Vampire
Vampires are the subjects of legendary tales -- their immortality, their coffins, their propensity for sapient blood, their hatred of werewolves.
Becoming a Vampire
Becoming a vampire is no easy task. It requires strength of mind and body, and of course, a friendly vampire willing to turn you and willing to let you go.
Step 1
The first step in becoming a true vampire requires you to first become a vampire spawn. Vampire spawn are ravenous creatures who hunger for blood under the control of the true vampire that turned them. The relationship between a true vampire and their vampire spawn is similar to the way the Geas spell affects its target. There are two ways a creature can become a vampire spawn:
- A true vampire willingly turns the creature
- A true vampire/vampire spawn rolls a 1 on their bloodthirst attack roll when targeting the creature
In either case, the creature who has intentionally or unintentionally been infected with vampirism must make a Constitution saving throw and a Wisdom saving throw with a sum of 30 or greater or begin the process of turning into a vampire spawn.
This process happens over 1d6+4 days. The only way to reverse this process once it has started is to kill the true vampire that turned you before the transformation completes.
Step 2
The second step in becoming a true vampire requires the vampire spawn to suck the blood of their true vampire master. Finding a true vampire willing to relinquish their power over you is more rare than finding an ancient gold dragon and a lich debating the ethics of immortality in the age of high magic.
Should you find a true vampire that lets you do this, then you're in luck! The transformation from vampire spawn to true vampire is immediate and intense.
The Vampire Race
Your thirst for blood is second only to your longing for mortal foods, which you will soon forget.
Ability Scores: Unchanged from character's original race.
Size: Unchanged from character's original race.
Speed: Unchanged from character's original race.
Features
Age. Vampires do not age. Their age is timeless from the moment they are turned.
Alignment. Vampires might not have an innate tendency toward evil, but many of them end up there. Evil or not, their strict hierarchies incline them toward a lawful alignment.
Vampiric Restistance. You have resistance to necrotic damage.
Bloodthirst. You can drain blood and life energy from a willing creature, or one that is grappled by you, incapacitated, or restrained. As an action, make a melee attack against the target. If you hit, you deal piercing damage equal to your Strength modifier plus your proficiency bonus and necrotic damage according to the bloodsucking die in the Bloodsucking Table plus your Charisma modifier. The target's hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the necrotic damage taken, and you regain hit points according to the Bloodsucking Races Table and the target's race. The reduction lasts until the target finishes a long rest. The target dies if this effect reduces it's hit point maximum to 0.
Bloodthirst Cont. Drinking blood is the ONLY way that a vampire can heal. See the above for how much HP is gained per bite.
Living targets are the best prey for regaining HP. Dead targets come with a few caveats: blood coagulation and disease.
Blood Clotting. If the target has been dead for more than 5 minutes, their blood has clotted, meaning the HP gained is divided in half. If they have been dead for less than 5 minutes, there is a 50% chance that their blood has clotted.
Disease. If the target has any open wounds on them, there is a 50% chance of infection spreading to the vampire. If the target is diseased, casting Detect Poison and Disease will reveal. To cure the disease prior to bloodsucking, Lesser Restoration may be cast on the target. Determine the disease randomly from any source book you desire, then make the character roll a Constitution saving throw to see if they get infected. DC at GM discretion.
Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Languages. Unchanged from character's original languages.
Misty Escape. When it drops to 0 hit points outside its resting place, the vampire transforms into a cloud of mist (as in the Shapechanger trait) instead of falling unconscious, provided that it isn't in sunlight or running water. If it can't transform, it is destroyed. While it has 0 hit points in mist form, it can't revert to its vampire form, and it must reach its resting place within 2 hours or be destroyed. Once in its resting place, it reverts to its vampire form. It is then paralyzed until it regains at least 1 hit point. After spending 1 hour in its resting place with 0 hit points, it regains 1 hit point.
Vampire Weaknesses. The vampire has the following flaws:
Forbiddance. The vampire can't enter a residence without an invitation from one of the occupants.
Harmed by Running Water. The vampire takes acid damage equal to its level if it ends its turn in running water. E.G. a 15th-level character would take 15 acid damage, a 12th-level character would take 12 acid damage, etc.
Stake to the Heart. If a piercing weapon made of wood is driven into the vampire's heart while the vampire is incapacitated in its resting place, the vampire is paralyzed until the stake is removed.
Sunlight Hypersensitivity. ALL of your vampire abilities/features require you to be in shadow or darkness to use.
Chained to the Grave. Every vampire remains bound to its coffin, crypt, or grave site, where it must rest by day. If a vampire didn't receive a formal burial, it must lie beneath a foot of earth at the place of its transition to undeath. A vampire can move its place of burial by transporting its coffin or a significant amount of grave dirt to another location. Some vampires set up multiple resting places this way.
Additional Features
The following features may be used a combined total equal to your proficiency bonus. E.G. if you have a proficiency bonus of 3, then you can use Shapechanger 3 times, or Shapechanger 2 times and Spider Climb 1 time, etc.
Shapechanger. If the vampire isn't in sunlight or running water, it can use its action to polymorph into a Tiny bat or a Medium cloud of mist, or back into its true form.
While in bat form, the vampire can't speak, its walking speed is 5 feet, and it has a flying speed of 30 feet. Its statistics, other than its size and speed, are unchanged. Anything it is wearing transforms with it, but nothing it is carrying does. It reverts to its true form if it dies.
While in mist form, the vampire can't take any actions, speak, or manipulate objects. It is weightless, has a flying speed of 20 feet, can hover, and can enter a hostile creature's space and stop there. In addition, if air can pass through a space, the mist can do so without squeezing, and it can't pass through water. It has advantage on Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution saving throws, and it is immune to all nonmagical damage, except the damage it takes from sunlight.
Charm. The vampire targets one humanoid it can see within 30 feet of it. If the target can see the vampire, the target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be charmed by the vampire. The charmed target regards the vampire as a trusted friend to be heeded and protected. Although the target isn't under the vampire's control, it takes the vampire's requests or actions in the most favorable way it can, and it is a willing target for the vampire's bite attack. Each time the vampire or the vampire's companions do anything harmful to the target, it can repeat the saving throw, ending the effect on itself on a success. Otherwise, the effect lasts 24 hours or until the vampire is destroyed, is on a different plane of existence than the target, or takes a bonus action to end the effect.
The save DC for Charm is 8 + the vampire's proficiency bonus + the vampire's Charisma modifier.
Spider Climb. The vampire can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.
Tables
Bloodsucking Table
| Level | Bloodsucking Die |
|---|---|
| 1-4 | 1d4 |
| 5-10 | 1d6 |
| 11-16 | 1d8 |
| 17-20 | 1d10 |
Bloodsucking Races Table
| Creature Type | HP Gained Modifier | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Aberration | 0 | Take damage equal to the bite instead of healed |
| Beast | 0.5 | |
| Celestial | 0 | Take damage equal to the bite times 2 instead of healed |
| Construct | 0 | |
| Dragon | 3 | |
| Elemental | 0 | |
| Fey | 2 | |
| Fiend | 0 | Take damage equal to the bite instead of healed |
| Giant | 1 | |
| Humanoid | 1 | |
| Monstrosity | 0 | |
| Ooze | 0 | |
| Plant | 0 | |
| Undead | 0 | |
*Note: 0 means that the vampire cannot gain HP from the specified creature type.