3e SRD:Vampire
Vampire
"Vampire" is a template that can be added to any humanoid or monstrous humanoid creature (referred to hereafter as the "base creature"). The creature’s type changes to "undead." It uses all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
Hit Dice: Increase to d12.
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).
AC: The base creature’s natural armor improves by +6.
Attacks: A vampire retains all the attacks of the base creature and also gains a slam attack if it didn’t already have one.
Damage: Vampires have slam attacks. If the base creature does not have this attack form, use the damage values in the table below. Creatures with natural attacks retain their old damage ratings or use the values below, whichever is better.
| Size | Damage |
|---|---|
| Fine | 1 |
| Diminutive | 1d2 |
| Tiny | 1d3 |
| Small | 1d4 |
| Medium-size | 1d6 |
| Large | 1d8 |
| Huge | 2d6 |
| Gargantuan | 2d8 |
| Colossal | 4d6 |
Special Attacks: A vampire retains all the special attacks of the base creature and also gains those listed below. Saves have a DC of 10 + 1/2 vampire’s HD + vampire’s Charisma modifier unless noted otherwise.
Domination (Su): A vampire can crush an opponent’s will just by looking onto his or her eyes. This is similar to a gaze attack, except that the vampire must take a standard action, and those merely looking at it are not affected. Anyone the vampire targets must succeed at a Will save or fall instantly under the vampire’s influence as though by a dominate person spell cast by a 12th-level sorcerer. The ability has a range of 30 feet.
Energy Drain (Su): Living creatures hit by a vampire’s slam attack suffer 2 negative levels.
Blood Drain (Ex): A vampire can suck blood from a living victim with its fangs by making a successful grapple check. If it pins the foe, it drains blood, inflicting 1d4 points of permanent Constitution drain each round the pin is maintained.
Children of the Night (Su): Vampires command the lesser creatures of the world and once per day can call forth a pack of 4d8 dire rats, a swarm of 10d10 bats, or a pack of 3d6 wolves as a standard action. These creatures arrive in 2d6 rounds and serve the vampire for up to 1 hour.
Create Spawn (Su): A humanoid or monstrous humanoid slain by a vampire’s energy drain attack rises as a vampire spawn 1d4 days after burial. If the vampire instead drains the victim’s Constitution to 0 or less, the victim returns as a spawn if it had 4 or fewer 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 death.
Special Qualities: A vampire retains all the special qualities of the base creature and those listed below, and also gains the undead type.
Damage Reduction (Su): A vampire’s undead body is tough, giving the creature damage reduction 15/+1.
Turn Resistance (Ex): A vampire has +4 turn resistance.
Resistance (Ex): A vampire has cold and electricity resistance 20.
Gaseous Form (Su): As a standard action, a vampire can assume gaseous form at will, as the spell cast by a 5th-level sorcerer, but can remain gaseous indefinitely and has a fly speed of 20 feet with perfect maneuverability.
Spider Climb (Ex): A vampire can climb sheer surfaces as though with a spider climb spell.
Alternate Form (Su): A vampire can assume the shape of a bat, dire bat, wolf, or dire wolf as a standard action. This ability is similar to a polymorph self spell cast by a 12th-level sorcerer, except that the vampire can assume only one of the forms listed here. It can remain in that form until it assumes another or until the next sunrise.
Fast Healing (Ex): A vampire heals 5 points of damage each round so long as it has at least 1 hit point. If reduced to 0 hit points or lower, a vampire automatically assumes gaseous form and attempts to escape. It must reach its coffin home within 2 hours or be utterly destroyed. (It can travel up to nine miles in 2 hours.) Once at rest in its coffin, it rises to 1 hit point after 1 hour, then resumes healing at the rate of 5 hit points per round.
Base Saves: Same as the base creature
Abilities: Increase from the base creature as follows: Str +6, Dex +4, Int +2, Wis +2, Cha +4. As undead creatures, vampires have no Constitution score.
Skills: Vampires receive a +8 racial bonus to Bluff, Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Search, Sense Motive, and Spot checks. Otherwise same as the base creature.
Feats: Vampires gain Alertness, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved Initiative, and Lightning Reflexes, assuming the base creature meets the prerequisites and doesn’t already have these feats.
Climate/Terrain: Any land and underground
Organization: Solitary, pair, gang (2-5), or troop (1-2 plus 2-5 vampire spawn)
Challenge Rating: Same as the base creature +2
Treasure: Double standard
Alignment: Always chaotic evil
Advancement: By character class
Vampire Weaknesses
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.
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
Simply reducing a vampire’s hit points to 0 or below incapacitates but doesn’t destroy it. However, certain attacks can slay vampires.
Exposing any vampire to direct sunlight disorients it: It can take only partial actions and is destroyed utterly on 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.
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 chaotic evil, which causes characters of certain classes to lose their class abilities. In addition, certain classes suffer additional penalties.
Clerics: 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 master controls. Vampire clerics have access to the Chaos, Destruction, Evil, and Trickery domains.
Sorcerers and Wizards: These characters 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.
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