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as the question. Once a vampire is put at 0 hit points and is turned involuntarily into gaseous form, can negative energy channeling actually help heal it so it can come back?
Running into this because my player got nailed by a siege owlbear, does not yet have his own coffin (he was buried in dirt) and has no where to go to find his 'coffin', but he does have a person that can channel negative energy to heal him right there.
he wont reform until he reaches (his plot of dirt/coffin) in this case the last place he slept. then after he reforms he can be neg healed to full hp and regain awareness.
Imo, just make a makeshift one & declare that's his coffin, since it doesn't have a definition or even a listed equipment block to my knowledge. Since it's a player, I'd even just let him decided any bed/safe place he wants is his "coffin". Or if you'd prefer a more strict interpretation, let him roleplay it out & search for a real coffin in his gaseous form. And if even that doesn't work for you, do like Zotpox said and call that his "coffin" for these purposes.
However I'd also say that the point of the coffin thing is that a Vamp becomes helpless after reaching neg hp rather than out right destroyed like every other undead. It's supposed to be their get out of death for free card, with limitations, and their coffin is supposed to be a safe place for them to retreat to after getting whooped by PCs, whom then have to look for his coffin before he awakens.
To that end, I'd point out that the Vampire remains helpless for an hour, no matter what. And RAW, I think I'm backed up.
Once at rest, the vampire is helpless. It regains 1 hit point after 1 hour, then is no longer helpless and resumes healing at the rate of 5 hit points per round.
It makes no mention of changing in hit points awakening the vamp earlier. And since it's just helpless and not unconcious, raising its hit points doesn't actually do anything to make it un-helpless. So RAW, you gotta wait the whole hour. A small price to pay though imo, when any other undead would be killed or have to wait days to regenerate.
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There aren't actually rules that spell out whether or not a vampire can be healed while it's in forced gaseous form at 0 hp.
My own ruling would be no, he can't be healed at 0 hp and he does have to rest for 1 hour before regaining that essential 1 hp before his fast healing will kick in.
I'd run this as Zotpox says: He still has to return to his grave whether he has a coffin or not. (This should encourage him to get a coffin sooner rather than later.) I've read Pathfinder adventures with vampires that suggested a vampire might have more than one coffin/resting place as well.
"If destroyed [the vampire] becomes gaseous and flees to his lair in [area omitted] to recover. If he suspects the PCs know where his lair is, or if he knows they've already ruined it, he instead seeks out another of his many hideaways in [omitted region of AP]--if he manages to escape the PCs and recover, he can become a recurring villain and return to track them through [dungeon omitted]--he has no further role to play in the Adventure Path, so you can use him as you see fit to continue to vex and haunt the PCs.