordinary special attacks of its new form. It can remain in that form until it assumes another or until the next sunrise. (If the base creature is not terrestrial, this power might allow other forms.)

Alternate Form (Su) - Mist
As a standard action, a vampire can assume gaseous form at will as the spell (caster level = 1/2 HD), but it can remain gaseous indefinitely and has a fly speed of 20 feet with perfect maneuverability.

Damage Reduction (Su)
-A vampire has damage reduction 5/magic. A vampire’s natural weapons are treated as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

Fast Healing (Ex)
A vampire heals 2 points of damage each round so long as it has at least 1 hit point. If reduced to 0 hit points in combat, it may automatically assume an Alternate Form and attempt to escape. It must reach a safe resting place within 1 hour or be utterly destroyed. Any additional damage dealt to a vampire forced into gaseous form has no effect, other than damage from sunlight. Once at rest, a vampire is helpless. It regains 1 hit point after 1 hour, then is no longer helpless and resumes healing at the rate of 2 hit points per round.

Slaying a Vampire
-Reducing a vampire’s hit points to 0 or lower incapacitates it but doesn’t always destroy it (see the note on fast healing). However, certain attacks can slay vampires. Exposing any vampire to direct sunlight disorients it: It can take only a single move action or attack action and is destroyed utterly in the next round if it cannot escape. Driving a wooden stake through a vampire’s heart instantly slays the monster. However, it returns to life if the stake is removed, unless the body is destroyed. A popular tactic is to cut off the creature’s head and fill its mouth with holy wafers (or their equivalent).

Resistances (Ex)
-A vampire has resistance to cold 10 and electricity 10.

Spider Climb (Ex)
-A vampire can climb sheer surfaces as though with a spider climb spell.

Turn Resistance (Ex)
-A vampire has +4 turn resistance.

Abilities
-Increase from the base creature as follows: Str +6, Dex +4, Wis +2, Cha +4. As an undead creature, a vampire has no Constitution score.

Skills
-Vampires have a +8 racial bonus on Bluff, Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Search, Sense Motive, and Spot checks. Otherwise same as the base creature.

Feats
-Vampires gain Alertness, Improved Initiative, and Lightning Reflexes, assuming the base creature meets the prerequisites and doesn’t already have these feats.

Environment
-Any, usually same as base creature.

Challenge Rating
Same as the base creature +1.

Level Adjustment
-Same as the base creature +2.



Vampire Weaknesses
-For all their power, vampires have a number of weaknesses.

Sunlight - Vampires take damage from direct sunlight. The damage is based on their size and inflicted each turn in which the vampire starts in direct sunlight. The damage is considered Radiant damage.
VAMPIRE DAMAGE-PER-TURN FROM SUNLIGHT
Fine 1
Diminutive 1d2
Tiny 1d3
Small 1d4
Medium 1d6
Large 1d8
Huge 2d6
Gargantuan 2d8
Colossal 4d6

Blood Dependent - Vampires do not need ait or water, but unlike most undead, they do have to feed, and they do so using their Blood Drain ability. Draining 1 point of Constitution from a humanoid, monstrous humanoid, giant, dragon, or fey, or 3 points of constitution from an animal or magical beast, is equivalent of a humanoid eating normal rations. Vampires who fail to keep up an equivalent rate of feeding enter a state similar to Starvation, called Blood Starvation.
Blood Starvation is similar to normal Starvation, with the following differences. Damage dealt from Blood Starvation is lethal. The check rolled against Blood Starvation is Wisdom, and the DC is increased by the vampire's Strength bonus. Vampires reduced to 0 HP by Blood Starvation go into a topor in which they are helpless, unable to act, and almost fully unaware. The smell of blood (detected automatically within 30 feet) allows the vampire to awaken for 2d4 hours with its Strength and Dexterity at half its normal level, rounded down. Feeding takes them out of Blood Starvation and allows them to begin recovering from ability damage at a normal rate.
Vampires suffering from Blood Starvation do not have their Fast healing ability.

Sleep - Vampires must sleep as much as Humans, even if they were not Human before becoming a vampire. Vampires do not need any special accomodations such as a tent or bedroll to get a full night's rest, and they may sleep in their animal form. Vampires, of course, must be careful not to sleep somewhere that the rising sun will find them. A sleeping vampire takes +10 to the DC of any check to be woken up by noise, taking damage, or other stimulus, and will only wake up naturall after 8 hours.

Vital Heart - In general, vampires are immune to critical hits. A critical hit from a piercing weapon, however, has a 25% chance of hitting their warm, beating heart. This does damage as per a normal critical hit, and a Vampire whose heart is struck is Stunned untiul the start of their next turn.
A Coup de Grace from someone who knows where to aim will always hit the vampire's heart so long as they are using a weapon capable of doing piercing damage.

No Reflection - A Vampire can be somewhat easily identified by the fact that they cast no reflection.

In addition, the vampire must pick from one of the following weaknesses:

Garlic- Some vampires cannot tolerate the strong odor of garlic and will not enter an area laced with it. A vampire must make a DC 20 Will save to enter such an area. At the beginning of each round in the area, the vampire must make another DC 15 Will save to continue to act. If it fails, it becomes Nauseated and must flee the area. A Vampire may make a full-round move action while Nauseated from garlic, but may take no other action that is not related to escaping; it may attack a creature that is blocking its path, but not one that would simply provoke an attack of opportunity; it may cast a spell to teleport or increase its speed, but not for a purpose unrelated to escape.
After failing a will save, the vampire does not get another one. At the start of each turn after a failed save, the vampire takes 2d4 Strength damage if it is still in the influence of garlic.
A vampire cannot use its Blood Drain on a personw earing or slathered with sufficient garlic, but the amount of garlic required has a stench easily noticed within 15 feet and detectable with a DC 10 Wisdom check at 30 feet. Animals and creatures with the Scent ability can detect this at a range equal to normal vision.
Garlic is an Injury Poison to these vampires, DC 15, initial and secondary damage equal to 2d4 Strength. Sufficient garlic to coat a weapon is detectible as with a person wearting garlic.

Holy symbol- Some vampires recoil from a mirror or a strongly presented holy symbol. These things don’t harm the vampire—they merely keep it at bay. A recoiling vampire must stay at least 10 feet away from a creature holding the holy symbol and cannot touch or make melee attacks against the creature holding the item for the rest of the encounter. Holding a vampire at bay takes a standard action.
A Vampire gets a Will save to ignore the effects of the holy symbol; this is equal to 10 + the Divine Caster level, if any, of the creature weilding it. Only creatures who draw their divine power from a non-evil deity or a cause get this bonus; Druids and Rangers who draw from Nature do not. Roll this any time the vampire attempts to enter the warded area or starts a turn in the warded area.
If a vampire fails its save, it must recoil back to the 10 foot distance. If it is unable to do so, it takes 2d6 Radiant damage. After failing a save within the warded area, the vampire may not make another one until it has moved back, but once 10 feet or more away it may resume making thse checks.

Running Water - Some vampires are also unable to cross running water, although they can be carried over it while resting in their coffins or aboard a ship. The vampire treats running water as a Wall of Force extending 100 feet up, save that it cannot be dispelled or destoryed. Immersing a vampire in running water robs it of one-third of its hit points each round until it is destroyed at the end of the third round of immersion. A vampire destroyed in this way is destroyed permanently.

Invitational- Some vampires are utterly unable to enter a home or other building unless invited in by someone with the authority to do so. They may freely enter public places, since these are by definition open to all. The vampire treats all enterances to private buildings as if sealed by a Wall of Force, save that it cannot be dispelled or destroyed. This effect goes away for a given buolding the first time the vampire is invited in and remains waived from that building indefinitely. A person with authority telling the vampire to get out has no immediate effect, but once out the vampire needs new permission to enter.
Abandoned buildings are considered resided in by anyone other than the vampire's allies who has entered them before the vampire.
A vampire may always enter buildings if their allies or spawn have authority to enter them. Invitation to a vampire extends to their spawn and vice-versa.

Silver- Some vampires have a special weakness to silver. Silver bypasses any DR they have, and any bonus to armor class they get from spells or spell-like-abilities used on them does not apply against attacks from silver weapons.

Tomb-Bound - Some vampires need a special place to sleep, usually a coffin. A Tomb-Bound vampire who sleeps somwhere other than their own personal coffin (or other choice of resting place) is penalized as if they had slept in heavy armor. A vampire may prepare a new coffin (or other resting arrangement) as their new tomb, replacing the old one, by spending 4 hours attuning to it, which requires them to be awake and focused on this task, though they can spend this time making modifications to the coffin. Most vampires demand a certain amount of luxury out of their coffin or tomb and many Tomb-Bound vampires do not travel due to the need to transport it.
Many vampires who are not Tomb-Bound still prefer to sleep in a coffin; drama aside, coffins do not let sunlight in and can be upgraded with many helpful features such as traps, fortification, or locking from the inside.

Vampire Characters

Vampires are always evil at first, which causes characters of certain classes to lose some class abilities. In addition, certain classes take additional penalties.

Clerics
-Vampire clerics lose their ability to turn undead but gain the ability to rebuke undead. This ability does not affect the vampire’s controller or any other vampires that a master controls. A vampire cleric has access to two of the following domains: Chaos, Destruction, Evil, or Trickery.

Sorcerers and Wizards
-Vampire sorcerers and wizards retain their class abilities, but if a character has a familiar other than a rat or bat, the link between them is broken, and the familiar shuns its former companion. The character can summon another familiar, but it must be a rat or bat.
*Non-standard familiars and improved familiars may stay with the character at GM discretion, if such a creature would presumably associate with the undead.

[blackwindbears]

I appreciate what you're trying to do, but you really should just apply the regular +cr rather than ECL. LA is really bad for PC's. LA exists to control what abilities the party has access to. Unless it's the NPCs that you will be running through a dungeon LA has no relevance for you. If you want the combat power of the group to be equal to the PC's use CR.

Keep in mind if the combat power of the NPC's is equal to the party, then the party has a 50/50 chance of winning. That's an overwhelming encounter. For a hard encounter you will want the CR of the NPC's to be the average party level - 1.

[blackwindbears]

This seems really strong for LA +2.

Fast healing is not generally that easily obtainable for PC's.
Infinite spam of summons seems strong.
Access to dominate person comes early.
At will fly!
Improved initiative as a bonus feat.
A host of really good ability score increases.

Nothing else in the monster manual gives out that much for LA of +2. The problem is that you're trying to make the LA system work for NPC's. You can safely give this or the Full Vampire template to your NPC at +2.



Alright, here is what I came up with to try and get these bad boys down to LA+2.

I removed some stuff, lowered some abilities like DR, fast healing, and Natural Armor, got rid of one of the stat boosts.

I took the Dominate ability down to 3/day and made it level dependent.

Got rid of some of the more random abilities.

Got rid of Energy Drain altogether, Spawn are now created with Blood Drain.

Got rid of the Slam attack in favor of a crappy Bite.

Added weaknesses concerning direct sunlight, a need to feed, a vital organ, and a need to sleep.

Took the assorted weaknesses and made it so you pick one, helping to customize your vamp.

I took away the ability to create other vampires; these can only create Vampire Spawn. I know I'd need to modify the Spawn these create, but that can wait.

Let me know if you guys think this works as LA+2

----------
A vampire uses all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here.

Alignment
-The creature becomes Evil upon becoming a vampire. As a free-willed creature, its alignment may change over time, but few vampires are motivated to do this.

Size and Type
-The creature’s type changes to undead (augmented humanoid or monstrous humanoid). Do not recalculate base attack bonus, saves, or skill points. Size is unchanged.

Hit Dice
-Increase all current and future Hit Dice to d12s.

Speed
-Same as the base creature. If the base creature has a swim speed, the vampire retains the ability to swim and is not vulnerable to immersion in running water (see below).

Armor Class
-The base creature’s natural armor bonus improves by +4.

Bonus HP
-A vampire gains bonus HP per Hit Die based on it size as shown below:
Fine 0
Diminutive 0
Tiny 1
Small 2
Medium 3
Large 4
Huge 6
Gargantuan 10
Colossal 14

Attack
-A vampire retains all the attacks of the base creature and also gains a special bite attack if it didn’t already have one. If the base creature can use weapons, the vampire retains this ability. A creature with natural weapons retains those natural weapons. A vampire fighting without weapons uses either its slam attack or its primary natural weapon (if it has any). A vampire armed with a weapon uses its slam or a weapon, as it desires.
-Bite damage is equal to the Unarmed Strike, based on the creature's size.
-Improved Grab; a vampire who makes a successful bite attack may make a free Grapple check without provoking an attack of opportunity.

Full Attack
-A vampire armed with a weapon usually uses the weapon as its primary attack along with a slam or other natural weapon as a natural secondary attack. Vampires without natural attacks usually do not fight without weapons. The vampire usually does not rely on its bite to defend itself.

Skills-
-A vampire gets +10 to Disguise and Bluff checks to appear as a living creature of the race they were before.

Special Attacks
-A vampire retains all the special attacks of the base creature and gains those described below. Saves have a DC of 10 + ½ vampire’s HD + vampire’s Cha modifier unless noted otherwise.

Blood Drain (Ex)
-A vampire can suck blood from a living victim with its fangs by making a successful grapple check. If it pins the foe, it drains blood, dealing 1d4 points of Constitution drain each round the pin is maintained. On each such successful attack, the vampire gains 5 temporary hit points.

Children of the Night (Su)
-Vampires command the lesser creatures of the world and once per day can call forth 1d4+1 rat swarms, 1d3+1 bat swarms, or a pack of 2d6 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.

Dominate (Su)
-A vampire can crush an opponent’s will just by looking onto his or her eyes. This is similar to a gaze attack, except that the vampire must use a standard action, and those merely looking at it are not affected. Anyone the vampire targets must succeed on a Will save or fall instantly under the vampire’s influence as though by a dominate person spell (caster level = vampire's HD). The ability has a range of 30 feet. The vampire may use this ability 3/day.

Create Spawn (Su)
-A humanoid or monstrous humanoid slain by a vampire’s blood drain rises as a vampire spawn 1d4 days after death.

-The new vampire or spawn is under the command of the vampire that created it and remains enslaved until its master’s destruction. At any given time a vampire may have enslaved spawn totaling no more than twice its own Hit Dice; any spawn it creates that would exceed this limit are created as free-willed vampires or vampire spawn. A vampire that is enslaved may create and enslave spawn of its own, so a master vampire can control a number of lesser vampires in this fashion. A vampire may voluntarily free an enslaved spawn in order to enslave a new spawn, but once freed, a vampire or vampire spawn cannot be enslaved again.
-Vampire Spawn have the same weakness as the vampire that created them (see below).
-Anything that would destroy or incapacitate a helpless vampire prevents a corpse from returning as a spawn.

Special Qualities
-A vampire retains all the special qualities of the base creature and gains those described below.

Alternate Form (Su) - Animal
-A vampire can assume the shape of a bat, dire bat, wolf, or dire wolf as a standard action. While in its alternate form, the vampire loses its natural slam attack and dominate ability, but it gains the natural weapons and extraordinary special attacks of its new form. It can remain in that form until it assumes another or until the next sunrise. (If the base creature is not terrestrial, this power might allow other forms.)

Alternate Form (Su) - Mist
As a standard action, a vampire can assume gaseous form at will as the spell (caster level = 1/2 HD), but it can remain gaseous indefinitely and has a fly speed of 20 feet with perfect maneuverability.

Damage Reduction (Su)
-A vampire has damage reduction 5/magic. A vampire’s natural weapons are treated as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

Fast Healing (Ex)
A vampire heals 2 points of damage each round so long as it has at least 1 hit point. If reduced to 0 hit points in combat, it may automatically assume an Alternate Form and attempt to escape. It must reach a safe resting place within 1 hour or be utterly destroyed. Any additional damage dealt to a vampire forced into gaseous form has no effect, other than damage from sunlight. Once at rest, a vampire is helpless. It regains 1 hit point after 1 hour, then is no longer helpless and resumes healing at the rate of 2 hit points per round.

Slaying a Vampire
-Reducing a vampire’s hit points to 0 or lower incapacitates it but doesn’t always destroy it (see the note on fast healing). However, certain attacks can slay vampires. Exposing any vampire to direct sunlight disorients it: It can take only a single move action or attack action and is destroyed utterly in the next round if it cannot escape. Driving a wooden stake through a vampire’s heart instantly slays the monster. However, it returns to life if the stake is removed, unless the body is destroyed. A popular tactic is to cut off the creature’s head and fill its mouth with holy wafers (or their equivalent).

Resistances (Ex)
-A vampire has resistance to cold 10 and electricity 10.

Spider Climb (Ex)
-A vampire can climb sheer surfaces as though with a spider climb spell.

Turn Resistance (Ex)
-A vampire has +4 turn resistance.

Abilities
-Increase from the base creature as follows: Str +6, Dex +4, Wis +2, Cha +4. As an undead creature, a vampire has no Constitution score.

Skills
-Vampires have a +8 racial bonus on Bluff, Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Search, Sense Motive, and Spot checks. Otherwise same as the base creature.

Feats
-Vampires gain Alertness, Improved Initiative, and Lightning Reflexes, assuming the base creature meets the prerequisites and doesn’t already have these feats.

Environment
-Any, usually same as base creature.

Challenge Rating
Same as the base creature +1.

Level Adjustment
-Same as the base creature +2.



Vampire Weaknesses
-For all their power, vampires have a number of weaknesses.

Sunlight - Vampires take damage from direct sunlight. The damage is based on their size and inflicted each turn in which the vampire starts in direct sunlight. The damage is considered Radiant damage.
VAMPIRE DAMAGE-PER-TURN FROM SUNLIGHT
Fine 1
Diminutive 1d2
Tiny 1d3
Small 1d4
Medium 1d6
Large 1d8
Huge 2d6
Gargantuan 2d8
Colossal 4d6

Blood Dependent - Vampires do not need ait or water, but unlike most undead, they do have to feed, and they do so using their Blood Drain ability. Draining 1 point of Constitution from a humanoid, monstrous humanoid, giant, dragon, or fey, or 3 points of constitution from an animal or magical beast, is equivalent of a humanoid eating normal rations. Vampires who fail to keep up an equivalent rate of feeding enter a state similar to Starvation, called Blood Starvation.
Blood Starvation is similar to normal Starvation, with the following differences. Damage dealt from Blood Starvation is lethal. The check rolled against Blood Starvation is Wisdom, and the DC is increased by the vampire's Strength bonus. Vampires reduced to 0 HP by Blood Starvation go into a topor in which they are helpless, unable to act, and almost fully unaware. The smell of blood (detected automatically within 30 feet) allows the vampire to awaken for 2d4 hours with its Strength and Dexterity at half its normal level, rounded down. Feeding takes them out of Blood Starvation and allows them to begin recovering from ability damage at a normal rate.
Vampires suffering from Blood Starvation do not have their Fast healing ability.

Sleep - Vampires must sleep as much as Humans, even if they were not Human before becoming a vampire. Vampires do not need any special accomodations such as a tent or bedroll to get a full night's rest, and they may sleep in their animal form. Vampires, of course, must be careful not to sleep somewhere that the rising sun will find them. A sleeping vampire takes +10 to the DC of any check to be woken up by noise, taking damage, or other stimulus, and will only wake up naturall after 8 hours.

Vital Heart - In general, vampires are immune to critical hits. A critical hit from a piercing weapon, however, has a 25% chance of hitting their warm, beating heart. This does damage as per a normal critical hit, and a Vampire whose heart is struck is Stunned untiul the start of their next turn.
A Coup de Grace from someone who knows where to aim will always hit the vampire's heart so long as they are using a weapon capable of doing piercing damage.

No Reflection - A Vampire can be somewhat easily identified by the fact that they cast no reflection.

In addition, the vampire must pick from one of the following weaknesses:

Garlic- Some vampires cannot tolerate the strong odor of garlic and will not enter an area laced with it. A vampire must make a DC 20 Will save to enter such an area. At the beginning of each round in the area, the vampire must make another DC 15 Will save to continue to act. If it fails, it becomes Nauseated and must flee the area. A Vampire may make a full-round move action while Nauseated from garlic, but may take no other action that is not related to escaping; it may attack a creature that is blocking its path, but not one that would simply provoke an attack of opportunity; it may cast a spell to teleport or increase its speed, but not for a purpose unrelated to escape.
After failing a will save, the vampire does not get another one. At the start of each turn after a failed save, the vampire takes 2d4 Strength damage if it is still in the influence of garlic.
A vampire cannot use its Blood Drain on a personw earing or slathered with sufficient garlic, but the amount of garlic required has a stench easily noticed within 15 feet and detectable with a DC 10 Wisdom check at 30 feet. Animals and creatures with the Scent ability can detect this at a range equal to normal vision.
Garlic is an Injury Poison to these vampires, DC 15, initial and secondary damage equal to 2d4 Strength. Sufficient garlic to coat a weapon is detectible as with a person wearting garlic.

Holy symbol- Some vampires recoil from a mirror or a strongly presented holy symbol. These things don’t harm the vampire—they merely keep it at bay. A recoiling vampire must stay at least 10 feet away from a creature holding the holy symbol and cannot touch or make melee attacks against the creature holding the item for the rest of the encounter. Holding a vampire at bay takes a standard action.
A Vampire gets a Will save to ignore the effects of the holy symbol; this is equal to 10 + the Divine Caster level, if any, of the creature weilding it. Only creatures who draw their divine power from a non-evil deity or a cause get this bonus; Druids and Rangers who draw from Nature do not. Roll this any time the vampire attempts to enter the warded area or starts a turn in the warded area.
If a vampire fails its save, it must recoil back to the 10 foot distance. If it is unable to do so, it takes 2d6 Radiant damage. After failing a save within the warded area, the vampire may not make another one until it has moved back, but once 10 feet or more away it may resume making thse checks.

Running Water - Some vampires are also unable to cross running water, although they can be carried over it while resting in their coffins or aboard a ship. The vampire treats running water as a Wall of Force extending 100 feet up, save that it cannot be dispelled or destoryed. Immersing a vampire in running water robs it of one-third of its hit points each round until it is destroyed at the end of the third round of immersion. A vampire destroyed in this way is destroyed permanently.

Invitational- Some vampires are utterly unable to enter a home or other building unless invited in by someone with the authority to do so. They may freely enter public places, since these are by definition open to all. The vampire treats all enterances to private buildings as if sealed by a Wall of Force, save that it cannot be dispelled or destroyed. This effect goes away for a given buolding the first time the vampire is invited in and remains waived from that building indefinitely. A person with authority telling the vampire to get out has no immediate effect, but once out the vampire needs new permission to enter.
Abandoned buildings are considered resided in by anyone other than the vampire's allies who has entered them before the vampire.
A vampire may always enter buildings if their allies or spawn have authority to enter them. Invitation to a vampire extends to their spawn and vice-versa.

Silver- Some vampires have a special weakness to silver. Silver bypasses any DR they have, and any bonus to armor class they get from spells or spell-like-abilities used on them does not apply against attacks from silver weapons.

Tomb-Bound - Some vampires need a special place to sleep, usually a coffin. A Tomb-Bound vampire who sleeps somwhere other than their own personal coffin (or other choice of resting place) is penalized as if they had slept in heavy armor. A vampire may prepare a new coffin (or other resting arrangement) as their new tomb, replacing the old one, by spending 4 hours attuning to it, which requires them to be awake and focused on this task, though they can spend this time making modifications to the coffin. Most vampires demand a certain amount of luxury out of their coffin or tomb and many Tomb-Bound vampires do not travel due to the need to transport it.
Many vampires who are not Tomb-Bound still prefer to sleep in a coffin; drama aside, coffins do not let sunlight in and can be upgraded with many helpful features such as traps, fortification, or locking from the inside.

Vampire Characters

Vampires are always evil at first, which causes characters of certain classes to lose some class abilities. In addition, certain classes take additional penalties.

Clerics
-Vampire clerics lose their ability to turn undead but gain the ability to rebuke undead. This ability does not affect the vampire’s controller or any other vampires that a master controls. A vampire cleric has access to two of the following domains: Chaos, Destruction, Evil, or Trickery.

Sorcerers and Wizards
-Vampire sorcerers and wizards retain their class abilities, but if a character has a familiar other than a rat or bat, the link between them is broken, and the familiar shuns its former companion. The character can summon another familiar, but it must be a rat or bat.
*Non-standard familiars and improved familiars may stay with the character at GM discretion, if such a creature would presumably associate with the undead.

[The Viscount]

You might get some use out of Libris Mortis's Hooded Pupil template.

Or if this is a creature with class levels, the Night Mask Deathbringer is all about gaining quasi-vampiric powers.

[KillianHawkeye]

If you really want to go this route, at least compare to the Half-Vampire template (which I believe is also LA +2).

[ShurikVch]

Kingdoms of Kalamar have Sharjani - living "pseudo-vampires"
So, Lesser Sharjan have LA +2, and adds to base creature:
bigger HD
+5 natural AC
Bite attack
Improved Grab
Blood Rage - +4 Str, +4 to initiative, and bite damage doubled
Create Spawn - victim drained of hp must make Fort save or turn into Least Sharjan
Narsharjani Affliction - bite attack have 20% chance (+5% for every next bite) to force victim to make a Fort save or be transformed into Rhajghan (pseudo-ghoul) servant
Darkvision 60'
Scent
Fast healing 1
Immune to sleep, poison, paralysis, and mind-affecting spells (except from Greater Sharjan or Sharjan Lord)
Vulnerability to Sunlight - loses fast healing and any bonuses to initiative, suffer -1 penalty to attack and initiative, and lose 1 hp/round
Vulnerability to Water - lose ⅓ of hp per round of contact with running water (and after three rounds is permanently dead); holy water inflicts 1d6 damage
+2 Str and Con
+4 Fort and Will
Slap Necropolitan on top of it - and you will get your "Lesser Vampire"

[Bartmanhomer]

I'm thinking of playing a Lesser Vampire. And Half-Vampire will work perfectly.

[Yogibear41]

Half-Vampire + Necropolitan.