Vampire Template

When you become a vampire, you gain all of the abilities below, in addition to those of your race, background, and existing class levels

• +2 to Str, Dex, Con, and Cha (modifier, not score)
• Undead
• Unholy: cannot enter a threshold without invitation, nor hallowed ground of any kind. If forced inside, compelled without saving throw to escape at fastest speed.
• Resist (necrotic), vulnerable (radiant)
• You suffer 33% max HP in internal, unavoidable damage each round you spend in running water or sunlight
• When staked in the heart with wood, a vampire is rendered helpless
• When presented with a holy symbol by a faithful mortal, vampire is warded as Turn Undead
• You cannot cross the threshold of a sanctified place or the home of a mortal without invitation. If you find yourself inside one, you must spend all actions to exit as quickly as possible.
• Blood Drain: at-will, melee, std; medium piercing damage, plus, if piercing damage is not avoided, 1d4 Con damage. You gain the drained Con as Blood (see below).
  • Only creatures of the same type as the vampire can grant useful Blood. For example: a human turned into a vampire must feed on natural humanoids.
  • If you drain blood from a humanoid, then infuse them with your vampiric blood, and they are not purified by radiant damage or Greater Restoration or similar magic within 8 hours, they become a Vampire.
• Regeneration: you may automatically pass any death saving throw by spending 1 Blood. Once stable, after 1 hour of rest, you may spend 1 Blood to regain 1 HP. You may only spend Blood in this manner if you are above -5. If you manage to fail enough saves to die, you remain in a corpse-like state indefinitely. It possible to regenerate a vampire from this state using copious amounts of blood. It is possible to destroy such a vampire permanently using radiant damage or sunlight. Regeneration only works when not staked, and when not in running water or sunlight. If in running water or sunlight, you always fail death saving throws (both normal and the additional ones from the damage caused by the water or sunlight).

Blood

You gain an attribute called Blood, representing the amount of life energy you've drained.

• Min value: -5
• Max value: +5

You may use Blood for any ability that specifically requires it, or as follows:

• As a substitute for Mana (1:1)
• At-will, immediate; you heal for 1d10 HP per Blood expended.

Every day, your Blood decreases by 1 automatically, as it sustains your existence.

When your Blood is negative, you suffer a compulsion to feed (rules TBD). Below -5, you lose control of your character and immediately seek sustenance until your Blood is maxed out.

Variant Templates

Vedic Court (Rakshasa)

• You can use Bite as a melee-range action requiring only eye contact. The effect is the same.
• Vulnerability to wood replaced with brass
• Vulnerability to running water replaced with Vulnerable (fire)

Ideas:

• possession
• reaper abilities
• tiger form (shapeshifting in general)

Vampire Class

Once you have the template above, you may multiclass into the Vampire class.

At each level, you receive:

• One talent (see below)
• 6 Hit Points
• 1 Mana
• +1 racial bonus to Str, Dex, Con, or Cha (can't repeat adjacent levels)

Talents

Every level, you may choose one talent from the below list, as long as you meet any noted prerequisites. If not otherwise stated, the ability is a standard action to activate, and if its duration is not stated, it is concentration.

• Vampy Speed: gain +6 to movement.
• Natural Armor: gain a +5 natural armor bonus to AC.
• Natural Attacks: you gain a Claw attack that inflicts medium slashing damage (can be dual-wielded), and your Bite inflicts heavy piercing damage instead of medium (and still drains blood if the target is valid). Your attacks strike as magical weapons.
  • Pounce: If you hit with a Claw attack in a standard action, target must pass a Str save against your attack; on failure, they are prone or grappled (your choice), and you can take a Bite attack as a bonus action.
• Alternate Form: you can take the form of a natural animal or swarm of natural animals whose CR doesn't exceed your rank.
• Children of the Night: you can summon an animal whose CR doesn't exceed your rank (or 2 of rank-1, or 4 of rank-2, etc)
• Gaseous Form: at-will, bonus; you become mist. You're invulnerable to physical effects and targeted magic, but cannot take actions other than to drift at half your movement speed. Drains 1 Mana per round. Additional uses:
  • Mist Defense: you can engage Gaseous Form as a reaction.
  • Misty Teleport: at-will, move; you turn into mist, then fly up to 30-ft, then reconstitute (optionally). Costs 1 Mana.
• Spider Climb: you can effortlessly cling to any solid wall or ceiling (as long as it can support the weight)
• Unholy Resistance: you gain Resist to all weapons that are not magical.
• Energy Resistance: you gain Resist to a chosen energy type (fire, cold, lightning, poison, acid, force, psychic, thunder, but not radiant)
• Fast Healing: as long as your Blood total is above 0, you automatically heal 10% of your max hp at the start of each turn, even if incapacitated. This ability does not function if you are staked, or are currently in sunlight or running water.
• Charming Gaze: at will, std, 1 Blood: target humanoid or animal is charmed, Wis negates, or until next sunrise. If subject is charmed on three consecutive days and fails each time, the effect is permanent and nonmagical.
• Dominating Gaze: (requires Charming Gaze) at will, std, 2 Blood: target humanoid or animal is dominated, Wis negates, or until next sunrise. If subject is dominated on three consecutive days and fails each time, the effect is permanent and nonmagical.
• Create Spawn: any humanoid you drain, whether or not they survive it, if not cured with greater restoration or similar magic within 8 hours, becomes a Vampire. Unlike normal spawn, these Vampires remain under your control (as Dominating Gaze), as long as you keep their Blood score above -5.
• Greater Drain: your Blood Drain drains 1d4 Con + 1 per 2 total levels, rounded down.
• Ward Resistance: you gain Turn Resistance (advantage vs any effect that turns undead), and are not warded by holy symbols (other than those used by a proper holy caster during Turn Undead). You may enter sanctified ground or private thresholds, but you lose all benefits of your Vampire template and class (other than this specific ability) while inside and uninvited.
• Diablerie: you can gain positive Blood by draining other vampires and outsiders. (TBD)

Ideas:

• Ability to drain on every melee hit