User:FiddleSticks96/Libris Vampiricus (3.5e Sourcebook)/Chapter 8

Encountering Vampires From The Living Side Of Life

A Staple Villain

Not player wants to join the ranks of the undead, and that’s perfectly acceptable. When you have too much of something, it loses its luster, not that the undead claim to be lustrous, not most of them anyway. So what is a player party full of perfectly alive creatures to do when they encounter a vampire? Well, a lot of that depends on what the party wants and what the vampire wants. Assuming the party even recognizes the vampire for what it is, most players will probably have what can be boiled down to two responses: Hunt down and slay the vampire or avoid it at all costs. Maybe their response will not be as simple as that, but the ultimate end will be one of the two, except when it isn’t, but we’ll get to that later.

Staying out of a vampire’s way is easy if the vampire doesn’t know you exist or care about your existence (and they probably don’t care). Leaving the town, or even region, is especially effective if the vampire does take an interest in you. Taking steps to ensure they never cross the vampire will keep the PCs out of the way of the vampire’s wrath. Sometimes though, especially if the PCs have sufficiently angered the vampire, hunting down and slaying the vampire is the only way to stay safe.

Hunting down a vampire is rarely as simple as walking into the local graveyard, propping open a coffin, staking it, and lopping off its head. It sometimes can be, to be sure, but 99% of the time, the average vampire is a cunning, and more importantly, well prepared enemy. The first obstacle the PCs must overcome is what most PCs least expect, the local yokels. People usually do not react well when some strangers waltz into town and attempt to kill one of their numbers (the vampire), especially if the vampire in question has used its supernatural powers and alluring charisma to become one of the most liked and well respected members of the community. If the PCs cannot provide undeniable proof of the vampire’s true nature, they are likely to find themselves on the wrong end of the law. Things can get particularly messy if the vampire has influence in the town guard, and it is a near certainty that someone in the town, city, whatever, is fully aware of the vampire’s true nature and doesn’t care. These individuals, those living that would risk cooperation with the dead, will pose the biggest threat, especially if those in question have influence of their own. All it takes is one corrupt guard captain, or clever use of the vampire’s supernatural powers, to get the whole town guard trying to shut the PCs up forever. If one or more of the local nobility is working with the vampire, the PCs are in for some real trouble. The PCs best bet is to not kill anyone they normally wouldn’t, or shouldn’t, remember, that band of guardsman trying to arrest you think you are the bad guys, while they get the proof they need (even if they are forced to come back later with a plan).

Once the PCs have the proof they need, things get a little easier, but only by comparison. A vampire’s lair is likely to be well defended, not just with traps and other hazards, but with beasts and minions, whether they are loyal servants, hired hands, or dominated into cooperation. On that note, dominated foes pose a moral problem. In all likelihood, dominated foes are otherwise good people who have simply be forced by a malevolent undead to commit evil against their will. It’s not their fault that some bloodsucker took over their mind. Killing these poor souls will put a stop to their interference, but then the PCs have to deal with the moral and ethical consequences of killing an innocent bystander in cold blood. Not that evil PCs will care about this. The best outcome is when the PCs can restrain or knock out dominated foes, but sometimes the PCs might find that they have no choice but to run them threw. If a dominated foe does end up dead, good aligned PCs, especially Clerics and Paladins, should pay for the funeral(s). It might seem perfectly reasonable for the vampire to flee while the PCs have their hands full getting through the lair, well before the vampire is in immediate danger, but most vampires are too proud and arrogant to do this. Don’t forget, these dirt encrusted adventurers not only exposed the vampire’s most closely guarded secret, but now they dared to trespass on its territory (vampires are fundamentally predators after all, and predators do not like it when their territory is threatened). Fighting the PCs now, while they are weakened from spending all that time and energy getting to the vampire, is the vampire’s best opportunity to finish them off. Don’t think for a minute that the vampire won’t be saving their strongest minions for the final fight, where the PCs are on the vampire’s home turf. If it starts to look like the vampire is going to lose, it will likely flee (vampires are also fundamentally cowardly), and the vampire will have a contingency plan, or three or ten, for when it must escape (vampires that have a Rejuvenation will not rely solely on that, Rejuvenations are a last resort tip-of-the-wire escape that won’t get the vampire very far). The PCs may end up having to track the vampire down to another lair, possibly very far away in some other kingdom or continent (depending on what kind of magic and resources are at the vampire’s disposal), but they can be confident in the knowledge that they have the vampire on the run. PCs should be careful not to get overconfident however, as that can prove to be a fatal mistake.

Not all vampires will be able to dominate others or get the kind of influence in the above example. Some vampires simply have minimal influence (whether it be from lack of talent, lack of trying, or lack of time), while some vampires are little more than wild animals, and while fighting this kind of vampire isn’t as complicated, they can be even more dangerous (certainly more vicious). They can also be a more enjoyable encounter if used with the right atmosphere. A party marching through a dark and misty cave in search of a Brood of wild and crazed vampires, littered with the remains of their victims and adventurers that failed, can make for a creepy and frightening encounter. Another big influence on how the PCs will have to go about fighting the vampire is what the vampire’s Bloodline is. A Yekef vampire won’t be passing itself off as a nobleman (or as a human for that matter), while a Raelu vampire will likely not be found with the peasantry, not to mention a cave. The theatre, art exhibit, or social hot spots are as good as any place to begin searching for a Haarvenu vampire, while the eccentric wizard locked up in his tower all the time might just be an Aundae vampire.

Making the first vampire the PCs encounter of a high Generation can make things easier on the party, but if the party is sufficiently skilled, a low Generation can prove a satisfying challenge. Be careful with Category B Vampires. Depending on the history of vampirism in your campaign, this kind of vampire might be very rare. Category B Vampires are much more dangerous than regular vampires, and will prematurely end your campaign if the PCs are not prepared; although the DM can save the party from anything. Having a violent encounter with a Pureblood will totally derail a campaign (I’m sorry (not really), but I like Purebloods exactly the way they are). You simply don’t pit the party against what is essentially an Elder Evil without the party being of sufficiently high epic level to slay a freaking Elder Evil.

A Deal With The Devil

Not all encounters with vampires have to be violent. Maybe the PCs don’t want to fight the big bad vampire. Maybe they want to come to an agreement with it. A vampire is a powerful ally after all, if a dangerous one. Vampires retain their personalities, ambitions, desires, even their souls; they are more or less the same person they were when they were alive (though time can erode humanity like nothing else can). Good aligned PCs might find it difficult to deal with such untrustworthy creatures, especially given the less than favorable reputation of the undead. Vampires are wary of Clerics. Clerics that channel positive energy can turn them, and Clerics that channel negative energy can control them. A Cleric has many spells useful for protecting against the powers of the undead, but their presence may also upset the vampire, not to mention that it makes it obvious the PCs do not trust the vampire (although they have good reason not to). If the PCs decide to have the Cleric somewhere else why they are having dealings with the vampire, the encounter may produce more favorable results. It is up to the party to decide whether or not to have a Cleric present during these encounters. There are pros and cons to both situations. Having a Paladin in the party will probably derail any and all friendly dealings with a vampire. It would take a very open minded Paladin to judge a vampire for its character and not its status as an undead.

Learning what the vampire’s goals are is very important. This can be hard to do, at least early on, but there is one thing that all vampires share without exception, the hunger for blood. If the PCs can convince the vampire that they can provide it with a steady supply of blood, even a temporary supply, they have just convinced the vampire that they are useful, and therefore worth keeping alive, at least for now. Once the PCs have managed this, they can learn more about the vampire’s goals for the near future (the near future might mean something different to a creature that can exist forever). Servitude is probably not the best approach for PCs, but it can be a fulfilling roleplaying experience that certainly has the potential to develop into an exciting quest series. Mutual “allies” might be a safer course. What the PCs are doing for the vampire, and what the vampire is doing for them in return, depends on what all parties in question want and can do (as if that wasn’t obvious). Here are some things to keep in mind, but remember, while there is a wide variety of powers a vampire can have, no single vampire (except for Purebloods) can have them all.

Keeping a watchful eye for supernatural vampiric abilities to manipulate the thoughts of others is very important. Domination is a power that all vampires can learn, regardless of their age or bloodline. While Domination is a quick and powerful means of robbing PCs of their free will, it is neither subtle nor friendly. Dominating a PC isn’t going to make the vampire friends with the party, so it is more likely to use its Charm Gaze ability. Charm Person is more difficult to deal with when it is a PC that is being charmed. The only real way of making use of this ability is to explain to the charmed player that they HAVE been charmed and should act accordingly. This can be difficult for inexperienced role-players to deal with, not to mention that metagaming and player knowledge must be swiftly dealt with on the DM’s part, so you if you are going to charm a PC, it would be best to pick a more experienced role-player.

The Reluctant Monster: When Evil Does Not Rule

Not every vampire is evil or out to grab as much power as it can, but your friendly neighborhood vampire isn’t something you meet every night, and the PCs would be right to be cautious. Still, not all vampires are evil. In fact, there are a lot more good aligned (or at the very least, neutral aligned) vampires then most would ever imagine. The sheer number of vampires that are genuinely good would get at least a few Paladins to stop and rethink their view of vampirism. Feeding off of people does not automatically make a vampire a bad person, though many good aligned vampires simply can’t bring themselves to prey on people (at least not unwilling people). Animals are a viable, if unappetizing, alternative for vampires to feed from. How exactly a vampire gets its blood will probably be an important question that the PCs will want to be answered. Certain individual vampires may have instincts so strong that they simply cannot sustain themselves for long on animal blood. This is especially true for Invernus vampires and Purebloods, who are prone to frenzy.

Broods: A Whole New Kind of Danger

A single vampire is a cunning enemy that must be carefully and cautiously dealt with. A whole Brood of vampires is another matter entirely. Cross just one of them and the PCs are likely to find the rest of the Brood expressing their disapproval all over them. A Brood of vampires can be a lot like fighting a band of mercenaries who have decided to secretly gain control of a city. If one vampire has the potential to build influence over the local community, the influence a whole Brood can gain is surely a dangerous thing. Of course, this influence isn’t always in proper social circles. Slave dealers, thieves guilds, mercenary bands, and other such organizations are a great place for a Brood of vampires to find potential allies, though these allies don’t necessarily know the true nature of those they are dealing with.

Because Broods are relatively small, they are almost universally tight knit and well-coordinated in combat. When running an encounter with multiple vampires from the same Brood, pay attention to the movements of each vampire relative to the others. Depending on how many vampires there are, the Brood can herd the PCs in a certain direction (forcing the party into a corner or unfavorable location), prevent bystanders from getting too close and interfering with the fight, and they can definitely flank multiple PCs.

When on the hunt, a Brood of vampires becomes a perfect engine of destruction. Unless they are extraordinarily disciplined, their collective bloodlust becomes impossible to contain. The cautious and calculated decisions made by singular vampires fall away in the wake of malicious brutality. The pack quickly tracks down and isolates victims, typically in a matter of minutes. Often, the weakest of the Brood will be sent to use their Charm Person ability to spirit away people right from the midst of a crowd, feeding no more than a few dozen feet from where the victim’s friends stand wondering where their friend went. A Brood of Invernus or Quarra vampires always falls under this category; there are the rare Brood of Invernus or Quarra vampires that break the mold, but they are the exception, not the rule.

On the off chance a Brood uses tactics remotely resembling stealth and tact, luring or beating tactics are employed. A lure equates to a single vampire showing itself to a victim and enticing it to follow them to a place deemed safe to feed. Beating equates to several vampires inciting a panic, driving a whole mob of mortals into a “killing field”. Most Broods do not actually want to start a beat, it is a result of a sudden surge of frenzied bloodlust in the Brood.

Sometimes, the leader of a Brood is exceptionally proficient at keeping his childer/grandchilder/etc under control. Such Broods don’t employ the same pack mentality as more unruly Broods. They hunt cautiously and carefully, making it extremely difficult to discover that they even exist. Older Broods fall under this category. They have not survived this long by being reckless. They have well established relations with some or all of the criminal organizations in the city, contingencies in place for dealing with vampire hunters and persistent adventurers, and intelligently organized hunting patterns. A Brood this old may not even have to go hunting for food. It is more likely that they have a steady supply of blood from the victims of their criminal associates and slaves they feed upon (keeping them just alive enough to prevent them from dying). The PCs must also deal with the mortal servants of an established Brood.

Influence isn’t everything, and not all vampires want or have the ability to gain notable influence on even a local scale. If you as the DM want some justification beyond “they don’t care”, then making the Brood relatively new to the area, or having an older rival Brood hampering their operations, could be the reason.

There is one advantage the PCs have over a Brood of vampires that they don’t have over individual vampires. Broods are more prolific, making them easier to detect and track down. The more vampires in the area, especially if many of those vampires are relatively young, the more blood will be required to sustain them. If many of those vampires get their blood by going out in search of prey, even if only once a week, then finding their trail becomes much easier.

Clans: A Monumental Enemy Or A Powerful Ally

If a Brood of vampires is like fighting a band of mercenaries, a Clan of vampires is like fighting a well-organized conspiracy. Clans are old and powerful, with considerable wealth, resources, and influence at its disposal. Taking out a Brood is as simple as slaying at most a few dozen vampires, but a Clan can have hundreds of members (although not all of them are vampires). It is simply not possible for most PC parties to take out an entire Clan without great and long term effort, but it is possible for them to cripple one.

There are a few things to keep in mind when the PCs are dealing with a hostile Clan. A Clan has dealt with adventurers, clergy, and vampire hunters in the past, so they will have plans and contingencies in place for dealing with the PCs.

Another danger of crossing a Clan is that the Clan has at least a few alliances with other organizations and any number of favors they can call upon. When you go against a Clan, you are not just going against an entire organization; you are going against that organization’s allies as well. Of course, this works both ways. Though a Clan has made allies over the centuries, it has also made enemies. The rivalries between the Clans are old and deep, having a history riddled with subterfuge, scheming, and violence.

Purebloods: Power Beyond Compare

Undergoing revision.

Implementations

With all these new features, bloodlines, and rules, you may be thinking things like, “Where do I begin? How can I make a campaign that supports this? How can I add this to a pre-existing campaign?” Glad you asked! In case you hadn’t realized it by now, I frequently go off on long-winded rants with no perceivable end. I’ll gladly give suggestion, advice, and examples on how to use this overhaul in various ways.

General Knowledge of Vampires

This overhaul includes 23 bloodlines (24 if you count the Purebloods). That seems like quite a lot for just one land mass doesn’t it? Just because one continent knows about a particular strain of vampire doesn’t mean they know about them all. A desert nation will surely have no knowledge of Volkihar vampires, or at the very least, they will never have encountered them. Perhaps a given region doesn’t know that there are multiple strains of vampirism. Some adventuring party may go prancing about, thinking they know what to expect from fighting a vampire, and encounter a vampire from a bloodline they have never even heard of. Suddenly, the vampire uses powers they didn’t know vampires had and now they are left dumbfounded and no longer know what to expect. Perhaps the would-be party went to a foreign land; perhaps the vampire is the foreigner in the party’s land. Whatever the case, DMs are encouraged to make good use of surprises.

Example encounter:

Mr. Fighter, Mr. Thief, and Mr. Mage know all about Aundae vampires. This party knows that when they encounter a vampire they should expect to be hit with all manner of magicks. Of course, Aundae vampires aren’t so much physically stronger that they are a serious threat in close range combat. Surely the vampire will avoid close range combat all together. This party is traveling in a foreign region and one night, they encounter a vampire. They immediately begin using whatever means they have to protect themselves from magic and prepare to charge the vampire. For some strange reason, the vampire is heavily armored. It turns out this vampire is from the Quarra bloodline. To their surprise, the vampire charges THEM. With great ferocity, the vampire proves Mr. Fighter’s superior in close range combat. Moreover, it is definitely stronger then they thought it should be. Confused, the party is felled by the vampire because they were prepared to fight a mage, not a fighter.

I’m not suggesting you kill off the PCs in such a manner. It is just an example as to why it is important to know what you’re up against. Misinformation is more deadly than none at all. It goes without saying that even if the players know that there are many bloodlines, they won’t necessarily know the strengths and weaknesses of each or be able to tell most of them apart until the vampire attacks.

Vampires as a Society

Not all vampires have to be eccentric nobles or nomadic thugs. Vampires are intelligent after all, perhaps they have their own cities? Maybe even a kingdom? I provided an example of such a kingdom in the “Overview” section of this overhaul. Vampires don’t have to control half he world from the shadows. Maybe their kingdom is well known by the living races? Maybe they aren’t but only control as much as their borders allow? Use your imagination. Vampires could be as tribal as ogres or as sophisticated as any other kingdom. Perhaps both? Maybe the various bloodlines are at war with each other? Enemies and allies can be made on all sides. Perhaps certain bloodlines are allies? These same bloodlines would probably have enemy or neutral bloodlines.

Pre-existing Campaigns

You already have vampires in your campaign? Cool! But don’t think that you can’t add some more flavor to your campaign just because you already have vampires not included in the overhaul. However the vampires in your campaign work could just be another bloodline and the players have never heard of other bloodlines before. If your vampires are the core rules type then you can even use the Keerlith bloodline to supercede it. Keerlith vampires are the only vampires that can use gaseous form at will. Maybe the players went to some far off land? Maybe they traveled to a different prime material plane? There are any number of ways this can be integrated into a pre-existing campaign. Of course, YOU’RE the DM, you decide how the rules work. If you want all the bloodlines to be able to do this then by all means, change the rules.

Vampire Hunters

You KNEW this was coming. What are vampires without vampire hunters? I’ve created a few enchantments specifically to combat vampires. I’ll be creating more enchantments and adding spells as well but I only have so much free time. Don’t expect it to get done in one sitting. Vampire hunters could be dedicated to hunting down all vampires or maybe just the bad ones. There could be an entire guild of hunters and this could be sufficient plot device for how the players learn more about vampires. Maybe I’ll even make a vampire hunter class in the future. There could be one guild or many factions. These factions will, of course, have disagreements. There could even be a war between one or more factions. Maybe the war began because one faction believes that all vampires must be hunted and the other thinks that only the bad ones should be hunted. It’s your world, be creative, be imaginative, and above all else, be sneaky just to keep the players guessing.

Variant Options

This overhaul was made for a wizard tier level of play. Purebloods especially are excessively powerful. The fluff states a lot of things, but you don’t have to follow the fluff to the letter, it can be altered to suit your needs. Here are some variations that you could use in your campaign.

There can be only one

There are not multiple Purebloods, and there exists no way to become a Pureblood or for a new one to be born. There is only ONE Pureblood vampire in all the multi-verse. Perhaps it was created by the primordials as a weapon against the creations of the gods, perhaps some unspeakably vile humanoid was cursed an eternity ago by the gods for its sins, or perhaps it was born as the after-thought of some evil god that has long since died; wherever the Pureblood came from, one thing is certain; it was the first vampire, and it has power mortals cannot even comprehend.

With this background, only one Pureblood exists, and there will never be another. The Pureblood begot all the other bloodlines. You can rule out Category B Vampires, or keep them as they are. If you still allow Category B Vampires, remember that this means the Pureblood would have had vampire children with other vampires, perhaps vampires of its own making, in order for them to have come into existence. From that point, they could begin to have their own offspring. The Pureblood is easily at the level of an Elder Evil, so you may consider making it a full blown elder evil. If that is the case, Dead Sun is the logical choice as the sign of its coming, but you don’t have to use this sign if you don’t want to. Consider where and how it was imprisoned, perhaps on the plane of shadow, some distant outer plane created specifically to keep the Pureblood in and would-be planar travelers out, or deep in the Abyss; it is likely that the gods themselves imprisoned the Pureblood. You don’t have to send an Elder Evil at your players, and you shouldn’t unless you are trying to end an epic-level campaign. The Pureblood could be the one pulling the strings of the vampire society behind the shadows of the shadows, if you want some sort of vampire society at all.

This background implies a certain amount of evil about vampires, or at least the Pureblood (Elder Evil and all that), so a non-good alignment restriction on vampires is more justifiable. If you wanted to, you could say that all vampires are ultimately tied to the Pureblood, which could explain why their nature is so difficult to control. They have a long chain, but they are chained nonetheless.

The Antediluvians

In ancient times, gods and darkness and evil created the first vampires. These vampires were the founding members of the various vampire bloodlines. They are the Antediluvians.

You could also say that the Antediluvians are the remains of an evil of terrible power (possibly an evil greater deity). Deities of goodness and light could have combined their power and “broke” the evil god into multiple pieces. These pieces could have spontaneously animated as the Antediluvians.

With this background, there are no Purebloods, at least in a sense. There are still Category A Vampires, and they might be called Purebloods, but Antediluvians is a better fit I think. Naturally, they are all at least 10,000 years old. The Antediluvians still use the Category A Vampire template, but they only have the powers of one bloodline. There is only one Category A Vampire for each bloodline, and this vampire is the founding member of its bloodline. They might still all exist, or perhaps one or more of them has been destroyed, maybe by agents of good, or even by evil rivals. The Antediluvians probably each have their own territory or even kingdom (possibly on another plane), or they might all rule the same one kingdom as a sort of Dark Collective. Each Antediluvian is likely the supreme commander, or at least has substantial influence, of any organized group of their own bloodline. You could rule that each Antediluvian possesses the “Pureblood’s Geas” power, but it only works on vampires of their own bloodline.

The last name of each Antediluvian is the name of the bloodline they belong to (Anthotis, Invernus, Volkihar, etc…), which is why the bloodlines are named thus. The Antediluvian is not named after their bloodline, their bloodline is named after them.

If the Antediluvians are the animated shards of an evil deity, there can be some interesting backstory and opportunity. If you go this route, especially consider the goals of each of the Antediluvians. Does the personality/portfolio of the deity they spawned from influence their actions? Does there still exist former agents of the deity? Depending on how long ago the deity was destroyed (which should be at least 10,000 years), there may not be any former agents left. If there are still existing former agents of the deity, how do they see the Antediluvians? There new masters? Enemies? How do the Antediluvians see each other?

An interesting way to go about this, in my opinion, is to make it so that each Antediluvian seeks to replace the deity they were spawned from. To do so, one of them must diablerize all the others. If you go this route, consider giving each Antediluvian Divine Rank 0. If one or more of the Antediluvians no longer exist, they were likely diablerized by another Antediluvian. Once only one Antediluvian remains, the survivor will become the new god that replaces the one they spawned from, gaining its portfolio and, though not necessarily, domains. If one or more of the Antediluvians were destroyed by something other than being diablerized by another Antediluvian, the newly ascended survivor will not be as powerful as the former god (they will have less Divine Rank). You could make it so that, instead of becoming a full-fledged god after only one remains, the Antediluvians gain divine rank as they diablerize each other. Since there are 22 bloodlines, and you don’t want to have to figure out how a bunch of puny deities defeated an overdeity, you shouldn’t give an Antediluvian a +1 to their divine rank each time they diablerize another Antediluvian. Come up with a system that works for you. You might give them a +1 to their divine rank for every 2 Antediluvians it diablerizes, giving them the remaining divine ranks after all the other Antediluvians have been destroyed or diablerized. Remember, if an Antediluvian diablerizes another Antediluvian, you need to count all of the, if any, other Antediluvians that have been diablerized by the Antediluvian that was just diablerized. Example: Antediluvian #1 diablerizes Antediluvian #2, Antediluvian #2 previously devoured Antediluvians #3 and #4, Antediluvian #1 gains an increase in divine rank as if it had diablerized 3 Antediluvians.

Unless they are working in complete harmony with each other, a notion often found lacking with the undead, the Antediluvians probably form and break alliances with each other. Consider how this affects the vampires belonging to each bloodline and how they interact with each other. Do bloodlines base rivalries on who their Antediluvian founder has allied or enemied against, or does it matter to them?