VAMPIRE
Vampires appear just as they did in life, although their features are often hardened and feral, with the predatory look of wolves.
Like liches, they often embrace finery and decadence and may assume the guise of nobility. Despite their human appearance, vampires can be easily recognized, for they cast no shadows and throw no reflections in mirrors.
Vampires speak any languages they knew in life.
CREATING A VAMPIRE
“Vampire” is an acquired template that can be added to any humanoid or monstrous humanoid creature (referred to hereafter as the base creature).
A vampire uses all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
Size and Type: The creature’s type changes to undead (augmented humanoid or monstrous humanoid). Do not recalculate base attack bonus, saves, or skill points. Size is unchanged. Hit Dice: Increase all current and future Hit Dice to d12s. Speed: Same as the base creature. If the base creature has a swim speed, the vampire retains the ability to swim and is not vulnerable to immersion in running water (see below). Armor Class: The base creature’s natural armor bonus improves by +6. Attack: A vampire retains all the attacks of the base creature and also gains a slam attack if it didn’t already have one. If the base creature can use weapons, the vampire retains this ability. A creature with natural weapons retains those natural weapons. A vampire fighting without weapons uses either its slam attack or its primary natural weapon (if it has any). A vampire armed with a weapon uses its slam or a weapon, as it desires. Full Attack: A vampire fighting without weapons uses either its slam attack (see above) or its natural weapons (if it has any). If armed with a weapon, it usually uses the weapon as its primary attack along with a slam or other natural weapon as a natural secondary attack. Damage: Vampires have slam attacks. If the base creature does not have this attack form, use the appropriate damage value from the table below according to the vampire’s size. Creatures that have other kinds of natural weapons retain their old damage values or use the appropriate value from the table below, whichever is better.Size | Damage |
---|---|
Fine |
1 |
Diminutive |
1d2 |
Tiny |
1d3 |
Small |
1d4 |
Medium |
1d6 |
Large |
1d8 |
Huge |
2d6 |
Gargantuan |
2d8 |
Colossal |
4d6 |
If the vampire instead drains the victim’s Constitution to 0 or lower, the victim returns as a spawn if it had 4 or less HD and as a vampire if it had 5 or more HD. In either case, the new vampire or spawn is under the command of the vampire that created it and remains enslaved until its master’s destruction. At any given time a vampire may have enslaved spawn totaling no more than twice its own Hit Dice; any spawn it creates that would exceed this limit are created as free-willed vampires or vampire spawn. A vampire that is enslaved may create and enslave spawn of its own, so a master vampire can control a number of lesser vampires in this fashion. A vampire may voluntarily free an enslaved spawn in order to enslave a new spawn, but once freed, a vampire or vampire spawn cannot be enslaved again.
Drain, Negative Levels, and Level Loss (Special Ability)#Energy Drain (Su)|Energy Drain] (Su): Living creatures hit by a vampire’s slam attack (or any other natural weapon the vampire might possess) gain two Drain, Negative Levels, and Level Loss (Special Ability)#Negative Levels|negative level]s. For each Drain, Negative Levels, and Level Loss (Special Ability)#Negative Levels|negative level] bestowed, the vampire gains 5 Hit Points (Rules)|temporary hit points. A vampire can use its [[Energy Drain, Negative Levels, and Level Loss (Special Ability)#Energy Drain (Su)|energy drain] ability once per round. Special Qualities: A vampire retains all the special qualities of the base creature and gains those described below. Alternate Form (Su): A vampire can assume the shape of a bat, dire bat, wolf, or dire wolf as a standard action.Vampire Weaknesses
For all their power, vampires have a number of weaknesses.
Repelling a Vampire: Vampires cannot tolerate the strong odor of garlic and will not enter an area laced with it. Similarly, they recoil from a mirror or a strongly presented holy symbol. These things don’t harm the vampire—they merely keep it at bay. A recoiling vampire must stay at least 5 feet away from a creature holding the mirror or holy symbol and cannot touch or make melee attacks against the creature holding the item for the rest of the encounter. Holding a vampire at bay takes a standard action.Vampires are also unable to cross running water, although they can be carried over it while resting in their coffins or aboard a ship.
They are utterly unable to enter a home or other building unless invited in by someone with the authority to do so. They may freely enter public places, since these are by definition open to all.
Slaying a Vampire: Reducing a vampire’s hit points to 0 or lower incapacitates it but doesn’t always destroy it (see the note on fast healing). However, certain attacks can slay vampires. Exposing any vampire to direct sunlight disorients it: It can take only a single move action or attack action and is destroyed utterly in the next round if it cannot escape. Similarly, immersing a vampire in running water robs it of one-third of its hit points each round until it is destroyed at the end of the third round of immersion. Driving a wooden stake through a vampire’s heart instantly slays the monster. However, it returns to life if the stake is removed, unless the body is destroyed. A popular tactic is to cut off the creature’s head and fill its mouth with holy wafers (or their equivalent).Vampire Characters
Vampires are always evil, which causes characters of certain classes to lose some class abilities. In addition, certain classes take additional penalties.
Clerics: Vampire clerics lose their ability to turn undead but gain the ability to rebuke undead. This ability does not affect the vampire’s controller or any other vampires that a master controls. A vampire cleric has access to two of the following domains: Chaos, Destruction, Evil, or Trickery. Sorcerers and Wizards: Vampire sorcerers and wizards retain their class abilities, but if a character has a familiar other than a rat or bat, the link between them is broken, and the familiar shuns its former companion. The character can summon another familiar, but it must be a rat or bat. SEE WIKIPEDIA ENTRY: Vampire- System Reference Document -> List of Creatures (SRD)
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Category:SRD Category:Creature Category:LA8 Category:Undead Type Category:Humanoid Type Category:Monstrous Humanoid Type Category:Lawful Alignment Category:Neutral (Law-Chaos) Alignment Category:Chaotic Alignment Category:Evil Alignment Category:Any Environment Category:Template Category:Augmented Subtype Category:LA8{{OGL Bottom|the System 3.5 Reference Document|SRD}}