Pathfinder Player Companion: Blood of the Night (PFRPG)

They generally do not revisit player options they've printed in the player companions.

I believe I asked the Developer the question Cheapy.

Quote:

Nope. This book doesn't change or add anything regarding that archetype.

Might I ask from the Developer of this book the reason for that decision. I only ask as I feel as it stands the current Vampire Hunter archetype lacks a GREAT DEAL OF APPEAL for those wishing to fight the hungry dead (as cool as Sun Strike is I don't feel an extra +1d6 dmg dealt merits a good Vampire Hunter or a Hunter of the Undead for that matter).

Since there isn't anything technically wrong with the vampire hunter archetype in Inner Sea Magic, it wouldn't make much sense for us to errata it or change it in some significant way, and even if we did do this, we likely wouldn't do it in a Player Companion book (since Inner Sea Magic is in the Campaign Setting line).

Any word on this?

Any idea when this is going to be published?

This product is currently slated for our December subscription release, which will be begin the authorization process some time later this week.

One! Two! Three days till release! Ah ah ah ah!

This product is currently slated for our December subscription release, which will be begin the authorization process some time later this week.

Ok, I just didn't see it in Sara Marie's post.

so it looks like it is in stock in print right now. but the PDF will not be available till the 19th?

is that correct?

so it looks like it is in stock in print right now. but the PDF will not be available till the 19th?

is that correct?

Correct. The official release date (as in, the date you should be able to find the print version in brick & mortar stores) is the 19th. Paizo doesn't release their pdfs until the official street date.

Correct. The official release date (as in, the date you should be able to find the print version in brick & mortar stores) is the 19th. Paizo doesn't release their pdfs until the official street date.

Small Caveat. If you have a Subscription you get the PDFs about a week in advance.

Can't. Wait. D:

Now to fit in a Lugosi->Lee->Oldman Dracula marathon before it arrives.

Maybe both Vampire Hunter D films and a Bloodrayne play through too.

Now to fit in a Lugosi->Lee->Oldman Dracula marathon before it arrives.

No Langella love?

Btw, PDF layout is classic vampire red/black (with white text, even!). I felt like I was reading an old TSR Ravenloft product. Great Gothic design.

Does it have the same "swap out SLA / ability spread" feature of the other Blood Of Xs?

Does it have the same "swap out SLA / ability spread" feature of the other Blood Of Xs?

Yep, each of the 4 types of Dhampir have their own alternative SLAs / ability mods but they also get alternate weaknesses replacing light sensitivity.

Cheapy wrote:

Does it have the same "swap out SLA / ability spread" feature of the other Blood Of Xs?

Yep, each of the 4 types of Dhampir have their own alternative SLAs / ability mods but they also get alternate weaknesses replacing light sensitivity.

Not quite. Yes each of the bloodlines has a different SLA but there isn't a table of 100 different random features for you to swap the SLA for.

So I'm guessing "nosferatu-kin" are in for sure? What about "vetala-kin"?

"Pennangalan-kin"?

No Langella love?

I feel like if I went there I'd have to go with Palance as well, and then it just never ends.

So I'm guessing "nosferatu-kin" are in for sure? What about "vetala-kin"?

"Pennangalan-kin"?

The four specific bloodlines presented are:

Regular ol' Dhampirs don't trace to a direct bloodline and are apparently the mutts of the quasi-vampire world.

Thanks! Don't know how I managed to forget the Jiang-shi...

I suspect they have a bonus to certain Acrobatics checks...

Have we ever gotten an updated Nosferatu template yet?

I'd never realized the the Moroi had been introduced into pathfinder, is there any info on them? Seconded on the Nosferatu template; I'm pretty curious about that too.

Have we ever gotten an updated Nosferatu template yet?

Not yet. :-(

I'd never realized the the Moroi had been introduced into pathfinder, is there any info on them? Seconded on the Nosferatu template; I'm pretty curious about that too.

Moroi are just the racial name for the standard vampires from Bestiary 1.

I just looked through my PDF of the book. A lot of this stuff was more appropriate to the Campaign Setting line, and some of it overlaps or clashes with already printed stuff. There are feats to grant an animal form (or another form if it has a form already), to grant a swarm form (or another if it has one already), and a mist form (or bonus mist powers if it has a mist form already) but no mention of how these interact with vampires built using the Swarmshifter vampire variant in Classic Horrors Revisited. There's a vampiric companion feat that functions differently from the vampiric companion feat that appears in Rival Guide. The book specifically calls out that vampires try to limit their number of enslaved spawn, with no mention of the Vampire Mastermind variant from Classic Horrors Revisited that doubles the number of hitdice of enslaved spawn a vampire can have.

There's mention at the beginning that moroi (standard vampires) spawn eventually gain all the powers of their vampiric progenitors, but no mention of that in the actual text that I saw. In fact there's no mention of the creatures specifically called vampire spawn at all.

The book doesn't appear to take anything from Advanced Race Guide into consideration, except for one point when it refers to the build costs of the vampire templates. It offers a role for dhampirs that uses the weak-sauce Vampire Hunter inquisitor archetype from Inner Sea Magic when the superior Kinslayer inquisitor archetype from Advanced Race Guide gets no mention. I was hoping to see material to support the dhampir-only feats that first appeared in Advanced Race Guide, but there's only one feat that's a dhampir-exclusive race feat, aside from Vampiric Companion, which allows the dhampir or vampire to have an undead animal companion or familiar. The book kind of feels like it was written without enough information on what was published already.

This book is very pretty and I look forward to looking through my print copy when it arrives, but I don't think it succeeds at supporting the dhampir or vampire hunter PCs very well. The dhampir section starts on page 18 and goes to page 21. There are some dhampir-related mentions in other sections, but this book falls very short in the "Blood of" line. The listed items are pretty cool, but there aren't many of them.

Also, the new "roles" write-ups are like pseudo-code for making characters with material that already exists. It's nice to be pointed to material you already have, I guess, but they're kind of like long thematic lists of material not found in the book, and there seem to be a lot of roles lists in this book.

Why is the standard dhampir now the bastard-child version? How do you even have a mongrel-dhampir? It's not like there are mixed-breed vampires. The standard dhampir should have just been treated as the moroi-spawn dhampir, since moroi aren't new for the book either. So now existing dhampirs are "mongrels" somehow.

I try not to complain about stuff too much, I think, but this was a very disappointing showing.

Maybe I'll feel better about it once I've looked through the print edition, but I've wanted this book a long time and right it's strongly in the "fails to meet expectations" category.

I was tempted to post this as a review, but I'm not going to review anything without a physical copy in hand. (Maybe that will make a difference, I don't know.)

I'm probably being too harsh. The vampire stuff is pretty neat, just doesn't feel like Player Companion-appropriate material, and it seems like the dhampir stuff was the part that could use the most expanding. The majority of this book is focused on playing vampires, with the dhampir and hunter sections filling in the backmatter, and saying they're filling it in is being polite. The feats section is about half-and-half, and that's not counting the three transformation feats that appear earlier.

And the more I see "roles," the more I see them as a waist of ink.

I was very disapointed in this book. There wasn't any of the things I was looking for Dhampirs in this one except the vampire bloodlines. No racial feats for dhampirs that granted them things like bat/wolf forms, gasious form(Su-1 round increments per level), spider climb(Lv11), Fast Healing 1 (lv9), etc. I really wish that this book line would have alternate racial traits as well that you could swap out like Advanced players Guide and Advanced Race Guide does.

I was very disapointed in this book. There wasn't any of the things I was looking for Dhampirs in this one except the vampire bloodlines. No racial feats for dhampirs that granted them things like bat/wolf forms, gasious form(Su-1 round increments per level), spider climb(Lv11), Fast Healing 1 (lv9), etc. I really wish that this book line would have alternate racial traits as well that you could swap out like Advanced players Guide and Advanced Race Guide does.

But... those are all things that you can build trivially. A dhampir sorcerer with the undead bloodline would have access to everything you describe. Wanting it all crammed into one racial template just feels like munchkining to me. Heck, you really only need this book for flavor. Everything else it could possibly do is almost certain to be easily achieved using the existing rules.

One note: fast healing isn't really pertinent to the classic vampire tropes (which, I think, makes more sense as a source for swords and sorcery fantasy vampires). Damage resistance is much more along the lines of what was described in legends and lore associated with vampires. Only in modern, TV/film vampires have we started to see the "closing wound" sort of healing, and that's mostly a result of the fact that having your "heroic" vampire character running around being an action hero archetype in form-fitting latex doesn't work so well if they know that any damage that gets through will "leave a mark" (props to Joss Whedon's decision to leave Paul Rubins' arm gone).

So... what goodies to the dhampir bloodlines get then?

is it a misprint that the vatala dhampir's have an intelligence penalty? After reading through their entry it seems like they are scholars 1st and have childlike impulses that lead them astray or distract them suggesting a Wis penalty.

That being said art in this book is awesome, the osirani one near the end is sick and the bespectacled nosferatu dhampir might be one of my favorite character portraits I've seen in a while (been really looking forward to some glasses wearing characters somewhere). Just makes me want to play an Ancient-born all the more though as what class i don't know yet.

So... what goodies to the dhampir bloodlines get then?

jani-shi get some awesome traits including the ability to have a random 3-18 number treated as a nat 20 as you are mystically bound to it

Moroi get more stuff to help them charm others

Nosferatu born are physically frail and easily damaged by physically damaging stuff and get doom. Their traits can spot thralls of other vampires or look older then

vatala's don't like hallowed ground but can remember half forgotten truths from their masters through traits.

Will say i wish the nosferatu's spell like and other trait were more thematic. Doom feels off to me and the thrall spotter thing just seems like something any dhampir could get as a trait rather then something that a nosferatu would be good at in particular.

Well after Blood of Fiends and Blood of Angels, my expectations are going to be a lot tougher. But still you have several feats in the ARG for just biting someone but you can't get any of the fun vampire abilities as racial feats. These books are way too small to focus on more then one race at a time.

On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being not allowed at my table, 10 being encouraged at my table) I'm going to rank this one a: 3 - If a player wants to use it for a game I won't tell him no, but I'll direct him to other sources first.

Other thing, aren't the dhampir of jiang-shi supposed to have a dex penalty? Everything in their write up screams that they should have a penalty there to match their gracelessness but they have a bonus? Is that a mistake?

The Ru-Shi are described as being stiff and awkward, like their parents, but the Jiang-Shi are some of the most agile and dextrous of the vampires with +6 Dex and +8 Acrobatics vs. the standard +4 and no bonus to Acrobatics.

I agree with the vetala born dhampir however. "Status as scholar" and -2 Int don't really go together.

The Ru-Shi are described as being stiff and awkward, like their parents, but the Jiang-Shi are some of the most agile and dextrous of the vampires with +6 Dex and +8 Acrobatics vs. the standard +4 and no bonus to Acrobatics.

I agree with the vetala born dhampir however. "Status as scholar" and -2 Int don't really go together.

Internet ate my post. Yeah though I really hate it when you read all this amazing fluff and then the crunch is to the contrary. Also I would have loved to have seen a better option for the Ancient born then doom, everything else feels pretty on the money but I wish they had something like vomit swarm or a telepathic ability to fit more with the theme.

Well after Blood of Fiends and Blood of Angels, my expectations are going to be a lot tougher. But still you have several feats in the ARG for just biting someone but you can't get any of the fun vampire abilities as racial feats. These books are way too small to focus on more then one race at a time.

I'm probably being too harsh. The vampire stuff is pretty neat, just doesn't feel like Player Companion-appropriate material, and it seems like the dhampir stuff was the part that could use the most expanding.

Its also important to establish WHAT a player is hunting, should he be building a vampire hunter or just have a good knowledge skill. I'm seeing this line as not just about what a player can play and the toys and mods that he can get, but also what knowledge a player's character may know and be able to act on. Its nice that they are also useful to DMs, beyond just being a tool chest, in that it gives them some clarity or insight into a small slice of the greater campaign world that may not be easily wrapped under a single book in the Campaign Setting product line. From what I recall reading, this is exactly what the PC line revamp was meant to do.

The next PC and CS books will be tightly linked with Irrisen information, and I think this is the first time they have done this since the PC revamp, so I'm curious to see what will be in the PC book vs the CS book.

However, this book may have brought different expectations to the table using the "Blood of . . ." title.

Dragon78 wrote:

Well after Blood of Fiends and Blood of Angels, my expectations are going to be a lot tougher. But still you have several feats in the ARG for just biting someone but you can't get any of the fun vampire abilities as racial feats. These books are way too small to focus on more then one race at a time.

Wolf Munroe wrote:

I'm probably being too harsh. The vampire stuff is pretty neat, just doesn't feel like Player Companion-appropriate material, and it seems like the dhampir stuff was the part that could use the most expanding.

Its also important to establish WHAT a player is hunting, should he be building a vampire hunter or just have a good knowledge skill. I'm seeing this line as not just about what a player can play and the toys and mods that he can get, but also what knowledge a player's character may know and be able to act on. Its nice that they are also useful to DMs, beyond just being a tool chest, in that it gives them some clarity or insight into a small slice of the greater campaign world that may not be easily wrapped under a single book in the Campaign Setting product line. From what I recall reading, this is exactly what the PC line revamp was meant to do.

The next PC and CS books will be tightly linked with Irrisen information, and I think this is the first time they have done this since the PC revamp, so I'm curious to see what will be in the PC book vs the CS book.

However, this book may have brought different expectations to the table using the "Blood of . . ." title.

I can totally get that and I love that they are making books that are meant to be a toolkit for players free of gm spoilery things and I love that we are finally seeing a line somewhere that is aimed squarely at helping players out in that regard.

But at the same time I, as a player and GM hate it when I get awesome fluff that then gets crunch that doesn't mesh with the fluff as written. To me it just makes me want them to have either edited said content or cut it. Like the thrall sense for the Ancient born dhampir, why do they get that in particular and not every other vamp relative? To me it feels like they should have just let that one either be neutral and used the space for something more thematic (like the telekinetic dependence trait of the forebears) or rewriting it so that it fits more with the creature theme. It's made all the more annoying when literally a page over we get the Jiang-shi dhampir options which are not only crunch good but just so thematically on the money. That roller-coaster of quality level is jarring and throws things off, like when your watching a good movie and like 75% of the way through the thing totally changes gears and throws all the mood it built up off.

Ok I got it, I read it..it's still mostly banned.No Vampire PC's or even semi-vampire in my games TYVM

Vampire hunting on the other hand is an honorable profession and should be encouraged.

Since the dhampir stuff seems not to be a strong point with everyone, how much do the vampire themed aspects hold up? As in greater detail on penanggalan, nosferatu, etc. I'd be interested in purchasing for that, as a DM.

Doom feels off to me and the thrall spotter thing just seems like something any dhampir could get as a trait rather then something that a nosferatu would be good at in particular.

While I have yet to get the book, my two coppers would be that most Pathfinder-themed books have suggested that nosferatu are an older, precursor to the traditional Bestiary vampire, and are also despised by the same; so I'd guess it'd be a survival tactic? Probably not the strongest explanation, but eh.

Since the dhampir stuff seems not to be a strong point with everyone, how much do the vampire themed aspects hold up? As in greater detail on penanggalan, nosferatu, etc. I'd be interested in purchasing for that, as a DM.

doc the grey wrote:

Doom feels off to me and the thrall spotter thing just seems like something any dhampir could get as a trait rather then something that a nosferatu would be good at in particular.

While I have yet to get the book, my two coppers would be that most Pathfinder-themed books have suggested that nosferatu are an older, precursor to the traditional Bestiary vampire, and are also despised by the same; so I'd guess it'd be a survival tactic? Probably not the strongest explanation, but eh.

Yeah but it's made all the more glaring by how GOOD the rest of the entry is, the replace for the light sensitivity is brilliant and just so on the money, the skill pump replaces are good and thematically apporpriate, and one of the traits is also thematic to the nosferatu as well. It's just that and the "thrall viewer" trait that bug me. I mean if they wanted a survival tactic they could have done something like the moroi spawns with obscuring mist. Could have given them something like mage hand at will or a modified hydraulic push that is a transmutation and based on telekinesis. Hell cause fear could have worked in a pinch as well as they are meant to be more bestial and terrifying then your average blood sucker.

In the PDF, the spacing on the pages look so much bigger. I had to pull up Blood of Angels to compair and make sure the columns weren't smaller.

The vampire stuff is nice, for vampires. It gives a bit more flavour to the different 'races' of vampires. The tips for 'Vampire: the Pathfinder Edition' are useful if you're running a vampire game, but not really what I was expecting in a blood of... book.

Pages 16 and 17 irritate me. I understand art is nice, but 3 feats spread over two pages? (and a C&P error in the last one)

As a result, the Dhampir really get the fuzzy end of the lolipop. None of the fluff of the other Blood of * books, which is what I was most looking for. 3 pages, 18-21, then back to V:tPE rules.

The variants are all ok. Well the ajibachana is weird, with the penalty to int as others have said. A rogue or lore warden is a natural fit for the race.

Page 26 gets back to more useful stuff, Vampire hunter tips and concepts. Page 28-29 is a mix of slayer, dhampir, and vampire feats (again, why so much space on 16-17 when they could just sit here and give me a page and a half more dhampire stuff?) Life Dominant soul is almost a 'must have' feat for Dhampires, especially those rare few in PFS.

PG 30 has some vampire specific spells, some anti-vampire spells and some awesome dhampire enhancing spells. Sorry, kidding on the last one. Nothing for the dhampires. It does have the Gothalicious transmute wine to blood spell. You too can be a 3rd level wizard vampire who never worries about that pesky 'feed on the living' problem.

Likewise, stuff for hunters and vampires, but nothing for the dhampire on page 31. 32 is the coming soon and legal information.

All in all, this is the first book I'm seriously disappointed in. The writing is solid, but the topic doesn't really match the title. Blood of fiends didn't spend half the book on how to play demons/devils/daemons, nor did blood of angels to the same for angels. 3 pages of dhampire stuff was disappointing.

Yeah, 3 pages of Dhampir stuff was extremely disapointing.

So, not a lot on Dhampirs, but more on vampires. Does that mean they've got some rules in there about PC vampires (beyond the template from the Bestiary, that is)?

I know this is out of Pazio's hands, is anybody else ordering from Barnes n' Nobles? I just got an email from them saying I won't get a delivery until June 2013, then asking if I wanted to cancel my order over all. (only reason I'm ordering from B&N is gift card).

I know Amazon has done this before and then the order came on time. I'm not sure if is the same with B&N. Anybody have any insight on this?

Sadly, I'm concerning canceling my order all together though since I was getting the book for a dhampir undead slayer type PC for Carrion Crown. If BotN isn't going to add much more then what I can already get out of ARG and a solid ranger build, is there really much point? I'm not a big fan of pure vampire PC

I've already been disheartened with Blood of Fiends. It isn't looking good if this books is a greater disappointment then the other 2 Blood books.

It sounds as if this book should not have been part of the player's companion line at all.

All in all, this is the first book I'm seriously disappointed in.

This marks 3 in a row from the players line for me.I guess it is the new format and style I do not like.Subject matter is pretty neutral for me but it seems like a lot less for your money from the old format.

I know this is out of Pazio's hands, is anybody else ordering from Barnes n' Nobles? I just got an email from them saying I won't get a delivery until June 2013, then asking if I wanted to cancel my order over all. (only reason I'm ordering from B&N is gift card).

I know Amazon has done this before and then the order came on time. I'm not sure if is the same with B&N. Anybody have any insight on this?

Sadly, I'm concerning canceling my order all together though since I was getting the book for a dhampir undead slayer type PC for Carrion Crown. If BotN isn't going to add much more then what I can already get out of ARG and a solid ranger build, is there really much point? I'm not a big fan of pure vampire PC

I've already been disheartened with Blood of Fiends. It isn't looking good if this books is a greater disappointment then the other 2 Blood books.

Systematically, the reasons that Amazon announce long delays but then get the book would also effect Barnes & Noble.

I know this is out of Pazio's hands, is anybody else ordering from Barnes n' Nobles? I just got an email from them saying I won't get a delivery until June 2013, then asking if I wanted to cancel my order over all. (only reason I'm ordering from B&N is gift card).

I know Amazon has done this before and then the order came on time. I'm not sure if is the same with B&N. Anybody have any insight on this?

Sadly, I'm concerning canceling my order all together though since I was getting the book for a dhampir undead slayer type PC for Carrion Crown. If BotN isn't going to add much more then what I can already get out of ARG and a solid ranger build, is there really much point? I'm not a big fan of pure vampire PC

I've already been disheartened with Blood of Fiends. It isn't looking good if this books is a greater disappointment then the other 2 Blood books.

BN.com has this book on order. They have not received it. It will be available. The on sale date i a computer error at our distributor, which will be corrected. I THINK, think, he sea, those mistakes are corrected on Fridays. So try again next week.

grrr, typos: on sale date is; think he sea...

Well, auto correct won't let me write "s" "e" "z" sorry.

I'm extremely disappointed that their is so little dhampir support. While I like the idea of vampire support, I agree with others; That information belongs in a campaign setting line, not a player companion. If I find it for the right price somewhere, I may purchase it. But I can't give full price for a book that I felt promised one thing and supplied another.

I think there are several issues with regard to expectations for this book. When I read the product description, I do get the feeling that this book caters more to players who want to play actual vampires than it does players who want to play dhampirs. One example of this is that 3 out of 5 bullet points are about vampires, 1 is about dhampirs, and 1 is about vampire hunters.

Now, if that was the only parameter, then I'd say that those expressing their disappointment should've paid more attention to what the product description tries to sell.

However, it's title does blur things a lot. So far, the "Blood of" line of books has detailed two races born out of a union between mortal and immortal. Naming this book "Blood of the Night" really does make it seem obvious that, just as Blood of Fiends didn't deal with actual fiends and Blood of Angels didn't deal with actual celestials, this book's focus would be the dhampir (which is, after all, a playable race a la the tiefling and the aasimar) and not the vampire.

Does Blood of the Night belong in the Campaign Setting line? I'm not so sure it does, honestly. While there's a certain level of disappointment among those who've read the book with the subject matter focusing on the vampire and not the dhampir, I get the impression that vampires are popular monsters to play for many players. Why not just play Vampire: Dark Ages then? Because a lot of players out there really like to play Pathfinder RPG and for those players who fit into both groups, this book becomes a valuable resource.