Immortuos (3.5e Race)

Immortuos

Summary:: Immortuos are hunters of the night akin to their vampire spawn and vampire lordkin. While vampire spawn are but slaves to their lord, and vampire lords are powerful (and effectively unplayable) masters of the night, the Immortuos is a breed which, while fundamentally weaker, is under the control and domination of no lord but those they choose to recognize socially. Their own masters, they seek out the blood of the living for sustenance, a strange paradox between the living and the undead, beautiful as they once were in life, possessing a metabolism necessary for survival, yet lacking a heartbeat and being as tough as any undead.

Personality

Vampirism does strange things to a man. At first, it is a rush. You are stronger, faster, more powerful, nay, superhuman. With this rush of power and excitement spawns pride and hedonism. Yet, with it comes a cost, the cost of blood. To some, the moral quandaries start now, and for others, they never began. Eventually, one must justify one's bloodthirst. Thus begins the slippery slope into moral decay. First it is animals, then it is people you do not kill, then you only slay those who deserve it, and eventually, your former humanity fades away as humans become cattle, food to be eaten. You are different, after all, better, faster, more powerful, nay, beyond human. And thus, more than human, this is not cannibalism, they are merely meals in human-shaped bodies.

Thus the vampire does lose his humanity. The older the vampire gets, the farther away he gets from his source, until morals vanish and the endless march of time robs him of his original culture. While he may pose to be one of the mankind's kin, he will always be a foreigner, an outsider, and he knows that, accepts it, and sometimes delights in it.

For he has nothing else.

Physical Description

The effects of Immortuos vampirism is specific to humans and humanoid creatures. Needless to say, they look unchanged from their base race, even though their abilities change to match their new state of being. Most often, the Immortuos are of human stock, for humans are short lived, curious, and daring, and thus fall prey easily to the allure of the vampire.

Relations

By necessity, the Immortuos is a social creature, one which maintains a friendly air with all those it encounters. This is often a falsehood. While young vampires often continue to live with true friendships, the decay is inevitable and time will not wait. Their friends perish and with it grow distant. With the march of time, periodically an Immortuos must move, faking his death or vanishing from the public eye. If people caught on how youthful they look as many years pass, or begin to grow wary at the string of murders every year, they would be found out. As such, within a lifespan, they travel from village to village, or become masters of disguise.

They rarely spawn more vampires... an Immortuos quickly learns that such things are only competition for food, not lifelong immortal companions in arms. However, in the rare case they do, they perform a dark ritual called the Sanguine Cry. The finer details are kept from public ears, but it involves a ritual in the dead of night, where the vampire bites its soon-turned victim and the victim in kind bites back, then lays to bleed out and die upon a symbol most unholy. Through this, the grip of undeath is theirs.

Alignment

Because the grim requirements for sustenance, the decay into evil is nearly inevitable. Because they must hide within society to feed, those which follow the rules of the land and maintain the status quo, vampires tend towards lawful. While a chaotic good vampire (or a vampire of any good alignment) may exist, he would have to be an extraordinarily unique being with an extremely strong will and unshakable moral core.

Lands

Immortuos make their homes in lands of their origin, typically human lands. Because of their power, experience, and sway, they often come into positions of power in such places.

Religion

No longer fearing death and no longer needing (or necessarily welcome in) the afterlife, religion becomes a passing fad for the vampire. What need does a vampire have to guard his undead soul? To what end would he need the aid of higher powers? Many of these religions shun the undead, and those religions which do not are often dangerous gambits which upset the status quo. Thus, religious vampires are a rarity.

Language

Vampires speak Common, and one language based on their origin, be it regional or racial. Intelligent vampires often learn many languages in order to spread to any society, or even for the passing joy of knowledge.

Names

As they come from humanoid stock, thus their names are born from the same.

Racial Traits

• +2 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +0 Constitution, +2 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom, +2 Charisma: Immortuos excel in all things, but even though they are considered as Undead creatures, they are considered undead if it is beneficial for them.
• Type:: Undead: Immortuos are undead, with d12 HD regardless of class level and all undead immunities. They have any one humanoid subtype, such as human, elf, orc, and similar, which is based on their original species they come from. This allows them to continue qualifying for feats, classes, and magic items which are based on race, as well as marking them as a ranger's favored enemy as if they were still humanoid.
• Size::Medium or Size::Small: Most Immortuos are by far medium size, but the occasional small vampire exists. The only difference between them is their size and base land speed.
• Immortuos have darkvision out to 60 ft.
• Natural Weapons: Immortuos have a slam attack which deals 1d6 + Str damage for medium creatures, and a secondary bite attack which deals 1d4 + 1/2 Str. However, it is through their bites which they feed. If the victim is either grappled or helpless, a successful bite deals an additional 1d4 points of Constitution damage. They also deal this damage if they make a successful critical hit with their bite attack. When an Immortuos deals enough Constitution damage to equal 1/5 their current HD (minimum 1), they gain a blood point and stave off the hunger another day. Low-level vampires find that they gain blood points easily, but the stronger ones find that they need much more merely to survive. For example, a 20 HD vampire requires 4 Con damage per blood point. It is rumored that a vampire's bite creates more Immortuos, but this is not true. Only through an eldritch ritual, along with biting, can another Immortuos be spawned.
• Immortuos base land speed is 30 feet if Medium size or 20 feet if Small size.
• Alternate Form(Su): As a standard action, a Immortuos may take the form of a bat, wolf, or rat at will.
• Blood Pool(Ex): Immortous possess a blood pool (which by default begins at 10). The blood pool decreases by 1 point every day, and if it hits 0 points, you drop into hibernation. You can increase your blood pool by draining creatures of their blood with your bite attack (see above). Any creature with blood will suffice, but it will max out at 10 points. Only the blood of humanoids or monstrous humanoids allows you to exceed 10 points. You may fill your blood pool up to your HD + 15. Thus, at 1 HD, an Immortuos can have a blood pool of 16, while at 20 HD, they can have a blood pool of up to 35, and the impressive hit points which come with such a thing. Effects which deal Constitution damage or drain through the act of draining blood (rather than by poison) will instead damage an Immortuos' blood pool.
• Hard to Kill(Ex): To defeat a vampire is easy; one simply must deplete its hit points. But to destroy a vampire is a bit difficult. When a vampire drops to 0 hp or below, it falls inert and gains fast healing 1 until it is at 1 hp. To kill a vampire for good, you must stake it in the heart (a coup de grace action with any piercing weapon) or destroy the body utterly (via disintegrate, setting it on fire, or leaving it in the sun). If a vampire loses its head (from a vorpal weapon, for example), it falls into hibernation, but can be restored by attaching the head back to the body; the head naturally regrows in 3d6 rounds, leaving the vampire at 1 hp.
• Hibernation(Ex): In the event of decapitation, or failing to feed in time, an Immortuos enters a state of deathly sleep. They remain in such a state, dreaming dark dreams, until a blood-bearing creature passes within 30 ft. of their prone body. At that point, they awaken, crazed, and attack until they lose their target (and fall in hibernation again after moving to a safe space) or manage to regain at least 1 blood point. They gain +4 strength and dexterity when in a craze, but can do nothing but attack, not even cast spells, use spell-like abilities, or recognize friend from foe. A vampire can willingly hibernate (and thus lose no blood points from the passage of time) in the course of 1 minute, and wake as a full-round action. However, those who hibernate too long, especially not by choice, are said to go mad...
• Turn Resistance (Ex): An Immortuos gains +2 turn resistance against the turn and rebuke attempts of others.
• Sunlight Vulnerability(Ex): All Immortuos share a common weakness to the light of the sun. In actual daylight (but not the spell daylight), they lose 1 hit point per HD every round, until they find at least shadowy illumination or darker. If reduced to 0 hp while in sunlight, the vampire disintegrates into ash. A hood may suffice in typical situations, but in the heat of combat, maintaining the shade from any headgear results in a -2 penalty to all attack rolls and skill checks. Most vampires choose to employ their darkness spell-like ability in cases where they must move within daylight.
• Spell-Like Abilities (Sp): At will- charm person, darkness; 2/day-gaseous form. A successful save against charm person renders them immune for 10 minutes. Caster level is equal to your character level. The save DCs are Charisma based.
• Automatic Languages: Common and one additional language of their choice.
• Bonus Languages: Any.
• Favored Class: Any.
• Level Adjustment: 2

Vital Statistics

Table: Immortuos Random Starting Ages

Adulthood	Simple	Moderate	Complex
As original species	As original species	As original species	+As original species

Table: Immortuos Aging Effects

Middle Age^1	Old^2	Venerable^3	Maximum Age^4
2000 years	4000 years	6000 years	Unlimited
At middle age, −1 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha. At old age, −2 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha. At venerable age, −3 to Str, Dex, and Con; +1 to Int, Wis, and Cha.

Table: Immortuos Random Height and Weight

Gender	Base Height	Height Modifier	Base Weight	Weight Modifier
Male	As base species	As base species	As base species	As base species
Female	As base species	As base species	As base species	As base species

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