Vampires as a Playable Race PEACH

[CunningKindred]

I have recently turned my eye to writing a playable vampire racial template for a forthcoming D&D game. It was based on the race that they released for the M:tG adaptation for D&D but on reading that I was rather struck by the less than complete nature of the write-up and rules. I'm looking to get some feedback and what I've come up with so far. I am especially interested in some feedback for the feats. These seem to be a bit of a minefield when it comes to game balance in 5E. Maybe some other vampire fans might find the material useful.

Edit: I have completed a major overhaul update of the race and the Feats based on feedback I've received and some very marginal playtesting. Most especially, the healing has been modified to tie it in to natural healing and to keep potential abuse to a minimum and there is more emphasis on making the character feel more like a vampire from the outset.

Edit (30/01/2019): My this is an old version of what we were using. So this is a little edit to update the rules to what we have been playtesting over the last year.

Link here: Vampire (New 5E Race)

[Job]

At first pass, this all seems pretty solid.

The only things that stood out to me where the minion creation rules, and Blood thirst.

Minion creation as a racial feature seem pretty strong even as limited as this is during early levels.

Blood thirst should contain language that failure to feed will move you down the condition track, and penalize the victim a bit more as so a vampire PC can't use its allies as an easy blood bank.

YMMV

[CunningKindred]

Minion creation as a racial feature seem pretty strong even as limited as this is during early levels.

This has been one of my concerns. The power is obviously very restricted; even dangerous for the player. At 1st level his own zombie-minion might make short work of him. But it can be difficult to imagine all the possible ways in which a player might abuse the option.

Blood thirst should contain language that failure to feed will move you down the condition track, and penalize the victim a bit more as so a vampire PC can't use its allies as an easy blood bank.

Do you think that another PC would let the vampire do that? He's not only draining their hit points but their hit point maximum until their next long rest. In a pinch it could let the vampire PC function longer but it would cost his ally dearly and leave them terribly vulnerable to further damage and if the vampire did it by force they wouldn't be an ally for much longer.

[Job]

The max HP reduction can be as little as 1 HP, and averages low esp, as levels escalate. But if you don't take my suggestion on board then it works as is.

I know from experience that a player character would be willing to be 'fed' upon if the alternative is a less effective ally; even with a moderate risk involved.

[CunningKindred]

I think I see what your concern is now.

Blood Thirst. You can drain blood and life energy from a living creature. The creature must be willing, grappled, incapacitated or restrained. Make a melee attack against the target using dexterity or strength. Vampire are always considered proficient in Blood Thirst. If you hit, you deal one piercing damage and 1d6 necrotic damage. The target's hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the necrotic damage. This reduction lasts until the target next finishes a long rest. When a creature willingly gives themselves to the blood thirst the attack is automatically successful and the creature suffers a level of exhaustion in addition to the other effects. The target dies if it is reduced to a hit point maximum of zero. You regain hit points equal to the amount by which the victim’s maximum hit points were reduced.

How does that look? Do you think that would curtail the possible abuse without actually making the effect more powerful? I'm thinking exhaustion is definitely something which hinders player characters a lot more than it does NPCs.

[CunningKindred]

So, the earlier suggestion got me thinking and I had another idea for a new vampiric feat. I thought I'd see what people think about this one.

Unholy Fortitude
Prerequisites: Vampire, 7th level
Drawing upon your innate connection to the undead you can temporarily acquire increased resistance to that which weakens the living. When you use the Blood Thirst power on a humanoid victim you can, as a reaction, acquire one of the following benefits. You cannot use this feat again to gain another benefit until you have finished a short rest.

• You gain resistance to nonmagical bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage for one hour or until you finish a short rest.

• You become immune to suffocation until you finish a long rest.

• You become immune to poison and disease for one hour or until you finish a short rest.

• You remove one level of exhaustion from yourself.

• If you killed the victim of the blood thirst you can regain spent hit dice equal to the number that the victim had possessed in life. You cannot gain more than your maximum hit dice using this option and this benefit does not offer you additional methods of spending hit dice. You cannot use share curse on a victim when you use this benefit after feeding on them.

And while I'm at it, I realised that I had not included the stat-block for a drone minion.

Drone
Medium Undead, Neutral Evil
Armour Class 8
Hit Points 22 (3d8+9)
Speed 30 ft.
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Abilities Str 13 (+1), Dex 6 (-2), Con 16 (+3), Int 7 (-2), Wis 6 (-2), Cha 5 (-3)
Saving Throw Will +0
Damage Immunities Necrotic, Poison
Condition Immunities Poisoned
Senses Darkvision, Perception 10
Languages knows the languages it spoke in life but cannot speak
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Undead Fortitude. If damage reduces the drone to 0 hit points, it must make a Constitution saving throw with a DC of 5 +the damage taken, unless the damage is radiant or from a critical hit. On a success, the drone drops to 1 hit point instead.
Sunlight Sensitivity. The drone has disadvantage on attack rolls and on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight when it, the target of its attack, or whatever it is trying to perceive, is in direct sunlight.
Blood Thirst: The drone has the blood thirst power of a vampire (see description of the vampire). It will generally use this power whenever it is injured if it is not under threat of imminent attack from another source. It cannot create other drones control them.
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Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target.
Hit. 1d6 + 1 bludgeoning damage.

[CunningKindred]

Added a link to the original post to a pdf document that looks a little prettier.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0u1gn31jpv...12016.pdf?dl=0

[CunningKindred]

I have completed a major update for the racial template.

Link here: Vampire (New 5E Race)

The intention here is to make the blood thirst and vampiric spawn less potentially abuse-able and to make the base template more versatile at low levels to let players create the kind of vampire they want to play and to make sure the character feels like a vampire from the 1st level onward.