Vampires

Sundren features a unique element in the form of playable vampire PC's and small deviations from standard D&D lore on vampirism. As such we were prompted to outline the differences and additions to vampire lore to better acquaint players with the ability to role play as vampires or those interacting with them.

Reasoning

Many may ask why change anything about vampires when D&D has information on them?

Much like any other creature in D&D certain templates and incarnations of a monster were meant solely for the standpoint of an NPC or Enemy of the party. Thus some information will be laxed or not setup for extended play as a PC who doesn't have the ability to invent lore or reasoning on many subjects.

An example of this is the Drow race which has become wide open to PCs in 3RD edition but had a great deal less lore in earlier additions.

As such we wanted to add in information we felt would better define the experience of the vampire, borrowing tried and true information from literature and other settings.

Our goal in Sundren is to offer a richer RP environment for everyone, and a snarling monster that simply draws swords seems shallow at best.

Template

Vampire templates can be applied to any humanoid race. Changes applied to the race are as listed below.

Race: A character becomes Undead (Vampire) race.

Level Adjustment: Vampires are ECL +8.

Special Qualities: A vampire retains all the special qualities of the base creature and undead special qualities.

Abilities: Increase from the base creature as follows: Str +6, Dex +4, Int +2, Wis +2, Cha +4.

Skills: Vampires have a +8 racial bonus on Bluff, Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Search, Sense Motive, and Spot checks.

Feats: Vampires gain Alertness, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved Initiative, and Lightning Reflexes.

Armor Class: +6 Natural Armor

Blood Drain (Ex): Vampire PC's possess a special feat attack called 'Vampire Bite' that allows them to make a grapple check to do 1d4 Con damage to a target, and a will save not to 'stun' them for a round or two. Vampires heal a small amount of hp every successful bite. It can be noted that Vampire bite does not reduce a player's CON lower than 9.

Dominate (Su): Vampire's possess a modified Dominating Gaze as follows: the range is very long, the effect lasts for much longer than neverwinter's standard Dominate Person spell, and there is no 'looking away' feature for players.

Damage Reduction (Su): A vampire has damage reduction 10/silver and magic.

Fast Healing (Ex): A vampire heals 5 points of damage each round so long as it has at least 1 hit point. If reduced to 0 hit points in combat, the vampire will be 'destroyed' for all intents and purposes though this is roleplayed as becoming mist.

Resistances (Ex): A vampire has resistance to cold 10 and electricity 10.

Spider Climb (Ex): A vampire can climb sheer surfaces as though with a spider climb spell. All climb checks are automatically successful.

Turn Resistance (Ex): A vampire has +4 turn resistance.

Weaknesses

Vampires have a number of supernatural weaknesses.

Repelling a Vampire

Vampires cannot tolerate the strong odor of garlic and will not enter an area laced with it. Similarly, they recoil from a mirror or a strongly presented holy symbol. These things don’t harm the vampire—they merely keep it at bay. A recoiling vampire must stay at least 5 feet away from a creature holding the mirror or holy symbol and cannot touch or make melee attacks against the creature holding the item for the rest of the encounter. Holding a vampire at bay takes a standard action.

This is mainly an RP weakness that Vampire PC's must follow. Subject to possible change in the future.

Running Water

Vampires are also unable to cross running water, although they can be carried over it while resting in their coffins or aboard a ship.

This isn't really recognized on Sundren due to the limitations of where players can walk on the server. And the fact that they cannot turn into a bat and fly over such obstacles.

Private Dwellings

Vampires are utterly unable to enter a home or other building unless invited in by someone with the authority to do so. They may freely enter public places, since these are by definition open to all.

Vampire's PC's are obligated to follow the RP of this weakness. This does not prevent a vampire from Dominating another player and asking them to invite them inside.

(Knowledge religion score of 15 or better.)

Slaying a Vampire

Reducing a vampire’s hit points to 0 or lower incapacitates it but doesn’t always destroy it (see the note on fast healing). However, certain attacks can slay vampires.

Exposing any vampire to direct sunlight scorches a vampire at 5% of it's life in Divine damage per round, negating regeneration. This cannot be resisted. A vampire who reaches 0 hit points is destroyed. Similarly, immersing a vampire in running water robs has the same effect.

Driving a wooden stake through a vampire’s heart places the creature in torpor. However, it returns to life if the stake is removed, unless the body is destroyed as usual means. A popular tactic is to cut off the creature’s head and fill its mouth with holy wafers or holy water.

Doing fire damage to a vampire in torpor will also destroy the vampire.

Vampire nature

Sundren vampires differ from normal D&D vampires in a number of ways roleplay-wise. Each nuance will be discussed below in detail. Players familiar with the roleplay system of World of Darkness will notice similarities here. Much of the following information was taken from sources such as: Vampire: The Masquerade, Vampire: The Requiem, and the computer game Vampire: Bloodlines.

Becomming a Vampire

A major deviance from D&D is that of being bitten by a vampire causing one to become a vampire. This is simply not the case in Sundren's lore. Only certain vampire strains carry infection as such and is generally seen as unclean by most vampires. This change was introduced for various reasons, such as NPC vampires in dungeons not altering a PC to the vampire template as well as having all PC's that become vampires heavily moderated.

Also this effect makes no logical sense considering a vampire must feed often to survive and those they create will also have to feed often. A vampire epidemic would most certainly occur and given the natural power a vampire holds, it would overpower the majority of Faerun's populace within a few years.

Therefore, as in much vampire literature, Sundren has seen fit to follow the lore of sire and childe.

To create a vampire a body must be dead and void of all blood. Blood is then directly transferred into the being instantly bringing them into their life as a vampire. This blood must be directly given. It cannot be transferred through objects such as cups, bottles or other receptacle. The body can be dead for any number of days before this occurs, even skeletal in nature. However, the body must at least be relatively intact. A pile of ashes that was once a body cannot be formed into a vampire.

It is common practice for a vampire to drink a person dry of their blood, which takes their life, and then the new vampire allowed to suckle upon their sire's blood.

The practice of creating a new vampire is called the embrace.

Bloodlines

Although many vampires can derive their roots to Colibrus himself or some vampire who has existed outside this hierarchy, childer often display a group of changes that are exhibited in any vampire they embrace. As such bloodlines are often formed, clans, or houses.

Each of the four Children of Colibrus have unique gifts associated with those of their blood and is often seen in their bloodline. Vampires that exist outside of Colibrus have similar properties that their kind may exhibit but often are very generic in nature to the point they are often viewed as simply being clanless.

Generations

Many vampires of Sundren, from the lowly ravenous ferals to the elite noble elders can trace their blood lineage to Colibrus, a vampire that has achieved divinity and demi-god status.

For vampires, Colibrus is more than just a God. With the exception of vampire priests, most vampires not only view Colibrus as a divine power, but also as a noble family patriarch. Colibrus is the head of his noble family, with his First Four Children being those he created, and each of their Childer (the term for 'children' they create with their vampirism) descended from them.

These Children create Children beneath them, and so on down, in a kind of complex web of family lineages. Each 'generation' before being slightly weaker than the last. The farther down the lineage a vampire is, the weaker it becomes until those at the very bottom are little more animalistic ferals possesing only a fraction of the noble's true power. These twisted children are termed thrall or spawn.

Vampires are automatically aware of one another's generation. This need not be said and is a supernatural awareness to them.

As vampires have existed long before Colibrus there are a large number who cannot trace their roots back to the four or to the god himself. However, these are still subject to the concept of generation having their own bloodlines. Even the most ancient vampires, however, cannot claim to have the power of the four and their god, so are seen as being 3rd generation or higher at best.

Blood & Feeding

Vampires need blood to exist, often referring to it as vitae due to it's life giving properties. It is their lifeforce, their metabolism, their drug, their high, it's basically everything. As a vampire is full of blood, so are they closer to the state of "Living". Vampires can even reproduce vampire/half-vampire offspring if they sustain a high enough level of blood.

As a vampire loses blood they will become more feral and more "dead". Their bodies will become pale, their eyes sunken, and their demeanor more ravenous or ferocious. Their mood will become quite irritable and will likely find it difficult to think anything beyond feeding just as a starving man would. When they are extremely low they could even go into a frenzy (See Below) depending upon their will power and self control. Once a vampire enters into this frenzy they their only thought becomes drinking blood, often killing victims without regard for who they are. The concept friend or enemy makes no difference to the frenzied vampire.

If a vampire loses all their blood this does not kill them. It instead puts them in torpor (See below) in which their body will slowly dry like a mummified remains until blood is reintroduced. Some particularly strong vampires may still be aware of the world in this state and intentionally enter torpor to sleep away eras peacefully. These same vampires may even have means of stealing blood from individuals who happen upon their resting remains. This is up to DM discretion.

When a vampire's fangs make contact with a victim, the feeling is a euphoria. This should not be confused with sexual pleasure (So don't feel you need to RP it that way) but it's generally a positive sensation. This is a predatory invention causing a victim to be less inclined to resist, scream or fight back when bitten. For RP purposes, a person being fed upon by a vampire should make a will save vs DC14 + the Vampire's Charisma modifier, or succumb to the euphoria. This is merely a guideline and role players are encouraged to decide a friendly and acceptable means of portraying such things.

This feeding is also equally enticing for the vampire who will be hard pressed to resist draining their victim dry and killing them. Young vampires will generally slay a victim during feeding regardless of their intention due to their inexperience with the joy of the vitae.

A vampire can go several days or even up to two weeks without feeding but will become more and more feral as they are denied blood until they either lose control or enter torpor. Thus a vampire will often feed once a day or every two days to maintain complete control.

Animal blood may be fed upon but will have an odious flavor to a vampire and be far less nourishing. Often requiring many animals to be fed upon to achieve the same nourishment of a person. A vampire will be hard pressed to stomach such a meal and may vomit up the blood they fed upon. It's a very revolting practice and will be frowned upon by most vampires. A vampire who feeds on animals will often find themselves ridiculed on top of the side effects of being malnourished when they practice such. However, all vampires will agree, if you need to survive, the practice may save your life.

Vampires may also drink from stored blood though fresh is always preferred as potency is lost the longer the blood is kept until it is far too old to be fed upon.

Various bloodlines of atypical beings often had different levels of nourishment for a vampire and they will find feeding from certain being far more potent than others. Though some of these beings have side effects. For example, feeding upon a Fey may cause hallucinations. Feeding upon a werewolf or wild creature may cause a vampire to be more prone to frenzy.

Blood Points

For the sake of mathematics and roleplay consider a vampire as having between 10 points of blood for low caste or thrall and 30 points or more for elder or higher caste. Each day a vampire exists it requires 1 blood point to survive outside of absolute torpor state. Thus a vampire may go a little over a week without drinking blood up to a month before they will lose consciousness. As they grow closer to losing consciousness the risk of frenzy will become greater and greater when presented with a possible meal.

Different beings may offer various points worth of blood to a vampire based upon size and potency. For example:

Source	Amount
A healthy medium humanoid	10 Points
A healthy small humanoid	8 Points
A rat, bat, or various rodents.	1/2 Point
A cat, dog, or similar sized.	1 Point
A cow, horse, or large mammal.	4 Points
A werewolf, nymph, or various other supernatural beings.	25 Points
A celestial or good outsider.	40+ Points
Another Vampire	Varies on potency, 10 to 30+!

Good aligned beings, those of magical nature, and healty individuals are often sought out for being particularly nourishing or flavorful to a vampire's palette.

Though Sundren vampires are encouraged to feed at least once every week or two. There is no actual system in place to enforce this, and since play times differ from player to player, this rule is fairly lax and open to interpretation. Its certainly plausible that a vampire could feed from one of the npc mobs that exist on the server. However, a system may be created in the future to help manage this play.

Also, we do not force vampires to feed on PCs because it could lead to a special kind of griefing on the part of the vampire player. In the past, it has led to vampires picking on new low-level players, and can be terribly discouraging to such new people if they are getting victimized constantly. This requires a special kind of responsibility on the part of the vampire player (which is why they are typically chosen with care, and not subject to simply being earned through play time or Roleplayer of the Month). In essence, a feeding should be an RP event unto itself, and should never be done, simply to be done.

The Monster Within

In every vampire exists a splintered part of their pysche which vampires come to call various names. Some call it their inner beast, others call it a demon, and some still call it the dark voice as though Colibrus himself is whispering to them.

This voice is essentially a calling within the vampire bringing out the most deplorable nature. Each vampire was mortal once, and for good or ill, have never known the call of this voice until they enter into this state of undeath. The driving force is powerful and when the vampire is not in complete awareness of themselves it takes over, sometimes unknowingly.

The struggle with this drive is one of the founding principals and a core of the vampire's existence. The more a vampire gives into the Demon, the less moral it becomes wearing away at it's mind until it is either a mindless beast or completely corrupt. Therefore ancient vampires often are unable to empathize with the Mortals around it. Most vampires fight this slow change in some form or another, giving into their urges when they must, and trying to stay sane enough to interact with world on their level. It is up to each vampire to find their own method of life that allows a balance in order to function in society.

When a vampire is suffering is when they often lose control. This can take the form of being deprived of blood, being inescapable situations that may result in death, or even simply being set off by the factors of the world around them. A vampire will easily give into concepts such as anger and vengeance, and they will be hard pressed not to find delight in the suffering of others.

The only sad truth is that, eventually, at one point or another, a vampire will most likely lose the battle. When the Demon takes full control, the vampire goes into a frenzy, losing it's dominance over itself, often slaughtering and feeding with abandon until it is sated, or even fleeing uncontrollably to preserve itself, even killing those who seek to stop it.

When the Beast is sated, and the vampire regains its mind, it must then deal with the consequences of its actions, which can be devasting for vampires that try to hard to stay good in some fashion or another. A vampire that frenzies and kills his loved ones is a common tragedy for the undead. Because of these inevitable failings, most vampires lose their morality over time, rationalizing each incident until they no longer care, and become truly inhuman. Such can happen over the course of long centuries, or very quickly, depending on how much the vampire tries to fight off the Beast, and how many incidents they cause by losing control, or giving in.

The roleplay of this voice is primarily up to each individual vampire. Some vampires will give in more easily than others. The important part is that it is roleplayed properly and not abused as an excuse to PvP or commit mass murders. Like any player, a vampire can be punished by the staff for wantonly murdering without cause or purpose (or DM).

A vampire in the society of the noble house of Colibrus is expected to control their primal natures. It is seen as a failing of dignity to be unable to display excellence at all times. Any vampire that loses themselves completely to such inner turmoil may find themselves hunted by those who were once their Kin.

Due to their inherent natures it's often difficult for a vampire to maintain any alignment other than evil and even sometimes lawful tendencies depending upon their nature. Being so ready to lose your composure and having so much power often leads a vampire to delight in chaotic acts as if they were a demon. A vampire should never truly be good aligned, especially not one who has lived a long time. The drive to indulge in deplorable acts is often too much to stay from a vampire's life to walk the line of morality in such a way.

Emotions

Vampires have a faded sense of emotion and depth of being. They are deadened in a lot of respects to what an average person may feel. This can be a double edged sword. On one hand a vampire may not know concepts such as panic and overwhelming fear in the face of paranoia or intimidate, they neither can they truly be empathic to the living. Often the living will appear over emotional to a vampire in that respect.

Also depending on the vampires history, they may have memories of a time when they felt more "Alive" which will often give a feeling of loss in a vampire. They may yearn to feel as they once did taking upon themselves behaviors to try to inspire such things. It's not strange for a vampire to take up hobbies like musical instruments and or other artistic endeavors in an attempt to find inspiration but finding their works lack real depth.

Truly twisted vampires will even go so far to inspire emotions in their victims while they feed, living through their victims the emotions they have lost as they play with their meals.

Overall, however, a vampire can only hope to ever be truly a pale imitation of the nature a living being may have. Other than their inner voice of conflict they tend to have little to draw from for inspiration.

Souls

It is a popular belief that vampires are indeed soulless which is not the case. This belief stems from the fact a vampire is a deadened version of a living being. In essence, however, they are more akin to a trapped soul.

Upon final death this soul is freed from the body of the vampire and enters into the web of fate laid out for all dead. Involuntary vampires may find themselves forgiven for the acts they indulged while counting themselves among the undead, possibly paying a small punishment in the afterlife depending upon the nature of their choices. Other vampires who willfully enter this dark pact may find themselves damned in the afterlife just as one who would have signed the devil's contract.

Therefore among the good beings who have the knowledge, it is generally considered merciful to slay a vampire and send their soul to a better place in the after life, perhaps even resurrecting it to give a second chance at a life of happiness if the resources are available or the drive.

To gods of death vampires tend to be viewed as requiring absolute destruction. Myrkul, for example, views such beings as ones trying to escape his chilling grasp and power, viewing them as renegades. Kelemvor will view them as upsetting the natural order of life. And Jergal will see them as prolonging the inevitable, although the Jergal church tends to take a different view of undead in general and a vampire may find reprieve within it though they will be required to uphold the laws of death staying their hand from killing anyone unlawfully as well as taking the mantle of a day when they will be forced themselves to die at the finality of things. This is often too heavy a mantle for a vampire to concern themselves with.

Ghouls

The taste of vampire's blood, or Vitae, is nearly indescribable. It is the most addictive of nectars, the sweestest of sins, the most forbidden of fruits. At once both coppery and repulsive; both darkly intoxicating and titillating. Vitae can be associated with the most powerfully addictive drugs. The effects of the Vitae help to create a kind of bond between a vampire and the mortal who is allowed to drink from them. The mortal slowly, over time, becomes enamored with the vampire, creating a kind of artificial love in them. While this infatuation can be overcome, it generally becomes harder and harder to do as the mortal continues to meet with the vampire and tastes of them.

When a mortal has drank enough times of a single vampire (this may be as few as three times, but may be RP'd differently based on each individual vampire and the Rp preferences of the two involved) the mortal literally undergoes a small physical transformation. A fraction of the power that vampire possesses becomes infused into their favored mortal and the mortal becomes known as a Ghoul (not to be mistaken with the actual undead monster ghoul).

A ghouled mortal gains small physical benefits that are wholly dependant on the vampire and how powerful that vampire is according to generation. Higher generation vampires make more powerful Ghouls. The largest benefit, however, is that the aging process of the Ghoul ceases almost completely, making the mortal almost immortal so long as they continue to receive vitae from their vampire masters at least once every month. During this time, they retain their physical benefits and do not age for that month. They are also pyschologically dependant on their vampiric master, living in a state of perpetual infatuation. A Ghoul cannot resist the Dominating effects of their master.

If a Ghoul goes longer than a month without recieving vitae from a vampire, they rapidly begin to lose their physical benefits and begin to age rapidly back to where they would normally be if they had not been ghouled. A human who has been a Ghoul for over a hundred years must keep getting his vitae fix or he will rapidly age away into death and dust from the the years suddenly catching up to them.

Sundren Rules

On Sundren, there are two points of interest that must be made about the ghoul process.

First: a vampire may have only ONE Ghoul on Sundren. This ghoul can be ANYONE. Any player can be made a Ghoul, regardless of race, creed, or faction. An evil vampire could potentially have a goodly Ghoul, so long as that Ghoul is sufficiently bound by the addiction of the vitae, or other pyschological methods (such as love). We encourage PC parties to both agree to this status as it can be difficult to role play at times. No vampire should ever force someone to be a ghoul without their permission.

Second: a player accepting to be Ghouled MUST Roleplay within the boundries of what is presented above. They must be willing to roleplay being addicted and bound to their master, even to the point of causing many In Character problems for themselves or others. Because of this, a DM is always required to provide the Ghoul benefits and to ensure the consenting player is willing to RP out the conseqeunces of being Ghouled.

A player who does not roleplay these consequences will lose their Ghoul benefits. Becoming a Ghoul is not a free pass at gaining some nifty benefits. A Ghoul is mystically bound to their master and must roleplay that. It is a good idea that both the vampire and the potential Ghoul discuss OOCly what it will mean to take on these benefits, and what they will RP it like. Some vampires might be utterly controlling, while others might be more lax in what their ghouls do, letting them run about as they will, but forcing them to visit once in a while for plans or easy feeding.

Vampire Society

(THIS SECTION IS INCOMPLETE)

Many societies of vampires exist, and predate even Colibrus' ascension to godhood. This section outlines the day to day workings of the world a vampire will find themselves in, whether of Colibrus' flock or an outsider.

Colibrus' Ascension

In the past the strong vampires ruled and the weak were little more than thugs or localized menaces. Often times vampires would even find themselves slaves to the agendas of other more powerful beings such as ancient liches or dominating necromancers.

After Colibrus' ascension his 4th born childe, Sebastian, led a century of crusades to unite and solidify Colibrus' faith beyond Sundren, bringing order and nobility even to the lowliest vampire. Some who did not have faith, living as cursed beings, now had found it. Others who were servants to other gods and forces found liberation and a value they had not previously had. It's not surprising then that orders and cabals to the Blood God, though small, are springing up across the face of Toril itself.

Specific Gods

Often vampires are seen from the point of view of Colibrus, but other gods take interest for or against vampires specifically as outlined in this section.

Lathander

The curse of sun death is one laid out by Lathander himself who despises the vampire. To Lathander a vampire's dull and twisted spirit is an abomination compared to true life and will rid the world of them whenever possible. As such any vampire who finds themselves under Lathander's life-giving light will be burned by his divine power, thus there is no means to resist such directly. However, vampires have found means to repel the sun's light with darkness spells and other divine beings offering them sanctuary.

Shar

Shar takes special delight in vampires, second only to the Vampire King himself. Vampires are the epitome of loss and emptiness and echo her darkness and secrets as they masquerade among the living. Even more so being condemned to a life solely expressed at night make them an image of her domain. As such some vampire not of Colibrus flock will often be of Shar's.

Unlike the vampire king, however, Shar's view of the vampire is a puppet or toy. She will often lower their lot in life instead of expanding it.

Bane

Bane sees vampires as a tool to help solidify his rule in the world as they often embody his vision of an endless dominating force on the world. Also, Colibrus being his chosen, holds a special place within Bane's hierarchy of rule and therefore vampires with the will to spread fear, tyranny and hate will find themselves a special place in his church.