A playable, non-undead, urban fantasy-style vampire. How to dole out features?

[Jeivar]

I got the crazy idea to go the urban fantasy route and design a playable vampire race that is simply a human subspecies rather than an undead horror.

They would tend to live as a minority in larger human communities, for the sake of blood supply. And when living openly their culture would make a big deal out of seeming non-threatening and alluring for the sake of avoiding pogroms and convincing humans to accept little nibbles... and tend to cull relatives who draw too much negative attention.

Feature-wise, I feel I need to at least give them Darkvision, +2 Charisma, and proficiency in Stealth and Persuasion.

When it comes to biting, their fangs would be too small and dainty to do actual physical damage beyond blood loss, but I think it would be a neat and fitting feature to have a bitten humanoid (helpless, grappled or unresisting) have to roll against being Charmed.

But I'm not sure what to do about the thirst itself. I want to give them a dependency as a defining feature, without making it too crippling or the feeding too overpowered. Still, I want them to be able to gain some benefit from feeding while sated.

A daily roll against Constitution loss, which can only be healed by draining Con points from humanoids? Gaining a hit point with each Con point you take, allowing one to gorge on a defeated enemy?

I'm not the most savvy when it comes to the D&D5 system. Is there a good guide online about how to measure out features for a player race? The more classic vampire features I can fit into this thing, the better.

[aimlessPolymath]

You could look into the existing Vampire race, from the Ixalan supplement (https://media.wizards.com/2018/downloads/magic/plane-shift_ixalan.pdf).

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.

Since you don't have undead vampires, you can swap out the necrotic resistance for something else (speak with a specific type of animal? maybe proficiencies?), and include a note that if the vampire does not eat at least once per day, they begin to starve as usual.

[MagneticKitty]

I made a half vampire race that might fit. Ill post it if I can find it

[LibraryOgre]

So, ok, let's run them as a Variant Tiefling. Call them a human subspecies, but I think Tiefling is a good chasis for this

+2 Charisma, +1 Int
Darkvision
Resistance to Necrotic Damage
At 1st level, have a bite attack which inflicts necrotic damage equal to the Charisma Modifier (minimum 1). They gain temporary hit points equal to the Necrotic Damage.
At 3rd level, their bite inflicts Disadvantage on Charm saves. They also gain the Charm person power 1/long rest.
At 5th level, their bite can heal them or provide temporary hit points. They also gain the Suggestion power 1/long rest.

Now, to balance these nice abilities, they take 1 cumulative necrotic damage for each day they don't consume at least Constitution Modifier hit points in necrotic damage (minimum 1). So, a frail vampire needs only eat a little, while a hearty one needs to eat a lot. 1 day without feeding, they don't take any Necrotic damage (1 point, halved, is not a point). 2 days without feeding, they're at 1+1 or 2 points, which is cut to 1. Then 3 points, cut to 1. Then 4 points, cut to 2.

They can survive for quite a while without feeding this way.... but the hunger will gnaw at them.

[UnfavorableWit]

personally when i heard non undead vampire for some reason my mind drifted to some sort of shaman or akin that falls into "vampire like" trances that people confuse for being a vampire, like a berserker sort of fellow that drinks the blood of his foes to maintain his rage.

[LibraryOgre]

personally when i heard non undead vampire for some reason my mind drifted to some sort of shaman or akin that falls into "vampire like" trances that people confuse for being a vampire, like a berserker sort of fellow that drinks the blood of his foes to maintain his rage.

My first thought was My Best Friend is a Vampire. (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095684/).. then the Taylari from Apocalypse Prevention Inc. (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/150480/Apocalypse-Prevention-Inc-2nd-Edition?affiliate_id=315505)

[Jeivar]

My biggest inspiration is probably the Ina from Octavia Butler's Fledgling.

But getting back to one of my question: Is there a point-by guide I could use for determining the value of traits as the game makers see it?

[sandmote]

But getting back to one of my question: Is there a point-by guide I could use for determining the value of traits as the game makers see it?

Nope!

This one exists though, (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vq1kz6PRAbw5LHy6amH-bNb4OuB8DBXL1RsZROt03Sc/edit#gid=0) and I've found it common enough on the forums to discuss.

[LibraryOgre]

My biggest inspiration is probably the Ina from Octavia Butler's Fledgling.

But getting back to one of my question: Is there a point-by guide I could use for determining the value of traits as the game makers see it?

I tend to benchmark a lot, which is why I went with the Tiefling; it gave me some tools to work with, and places to swap out. Match spell levels and it's an easier task.

[Wrath Of Grapes]

This seems to be a good enough starting point for a (non-undead) vampire race:

Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2.
Physical Enhancement. Your choice of score from either Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution increase by 1.

Darkvision 60'
speed 30'
Vampire's bite:Make a bite attack against either a willing creature, a creature that is charmed or grappled by you, or a creature that is incapacitated or restrained. You can use your Strength or Dexterity for your bite's attack roll. On a hit, your bite deals necrotic damage equal to 1d6. You may also choose to gain temporary hit points equal to the amount of necrotic damage dealt with this attack. You may gain temporary hit points from this trait a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus. Any expended uses of this feature are restored after a long rest.
Vampiric Gaze: You can cast the charm person spell once using this trait. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for this spell. You require no components to cast this spell using this trait, but your target must be able to see you. You regain the ability to cast this spell when you finish a short or long rest.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Common and one other language of your choice.
Blood dependent: you do not gain sustenance from standard fare, you can eat it but it won't sustain you. You can go without feeding for a significant amount of time but your craving for blood causes you pain and suffering and interferes with natural healing. Every day you do not feed on blood you lose one hit die, this makes it harder to benefit from rest. Once you have no more hit dice you start starving,causing you one level of exhaustion per day. You do not benefit from temporary hit points through feeding while starving but instead regain hit dice by feeding, you recover 1 level of exhaustion or a single Hit die for every 1d6 worth of feeding.
Stalker: You gain proficiency in perception and stealth skills