Post/Author/DateTime	Post
TheDanishCartoonist 06-20-07, 08:16 PM	I've never liked the vampires as presented in D&D, so a while ago I made up a template to represent Buffyverse vamps in D&D. For those familiar with the show, young vampires represent everyone on the show, except the Master (middle-aged), Kakistos (Old), and the Turok-Han (Venerable). They lose all of their magical/shapechanging abilities, but gain more powerful melee abilities, and said abilities scale up as the vampire levels, especially as they age. I'd appreciate any comments you have, especially regarding ECL/CR and faithfulness to the show. :) Updated! Creating A Vampire "Vampire" is an acquired template that can be added to any 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). Do not recalculate base attack bonus, saves, or skill points. Size is unchanged. Unlike other undead, Vampires are vulnerable to subdual damage, although they do not become tired. They can sleep, and typically do so as is normal for the type of their base creature, but it is not strictly necessary. They can eat and enjoy food or alcohol, although they do not gain sustenance through normal food and typically prefer blood from a creature of whatever their type was in life. They can become intoxicated, and certain poisons and types of ability damage can affect them, as indicated in the descriptions of relevant effects. Hit Dice Increase all current and future Hit Dice to d12s. For each size larger than d4 a Vampire’s hit dice from class levels are, he gains +1 HP per hit die. A vampire bard, for example, would gain +1 hp per hit die, while a vampire barbarian would gain +4. Speed A vampire gains +10 feet of movement for every 5 hit dice it has (5, 10, 15, etc...). This increased movement speed does not stack with an increase in speed granted by class levels. 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 improves by 2, plus 1 for every two hit dice the creature has. Attack A vampire retains all the attacks of the base creature, and gains a bite attack. This bite attack does damage based upon the vampire’s size as normal, and also deals constitution damage if the vampire drains blood, as detailed below under ‘Blood Drain’. 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 unarmed strikes or its primary natural weapon (if it has any). A vampire armed with a weapon uses its unarmed strike or a weapon, as it desires. Full Attack A vampire fighting without weapons uses either its natural weapons or unarmed strikes. If armed with a weapon, it usually uses the weapon as its primary attack. Special Attacks A vampire retains all the special attacks of the base creature and gains those described below. It retains any spellcasting or psionic ability it had while alive. Saves have a DC of 10 + ½ vampire’s HD + vampire’s Cha modifier unless noted otherwise. Saves normally modified by constitution, as well as the duration of a barbarian’s rage are instead modified by charisma. Blood Drain A vampire can suck blood from a living victim with its bite attack. If the vampire chooses to drain blood it deals 1d4 points of Constitution damage each round it bites the creature. Vampires typically only use their bite attack as a natural attack made upon a grappled victim. The amount drained increases to 1d6 points at 10 hit dice, 1d8 at 20 hit dice, 1d10 at 30, and so on. On each such successful attack, the vampire gains 5 temporary hit points plus 5 for every 10 HD he possesses (round down, minimum 1). If a vampire does not drink the blood of at least one creature of at least one size category smaller (or an equivalent amount), he takes 1 point of temporary wisdom damage per week he does not eat that cannot be restored by magical or any other means short of a wish (which heals all the damage). A vampire can consume the blood of any living creature, receiving all the necessary nourishment to remain healthy. This damage is healed one day after he eats a suitable meal. Once he is reduced to 0 wisdom through this, he lapses into a coma from which he cannot be aroused unless fed the blood of a creature of at least 3 intellect, and he suffers one point of permanent intellect drain for each week he is in the coma that cannot be restored except by the use of Wish spells, in which case, each wish heals 1 point of damage up to his former maximum. The requirement that the creature have an intellect of 3 or more is an exception to the normal allowance that the vampire can gain sustenance from any living creature. If his wisdom ever reaches 0 while in the coma, he is turned to dust and destroyed as though he had been destroyed by a disintegrate spell. Create Spawn (Su) When a vampire reduces a creature to 0 Constitution with its bite attack, the creature does not immediately die. For the next 5 rounds after its constitution is so drained, the creature remains alive and conscious, but helpless. At any time during those rounds, the vampire may force the victim to drink the vampire’s blood as a full-round action. If made to drink, the victim will rise as a vampire 1d4 days after being changed For unknown reasons, vampires only rarely create spawn, typically when they wish to take a mortal as a mate, or as a partner in some grander evil scheme. Special Qualities A vampire retains all the special qualities of the base creature and gains those described below. Sense Vampire: Vampires can sense the presence of other vampires. Whenever a vampire is within 50 feet of another vampire, they immediately become aware of the true nature of the other vampire. Vampiric Regeneration 5(Ex) Vampiric regeneration functions identically to normal regeneration. However, vampires suffer the normal effects of subdual damage unlike other undead. Fire, Magic & Slashing, positive energy or Wooden & Piercing do normal damage to a Vampire. If a vampire takes enough lethal damage to reduce him to 0 hit points or less, he is immediately turned to dust as if killed by a disintegrate spell. Turn Resistance (Ex) Special (see below). Scent (Ex) Abilities Increase from the base creature as follows: +4 str, +4 dex, +2 charisma. For every 5 hit dice the vampire has, he gains a further +2 str ,+2 dex, and +1 charisma. As an undead creature, a vampire has no constitution score. Skills Vampires have a +8 racial bonus on listen, jump, climb and wisdom checks to track a bleeding creature by scent, +4 to bluff, hide, move silently, and spot checks and Wisdom checks to track by scent. Otherwise same as the base creature. Feats Vampires gain the following feats: Improved Unarmed Strike, Improved Grapple, Iron Will, Track (using scent), Improved Initiative, Dodge, Lightning Reflexes. A vampire of at least 3 hit dice also gains Superior Unarmed Strike. Weaknesses Sunlight: Vampires catch fire and are weakened by contact with sunlight. They can move about during the day, and take no damage from indirect sunlight, such as through curtains or in a well-shaded area. Moderate sunlight, such as a beam coming through a small window, deals 1d6 fire damage and 1 strength damage per round as it smolders the vampire’s skin. Full immersion in sunlight inflicts 1d6 +5 strength damage per round, and deals fire damage equal to half the vampire’s maximum hit points. The sunlight adaptation feat decreases this fire damage by half. This strength damage applies even though they are undead. Damage caused by the sun can only be prevented by a specially-made magical item, such as the Gem of Amarra. Normal fire resistance or immunity has no effect, although such effects work fully when dealing with damage caused by normal or magical fire, such as a fireball spell, or a torch. The spell Searing Light counts as a spell effect for these purposes. Turning: Vampires cannot be turned, but characters can instead ward themselves and others from vampires. For purposes of this section, a holy symbol is a symbol of a good or neutral deity whose clerics channel positive energy. Symbols of evil deities, or neutral deities that channel negative energy cannot be used. Instead, a vampire cannot attack a character wielding a holy symbol with intent to ward off the vampire (standard action), unless it passes a will save with DC equal to 10+ ½ the warding character’s hit dice + the warding character’s charisma modifier. Paladins, or clerics with the sun domain, add their paladin (or cleric) level +1/2 their hit dice from other classes to this effect. Any bonus on saves versus fear effects the warding character has, such as from a paladin’s Aura of Courage ability, adds half that bonus to the save DC of a warding attempt. A creature who is immune to fear gains a +4 bonus to such attempts. So, a vampire attempting to attack a paladin 10/fighter 10 with 20 charisma who is using this ability would have to make a save with a DC of 34. (10 + 10 from paladin levels, +5 from fighter levels, +5 from charisma, +4 from fear immunity). Any character may attempt to ward a vampire from attacking an ally by interceding between the vampire and his ally. He enters the ally’s square, provoking an attack of opportunity from the vampire, but may shield both individuals in doing so. Any character so warded may not attack the warded vampire. Contact with a holy symbol: A holy symbol that touches a vampire burns its skin. For purposes of this section, a holy symbol is a symbol of a good or neutral deity whose clerics channel positive energy. An unattended symbol deals 1d6 positive energy damage per round as it burns their flesh. A character can wield a holy symbol as a weapon, dealing 1d6 + charisma + ½ any cleric (of a good or positive neutral deity) holy damage on a successful touch attack. A paladin can make such attacks merely by touching the vampire with any part of his body (or armor), without necessarily wielding a holy symbol, and may use his Smite Evil ability as part of such attacks. Paladins add their entire class level to such attacks, and a vampire touching a paladin (such as with an unarmed strike or to deliver a touch spell, or while grappling or being bull rushed by a paladin) automatically takes the damage a paladin would deal with this ability, although he must still make an attack to use Smite Evil. A cleric with the Sun domain may add his full cleric level +1/2 his hit dice from other classes to damage, but still must use a holy symbol to make such attacks, and vampires do not take damage simply by touching him. Other weaknesses: Vampires cannot enter private homes without an invitation, although they are free to enter and leave a home once invited. This rule does not apply to the homes of any creatures other than sentient humanoids. Public accommodations, such as a room at an inn, do not count for this ability unless the same mortal has lived there for at least a week. "To "un-invite" a vampire requires a ritual that takes at least 1 hour and 100 gp in magically treated sage and other material components, and at least two participants, one of whom must be able to cast at least first level arcane spells. The highest-level spellcaster must make a spellcraft check with a DC of 15 to complete the ritual, while their assistants aid in the ritual. Failure consumes half the material components, and failure by 5 or more consumes all the material components." They can never be seen in a mirror, and are immune to any magical effect generated by a mirror. Other than this, they have no special penalties. They do not need special soil or a coffin, can cross running water, do not suffer from arithmomania or any other penalties mentioned in common folklore. Age and vampires. Vampires age, much like humans. They retain any age benefits and penalties they accrued during life, but their age effectively becomes 0. They become Middle-aged after 1,000 years as a vampire, old after 2,000, and venerable after 4,000. Instead of the normal bonuses and penalties associated with aging, they gain special bonuses as described below. Vampires never die of old age, and the oldest vampires may well be the same ones who were the first to walk the material plane, although very, very, very few vampires even live to middle age, typically less than 1%, and perhaps only 1% of these live to old age. Venerable vampires are typically considered the stuff of legend, and most scholars on the material plane believe none have ever lived this long, and if any have, they no longer live today. Vampires of middle-age and older are almost always great heroes and leaders, commanders of possibly dozens of other vampires, and wise, cagey villains, while young vampires can be anything from vicious warlords to slow-witted thugs. Older vampires should never be mooks, but ancient villains. Vampires of young age appear typically as normal humans, but they can also show their daemonic visage. At will as a free action, a vampire may change his appearance between how he appeared in life and his true face as a vampire. When he appears as a human, he is indistinguishable from how he appeared in life (although after some months, a vampire will typically be somewhat paler, although not outside the normal range of hues for a creature of his base type) and there is no way to tell, apart from divinations, that he is a vampire. When he appears as a vampire, ridges appear over his eyes (which change to a predatory yellow), and he gains a set of fangs. When in ‘vamp face,’ he gains the aura of fear ability, detailed below. At middle age, the vampire gains +1 to all his stats, and damage reduction 5/-, which stacks with any other natural damage reduction, such as from barbarian class levels, and he gains the Leadership feat, but only for the purposes of leading other vampires, and counts as having "Great Prestige." From this point on, he can no longer appear as human, and constantly gains the aura of fear ability from his face. He now takes 33% damage from the sun each round, rather than 50%. He gains long fingernails, his skin begins to harden, he loses his hair, his ears become pointed, and his ribs fuse and harden, re-arranging themselves to better protect his heart from being pierced. At old age, he gains a further +2 to all stats, which stacks with the bonus from middle age. His damage reduction from middle age becomes 10/-, and he gains a +2 bonus to his leadership score. He now takes only 25% of their maximum hit points in damage from the sun each round during full immersion. He grows slightly larger, his vampiric features become more pronounced, his feet and hands become cloven and he grows small horns. At Venerable, he gains a further +3 to all stats, which stacks with the bonuses from middle and old age. His damage reduction from old age increases to 15/-, and he gains a further +2 bonus to his leadership feat that stacks with the +2 from old and the ‘Great prestige’ from middle age. Sunlight now does only 20% of their maximum hit points per round during complete immersion. He grows thin and gaunt, his ribs harden and fuse into a case as hard as adamantium but still flexible as a gymnast when bending or twisting, and he no longer appears even remotely human. Venerable vampires typically no longer associate with others, often are completely silent and have complete disdain for wards that effect most vampires, although they still take damage from the same sources that effect normal vampires. b]Aura of Fear(ex): [/b] Anyone who views a vampire (who currently is appearing as a vampire) and is within 30 feet must make a will save, DC 10 + ½ the vampire’s hit dice, + the vampire’s charisma modifier, or become panicked (if he has fewer hit dice than the vampire -2), frightened (between -2 and +2 hit dice of the vampire, or shaken (if he has 3 or more hit dice than the vampire.) For each age category of the vampire, add +2 to the DC of the save, and increase their effective hit dice by +2 for purposes of this ability. A creature who is experienced with vampires eventually is no longer effected by this aura. Typically, this occurs after a creature has slain or participated in the slaying of at least two vampires of a given age category. An adventurer who has killed three young vampires would still be effected by fear from a middle-aged vampire or older, but would be immune to the aura of a young vampire. Climate/Terrain: Any land and underground. Most often found in urban areas. Organization: Solitary, pair, gang (2-5), or order(10-100+). Challenge Rating: +3, +1 per 5 hit dice, +2 per age category past young. Treasure: Double standard. Alignment: Any Evil. Advancement: By character class. Level Adjustment: Something ridiculous.
Airos 06-21-07, 12:47 AM	I've never liked the vampires as presented in D&D, so a while ago I made up a template to represent Buffyverse vamps in D&D. For those familiar with the show, young vampires represent everyone on the show, except the Master (middle-aged), Kakistos (Old), and the Turok-Han (Venerable). They lose all of their magical/shapechanging abilities, but gain more powerful melee abilities, and said abilities scale up as the vampire levels, especially as they age. I'd appreciate any comments you have, especially regarding ECL/CR and faithfulness to the show. :) Well, I'm a fan not only of Buffy: the Vampire Slayer, but of Angel as well, (as well as Firefly, but that has nothing to do with this post ;)), so I'll be glad to throw my two cents in. Creating A Vampire "Vampire" is an acquired template that can be added to any 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). Do not recalculate base attack bonus, saves, or skill points. Size is unchanged. Looks good. Hit Dice Increase all current and future Hit Dice to d12s. For each size larger than d4 a Vampire’s hit dice from class levels are, he gains +1 HP per hit die. A vampire bard, for example, would gain +1 hp per hit die, while a vampire barbarian would gain +4. Two points here. First, you should be counting from the original dice, not a d4. Second, I believe your math is incorrect here. Bards have a d6 for hit points, thus would be 3 "dice" away from a d12, (d6-d8-d10-d12), so should gain +3 HP per die, whereas barbarians already have a d12 and would gain no HP. As written, this doesn't make much sense. Speed Same as the base creature +10 feet. 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). Looks good, although this could scale with level/age. Angel moved a bit faster than 40'. Armor Class The base creature’s Natural Armor improves by 1 for every two hit dice the creature has. If the creature does not have a natural armor bonus, he gains a +2 natural armor bonus, and it increases at the above rate. Unnecessary wording. All creatures have a natural armor bonus, although most have a +0. Attack A vampire retains all the attacks of the base creature. 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 unarmed strikes or its primary natural weapon (if it has any). A vampire armed with a weapon uses its unarmed strike or a weapon, as it desires. I would suggest adding a bite attack connected to the "blood drain" ability below. Full Attack A vampire fighting without weapons uses either its natural weapons or unarmed strikes. If armed with a weapon, it usually uses the weapon as its primary attack. Looks good. Special Attacks A vampire retains all the special attacks of the base creature and gains those described below. It retains any spellcasting or psionic ability it had while alive. Saves have a DC of 10 + ½ vampire’s HD + vampire’s Cha modifier unless noted otherwise. In addition, any ability a vampire has that uses Constitution for its relevant ability, such as the duration of a barbarian rage, or the save DC of a poison or breath weapon instead uses his strength. Why would it use its Str in place of its Con when all other saves are based on its Cha? I would suggest either that Cha replace Con, or that the vampire continue to use its previous Con modifier for abilities that reference that ability. There are a number of things the undead type are immune to that directly or indirectly reference a Con, most of which do effect Buffy-verse vampires. For example; (quoted from the SRD) Immunity to poison, sleep effects, paralysis, stunning, disease, and death effects. Not subject to critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability drain, or energy drain. Immune to damage to its physical ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution), as well as to fatigue and exhaustion effects. Immunity to any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects or is harmless). Undead do not breathe, eat, or sleep. Vampires do sleep, eat normal food, (even if they don't need to), get tired from fighting/running/etc..., Angel has been poisoned, (although it was a special poison designed against vampires), has been paralyzed/kept asleep by a creature, (in the 5th season of Angel), etc. Also; Uses its Charisma modifier for Concentration checks. Blood Drain 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, dealing 1d4 points of Constitution damage each round the pin is maintained. The amount drained increases to 1d6 points at 10 hit dice, 1d8 at 20 hit dice, 1d10 at 30, and so on. On each such successful attack, the vampire gains 5 temporary hit points plus 5 for every 10 HD he possesses (round down, minimum 1). If a vampire does not drink the blood of at least one creature of at least one size category smaller (or an equivalent amount), he takes 1 point of temporary intellect damage per weak he does not eat that cannot be restored by magical or any other means short of a wish (which heals all the damage). This damage is healed one day after he eats a suitable meal. Once he is reduced to 0 intellect through this, he lapses into a coma from which he cannot be aroused unless fed the blood of an animal of whatever species he was before he became a vampire, and he suffers one point of permanent intellect drain for each week he is in the coma that cannot be restored except by the use of Wish spells, in which case, each wish heals 1 point of damage up to his former maximum. If his intellect ever reaches 0 while in the coma, he is turned to dust and destroyed as though he had been destroyed by a disintegrate spell. I would suggest making this a part of the above mentioned bite attack, and not part of the grapple itself. A creature, during a grapple, can use light weapons and natural weapons to deal damage. Second, they do not need to consume the blood of a creature of their own type to prevent any adverse effects. Both Angel, and Spike after he gets his soul back, drink animal blood they get from butchers. Any blood will sustain a vampire, although the blood of humans "tastes" the best. Note that they seldom ever drink the blood of demons, (which in D&D terms would be any creature with the [ousider] type. In Buffy, "demon" meant anything that wasn't native to earth). Third, I believe it should be Wis damage, not Int. In the 3rd season of Angel, angel is trapped in a "coffin" and sunk to the bottom of the sea. There he lay for several months. He was comatose, he was insane, (a side effect of low Wis, not Int), but he didn't "die". If he had gone much longer without blood, there would have been permanent brain damage, but that was avoided, (mostly due to him being the main character.) Create Spawn (Su) When a vampire reduces a creature to 0 Constitution with its bite attack, the creature does not immediately die. For the next 5 rounds after its constitution is so drained, the creature remains alive and conscious, but helpless. At any time during those rounds, the vampire may force the victim to drink the vampire’s blood as a full-round action. If made to drink, the victim will rise as a vampire 1d8 hours after moonrise the following night. I'm not 100% sure, but I think this takes a little longer than 8 hours. I would up that to 1d4 days. The vampire who creates the spawn immediately loses 1d4 levels, which cannot be regained through magical means. If this would reduce him to less than 1 level, he is destroyed. Vampires only rarely create spawn, typically when they wish to take a mortal as a mate, or as a partner in some grander evil scheme. While this isn't bad from a balance standpoint, I've seen no real evidence that vampires lose "levels" when creating spawns. It would, however, deter PCs with this template from creating an army for free, (or at least from giving it to everyone in the party). Special Qualities A vampire retains all the special qualities of the base creature and gains those described below. Regeneration 5(Ex) Fire, Magic & Slashing, positive energy or Wooden & Piercing do normal damage to a Vampire. When a vampire would normally fall unconscious from subdual damage, he instead suffers the effect of a slow spell for one round, and his current subdual is reduced to zero. If a vampire takes enough lethal damage to reduce him to 0 hit points or less, he is immediately turned to dust as if killed by a disintegrate spell. Vampires have been knocked unconscious in Buffy and Angel, so there's little reason to make them immune to it. I would take a second look at if this should be regeneration or if it should be fast healing, as well. Perhaps create a "new" special ability called "vampiric regeneration", which works in the same way as regeneration except that A: a vampire cannot reattach or regrow severed limbs and B: a vampire does not require a Con score for this ability to work. Turn Resistance (Ex) Special (see below). I will comment on this below. Scent (Ex) Good. Abilities Increase from the base creature as follows: +4 str, +4 dex, +2 charisma. For every 5 hit dice the vampire has, he gains a further +2 str ,+2 dex, and +1 charisma. As an undead creature, a vampire has no constitution score. Good. Skills Vampires have a +8 racial bonus on listen, jump, climb and wisdom checks to track a bleeding creature by scent, +4 to bluff, hide, move silently, and spot checks and Wisdom checks to track by scent. Otherwise same as the base creature. It's a Survival check to track, visually or via the scent ability, a skill that can be used untrained. Feats Vampires gain the following feats: Improved Unarmed Strike, Improved Grapple, Iron Will, Track (using scent), Improved Initiative, Dodge, Lightning Reflexes. A vampire of at least 3 hit dice also gains Superior Unarmed Strike. Good. Weaknesses Sunlight: Vampires catch fire and are weakened by contact with sunlight. They can move about during the day, and take no damage from indirect sunlight, such as through curtains or in a well-shaded area. Moderate sunlight, such as a beam coming through a small window, deals 1d6 fire damage and 1 strength damage per round as it smolders the vampire’s skin. Full immersion in sunlight inflicts 1d6 +5 strength damage per round, and deals fire damage equal to half the vampire’s maximum hit points. The sunlight adaptation feat decreases this fire damage by half. Damage caused by the sun can only be prevented by a specially-made magical item, such as the Gem of Amarra. Normal fire resistance or immunity has no effect, although such effects work fully when dealing with damage caused by normal or magical fire, such as a fireball spell, or a torch. The spell Searing Light counts as a spell effect for these purposes. I would, actually, lower the amount of damage moderate sunlight does to 1d4. It hurts like hell, but takes quite a bit before it comes anywhere close to being "lethal". During the story arc, (I believe this is in the 5th season of Angel), which details the origins of Spike and Angel's relationship, Spike is only a few days "old" when he first meets Angel. Angel, to show off, grabs Spike's hand a shoves it into the light. Spike, to prove himself, holds it there for several moments, (almost 30 seconds/5 rounds). Since prior to being a vampire he was, what, a 1st or 2nd level aristocrat, he wouldn't have enough HP to survive 5d6. 5d4, while still potentially lethal, seems to be more in line. Turning: Vampires cannot be turned, but characters can instead ward themselves and others from vampires. For purposes of this section, a holy symbol is a symbol of a good or neutral deity whose clerics channel positive energy. Symbols of evil deities, or neutral deities that channel negative energy cannot be used. Instead, a vampire cannot attack a character wielding a holy symbol with intent to ward off the vampire (standard action), unless it passes a will save with DC equal to 10+ ½ the warding character’s hit dice + the warding character’s charisma modifier. Paladins, or clerics with the sun domain, add their paladin (or cleric) level +1/2 their hit dice from other classes to this effect. Any bonus on saves versus fear effects the warding character has, such as from a paladin’s Aura of Courage ability, adds half that bonus to the save DC of a warding attempt. A creature who is immune to fear gains a +4 bonus to such attempts. So, a vampire attempting to attack a paladin 10/fighter 10 with 20 charisma who is using this ability would have to make a save with a DC of 34. (10 + 10 from paladin levels, +5 from fighter levels, +5 from charisma, +4 from fear immunity). Any character may attempt to ward a vampire from attacking an ally by interceding between the vampire and his ally. He enters the ally’s square, provoking an attack of opportunity from the vampire, but may shield both individuals in doing so. Any character so warded may not attack the warded vampire. Contact with a holy symbol: A holy symbol that touches a vampire burns its skin. For purposes of this section, a holy symbol is a symbol of a good or neutral deity whose clerics channel positive energy. An unattended symbol deals 1d6 positive energy damage per round as it burns their flesh. A character can wield a holy symbol as a weapon, dealing 1d6 + charisma + ½ any cleric (of a good or positive neutral deity) holy damage on a successful touch attack. A paladin can make such attacks merely by touching the vampire with any part of his body (or armor), without necessarily wielding a holy symbol, and may use his Smite Evil ability as part of such attacks. Paladins add their entire class level to such attacks, and a vampire touching a paladin (such as with an unarmed strike or to deliver a touch spell, or while grappling or being bull rushed by a paladin) automatically takes the damage a paladin would deal with this ability, although he must still make an attack to use Smite Evil. A cleric with the Sun domain may add his full cleric level +1/2 his hit dice from other classes to damage, but still must use a holy symbol to make such attacks, and vampires do not take damage simply by touching him. A little bulky, but it seems okay. Other weaknesses: Vampires cannot enter private homes without an invitation, although they are free to enter and leave a home once invited. Public accommodations, such as a room at an inn, do not count for this ability unless the same mortal has lived there for at least a week. They can never be seen in a mirror, and are immune to any magical effect generated by a mirror. Other than this, they have no special penalties. They do not need special soil or a coffin, can cross running water, do not suffer from arithmomania or any other penalties mentioned in common folklore. This does not apply to A: "demon" homes and B: homes of recently deceased. A special ritual can also be performed to "uninvite" a vampire. Age and vampires. Vampires age, much like humans. They retain any age benefits and penalties they accrued during life, but their age effectively becomes 0. They become Middle-aged after 1,000 years as a vampire, old after 2,000, and venerable after 4,000. Instead of the normal bonuses and penalties associated with aging, they gain special bonuses as described below. Vampires never die of old age, and the oldest vampires may well be the same ones who were the first to walk the material plane, although very, very, very few vampires even live to middle age, typically less than 1%, and perhaps only 1% of these live to old age. Venerable vampires are typically considered the stuff of legend, and most scholars on the material plane believe none have ever lived this long, and if any have, they no longer live today. Vampires of middle-age and older are almost always great heroes and leaders, commanders of possibly dozens of other vampires, and wise, cagey villains, while young vampires can be anything from vicious warlords to slow-witted thugs. Older vampires should never be mooks, but ancient villains. Vampires of young age appear typically as normal humans, but they can also show their daemonic visage. At will as a free action, a vampire may change his appearance between how he appeared in life and his true face as a vampire. When he appears as a human, he is indistinguishable from how he appeared in life (although after some months, a vampire will typically be somewhat paler, although not outside the normal range of hues for a creature of his base type) and there is no way to tell, apart from divinations, that he is a vampire. When he appears as a vampire, ridges appear over his eyes (which change to a predatory yellow), and he gains a set of fangs. In combat, a young vampire may show his true form at any time, which reveals his nature as a vampire, but also makes him stronger and quicker for a short time. When he activates this ability, he gains +2 strength, a further +4 bonus on any opposed strength checks, and acts as if under the effects of a haste spell for one round per hit die. At middle age, the strength bonus increases to +4, and the haste effect adds +2 to attacks and AC instead of +1. He gains +1 to all his stats, and damage reduction 5/-, which stacks with any other natural damage reduction, such as from barbarian class levels, and he gains the Leadership feat, but only for the purposes of leading other vampires, and counts as having "Great Prestige." From this point on, he can no longer appear as human, and gains the benefits of being in "vamp face" continuously. He now takes 33% damage from the sun each round, rather than 50%. He gains long fingernails, his skin begins to harden, he loses his hair, his ears become pointed, and his ribs fuse and harden, re-arranging themselves to better protect his heart from being pierced. At old age, the strength bonus increases to +6, and the haste effect adds +3 to attacks and AC. He gains a further +2 to all stats, which stacks with the bonus from middle age, and his damage reduction from middle age becomes 10/-, and he gains a +2 bonus to his leadership feat. He now take only 25% of their maximum hit points in damage from the sun each round during full immersion. He grows slightly larger, his vampiric features become more pronounced, his feet and hands become cloven and he grows small horns. At Venerable, the strength bonus increases to +8, and the haste effect adds +4 to attacks and AC. He gains a further +3 to all stats, which stacks with the bonuses from middle and old age, and his damage reduction from old age increases to 15/-, and he gains a further +2 bonus to his leadership feat. Sunlight now does only 20% of their maximum hit points per round during complete immersion. He grows thin and gaunt, his ribs harden and fuse into a case as hard as adamantium but still flexible as a gymnast when bending or twisting, and he no longer appears even remotely human. Venerable vampires typically no longer associate with others, often are completely silent and have complete disdain for wards that effect most vampires, although they still take damage from the same sources that effect normal vampires. I'm not sure about this one just yet. I can see where it would appear that vampires are stronger and faster when they're all bumpy faced, there's an equal number of times where they display the same strength and speed when "normal". I tend to think that when they are calm, they are able to retain their human appearance and can pull their punches, yet when they are angry or otherwise "worked up", they tend to lose themselves in the moment, revealing their "true" face, as well as attack with their full strength. However, this does not seem to prevent them from attacking with their full strength or speed when they are calm. b]Aura of Fear(ex): [/b] Anyone who views a vampire (who currently is appearing as a vampire) and is within 30 feet must make a will save, DC 10 + ½ the vampire’s hit dice, + the vampire’s charisma modifier, or become panicked (if he has fewer hit dice than the vampire -2), frightened (between -2 and +2 hit dice of the vampire, or shaken (if he has 3 or more hit dice than the vampire.) For each age category of the vampire, add +2 to the DC of the save, and increase their effective hit dice by +2 for purposes of this ability. A creature who is experienced with vampires eventually is no longer effected by this aura. Typically, this occurs after a creature has slain or participated in the slaying of at least two vampires of a given age category. An adventurer who has killed three young vampires would still be effected by fear from a middle-aged vampire or older, but would be immune to the aura of a young vampire. Seems okay. Climate/Terrain: Any land and underground. Most often found in urban areas. Good. Organization: Solitary, pair, gang (2-5), or order(10-100+). Challenge Rating: Unsure ??? Treasure: Double standard. Alignment: Always Chaotic Evil. Advancement: By character class. Level Adjustment: Unsure.??? CR and LA will have to wait until a final write up is complete. As is, I would peg the CR at between +3-4 for young, +5-6 for middle aged and +7-8 for old, and +9-10 for venerable. LA is even tougher, since beyond middle age they're almost completely unplayable as PCs. They gain a ton of special abilities, which would add quite a bit to LA, but it would be such that they would be into epic with very few hit points. One or two good hits would kill them outright. So, that is my rather lengthy :twocents:
TheDanishCartoonist 06-21-07, 01:50 AM	Thank you very much for responding. :) I really appreciate it Two points here. First, you should be counting from the original dice, not a d4. Second, I believe your math is incorrect here. Bards have a d6 for hit points, thus would be 3 "dice" away from a d12, (d6-d8-d10-d12), so should gain +3 HP per die, whereas barbarians already have a d12 and would gain no HP. As written, this doesn't make much sense. I meant to have it additional hit points in addition to the 12-sided die, so a d4 class, like a wizard, would convert his hit dice to D12s, but a bard would convert to D12s and add 1 HP/level, sort of like free improved toughnesswhile a barbarian would gain 4. The idea being that fighting-type vampires still have some extra HP to make up for their loss of a con score and represent their training in dodging blows Looks good, although this could scale with level/age. Angel moved a bit faster than 40'. Right, good idea. How about 10 feet + 10 per 10 hit dice? Unnecessary wording. All creatures have a natural armor bonus, although most have a +0. Right, forgot that. Changed to 2 + 1/2 hit dice. I would suggest adding a bite attack connected to the "blood drain" ability below. Good thinking. They gain a bite in addition to their normal natural weapons, instead of having it part of the grapple. :words: about replacing con. Good point. I'll have these key off charisma for simplicity, and I'll allow them to be effected by some of the effects. I would suggest making this a part of the above mentioned bite attack, and not part of the grapple itself. A creature, during a grapple, can use light weapons and natural weapons to deal damage. Done.:) Second, they do not need to consume the blood of a creature of their own type to prevent any adverse effects. I'll mention explicitly they can drink the blood of any creature. The human blood thing was meant that to represent how Angel needed Wesley's blood to come back. ("Pig's blood isn't enough, your blood is too thin, etc.") He was comatose, he was insane, (a side effect of low Wis, not Int), but he didn't "die". If he had gone much longer without blood, there would have been permanent brain damage, but that was avoided, (mostly due to him being the main character.) That's what I was trying to represent. I just watched that level, and I used int because Wesley said something about "higher brain functions," but wis makes a lot more sense with what we actually see. I'm not 100% sure, but I think this takes a little longer than 8 hours. I would up that to 1d4 days. Good idea. Changed. While this isn't bad from a balance standpoint, I've seen no real evidence that vampires lose "levels" when creating spawns. It would, however, deter PCs with this template from creating an army for free, (or at least from giving it to everyone in the party). Yeah, this was there for purely balance/explaining why the world isn't overrun purposes. In retrospect, maybe it would be better leave it unexplained, so I've taken this out. Vampires have been knocked unconscious in Buffy and Angel, so there's little reason to make them immune to it. I would take a second look at if this should be regeneration or if it should be fast healing, as well. Perhaps create a "new" special ability called "vampiric regeneration", which works in the same way as regeneration except that A: a vampire cannot reattach or regrow severed limbs and B: a vampire does not require a Con score for this ability to work. Good idea. I'll think about changing this. It's a Survival check to track, visually or via the scent ability, a skill that can be used untrained. Ah, I thought it was wis to track by scent, while survival was "following tracks." Changed. I would, actually, lower the amount of damage moderate sunlight does to 1d4. It hurts like hell, but takes quite a bit before it comes anywhere close to being "lethal". During the story arc, (I believe this is in the 5th season of Angel), which details the origins of Spike and Angel's relationship, Spike is only a few days "old" when he first meets Angel. Angel, to show off, grabs Spike's hand a shoves it into the light. Spike, to prove himself, holds it there for several moments, (almost 30 seconds/5 rounds). Since prior to being a vampire he was, what, a 1st or 2nd level aristocrat, he wouldn't have enough HP to survive 5d6. 5d4, while still potentially lethal, seems to be more in line. Good thinking! Changed. I actually started stating out Spike just for fun, but I realized without magic items he was a pretty horrible epic character, so I made Nikki Wood's jacket into a major artifact. :D This does not apply to A: "demon" homes and B: homes of recently deceased. A special ritual can also be performed to "uninvite" a vampire. Good thinking:) Added this. For the ritual, how about: "To "un-invite" a vampire requires a ritual that takes at least 1 hour and 100 gp in magically treated sage and other material components, and at least two participants, one of whom must be able to cast at least first level arcane spells. The highest-level arcane character must make a spellcraft check with a DC of 15 to complete the ritual, while their assistants aid in the ritual. Failure consumes half the material components, and failure by 5 or more consumes all the material components." I'm not sure about this one just yet. I can see where it would appear that vampires are stronger and faster when they're all bumpy faced, there's an equal number of times where they display the same strength and speed when "normal". I tend to think that when they are calm, they are able to retain their human appearance and can pull their punches, yet when they are angry or otherwise "worked up", they tend to lose themselves in the moment, revealing their "true" face, as well as attack with their full strength. However, this does not seem to prevent them from attacking with their full strength or speed when they are calm. True, it's kind of hard to tell in the series, but I thought this would make them a bit tougher in combat CR and LA will have to wait until a final write up is complete. As is, I would peg the CR at between +3-4 for young, +5-6 for middle aged and +7-8 for old, and +9-10 for venerable. LA is even tougher, since beyond middle age they're almost completely unplayable as PCs. They gain a ton of special abilities, which would add quite a bit to LA, but it would be such that they would be into epic with very few hit points. One or two good hits would kill them outright. So, that is my rather lengthy :twocents: Thank you again. I intended to use this for monsters in a campaign setting I've been working on-and-off. I'm not a big fan of monsters as PCs, so mostly I'm concerned by CR.:)
Rerecros 06-21-07, 02:39 AM	Size and Type The creature’s type changes to Undead (augmented Humanoid). Do not recalculate base attack bonus, saves, or skill points. Size is unchanged. That is debatable whether thay are even undead, to me they seem to have more similar to outsiders, demons often call vamps half-breeds. And they are much stronger on evil aligned planes, peileia for example. Immunity to all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects). I remember drucilla was charmed by zander once. Immunity to poison, sleep effects, paralysis, stunning, disease, and death effects. vampires can get drunk, and sabasis had a drug that could knock out angel for a week or so, though no drug is lethal. Not subject to critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability drain, or energy drain. Immune to damage to its physical ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution), as well as to fatigue and exhaustion effects. okay, this is completely off. vamps do get tired, they do have vulnrable spots so they can be criticled or sneak attacked, and they can be injured non-lethaly. Not at risk of death from massive damage, but when reduced to 0 hit points or less, it is immediately destroyed. massive damage often kills vamps, like falling from a great height. Undead do not breathe, eat, or sleep this part is accurate Attack A vampire retains all the attacks of the base creature. 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 unarmed strikes or its primary natural weapon (if it has any). A vampire armed with a weapon uses its unarmed strike or a weapon, as it desires. They need a slam attack, they can easily deal lethal damage without weapons, unarmed strike just complicates things. The vampire who creates the spawn immediately loses 1d4 levels, which cannot be regained through magical means. If this would reduce him to less than 1 level, he is destroyed. Vampires only rarely create spawn, typically when they wish to take a mortal as a mate, or as a partner in some grander evil scheme. This is entirely unnecessary, there is nothing on the show to suggest siring weakens vamps other than some blood loss. Vampires limit their own population for good reasons. firstly because it would create competition for food. secondly because they are picky, you just aren't going to make someone you don't like immortal. and thirdly because vamps have no control over those they sire, this can't really be used to make an army. Spike make a bunch of vamps at random, but thats was only because the first made him do it. If a vampire does not drink the blood of at least one creature of at least one size category smaller (or an equivalent amount), he takes 1 point of temporary intellect damage per weak he does not eat that cannot be restored by magical or any other means short of a wish (which heals all the damage). This damage is healed one day after he eats a suitable meal. Once he is reduced to 0 intellect through this, he lapses into a coma from which he cannot be aroused unless fed the blood of an animal of whatever species he was before he became a vampire, and he suffers one point of permanent intellect drain for each week he is in the coma that cannot be restored except by the use of Wish spells, in which case, each wish heals 1 point of damage up to his former maximum. If his intellect ever reaches 0 while in the coma, he is turned to dust and destroyed as though he had been destroyed by a disintegrate spell. Firstly, vampires are perfectly capable living off of rats (tiny animals). And secondly I think they said that vampires would never die from lack of blood, it's only the human part that dies, the demon part keeps on going. The Turok-Han, are are probably a good example of vampires who haven't fed in centuries. Regeneration 5(Ex) Fire, Magic & Slashing, positive energy or Wooden & Piercing do normal damage to a Vampire. When a vampire would normally fall unconscious from subdual damage, he instead suffers the effect of a slow spell for one round, and his current subdual is reduced to zero. If a vampire takes enough lethal damage to reduce him to 0 hit points or less, he is immediately turned to dust as if killed by a disintegrate spell. WTF :confused: didn't u say they were undead, therefore unaffected by subdeal damage. Sunlight: Vampires catch fire and are weakened by contact with sunlight. They can move about during the day, and take no damage from indirect sunlight, such as through curtains or in a well-shaded area. Moderate sunlight, such as a beam coming through a small window, deals 1d6 fire damage and 1 strength damage per round as it smolders the vampire’s skin. Full immersion in sunlight inflicts 1d6 +5 strength damage per round, and deals fire damage equal to half the vampire’s maximum hit points. The sunlight adaptation feat decreases this fire damage by half. again undead, and they would be immune the the str damage. Treasure: Double standard. Vampires on buffy were almost always broke, if you don't count wealth in kittens. there are excepts though, like that rich vamp in season one of angel. Alignment: Always Chaotic Evil. Any evil would work better, though most vamps were NE.
Airos 06-22-07, 12:38 AM	Thank you very much for responding. :) I really appreciate it You're welcome. Since I, my wife and a couple of our other friends, have talked about a "d20 Buffy" game, we would kinda need this. :D I meant to have it additional hit points in addition to the 12-sided die, so a d4 class, like a wizard, would convert his hit dice to D12s, but a bard would convert to D12s and add 1 HP/level, sort of like free improved toughnesswhile a barbarian would gain 4. The idea being that fighting-type vampires still have some extra HP to make up for their loss of a con score and represent their training in dodging blows Hmmm.... Okay, I see where you're going with this. Not a bad idea, but it's a little wordy and clunky. How about this; If the base creature had a Con bonus to HP prior to becoming a vampire, add that number as bonus HP to each current and future Hit Dice. Otherwise you're giving wizards and sorcerers nothing; druids, bards and rogues a feat; monks, clerics and rangers 2 feats; paladins and fighters a 16 con; and barbarians an 18 con. And that's only looking at character classes. Now imagine all the monsters that this template applies to, many of which could have a high con with a small HD, (humanoid and monstrous humanoid only get a d8 for HD, so they would get a +2 per die by your wording.) Right, good idea. How about 10 feet + 10 per 10 hit dice? Monks gain +10 feet of movement for every at every 3rd level. Considering all the other abilities this template adds, I would put it this way; A vampire gains +10 feet of movement at every 5 hit dice, (5, 10, 15, etc...). This increased movement speed does not stack with an increase in speed granted by class levels. Let's say a 10th level monk is turned. At that level, he would have +30 to move. He would have to stop taking levels in monk altogether, then have to have 15 hit dice before his speed increased to 40', since he got his +30 at the same time he would have gotten +30 from being a vampire. If he was a 12 level monk, with a move of +40', he would have to wait until 20 hit dice to get +50 move. I'll mention explicitly they can drink the blood of any creature. The human blood thing was meant that to represent how Angel needed Wesley's blood to come back. ("Pig's blood isn't enough, your blood is too thin, etc.") A vampire can consume the blood of any living creature, receiving all the necessary nourishment to remain healthy. However, unless the blood consumed came from a creature with at least a 3 Int, the vampire does not receive any of the bonus healing effects. Good thinking:) Added this. For the ritual, how about: "To "un-invite" a vampire requires a ritual that takes at least 1 hour and 100 gp in magically treated sage and other material components, and at least two participants, one of whom must be able to cast at least first level arcane spells. The highest-level arcane character must make a spellcraft check with a DC of 15 to complete the ritual, while their assistants aid in the ritual. Failure consumes half the material components, and failure by 5 or more consumes all the material components." Since it seems to be more a Divine ability rather than an Arcane ability, I'd go with 1st level divine caster, 3rd level arcane caster. True, it's kind of hard to tell in the series, but I thought this would make them a bit tougher in combat I think with the bonus HP, boosted stats, increased speed, bonus feats, natural armor, blood drain, regeneration, etc., they're plenty "tough" in combat. By mid to late series even Dawn and 'Xander were able to take them on one-on-one, so they don't need to be Epic. If you really need a vampire to do this, I would suggest giving them a level in Barbarian for the rage ability. Stacking the two would just get stupid broken, IMHO. Thank you again. I intended to use this for monsters in a campaign setting I've been working on-and-off. I'm not a big fan of monsters as PCs, so mostly I'm concerned by CR.:) Well, it's always a good idea for things like this to have a LA, since I'm sure there's at least a couple of people here on the boards that want to play one. (Plus it's helpful to figure out how to equip them, since wealth by level is HD+class levels+LA=total level, as well as to figure out if they've gone "epic" or not, since that kicks in at a total level of 21, not just class levels or HD)
roninwolf109 06-25-07, 06:48 AM	Insofar this seems to be made of win and awesome (in equil portions of course). I seem to remember seeing something floating around on the internets about converting Vampire: The Masquirade stuff to d20... If I can find it I'll see if I can put it up here. Might help some (tho watching Buffy after playing V:tM for a few years had me going wtf? how is a Hunter going toe to toe with a vampire and not getting her arms ripped off? lol :D )
roninwolf109 06-26-07, 11:41 AM	Oh yeah also forgot my actual useful post for this thread. Sense Vampire:When a creature with this template is within a twenty foot radius of another creature with this template it is automatically aware of it's true (vampiric) nature if it is aware of the creature.
Rerecros 06-26-07, 04:57 PM	Oh yeah also forgot my actual useful post for this thread. Sense Vampire:When a creature with this template is within a twenty foot radius of another creature with this template it is automatically aware of it's true (vampiric) nature if it is aware of the creature. that would be somewhat redundant with scent.
roninwolf109 06-26-07, 10:34 PM	being that a vampire is an animated corpse (therefore not making the sweat, hormones and other biologicals that give us non corpsifyied folks those very pleasant scents) I am not entirely sure that a critter with the Scent ablility would be able to really register aforementioned vampire. Also I make reference to the scene towards the end of season five of Angel when Demonic Senator Uber-b**** shows up at Wolfram & Hart and introduces Angel to her assistants and Angel recognizes strait away that one of them is a vampire. (I forgot you people can sense each other.)
Rerecros 06-26-07, 10:52 PM	Good thing vampires on buffy aren't undead (well, not by the D&D definition) They are evil outsiders, as I already stated in my previous post. And vampires on buffy do have scent, I think cordelia suggested finding someone by having angel drive around with his head out the window tracking them by sniffing the air, and Vampires on Buffy do sweat ( :embarrass pun intended) and have other biologicals, though they are radically different than when they were alive.
TheDanishCartoonist 07-02-07, 07:36 AM	I've made a bunch of changes thanks to your input, if anyone is interested. I'll provide a brief summary here, and have edited the original post with the full updates. Thanks again to everyone who posted. Size and Type Kept it undead, added some special weaknesses. As far as I’m concerned, a reanimated corpse is undead, regardless of the mythos of its creation, and it can be taken care of with some very simple exceptions. As for mind effects, I think the Xander thing was an isolated incident, since several other times Angel was immune to enchantment-type spells (Buffy’s mind reading, that guy who made men irrationally angry at women) Hit Dice Keeping this, but feel free to change if you don’t like it. The intent is to use this template in a normal D&D game and make vampire-melee characters preferable, as a d12 hit die helps a mage much more than a barbarian without this. Hopefully, this achieves this aim without giving them con to their hit points. Speed Speed increases by hit-dice. Armor Class Changed to 2 + ½ hit dice. Attack Added a bite attack as a normal attack. Special Attacks Removed the strength thing. Blood Drain Changed to wisdom damage, and hopefully clarified the blood requirements, and altered the bite attack. Weaknesses Made them vulnerable to the strength damage for sunlight only. Age and vampires. Removed the micro-rage thing. Challenge Rating: +3, +1 per 5 hit dice, +2 per age category past young.