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Hello everyone. What follows is my attempt to make vampires a playable race for my home setting using Pathfinder. The goal is to create a class that is playable, not overpowered compared to other races, meets the CORE themes of "what a vampire is", and is fun to play.
The current version was made without the framework of the race builder from ARG but does pull some abilities from it. Additionally the race functions off a modified version of the undead subtype. Please let me know what you think, whether or not you would play this race and why. Thanks.
VAMPIRE RACIAL TRAITS
+2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, No Constitution: Vampires are fast and seductive, but their bond to the undead impedes their mortal vigor. A vampire has no Constitution and uses its Charisma score in place of Constitution when calculating hp, Fortitude saves, and any special ability that relies on Constitution. (When generating a vampire character using a point buy system, you must still spend sufficient points for a Constitution score of 10.)
Vampire: Vampires are humanoids with the vampire subtype.
Medium: Vampires are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Normal Speed: Vampires have a base speed of 30 feet.
Senses: Darkvision 60 feet.
Weaknesses: Reducing a vampire's hit points to 0 or lower incapacitates it but doesn't destroy it. However, certain attacks can slay vampires. Exposing any vampire to direct sunlight, or while within the radius of a daylight spell, staggers it and it is dazed during the first round in which it escapes the light. Driving a wooden stake through a helpless vampire's heart instantly slays it (this is a full-round action). However, it returns to life if the stake is removed, unless the head is also severed and anointed with holy water.
Vampiric Undead: Vampires are a race of undead and as such gain a modified version of the undead subtype with the following traits. (Being undead provides a complex new experience with many immunities and weaknesses. You gain immunity to death effects, disease, energy drain, exhaustion/fatigue, poison, sleep effects, and stunning; your connection to negative and positive energy is reversed, that is you are healed by negative energy and damaged by positive energy; you are susceptible to effects that target undead; you are not at risk of death from massive damage, you cannot be returned to life/undeath by raise dead, reincarnate, resurrection or true resurrection; you do not breathe, eat, or sleep.)
Defensive Abilities: A vampire gains channel resistance +4 in addition to all of the defensive abilities granted by the vampiric undead subtype. If reduced to 0 hit points in combat a vampire is disabled (as per the condition) and attempts to escape. It must reach a subterranean refuge (such as a crypt, graveyard, etc.) within 2 hours or be utterly destroyed. Additional damage dealt to a disabled vampire has no effect. Once at rest, the vampire is helpless. It regains 1 hit point after 1 hour, then is no longer helpless and resumes healing as normal.
Nimble Faller: Vampires land on their feet even when they take lethal damage from a fall. Furthermore, they gain a +1 bonus to their CMD against trip attempts.
Stalker: Perception and Stealth are always class skills for Vampires.
Sprinter: Vampires gain a +10 foot Racial bonus to their speed when using the charge, run, or withdraw actions.
Melee:[/b} A vampire gains a slam attack, dealing 1d6 damage on a successful hit. Its natural weapons are treated as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
[b]Special Abilities: A vampire gains the following special abilities.
Blood Drain (Su): A vampire can suck blood from a grappled opponent; if the vampire establishes or maintains a pin, it drains blood, dealing 2d4 +Charisma modifier damage each round the pin is maintained. Drained hit points are applied to the vampire as permanent hit points, though hit points gained in this manner never allow the vampire to exceed its normal hit point maximum.
Blood Gift (Ex): A vampire can feed its own blood to another vampire or vampiric null to heal it. It costs 1 hp to start the process, and the vampire can transfer up to 1 hp per round per level of the lowest-level vampire in the exchange, to a maximum of 10 hp/round.
Create Null (Su): If a vampire reduces a humanoid or monstrous humanoid to -10 hit points with its blood drain attack, the victim arises 1d4 days later as a vampiric null. If that vampire instead gives a blood gift to restore the victim to 0 hit points, it rises 1d4+1 days later as a full vampire. In either case, the draining vampire has no special control over null it creates.
Shadowless (Ex): A vampire casts no shadows and shows no reflection in a mirror.
Languages: Vampires begin play speaking Old Tongue. Those with high Intelligence scores can choose any language it wants (except secret languages, such as Druidic).
Vampire Null
A vampire can elect to create a vampiric null instead of a full-fledged vampire when it uses its create null ability on a humanoid creature only. This decision must be made as a free action whenever a vampire slays an appropriate creature by using blood drain. A vampiric null's statistics are identical to those of a wight, save for the following changes.
• It gains the blood drain vampire special attack.
• It gains channel resistance +2, DR 5/silver, fast healing 2, and the shadowless vampire qualities.
• A vampiric null gains all of the standard vampire weaknesses.
• A vampiric null is CR 3.
I assume the goal is to make something on the power level of the current PC races.
Drop the undead type, it gives too many immunities and completely drops an ability score, allowing you to base toughness on a casting stat.
It's weird that the nulls they create have better defensive abilities with DR/FH. Well, besides the immortality.
The problem is that it is a simple fact that vampires are superior to base races, so you would have to cut a lot of stuff to put them on the same level, such as the Dhamphir does.
I would tackle playing a vampire in PF as a series of feats one takes.
I agree with Petty Alchemy; a feat chain, archetype, or prestige class may be the way to go here. Some inspiration here, perhaps the individual has to drink blood in order to actually gain some of the more well known vampiric abilities. though drinking blood may not necessarily be required to 'live' (though not drinking for too long could lead to a stronger desire to drink, if they have done it at least once).