Often imitated, never bettered. Dracula is the vampire all the other vampires aspire to be. Yes, that includes you, Strahd. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/enworld/mythological-figures-and-maleficent-monsters?fbclid=IwAR1LdiFvBugO4vwT7BzJCj0ceVYFXFulocfUO91vxoTPGirCrvNldE3egsY
Often imitated, never bettered. Dracula is the vampire all the other vampires aspire to be. Yes, that includes you, Strahd.
They don't stack, but temporary hit points are granted by the feature/trait/spell, and the amount of temporary hit points granted by it is determined by the number of targets and the total damage dealt.
Using it twice in a row (while he still has temporary hit points from a previous use) would replace whatever leftover temp HP he has when the feature is used a second time.
So you're saying he hits 4 PC's and the half a dozen peasants he has lying around (because why wouldn't he) and deals 21 damage to each of them he would gain 105 THP? Then, when the PC's burn through the THP he does it again, this time only catching only the 4 PC's, since the peasants are all dead, for 21 damage and gains 42 THP? Now the PC's are all down 20 HP from their max as well. Is that decent enough for you yet Matrix?
I know. My point was, he'll never use that trait. He will die (for real) really fast, if that is going to be his use of action + bonus action against a 20th level party.
If you are throwing a CR23 at a party of level 20 adventurer's and expect ANY CR23 to actually be a challenge you are not building encounters right. A CR23 would be a good challenge for a party of level 12-15 depending on how optimized they are. Level 20 parties should be facing challenges of CR30+ if you even want to make them sweat for it. I think you need to lower your expectations here.
While this writeup is certainly a powerful vampire, I don't feel it's a good representation of the literary Dracula. Dracula isn't an invincible supermonster, his main advantage is that nobody in London knows that vampires exist, so he can prey on the city with impunity. Until Van Helsing enters the scene. Van Helsing too is no accomplished hunter of the occult, he's just a scholar who is educated enough to know about the vampire legends from the Balkans, and open minded enough to realize that the evidence points to Dracula being such a creature.
Once the party starts actively hunting Dracula he is forced to flee London, and in the final showdown they take him down in a straight fight even though none of them are extraordinary warriors.
TL;DR I think Dracula is a good example of the Vampire statblock in the Monster Manual. Also, Dracula is an excellent novel, highly reccomended for those who haven't read it already.
While this writeup is certainly a powerful vampire, I don't feel it's a good representation of the literary Dracula. Dracula isn't an invincible supermonster, his main advantage is that nobody in London knows that vampires exist, so he can prey on the city with impunity. Until Van Helsing enters the scene. Van Helsing too is no accomplished hunter of the occult, he's just a scholar who is educated enough to know about the vampire legends from the Balkans, and open minded enough to realize that the evidence points to Dracula being such a creature.
Once the party starts actively hunting Dracula he is forced to flee London, and in the final showdown they take him down in a straight fight even though none of them are extraordinary warriors.
TL;DR I think Dracula is a good example of the Vampire statblock in the Monster Manual. Also, Dracula is an excellent novel, highly reccomended for those who haven't read it already.
We take pains to point out that this is an amalgamation of versions of Dracula, not just Stoker’s. Many of the figures in the book have multiple contradictory stories about them.
If you are throwing a CR23 at a party of level 20 adventurer's and expect ANY CR23 to actually be a challenge you are not building encounters right. A CR23 would be a good challenge for a party of level 12-15 depending on how optimized they are. Level 20 parties should be facing challenges of CR30+ if you even want to make them sweat for it. I think you need to lower your expectations here.
I never said I did. Of course I expect the BBEG to have some minions with him, but the party will always concentrate fire on the BBEG, burning through his HP and THP like wildfire. If the minions are peasants, I'm not sure they can keep the party abay
But really, is the appropiate level if around 15, does that really make any difference as to my point? That he will get hammered if he spends his actions+ bonus action alone on dealing 21 damage to each PC - TMP or not.
I have a question: Dracula was also able, IIRC, to shape change into a wolf or a dog. I think that's the form he's under when the Demeter arrives in England. Why is he limited to bat and mist here? I think the wolf shape is quite thematic.
While this writeup is certainly a powerful vampire, I don't feel it's a good representation of the literary Dracula. Dracula isn't an invincible supermonster, his main advantage is that nobody in London knows that vampires exist, so he can prey on the city with impunity. Until Van Helsing enters the scene. Van Helsing too is no accomplished hunter of the occult, he's just a scholar who is educated enough to know about the vampire legends from the Balkans, and open minded enough to realize that the evidence points to Dracula being such a creature.
Once the party starts actively hunting Dracula he is forced to flee London, and in the final showdown they take him down in a straight fight even though none of them are extraordinary warriors.
TL;DR I think Dracula is a good example of the Vampire statblock in the Monster Manual. Also, Dracula is an excellent novel, highly reccomended for those who haven't read it already.
I found it to be a slog but aye as mentioned above this is pop culture Dracula, not Bram Stoker's original (which the core vampire statblock does a fine job for).
