Ravnican Vampire

[zinycor]

So I am going to start a new campaign at Ravnica and the Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica book doesn't include a Vampire race. Now, Ravnican vampires don't have any weakness to sunlight, but also don't have the more incredible powers.

Ravnican Vampire

Ability Score Increase. Charisma increases by 1 and two other different ability scores increase by 1
Age. Ravnican Vampires get to unlive for as long as they get to continue to feed on blood. Their appearance remains the same as the moment they got turned.
Size. Your size depends on whatever race your character was before you turned into a Vampire
Speed. Your base movement speed is 30 feet.
Undead Abomination. Your creature type is undead, rather than humanoid.
Darkvision. 120 feet
Hematophagous. As a Ravnican Vampires you get your life sustenance only from blood. you are able to eat and drink other food, however only blood can sustain your existence. Your body decomposes after a week without drinking blood.
Humanoid Hunter. You gain proficiency on one of the following skills: Stealth, Deception, Intimidation.
Bite. Your fanged maw is a natural weapon, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with it, you deal Necrotic damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike. You also gain temporary hit points equal to half the damage dealt by the Bite (A minimum of one)
Languages. You speak common and another language of your choice.



EDIT: Added a +1 to charisma, and moved the amount of temporary HP gained from the bite from Charisma Modifier to half of damage Dealt by bite. Changed Darkvision into 120 feet.
EDIT: What about Some Spellcasting? Would that be OK?

[furby076]

Any weaknesses? Any special powers? So far, its kind of weak. Having to drain victims of blood, on a daily basis, is a huge drawback to those weak gains. Society frowns when you try to turn them to nothing more than cattle.

To answer your question, yes on the +charisma. It's a hallmark of vampires.

Also, do you want all vampires to get speed 30? What if the original race had more than 30 speed? If the original race had darkvision, does the vampire get better dark vision? Again, if the answers to these two things are "nah"...then this condition sucks even more

[zinycor]

Any weaknesses? Any special powers? So far, its kind of weak. Having to drain victims of blood, on a daily basis, is a huge drawback to those weak gains. Society frowns when you try to turn them to nothing more than cattle.

To answer your question, yes on the +charisma. It's a hallmark of vampires.


A few things:
1- The character doesn't actually need to drain humanoid victims, they could feed on animals if they wished, even though that would be lame xD
2- Society on ravnica doesn't really frown on vampires.


Also, do you want all vampires to get speed 30? What if the original race had more than 30 speed? If the original race had darkvision, does the vampire get better dark vision? Again, if the answers to these two things are "nah"...then this condition sucks even more
Nah.

....

Having said that I will make changes.

[Garfunion]

Plane Shift Zendikar has a playable vampire. And because Zendikar is a MTG setting, it maybe a more appropriate version.

https://media.wizards.com/2016/downloads/magic/Plane%20Shift%20Zendikar.pdf

[zinycor]

Plane Shift Zendikar has a playable vampire. And because Zendikar is a MTG setting, it maybe a more appropriate version.

https://media.wizards.com/2016/downloads/magic/Plane%20Shift%20Zendikar.pdf

I saw it, I found it pretty lame.

EDIT: What about Some Spellcasting? Would that be OK?

[Garfunion]

I saw it, I found it pretty lame.

EDIT: What about Some Spellcasting? Would that be OK?

You could alway copy/edit the Drow race. They are pretty close to vampires.

[zinycor]

You could alway copy/edit the Drow race. They are pretty close to vampires.

Will consider it.

[Garfunion]

Some issues I have with most vampire race/templates;
•Blood dependence is not fun unless all the players are vampires.
•I believe that becoming a vampire alters the race to much, for the race to retain its racial features, except for size and appearance.
•Playable vampires should not be undead unless the group are all vampires and the campaign is designed for it.
•All playable characters are proficient in unarmed strike, which means you do not need to give them a special bite attack other than piercing damage instead of bludgeoning damage.

[zinycor]

Some issues I have with most vampire race/templates;
•Blood dependence is not fun unless all the players are vampires.

Ravnica is a plane-city getting access to blood should be easy, even for good aligned vampires, which aren't that rare


•I believe that becoming a vampire alters the race to much, for the race to retain its racial features, except for size and appearance.
Am not making a template, just a race.



•Playable vampires should not be undead unless the group are all vampires and the campaign is designed for it.
Any reason for this?


•All playable characters are proficient in unarmed strike, which means you do not need to give them a special bite attack other than piercing damage instead of bludgeoning damage.

I agree with this. that's why I gave it necrotic damage and a magic effect over it.

[Garfunion]

Any reason for this?
Healing spells and a cleric’s turn undead.

[zinycor]

Healing spells and a cleric’s turn undead.

Seems like an easy fix

[Fable Wright]

So, there are three kinds of vampire in Ravnica, and you can make subraces for those.

There are the Moroii, who drain youth and memories, and are primarily operatives of Dimir.
There are Orzhovian vampires, who are mid-ranking members who have been granted immortality, but one that still ties them to the needs of the living—and thus forever in need of blood, which allows coin to flow into the Obzedat's coffers.
Then there are the guildless vampires—strange, skeletal creatures shunned by civilized society and who hold unusual powers, and are obviously monstrous.

My recommendation would simply have the first and the second be backgrounds, rather than a race, and the latter are the vampire stat block monsters. After all, in theory, any race could become a vampire... and it makes no sense for them to lose their racial mechanics for it.

[SVamp]

- I’d add/change dark vision so you can see perfectly as if it were bright light up to 60 ft.

- I’d add +2 to cha

- the bite I’d add +con modifier to it, make it a bonus action vs willing/grappled/paralyzed/etc enemies, and be enough to satiate your hunger for period X. It should first heal you, then grant temp HP if you are fully healed.

- once per long rest misty step reflaoured as a cloud of mist or cloud of bats, etc

- complete inability to use any radiant damage: any spell or ability used that deals radiant damage fizzles and does not work due to your undead nature. Can’t use any object or weapon that deals radiant damage.

Might want to add vampiric racial feat(s), f,ex stuff that grants claw attacks and changes the die of the bite attack to a scaling die, and/or grants advantage on grapple checks vs humanoid targets.

[Garfunion]

Seems like an easy fix

So you are going to add additional mechanics to circumvent the healing problem, when all you need to do is not make them undead.

I like to look at vampires that are in the monster manual as, vampires who have completely lost their connection with “humanity”. While playable vampires still hold on to some of their “humanity”.

[Sception]

Vampirs not something you start as in Ravnica, it's something that higher ranking members of the Dimir or Orzhov can earn as a reward. As such, I wouldn't stat them up as a race, but rather as a Boon that mid+ level characters in those guilds can access once they've reached a particular rank, as a reward for bringing in eniugh of the resources those guilds value - secrets for the Dimir, debts & debtors' souls for the Orzhov.

Could/should probably come up with boons of similar value for members of the other guilds while you're at it. Maybe a similarly streamlined version of revenany or lichdom for Golgari, symbiotic daemonic possession for Rakdos, etc.

[rmnimoc]

Plane Shift Zendikar has a playable vampire. And because Zendikar is a MTG setting, it maybe a more appropriate version.

https://media.wizards.com/2016/downloads/magic/Plane%20Shift%20Zendikar.pdf

If you're going to use a vampire from magic the gathering, use Ixalan, not Zendikar. The vampires in Plane Shift: Zendikar were half-finished at best and clearly meant for NPCs only.

Here's the stat block for Ixalan's vampires:

Your vampire character has the following traits.

Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2, and your Wisdom score increases by 1.

Age. Vampires don’t mature and age in the same way that other races do.

Alignment. Vampires might not have an innate tendency toward evil, but many of them end up there. Evil or not, their strict hierarchies incline them toward a lawful alignment.

Size. Vampires are the same size and build as humans. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Darkvision. Thanks to your heritage, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Vampiric Resistance. You have resistance to necrotic damage.

Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common (if it exists in your campaign) and Vampire.

Bloodthirst. You can drain blood and life energy from a willing creature, or one that is grappled by you, incapacitated, or restrained.
Make a melee attack against the target. If you hit, you deal 1 piercing damage and 1d6 necrotic damage. The target’s hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the necrotic damage taken, and you regain hit points equal to that amount. The reduction lasts until the target finishes a long rest. The target dies if this effect reduces its hit point maximum to 0.

Feast of Blood. When you drain blood with your Bloodthirst ability, you experience a surge of vitality. Your speed increases by 10 feet, and you gain advantage on Strength and Dexterity checks and saving throws for 1 minute.


They've also got a vampire-specific feat:
Vampiric Exultation
Prerequisite: Vampire (Ixalan)
As an action, you can transform the lower half of your body into an inky black vapor, allowing you to float through the air. While transformed, you have a flying speed of 30 feet. You can maintain this form for up to 10
minutes. Once you use this ability, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

I've run the race at my tables a few times and I haven't seen any issues as far as balance goes, though if you're keeping flight from low level players you might want to add a minimum level to the prereqs for Vampiric Exultation.

[ShikomeKidoMi]

Hm... With the tendency towards Law and Evil, those vampires wouldn't even require any fluff reworking to fit right in with the Dimir or Orzhov.

[GreyBlack]

So I am going to start a new campaign at Ravnica and the Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica book doesn't include a Vampire race. Now, Ravnican vampires don't have any weakness to sunlight, but also don't have the more incredible powers.

Ravnican Vampire

Ability Score Increase. Charisma increases by 1 and two other different ability scores increase by 1
Age. Ravnican Vampires get to unlive for as long as they get to continue to feed on blood. Their appearance remains the same as the moment they got turned.
Size. Your size depends on whatever race your character was before you turned into a Vampire
Speed. Your base movement speed is 30 feet.
Undead Abomination. Your creature type is undead, rather than humanoid.
Darkvision. 120 feet
Hematophagous. As a Ravnican Vampires you get your life sustenance only from blood. you are able to eat and drink other food, however only blood can sustain your existence. Your body decomposes after a week without drinking blood.
Humanoid Hunter. You gain proficiency on one of the following skills: Stealth, Deception, Intimidation.
Bite. Your fanged maw is a natural weapon, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with it, you deal Necrotic damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike. You also gain temporary hit points equal to half the damage dealt by the Bite (A minimum of one)
Languages. You speak common and another language of your choice.



EDIT: Added a +1 to charisma, and moved the amount of temporary HP gained from the bite from Charisma Modifier to half of damage Dealt by bite. Changed Darkvision into 120 feet.
EDIT: What about Some Spellcasting? Would that be OK?

Have you looked at the Planeshift supplemental published by WOTC?

https://media.wizards.com/2018/downloads/magic/plane-shift_ixalan.pdf

I'd suggest using the Vampire published here.

[Finback]

Cam here solely to recommend the Ixalan vampire, others have already beaten me to it.

[Bjarkmundur]

Two threads require two comments (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?581641-Vampire-Race-according-to-the-Monster-Manual&p=23725492#post23725492)!

Don't know what a Ravnican Vampire is, but I've learned that being a vampire usually leaves little time for adventuring. Most of the time you're busy doing vampire things. I also learned that trying to add ALL the things iconic to a vampire to PC race is just a hot mess. Vampires come with a lot of baggage, both mechanically and RP-wise. I'd rather opt for a half-vampire, which allows me to throw away some annoying and limiting traits in order to end up with something more reasonable. It's customization without making the players wonder "why is this vampire different from the other vampires"?

But I'm guessing this Ravnican Vampire isn't like the MM one?

[Finback]

Don't know what a Ravnican Vampire is



Ravnica is a plane from Magic: the Gathering, a sprawling world that is almost all city (or ruins of one) that we have seen. There are vampires, but instead of being things that hide away, in Ravnica, some come into positions of power through their allegiance to the guilds who run the city. Most we have seen were either connected to the Dimir (a secretive conclave of spies, assassins and covert agents) or the Orzhov (who run both the major banking organisations, AND one of the most prosperous religions in that world).

Most tend to be at least cogent, refined beings (although there are exceptions - there are "wild" vampires who revert to nearly feral, abomination-like entities (there is a card called Skeletal Vampire, which is exactly what you think it looks like)), some of which engage with high-society balls and functions.

[Sception]

But I'm guessing this Ravnican Vampire isn't like the MM one?

Vampires in Ravnica are faster (speed 40), stronger (high stats all round) and tougher (resistant to necrotic & non-magical weapons) than ther were as mortals, plus they can fly, and don't age. Most must subsist on blood, though thise of the Dimir can instead drain the thoughts and memories of their victims to sustain themselves. They lack some of the more outlandish abilities & weaknesses associated with vampires in other settings, though. No cloud form, no sunlight weakness, etc.