a new take on vampires

[AbeTheGnome]

greetings, all. i haven't posted here for awhile, but some of you may remember some of my former posts when i was trying to formulate a new race of vampiric elves. well, i've rethought the thing a bit lately, and decided that it would be a bit cleaner to scrap the idea of a separate race and instead make the abilities available through either a new prestige class or a string of feats. essentially, these characters would represent a subversive cult of elves who have undergone demonic rites to gain power and immortality.

these are some of the traits that i'm interested in:

ability score increases (esp. CHA)
darkvision
light blindness
spell-like abilities: namely darkness and spider climb
blood drain (vampire special ability)
domination (vampire special ability)
spell resistance
bonuses or immunities to death effects, poison, disease, fear, etc.
bonuses or immunities to ability damage, ability drain, or energy drain.
(in fact, i may top off at level 10 with some type of "undead apotheosis").
vulnerability to sunlight: lose 1 hp for each round of direct exposure.
immunity to aging: similar to "timeless body," but no death from old age.

i should mention that in this setting, true MM vampires don't exist, and the elves are quite different flavor-wise. the main thing i'm trying to avoid with this idea is LA (i hate it!). i know this is a tall order for 10 levels of a class, and some of the abilities are quite powerful (blood drain comes immediately to mind). most of these abilities aren't unprecedented, however. while trying to design the class, i looked at dragon disciple, the specialist necromancer variant from UA, and the thief of life from Faiths of Eberron. the idea is, in essence, a combination of vampires, the dark elves of krynn, and the Blood of Vol from eberron.

i'd like to get advice on this during the process of designing the class as opposed to afterwards. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Sound of Azure]

Sound perfect for a warlock prestige class to me.

Requirements: Must know the Least invocations Eldritch Blow, Darkness, and Spiderwalk?

The class would then gain vampire features as they gain levels (such as the charm invocation), and can choose from a list of existing and new invocations that grant those abilities (such as energy drain, and blood drain), expanding on uses of the eldritch blow.

Looking at Acolyte of the skin, it could be converted to what you want here. What do you think?

 

[AbeTheGnome]

i don't have my books handy, and i'm not familiar with acolyte of the skin (or warlocks, for that matter). from what i remember, though, i do see the flavor and abilities of the warlock class to be fitting to the elves that i'm brewing.

 

[Herobizkit]

If you haven't thought of it yet, check out the non-core SRD at www.d20srd.org and look at the Bloodlines entry. Could be what you're looking for, and it fits transparently over any core race with no real tweaking necessary.

 

[Sound of Azure]

i don't have my books handy, and i'm not familiar with acolyte of the skin (or warlocks, for that matter). from what i remember, though, i do see the flavor and abilities of the warlock class to be fitting to the elves that i'm brewing.

Cool, well I'll have a bit of a think and see what I can hammer out. It might be a while before I can iron out the wrinkles.

 

[AbeTheGnome]

If you haven't thought of it yet, check out the non-core SRD at www.d20srd.org and look at the Bloodlines entry. Could be what you're looking for, and it fits transparently over any core race with no real tweaking necessary.

i have looked at bloodlines, and they just can't offer the power i'm looking for. abilities like dominate and blood drain are important to this concept, as well as drawbacks like vulnerability to sunlight. i would love it if i could use some kid of bloodline-like mechanic, though, because i'd like for the "dark elves" to be a diverse lot, with rogues, warlocks, fighters, and clerics. i think that a 10-level prestige class may preclude that diversity.

 

[Phlebas]

Have you looked in Libris mortis?

If you want to create a PrC or SS 'racial levels', Full vampire has a huge LA, but Vampire spawn might be simpler to turn into a 10 level PrC. just progress the abilites and penalties through the levels