Vampire Lord Swift blade?

[Kulture]

Out of nothing short of morbid curiosity, I pose to you the idea of a vampire lord swiftblade.

My initial idea was Duskblade 5/ Abjurant champion 5/ Swiftblade 10
Factor in vampire lord abilities you get a character who can rain down Duskblade's mid-high level spell as if it was a level 20 duskblade, can fly at high speed around the battlefield, can barrage opponants using telekinesis and generally be sickeningly fast without being cheesy about it.

BAB 20, CL 20 and the only real downsides are the sickeningly small spell list, which is somewhat softened by the fact VL template gives leadership for free AND the ability to make eternally loyal Vampire servants.

Any ideas on how to improve/build upon it?

[herrhauptmann]

Duskblade gets haste?
I could've sworn they were one of the arcane classes which didn't get it. I remember it seeming weird because it's a gish base class that couldn't get into a gish PrC.

[Human Paragon 3]

Nope, they don't get haste. You'd need to trick it into your list somehow.

[hamishspence]

What book has the swiftblade?

[Greenish]

What book has the swiftblade?

None. It's here.

[hamishspence]

Ah- I don't look at the online-only stuff as much- that explains it.

[grautry]

You need to be a vampire to take the vampire lord template. Therefore, it's ECL 28. Soo unless you're looking at building an NPC with it, it's REALLY not a good idea.

[Kulture]

I plan on using it in a semi-free form game where it's primarily Roleplay anyway.

I just like the idea of a swordsman who uses magic to increase his cognition.

I also planned on using a lower level version in a level 13 Pathfinder campaign.

At that level, the high experience boundaries/ lower class level will mean little since Vampire lords are effectively immortal unless you have the knowledge to decapitate him, cremate him, scatter the body's ashes in running water and the head's ashes in a jar of holy water (buried on holy grounds), meaning that unless it's a TPK even a level 5 can do something (especially with telekinesis as a level 12 sorceror.)

[TheDarkDM]

Um, not to rain on your parade, but Vampire by itself is LA +8, and while Vampire Lord has no listed LA, it stands to reason that it will have a similar LA, for a stacked LA of around +16.

[Ravens_cry]

Um, not to rain on your parade, but Vampire by itself is LA +8, and while Vampire Lord has no listed LA, it stands to reason that it will have a similar LA, for a stacked LA of around +16.

Actually, it stands to reason that no listed LA (not LA +0) means it's not meant to be played by PC.

[KillianHawkeye]

At the very least, you need to be a 10 HD Vampire before becoming a Vampire Lord. I don't think this template was made for PC use.

[Kulture]

I've got listing of +5 LA for Vampire in Monster manual 1, +3 LA for vampire lord in addition to that.
Vampire lord requires "Character level of at least 10" meaning that I'll have to enter XP debt in order function immediately in the level 13 campaign (probably meaning latant template activation).

And then there's always the old Varghulf method:
eat your way through the population of the countryside until you amass enough sacrifice XP to buyoff Vampire lord entirely via BoVD sacrifice rules.

Edit: Looking at the fluff-tastic requirements for the template, it's tempting to go just regular vampire and reach Lord naturally.
The special reqs are:
at least 100 years as a vampire,
Must have usurped and slain their sire,
Must have created atleast 10 vampires and finally,
must have survived an assassination attempt by one of said creations, then the template is plain sailing.

[KillianHawkeye]

Level Adjustment
Same as the base creature +8.

Seems pretty clear to me. Source.

[Kulture]

I'll concede on that point, they must have errata'd it since.

wow, this puts a dampener on things....oh well, I can still use this character as an NPC or I could haggle with the DM for house-rule on it.

note: Is it just me or were these LA templates designed specifically to ward off players? It seems somewhat counter-productive to limit player creativity for the sake of exclusivity on the part of a DM.

Surely the point of D&D is to play a fantasy character, not to be told that certain characteristics are too awesome for we mere mortals, but I digress because I'm rambling and at the end of the day, it's DM fiat.

[DragoonWraith]

Is it just me or were these LA templates designed specifically to ward off players?

LA in general was designed to ward off players. Period, full-stop. That is exactly what it is for. WotC seems to think players shouldn't be playing monsters.

Or, more likely, WotC thinks it shouldn't have to be bothered balancing monsters for PC use, so just overprices everything and then ignores it because they assume no one will ever use it.

[KillianHawkeye]

I'll concede on that point, they must have errata'd it since.

Nope. It's LA +8 in the book as well (Monster Manual v.3.5 page 253).

[faceroll]

Nope. It's LA +8 in the book as well (Monster Manual v.3.5 page 253).

Could be playing 3.0, though I don't think they're even listed.

[Kulture]

Turns out I was reading Challenge rating adjustment

At this rate, I may as well just try my hand at DMing.