Fighting vampires! [Archive] - Wizards Community

Fighting vampires! [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
ArtOfZen
07-03-07, 11:49 AM Curious as to the preparations i should take before going off to do battle with these types of baddies. I know having a death ward on me is a good idea and such, but I've hit a brick wall in my further thinking, so i'm looking to vast knowledge of these boards for help.

So can you suggest any items or spells that are must have or that will greatly help in circumventing some of his nastier tricks?
JasonOrlandoHawk
07-03-07, 11:59 AM Protection from Evil (for the entire party), Anything that bumps your will saves, Holy Water (lots of it), High level "Light" spells, Restoration scrolls or wands, A wand of cure critical wounds is a great offensive and defensive tactic

That's all off the top of my head. I might drop more suggestions later.
Drag0nUL
07-03-07, 01:15 PM Apart from what has already been stated:
Heal is your best friend. A vampire gains on average 6.5 hp/lvl. Heal damages him 10 hp/lvl. So even if your cleric is lower in level than the vampire he should be able to kill him (if he fails save in 1 cast, or 2 if he makes all saves).
Also, in case things go badly, have each party member possess a mirror/holy symbol for defensive purposes.
It would be useful to know what level/classes you/your party are so mor3e detailed tactics can be discussed.
zelf_gale
07-03-07, 03:16 PM Protection From Evil or Magic Circle Against Evil and Freedom of Movement
before every fight.

Don't use cold or electricity based attacks.
Use silver weapons and ammunition.
Have everyone eat a garlic bread stick every hour.
Always fight beside a river.

Cast Locate Creature if the vampire gets away.
Corpsekin
07-04-07, 01:13 AM do you best to attack it's layer durring the day, and build some kind of building nearby, instant fortress or use of a lyre of building helps, the vampire can not enter the building uninvited so u will have a safe place to retreat to-providing you take care of the vampires minions. how much infomation does your party have about the vampires lair and what lvl are you? (getting a rouge to sneak in and move the vampires coffin into a portable hole would help, then just dump it in a river)
On_the_wings_of_TPK
07-04-07, 01:34 AM Bring a radiant servant of Pelour. Also command undead works well. As does greater disrupt undead, and halt undead.
weasel05
07-04-07, 02:26 AM I agree either a cleric with the light domain or even better being Radiant servants of pelor they can both use greater turning to destroy almost all undead permanently, including vampires (the only undead it doesn’t kill permanently is a lich, stupid phylactery's keep bring 'em back)
DrMorganes
07-04-07, 03:06 PM Keep in mind, however, that you're metagaming like a big dog here. If this is the first time your party has fought vampires, your DM is well within his right to disallow such tactical planning unless you succeed in the appropriate Knowledge Checks. K (Religion) is best, but K (Arcana) and K (Dungeoneering) will work, albeit with higher DCs. Put your rogue on a fact-finding mission. He'll appreciate the opportunity to use the points he's dumped into Gather Information.

Good luck - and don't forget the garlic! :D

(Hold Monster and a running stream (or a Decanter of Endless Water) will work nicely, too!)
Von_Harbringer
07-04-07, 04:17 PM Along with the gather info check. Vampires aren't all melee types. Wizard and cleric (especially cleric) vampires are nasty. If it is a "boss" they'll have minions of some sort. Usually spawn but an evil cleric or necromancer will have other types of undead. Sometimes vampires will have a cult following so mortals may be involved. As mentioned above but alchemist fire would be good to bring as well. Vampires in my opinion is one of the nastiest templates in 3.5.
Karish
07-04-07, 07:11 PM Your character has to go do some research if metagaming is not bad for your campaign.
RobbyPants
07-05-07, 10:33 AM Talk to your DM to figure out how he handles stakes and vampires. Even through it doesn't "kill" them, it will drop them, allowing them to be handled easily.

The thing you need to know is when your DM will allow you to stake a vampire. Does it need to be helpless? Can you do it when it's pinned in a grapple? Can you do it while it's standing and fighting (perhaps a natural 20, or some wierd house-ruled, called shot)? Stakes are a nice way to get around the whole turns-to-mist-when-at-0-HP problem.
Alexeduardo
07-05-07, 03:08 PM 1-learn to create desintegrate wands
2-take twenty making at least a hundred
3-desintegrate your way through that adventure!!

or

1-get either hand, reapeating or really light crossbows.
2-get your holy spellcaster to get some sharp wooden projectiles really holy
3-get your crafty skills at work and create a hand reapeating light crossbow and get hollywoody!

or

1-convince a unicorn to come with you (preferably a pink one)
2-bath his horn in silver and holy water
3-Vampires aint as rude when impaled in a pink unicorn's horn.
Corpsekin
07-06-07, 11:27 AM play an evil cleric that worships the sun and use a greater turning to gain control of the vampire(for evil clerics turning is rebuke ^^) and yes the sun is evil, droughts, heatstroke, sunburn ect:p
Necroramo
07-06-07, 12:32 PM Due to the diversity of the many vampires out there (you could be going up against a vampire sorcerer or a vampire ninja or a vampire warhulk or, well, anything), you should plan your tactics on a case-by-case basis. However, planning to counter its DR and many of its natural abilities (use death ward, freedom of movement, etc.) would be a good idea. If it's a very vampire-heavy campaign and your melee-ers can spare the feat, try out the Vampire Hunter feat to become immune to that gaze attack
RobbyPants
07-06-07, 12:43 PM 1-learn to create desintegrate wands

How? By taking an improved craft feat that lets you make wands with spells above 4th level? :P
Necroramo
07-06-07, 12:46 PM Just cast disintegrate normally!

It does nuke the undead beyond all belief, especially the Vampires who won't have an overwhelming amount of HD for their CR (see Necronaut) because they take class levels. Just pray it's not a fighter or something, but even then they're still more or less hosed.
snakeman830
07-06-07, 01:47 PM If you all have garlic on you, Death Ward isn't needed as they can never attack you in melee. (plus, garlic is cheaper than holy symbols and mirrors)

Have Olituke's Resiliant sphere ready for when you knock it down to 0hp. This will give you time to figure out what to do with it. With repeated castings of similar spells, you can keep it from going anywhere. (DMM Persisting it will obliviate the need for further castings, lasting 12 times as long as you need to destroy it).
Phrennzy
07-06-07, 01:55 PM Leave all your blood at home.
Devil Gnasher
07-06-07, 02:12 PM This is for fighting vampires only. Take a bag of holding and start filling it with large quantities of small pebbles, grain, rice or any thing else incredibly small. When you face the vampire or a group of vampires throw the bag of holding at one of the vampires, as long as he or she has a bladed weapon. If you're lucky, the vampire will try to stop the bog of holding by swinging his or her sword/other blade. If all goes according to plan the vampires will spend their time counting individual pebbles or what ever other contents of the bag instead of attacking you or innocent bystanders giving you ample opportunity to slay them without much of a fight. Just make sure you have a dedicated bag of holding with the words "against vampires only" stitched on it.

How does this work? According to some Romanian folk lore vampires have an instinctive drive to count large quantities of small objects and other symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder. Talk about unholy compulsions. :D
justin_byrne
07-06-07, 10:22 PM Create water
Bless water
Drink water
Throw water

or somthing of that manner
tafkamhokie
07-06-07, 10:42 PM 9 times out of ten, a death's ward and protection from evil are all you need. Energy drain and dominate person are really all that separate vampires from a typical monster of that CR. If they cannot energy drain or dominate you, it should be a relatively simple fight.

But if you want a super-cheesy (but not cheap) approach:

holy water, lots of it
dust of dryness

Shrink down at least 50 pints of holy water into a single pellet with the dust of dryness and toss it at the vampire. Poof. Makes for a nice undead grenade.
wizarddog
07-07-07, 10:21 PM This is for fighting vampires only. Take a bag of holding and start filling it with large quantities of small pebbles, grain, rice or any thing else incredibly small. When you face the vampire or a group of vampires throw the bag of holding at one of the vampires, as long as he or she has a bladed weapon. If you're lucky, the vampire will try to stop the bog of holding by swinging his or her sword/other blade. If all goes according to plan the vampires will spend their time counting individual pebbles or what ever other contents of the bag instead of attacking you or innocent bystanders giving you ample opportunity to slay them without much of a fight. Just make sure you have a dedicated bag of holding with the words "against vampires only" stitched on it.

How does this work? According to some Romanian folk lore vampires have an instinctive drive to count large quantities of small objects and other symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder. Talk about unholy compulsions. :D

Vone! Vone pepple! Two! Two Pebbles! WHA-HA-HA! :D
1337Ninja
07-07-07, 10:40 PM Libris Mortis is your friend.
Spark of Life gets rid of its undead immunities, Undead Bane Weapon can help out fighters, a Rod of Defiance eliminates its turn resistance and a Scepter of the Netherworld increases your effective level for turning undead, some Liquid Mortality would permanently make him much less of a threat if he's a fighter.
A successful Command Undead could allow you to take it out in an indirect way, such as moving next to a door that is then opened to let sunlight through.
Von_Harbringer
07-07-07, 11:25 PM Libris Mortis is your friend.
Spark of Life gets rid of its undead immunities, Undead Bane Weapon can help out fighters, a Rod of Defiance eliminates its turn resistance and a Scepter of the Netherworld increases your effective level for turning undead, some Liquid Mortality would permanently make him much less of a threat if he's a fighter.
A successful Command Undead could allow you to take it out in an indirect way, such as moving next to a door that is then opened to let sunlight through.

Yeah, but nothing beats a good old mace (bludgeoning weapon) of disruption.
Devil Gnasher
07-08-07, 12:20 AM Vone! Vone pepple! Two! Two Pebbles! WHA-HA-HA! :D

And for extra fun rearrange the vampire's belongings. See, when someone becomes a vampire his or her very soul is warped and twisted causing descent into evil and mental illness. And to be more specific obsessive compulsive disorder.
Karish
07-08-07, 01:26 PM play an evil cleric that worships the sun and use a greater turning to gain control of the vampire(for evil clerics turning is rebuke ^^) and yes the sun is evil, droughts, heatstroke, sunburn ect:p

What he said. Play a cleric of Pelor.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
ArtOfZen 07-03-07, 11:49 AM	Curious as to the preparations i should take before going off to do battle with these types of baddies. I know having a death ward on me is a good idea and such, but I've hit a brick wall in my further thinking, so i'm looking to vast knowledge of these boards for help. So can you suggest any items or spells that are must have or that will greatly help in circumventing some of his nastier tricks?
JasonOrlandoHawk 07-03-07, 11:59 AM	Protection from Evil (for the entire party), Anything that bumps your will saves, Holy Water (lots of it), High level "Light" spells, Restoration scrolls or wands, A wand of cure critical wounds is a great offensive and defensive tactic That's all off the top of my head. I might drop more suggestions later.
Drag0nUL 07-03-07, 01:15 PM	Apart from what has already been stated: Heal is your best friend. A vampire gains on average 6.5 hp/lvl. Heal damages him 10 hp/lvl. So even if your cleric is lower in level than the vampire he should be able to kill him (if he fails save in 1 cast, or 2 if he makes all saves). Also, in case things go badly, have each party member possess a mirror/holy symbol for defensive purposes. It would be useful to know what level/classes you/your party are so mor3e detailed tactics can be discussed.
zelf_gale 07-03-07, 03:16 PM	Protection From Evil or Magic Circle Against Evil and Freedom of Movement before every fight. Don't use cold or electricity based attacks. Use silver weapons and ammunition. Have everyone eat a garlic bread stick every hour. Always fight beside a river. Cast Locate Creature if the vampire gets away.
Corpsekin 07-04-07, 01:13 AM	do you best to attack it's layer durring the day, and build some kind of building nearby, instant fortress or use of a lyre of building helps, the vampire can not enter the building uninvited so u will have a safe place to retreat to-providing you take care of the vampires minions. how much infomation does your party have about the vampires lair and what lvl are you? (getting a rouge to sneak in and move the vampires coffin into a portable hole would help, then just dump it in a river)
On_the_wings_of_TPK 07-04-07, 01:34 AM	Bring a radiant servant of Pelour. Also command undead works well. As does greater disrupt undead, and halt undead.
weasel05 07-04-07, 02:26 AM	I agree either a cleric with the light domain or even better being Radiant servants of pelor they can both use greater turning to destroy almost all undead permanently, including vampires (the only undead it doesn’t kill permanently is a lich, stupid phylactery's keep bring 'em back)
DrMorganes 07-04-07, 03:06 PM	Keep in mind, however, that you're metagaming like a big dog here. If this is the first time your party has fought vampires, your DM is well within his right to disallow such tactical planning unless you succeed in the appropriate Knowledge Checks. K (Religion) is best, but K (Arcana) and K (Dungeoneering) will work, albeit with higher DCs. Put your rogue on a fact-finding mission. He'll appreciate the opportunity to use the points he's dumped into Gather Information. Good luck - and don't forget the garlic! :D (Hold Monster and a running stream (or a Decanter of Endless Water) will work nicely, too!)
Von_Harbringer 07-04-07, 04:17 PM	Along with the gather info check. Vampires aren't all melee types. Wizard and cleric (especially cleric) vampires are nasty. If it is a "boss" they'll have minions of some sort. Usually spawn but an evil cleric or necromancer will have other types of undead. Sometimes vampires will have a cult following so mortals may be involved. As mentioned above but alchemist fire would be good to bring as well. Vampires in my opinion is one of the nastiest templates in 3.5.
Karish 07-04-07, 07:11 PM	Your character has to go do some research if metagaming is not bad for your campaign.
RobbyPants 07-05-07, 10:33 AM	Talk to your DM to figure out how he handles stakes and vampires. Even through it doesn't "kill" them, it will drop them, allowing them to be handled easily. The thing you need to know is when your DM will allow you to stake a vampire. Does it need to be helpless? Can you do it when it's pinned in a grapple? Can you do it while it's standing and fighting (perhaps a natural 20, or some wierd house-ruled, called shot)? Stakes are a nice way to get around the whole turns-to-mist-when-at-0-HP problem.
Alexeduardo 07-05-07, 03:08 PM	1-learn to create desintegrate wands 2-take twenty making at least a hundred 3-desintegrate your way through that adventure!! or 1-get either hand, reapeating or really light crossbows. 2-get your holy spellcaster to get some sharp wooden projectiles really holy 3-get your crafty skills at work and create a hand reapeating light crossbow and get hollywoody! or 1-convince a unicorn to come with you (preferably a pink one) 2-bath his horn in silver and holy water 3-Vampires aint as rude when impaled in a pink unicorn's horn.
Corpsekin 07-06-07, 11:27 AM	play an evil cleric that worships the sun and use a greater turning to gain control of the vampire(for evil clerics turning is rebuke ^^) and yes the sun is evil, droughts, heatstroke, sunburn ect:p
Necroramo 07-06-07, 12:32 PM	Due to the diversity of the many vampires out there (you could be going up against a vampire sorcerer or a vampire ninja or a vampire warhulk or, well, anything), you should plan your tactics on a case-by-case basis. However, planning to counter its DR and many of its natural abilities (use death ward, freedom of movement, etc.) would be a good idea. If it's a very vampire-heavy campaign and your melee-ers can spare the feat, try out the Vampire Hunter feat to become immune to that gaze attack
RobbyPants 07-06-07, 12:43 PM	1-learn to create desintegrate wands How? By taking an improved craft feat that lets you make wands with spells above 4th level? :P
Necroramo 07-06-07, 12:46 PM	Just cast disintegrate normally! It does nuke the undead beyond all belief, especially the Vampires who won't have an overwhelming amount of HD for their CR (see Necronaut) because they take class levels. Just pray it's not a fighter or something, but even then they're still more or less hosed.
snakeman830 07-06-07, 01:47 PM	If you all have garlic on you, Death Ward isn't needed as they can never attack you in melee. (plus, garlic is cheaper than holy symbols and mirrors) Have Olituke's Resiliant sphere ready for when you knock it down to 0hp. This will give you time to figure out what to do with it. With repeated castings of similar spells, you can keep it from going anywhere. (DMM Persisting it will obliviate the need for further castings, lasting 12 times as long as you need to destroy it).
Phrennzy 07-06-07, 01:55 PM	Leave all your blood at home.
Devil Gnasher 07-06-07, 02:12 PM	This is for fighting vampires only. Take a bag of holding and start filling it with large quantities of small pebbles, grain, rice or any thing else incredibly small. When you face the vampire or a group of vampires throw the bag of holding at one of the vampires, as long as he or she has a bladed weapon. If you're lucky, the vampire will try to stop the bog of holding by swinging his or her sword/other blade. If all goes according to plan the vampires will spend their time counting individual pebbles or what ever other contents of the bag instead of attacking you or innocent bystanders giving you ample opportunity to slay them without much of a fight. Just make sure you have a dedicated bag of holding with the words "against vampires only" stitched on it. How does this work? According to some Romanian folk lore vampires have an instinctive drive to count large quantities of small objects and other symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder. Talk about unholy compulsions. :D
justin_byrne 07-06-07, 10:22 PM	Create water Bless water Drink water Throw water or somthing of that manner
tafkamhokie 07-06-07, 10:42 PM	9 times out of ten, a death's ward and protection from evil are all you need. Energy drain and dominate person are really all that separate vampires from a typical monster of that CR. If they cannot energy drain or dominate you, it should be a relatively simple fight. But if you want a super-cheesy (but not cheap) approach: holy water, lots of it dust of dryness Shrink down at least 50 pints of holy water into a single pellet with the dust of dryness and toss it at the vampire. Poof. Makes for a nice undead grenade.
wizarddog 07-07-07, 10:21 PM	This is for fighting vampires only. Take a bag of holding and start filling it with large quantities of small pebbles, grain, rice or any thing else incredibly small. When you face the vampire or a group of vampires throw the bag of holding at one of the vampires, as long as he or she has a bladed weapon. If you're lucky, the vampire will try to stop the bog of holding by swinging his or her sword/other blade. If all goes according to plan the vampires will spend their time counting individual pebbles or what ever other contents of the bag instead of attacking you or innocent bystanders giving you ample opportunity to slay them without much of a fight. Just make sure you have a dedicated bag of holding with the words "against vampires only" stitched on it. How does this work? According to some Romanian folk lore vampires have an instinctive drive to count large quantities of small objects and other symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder. Talk about unholy compulsions. :D Vone! Vone pepple! Two! Two Pebbles! WHA-HA-HA! :D
1337Ninja 07-07-07, 10:40 PM	Libris Mortis is your friend. Spark of Life gets rid of its undead immunities, Undead Bane Weapon can help out fighters, a Rod of Defiance eliminates its turn resistance and a Scepter of the Netherworld increases your effective level for turning undead, some Liquid Mortality would permanently make him much less of a threat if he's a fighter. A successful Command Undead could allow you to take it out in an indirect way, such as moving next to a door that is then opened to let sunlight through.
Von_Harbringer 07-07-07, 11:25 PM	Libris Mortis is your friend. Spark of Life gets rid of its undead immunities, Undead Bane Weapon can help out fighters, a Rod of Defiance eliminates its turn resistance and a Scepter of the Netherworld increases your effective level for turning undead, some Liquid Mortality would permanently make him much less of a threat if he's a fighter. A successful Command Undead could allow you to take it out in an indirect way, such as moving next to a door that is then opened to let sunlight through. Yeah, but nothing beats a good old mace (bludgeoning weapon) of disruption.
Devil Gnasher 07-08-07, 12:20 AM	Vone! Vone pepple! Two! Two Pebbles! WHA-HA-HA! :D And for extra fun rearrange the vampire's belongings. See, when someone becomes a vampire his or her very soul is warped and twisted causing descent into evil and mental illness. And to be more specific obsessive compulsive disorder.
Karish 07-08-07, 01:26 PM	play an evil cleric that worships the sun and use a greater turning to gain control of the vampire(for evil clerics turning is rebuke ^^) and yes the sun is evil, droughts, heatstroke, sunburn ect:p What he said. Play a cleric of Pelor.