Description

Fangs. Undead. You get the idea.

Traits

Automatic Abilities

• Immortal: You do not age, and thus cannot die of old age. You can still be killed.
• Feeding: You gain no nourishment from food, and must drink blood to survive. See Blood.
• Undead: You are stronger and more resilient than an ordinary human. See The Black.
• Infravision: You can see near-infrared light. In conditions of near or total darkness, you can see the heat signature of warm bodies and objects, allowing you to detect the square they occupy.

Vulnerabilities

• Direct Sunlight: A vampire in direct sunlight suffers terrible pain and will soon burst into flames. "Direct sunlight" means that at least one ray of light can be traced directly from the sun to the vampire's flesh. Atmospheric effects, including the thickest clouds, do not diminish the effect at all.
  • In direct sunlight, a vampire becomes Frightened (with no possibility to resist, superceding all class abilities, but not Vampire racial traits that specifically address this), and must seek shelter from the sun.
  • For the first round of exposure, the vampire suffers only pain and fear, described above.
  • At the start of each successive round, the vampire begins to burn in the affected areas. If the vampire's core (torso and/or head) is exposed, he suffers damage equal to 20% of his maximum HP. If only his limbs are exposed, the damage is halved. This damage cannot be avoided, mitigated, resisted, or absorbed through any means short of divinity or Vampire racial talents that specifically address this.
  • Each time the vampire suffers the above damage, he also gains 1 stack of Sunburn. Each stack of Sunburn causes a 10% reduction to the vampire's max HP, damage, and all ability scores for 3 days, and cannot be removed through any means other than time.
  • As soon as the vampire is no longer in direct sunlight, the fear effect fades.
• Indirect Sunlight: A vampire in indirect sunlight suffers discomfort and weakness.
  • "Indirect sunlight" is defined as such: if any ray of sunlight can be traced from the sun to the vampire's flesh, with no barrier more substantial than clothing or a highly tinted window, or if any ray of sunlight falls upon the vampire's exposed flesh after reflecting off another surface (such as ambient daylight coming through windows), the vampire is exposed to indirect sunlight.
  • In Indirect Sunlight, vampires are Shaken, suffering -20% to attack rolls, defenses, and saves.
  • For each hour of indirect sunlight, a vampire suffers 1 stack of Sunburn. A portion of an hour at least 1 minute long counts as an entire hour.
• Sanctity: A vampire cannot abide holy ground or a presented holy symbol.
  • "Holy Ground" is ground specifically consecrated by a priest of a good faith. Any proper church qualifies, as well as certain holy sites. Rituals to conduct such consecration are detailed elsewhere, such as in the Priest class description.
  • "A presented holy symbol" means a valid holy symbol representing the wielder's own faith, which is presented in a specific effort to call upon said faith to repel the vampire. It has no effect if the wielder's faith is false. It is a standard action to present a holy symbol once it is in hand.
  • A vampire cannot enter Holy Ground at all. Attempts to do so meet seemingly infinite resistance. Attempts to teleport into the affected area fail.
  • A presented holy symbol effectively creates a small area of "Holy Ground" equal to a 1-square emanation. If the vampire finds himself within the area at the time the symbol is presented, his first action must be to exit (effectively, he is Frightened until he leaves).
  • Any functioning Threshold has the same effect as Holy Ground.
• Wooden Stake: If a shaft of wood penetrates your heart, you are rendered helpless, and lose 20% of your maximum Blood score per round, until the stake is removed (no save). However, such an attack is highly unlikely; staking a vampire requires that the vampire is already helpless, or that the attack is a called shot that is also a natural critical hit, which has sufficient Armor Penetration to entirely bypass the vampire's Fortification.

Extended Vulnerabilities

• These vulnerabilities only apply to vampires with an excessive amount of necromantic power, namely investiture in The Black.
• Rank 2+:
  • No Reflection: While not specifically a weakness, an interesting quirk of vampires is that they produce no reflection in mirrors. They are not subject to any magic requiring a reflection, including any spell that utilizes a mirror.
    • Their immunity to reflection extends to the symbolic and the metaphorical. They thus cannot have their image captured by any device, regardless of whether or not it incorporates a literal, physical mirror. They also cannot have their thoughts read by any means. (A telepathic vampire may still choose to broadcast her thoughts on purpose)
• Rank 3+
  • Running Water: A vampire cannot cross a stream of running water. As magical creatures, they are naturally warded by running water; however, they are not entirely magical creatures, and only large bodies such as rivers, lakes, and oceans qualify; mere creeks, small canals, or rivulets have no effect.
    • If a vampire finds himself immersed at least 10% in natural, running water, he becomes Frightened, and must exit the water at the first opportunity. He also becomes Shaken, suffering a 20% penalty to attack rolls, defenses, and saves for 1 minute thereafter.
    • If a vampire remains immersed in natural, running water for at least one minute, he suffers a 50% penalty to all vampire abilities (similar to the Impure Blood debuff) for 1 hour.

Attributes

These attributes are unique to the Vampire power source. All vampires have them.

Blood

Simply put, how much blood is in your system. Vampiric flesh is highly absorbent to blood; this is evident in their ability to fully consume the entire supply of blood of multiple humans of equal size to themselves. Argument persists over whether the process is magical or physiological, but the fact remains: vampires soak up blood like sponges.

As they draw upon their vampiric abilities, they deplete their stored blood supply. When they start running low, they begin to feel the Hunger set in. Typically, this leads to hunting, then feeding, then the cycle begins anew.

The Blood attribute works as follows:

• Maximum value: 5+Con
• Minimum value: -(5+Con)
• Zero does not represent being "out of blood", but rather the state at which the vampire has neither a surplus nor a deficit.
• Negative values represents being "low on blood", and the corresponding Hunger that ensues.
• It is possible to expand the maximum value with feats.

Effects of positive Blood score

• There is no specific effect of having a positive or zero Blood score. A vampire in this state feels "perfectly normal", and has no particular desire to kill and eat humans.

Effects of negative Blood score

• For each point of negative Blood, you gain 1 point of Hunger.
• When your Hunger surpasses 5 + your Wisdom score, you lose control of your character and begin hunting for the most immediate source of human blood.
  • If your Hunger score does not also surpass your Humanity score (see below), you will still prefer sources such as stored blood, animals, etc during this phase. However...
  • Once this process begins, your Hunger increases automatically by 1 point every minute. There is no maximum value.
  • When it surpasses your Humanity score, you no longer have any compunctions or moral obstacles to feeding on human blood.
• When your Blood score reaches its lower limit, you begin to dessicate.
  • For every hour that passes while in this state, you suffer -1 to all ability scores.
  • When your first physical score reaches -5, you become immobile and unable to act. You can still be revived; you will need the help of others to absorb fresh blood.

Blood score depletion

• Many vampiric abilities deplete Blood. This is noted in their description.
• Every day, you consume 1 Blood automatically, just for being a vampire.

Feeding

To restore Blood, you must Feed.

• Feed: at-will, std, touch (bite) range; you bite a living, blooded creature (or a vessel containing blood), and suck out the subject's blood. If subject is alive and unwilling, he must be currently pinned, and is allowed a grapple check to resist the feeding action.
  • The maximum amount drained per standard action is equal to your Blood score, or the amount of blood the subject actually has, whichever is lower.
  • Each point of Blood drained causes 1 Con damage to a living subject. At -5 Con, subject dies. This determines a subject's "maximum blood".
  • To drain an amount lower than your maximum on purpose, you must pass a Willpower check, DC 20 - your current Blood score. Thus, if Blood is negative, the DC is higher than 20.
  • If you feed on a living subject, you are compelled to spend all future standard actions feeding on them, until they are entirely drained. To resist, you must pass a Willpower check, DC 20 - your current Blood score.

Humanity

Represents how much you have held on to your humanity. A value of 20 means you fully embrace human values; you are no more willing to kill or harm for the purposes of feeding than any normal, innocent person. A value of 0 means you have absolutely no empathy whatsoever, and indeed enjoy the thrill of the hunt, the sweet taste of blood, and the feeble cries of your victims.

This attribute can change over time. Each time you feed on an unwilling victim, or kill through feeding, you lose 1 point of Humanity. Per DM adjudication, you may also lose points for less specific moral violations: the general rule is that you lose Humanity by committing evil acts *because of* your vampiric nature.

Conversely, you can regain Humanity by performing selfless acts. Mundane favors are not quite enough; such acts must be difficult or dangerous, even with your vampiric powers to help you. The DM will adjudicate.

Many vampiric abilities are enhanced by having a low Humanity score. Those with a high score are physically less vampiric than those with a low; the more the vampire within takes hold, the more you shift into a full-blooded monster.

Powers

Vampires may invest in Blood.

Paths

Celerity

Vampires are well-known for their incredible speed. Some take this to even greater extremes.

All uses are supernatural unless otherwise stated.

Automatic Benefits

• Gain +1 Dex per level.
• Gain +1 movement per odd level.

Feats

Rank 1

• Burst of Speed: At-will, augment; spend 1 Blood to add +100% movement speed to one move action. Stackable. (If charging, increases charge bonus damage by 100% of the bonus)
• Spider Climb: At-will, sustained, costs 1 Blood per minute of movement (none to just "hang out"); you stick to walls and ceilings as effectively as a gecko or fly.

Rank 2

• Blurred Strike: at-will, augments an attack, costs 2 Blood; you make a melee attack so fast that it cannot be dodged or parried.

Rank 3

Presence

Vampires possess superhuman charisma, and can learn to use it to great advantage.

All uses are supernatural unless otherwise stated.

Automatic Benefits

• Gain +1 Cha per level.

Feats

Rank 1

• Charm: at-will, sw, short range, gaze attack, costs 1 Blood; subject is Charmed. Will ends (vs Will).

Rank 2

• Read Thoughts: at-will, sw, short range, gaze, costs 1 Blood; you read subject's conscious thoughts. Subjects can attempt to resist (opposed Concentration to your Presence check), but the use of this power does not automatically inform subject of the danger, or the ability to resist.
• Enthrall: you can make Charm permanent. You must spend X blood, where X is the number of saves the subject must pass to break free. For each save attempt, subject suffers -1 to Cha; when Cha reaches -5, subject cannot attempt saves, and is effectively permanently charmed. (Later: rules for thrall to regain lost Cha without freeing himself)

• Rank 3
  • Dominate: encounter, sw, short range, gaze attack, costs 3 Blood; subject is Dominated. Will ends. May spend 1 extra Blood per additional save required to end (max one save/rd).

The Black

Some vampires can enhance their necromantic power, both through knowledge of the Dark Arts (and their own nature), and by abandoning any pretension to humanity.

You cannot invest more ranks in this skill than your Humanity score minus 20. If your score changes so to make your current score invalid, it is effectively lowered by the overage amount.

Not all uses of this skill are fully conscious, or represent some sort of magical study. In particular, most vampires have a few ranks, establishing some of their most basic vampiric traits.

Automatic Benefits

• Gain +1 Con per level.
• Gain Fortification 10% per level.
• Gain Resist (disease, poison) 25% per level.
• Gain Resist (shadow, necromancy) 10% per level.
• Starting at level 11, gain Resist (mental effects) 10% per level - 10.

Level-based Abilities

• Sustenance
  • At level 3, you may spend 1 Blood to immediately gain the benefit of a full night's rest.
  • At level 5, you need no food nor drink (besides blood, of course)
  • At level 7, you may suspend the need for air for 1 hour by spending 1 Blood.
  • At level 9, you never need to sleep.
  • At level 11, you have no need of oxygen.

Powers

• Gain access to Shadow and Death.

Feats

Rank 1

Rank 2

• Toughness: You gain DR 5. Stackable (max once per rank).
• Rank 3
  • Sun Stealth: You may suppress your vampiric abilities, losing all vampiric traits (except Hunger and regular Blood consumption). This renders you immune to sunlight (but not sanctity). It does not re-enable your digestive system; you still must feed to live.
• Rank 4
• Rank 5
  • Forgive My Trespasses: You may roll Dominance against sanctity wards (DC determined by the practitioner who created them, or various subjective DCs otherwise). On success, you ignore them.

Feats

These feats are available to all vampires, and are not specific to any path.

Senses

Healing

Blood

Humanity