[3.5 Vampiric Heritage Feats]Great Grandaddy Was A Vampire

[Pyromancer999]

Background- I just thought these would be cool after looking at Vampire Bloodline feats in 4e.

Vampiric Heritage Feats

Vampiric Heritage[Vampiric]
Benefits: You are the descendant of a vampire, and may draw upon their abilities. Select three of the following skills: Bluff, Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Search, Sense Motive, and Spot. You gain a bonus to checks for those skills equal to 1 + 1 per two Vampiric feats you have. Also, you learn how to Awaken. This refers to a process that, by focusing your attention upon one aspect of your Vampiric Heritage, you grow closer to your ancestor's level of power. You may Awaken for a number of rounds per day equal to 2 + the number of Vampiric feats you have. You must select one feat when you Awaken, and during that time, gain the feat's Awakened effect. During rounds when they are awakened, you look similar to a real vampire. When Awakened, this feat doubles the bonuses to the skills you have chosen. The DC for any Vampiric feat ability that would require a save is always equal to 10 + 1/2 your HD + the number of Vampiric feats you have.

Vampiric Lash[Vampiric]
Prerequisite: Vampiric Heritage
Benefit: You learn how to deal damage and gain benefit from that. You gain a pool of points equal to 4 x the number of Vampiric feats you have. You may use these points at-will, in one of two ways: Firstly, you may expend points to add them to a damage roll, and deal additional damage equal to the number of points spent. Alternatively, as a touch attack, you may expend points to deal damage to your target equal to the number of points spent. Either way, on such attacks, you gain a number of temporary hit points equal to the number of points expended from your pool granted by this feat. When Awakened, you regain hit points instead of gaining temporary hit points.

Vampiric Leech[Vampiric]
Prerequisite: Vampiric Heritage, Vampiric Lash
Benefit: You gain a bite attack for a creature of your size, that also deals an additional amount of damage equal to the number of Vampiric feats you have. Also, when grappling a foe, you may use this bite attack to deal 1 point of Constitution damage per three Vampiric feats you have. You add 3 points to your pool of points from Vampiric Lash for every point of Constitution damage dealt this way. When Awakened, you deal 1 additional point of Constitution damage when biting a grappled foe, and the additional amount of damage dealt by your normal bite attack changes to equal twice the number of Vampiric Heritage feats you have.

Vampiric Charm
Prerequisite: Vampiric Heritage, 3rd level
Benefit: You know how to control, or at least influence, people by drawing upon your vampire ancestor's ability to control others. As a standard action, you may exert influence over a person. This acts as a gaze attack, which, upon success, causes the victim to Charm Person, with the caster level equaling the number of Vampiric feats you have. After using this ability, you may not do so again for 5 rounds. When Awakened, the gaze attack acts as Charm Monster, and, should you choose to make use of the Charm Person effect, you may make use of the Charm Person effect again in the next round, instead of waiting 5 rounds.

Vampiric Dominance[Vampiric]
Prerequisites: Vampiric Heritage, Vampiric Charm, 12th level
Benefit: You may, once per day per two Vampiric feats you have, cause your Charm Person gaze attack from your Vampiric Charm feat to instead act as the Dominate Person spell, except that it only lasts for 2 hours per Vampiric feat you have. When Awakened, you may expend two uses of this ability to instead affect a creature as though under the effect of Charm Monster, which also lasts for 2 hours per Vampiric feat you have. You must expend two rounds of Awakening in order to Awaken this way for one round.

Vampiric Movement[Vampiric]
Prerequisites: Vampiric Heritage, 3rd level
Benefit: You know how to make use of some of the different modes of Vampiric Movement. You may use Spider Climb as a Vampire, at-will, as a standard action. However, you may only Spider Climb for a number of rounds equal to the number of Vampiric feats you have at a time, after which you must wait 5 rounds before doing so again. If you Spider Climb this way for only 1 round, you need only wait 1 round before regaining use of this ability. When Awakened, you need not wait after any Spider Climbing in order to make use of this feats Spider Climb ability again, and also your speed when Spider Climbing increases by 5 ft per two Vampiric Heritage feats you have.

Vampiric Mist[Vampiric]
Prerequisites: Vampiric Heritage, Vampiric Movement, 6th level
Benefit: You know how to make use of the misty form of a vampire.You may act as though under the effects of Gaseous Form at-will as a standard action, except that it only lasts for 1 round per Vampiric feat you have, and your fly speed is equal to 5 ft per three Vampiric feats you have. you must wait 5 rounds before doing so again. If you enter this form for only 1 round, you need only wait 1 round before regaining use of this ability. When Awakened, your speed increases to become 5 ft + 5 ft per two Vampiric feats you have, and you need only wait 1 round before regaining use of the Gaseous Form ability, regardless of which version you use during the Awakening.

Vampiric Recovery[Vampiric]
Prerequisites: Vampiric Heritage, 3rd level
Benefit: You know how to recover from blows quickly, although not at the same rate as your vampire ancestor. Every 5 rounds, you regain an amount of hit points equal to 1/2 the number of Vampiric feats you have. When awakened, you instead gain Fast Healing equal to 1/2 the number of Vampiric feats you have.

Vampiric Protection[Vampiric]
Prerequisite: Vampiric Heritage, Vampiric Recovery, 6th level
Benefit: You gain the grave-hardened flesh of your ancestor. You gain
DR X/Silver or Magic, where X equals the number of Vampiric feats you have - 1. When Awakened, your DR is doubled.

Vampiric Allies[Vampiric]
Prerequisites: Vampiric Heritage
Benefit: You know how to call for allies in a similar manner to that of your ancestors. You gain a number of Ally Points equal to the number of Vampiric feats you have. You may expend as many Ally Points as you wish as a standard action. You may expend 1 Ally Point to summon 1 rat swarm or a pack of 1d6 Wolves. You may expend 2 Ally Points to summon 1 bat swarm. Vampiric Allies arrive within 1d4 + 1 rounds of being summoned, and serve for up to 2 minutes per Vampiric feat you have. When Awakened, you double the amounts of creatures summoned. In order to use this feat's Awakened ability, you must expend two rounds of Awakening in order to gain this feat's Awakening ability for one round.

Vampire's Other Skin[Vampiric]
Prerequisites: Vampiric Heritage, 3rd level
Benefit: You learn how to turn into the same creatures a vampire could. Select bat or wolf. As a standard action, you may turn into the creature you have selected, as per the Vampire's Alternate Form ability. You may remain in this form for a number of hours equal to the number of Vampiric feats you have, or sunrise, after which you are forced into your natural form. When Awakened, you turn into a Dire version of the animal you selected.
Special: You may select this feat again in order to gain the form of the animal you did not choose.

Ancestor's Form[Vampiric]
Prerequisites: Vampiric Heritage, three other Vampiric feats, 12th level
Benefit: You learn how to assume a form more like that of your ancestors. For a number of rounds per day equal to the number of Vampiric feats you have, you may gain the Half-Vampire Template. These rounds need not be spent consecutively. When Awakened, you gain the Vampire Template, although when Awakened this way, you must expend two rounds of Awakening in order to be Awakened this way for one round.

Well, that's all for now. Please comment/PEACH.

[Pyromancer999]

No one has any interest in this? I put some serious time into making these, so if someone could comment/PEACH them, it'd be appreciated.

Heck, if there's two comment posts on this, I'll make Twilight Vampire Heritage feats, if anyone wants.

[Welknair]

Looks great, just like the rest of your feat chains. I particularly like the "Awakening" mechanic.

I didn't know that the undead could successfully procreate through... natural means.

[Pyromancer999]

Originally Posted by Welknair

Looks great, just like the rest of your feat chains. I particularly like the "Awakening" mechanic.

Thanks. I actually got a little inspired by a comic I was looking at, where the character was of vampire descent, but could activate strengthened versions of his abilities at times.

I didn't know that the undead could successfully procreate through... natural means.

Well, there's the half-vampire template in Libris Mortis. Apparently, if they drink enough blood they can do that, as well as taint pregnant mothers who survive their attacks. Since Half-Vampires aren't undead, these would probably be passed down to descendants.

[Welknair]

Originally Posted by Pyromancer999

Well, there's the half-vampire template in Libris Mortis. Apparently, if they drink enough blood they can do that, as well as taint pregnant mothers who survive their attacks. Since Half-Vampires aren't undead, these would probably be passed down to descendants.

Ah, I guess that makes sense. Libris Mortis is one of the few books I don't have.

[Amechra]

I like, I like.

Hmmm... I have to say, the awakening mechanic is interesting, but there should be a feat that REALLY increases that duration, unless someone wants to pick OMFG large numbers of the feats in the chain. Of course, that is a problem with feat chains in general...

[The Tygre]

I like the concept, but I think the feats could use a little more fluffiness. Y'know, a general description for each.

[Shadowknight12]

This looks extremely interesting, and I am tempted to use them for a game I'm running, for one of my many NPCs. I can't guarantee that they will see play (since they will be a neutral/allied NPC and not (necessarily) an antagonist) but if I ever get any playtest data, I will most definitely post it here or PM it to you.

I am also toying with the idea of combining them with 3-4 Flaws that emphasise an unwholesome/undead descent (such as lack of animal companion/familiar, animal aversion, sunlight dazzlement in the vein of Drow or orcs, etc), which I think would work well with the theme the feats suggest.

Keep up the good work!

[Pyromancer999]

Originally Posted by Amechra

I like, I like.

Hmmm... I have to say, the awakening mechanic is interesting, but there should be a feat that REALLY increases that duration, unless someone wants to pick OMFG large numbers of the feats in the chain. Of course, that is a problem with feat chains in general...

Well, I've been toying with the idea of making a feat that allows you to include one Vampiric feat you select when taking it in the effects of Awakening, in addition to the one you normally choose. Also, if you really want a feat that adds Awakening rounds, maybe it just adds 2-3 rounds per take, and you can take it multiple times?

Originally Posted by The Tygre

I like the concept, but I think the feats could use a little more fluffiness. Y'know, a general description for each.

I don't really think there needs to be that much more fluff than is already there, as the abilities are sort of self-explanatory for their cause.

Originally Posted by Shadowknight12

This looks extremely interesting, and I am tempted to use them for a game I'm running, for one of my many NPCs. I can't guarantee that they will see play (since they will be a neutral/allied NPC and not (necessarily) an antagonist) but if I ever get any playtest data, I will most definitely post it here or PM it to you.

Thanks. It's always good to get playtest data.

I am also toying with the idea of combining them with 3-4 Flaws that emphasise an unwholesome/undead descent (such as lack of animal companion/familiar, animal aversion, sunlight dazzlement in the vein of Drow or orcs, etc), which I think would work well with the theme the feats suggest.

That's pretty good. Also, I'd recommend a flaw that causes people with the Vampiric Lash feat and the like to drain a certain number of points from people per day, like Blood Dependency.

Keep up the good work!

Will do! Actually, I think I might make Twilight Vampires and their own set of Vampiric feats sometime in the future, so you can look forward to that. The aim for those is to make them playable while making fun of Twilight.

[Shadowknight12]

Originally Posted by Pyromancer999

Well, I've been toying with the idea of making a feat that allows you to include one Vampiric feat you select when taking it in the effects of Awakening, in addition to the one you normally choose. Also, if you really want a feat that adds Awakening rounds, maybe it just adds 2-3 rounds per take, and you can take it multiple times?

Great idea, this is actually even more useful for NPCs, who are likely only going to be able to "show off" their Awakened benefits once or twice.

Thanks. It's always good to get playtest data.

No problem, I always make a point to give feedback if I use anything someone else homebrewed.

That's pretty good. Also, I'd recommend a flaw that causes people with the Vampiric Lash feat and the like to drain a certain number of points from people per day, like Blood Dependency.

An excellent idea! It's also an amazing way to generate plot hooks. What would ordinarily be an inconvenience to a PC becomes the spin for an adventure in the hands of an NPC.

Will do! Actually, I think I might make Twilight Vampires and their own set of Vampiric feats sometime in the future, so you can look forward to that. The aim for those is to make them playable while making fun of Twilight.

Hilarious! I doubt I could use them without shattering the drama and seriousness of my game with the efficiency of a freight train trough antique glass, but I think that's a good idea! More options is always better. Perhaps I could re-fluff the "impervious marble skin" and "glitters under the sun" things for a type of construct.

[Amechra]

The 2-3 rounds feat would be lovely.

I really think this one needs its own PrC; one of those 5-level dealies that gives you a couple feats, and strengthens the ones you have.

[Pyromancer999]

Originally Posted by Shadowknight12

Great idea, this is actually even more useful for NPCs, who are likely only going to be able to "show off" their Awakened benefits once or twice.

Actually, I came up with the idea with an NPC villain in mind.

An excellent idea! It's also an amazing way to generate plot hooks. What would ordinarily be an inconvenience to a PC becomes the spin for an adventure in the hands of an NPC.

Yeah. The villain in mind was sort of kidnapping people from the neighboring village for this purpose, so that's where that idea came from.

Hilarious! I doubt I could use them without shattering the drama and seriousness of my game with the efficiency of a freight train trough antique glass, but I think that's a good idea! More options is always better. Perhaps I could re-fluff the "impervious marble skin" and "glitters under the sun" things for a type of construct.

Actually, I plan to make it usable for even serious campaigns, although it'll still have a touch of humor. I actually have a fluff paragraph written up as an introduction, but not really much crunch for it as of yet. Here it is:

Once, upon a moonlit night, a melancholy bard was reading his girlfriend a poem about how his love for her would transcend the void of death. During this reading, a vampire crept up upon the bard and bit him, draining him of blood. However, the bard had made use of his bardic abilities to help make the poem become a pure expression of his adolescent love, and after he had been drained, his overtly emotional girlfriend, St'fanae, prayed to a forgotten love god only known as The Myre to preserve her and her boyfriend's love. As her prayer was completed, it began to dawn upon the field they were in. The boyfriend rose once again, not as a normal vampire, becoming transformed by the power of teenage love. He became the first Twilight Vampire.

I plan to give them some abilities that make them a bit different from normal vampires and make good use of that angst.

Originally Posted by Amechra

The 2-3 rounds feat would be lovely.

I'll think about it.

I really think this one needs its own PrC; one of those 5-level dealies that gives you a couple feats, and strengthens the ones you have.

Wish granted. Just add in Vampiric Heritage feats as an option for Vampiric Endowment.