4e- The Return of Half-Vampires

[Asbestos]

Can be found here (sorry non-DDI people)

Really, the only reason I put this up is because of the whole 'bloodline feat' thing. Looks like how one might add racial templates (half-vamp, half-dragon, etc) to their characters in 4e. Basically you take a bloodline feat, which the article highly suggests you do at 1st level and don't retrain, lest you have to explain to your DM how you 'unlocked' or 'lost' your racial powers, and gain some minor bonus and a new racial power. You then gain access to bloodline specific feats and power swap feats so you can continue to 'unlock' the power of your heritage. Reminds me of the bloodline stuff from Savage Species. The epic feat here is a little nuts seeming to me... you gain combat advantage against any bloodied living creature. Counting as a vampire for effects might be more of a hindrance than I'm considering though.

Anyway, the current article is kind of cool if you want to have a Vampire-like PC in 4e, they even have 2 paragon paths to choose from. Can't figure out why they went with a name like dhampyr. I keep wanting to pronounce it 'damper' or 'hamper' or 'hampire'.

"*gasp!* Its a hampire!"

[JaxGaret]

The epic feat here is a little nuts seeming to me... you gain combat advantage against any bloodied living creature.

That sounds sweet, but Epic feats in general are pretty useful.

Can't figure out why they went with a name like dhampyr. I keep wanting to pronounce it 'damper' or 'hamper' or 'hampire'.

"*gasp!* Its a hampire!"

That's the traditional word for half-vampire.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhampir

[Asbestos]

That's the traditional word for half-vampire.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhampir

For reals? Wow.
Edit: Just read the Wiki article... as someone of Balkan descent dating a girl of some Romani descent... I feel shamed for not knowing this.

The initial Dhampyr racial ability is of dubious use... its a standard action that consists of an attack against a target's fortitude defense, does a small amount of damage and lets the character spend a healing surge. In order to use the power though, you need to have the target grabbed. Basically the power requires a two standard actions and two attack rolls, not sure how useful that is... at paragon though you can take a feat that lets you not need to have the combat grabbed (and you still have CA against it, as if it were grabbed.)

Edit: Just noticed that the Bloodknight PP helps out a lot with the grab requirement/action burn. The need to have one hand free though... you'd either need quickdraw or use a versatile weapon as a two-hander... or be a swordmage.