Hi. I like vampires. I know, I know. I'm sorry. They're very trendy lately, I know, but they're just such great villains, and also great fodder. And occasionally, really great characters.
So naturally, I'd enjoy vampires in D&D and Pathfinder. Except...the vampire template is pretty powerful, to the point where I'd be very uncomfortable using it in anything but an epic level campaign. And since I've never played an epic level campaign, I pretty much don't use it. (And then there's the Alignment issue, but adventurers are usually the exceptions to rules, aren't they?)
And I know that there are Dhampirs, and trust me, it does look pretty cool. I love Vampire Hunter D, and I loved Symphony of the Night, but the Dhampir is just a bit...squishy for my tastes. Plus, they really are prettyboys, aren't they? I mean, if I was aiming for something melodramatic, they'd be great, but that's not always what I'm after.
So, after watching a lot of Angel and Buffy, and The Lost Boys, I sort of had an idea for an alternate sort of 'template'. Nothing's set in stone, and I'm really horrible at this, but I still had some ideas.
1) Have a transformation, kind of like Lycanthropes now that I think about it. Part of this is because it's cool, but partly because the entire group having to wait until nightfall before Larry can travel with them is a real pain. So what I thought, is they have their normal 'vamp' version, with their nifty abilities, but with a lot of their weaknesses...but also a more 'human' version, that they can travel around in freely at the cost of being considerably weaker. It might hit their stats, it might not, who knows. (Obviously, they should still have their eternal youth in human form, otherwise longterm campaigns get...complicated.)
2) Obviously, seriously reduce the amount of everything that they get. Since I personally far prefer martial classes to spellcasters, I'd give them a strength bonus when they 'vamp out', but possibly at the cost of losing a bit of INT, or giving them a sort of blood lust, make it easy for them to slip in terms of alignment. Possibly take a major hit to their Charisma as well, but nothing's set in stone, obviously.
EDIT: Oh, I had an idea. What if in their 'normal' form, they have minor bonuses to int or wis or cha, so that would be ideal for a spellcaster. But that kind of goes away when they vamp out, where they gain a STR bonus, a DEX bonus, take hits to their non-physical stats, and overall just become a lot more physical. That way, there are benefits no matter which direction you want to go.
3) Keep their normal amount of weaknesses, maybe reduce some of those when they're in 'human' form, but not all of them. Maybe their aversion to holy symbols and the need to be invited into homes still applies. Also, maybe have some things(certain spells, massive trauma, etc) can potentially 'force' a change, which can be bad times depending on where they are.
And yeah, that's it. What do you think?
Check out this class I made.
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2pfw1?The-Vampyrist-A-Living-Vampire-Base-Class #1
Hey, that's pretty cool. Not entirely sure how I'd feel about it being my Class, but that's pretty gnarly.
Good job.
Thanks!
Well, there ARE alternate vampires already, as well as different types of Dhampirs. Here's what I know so far:
There is a booklet called Blood of the Night for Pathfinder, and in it contains most of what I know about the dhampirs for Pathfinder.
In it, they MENTION Jiang-shi, Nosferatu, Vetala, and note that Moroi are the standard vampires.
Vetala are apparently found in the Inner Sea Bestiary, Nosferatu in the Pathfinder Adventure Path #8 (whatever that is, I don't know), and Jiang-shi are found in Bestiary 3. Of these, I only have Bestiary 3. Might pick up Inner Sea Bestiary just for the Vetala, but I don't know what the name of #8 is.
Now, if you want an entire GAME based around vampires, check out Dark Ages Vampire (the black book, not the purple one) by White Wolf. There's a modern version, called Vampire the Masquerade 20th Anniversary edition, or V20 for short. Those are the most advanced versions of the old White Wolf games. Do not get the new Vampire Requiem stuff, as it is incredibly vague and not based on the legends anymore.
If you have any questions, message me.
Yeah Requiem killed it for me too I liked old world of darkness new world of darkness lost the pizazz. White Wolf lost my interest at that point (I had run a 80+ person larp for 4 years.)
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I was thinking about a "lesser vampire" template, that doesn't do the level drain and is a bit lighter on the other powers. The idea is to focus on the blood-drinking, which gets a bit overshadowed by the level drain normally.
So it would have...
* strong grappling
* blood drinking
* spawn
* heightened physical resilience
* undead immunities
* a bit more physical strength
But not...
* level drain
* lots and lots of supernatural powers
* mist form
* dominate at will
In effect, making it a vampire that a level 3 party could actually fight against; the normal template is so powerful that even a level 1 commoner with that template would outmatch a level 3 party easily.
I hadn't thought about making it a PC thing, but that could work as well. Things I'd want for a PC template would be:
* not too many immunities. A PC that's immune to poison, disease, mind control, negative energy and a few other things needs very different encounters to challenger him.
* weaknesses that don't disrupt play too much; operating only at night means a player sitting around twiddling his thumbs while the other players adventure in the sunshine.
* combatible healing with the rest of the party. If your healing needs are totally different that could be awkward.
Yeah, I've never been a White Wolf guy. The games that I've played in, combat was a nightmare when it happened. So many d10s, and time just stops while everybody counts.
That's actually a pretty cool idea, Ascalaphus. And fair warning, I know I'm gonna spell that name wrong one of these days. Sorry in advance. ;)
Anyway, yeah. I think your and mine ideas could work pretty well together. How about this:
"The PC is immune to nonmagical poisons and disease. Has resistances to mind control and Negative energy." That seems kinda fair, what do you think?
I think the sunlight thing could be handled by my transformation rules.
And as for compatible healing, maybe if the vampire isn't of evil alignment, that specifically means he's got a 'soul', or is in some way a special case from the usual bloodsuckers. In any case, this affords him to be treated by the Cleric of the party.
EDIT:
Kazaan, sorry, you posted while I was working on mine. That's a pretty nifty idea, and hilariously gorey. Take that, Paladin in the group!
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I was thinking about a "lesser vampire" template, that doesn't do the level drain and is a bit lighter on the other powers. The idea is to focus on the blood-drinking, which gets a bit overshadowed by the level drain normally.
So it would have...
* strong grappling
* blood drinking
* spawn
* heightened physical resilience
* undead immunities
* a bit more physical strengthBut not...
* level drain
* lots and lots of supernatural powers
* mist form
* dominate at willIn effect, making it a vampire that a level 3 party could actually fight against; the normal template is so powerful that even a level 1 commoner with that template would outmatch a level 3 party easily.
I hadn't thought about making it a PC thing, but that could work as well. Things I'd want for a PC template would be:
* not too many immunities. A PC that's immune to poison, disease, mind control, negative energy and a few other things needs very different encounters to challenger him.
* weaknesses that don't disrupt play too much; operating only at night means a player sitting around twiddling his thumbs while the other players adventure in the sunshine.
* combatible healing with the rest of the party. If your healing needs are totally different that could be awkward.
That's a pretty good run down. I'd look at the stuff that vampires in media tend to have, such as above average strength and toughness, and the ability to 'vamp out' and grow fangs (and perhaps other stuff, like claws and glowing eyes and bumpy foreheads / pointed ears / animalistic features), but gloss over the stuff like turning into mist and bats and stuff, since that's much rarer, and could be considered something only the most powerful and unique vampires have (like Dracula, who could also control the weather, among other things).
A 'living vampire,' the victim of a virus (or curse, or whatever) that makes him light sensitive, dependent on blood, and a touch stronger than other folk, could do away with all of the many immunities that come 'for free' with the undead type, and the annoying interactions with positive / negative energy.
A lot of 'supernaturally charming' or 'preternatural senses' stuff could be chalked up to exaggeration and folk tales, and reduced to simple mechanics like '+2 to Bluff, Diplomacy and Intimidate' or '+2 to Perception it is always a class skill.' Yeah, that vampire lady *was* able to wrap men around her finger 'like magic,' because she had 8 ranks in Diplomacy, and Skill Focus Diplomacy and a total modifier banging around +15 to her roll, not because she could use a 5th level Dominate spell at will.
Instead of a 'not available for 50% of the adventure' weakness like being utterly unable to go out during the day, the light sensitivity or weakness of an orc, kobold or drow should be sufficient to represent the sorts of vampires who don't much care for sunlight, but aren't immolated by it (like Dracula, or the vampires from Being Human).
Create Spawn would be something that would have to be chopped away as well, if only because it can be a problem, long-term. Fortunately, many of the inspirations for vampire PCs (shows like Forever Knight or the novels of Anne Rice, for instance) have attempts to make friends / lovers / etc. into vampires go horribly, horribly wrong. By making attempts to turn someone into a vampire have a dramatic chance of utterly failing (resulting in you murdering the love of your life in an attempt to make her immortal, as Nick Knight did) or creating a monster (as Lestat is warned, sometimes you get a god, and sometimes you get a zombie...). By putting the Create Spawn power back in the bottle and handing to the GM, there won't be any balance issues, as only the GM will determine when someone you tried to give your template actually gets your template, and doesn't A) become an NPC out to eat your face or B) just die horribly.
Ideally, this should apply to any sort of 'contagious template' a PC could get, such as lycanthropy. Work it out as a disease or a curse, that not everyone infected survives, and the ability to give all their friends free super-powers, which is really not the point of being a vampire or werewolf, goes away. If nine out of ten people bitten by a werewolf die of the 'wolf fever' or rip themselves in half during their first transformation, leaving a pile of intermingled human and wolf bits in a puddle of gore, and only the GM can say who gets to be number ten (instead of leaving it in the hands of the dice with some sort of Fortitude save or other mechanical thing that can be 'gamed' by PCs with the appropriate preparations, spells, magic items, etc.), that's not gonna be an issue.
I like a lot of those ideas, Set.
Except for the 'living vampire' thing, but that's more semantics than me actually having a problem with it.
|
|
I actually like the living vampire thing a lot. It's a good justification to not give negative energy needs/immunities. Alive with "a condition". Maybe even "too alive". You would also retain Constitution, which is good, because balancing point buy for a PC with only 5 stats while others have 6 would be finicky. You'd also be on the same energy-healing schedule and not get undead immunities.
Light sensitivity is great for making daylight uncomfortable but not unbearable. +60 Darkvision seems a good counterpoint.
As for spawn, would it be good to actually have a random table? If it's pure GM decision, that's putting pressure on him or making the player feel like it's a "mother may I" kind of thing. If it's random, it's the player's gamble. Maybe make it a Constitution check (for vampire and/or victim)?
Y'know what? I'm starting to warm up to the living vampire. Just reminded me of Morbius from Spider-Man, initially.
I always feel that family should be up to the DM unless the character has a very specific backstory(You know, evil twin, killed their parents, that kind of thing), so them having control over what happens to your 'spawn'/creations/one-night stands makes sense to me. Of course, my DMs are usually very into plot twists and the like, so maybe I've got a skewed view of things.
|
|
IMO, the best part of 'living vampire' is that it not only gets around the negative/positive energy interaction issues, and the *raft* of immunities that come with the undead type (including stuff that doesn't necessarily fit, like immunity to mind-affecting effects, which might make sense for a zombie, but not at all for a sentient undead that has as part of it's core emotional / psychological issues with holy symbols, hunger, being turned by clerics, being subservient to its creator, etc...), but also the whole 'Con nonability' nonsense.
Vampires in media have been shown to be able to be poisoned (Anne Rice's Lestat, for one, but also the vampires in Supernatural, poisoned by dead man's blood), nauseated / sickened (by garlic, for instance), caused pain (plenty of sources for that!) and even to get sick (Being Human, and, again, Supernatural). They hunger and many sources show them suffering some sort of degradation if they go without feeding for a time. Their 'biology' may be very different, but a Con score perfectly represents what they are going through.
The biggest balance issue I see is that vampires are typically stronger and tougher than normal folk, and often, particularly in recent media portrayals, are inhumanly fast or graceful, in addition to having keen senses and charming persona (well, not always on that last, the vampires in 30 Days of Night were hardly suave...).
Arguments could be made for a +2 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Con, +2 Wis *and* +2 Cha! The only stat that vampires don't traditionally seem to have enhanced is Intelligence (and, again, 30 Days of Night, or the newbie vamps in Buffy, could be used as justification for giving the average vampire an Intelligence *penalty*).
The Charisma and Wisdom boosts could be replaced with skill boosts, as above. The vampire might not be *wiser,* but just have a bonus to Perception, for instance, or might not have a higher Charisma score, but be (un)naturally really good at persuasion / social skills.
Dexterity could also be left at baseline, as inhumanly graceful is a recent invention, and simply giving a vampire a +2 racial bonus to Initiative and a +10 ft. ground move could represent a much weaker version of the superhuman reflexes and 'move like a blur' stuff seen in Forever Knight or True Blood.
Strength is pretty much required. Just about every vampire in modern sources (and some from older lore) seems to have greater than normal strength.
Constitution *could* be 'worked around' in a manner similar to Dex, Wis or Cha. A vampire with a normal Con score could have DR 1/- and DR 3 vs. nonlethal damage, making them seem inhumanly tough, particularly to a Str 10 commoner, who literally *can't hurt them* with a punch, except on a critical hit! A free Endurance feat could represent the vampire never seeming to get tired, or being able to skulk around in the dead of winter without being seriously affected by the cold (a la Red Snow or, yet again, 30 Days of Night).
On the other hand, to steal an idea from the World of Darkness vampires, perhaps vampires have a pool of 'blood points,' and can only perform feats of great strength, speed or endurance, by spending some of their stolen blood to enhance themselves for a brief time, making the vampire who shows off a lot require a lot more blood to function. Once the 'blood pool' is empty, the vampire not only can't use these temporary boosts, but also suffers some penalties, like an uncurable Sickened / Shaken condition, strongly motivating the hungry vampire to feed again, as quickly as possible...
I'd skip that, just because, in addition to being kind of derivative of WW's vampires, it sounds like more work to keep track of than it would necessarily be worth for the sake of verisimilitude.
I like the idea of a 'blood pool', almost seeing a vampire (or living vampire) class based off the magus. Since empty pools mean a blood feeding to replenish, pools could be held for days at a time, by wiser members of the race/class.
I'd be tempted to make it a PrC, similar to dragon disciple, not so sure as a base class.
|
|
I think a blood pool mechanic of some kind is important, because you don't want the drinking of blood to fade out of sight. If you don't actually track blood drinking and enforce some benefits/penalties for surplus/lack, that takes out the edge of being a vampire.
Maybe modeled on a monk's Ki pool?
* as long as you have 1+ points in your pool, benefit X
* spend 1 blood to do Y
* 1 blood point lost every day
For example: you get light sensitivity, and as long as you have 1+ blood, Darkvision.
And drinking blood doesn't have to be difficult either; it takes a pinned, helpless or cooperating victim and does 1d4 con damage per blood point.
How big should the blood pool be? I'd say [constitution modifier] + [1/2 character level] is a good analog to Ki.
Whose blood can you drink? I'd say creatures of your own main type, for starters. Animals are no-go; that's too (morally) easy. Likewise for creatures without blood (elementals, plants). How about aberrations and outsiders? If angels bleed, that would be an interesting drink. Maybe a good baseline would be to say that blood of your own type (humanoid) is most likely to have no weird side effects.
Is drinking blood evil? I think not extremely. But it's not entirely clean either. It would be problematic for a paladin, unless it was given willingly by the donor.
Is it unnatural to be a vampire (important to druids)? If we go with the living vampire theory, not necessarily so; no more than magical beasts maybe?
Or, does the template make you an aberration?
Vetala are apparently found in the Inner Sea Bestiary, Nosferatu in the Pathfinder Adventure Path #8 (whatever that is, I don't know), and Jiang-shi are found in Bestiary 3. Of these, I only have Bestiary 3. Might pick up Inner Sea Bestiary just for the Vetala, but I don't know what the name of #8 is.
Book 2 of Curse of the Crimson Throne (Seven Days to the Grave).
However, picking up books just for one thing doesn't seem particularly cost effective.
Is drinking blood evil? I think not extremely. But it's not entirely clean either. It would be problematic for a paladin, unless it was given willingly by the donor.
Blood drunk from an unwilling creature is evil no matter the circumstances by developer input.
Personally I utterly hate the idea that drinking blood from an enemy you are in combat with (and thus plan to kill) anyway is an evil act beyond chopping someone into wiggly bits with a Greatsword.
Is it unnatural to be a vampire (important to druids)? If we go with the living vampire theory, not necessarily so; no more than magical beasts maybe?
Carrion Crown has a Druid Vampire NPC. Seems like you're good on that front.
Or, does the template make you an aberration?
Probably just a new type of Humanoid. Aberrations are all aliens and stuff, literally "doesn't belong in this world" type stuff I believe.
Humanoid: Vampiric Subtype or some such.
There's a game I play called Dungeon Crawl and in that, Vampires work as follows:
Whereas normal living characters have a "food clock"
Check out the dhampir booklet that I mentioned earlier, it has rules on feeding. Apparently Iron Will and Improved Iron Will are your friend.
Yeah, I've never been a White Wolf guy. The games that I've played in, combat was a nightmare when it happened. So many d10s, and time just stops while everybody counts.
That's easily fixed; already have. I altered DAV to have the difficulty to hit being the target's Dexterity + Dodge + shield bonus if any, and the difficulty to damage being the target's soak pool for that particular type of damage. For vampires, that's Stamina + Fortitude for lethal. If you have armor on, you get an active soak roll with the difficulty based on what the armor's notes on soak are for LH, LS, LP. Yes, armor does apply against Protean claws since they are effectively hacking damage. You only get an active dodge roll if you use up an action in doing so, and it is applied after the attacker rolls to hit but before damage.
Blood drunk from an unwilling creature is evil no matter the circumstances by developer input.Personally I utterly hate the idea that drinking blood from an enemy you are in combat with (and thus plan to kill) anyway is an evil act beyond chopping someone into wiggly bits with a Greatsword.
Is it unnatural to be a vampire (important to druids)? If we go with the living vampire theory, not necessarily so; no more than magical beasts maybe?Carrion Crown has a Druid Vampire NPC. Seems like you're good on that front.
Thanks for the help. I don't however understand the Nosferatu, since they are supposed to be degenerating via a curse according to Blood of the Night, yet this entry doesn't describe anything like that.
Any blood from a saint or angel should outright kill the vampire. Such things were venerated by the Church, and so they would be a vampire's bane.
That Druid vampire should probably be a Blighted version of ye old Druid class, otherwise being a vampire would have little meaning. And, vampires for the most part must be CE, so having a NE vampire Druid is a little questionable according to game rules. Also, what would a Druid do with all that Charisma? Animal Empathy isn't all that important.
Well, by the template rules Vamps are just "Any Evil".
And the best justification I've seen is that said Druid just accepts it as them getting a more hands-on experience being the predator chasing the prey, and embracing that savagery of nature.
Remember as well that vampires (some of 'em anyway) have affinity with certain animals (wolves, bats, rats), so a Druid isn't TOO farfetched I think.
Dunno about that Cha though.
And another thing, why the hell does a Nosferatu have increased Charisma?! Shouldn't they be having a PENALTY to Charisma instead?
I like it for two reasons.
First off, because despite their withered appearance, Nosferatu are supposed to be unnaturally sturdy I believe, and they use Cha for HP so that's the only way to do it.
And second, I like the idea of the revolting creature that somehow exudes a supernatural aura of personality that makes you both disgusted by its presence and still strangely wanting to obey its every command on a subconscious level.
I like it for two reasons.
First off, because despite their withered appearance, Nosferatu are supposed to be unnaturally sturdy I believe, and they use Cha for HP so that's the only way to do it.
And second, I like the idea of the revolting creature that somehow exudes a supernatural aura of personality that makes you both disgusted by its presence and still strangely wanting to obey its every command on a subconscious level.
wouldn't a free Toughness feat do the same thing? Also, using Wisdom would make more sense.
I dunno, being grossed out would render me MORE resistant, not less, to manipulation.
wouldn't a free Toughness feat do the same thing? Also, using Wisdom would make more sense.
I dunno, being grossed out would render me MORE resistant, not less, to manipulation.
Hitler was pretty ugly, and he was very charismatic. The Nosferatu are kind of like that. They're initially repulsive, but their words have a way of drawing you in. It's supernatural, I imagine it bypasses a normal person's flight or flight reaction to a monster.
|
|
I think the choice of creature type is important, and is an opportunity to put a spin on this living vampire.
Humanoid highlights that the vampire is still mostly like other people, just with a condition.
Aberration suggests that vampirism is bad, icky, verging on evil, unnatural. A disease, perhaps?
Magical Beast suggests that vampirism is strange and supernatural, but not necessarily wrong. Supernatural, rather than unnatural.
If vampires have a subtle shift of type - not being humanoid, but looking like humanoids - that will make them resist certain spells such as Hold Person, kind of like Tieflings/Aasimar. Not unheard of, but a subtle power nonetheless. Immunity to Charm Person but not Charm Monster - I kinda dig that difference; much more subtle than undead immunities.
You know...that makes a kind of sense. I kind of like the Aberration thing.
wouldn't a free Toughness feat do the same thing? Also, using Wisdom would make more sense.I dunno, being grossed out would render me MORE resistant, not less, to manipulation.
Did you ever read the Everworld series, by K.A. Applegate?
It's kinda like how she portrayed Hel (the Norse goddess).
saw blood pool mentioned so I am going to drop this here. I developed a blood pool feat line for dhampirs, so maybe you can cannibalize so of that.
|
|
And what if the blood pool runs low? We could go for Will checks not to frenzy and assault people, but I'm not sure that's desirable, tends to be rather disruptive.
Instead, maybe state that below a certain threshold, you're fatigued and/or sickened? Those are unpleasant conditions, but you could try to tough it out too, and you're only attacking people if the player decides to.
On the subject of weaknesses... I'm thinking that if the downsides more or less balance out the upsides, and neither is too extreme, then you could give this template to a character without level adjustment, which would be nice.
So on the whole, a template that's flavorful and effective, but not too heavy-impact; not every adventure should be about you being a vampire, you can be an adventurer who happens to drink blood.
Yeah, that's really what I was going for. We should be able to get the DMPC of the week his magical Macguffin, without calling attention to my particular condition, though that might get it's own episode once or twice.
Kind of like if someone is playing a Drow, not every campaign needs to be about them adjusting to life out of the Underdark, and Lloth and all that.
wouldn't a free Toughness feat do the same thing? Also, using Wisdom would make more sense.I dunno, being grossed out would render me MORE resistant, not less, to manipulation.
Did you ever read the Everworld series, by K.A. Applegate?
It's kinda like how she portrayed Hel (the Norse goddess).
The more evil a person is, the less capable they are of manipulating me personally, because I know that whatever their statements are, they are going to screw someone over, including me. A Nosferatu is by definition evil, and on top of that it's ugly. My disgust at both the personality and the appearance alone would make me resistant to tomfoolery.
And what if the blood pool runs low? We could go for Will checks not to frenzy and assault people, but I'm not sure that's desirable, tends to be rather disruptive.
Instead, maybe state that below a certain threshold, you're fatigued and/or sickened? Those are unpleasant conditions, but you could try to tough it out too, and you're only attacking people if the player decides to.
On the subject of weaknesses... I'm thinking that if the downsides more or less balance out the upsides, and neither is too extreme, then you could give this template to a character without level adjustment, which would be nice.
So on the whole, a template that's flavorful and effective, but not too heavy-impact; not every adventure should be about you being a vampire, you can be an adventurer who happens to drink blood.
What you are proposing has already been done. Check out Dark Ages Vampire.
The more evil a person is, the less capable they are of manipulating me personally, because I know that whatever their statements are, they are going to screw someone over, including me. A Nosferatu is by definition evil, and on top of that it's ugly. My disgust at both the personality and the appearance alone would make me resistant to tomfoolery.
That's the terror of it.
You KNOW she's pure evil, and you're repulsed by her appearance, but you're supernaturally compelled by her charisma and beauty (on one half) to want to serve her.
These might help
Alternate Vampires
The vampires in the monster manual are a good example of the classic European vampire but countless Other varieties of blood sucker are present in legends and folklore of countless cultures. Most of which share a trait or two with their european cousins below are four examples of vampires from arround the worls. Unless otherwise noted they share all the same traits of the common vampire.
Kuang Shi
The Kuang Shi is a vampire from china when a creature become a kuang shi she becomes rather like a ogre in appearance large and harry with a mouth full of sharp teeth its hands end in claws.
Ogre Form: A Kuang-Shi can transform into a Ogre which has Claw and bite attacks instead of A Slam. replace its slam attack with a bite (1d6 damage) and 2 claws (1d4 damage).
A Kuang Shi lack the following vampire Qualities: Domination, Energy drain, Children of the night, Alternate form.
Abilities: As a vampire except Strength +8 and Intelligence –2.
Churel
A Churiel is a vampire from india and is human looking with the eception of a long prehencile tongue which is black in color and reverse jointed legs (The knees are backwards.)
Owl Form: A Churiel may assume the form of a giant owl.
Tongue: The Churiel may strike and grapple with its tongue with a reach of 10 aditional ft. this tongue delivers 1d6 points of damage per strike (Plus Strength) When grappling with the tongue the Churiel doesn’t provoke an attack of opportunity nore dose it count as grappled its self when doing so.
A Churiel lack the following vampire Qualities: Energy drain, Alternate form.
Nachzehrer
The Nachzehrer Is a baverian vampire Which resembels more a zombie that a vampire. These lothsome vapires eat fleash instead of blood so hungry are the Nachzehrer that they sometimes eat their own flesh to sate their hunger when no prey is available. The Nachzehrer can take on the form a Boar and dose most of its hunting in this more offencive shape.
Pig Form: A Nachzehrer can change into a Boar. A Nachzehrer can only use it blood draining ability while in boar shape.
Rejuvination: If a Nachzehrer is not properly laied to rest (see vampire Weaknesses) than it will rejuvinate back in its grave in 1d2 weeks.
A Nachzehrer lacks the following vampire qualities: Dominate, Children of the night. Gaseous form, Spider climb, Alternate form.
Vrykolakas
Vrykolakas is a Macidonian vampire which resembles a bloated corpse. The Vrykolakas is a carrier of disease and enjoys sucking the breath from the lungs of anyone it comes across.
Breath drain: This is exactly like blood drain except the con damage is from sucking the breath from the victum. Actualy this is the characters life force but it resembles a fine mist.
Disease: Filth feaver dc 12. Anyone slain by this filth feaver is subject to the Vrykolakas’s create spawn power.
A Vrykolakas lacks the following vampire qualities: Dominate, Energy Drain, Spider climb, Children of the night.
The more evil a person is, the less capable they are of manipulating me personally, because I know that whatever their statements are, they are going to screw someone over, including me. A Nosferatu is by definition evil, and on top of that it's ugly. My disgust at both the personality and the appearance alone would make me resistant to tomfoolery.That's the terror of it.
You KNOW she's pure evil, and you're repulsed by her appearance, but you're supernaturally compelled by her charisma and beauty (on one half) to want to serve her.
That doesn't scare me. Pure evil only inspires disgust and rage within. Can't really imagine a Nosferatu being somehow charming, as I would distrust any request.
|
|
What you are proposing has already been done. Check out Dark Ages Vampire.And what if the blood pool runs low? We could go for Will checks not to frenzy and assault people, but I'm not sure that's desirable, tends to be rather disruptive.
Instead, maybe state that below a certain threshold, you're fatigued and/or sickened? Those are unpleasant conditions, but you could try to tough it out too, and you're only attacking people if the player decides to.
On the subject of weaknesses... I'm thinking that if the downsides more or less balance out the upsides, and neither is too extreme, then you could give this template to a character without level adjustment, which would be nice.
So on the whole, a template that's flavorful and effective, but not too heavy-impact; not every adventure should be about you being a vampire, you can be an adventurer who happens to drink blood.
I've played DAV extensively, and in my experience, being a vampire was not a mere footnote. Burning in the daylight and checks to resist hunger frenzy put a big stamp on the whole experience.
I enjoy DAV, but I think it's not great to adopt those aspects wholesale into PF, because they'd hijack the game.
That doesn't scare me. Pure evil only inspires disgust and rage within. Can't really imagine a Nosferatu being somehow charming, as I would distrust any request.
1.) I sincerely doubt you've encountered "pure evil" in any human being, so the point is moot on that regard I think.
2.) The whole point is that it's supernatural. Magical. Whatever.
3.) Assuming you had come in contact with some supernaturally charged pure evil creature and had some resistance to it, I guess that just makes you special.
What you are proposing has already been done. Check out Dark Ages Vampire.And what if the blood pool runs low? We could go for Will checks not to frenzy and assault people, but I'm not sure that's desirable, tends to be rather disruptive.
Instead, maybe state that below a certain threshold, you're fatigued and/or sickened? Those are unpleasant conditions, but you could try to tough it out too, and you're only attacking people if the player decides to.
On the subject of weaknesses... I'm thinking that if the downsides more or less balance out the upsides, and neither is too extreme, then you could give this template to a character without level adjustment, which would be nice.
So on the whole, a template that's flavorful and effective, but not too heavy-impact; not every adventure should be about you being a vampire, you can be an adventurer who happens to drink blood.
I've played DAV extensively, and in my experience, being a vampire was not a mere footnote. Burning in the daylight and checks to resist hunger frenzy put a big stamp on the whole experience.
I enjoy DAV, but I think it's not great to adopt those aspects wholesale into PF, because they'd hijack the game.
That's the whole point. Vampires by their nature do not belong as heroic characters, unless the entire group is willing to become nocturnal, and to deal with something that is savagely cruel at times. Being a vampire should never be a footnote!
That doesn't scare me. Pure evil only inspires disgust and rage within. Can't really imagine a Nosferatu being somehow charming, as I would distrust any request.1.) I sincerely doubt you've encountered "pure evil" in any human being, so the point is moot on that regard I think.
I have. Many times. It's enough to make my neck hairs stand up on end. I've had profs that have said the exact same thing, people whose job it was to evaluate patients for various legal purposes.
Never mock what you don't know much about.
|
|
I'm looking to make something that's more than a footnote, but less than a total campaign hijack. And not necessarily quite as damned, doomed and angsty as a full-blown Vampire game.
Right now I'm pushing around ideas for a humanoid, magical beast and aberration vampire; maybe I'll also look into a fungoid/plant version.
Oh, you aren't thinking of creating a vampire, you are thinking of creating an intelligent parasite.
On that note, have you ever thought of checking out the old Book of Madness, the 3.5 book on aberrations? That whole thing was nothing but this sort of beastie.
|
|
All vampires have these properties:
Blood Pool (Ex): vampires have a pool of blood that grants them power. The size of the pool is 1/2 the vampire’s HD + its Constitution modifier, with a minimum total size of 2.
When a vampire’s blood pool has < 2 points in it, the vampire becomes Sickened until its blood pool is filled to at least 2.
Drink Blood (Ex): vampires can drink blood from a helpless or cooperating creature as a standard action, or from a pinned creature as a standard action or part of an action to establish or maintain a pin. Drinking blood deals 1d4 Constitution damage to the donor and provides 1 blood point to the vampire.
Vampires cannot drink blood from animals. Blood from the dead is not effective; only when drunk from living (or some undead) donors. Creatures of other types than Humanoid that have blood may be suitable donors at GM’s discretion, but generally only if they have an Intelligence score > 2. Blood from non-humanoid donors may have side effects. If drinking blood from undead (such as vampires), the bite deals Charisma damage instead of Constitution damage.
Diet of Blood (Ex): vampires consume 1 point of blood per day. They require no other food as sustenance. Lack of blood to consume follows the rules for Starvation, just like an ordinary character going without food. Effects that provide nourishment (such as a Ring of Sustenance) also replace the consumption of this daily blood point, but do not fill up the blood pool. So a vampire with a Ring of Sustenance would not need to feed, but can’t replace spent blood points except through actual blood-drinking.
Haematovores are humanoids with a strange condition; the need to drink blood to survive. They can still eat other foods and drink other drinks, but derive no nourishment from them. They can still be poisoned and get drunk; they can be infected with diseases and are fertile; sometimes very fertile and enthusiastic indeed. Some theorize that haematovores are actualy life-force gone out of control. Instead of food, they derive their animation from the essence of life, blood. They burn much brighter but consume more fuel, too.
Haematovores are not obviously physically distinct from humanoids of their own race, but tend to have a few slightly more pointed teeth. They’re warmblooded, and smell a bit different to creatures with the Scent ability; this may be because they lack the scents associated with digesting normal food. It’s something that can be camouflaged.
The haematovore condition is spread when a relatively large quantity of haematovore blood is introduced into a humanoid’s system, such as when a parent haematovore feeds his blood to a prospective child haematovore. Transmission is not a totally certain thing. The consition is also inherited by children of haematovore mothers. The condition can be cured with a dedicated casting of Heal specifically intended to remove the haematovore condition; haematovores can benefit from ordinary castings of Heal without losing their condition.
CR: +1?
AL: any
Type: humanoid with the vampire subtype in addition to previous subtypes.
Senses: haematovores have light sensitivity. While a haematovore has at least 1 point of blood in his system, he gains Darkvision 60ft, or increases the range of a pre-existing Darkvision ability by 60ft.
Defensive Abilities: DR 5/– against nonlethal damage. This damage reduction does not apply to starvation damage.
Melee: gains a Slam natural weapon with the Grab universal monster ability. The damage of the Slam is the normal amount for the haematovore’s size.
Special Qualities:
Speed Surge (Ex) as a swift action, a haematovore may spend 1 blood point to gain a +20 enhancement bonus to his speed for 1 minute. If the haematovore has a nonmagical swim, burrow, climb or fly speed,
that speed is likewise enhanced.
Ability Surge (Ex) as a swift action, a haematovore may spend 1 blood point to gain a +4 morale bonus to one ability for 1 minute.
Sanguine Reflexes (Ex) as an immediate action, a haematovore may spent 1 blood point to roll a Reflex save he just failed.
Restorative Blood (Su) as a swift action, a haematovore may spend 1 blood point to do one of the following:
• heal himself 2 hit points per HD
• heal 1 point of ability damage per 3 HD
• roll a new saving throw against an ongoing poison or disease effect; successes speed up recovery but failures are ignored as if no roll were made.
• roll a new saving throw against a mind-affecting effect that allows periodic saving throws to overcome or reduce the effects; success overcomes or reduces the effect as appropriate, while a failure is ignored as if no roll were made.
• remove a Sickened, Fatigued or Shaken condition
• downgrade a Nauseated to Sickened, Exhausted to Fatigued, Frightened to Shaken or Panicked to Frightened condition
Oh, you aren't thinking of creating a vampire, you are thinking of creating an intelligent parasite.
On that note, have you ever thought of checking out the old Book of Madness, the 3.5 book on aberrations? That whole thing was nothing but this sort of beastie.
Vampires are intelligent parasites.
Vampires are intelligent parasites.Oh, you aren't thinking of creating a vampire, you are thinking of creating an intelligent parasite.
On that note, have you ever thought of checking out the old Book of Madness, the 3.5 book on aberrations? That whole thing was nothing but this sort of beastie.
Actually, no. Their legends make them out to be a plague, not simply a parasite. Remember how they spread?
Well, there were towns wiped off the map because of disease, way back when, and vampires were blamed.
Real parasites do their best to leave the victim ALIVE, so that they can continue reproducing. They want to coexist with the host, and therefore continue to breed. Diseases that actually kill their host quickly do not spread far, and die out quickly. You should have a chat with the CDC sometime.
Ok.
But they're still parasites.
I hope we are aware that parasite are classified as such do to the fact they are the benefiting party in a parasitic relationship. disease is an entirely separate thing, and in fact there are many diseases that can be classified as parasitic.