How do I revive a teammate as a vampire?

[Kobold-Bard]

I am playing a True Necromancer in a campaign and one of my fellow adventurers has unfortunately found himself lacking in the life department.

I know create (greater) undead, animate dead etc can turn dead comrades into mummys and ghouls. However he has asked me to bring him back as an intelligent undead such as a vampire.

How would I go about doing this? (Rebuking Cleric 3 / Wizard 3 / True Necromancer 3)

[BRC]

The only way to Vamp somebody with magic is the epic spell seed Animate Dead. So, yeah.
Libris Mortis has rules for playing as various types of intelligent undead that you might look into, (Morghs, Ghouls, Mummies, free-willed vampire spawn, Wights ect) and that work great for being added later (essentially you take levels in a monster class). I would check those out and talk to your DM about it. If he really wants to become a vampire I would see if your DM will let you do somthing to vamp him and use the Vampire Spawn moster class from Libris Mortis.

[Adumbration]

Do remember that mummy is intelligent undead too.

[TheCountAlucard]

Do remember that mummy is intelligent undead too.

So is the ghoul. In fact, the only core non-intelligent undead that I can currently recall is the zombie and skeleton.

Besides, the LA for a vampire sucks.

[Kobold-Bard]

The only way to Vamp somebody with magic is the epic spell seed Animate Dead. So, yeah.
Libris Mortis has rules for playing as various types of intelligent undead that you might look into, (Morghs, Ghouls, Mummies, free-willed vampire spawn, Wights ect) and that work great for being added later (essentially you take levels in a monster class). I would check those out and talk to your DM about it. If he really wants to become a vampire I would see if your DM will let you do somthing to vamp him and use the Vampire Spawn moster class from Libris Mortis.

Bold Text: I was afraid of that.

Thanks for the help everybody. Once again this board solves lives D&D problems.

[Jack_Simth]

So is the ghoul. In fact, the only core non-intelligent undead that I can currently recall is the zombie and skeleton.

Besides, the LA for a vampire sucks.

Yes, but unfortunately, most of them aren't templates you can add to an existing character - Allips, Bodak's, Devourers, Ghoul's, Ghasts, Mohrgs, Nightcrawlers, Nightwings, Nightwings, Shadows, Spectre's, Vampire Spawn, Wights, and Wraiths are all specific creatues - they're not templates you add to an existing creature. If you're turned into a Ghoul, you lose all your class levels, by default.

[BRC]

Yes, but unfortunately, most of them aren't templates you can add to an existing character - Allips, Bodak's, Devourers, Ghoul's, Ghasts, Mohrgs, Nightcrawlers, Nightwings, Nightwings, Shadows, Spectre's, Vampire Spawn, Wights, and Wraiths are all specific creatues - they're not templates you add to an existing creature. If you're turned into a Ghoul, you lose all your class levels, by default.

Libris Mortis has rules for becoming Vamp Spawn, Wights, Ghouls and Mohrgs while keeping class levels.

Essentially, they made a couple "Monster" PRC's, as you level up in them you gain more nifty things.

[Kobold-Bard]

Yes, but unfortunately, most of them aren't templates you can add to an existing character - Allips, Bodak's, Devourers, Ghoul's, Ghasts, Mohrgs, Nightcrawlers, Nightwings, Nightwings, Shadows, Spectre's, Vampire Spawn, Wights, and Wraiths are all specific creatues - they're not templates you add to an existing creature. If you're turned into a Ghoul, you lose all your class levels, by default.

So using Create Undead to turn him into a mummy will lose him his nine class levels? Hmmm.

[Flickerdart]

So using Create Undead to turn him into a mummy will lose him his nine class levels? Hmmm.

There's a PrC in Savage Species that lets a player get back all the abilities they had before becoming undead. But they keep their Racial HD and levels in the PrC, which might make them a little bit unbalanced...

[TheCountAlucard]

Yes, but unfortunately, most of them aren't templates you can add to an existing character - Allips, Bodak's, Devourers, Ghoul's, Ghasts, Mohrgs, Nightcrawlers, Nightwings, Nightwings, Shadows, Spectre's, Vampire Spawn, Wights, and Wraiths are all specific creatues - they're not templates you add to an existing creature. If you're turned into a Ghoul, you lose all your class levels, by default.

Unless you have Savage Species. Then Spectre, Wight, and Wraith are templates.

[mostlyharmful]

Simple. Use the spell "DM intervention", material component pizza

[Kobold-Bard]

Simple. Use the spell "DM intervention", material component pizza

Its a pbp game. Got any virtual pizza?

[mostlyharmful]

Its a pbp game. Got any virtual pizza?

110011100100100110010010101010110. There you go.

[Tsotha-lanti]

Yes, but unfortunately, most of them aren't templates you can add to an existing character - Allips, Bodak's, Devourers, Ghoul's, Ghasts, Mohrgs, Nightcrawlers, Nightwings, Nightwings, Shadows, Spectre's, Vampire Spawn, Wights, and Wraiths are all specific creatues - they're not templates you add to an existing creature. If you're turned into a Ghoul, you lose all your class levels, by default.

With Libris Mortis, though, you can try to persuade the DM to allow the use of, say, the gravetouched ghoul template, and the mummified template.

[Madmal]

Unless you have Savage Species. Then Spectre, Wight, and Wraith are templates.

and if you have The Dragon magazine compendium, Bodak is also a template.

[RTGoodman]

If your DM allows you to use a spell to bring him back as a Vampire, you can find out about the Vampire Savage Progression Racial Class in this article from the WotC site. Once you revive him he just starts taking levels in the Vampire "class" instead of normal class levels, though you don't necessarily have to take all the Vampire levels in order. (Of course, having it all laid out doesn't necessarily mean the 8 "levels" of no HP, BAB, or anything don't completely suck.)

[KillianHawkeye]

If your DM allows you to use a spell to bring him back as a Vampire, you can find out about the Vampire Savage Progression Racial Class in this article from the WotC site. Once you revive him he just starts taking levels in the Vampire "class" instead of normal class levels, though you don't necessarily have to take all the Vampire levels in order. (Of course, having it all laid out doesn't necessarily mean the 8 "levels" of no HP, BAB, or anything don't completely suck.)

I think you mean that you don't have to take all 8 levels uninterrupted. You still have to take them in order.

[The Rose Dragon]

You also have to take all the levels in a racial class before you can level up in anything else.

So there is pretty much no avoiding the 8 dead levels.

[KillianHawkeye]

You also have to take all the levels in a racial class before you can level up in anything else.

So there is pretty much no avoiding the 8 dead levels.

That is actually incorrect, at least in the case of template-classes. I actually made sure to check the linked article for that clause before my previous post, and it actually says the opposite.

How many times can I say 'actually' in a single post??! Jeez...

[Mina Kobold]

I don't now abaout losing levels but create undead can create any undead, but the link abaout template levels is great too

[KillianHawkeye]

Um, no. If you're talking about the create undead spell, the types of undead you can create with it are clearly spelled out. And vampire is not one of them.

[mabriss lethe]

In 3.0 you could use Create Greater Undead to create a vampire, but it looks like that got edited out in 3.5

Maybe you could use the incantation variant rules from UA. you might be able to convince the DM to do it that way.

If it's something the player really wants to do, talk to the DM.

[RTGoodman]

I think you mean that you don't have to take all 8 levels uninterrupted. You still have to take them in order.

Yeah, yeah. I knew what I meant, at least.


And yeah, Killian's right about not having to take all the levels before taking levels in other classes:

Characters are not required to complete all the levels of a given template class in uninterrupted succession. For example, a character who takes a level of wereboar could then take a level of fighter and a level of rogue (or any other combination of other class levels) before taking another level of wereboar. A character must still take the first level of wereboar before taking the second, just as with a normal class.