D&D 5E Player is playing a Vampire

[Ancalagon]

One of my players is a Vampire,

One of your player is a vampire?!?

At the risk of being intolerant, you should only play with humans who are fully ALIVE. It always turns sour with the undead. I mean some liches throw mean 1-shot adventures as DM, but don't make a habit of it. But the others? NOPE. Zombies can't roleplay worth a damn, ghosts can't pick up dice and you just know that vampire is going to suck your bloooood.

edit: soooo ninjaed

 

[MrHotter]

I had a player once who wanted to use his character from another campaign. He had rolled three 18s and had several magic items with special properties that added new properties when he needed them. That campaign lasted one session.

 

[MechaPilot]

Hello,
I am coming back to d&d after a long break and strait to 5th edition.
One of my players is a Vampire, i would like some recommendation on how to handle a charecter Vampire.
I saw that it heals 20hp each turn, thats a lot.

Any advice will be welcomed.

Thanks

I love playing non-traditional characters myself, but my first piece of advice would be to hold off on allowing significant departures from the default until you are familiar with 5e. Every edition has its own quirks and features, and becoming acquainted with those will help you make decisions about what you can and cannot allow. That said, as long as your players are open to your making tweaks to the character's vampire abilities as you discover what is and is not too much, you could dive in right away.

Players are supposed to be player characters....as in use the Players Handbook.
The DM is supposed to be everything else...including, monsters (such as vampires)...as in the Monster Manual.
A vampire is not a player character option found anywhere in the Players Handbook.
If a character ever got bit and turned into a vampire, or contracted lycanthropy and turned into a werewolf, I as DM (the one who is supposed to play those things), would immediately take control of thier character since they are no longer players, they are considered monsters at that point.

Players have tons of cool abilities, feats, and things offered to them without having to move into your territory. If this was a serious campaign, I definitely wouldn't allow it. But if your just coming back to d&d and don't care much about ruining your game with a player vampire on the loose, well sure what the heck, just do it and have fun. Expose him to sunlight or give him a HUGE craving for exotic blood like dragons blood or something, and just learn from this mistake.

It is definitely a mistake.
But it's cool, we all make them, and players naturally want to break the game in cool and interesting ways.
You just gotta decide if you want to play Vampire: The Masquarade or play D&D

There's a few things in there that I take issue with:

#1: players restricted to the PHB.
As long as the DM approves it, players should be able to use whatever source of material they wish, regardless of whether it's the PHB, the DMG, 3rd party products, or the MM.

#2: a monster character ruins a serious game.
Seriousness is a matter of tone. You can absolutely have a serious tone and have a monster PC (or monster PCs).

#3: that it's a mistake to allow a monster PC.
That sounds fairly judgmental about something that is really just a matter of preference. I can see how it could be a mistake to make a drastic departure from the default rules when a DM is just coming back to D&D, and is doing so with a new edition. However, that's a matter of rules familiarity, and knowing how the game flows and plays, not a matter of monster PCs just flat out being a mistake.

#4: The vampire OR D&D comment.
This edges awfully close to the "play something else if you want that kind of game" comment that is often seen in regard to settings or other options. I'm sure people can (and probably have) said the following:
"If you want a horror game, play WoD or CoC instead of shoehorning it into D&D with Ravenloft."
"If you want a post apocalyptic game, play D20 Apocalypse instead of shoehorning it into D&D with Dark Sun."
"If you want a Warlord so bad, then play 4e and stop trying to cram one into _____ edition."
"If you want rules for PCs running a business then play Accountants & Auditors not D&D."
etc.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Neonchameleon]

Hello,
I am coming back to d&d after a long break and strait to 5th edition.
One of my players is a Vampire, i would like some recommendation on how to handle a charecter Vampire.
I saw that it heals 20hp each turn, thats a lot.

Any advice will be welcomed.

Thanks

OK.

First, Vampire PCs have a long history in D&D. Longer than the Cleric as it happens (literally - the first cleric was a vampire hunter designed to deal with an out of control vampire PC). Ignore anyone telling you not to do it.

But the player can not play a vampire straight out of the MM. You need to balance things and let them grow into the role - probably the best way would be to custom-tweak either a Monk of Shadow or a Warlock as the base class and then take out the less vampirely stuff for more vampirely stuff.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

You gamed with that guy, too? I swear, he must have travelled around a lot.

But on the subject at hand, there've been plenty of vampire and vampire-like PC races throughout the editions. I would look at some of those, rather than just going with the straight monster manual vampire entry.

A big part of it would also be the player intent and the type of game you’re running. Does the player want to explore a dark, angsty type character (as others have said, maybe a shadow monk or warlock might be a better fit)? Or do they want a super-powered munchkin that always wins? Is this in a campaign where there’s a dwarf with power armor and a half-beholder barbarian…or is it a vampire with a bunch of regular PCs out of the PHB?

I had a player once who wanted to use his character from another campaign. He had rolled three 18s and had several magic items with special properties that added new properties when he needed them. That campaign lasted one session.

 

[evilbob]

It might work if all the players were vampires.

(Also, check out Vampire the Masquerade - it's not D&D but it's really good.)

 

[backwoodsmutant]

White Wolf's "Vampire the Masquerade" game is a great system for playing vampires. D&D? Not so much. If the player wants a vampire-like character you can build a close approximation with an Undying Pact Warlock and some thematic spell selection. Anything else is going to create some serious game balance issues, especially if you're just starting out after a long break and aren't familiar with the 5e system.

 

[Eubani]

Check DMGuild for Vampire PC classes and see if any of them hit the balance and flavour point you are looking for. Some are free/pay what you want the rest are relatively cheap. If you have the one that suits you and your player than little can go wrong other than the usual thing that can go wrong in any game.

 

[Lejaun]

It's been said already, but absolutely not on a player playing a vampire. It causes far too many problems, and there is seldom a way to make it fair to the other players. Regenerating 20 hp a round...really? That's an even bigger no. Letting people play monsters just gives them an excuse to do heinous acts.

Have them play a warlock or wizard necromancer obsessed with finding the secrets of the undead, but don't let them be a vampire. It will ruin your campaign before you even realize it.