| 3rd Edition Vampire |
| Vampire Forever anchored to their coffins and the unholy earth of their graves, these nocturnal predators scheme sonctantly to strengthen themselves and fill the world with their foul progeny. Vampires appear just as they did in life, although their features are often hardened and feral, with the predatory look of wolves. Like liches, they often embrace finery and decadence and may assume the guise of nobility. Despite their human appearance, vampires can be easily recognized, for they cast no shadows and throw no refelctions in mirrors. Vampires speak any languages they knew in life. Creating a Vampire "Vampire" is a template that can be added to any humanoid or monstrous humanoid creature (referred to herafter as the "base creature"). The creature's type changes to "undead." It uses all the base creature's statistics and special abilities except as noted here. Hit Dice:: Increase to d12 Speed:: same as the base creature. If the base creature has a swim speed, the vampire retains the ability to swim and is not vulnerable to immersion in running water (see below). AC:: The base creature's natural armor improves by +6 Attacks:: A vampire retains all the attacks of the base creature and also gains a slam attack if it didn't already have one. Damage::Vampires have slam attacks. If the base creature does not have this attack form, use the damage values in the table below. Creatures with natural attacks retain their old damage ratings or use the values below, whichever is better. Size Damage Fine 1 Diminutive 1d2 Tiny 1d3 Small 1d4 Medium-size 1d6 Large 1d8 Huge 2d6 Gargantuan 2d8 Colossal 4d6 Special Attacks:: A vampire retains all the special attacks of the base creature and also gains those listed below. Saves have a DC of 10 + 1/2 vampire's HD + vampire's Charisma modifier unless noted otherwise. Domination (Su):: A vampire can crush an opponent's will just by looking into his or her eyes. This is similar to a gaze attack, except that the vampire must take a standard action, and those merely looking at it are not affected. Anyone the vampire targets must succeed at a Will save or fall instantly under the vampire's influence as though by a Dominate Person Spell cast by a 12th-level sorcerer. The ability has a range of 30 feet. Energy Drain (Su):: Living creatures hit by a vampire's slam attack suffer 2 negative levels. 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, in flicting 1d4 points of permanent Constitution drain each round the pin is maintained. Children of the Night (Su):: Vampires command the lesser creatures of the world and once per day can call forth a pack of 4d8 dire rats, a warm of 10d10 bats, or a pack of 3d6 wolves as a standard action. These creatures arrive in 2d6 rounds and serve the vampire for up to 1 hour. Create Spawn (Su) ::: A hummanoid or monstrous humanoid slain by a vampire's energy drain attack rises as a vampire spawn (see the Vampire Spawn entry, page 182) 1d4 days after burial. If the vampire instead drains the victim's Constitution to 0 or less the victim returns as a spawn if it had 4 or fewer HD and as a vampire if it had 5 or more HD. In either case, the new vampire or spawn is under the command of the vampire that created it and remains enslaved until its master's death. Special Qualities:: A vampire retains all the special qualities of the base creature and those listed below, and also gains the undead type (See page 6) Damage Reduction (Su)::A vampire's undead body is tough, giving the creature damage reduction 15/+1. Turn Resistance (Ex):: A vampire has + 4 turn resistance (see page 10) Resistance (Ex) :: A vampire has cold and electricity resistance 20 Gaseous Form (Su):: As a standard action, a vampire can assume gaseous form at will, as the spell cast by a 5th-level sorcerer, but can remain gaseous indefinitely and has a fly speed of 20 feet with perfect maneuverability. Spider Climb (Ex) :: A vampire can climb sheer surfaces as though with a spider climb spell. Alternate Form (Su)::: A vampire can assume the shape of a bat, dire bat, wolf, or dire wolf as a standard action. This ability is similar to a polymorph self spell cast by a 12th-level sorcerer, except that the vampire can assume only one of the forms listed here. It can remain in that form until it assumes another or until the next sunrise. Fast Healing (Ex) ::: A vampire heals 5 points of damage each round so long as it has at least 1 hit point. If reduced to 0 hit points or lower, a vampire automatically assumes gaseous form and attempts to escape. It must reach its coffin home within 2 hours or be utterly destoryed. (it can travel up to nine miles in 2 hours.) Once at rest in its coffin, it rises to 1 hit point after 1 hour, then resumes healing at the rate of 5 hit points per round. Saves: Same as the base creature Abilities:: Increase from the base creature as follows :: Str + 6, Dex + 4, Int + 2, Wis +2, Cha +4. As undead creatures, vampires have no constitution score. Skills:::Vampires receive a + 8 racial Bonsu to Bluff, Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Search, Sence mOtive and Spot Checks. Otherwise same as the base creature. Feats::Vampires gain Alertness, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved Initiative, and Lightning Reflexes, assuming the base creature meets the prerequisits and doesn't already have these feats. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Climate/Terrain: Any land and underground Organization :: Solitary, pair, gang (2-5), or troop (1-2 plus 2-5 vampire spawn) Challenge Rating:: Same as the base creature +2 Treasure : Double Standard Alignment :: Always Chaotic Evil Advancement:: By Character Class VAMPIRE WEAKNESSES For all their power, vampires have a number of weaknesses. Repelling A Vampire 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. Vampires are also unable to cross running water, although they can be carried over it while resting in th eir coffins or aboard a ship. They are utterly unable to eneter a home or other building unless invited in by someone with the authority to do so. They may freely eneter public places, since these are by definition open to all. Slaying a Vampire Simply reducing a vampire's hit points to 0 or below incapacitates but doesn't destroy it. However, certain attacks can slay vampires. Exposing any vampire to direct sunlight disorients it: It can take only partial actions and is destoryed utterly on 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. 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 ). VAMPIRE CHARACTERS Vampires are always chaotic evil, which causes characters of certain classes to lose their class abilities, as noted in Chapter 3: Classes in the PHB. In addition, certain classes suffer additional penalties. Clerics:: Clerics lose their ability to turn undead but again the ability to rebuke undead. This ability does not affect the vampire's controller or any other vampires that master controls. Vampire clerics have access to the Chaos, Destruction, Evil and Trickery Domains. Sorcerers and Wizards:: These characters retain their class abilities, but if a character has a vamiliar (other than a rat or bat)< the link between them is broken, and the familiar shuns its former companion. The character can summon another familiar, but it must be a rat or bat. Undead:: (pg 6) Undead are once-living creatures ainmated by spiritual or supernatural forces. Undead are immune to poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, disease, death effects, and necromantic effects, and they ignore mind-influencing effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects ). Undead are not subject to critical hits, subdual damage, ability damage, ability drain or energy drain. They have no Constitution scores and are therefore immune to any effect requiring a Fortitude Save (unless it affects objects). An undead spellcaster uses its Charisma modifier when making Concentration checks. Undead with no Intelligence scores cannot heal damage on their own, though they can be healed. Negative energy (such as an inflict wounds spell) can heal undead creatures. The regeneration and fast healing special qualities work regardless of the creature's Intelligence score. An undead creature is not at risk of death from massive damage, but when reduced to 0 hit point or less, it is immediately destroyed. Most undead have darkvision with a range of 60 feet. Undead cannot be raised. Resurrection can affect them, but since undead creatures usually are unwilling to return to life, these attempts generally fail (See Bringing Back the Dead, page 153 in the PHB). Example :: Zombie. Bringing Back the Dead (pg 153 of the PHB) Several spells have the power to restore slain characters to life. Divine spells are better at reviving the dead than arcane spells are. When a living creature dies, its soul departs the body, leaves the Material Plane, travels th rough the Astral Plane, and goes to abide on the plane where the creature's deity resides. If the creature did not worship a deity, its soul departs to the plane corresponding to its alignment. Bringing someone back from the dead means retrieving his or her soul and returning it to his or her body. Level Loss::: The passage from life to death and back again is a wrenching journey for a being's soul. Consequently, any creature brought back to life usually loses one level of experience. The character's new XP total is midway between the minimum needed for his or her new level and the minimum needed for the next one. If the cahracter was 1st level, her or she loses 1 point of Constitution instead of losing a level. This level loss or Constitution loss cannot be repaired by any mortal spell, even wish or miracle. Still, the revived character can improve his or her Constituion normally (at 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th level) and earn experience by further adventuring to regain the lost level. Preventing Revivification :::: Enemies can take steps to make it more difficult for a character to be returned from the dead. Keeping the body prevents others from using raise dead or resurrection to restore the slain character to life. Casting trap the soul prevents any sort of revivification unless the soul is first released. Revivification Against One's Will::: A soul cannot be returned to life if it does not wish to be. A soul knows the name, alignment, and patron deity (if any) of the character attempting to revive it and may refuse to return on that basis. For Example, if Alhandra the paladin is slain and her archenemy, a high priest of Nerull, God of Death, grabs her body, Alhandra probably does not wish to be raised from the dead by him. Any attempts he makes to revive her automatically fail. If the evil cleric wants to reviv Alhandra to interrogate her, he needs to find some way to trick her soul, such as duping a good cleric into raising her and then capturing her once she's alive again. Turn Resistance (Ex):: The creature (usually undead) is less easily affected by clerics or paladins (see Turn and REbuke Undead, Page 139 in the PHB). When resolving a turn, rebuke, command or bolster attemmpt, add the listed bonus to the creature's Hit Dice total. For example, a shadow has +2 turn resistance and 3 HD. Attempts to turn, rebuke, command, or bolster treat the shadow as though it had 5 HD, though it is a 3 HD creature for any other purpose. SAMPLE VAMPIRE::: This example uses a 5th level human fighter as the base creature Vampire Medium-size Undead Hit Dice:: 5d12 (32 hp) Initiative: + 7 (+ 3 Dex, + 4 Improved Initiative) Speed: 30 ft AC:: 25 (+ 3 Dex, + 6 natural, + 4 masterwork chain shirt, + 2 large shield) Attacks:: Slam + 11 mellee (or masterwork bastard sword +13 melee); or masterwork shortbow +9 ranged Damage:: Slam 1d6 + 6 adn energy drain; bastard sword 1d10+1; or shortbow 1d6 Face/Reach:: 5ft by 5 ft / 5 ft. Special attacks:: Charm, energy drain, blood drain, children of the night, create spawn Special Qualities:: Undead, damage reduction 15/+1, cold and electricity resistance 20, gaseous form, spider climb, alternate form, fast healing 5, vampire weaknesses Saves:: Fort +4, Ref +6, Will +4 Abilities:: Str 22, Dex 17, Con ----, Int 12, Wis 16, Cha 12 Skills:: Bluff +9, Climb + 10, Hide +11, Listen +17, Move Silently +11, Rider +11, Search +9, Sense MOtive +11, Spot +17 Feats:: Alertness, Blind-Fight, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (bastard sword), Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Mobility, Weapon Focus (bastard Sword), Weapon Specialization (bastard sword) Combat:: Undead:: Immune to mind-influencing effects, poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, and disease. Not subject to critical hits, subdual damage, ability damage, energy drain, or death from massive damage. The Will save against this vampire's charm, and the Fortitude save to regain levels lost to its energy drain, have a DC of 13. Magic Items Carried:: potion of haste Challenge Rating :: 7 VAMPIRE SPAWN Medium Sized Undead Hit Dice:: 4d12 (26 hp) Initiative:: +6 (+ 2 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative) Speed: 30 ft. AC: 15 (+2 Dex, +3 natural) Attacks:: Slam +5 melee Damage:: Slam 1d6 + 4 and energy drain Face/Reach:: 5ft by 5 ft/ 5 ft. Special Attacks:: Charm, Energy Drain, Blood Drain Special Qualities:: Undead, +2 turn resistence, damage reduction 10/silver, cold and electricity resistance 10, gaseous form, spider climb, fast healing 2 Saves:: Fort +1, Ref +5, Will +5 Abilities:: Str 16, Dex 14, Con ----, Int 13, Wis 13, Cha 14 Skills:: Bluff +8, Climb +8, Craft (any one) or Profession (any one) +10, Hide +10, Jump + 8, Listen +11, Move Silently +11, Search +8, Sense Motive + 11, Spot +11 Feats:: Alertness, Improved initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Skill Focus (any Craft or Profession ) Climate/Terrain: Any land and underdark Organization:: Solitary or pack (2-5) Challenge Rating :: 4 Treasure:: Standard Alignment:: Always chaotic evil Advancement:: -------- Vampire spawn are undead creatures that come into being when vampires slay mortals. Like their creators, spawn remain bound to their coffins and to the soil of their graves. Vampire Spawn appear just as they did in life, although their features are often Hardened and feral, with a predatory look. Vampire Spawn speak Common. COMBAT Vampire spawn use their inhuman strength when engaging moretals, hammering their foes with powerful blows and dashing them against rocks or walls. They also use their gaseous form and flight abilities to strike where opponents are most vulnerable. Charm (Su):: This is similar to the vampire's domination ability, but the save DC is 14, and the effect is similar to Charm Person as cast by a 5th-level sorcerer. A charmed subject allows the vampire spawn to drain his or her blood. Energy Drain (Su):: Living creatures hit by a vampire spawn's slam attack receive one negative level. The Fortitude Save to remove the negative level has a DC of 14. Blood Drain (Ex):: A vampire spawn can suck blood from a living victim with its fangs by making a successful grapple check. If it pins the foe, it drains blood, inflicting 1d4 points of permanent Constitution drain each round. Undead:: Immune to mind-influencing effects, poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, and disease. Not subject to critical hits, subdual damage, ability damage, energy drain or death from massive damage. Gaseous Form (Su):: As a standard action, a vampire spawn can assume gaseous form at will, s the spell cast by a 6th level sorcerer, but it can remain gaseous indefinitely and has a fly speed of 20 feet with perfect maneuverabillity. Spider Climb (Ex):: A vampire spawn can climb sheer surfaces as though with a spider climb spell. Fast healing (Ex):: A vampire spawn heals 2 points of damage each round so long as it has at least 1 hit point. If reduced to 0 hit points in combat, it automatically assumes gaseous form and attempts to escape. It must reach its coffin home within 2 hours or be utterly destroyed. Once at rest in its coffin, it regains 1 hit point after 1 hour, then resumes healing at the rate of 2 hit points per round. SKills:: Vampire spawn receive a +4 racial bonus to Bluff, Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Search, Sense Motive and Spot checks. REPELLING AND SLAYING VAMPIRE SPAWN Vampire spawn are equally vulnerable to attacks that slay vampires. (See Vampire for details) |