The Draugr's Bastard (Character Concept)

[Neal Litherland]

Thanks to a friend of mine running a dark fantasy game with vampires all over the place, I've really begun to appreciate just how niche we make this variety of undead. Which is why I wanted to start trying to broaden that niche.

Vampirism can be added to nearly any living creature... so why make everything all Vlad Dracula, and Vampire Hunter D? Those are cool archetypes, don't get me wrong, but you can do a lot of other stuff, too.

Enter The Draugr's Bastard. The basic concept is an Ulfen dhampir swashbuckler, but by the time the rest of the table figures out that's what's going on under the skin, they should have had plenty of time to appreciate the alterations to the character's mythos, and the local legend around him. After all, dhampir aren't that common, and they're pretty damn scary. Especially when you live in a place that isn't Ustalav!

[Name Violation]

You say he's super strong, but then say use slashing grace.

You want to fluff a bunch of stuff, but then use opposite mechanics.

Meh

[Neal Litherland]

Name Violation wrote:

You say he's super strong, but then say use slashing grace.

You want to fluff a bunch of stuff, but then use opposite mechanics.

Meh

Not entirely sure how you see that.

Dhampir gives you a dex boost, which is useful. Swashbuckler gives you a damage boost for your class, and lets you use dex to hit. You add dex to damage with Slashing Grace, but you make sure you keep Strength high enough for feats like Power Attack. Then you combine strength and speed to deal a large damage output with what looks like an oversized weapon for that kind of precision.

Not sure how seeing someone who is essentially fencing with a bastard sword wouldn't leave you thinking that person is stronger than average. Just because you don't get a racial boost to Strength doesn't mean you didn't develop abnormally, and end up stronger, faster, etc. than you should have been if people thought you were a boring old human.

[Asmodeus' Advocate]

This is a really interesting concept! Too few vampire and their kin are built or played like the brutally powerful predators that they are. And it led me down a rabbit hole reading a bunch of your blog posts. Which is probably what you intended . . . anyway, I've always been a fan of your site, so I figured I'd pop in here and say that!