[Anecdote] My worst nightmare...

[Cedric]

You know...I thought in general that Vampires are bad. I've since redefined bad and my whole perception of what bad really is.

We knew from the buildup of tonights game session that we were going to have to fight a Vampire.

But I just never imagined...

It was a dark elf Monk Vampire with Spell Resistance, a Rod of Absorption, Rings of Force and a bad attitude. Now granted...we are a group of 8 people all 11th level.

But how do you kill a vampire in the UNDERDARK!!

With no sunlight, no running water and no spells to contain the gaseous form I thought we were screwed.

But we managed to keep it at zero hp's (once we got it there). Then back it into a corner with a cube of force and hold it there while the bard tried to plant a suggestion that it should become solid.

It finally blew it's save (needed a 1 to fail). And turned solid. Then we unleashed a gyser from the Decanter of Endless water and held it in the stream for 3 rounds until it died...

That fight sucked....

 

[Penthau]

It could have been worse. The GM could have remembered that vampires are immune to mind-effecting magic.

 

[MarauderX]

It could have been worse. The GM could have remembered that vampires are immune to mind-effecting magic.

Exactly. He could have friends too, and for each vampire you find there had to be another vampire to create it...

I hope you got the loot at least.

 

[Cedric]

Actually, he specifically allowed the mind affect only because it was a bard ability and he felt it should be treated special...which we weren't about to argue with.

Besides, I kind of agree with him...oh, and he had a few friends...a lowbie dwarven fighter/vampire and 48 dire rats, heh.

Not to mention the fact that he hit me (the only cleric who can cast restoration) with 8 negative levels.

So, mid fight I broke out our Ring of Three wishes and blew the last wish for a full restoration, then cast fly on myself (I had a haste running). Took a 5' move straight up and threw down a Rod of the Python to eat Dire Rats.

Shortly thereafter an arrow from our Ranger pinned the vampire (now in bat form) to the ceiling and he dropped to zero hp's.

Cedric

 

[Magic Slim]

That fight sucked....

Really? it sounds pretty cool from my point of view

Slim

 

[Cedric]

Really? it sounds pretty cool from my point of view

Ok...you got me there, in the end it wound up being pretty cool. But it came soooo close to ultimate suckitude.

Cedric

 

[WayneLigon]

I might be wrong, but I don't recall being in gaseous form making you invulnerable. You're just harder to hit, can move through the air and go through tiny openings. You have some small amount of Damage Resistance, but that isn't going to stop most 11th level fighter types. Why were y'all spending so much time getting him to turn solid?

Y'all knew you were going into the Underdark after a vampire, or was that a surprise. Otherwise, I'm surprised someone wasn't carrying a Daylight spell.

 

[Zhure]

You had a ring of three wishes and you had trouble getting daylight to the vampire....



Greg

 

[Cedric]

I might be wrong, but I don't recall being in gaseous form making you invulnerable. You're just harder to hit, can move through the air and go through tiny openings. You have some small amount of Damage Resistance, but that isn't going to stop most 11th level fighter types. Why were y'all spending so much time getting him to turn solid?

Y'all knew you were going into the Underdark after a vampire, or was that a surprise. Otherwise, I'm surprised someone wasn't carrying a Daylight spell.

Vampire's Gaseous Form works different...in fact, we now know that it works different then how we played it. By the book (3.0) when a vampire drops to zero hp, he turns to gaseous form and stays at 0 hp's. You have to do 1 of 4 things to kill him.

1. Expose him to Sunlight for 2 rounds.

2. Expose him to running water for 3 rounds (gm ruled that he has to be solid for this to work).

3. Stake through the heart, cut off head, fill mouth with holy wafers. (can't do that while in gaseous form either).

4. Keep him from getting back to his coffin for 2 hours and he doesn't regenerate any hp's until he does get back to his coffin. (This one we didn't know, because it's in the book in a different spot, it's not under "Killing a vampire".)

As for the Daylight spell...two things. First of all, I did have a daylight spell and I cast it...but, it says right in the description for Daylight that it does not affect undead like direct sunlight does. Basically Daylight is just a really bright light...it sucks but at least he got a few penalties from it, cause he's a drow.

You had a ring of three wishes and you had trouble getting daylight to the vampire....

Heh, we had a Ring of Three wishes with one wish left in it...and I blew that one wish getting myself fully restored. Because without anyone else to cast restoration on me, and without me able to cast restoration on others...

I would have had to roll 8 fortitude saves against a very high diff to avoid losing 8 levels. And other members of the party would have lost a few levels as well.

So the one wish was blown on my restoration...which we all agreed was a perfect use for it since it saved the party about 14 levels worth of xp all together.

Cedric

 

[Cybern]

Maybe it sucked, but I agree it looked fun. You were lucky he didn't mind tricked (suggestion) some PCs to assist him.

I (the only cleric in our party) once blew my save and got on the vampire's side. Divide and conquer they say. As the other PCs got him in vaporous form, I shot my searing light at the fighter nearest to my new master, but fumbled (old house rule, rolled hit friend, critical). Searing light is a blast against vampires, and critical so the DM ruled that he exploded! It sucked (I almost killed two other party members), but we all had fun.

Then again, having fun doesn't suck