[3.5]Improved monster classes: adapting creatures for player use-taking requests!

[pffh]

That's great to hear! How many levels did he took just out of curiosity?

Also, buffed up the succubus and the mind flayer a little. Mind flayer can now use a little more his psionics plus better stats and the succubus got +1 Cha.

He took all four and a dmm enlarged minotaur cleric is scary.

[Oslecamo]

Looking over the Erinyes I had an odd thought. Who in popular media flies, is female and uses a magic rope/lasso as a signature ability before going in and beating up people?

I would be lying if I said I wasn't tempted to make the erinyes rope force entangled creatures to tell only the truth.

sigurd:You want diferent colors? I tought bolded was enough to make them stand out, but if you insist, further updates will be in shiny colors and bold.

Geiger Counter:I believe I did a good job of separating the erinyes and succubus here. One is deceiver who disguises and manipulates while unnoticed, the other is a dominatrix who imposes her will directly trough strenght and beauty.

Plus, notice D&D erinyes aren't exactly furies, but more like fallen angels, while the succubus are manifestations of the abyss's own corruption.


pffh:My work is worthy of making a cleric losing caster levels. I'm good.

[Oslecamo]

Angel (planetar/solar)

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HD:d8
{table]Level|Bab|Fort|Ref|Will|Feature
1|+ 0|+ 0|+0 | +2 |Celestial body, Celestial blood, Heaven miracle (Detect evil)
2|+1 |+ 0|+0 | +3 |Angel, Celestial skin, Continual flame
3|+ 1|+ 1|+ 1| +3 |Invisibility
4|+ 2|+ 1|+1 | +4 |Detect snares and pits, See invisibility, Wings
5|+ 2|+ 1|+ 1| +4 |Lesser Protective aura, regeneration
6|+ 3|+ 2|+2 | +5 |Discern lies, holy smite
7|+ 3|+ 2|+2 | + 5|Greater protective aura
8|+ 4|+ 2|+2 | +6 |Polymorph
9|+ 4|+ 3|+ 3| +6 |True seeing
10|+5 |+ 3|+3 | +7 |Growth of mind/body
11|+ 5| + 3|+ 3| +7 |Waves of fatigue
12|+ 6|+ 4|+4 | +8 |+1 Str, +1 Wis, +1 Cha
13|+ 6|+ 4|+4 | +8 |+1 Str, +1Wis, +1 Cha, greater teleport
14|+ 7|+ 4|+4 | +9 |Earthquake
15|+ 7|+5 |+ 5| +9 | Power word stun
16|+ 8|+ 5|+ 5| +10 |Mass charm monster
17|+8 |+ 5|+5 | +10| Prismatic spray, Power Word blind
18|+ 9|+ 6|+ 6| +11 |Power Word Kill, Waves of Exhaustion
19|+ 9|+ 6|+6 | +11 |Imprisonment
20|+ 10|+ 6|+6| +12 |Judgement arrows.
21|+ 11|+ 6|+6 | +12|Solar
22|+ 11|+7 |+ 7| +13|Permanency
23|+ 12|+ 7|+ 7| +13 |Wish
[/table]
Skills:2+int modifier per level, quadruple at 1st level, class skills are Concentration (con), Diplomacy, Heal (wis), Intimidate, Knowledge (any) (int), Listen (wis), Move silently (dex), Spellcraft (int), Spot (wis) and Survival (wis)

Proefeciencies: simple weapons, two martial weapons of it's choice, slam attacks.


Features:

Celestial body:The angel loses all other racial bonus and gains outsider traits(basicaly darkvision 60 foot). He is a medium sized outsider with base speed 30 foot. It has one slam natural attack dealing 1d10 damage+1,5 str modifier damage, but it can only be used if it has his hands free.

Celestial blood: The angel casts spells as if it was a cleric of the same angel level. It must either choose a deity and it's domains or pick two from War, Good, Air, Destruction, Law. If he multiclasses as a cleric angel levels and cleric levels stack for determining his spellcasting ability, but he doesn't get any extra domains. It does get turn undead, but angel levels don't stack with that ability.

Heaven miracle:The angel is a living embodiment of law and good, and this allows him several special powers besides his spellcasting. At the pointed levels in the table he can use the respective spells as SLAs a certain number of times per day. Some of those spells are always active and altough they can be dispelled the angel can recreate them in his own turn as a free action. The angel can also turn those abilities off out of his own will and reactivate them as a free action when needed(only on his own turn).

Save DC against the SLAs and always active abilities is 10+1/2HD+Cha mod.

Detect evil: Always active.

Angel: The angel gains low light vision, resistance to petrification, acid, cold, and a bonus on saves against poison equal to it's HD and resistance to fire and electrecity equal to half it's HD.

In adition it gains the good subtypes and his natural attacks and any weapon it wields count as good aligned for bypassing DR.

Celestial skin:The angel gains DR/evil equal to half it's HD and SR equal to 11+HD.

Continual flame: SLA 1/day for each 2HD, if the component cost is not paid then only lasts 1 minute per HD.

Invisibility:SLA 1/day for each 2HD

Detect snares and pits:Always active.

See invisibility:SLA 1/day for each 2HD.

Wings:The angel becomes able to fly at a speed of 5 foot for each 2HD it has, with good maneuverability.

Lesser Protective aura:Always active, as magic circle against evil, but affects all whitin 20 feets of the angel, and the bonus to AC and saves is +4.

Regeneration: 1 for each 5HD, bypassed by evil attacks, effects and spells.

Discern lies: always active.

Holy smite:SLA 1/day for each 2HD.

Greater protective aura:Always active, as minor glove of invulnerability, but affects all allies whitin 20 feets of the angel.

Polymorph:1/day for each 5HD, self only.

True seeing:1/day for each 4HD.

Growth of mind/body:The angel grows one size category. In alternative, the angel may choose to gain a permanent +1 to Wis and Cha.

Waves of Fatigue: 1/day for each 5HD it has.

Ability increase: At levels 12, 13, the angel gains +1 to Str, Wis and Cha.

greater teleport: sla 1/day for each 4HD.

Earthquake:SLA 1/day for each 10 HD it has.

Power word stun:SLA 1/day for each 5 HD it has

Mass charm monster:SLA 1/day for each 5 HD it has.

Prismatic spray:SLA 1/day for each 10 HD it has

Power Word blind:SLA 1/day for each 5HD it has

Power Word Kill:SLA 1/day for each 10 HD it has
Waves of Exhaustion: SLA 1/day for each 10 HD it has

Imprisonment: SLA 1/day for each 10 HD it has.

Judgement arrows.:Whenever the solar fires an arrow, he can imbue it with the slaying property as a free action. He can use this ability a number of times per day equal to his Wis modifier.

Solar:The angel's DR upgrades to DR/epic and evil. Any melee weapon wielded by the angel can be given the dancing property by the angel as a free action, wich lasts while it is holded by the angel or dancing. Only one dancing weapon at a time.

Permanency:SLA 1/day for each 20HD.

Wish: SLA 1/day for each 20HD. If the angel uses it to create a permanent lasting effect (like creating/improving an item, or increasing an ability score), he must pay the full exp cost.

Comments

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First of all, when I looked closer at the Solar and Planetar, I realized they're so similar that it's possible to make them in the same class. This is, the solar is basicaly an upgraded version of the planetar, with all the abilities of his little brother and some extra on top. The first 16 levels give all planetar abilities, take the remaining 7 to become a full fledged Solar.

Now, the angel is a full spellcaster. Point. Then it gets wings, growth, a couple of ability bonus and several SLAs and constant buffs. I left out the SLAs present on the cleric spell list because of redudancy, but it's still probably the strongest monster class I designed so far because he's a damn fullcaster.

In return, the angel has one less good save, no racial bonus and no turn undead. It also doesn't get neither armor proefeciencies or natural armor, altough that can be partialy solved with a quick cleric dip. Greatsword proefeciency is mainly because solars and planetars seem to have some obession with big swords. Also longbow.

The best comparison I can think off is the archivist, who can learn pretty much every spell out there. The angel has more limited choices (wich is still a lot when you have the base cleric spells), in particular because it can't cherry pick domains willy-nilly, but in return gets some permanent buffs like flying, growth, DR, ect. Minor globe of invulnerability to allies may prove specialy usefull. Hopefully this, combined with the weak saves, skills and BAB shall keep the angel from being stronger than the archivist, and more or less at the same power level of the cleric.

Since he's a true fullcaster, he doesn't get permanent see invisibility and true seeing like the Balor and Erinyes, but can still use them some times per day whitout paying costs.

Despite his weak Bab, the cleric list is full of powerfull self-buffs, allowing the angel to jump into melee with some preparation. Or cleric dip for turn undead and DMM. A pathetic concentration skill makes for much harder casting in melee tough.

So, if you want to play a cleric who trades saves for becoming more celestial-like and some flavourfull and usefull SLAs, the angel is for you.

[Oslecamo]

Also, gave a small buff to all spellcasting monsters. They now get extra abilities like the familiar, they just don't stack with monster levels.

[deuxhero]

no class skills for angel? At least put Know:religion.

[Oslecamo]

Hmm, sounds good. Did it. Altough do notice it has full cleric casting.

[Eldan]

Just a thing: I saw you did the Grey Jester, can you, perhaps as an upgrade to that class, also do the Joystealer? They are very similar in mechanics anyway.

[Zeta Kai]

Well, I was going to suggest that you compile a list of every monster that you've done, but I can see that you've already done so. Great job on that; now I'll just hope that you alphabetize it, for clarity.

Also, the possible Angel domains list mentions War twice. I believe that you meant Law for one of those.

Lastly, unlike some greedy folk around here, I have no suggestions for you. I just wish that I had time to contribute to this awesome project. I'd love to try my hand at making one of these. I just wish that I had the time. At any rate, you do indeed rock, & rock hard. I think that you've found your niche here. I also think that nobody here will let you stop until you've made a class for every single published monster. Good luck.

[Oslecamo]

I just wish that I had the time. At any rate, you do indeed rock, & rock hard. I think that you've found your niche here. I also think that nobody here will let you stop until you've made a class for every single published monster. Good luck.

Oh, don't be fooled, I'm doing this mainly for my own fun. I just enjoy a lot converting the monsters. Indeed I found a niche.

The free time is the hard part. I just happen to be on the begginning of new classes where I live, so the work load is still light, and I'm too anxious waiting for Starcraft II to play any other computer game, so my free time with a computer is spent on this.

But it will soon be over. My teachers shall burrow me in work, and I'll have to slow down and eventualy stop this to properly focus on uni. My remaining free time shall be channeled for my campaign and LP, and eventualy even those will have to stop during test time.

It was two fun weeks going at full speed, but from now on, my work here will be slower and slower.

[erikun]

Once again, you manage to impress. I agree that the D&D Erinyes aren't much like the ones from classical greek, but you've done an excellent job of making them usable. Oddly enough, I'm seeing them less as Sorcerers or melee Clerics, and more as Knights or Bard/Warblades. Let's put that Charisma (not to mention excellent restraint actions) to good use!

[Oslecamo]

Nixie

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HD:d6
{table]Level|Bab|Fort|Ref|Will|Feature
1|+0 | + 0|+ 2| + 2|Nixie body, Sprite skin, Charmer, Amphibious, Water breathing, Wild empathy, +1 Dex
[/table]

Skills:6+int modifier per level, quadruple at 1st level. Its class skills are Balance, Bluff, Disguise, Diplomacy , Handle animal Hide, Listen , ride Perform (any), Move Silently, Search Sense Motive, Spot, Tumble, Use Magic Device, Profession (any) Use rope, Survival

Proefeciencies: Simple weapons.

Features:
Nixie body: the nixie loses all other racial bonus and gains fey traits (basicaly low light vision). It is a small sized fey with base speed 20 foot and swim speed equal to her base speed.

It gains the aquatic subtype, wich means it can breathe underwater and doesn't take penalties for fighting while swimming.

Sprite skin: the nixie gains DR/cold iron equal to half her HD and SR equal to 11+HD.

Charmer: The nixie can use charm person as a SLA 2/day for each HD it has.
When it reaches 3HD, it can use charm animal as a SLA 1/day for each HD it has.
When it reaches 5 HD, it can use sugestion as a SLA 1/day for each HD it has.
When it reaches 7 HD, it can use charm monster as a SLA 1/day for each 2HD it has.
When it reaches 9HD, it can use dominate person as a SLA 1/day for each 3HD it has.
When it reaches 17HD, it can use mass charm monster as a SLA 1/day for each 4HD it has.
When it reaches 18HD, it can use dominate monster as a SLA 1/day for each 5HD it has.

Save DCs are 10+1/2HD+Cha mod.

Ability increase: the nixie gains +1 Dex at first level.


Amphibious (Ex):Although nixies are aquatic, they can survive indefinitely on land.
Water Breathing (Sp)


Water breathing:Once per day pr HD, a nixie can use water breathing as a SLA.

Wild Empathy (Ex):This ability works like the druid’s wild empathy class feature, except that a nixie has a +6 racial bonus on the check.
Skills

A nixie has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. It can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line. *Nixies have a +5 racial bonus on Hide checks when in the water.

Comments:

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The nixie is a cute little fairy that lives in the water, but can last on ground for any amount of time.

It's main feature is the ability to charm people and then take them under water. My version gets some stronger charms as it levels up since charm person quickly becomes useless.

Besides that, 6 skill points and several usefull skills as class skills don't hurt, and there's still some space for an extra point to dex. It also gets SR and an increasing DR with just one monster level, making it specialy tempting for skill monkeys, particularly in aquatic campaigns.

If you want to play an aquatic fairy wich combines skills with several natural charm abilities, the nixie's for you.

[Maalketh]

The Pheonix (and maybe some others) has some durations and such listed in turns. In older editions, turns were 10 rounds; you may want to list the durations as rounds instead.

[Geiger Counter]

On the Yuan-Ti, and maybe others. Someone on another forum told me that an application of poison only lasts on one weapon for one attack, that causes the poison to be rubbed off and must be reapplied for further attacks.

Also do etherguants.

[Oslecamo]

On the Yuan-Ti, and maybe others. Someone on another forum told me that an application of poison only lasts on one weapon for one attack, that causes the poison to be rubbed off and must be reapplied for further attacks.

That's what I meant. One applying of poison is only good for one attack.

The freshness is how long you can wait untill the poison wears off. If you're a 5HD yuan-ti, and you poison a sword, the poison lasts untill you strike an enemy, or 5 hours, wichever comes first. I just assumed the fact that poison applied to weapons is only good for one blow was common knowledge.

[Quirp]

I think you should give the Angel at least a second class skill. They have the worst saves possible and crappy BAB. Give them something like Concentration, Knowledge(religion), Sense Motive and Spellcraft. That is still a very limited list, but they can spend some skillpoints.
That would be great. I appreciate your great work and would be glad to see the Yuan-Ti Anathema on your list.

[Oslecamo]

I think you should give the Angel at least a second class skill. They have the worst saves possible and crappy BAB. Give them something like Concentration, Knowledge(religion), Sense Motive and Spellcraft. That is still a very limited list, but they can spend some skillpoints.

Look closer. The angel has full cleric casting. He can easily buff his own saves and BAB with spells (divine power gives full BAB, greater resistance gives +6 to all saves, ect, ect). Skills are the only thing were he's truly hurt, and then he gets flying, large size and several SLAs to make up for it. Also do notice he already has knowledge religion.

Plus, even tough it has just one class skill, it can still get concentration, spellcraft and everything else as cross-class skills.

[Ralasha]

Giants: I.E. Storm Giants, Cloud Giants, and Mountain Giants

[AustontheGreat1]

Under angel you have the ability listed on the table as Slayer Bow, but in the description it is Judgement Arrows.

[Sila Prirode]

Vampire and Lycanthropy, mayhaps?

[Zaakar]

Great work, I love the hound archon.
Bralani

[Oslecamo]

Phasm

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HD:d8
{table]Level|Bab|Fort|Ref|Will|Feature
1|+ 0|+0|+ 0| +2 | Phasm body, amorphous, Shaper initiate.
2|+ 1|+ 0|+ 0| + 3|Telepathy, Scent, shaper power +1
3|+ 2|+ 1|+ 1| + 3| Shaper
4|+ 3|+ 1|+ 1| +4 |Tremorsense, Shaper power +2
5|+ 3|+ 1|+ 1| + 4| Greater shaper
6|+ 4|+ 2|+ 2| +5 |Shaper power +4, resilient
7|+ 5|+ 2|+2| + 5| Supreme shaper, Shaper power +6
[/table]
Skills:4+int per level, class skills are Bluff , Climb , Craft (any one), Diplomacy , Disguise , Intimidate, Knowledge (any one) , Listen , Spot , Survival

Proefeciencies:simple weapons and any natural weapons it gains.

Features:
Phasm body:Loses all other racial bonus and gains aberratio traits (basicaly darkvision 60 feets) . It's a medium sized aberration with base speed 30. It has a slam attack dealing 1d3+1,5 str modifier. It doesn't have limbs capable of fine manipulation on it's normal form, but it can speak.

A phasm also gains a bonus to nat armor equal to it's Con modifier when in it's natural form.

A phasm has no equipment slots on his natural form, but it can integrate them inside his body and automatically equip them when he transforms in a form able to use them. So a phasm can carry a crossbow inside it's body, and when it turns into an humanoid, it can instantly shoot said crossbow.

Amorphous:A phasm in its natural form has immunity to poison, sleep, paralysis, polymorph, and stunning effects. It is not subject to critical hits and, having no clear front or back, cannot be flanked.

Shaper initiate: the phasm gains the alternate form ability as in the srd

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A creature with this special quality has the ability to assume one or more specific alternate forms. A true seeing spell or ability reveals the creature’s natural form. A creature using alternate form reverts to its natural form when killed, but separated body parts retain their shape. A creature cannot use alternate form to take the form of a creature with a template. Assuming an alternate form results in the following changes to the creature:

* The creature retains the type and subtype of its original form. It gains the size of its new form. If the new form has the aquatic subtype, the creature gains that subtype as well.
* The creature loses the natural weapons, natural armor, and movement modes of its original form, as well as any extraordinary special attacks of its original form not derived from class levels (such as the barbarian’s rage class feature).
* The creature gains the natural weapons, natural armor, movement modes, and extraordinary special attacks of its new form.
* The creature retains the special qualities of its original form. It does not gain any special qualities of its new form.
* The creature retains the spell-like abilities and supernatural attacks of its old form (except for breath weapons and gaze attacks). It does not gain the spell-like abilities or attacks of its new form.
* The creature gains the physical ability scores (Str, Dex, Con) of its new form. It retains the mental ability scores (Int, Wis, Cha) of its original form. Apply any changed physical ability score modifiers in all appropriate areas with one exception: the creature retains the hit points of its original form despite any change to its Constitution.
* The creature retains its hit points and save bonuses, although its save modifiers may change due to a change in ability scores.
* Except as described elsewhere, the creature retains all other game statistics of its original form, including (but not necessarily limited to) HD, hit points, skill ranks, feats, base attack bonus, and base save bonuses.
* The creature retains any spellcasting ability it had in its original form, although it must be able to speak intelligibly to cast spells with verbal components and it must have humanlike hands to cast spells with somatic components.
* The creature is effectively camouflaged as a creature of its new form, and it gains a +10 bonus on Disguise checks if it uses this ability to create a disguise.
* Any gear worn or carried by the creature that can’t be worn or carried in its new form instead falls to the ground in its space. If the creature changes size, any gear it wears or carries that can be worn or carried in its new form changes size to match the new size. (Nonhumanoid-shaped creatures can’t wear armor designed for humanoid-shaped creatures, and vice versa.) Gear returns to normal size if dropped.

It takes a standard action to transform and the phasm can transform in any medium creature it is familiar with and back 2/day for each HD it has. The phasm cannot assume the form of a creature with more HD than itself.

At 5HD it can transform as a move action. At 10 HD as a swift action. At 15 HD as a immediate action.

Besides the base +10 to disguise from alternate form, the phasm gains an extra +1 circumstance bonus to disguise checks for each HD it has when transforming.

As levels in the phasm class are taken, the phasm becomes able to turn into other sizes of creatures.



Telepathy:40 feets +10 feets per extra HD from here.

Scent:as the srd ability.

Shaper power:the phasm can improve one of it's own ability scores by an amount as show on the table. The bonus can all be applied to one ability or spread across several scores . Every time it changes shape it can change wich of it's ability scores receives the bonus.

Shaper:the phasm can now take the shape of small and tiny creatures.

Tremorsense as the srd ability, 10 feets per HD.

Greater shaper:the phasm can now take the shape of large creatures.

Resilient:The phasm adds half it's HD on all fortidude and reflex saves in any form it takes.

Supreme shaper:the phasm can now assume the form of huge creatures and creatures smaller than tiny. If all phasm levels were taken, it's transformation abilites keep improving:

At 10 HD it can take the form of gargantuan creatures and swarms.

At 13 HD it can take the form of colossal creatures and inanimate objects. If taking the shape of an object, it can still move as an animated object of the same size.

[Oslecamo]

Vampire (prc)

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REQUIREMENTS:
To qualify to become a Vampire, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.

Special: The character must have been killed by a Vampire's bite (see Greater Blood Powers).

-OR-

Feats: Alertness, Dodge, Combat Reflexes.
Special: Constitution 10+ and the character must have a special evil ritual performed upon him.

This class may be taken at first level by using flaws to gain extra feats.

HD: d12
{table]Level|Bab|Fort|Ref|Will|Feature
1|+ 0|+0|+0 | + 2|Vampire Body, Vampire Vulnerabilities, Resting Place, Blood Drain, Blood Power
2|+ 1|+0|+0 | + 3| Greater Blood Powers
[/table]

Skills: 2 + Intelligence modifier per level, no class skills

Proefeciencies: The Vampire is proficient with all simple weapons.

Vampire body: Unlike other monster classes, the Vampire doesn't lose his racial ability modifiers, but he does gain undead traits:

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* No Constitution score.
* Darkvision out to 60 feet.
* Immunity to all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects).
* Immunity to poison, sleep effects, paralysis, stunning, disease, and death effects.
* Not subject to critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability drain, or energy drain. Immune to damage to its physical ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution), as well as to fatigue and exhaustion effects.
* Heals naturaly.
* Immunity to any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects or is harmless).
* Uses its Charisma modifier for Concentration checks.
* Not at risk of death from massive damage, but when reduced to 0 hit points or less, it is immediately destroyed, unless it has activated it's fast healing ability.
* Not affected by Raise Dead and reincarnate spells or abilities. Resurrection and True Resurrection can affect undead creatures. These spells turn undead creatures back into the living creatures they were before becoming undead.
* Vampires don't need to breath, eat, or sleep. However, a Vampire may do any of the three if desired.

The Vampire gains a slam attack dealing 1d6 plus 1-1/2 times his Strength bonus.

Any previously gained HD are changed to d12, and any new HD gained are also changed to d12.

In addition, the Vampire gains a natural armor bonus equal to its Strength or Charisma bonus, whichever is higher.

Vampire Vulnerabilities: The vampire becomes vulnerable to a variety of things in diferent degrees.

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Vampires cannot tolerate the strong odor of garlic and will not enter an area laced with it. Similarly, they 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 5 feet away from a creature holding the mirror or 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.

Vampires are also unable to cross running water, although they can be carried over it while resting in their coffins or aboard a ship.

They 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.

A Vampire casts no reflection on a mirror.

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. Similarly, 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 (unless the base creature had a swim speed, in wich case the vampire can swim freely). 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).

Resting Place: a vampire who rests for 8 hours over a layer of dirt taken from 100 feet of his birthplace completely heals his HP. Most vampire craft coffins wich are filled with such dirt so they always have a safe place to return to (see also fast healing blood power).

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 a blood charge that is saved for later use. A vampire can save a number of Blood Charges equal to his HD multiplied by his Strength bonus or Charisma bonus (whichever one is higher).

If a Vampire drains blood from a creature with 3 or more points of Intelligence, it gains 2 Blood Charges on a successful attack instead.
If a Vampire drains blood from a member of it's base race, it gains 4 blood charges on a successful attack instead.

The Vampire can only obtain a Blood Charge from living beings. Drinking blood from dead creatures or drinking preserved blood tastes foul to the Vampire and provides no Blood Charges.

The Vampire can drain blood from summoned creatures, but the charges obtained this way disappear when the summoned monster disappears.

Each day, the Vampire loses a number of Blood Charges equal to his HD. If he rested 8 hours in his resting place, he only loses half that number, rounded up. If the vampire doesn't have enough blood charges to satisfy it's needs by morning, he takes a penalty to all d20 rolls equal to the number of missing blood charges, up to a penalty equal to twice his own HD. The penalty lasts until the Vampire gets a number of Blood Charges equal to his HD or more and spends 8 hours on his resting place.

Blood Powers: The Vampire can expend Blood Charges to use any of the following abilities. Unless otherwise noted, activating a Blood Power is a free action.

Vampire Aptitude: By expending one Blood Charge, the Vampire gains a +3 untyped bonus to the skill of his choice for 1 hour. Any bonuses given by this ability cannot exceed 2 higher than the Vampire's HD

Vampire Might: By expending one Blood Charge, the Vampire gains a +1 untyped bonus to an ability score of his choice for one hour. Multiple uses of this power for the same ability score stack, but any bonuses granted by this ability for a single ability score cannot exceed the Vampire's HD.

Night Form(Su): By expending one Blood Charge, a vampire can assume the shape of a bat or wolf as a standard action. While in its alternate form, the Vampire loses its natural slam attack, but it gains the natural weapons and any extraordinary special attacks of its new form. This ability lasts 24 hours. Otherwise it functions as the Alternate Form ability.

If the Vampire has 4 or more HD, it can also use this ability to take the form of a dire wolf or dire bat at the cost of 2 Blood Charges.

According to the campaign setting and Vampire's original race, the vampire may replace some of it's forms with others more apropriate, with authorization of the DM.
Gaseous Form (Su): As a standard action the Vampire may expend any number of Blood Charges. The Vampire assumes a Gaseous Form as the spell, but with a fly speed of 20 ft. with perfect maneuverability, and with a caster level equal to the number of Blood Charges spent.

Dark healing: By expending one Blood Charge, the Vampire gains Fast Healing 1 for 1 minute. If reduced to 0 hit points while Dark Healing is active, the Vampire automatically assumes a Gaseous Form and attempts to escape. It must reach its resting place within 2 hours or be utterly destroyed. Any additional damage dealt to a vampire forced into gaseous form has no effect. Once resting in its resting place, a Vampire is helpless. It regains 1 hit point after 1 hour, after which he is no longer helpless.

Spider Climb (Ex): By expending one Blood Charge, a Vampire can climb any surface as though affected by a Spider Climb spell for 1 hour.

Greater Blood powers: At second level, the Vampire can use his drained blood to fuel even stronger abilities. The Vampire can expend Blood Charges to use any of the following abilities. Unless otherwise noted, activating a Greater Blood Power is a free action.

Children of the Night (Sp): By expending one Blood Charge, a Vampire may cast a Summon Nature's Ally spell as a spell-like ability as a standard action, with a caster level equal to his HD. As a Vampire gains more HD, more powerful spells become available to him.

At 3HD, it may use Summon Nature's Ally II for three Blood Charges
At 5HD, it may use Summon Nature's Ally III for five Blood Charges
At 7HD, it may use Summon Nature's Ally IV for seven Blood Charges
At 9HD, it may use Summon Nature's AllyV for nine Blood Charges
At 11HD, it may use Summon Nature's Ally VI for eleven Blood Charges.
At 13HD, it may use Summon Nature's Ally VII for thirteen Blood Charges
At 15HD, it may use Summon Nature's Ally VIII for fifteen Blood Charges.
At 17HD, it may use Summon Nature's Ally IX for seventeen Blood Charges

If the Vampire summons a single creature, add the Vampire's Charisma modifier to its attack rolls, damage rolls, skills and saves.

If the vampire chooses to summon more than one creature with Summon Nature's Ally, double the number of summoned creatures.

The summoned creatures are all evil-aligned and have dark and wolfish features. For example, a wolf might have pitch black fur, sprites might have red eyes and sharp fangs.The Vampire cannot drain blood from creatures summoned in this way.

Dominate (Su): A vampire can crush an opponent’s will just by looking onto his or her eyes. As a standard action, a Vampire may expend any number of Blood Charges. Any creature looking at the Vampire's eyes must make a DC (10 + Blood Charges spent + Strength or Charisma bonus) will save or fall under the Vampire’s influence as though controlled by a Charm Monster spell with a caster level equal to the number of Blood Charges spent. The ability has a range of 30 feet, and lasts 24 hours. The Vampire cannot spend more than 1/2 his HD (rounded down) in this way.

At 10 HD, this ability functions as Dominate Monster, but with the same exceptions noted earlier.

Create Spawn (Su) If a Vampire lowers a victim’s Constitution score to 0 and then expends Blood Charges equal to the victim's HD, the victim returns to life 1d4 days after burial (it must be properly buried and not too much damage) with one level of vampire. The new vampire 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 control up to two times his HD of Vampire Spawns; any spawns he creates that would exceed this limit are created as free-willed Vampires. A Vampire that is enslaved may create and enslave spawn of its own once it gains another Vampire level, 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.[I]

Energy Drain (Su): By expending one Blood Charge, a Vampire can cause living creatures hit by his slam attack (or any other natural weapon the Vampire might possess) to gain two negative levels. The Vampire gains one Blood Charge for each negative level bestowed in this way(2 for sentient creatures, 4 for same race). A Vampire can use its Energy Drain ability once only once per round. The save DC to remove the levels is 10 + 1/2 HD + Charisma or Strength bonus (whichever is higher). Creatures killed by energy drain don't return as vampires, but the vampire can weaken them with the energy drain and finish them with blood drain.

Unholy skin: By expending one Blood Charge, the Vampire gains DR/silver and magic equal to half of his HD, and cold, electricity, and turn resistance equal to it's HD, for one hour. While unholy skin is active, the vampire's natural attacks count as magic for bypassing DR.

Dark magic: If a Vampire has caster or manifester levels, it may spend Blood Charges when regaining spell slots or power slots. He may expend Blood Charges equal to his HD multiplied by the highest spell level he can cast normally. If he does, his Vampire levels stack with caster levels and or manifester levels for determining spells known, spells per day, powers known, powers per day, power points per day and the caster or manifester levels for such spells or powers.

For example, a wizard 1 / Vampire 2 rests, and in the morning before preparing his spells, expends 3 Blood Charges, his two Vampire levels count as wizard levels for all purposes mentioned above.

Alternatively, a Vampire may expend Blood Charges equal to half his HD when regaining spell slots to increase his caster or manifester level by two, but without gaining any extra spells/powers known or spell slots/power points.

Kudos for Apropos for cleaning up the formation of the vampire class.

[Sila Prirode]

Question:
Are you really sure about blood charge costs?
Because they are a bit high, in my opinion.
Let us take vampire 1\rogue 4.
He needs to feed on at least two victims daily, so he can survive, and be usefull for 2 minutes a day. With all the vulnerabilities, it seems like not a good payoff.

[Oslecamo]

Question:
Are you really sure about blood charge costs?
Because they are a bit high, in my opinion.
Let us take vampire 1\rogue 4.
He needs to feed on at least two victims daily, so he can survive, and be usefull for 2 minutes a day. With all the vulnerabilities, it seems like not a good payoff.

Not really sure indeed. Buffed up most of the blood buffs durations to one hour in case you missed it.

Do notice you can always feed on farm animals bought in the market cheap.

[Sila Prirode]

Not really sure indeed. Buffed up most of the blood buffs durations to one hour in case you missed it.

Do notice you can always feed on farm animals bought in the market cheap.

Actually, I did missed that (reading and writing this on my mobile phone, small screen and all that ).
This is actually good improvement, now he can have his protection last all day long. But let me ask you something, how will he feed in the middle of the desert? Or some other place PCs are likely to be travelling, where he won't have a steady supply of animals?

Also did you consider making some other stat relevant for blood charges, instead of Strength? For example, Charisma would be nice, because this way spellcasters get a shaft (you would never have enough blood charges on higher levels, due to high costs, and low Strength).
I would also propose upping the number of charges, in relevance to creatures Constitution. For example, you would get one charge for each point of Con modifier (minimum 1). For intelligent creatures add 1 to that number, and for creature from your former race add 2 more.

[AustontheGreat1]

But let me ask you something, how will he feed in the middle of the desert? Or some other place PCs are likely to be travelling, where he won't have a steady supply of animals?

Short answer. He wont. Thats part of playing a vampire is dealing with the vampiric curse. People like to forget that. A lot of times vampires can't do the things people do; but the drawbacks are just as much a part of playing a monster as the benefits.

[Trenelus]

Fantastic work, really inspires one to play "nice" monster party for change.
Hardest part will be to decide what to play...
Btw, really liked the vampire. Brings White Wolf's Vampire the Masquerades blood pool to mind.

Just wondering: there seems to be quit a few monsters that turn you to outsider.

How to get back to material plane?

Not really a problem at lower levels, but at mid and high you are bound to face spellcasters and they will throw dismissals/banishments to your face and thanks to Murby's law, you will fail it sooner or later. How to come back?
Might ruin your hole session if the first clerig send you back to hell and makes you to sit on your seat and be just a watcher, cause you miss all the action.

And really i can't blame DM for doing that: if we would know to expect infernal forces, we - the players, would prepaire to dismiss/banish them.
So it is realistic that opposition prepaires as well, if/when they find out
about your foreign origin.

Any good suggestions beside buying scrolls or other items, cause not every DM lets you buy everything you want?

[Sila Prirode]

Short answer. He wont. Thats part of playing a vampire is dealing with the vampiric curse. People like to forget that. A lot of times vampires can't do the things people do; but the drawbacks are just as much a part of playing a monster as the benefits.

That is... unsatisfying. I would never limit my DMs freedom in designing adventure just because my character is some obscure race/template/class.
Also, as a DM, I would never want to limit my players just because one of them wanted to took an interesting race, and is good at roleplaying as that race.

Sure that is an obstacle, that your players need to find a way of going around, but right now, I don't really see much options for vampire PC, unless you consider staying home to guard their keep is a job worthy of missing few sessions as a player.

I'm just against forcing players to stay anywhere, because they won't be able to roll d20 if they don't do that. But of course, vampire can always feed on party members, wands of Lesser Restoration are not hard to come by.

[Oslecamo]

Actually, I did missed that (reading and writing this on my mobile phone, small screen and all that ).
This is actually good improvement, now he can have his protection last all day long. But let me ask you something, how will he feed in the middle of the desert? Or some other place PCs are likely to be travelling, where he won't have a steady supply of animals?

Get survival ranks and hunt your own food? Teleport back to the city for supplies every day? Camels? I remember a fantasy book where the hero has to cross a big desert with a big hungry dragon, and one of his companions sugests buying camels. They carry themselves and then they get eaten as needed.

Or your idead of feeding on his own allies. Get the cleric to prepare as much restorations as possible.

And like AustontheGreat1 pointed out, vampirism is suposed to be a curse, not something nice. You'll have to work to (un)live with it.

There's the awakened skeleton and mummy if you want to play undeads whitout curses.

Also did you consider making some other stat relevant for blood charges, instead of Strength? For example, Charisma would be nice, because this way spellcasters get a shaft (you would never have enough blood charges on higher levels, due to high costs, and low Strength).

Hmm, interesting idea. Altough I hate the pretty vampire concept, vampires are always described as being very persuassive, so I'll add that option. In return, I'm making the dominate and energy drain able to run in Str so we can get vampires who dump charisma.

I would also propose upping the number of charges, in relevance to creatures Constitution. For example, you would get one charge for each point of Con modifier (minimum 1). For intelligent creatures add 1 to that number, and for creature from your former race add 2 more.

That already happens in case you didn't notice. The more con a creature has, the more you can bite it before it dies, and you get blood charges for each bite. So while an elven maiden with 8 con will only last 3-4 bites, that elven paladin with 16 Con will endure for 6-7 bites.

Trenelus:Your native plane is always the plane where you were created. Just point out in your backstory you were born/created on the material plane. Monks ascend to outsiders at level 20, but they're still native to the material plane for example.

Altough I must point out, I don't see much of a diference between failing a save and being dismissed, needing to get plane shifted and failing the save from slay living, needing to be ressurected.

[Oslecamo]

The following is from a PM from Bodez:

I was just wondering, your "loses all racial abilites" clause is in reference to all of them?
For example, human bonus feat and skill point, and similiar?

Yes. My monster classes basicaly count as race and class at the same time. Removing racial bonus gives some space to put more monster abilities at 1st level.

Also please keep questions about this thread on the thread, my PM box is quite clogged up.