Caldarin
2009-01-03, 03:18 PM
Okay, so, I had a friend who really wanted to play a vampire, but I wasn't about to allow a full vampire PC (for obvious reasons), so instead, I created this; the results of a mad mage's experiment from hundreds of years ago (in the campaign world)
Avalon is is a homebrew campaign setting that I've been working on for a while, the idea is that almost 1000 years ago, the city of Old Avalon was destroyed by a rampaging horde of fiends courtesy of the Grey Tower Mage's guild. Three centuries before the setting is set, humans returned to the city's ruins and rebuilt over top of them. Needless to say, the new Grey Tower Guild is kept on quite a short leash by the rulers of the city.
Either way, this is a basic race. I have a girl playing a rogue in our party now
and it doesn't seem at all unbalanced. In fact, it adds a good role playing element to the group (she's trying to hide her ancestry from the rest of the party) and plus, it gives me an excuse to send vampire hunters after her (i.e good people who want to destroy her on principle; makes a bit of a moral quandary all in all)
Let me know what you think, I welcome feedback
Half Vampires
History: Though it is well known that vampires are incapable of reproducing with mortal subjects (that is, without killing them and making them spawn) this has not stopped wizards from experimenting with the various properties of vampiric ‘blood’ and its affects on humans. During the time leading up to the destruction of Old Avalon, a wizard of the Gray Tower discovered a way to infuse the essence of a vampire in a mortal without outright killing his subjects. The result was a much quicker human with considerably more guile than the average. Various tests with sunlight revealed that, while it still weakened the half vampires, it did not destroy them out right.
Before the experiment could be published, the half vampire test subjects escaped. They fled the city and went to ground. Their long life spans enabled them to hide underground for a long period of time, until the destruction of Old Avalon was long behind them. They then went forth and settled down in small hamlets and villages, claiming to be exceptionally pale elves if asked about their ancestry.
Over the years, they bred with full mortals and the potency of their vampiric blood faded, but it still lives on in their sons and daughters. These “part undead” men and women don’t posses the long life spans of their ancestors, and so many generations of them have come and gone since New Avalon has been built. While few know their true heritage (they can pass for half elves if needed), they are truly more numerous than one would think.
Alignment: In spite of the undead essence infused within their bodies, very few of them turn to evil. Mostly, they merely want to live in peace, so Half Vampires often tend towards neutrality. Their nature also makes them feel the need to wander the land, lest their true nature be discovered. Therefore, they tend towards chaos more than law. A small percentage of them, especially those who let their ancestry be known and were in turn persecuted for it, turn to evil, becoming more like the true vampires from which they are descended. An even smaller percentage choose a cause to champion and try to dispel the stigma that hangs over them and thus turn to good.
Physical Appearance: Half Vampires tend to be tall (between 5‘6 and 6‘ for females and 5‘8 and 6‘3 for males) but willowy and somewhat frail looking. Their hair tends to be either very dark or very light. Half Vampires have an extremely pale complexion, reflecting the nature of the their undead ancestors. Eyes are usually black, but can glow a slight red when agitated. Lighter eye colors (especially blue) are not unheard of, but are extremely rare.
Relations: As long as people don’t pry to deeply into their ancestry, Half Vampires get along well with other races. They tend to be mistrustful of elves and half elves (as they often try to pass themselves off as members of those races) and get along best with humans and Halflings (the most tolerant of the races).
Personality: Half Vampires tend to be curious about others and eager to keep the conversation off of themselves (so as to avoid unwanted questions about their heritage). With each other (and they can identify each other on sight), they are almost jovial, and much more talkative. They also tend to be sneaky and secretive, trying to avoid attracting attention to themselves.
Half Vampire Racial Traits
+2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, -2 Wisdom: Half Vampires are much quicker than humans, and can be extremely charming when they need to be. However, the little bit of undead that resides within them makes them more frail and slightly weaker-willed than other races.
Size: Medium
Base Land Speed 30 ft
Dark Vision
+2 bonus to Bluff and Diplomacy checks: Due to the their constant need to hide their true identities, half vampires are exceptionally good at disguising themselves and talking themselves out of tough situations
Call of the Night: Once per day, a Half Vampire can feed off the life force of a dieing creature, gaining +2 strength and +1d8 hp for 1 hour. Any hit points in excess of the Half Vampire’s total are gained as temporary hp and lost at the end of the hour. This is a full round action
+4 bonus on saves vs. negative energy and saves made to remove negative levels (the undead essence within them makes it easy to resist pure negative energy)
Sunlight Weakness: -1 to all rolls while outside during the daytime.
Automatic Languages: Common, any (based upon land of origin)
Favored Class: Rogue
Avalon is is a homebrew campaign setting that I've been working on for a while, the idea is that almost 1000 years ago, the city of Old Avalon was destroyed by a rampaging horde of fiends courtesy of the Grey Tower Mage's guild. Three centuries before the setting is set, humans returned to the city's ruins and rebuilt over top of them. Needless to say, the new Grey Tower Guild is kept on quite a short leash by the rulers of the city.
Either way, this is a basic race. I have a girl playing a rogue in our party now
and it doesn't seem at all unbalanced. In fact, it adds a good role playing element to the group (she's trying to hide her ancestry from the rest of the party) and plus, it gives me an excuse to send vampire hunters after her (i.e good people who want to destroy her on principle; makes a bit of a moral quandary all in all)
Let me know what you think, I welcome feedback
Half Vampires
History: Though it is well known that vampires are incapable of reproducing with mortal subjects (that is, without killing them and making them spawn) this has not stopped wizards from experimenting with the various properties of vampiric ‘blood’ and its affects on humans. During the time leading up to the destruction of Old Avalon, a wizard of the Gray Tower discovered a way to infuse the essence of a vampire in a mortal without outright killing his subjects. The result was a much quicker human with considerably more guile than the average. Various tests with sunlight revealed that, while it still weakened the half vampires, it did not destroy them out right.
Before the experiment could be published, the half vampire test subjects escaped. They fled the city and went to ground. Their long life spans enabled them to hide underground for a long period of time, until the destruction of Old Avalon was long behind them. They then went forth and settled down in small hamlets and villages, claiming to be exceptionally pale elves if asked about their ancestry.
Over the years, they bred with full mortals and the potency of their vampiric blood faded, but it still lives on in their sons and daughters. These “part undead” men and women don’t posses the long life spans of their ancestors, and so many generations of them have come and gone since New Avalon has been built. While few know their true heritage (they can pass for half elves if needed), they are truly more numerous than one would think.
Alignment: In spite of the undead essence infused within their bodies, very few of them turn to evil. Mostly, they merely want to live in peace, so Half Vampires often tend towards neutrality. Their nature also makes them feel the need to wander the land, lest their true nature be discovered. Therefore, they tend towards chaos more than law. A small percentage of them, especially those who let their ancestry be known and were in turn persecuted for it, turn to evil, becoming more like the true vampires from which they are descended. An even smaller percentage choose a cause to champion and try to dispel the stigma that hangs over them and thus turn to good.
Physical Appearance: Half Vampires tend to be tall (between 5‘6 and 6‘ for females and 5‘8 and 6‘3 for males) but willowy and somewhat frail looking. Their hair tends to be either very dark or very light. Half Vampires have an extremely pale complexion, reflecting the nature of the their undead ancestors. Eyes are usually black, but can glow a slight red when agitated. Lighter eye colors (especially blue) are not unheard of, but are extremely rare.
Relations: As long as people don’t pry to deeply into their ancestry, Half Vampires get along well with other races. They tend to be mistrustful of elves and half elves (as they often try to pass themselves off as members of those races) and get along best with humans and Halflings (the most tolerant of the races).
Personality: Half Vampires tend to be curious about others and eager to keep the conversation off of themselves (so as to avoid unwanted questions about their heritage). With each other (and they can identify each other on sight), they are almost jovial, and much more talkative. They also tend to be sneaky and secretive, trying to avoid attracting attention to themselves.
Half Vampire Racial Traits
+2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, -2 Wisdom: Half Vampires are much quicker than humans, and can be extremely charming when they need to be. However, the little bit of undead that resides within them makes them more frail and slightly weaker-willed than other races.
Size: Medium
Base Land Speed 30 ft
Dark Vision
+2 bonus to Bluff and Diplomacy checks: Due to the their constant need to hide their true identities, half vampires are exceptionally good at disguising themselves and talking themselves out of tough situations
Call of the Night: Once per day, a Half Vampire can feed off the life force of a dieing creature, gaining +2 strength and +1d8 hp for 1 hour. Any hit points in excess of the Half Vampire’s total are gained as temporary hp and lost at the end of the hour. This is a full round action
+4 bonus on saves vs. negative energy and saves made to remove negative levels (the undead essence within them makes it easy to resist pure negative energy)
Sunlight Weakness: -1 to all rolls while outside during the daytime.
Automatic Languages: Common, any (based upon land of origin)
Favored Class: Rogue