Post/Author/DateTime	Post
ben2099 01-26-07, 08:51 AM	Hello all, I am playing in a unique campaign where our DM is letting one of us play a good vampire. Now, don't get me wrong, I think this is a cool idea. I once had the idea of doing a hellboy campaign with people creating good characters from demons, devils, succubus's, ect. Sorry, got a little off topic. The problem is that my character is/was going to be a saint character of Herionious. The reason why this is a problem is that our DM has said that the vampire is still going to be allowed to feed off of human blood. I will need to elaborate. The vampire is going to have a companion that will willing give her blood. She is going to slit her wrists and drain her blood into a bowl or some object for him to drink. The DM believes that this is an okay and righteous thing to do because he is doing good for Heironious, in other words, the end justifying the means. I told him flat out that there is no way that Heironious would allow such an action and that a saint could not stand by and let it happen. Heck, even a half celestial shouldn't let it happen, and I am one of those too. I am curious to hear what people have to say and how you would react in my shoes.
Karish 01-26-07, 09:55 AM	I would have to say a good idea would be that the vampire feeds on the blood of her enemies, or has some sort of charm blessed from her God or some cleric to essentially forego the need for it.
ben2099 01-26-07, 10:16 AM	Hmmm, that is an interesting thought. I think that could work. The saint wouldn't be thrilled, but in turn, he is vanquishing true evil, and wouldn't have a problem with evil demons and devils being feed from
danielinthewolvesden 01-26-07, 02:02 PM	A Full Vampire is more or less impossible to play as a PC. Any given encounter will either be a complete walk-over for the Vamp, or impossible. And of course, there will be serious moral quandries also. Maybe some sort of lesser Vampire? Talk to your DM.
Krusk 01-26-07, 02:47 PM	What if you worked it that the person who followed you was a lesser cleric of heroneious, who has willingly pledged his life to following you and making sure you are able to serve heronious to the best you can. And making sure you don't suck peoples blood. Sort of like an alfred type character, who also lets you drink his blood. Seems as justifiable as a good vampire to me.
ben2099 01-26-07, 02:52 PM	One thing to remember guys, I'm not the vampire. My friend in the same campaign is My character is a healer/monk/sacred fist who is a half celestial saint sorry I wasn't clear before
Garble Willowwits 01-26-07, 02:55 PM	I've always thought it would be fun to play a vampire character. Vampire Spawn is probably easier though. Anyway, my suggestion is just to go ahead and drink the blood of enemies. A possible philosophy behind it being that the Evil and good are inversely proportional. As Evil is weakened by the loss of its minions, Good is strengthened by the subsequent food. Ah, the possibilities of philosophy and Vampires.
Orchomenos 01-26-07, 04:19 PM	I would have to say a good idea would be that the vampire feeds on the blood of her enemies, or has some sort of charm blessed from her God or some cleric to essentially forego the need for it. Feeding on the blood of his enemies... what's the difference between that Saint Vampire and any common vampire? I fairly prefer the idea of having a cohort willingly giving her blood to the vampire. In return, the vampire should be giving her something (don't know what), so they would be dependant one of each other, and it'd be more fair and acceptable by Heironeous. Of course, the rest of the church of Heironeous would find it horrible, and many LG, LN, NG and CG NPCs wouldn't believe he is Good, but only Heironeous would know the importance of his mission...
Garble Willowwits 01-27-07, 02:56 AM	WEll, in one of the manga series I read, there's a demon employed by the catholic church. Since his horns (which were the source of his power) are gone, he made a 'contract' with a girl who later became a nun. The contract shortens the lifespan of the nun, but allows the demon to use his full power. It's pretty interesting since they're both devoted to finding the nun's brother....But I won't bother you with the plot anymore. THing is, yes, a cohort could work wonders if done right.
Rivelstraz 01-27-07, 11:03 AM	Having a female companion at the group should solve the blood needs once a month. *ahem* I think that Heironious, unless a xenophobic being, would understand that different creatures got different needs.
Orchomenos 01-27-07, 05:44 PM	I fairly prefer the idea of having a cohort willingly giving her blood to the vampire. In return, the vampire should be giving her something (don't know what), so they would be dependant one of each other, and it'd be more fair and acceptable by Heironeous. Ok, I got an idea yesterday. I was watching Buffy, one of the first episode of the 6th season. You know, Buffy died at the end of the 5th season, and was resurrected at the beginning of the 6th. She felt depressive for all the 6th and 7th seasons, because she was in a timeless paradise, and was forcefully riped off of there by her "friends". The vampire's cohort could be a "death-touched" character, always depressive for the same reason. However she was in love with the vampire when they were both alive, so when she is with him, she's happy, she feels alive again. Her body is fully alive, but her mind is... away. This is the opposite of the vampire, who's body is dead, with a fully alive mind.
Thubby 01-27-07, 07:46 PM	unless you believe there is something inherently wrong with drinking blood, i dont see that as even close to evil. "ends justify the means"? not quite, vampires (in your campaign it seems) need to feed to live, and whats wrong with drinking their blood? people eat meat, vampires drink blood, what makes a humainoid so sacred?
Xaktsaroth 01-27-07, 07:55 PM	Wear a Ring of Sustinance and avoid the issue completely. And, for my rant on vampires: I can promise you right now, taking the Vampire template will be a big problem. Just in case you've never seen the Vampire template, here it is: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/vampire.htm Now, print it out. No, that isn't a typo. That's an LA adjustment of 8. Now, take your print out and slowly tear it into little pieces, and think to yourself "Surely, there's a better way?" Contemplate the depths of desire by sacrificing a player, who thinks Vampires are the coolest thing ever, to the Dark Demon/God/Over Deity of your choice and use the small bits of paper to plug the wound, preventing any messy spills that the cops can CSI your ass for later. So, with that out of the way, consider this: Even with your DM slowly granting you your powers over those 8 levels to keep you in power with the rest of the group, you'd still end up as a level 9 character with a single HD worth of HP. Assuming your rolled your max of 12, a stray arrow/attack/bucket of water/teddy-bear-thrown-by-a-mad-toddler/mirror bouncing sunlight and your a pile of ash. The Vampire Spawn from Libris Mortis is a much better choice then the Vampire Template. It weighs in at 4 HD and +4 LA. And you still get most of the vampires goodies! But wait. At level 9, your still 4 WHOLE LEVELS behind your follow party members. Oh, and the whole explode during day-time thingie and the melt in a gentle rain thingie. Well, congradulations! There is in fact, a better way, I would even go as far as saying that if you wanted to be a Vampire, this is the ONLY REASONABLE way to go. Take the Half-Vampire template from Libris Mortis. Now you have most of the abilities of a vampire, without any of their weakness, except for the blood drain. Take the Necropoltian template from Libris Mortis to become undead. Now the blood drain doesn't even slow you down. Take the Evolved Undead template from Libris Mortis to get more str, cha and better Fast Healing. Congrats. You now very, very close to being a Vampire, without all those weakness, and with only +3 LA. If you DM plays with LA buyoff, you can even buy it all off before level 20. Hell, even if your DM doesn't, you can just drop the Evolved Undead template and manage with +2 LA. Or hell. Just take the Necropoltian template for +0 LA and Polymorph into a Vampire. But that'd be too easy right?
danielinthewolvesden 01-28-07, 12:57 AM	Like I said- any encounter to challenge the rest of the pary will either be a complete walk-over for the Vamp, or impossible for him. The lack of HD is a real problem. I agree with Half-vampire as a Template and/or Necropolian. That last requires the sacrifice of one level, which is not quite as bad as an LA adjustment (easier to make back up).
Rivelstraz 01-28-07, 09:24 AM	Each battle is like a gamble. Very low HP (12 for a level 9 character (8+1)) but DR only surpassed by silver and magic (who actually wears that? Not random enemies, for sure). There are more problems, like the coffin or the sunlight.