Need Help With New Kinds of Vampire Feeding


Homebrew and House Rules


Ok. So here's the story. Me and a friend were trying to come up with some unique and / or fun ways that a new vampire type would feed on. We got some fun ones down, but I'm not sure how to make them work mechanically for a vampire template. Thus, I come here in hopes that someone can give me some suggestions / pointers in helping these vampires feed mechanically speaking.

Here are some of the ways we thought up.

Feed on Senses: The idea here, is that instead of feasting on blood, life force or memories, you feed on their senses of sight, hearing and touch (maybe taste and smell too).

Feed on Shadows: I don't know how I'd get this to directly effect a victim / enemy, but the idea is as it looks; feasting on shadow / darkness itself. I was going to have this type of vampire's fast healing / regeneration only work when they're in sufficient darkness as well.

Feed on Heat: One of my favorites. You feed on a creatures body heat (or just heat itself, om nom nom fire).

Feed on Age: This one I think I can get down myself. Basically make the target move up a level in the age bracket if the feeding succeeds. Permanent if they die after recent feeding.

Feed on (Stat): This one is also easy and I should be able to handle it. Essentially feeding on STR itself (or another stat). Could be interesting if feeding on a particular stat improves or activates another ability though. I.e. feast on CON gain healing.

So. There are what we have so far. Really I just need help with the first three. Senses might be easier if it was narrowed down to one such as sight. Shadows, I want to work a lot, but I'm not sure how to make it effect a victim / target and not just darkness itself. Heat is a toughie though. Maybe you feast on their speed as if you're slowing them down (i.e. cooling them off)?

Also, any help in how to format these new feedings and what they'd look like mechanically would be a major help.


For Ravenloft, they had vampires that fed on cerebrospinal fluid, thereby draining Int. X-files had a fat-drinking vampire (why he didn't go to Hollywood and work as a cosmetic surgeon I don't know), which could affect Con in another way than blood drinking. The schtick is drinking, though, so eating eyes and flesh is pretty clearly out. Sure, a vampire could drink the acqueous and vitreous humour from the eyes, but that is pretty tiny volumes we're talking about. The body heat drinking was (I believe) from Chill. You could have a creature that drinks skills, and prepared (or available) spells would be thematic for a vampire wizard or sorcerer. A fey- or similar-themed vampire could drink enchantments on people, perhaps as part of their feeding.


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Feed on Senses seems interesting. Fluff-wise I'd have it as the vampire doing something related. If he wants to feed on your sight, he locks gazes with you (a classic vampire trope anyway). To feed on hearing, he whispers in your hear, inhaling deeply after each sentence and stealing your sounds, taste he licks you (or has you drink of HIS blood, in an interesting reversal), smell he, well, smells you. Creepily. And touch is a gentle caress...

With each hit, he imposes a penalty to some Perception checkes based on that sense. If he takes your bonus to 0, you lose that sense permanently (subject to something like a Remove Curse folloed by a Greater Restoration fixes it or bla bla bla).

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Feed on Shadows depends on your intent. Do you mean like generic shadows (dark, shady places) or like specifically a CREATURE'S shadow? In the second case, I would have it be kind of a shadow-pinning thing. The vampire steps on your shadow, which Grapples you and lets them feed as vampires do (mechanically, something like a Grapple with Reach, but it doesn't move you closer). Except, he feeds on your shadow. This does something like a penalty to Movement speed. 5-10 feet per feeding. Once speed is reduced to 0, you are permanently paralyzed. Locked conscious and aware but unable to move in your own body. Reversion would need something more powerful than Remove Paralysis, but I'm not sure what.

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Feed on Heat is pretty easy. It Grapples you and sucks you dry as a normal vampire, and you freeze to death. Like Varme Tyv.


my favorite is the feed on emotions. the more the vampire feeds on the victim the less they can feel emotions. don't forget the famous salt vampires of the original Star Trek, maybe make that dexterity damage.


Rynjin wrote:

Feed on Senses seems interesting. Fluff-wise I'd have it as the vampire doing something related. If he wants to feed on your sight, he locks gazes with you (a classic vampire trope anyway). To feed on hearing, he whispers in your hear, inhaling deeply after each sentence and stealing your sounds, taste he licks you (or has you drink of HIS blood, in an interesting reversal), smell he, well, smells you. Creepily. And touch is a gentle caress...

With each hit, he imposes a penalty to some Perception checkes based on that sense. If he takes your bonus to 0, you lose that sense permanently (subject to something like a Remove Curse folloed by a Greater Restoration fixes it or bla bla bla).

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Feed on Shadows depends on your intent. Do you mean like generic shadows (dark, shady places) or like specifically a CREATURE'S shadow? In the second case, I would have it be kind of a shadow-pinning thing. The vampire steps on your shadow, which Grapples you and lets them feed as vampires do (mechanically, something like a Grapple with Reach, but it doesn't move you closer). Except, he feeds on your shadow. This does something like a penalty to Movement speed. 5-10 feet per feeding. Once speed is reduced to 0, you are permanently paralyzed. Locked conscious and aware but unable to move in your own body. Reversion would need something more powerful than Remove Paralysis, but I'm not sure what.

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Feed on Heat is pretty easy. It Grapples you and sucks you dry as a normal vampire, and you freeze to death. Like Varme Tyv.

Good stuff. I might switch the shadow from a grapple to a touch attack, with the caveat of having to do it to the shadow (and therefore touch the shadow).

Sense make sense. Maybe 1d4 "damage" to their perception according to what sense was being attacked.

I'm assuming stealing their heat would be draining CON then.

Thanks a lot for the helpful info everyone.


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I'll throw in some tentative rules.

Feed on Sight (Su): The vampire must lock eyes with a living creature within 10 feet, as a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity. If the creature fails a Will save (DC 10 + half the vampire's HD + the vampire's Cha mod), it is treated as though it was under the Hold Monster spell, and takes a -1 penalty to sight-based Perception checks per round. If the penalty reaches -10, the creature is permanently Blinded and the vampire cannot continue feeding. Once the vampire begins draining sight, it can maintain the process by spending a move action every turn, so long as he continues within 10 feet of the creature and nothing breaks his line of sight to it. The creature receives a Will save every round to break free. This is a mind-affecting effect and a gaze attack.

For each -1 penalty inflicted on the target, the vampire gains a +1 to sight-based Perception checks (to a maximum of +10). This bonus fades at the rate of 1 every 12 hours.

If the creature has not been struck blind, it recovers from the penalties at the rate of 1 per day. If the creature has been struck blind, it requires magical healing capable of removing permanent blindness, before it can begin healing the penalties.

Feed on Hearing (Su): The vampire must whisper into a living creature's ear from an adjacent square, as a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity. If the creature fails a Will save (DC 10 + half the vampire's HD + the vampire's Cha mod), it is treated as though it was under the Hold Monster spell, and takes a -1 penalty to hearing-based Perception checks per round. If the penalty reaches -10, the creature is permanently Deafened and the vampire cannot continue feeding. Once the vampire begins draining hearing, it can maintain the process by spending a move action every turn, so long as he continues adjacent to the creature. The creature receives a Will save every round to break free. This is a mind-affecting sonic effect.

For each -1 penalty inflicted on the target, the vampire gains a +1 to hearing-based Perception checks (to a maximum of +10). This bonus fades at the rate of 1 every 12 hours.

If the creature has not been struck deaf, it recovers from the penalties at the rate of 1 per day. If the creature has been struck deaf, it requires magical healing capable of removing permanent deafness, before it can begin healing the penalties.

Feed on Smell (Su): The vampire must creepily sniff a living creature from an adjacent square, as a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity. If the creature fails a Will save (DC 10 + half the vampire's HD + the vampire's Cha mod), it is treated as though it was under the Hold Monster spell, and takes a -1 penalty to smell-based Perception checks per round. If the penalty reaches -10, the creature loses its sense of smell and the vampire cannot continue feeding. Once the vampire begins draining smell, it can maintain the process by spending a move action every turn, so long as he continues adjacent to the creature. The creature receives a Will save every round to break free. This is a mind-affecting effect.

Creatures without a sense of smell lose the Scent quality, but become immune to smell-based effects (such as the Stinking Cloud spell or a ghast's odour). They are not immune to breathing in gaseous poisons, and in fact are incapable of detecting any smells whatsoever.

For each -1 penalty inflicted on the target, the vampire gains a +1 to smell-based Perception checks (to a maximum of +10). This bonus fades at the rate of 1 every 12 hours. For as long as the vampire has at least a +5 bonus, it gains the Scent quality.

If the creature has not lost its sense of smell completely, it recovers from the penalties at the rate of 1 per day. If the creature has lost its sense of smell, it requires a spell like Greater Restoration, Heal or Regenerate, before it can begin healing the penalties.

Feed on Voice (Su): The vampire must command a creature within 10 feet to speak, as a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity. If the creature fails a Will save (DC 10 + half the vampire's HD + the vampire's Cha mod), it is treated as though it was under the Dominate monster spell, but the vampire may only force the creature to stand still and take no actions but continually speak. This causes the creature to slowly lose its voice, taking a 10% cummulative chance of failure on any spells with verbal components or voice-reliant attacks, class features or effects. If the failure chance reaches 100%, the creature is permanently mute and the vampire cannot continue feeding. Once the vampire begins draining voice, it can maintain the process by spending a move action every turn, so long as he continues within 10 feet of and able to hear the creature. The creature receives a Will save every round to break free. This is a mind-affecting Enchantment(compulsion) effect.

A creature struck mute cannot cast spells with verbal components or use any attacks, class features or effects that require her voice. She cannot speak, shout or or make any type of verbal sound.

For each 20% failure chance inflicted on the target, the vampire gains a +1 to the DC of all its sonic and language-dependent effects (to a maximum of +5). This bonus fades at the rate of 1 every day.

If the creature has not been struck mute, it recovers from the failure chance at the rate of 10% per day. If the creature has been struck mute, it requires a spell like Greater Restoration, Heal or Regenerate, before it can begin healing the failure chance.

Feed on Shadows (Su): The vampire may make a melee touch attack as a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity, to feed on the shadow of a living creature. The creature touched must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + half the vampire's HD + the vampire's Cha mod) or lose part of its shadow. Losing its shadow causes the creature to become less solid and lose its sense of self, taking a -2 penalty to all Strength and Constitution checks and rolls, and on Will saves. The creature is considered one size smaller for the purposes of combat manoeuvres (to a minimum of Diminutive).

If the penalties reach -10, the creature loses its shadow completely, becoming permanently Ethereal and Staggered. It wanders the Ethereal plane in a state of permanent depression, unable to find the sense of self to do anything but wander.

For every -2 penalty they inflict, Vampires gain a +1 to the DC of any Illusion(shadow) and [shadow] effects, and of any shadow magic they can use (maximum +5). The bonuses fade at the rate of 1 per day.

If the creature has not lost its shadow completely, it recovers from the penalties at the rate of 1 per day. If the creature has lost its shadow completely, it requires a spell like Greater Restoration, Heal or Regenerate, before it can begin healing the penalties. Shadow spells (at the DM's discretion) may also count towards healing the creature's shadow.

Feed on Heat (Su): The vampire may make a melee touch attack as a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity, to drain the heat of a living creature. The touch attack deals 2d8 + the vampire's Cha mod in cold damage, and grants damage dealt as temporary HP (that fades at the rate of 1 point per hour). If a living creature is killed as a result of this cold damage, the vampire gains temporary relief from its weaknesses. For one hour per HD of the creature it killed, it can ignore its Vampire Weaknesses, and counts as a living creature for the purposes of positive and negative energy.

Feed on Age (Su): As a standard action that provokes an attack of opportunity, the vampire may begin draining the youth of a living creature within 10 feet. If the creature fails a Will save (DC 10 + half the vampire's HD + the vampire's Cha mod), it is treated as though it was under the Hold Monster spell and begins taking damage to its physical ability scores at the rate of 1 per round. The first round it affects Strength, the second round it affects Dexterity and the third round it affects Constitution. This continues to repeat for up to 9 rounds, with the damage applying in the same order.

If the damage ever equals the penalties obtained by advancing an age category, the creature advances an age category and the damage becomes permanent (for example, an adult creature would reach middle age by the end of the third round). If a creature is already at its maximum age category (usually Venerable), it must make a Fortitude save every round (same DC) or die. Creatures who take an amount of damage to their Constitution equal to their Constitution score get a single Fort save (same DC) to avoid that damage. If they fail, they die. If they succeed, they do not take that point of Constitution damage, and must save again 3 rounds later when they take Constitution damage again. Once the vampire begins draining age, it can maintain the process by spending a move action every turn, so long as he continues within 10 feet of the creature. The creature receives a Will save every round to break free. This is a mind-affecting death effect.

For every point of ability damage that the vampire inflicts this way, it gains a +1 enhancement bonus to that ability score (Constitution damage is turned into a Charisma enhancement bonus). These bonuses fade at the rate of 1 every 12 hours.

If the creature did not advance an age category, it can heal the ability damage as normal. If it advanced an age category, only magic that can reverse ageing can deal with their condition.

I didn't do Feed on [Stat], because I felt the rules were a bit obvious (see any [Stat]-draining undead), but we might be able to come up with something cool if we stray from the predictable.


Have you considered the other three classical humours?


Shadow Knight, you are a gentlemen and a scholar. Thanks!

quibblemuch wrote:
Have you considered the other three classical humours?

Not quite sure what you mean. You mean the classic ways vampires fed? Such as on blood or life force?


Depending on how icky/terrifying you want to go there are plenty of options. Be warned some of these are pretty awful by about any standard but will at least garner a reaction about how horrible the creatures are.

Feeding on Breath.

Feeding on Semen (classical succubus stuff)

Feeding on unborn children. (plot hooks galore, but generally incredibly depressing, mature groups only)

Feeding on good health (think of inflicting boils, cancers and what not)

Feeding on emotion (probably charisma drain)

I can think of more but I'm off to work.


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Third Mind wrote:

Shadow Knight, you are a gentlemen and a scholar. Thanks!

quibblemuch wrote:
Have you considered the other three classical humours?
Not quite sure what you mean. You mean the classic ways vampires fed? Such as on blood or life force?

No problem, I had a lot of fun writing these!

Also I think he means black bile, yellow bile and phlegm. Which are really, really gross things to drink. :P


Like some of these a lot, here are some other alternatives:

Dresden Files style White Court Vampire, they feed on life energy through sexual desire. Very high charisma, can alter the minds of others into giving in to their desires. Will saves to resist, when they fail they lose 1 hp permanently and the vampire can use that point to enhance strength, speed, senses, etc.

A Vampire that can feed on dreams, slowly driving people insane by the lack of REM sleep.

A vampire that feeds on disease. One might think him a caring doctor, but in fact hes spreading disease to the townsfolk to boost his food stock.


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Ooooh, new things for me to do! Let's get going, shall we?

Feed on Breath (Su): As a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity, the vampire may look at a living creature within 10 feet and suck in a deep breath. The creature must make a Fort save (DC 10 + half the vampire's HD + the vampire's Cha mod). If the creature fails its save, it is treated as though it was on its last round of holding its breath (as per the suffocation rules), and has one round to move 10 feet away from the vampire before it falls unconscious. Once unconscious (but still alive), the victim may be removed from within 10 feet of the vampire in order to end this effect. This is a mind-affecting death effect.

If a living creature is killed as a result of this effect, the vampire gains temporary relief from its weaknesses. For one hour per HD of the creature it killed, it can ignore its Vampire Weaknesses, and counts as a living creature for the purposes of positive and negative energy.

Feed on Sexual Fluids (Su): During (usually after) intercourse, a vampire may feed on a living creature's sexual fluids as a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity. The living creature must make a Fort save (DC 10 + half the vampire's HD + the vampire's Cha mod) or take 1d4 points of Charisma damage. The living creature must succeed on a Sense Motive check (DC equals the vampire's Bluff check) to realise the vampire's actions have caused them harm. This is a mind-affecting emotion death effect.

The creature heals ability damage normally, but if it reaches a Charisma under 3, it is treated as though permanently Dominated by the vampire until it heals enough Charisma damage to return to 3 or more. If it reaches 0 Charisma, the vampire may choose to kill the creature or turn it into a mindless slave. If the vampire chooses to kill, the creature must make a Fort save (same DC) or die. If the creature succeeds on the save, the vampire must wait 24 hours before trying again. The vampire can only attempt this while feeding on the creature, and only when the creature has 0 Charisma.

If the vampire chooses to enslave, the creature must make a Will save (same DC) or lose its Intelligence score and have its Charisma score become 1 permanently. When enslaved, the creature obeys the vampire as though it was a mindless undead being controlled. If the creature succeeds on the save, the vampire must wait 24 hours before trying again. The vampire can only attempt this while feeding on the creature, and only when the creature has 0 Charisma.

Curing an enslaved creature requires slaying the vampire and then casting Greater Restoration, Heal, Wish or Miracle on the target.

The vampire gains a +1 enhancement bonus to Charisma for every 2 points of Charisma damage they deal (maximum +6). The points fade at the rate of 1 per day.

Feed on Dreams (Sp): Once per day, the vampire may use a modified version of the Nightmare spell as a spell-like ability. Use the standard rules as the spell, but it deals 2d10 damage instead and grants damage dealt to the vampire as temporary HP that fades at the rate of 1 per hour. A creature may only be affected by this effect once per day. The DC of this effect equals 10 + half the vampire's HD + the vampire's Charisma mod.

If a creature is the target of this effect two days in a row, it wakes up Exhausted instead of Fatigued. If a creature is the target of this effect three days in a row, it must also make a Fortitude save (same DC) or die upon awakening. If a creature succeeds on the save and is targeted again the following day, it must save once more.

If a vampire kills a creature using this effect, it gains 1 round per HD of the creature of Etherealness, which he may use as a spell-like ability. The vampire loses any unused rounds of Etherealness 24 hours after the creature died. While using Etherealness, the vampire may enter any creature's dreams (treat it as the Dream spell, at will).

Feed on Emotion (Su): As a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity, a vampire may feed on the emotions of a living creature within 10 feet. If the creature fails a Will save (DC 10 + half the vampire's HD + the vampire's Charisma modifier), it is treated as though under both a Charm Monster spell and a Calm Emotions spell. Once the vampire has begun draining emotions, it can continue to drain with a move action every round, so long as they keep the creature within 10 feet of them. Every round, the victim receives a new Will save to break free from the effect. This is a mind-affecting emotion effect.

If the victim goes 10 rounds under this effect, the effect ends, the vampire cannot continue feeding, and the creature loses the ability to feel emotions. It is considered to be under a permanent Calm Emotions spell, that can only be healed by a Greater Restoration, Heal, Wish or Miracle spell.

If a vampire successfully causes a creature to lose the ability to feel emotions, they gain the ability to allow mind-affecting effects to affect them, for one hour per HD of the creature. This allows vampires to enjoy positive morale bonuses, for example. They also gain the ability to rage as a barbarian once per day, but they may only use this ability while they're able to allow mind-affecting effects to affect them.


I think I may make a Feed on Touch as you had for the other senses. Switching up the wording for the perception. Not sure how that'd effect one if they lost all sense of touch. Perhaps it'd ruin somatic component spells for wizards. Hm...

I definitely like the feed on breath, since you sort of have to chase the target to feed. I also like the feed on emotion and how it gives a permanent calm emotions if they feed all the way.

Feed on sexual fluids seems fun if just for the vampire gaining a mindless slave if they can manage it.


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Muddman72 wrote:
Dresden Files style White Court Vampire, they feed on life energy through sexual desire. Very high charisma, can alter the minds of others into giving in to their desires. Will saves to resist, when they fail they lose 1 hp permanently and the vampire can use that point to enhance strength, speed, senses, etc.

I was about to comment this. There are also two other White Court vampire families, Malvora and Skavis, that feed on Fear and Despair respectively.


I actually considered making a Feed on Touch, but I couldn't think of what sort of penalties it would generate (somatic components don't seem like it, considering they're more about motion than touch).

Glad you like them! :D


Losing the sense of touch can be devastating.

As some quick eamples: You'd no longer be able to draw items from a pouch/backpack without looking into it. You normally get those things by feeling fr a certain shape, but that's a no-go.

And you can't tell when you've been critically injured or poisoned (if you're at 0 HP, you wouldn't know the difference).

You would never know if you'd actually connected an attack against someone while blind or in a mist (you can't feel the force of your sword biting into them).

Just examples.


Hmm... with the loss of the feeling of touch, if they can't feel being hit in battle whether it be by poison dart, sword, bullets and such, what if it made one take plus half damage from attacks? The idea being that they can't feel that knife in their back, and therefore aren't moving to stop it from harming them even further. Or one could put a percentile chance at dropping an item they're holding, since they can't know how tightly they'reholding onto it. Or maybe one could just do a debuff. -2 or more on attacks, AC, CMB, CMD annd fortitude saves.


The problem with the suggestions is that they end up being a bunch of random, unrelated effects that clutter the ruling for the attack. I'll try my best to do something that covers the examples given while keeping the ruling as simple as possible.

Feed on Touch (Su): As a touch attack, the vampire can drain a living creature's sense of touch. The creature touched must make a Will save (DC 10 + half the vampire's HD + the vampire's Cha mod) or be held as though by the spell Hold Monster. Once the vampire has begun draining, he may continue to do so by spending a move action per round, so long as he remains adjacent to the creature and dedicates one hand to be constantly touching it. The creature receives a Will save every round to break free. This is a mind-affecting effect.

Every round that the vampire drains touch, the creature receives a 10% chance per round of dropping whatever it's holding, a 10% failure chance for retrieving objects and a -2 penalty to attack rolls, CMD, CMB and touch-based Perception checks. If the penalty reaches -10, the creature has permanently lost its sense of touch. It cannot know how close it is to death nor the gravity of its wounds, it is immune to pain effects, and it has a 50% chance of failing any actions that it performs in conditions where sight is hampered.

If the creature has not lost its sense of touch permanently, it loses the penalties, failure chance and chance of dropping held objects at the rate of -1 and 5% per day. If it has lost its sense of touch permanently, it needs magic like Greater Restoration, Heal, Wish or Miracle before it can begin healing the penalties, failure chance and chance of dropping held objects.

For every -1 penalty it inflicts, the vampire gains a +1 bonus to touch-based Perception checks (maximum +10). If the vampire has at least a +5 bonus, it gains tremorsense 30 ft. so long as it has a bare body part touching the ground or water (usually the feet). If the vampire has a +10 bonus, it increases its tremorsense to 60 ft.

-*-*-*-*-

Would you like me to give another suggestion here a try? I considered feeding on health or disease but I couldn't think of anything off the cuff, so I let them be.


Shadow Knight wrote:
The problem with the suggestions is that they end up being a bunch of random, unrelated effects that clutter the ruling for the attack. I'll try my best to do something that covers the examples given while keeping the ruling as simple as possible.

I didn't mean that all of them had to happen at once, nor that I expected you to write it up, I was merely shooting out different possibilities that could work. One or two probably would have sufficed fine. That said, I am very grateful and appreciative to you for writing it up. Thanks! :)

Not sure about ones here, but I'm thinking of trying my own hand on "Feed on Sanity". Probably drops the WIS score until 0, but instead of pseudo death, it gives them a random insanity from paizo's list (they better hope its not amnesia) that they're stuck with almost permanently, save for things like wish and such. I might even cherry pick some and make it based on a dice roll (i.e. 4 insanities = 1d4).

These have all been a great help though. There's a few different vampires I think I could make out of these that will end up quite impressive and scary. With the Feed on Voice and Feed on Breathe mixed together, they're going to have a hard time screaming. Feed on Shadows is quite intense and will fit a Shadow Vampire quite well and the Feed on Senses line will make one I think most characters would say "No thanks" to if they had the choice.


Glad I could be of service! Feeding on sanity can be framed as my Feed on Sexual Fluids take, which was really only a super elaborate take on "Feed on Charisma". It would be really interesting if a vampire feeding on sanity was actually insane like an allip, and was able to regain temporary normality by feeding on other people's sanity. The allip's fascinating babble attack can replace a vampire's dominating gaze, and they can lose that attack after they've fed on sanity and replace it with a wis bonus and a proper dominating gaze.


So I had a thought of something like this...

Spell Eater Vampire

This variant of vampire feeds off of the energy of arcane spells. They hunt down spellcasters and devour their spells.

Arcane Blood, can cast spells as a sorcerer with HD equal to their level. They do not regain there spells per day from sleep but must absorb them from their victims.

SR (20+vampires HD+Vampires Cha)

Absorb Spells: If an arcane spell that targets a spell eater vampire fails to bypass it's spell resistance the vampire absorbs the spell and can refill a used spell slot of up to that spells level.

Feed on Magic: As a touch attack a Spell Eater Vampire can absorb 2d6 levels worth of spells from an arcane spellcaster, unused slots from a sorcerer or memorized from a wizard, ex roll a 7 can absorb two level 3 spells and a level 1 spell. Spells absorbed this way can refill the spell eater vampires spells per day.

If the arcane spellcaster has no spells left the Vampire may instead give them -1d4 caster levels (can be removed with remove curse after 24 hours) and gains an equal amount as a caster level bonus for the next 24 hours.


This thread is all kinds of creepy. Well done! :)


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I figure I'd bundle these for some thematic vampire archetypes. Everything I type below modifies this template.

The Sentinel Vampire

Loses Blood Drain and Energy Drain. Gains the Feed on Sight, Feed on Hearing, Feed on Smell and Feed on Touch special attacks. Vampire spawn created lose Blood Drain and gain two of the four special attacks of the vampire parent (vampire spawn's choice).

This reduces the Vampire's CR by 1.

Sentinel vampires have been deliberately created by necromancers and liches to act as spies, sentries and hunters. Ensuring the loyalty of a creature as powerful as a vampire is a difficult task, so many free-willed sentinel vampires do exist.

Sentinel Vampires are capable of feeding on people without killing them, and are therefore able to blend into society and pass through populations without leaving a trail of bodies behind. They are especially good at hiding their tracks by visiting populations currently undergoing an outbreak of some blinding or deafening disease. Loss of smell and touch are vague enough to remain unnoticed to most people.

When fully fed on senses, a Sentinel Vampire has a +10 to all forms of Perception checks, the Scent special ability, and tremorsense up to 60 feet.

The Echo Vampire

Loses Blood Drain and Energy Drain. Gains the Feed on Shadows and Feed on Heat special attacks. Vampire spawn created lose Blood Drain and gain Feed on Heat.

This reduces the Vampire's CR by 1.

Echo vampires occur due to many different causes. Sometimes, a timestream is deleted due to a paradox caused by time travel. Sometimes, a demiplane is reabsorbed into the Astral Plane. Other times, a person dies when it's not their fated time. Whenever a person with a high sense of self is met with some sort of demise that involves the fundamental forces of the cosmos (space, time, fate, etc.), they may find themselves unwilling to let go, and in so doing, they become echo vampires, and are randomly transported to a location in the Material Plane.

Echo vampires steal shadows and heat in order to regain their sense of reality and self, dooming others to relieve their own sense of irreality. Their impact on population is visible, but most would not think to tie it to the workings of a vampire.

A fully fed echo vampire is immune to its vampire weaknesses, has a +5 bonus to the DC of any Illusion(shadow) and [shadow] effects, and of any shadow magic they can use, and has up to their normal HP as bonus temporary HP.

The Psychic Vampire

Loses Blood Drain and Energy Drain. Gains the Feed on Emotions and Feed on Dreams special attacks. Vampire spawn created lose Blood Drain and gain Feed on Emotions.

This reduces the Vampire's CR by 2.

Psychic vampires are born from wishes and miracles gone awry. Whenever such powerful magic does not go the way it was intended, the nearby corpse of a highly-willed individual lurches back to unlife, finding itself dead inside and wanting nothing more but to experience what undeath denies them. Psychic vampires may also rise from profoundly depressed individuals that commit suicide or allow themselves to waste away, but that are too strong-willed to become mere allips.

Psychic vampires blend almost seamlessly into society, causing all sorts of psychic strife and leaving behind broken shells and corpses in their beds. It is very rare that vampires are suspected of such doings, and intelligent psychic vampires can set up their lairs in a big city and choose their victims carefully to avoid even the suspicion that something odd is happening at all.

A fully fed psychic vampire can allow themselves to be affected by mind-affecting effects, and is able to rage once per day like a barbarian (barbarian level would equal the vampire's HD). They also may have up to 20 rounds of Etherealness, and the ability to cast Dream at will as a SLA while Ethereal (casting time reduced to one full-round action instead of 1 minute).

The Silent Vampire

Loses Blood Drain and Energy Drain. Gains the Feed on Voice and Feed on Breath special attacks. Vampire spawn created lose Blood Drain and gain Feed on Voice.

This does not change the vampire's CR.

Silent vampires arise from the corpses of high-willed victims of incarceration and isolation. If a sufficiently strong-willed person is incarcerated, removed from the rest of the world and left to die in some nameless hole, it may rise as a silent vampire. Silent vampires have been so traumatised by their experiences that they are willing to inflict their curse on others as a way to escape from their profound helplessness and isolation. Denied the ability to speak, to move, to breathe, they seek to eternally escape the memories that haunt them.

Silent vampires are rather difficult to ignore in a population, as their victims are readily identifiable and while vampires may not be suspected immediately, it's only a matter of time before the vampire accidentally uses the wrong voice and suspicion befalls them.

A fully fed silent vampire has a +5 bonus to the DC of all its sonic and language-dependent effects, and is immune to its vampire weaknesses. A silent vampire may also speak with the voice of any creature they have killed with their Feed on Voice special attack within the past 24 hours.

The Scarlet Vampire

Loses Blood Drain and Energy Drain. Gains the Feed on Age and Feed on Sexual Fluids special attacks. Vampire spawn created lose Blood Drain and gain Feed on Age. The maximum bonus granted by Feed on Age is +6 to each ability score. Enhancement bonuses to Charisma obtained from both sources stack (this is a special exception to same-named bonuses not stacking).

A scarlet vampire that is older than adult ignores any penalties it has from its age category, but preserves the bonuses, and physically looks like a handsome version of its adult self. This only applies to the scarlet vampire while it has at least a +1 enhancement bonus to any of its ability scores from its Feed on Age special attack.

This increases the vampire's CR by 2.

Scarlet vampires are victims of injustice. Used and discarded like objects, they known nothing but the cycle of abuse. Now that they are in power, the revel in treating others the same way they were treated before their deaths, enjoying the feeling of having the minds and lives of others in their hands.

The effects of scarlet vampires on populations are subtle at first, but always immediately disastrous. They can turn a village into a harem of personal slaves and withered old corpses in a matter of time, before they exhaust their food supply and are forced to move on. They are easy to track down, but they prove to be formidable foes.

A fully fed scarlet vampire has a +6 enhancement bonus to Strength and Dexterity and a +12 enhancement bonus to Charisma, and has up to twice the vampire's HD in HD of mindless slaves.


Loss of a sense of touch would cause serious harm to your central nervous system. he sensory deprivation chamber tends to cause hallucinations and would, given time, drive you insane.

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