D&D 5E Stake to the Heart!

[castlewise]

Our group had the party fighting some Vampire Spawn and we ended up using a kind of cheesy method to kill the spawn. I was curious how people here would have interpreted things. The fight went down like this:

Vampire spawn have the weakness "The vampire is destroyed if a piercing weapon made of wood is driven into its heart while it is incapacitated in its resting place." We were fighting two spawn in their "resting area" (they didn't have beds or anything similar). The monk used stunning strike on the spawn to incapacitate them and the barbarian made an attack roll (with advantage) to "stake" them with an appropriate weapon and that was the end of it.

After thinking about it, I wasn't sure what "driven into its heart" translates to in game terms. Is one weapon attack enough? Should there be a damage threshold or should it be a "Coup de grâce" type of attack. At the end of the day the DM was happy to reward clever play, but it was an awfully big shortcut.

 

[Ravenheart87]

I'm okay with that.

 

[Astrosicebear]

As long as Stunning Strike does give the 'incapacitated' condition, no problems at all. Good teamwork.

My only question would be what DC and skill check did you give the players to find out the weakness?

Cuz if they read the MM and just assumed their characters would know... I wouldnt have made it work like this. Player knowledge vs char knowledge and all.

 

[castlewise]

Stunning strike gives "stunned" which includes "incapacitated". It only lasts for 6 seconds or so, though (until the start of the monks next turn).

 

[ExploderWizard]

It only lasts for 6 seconds or so, though (until the start of the monks next turn).

OR (if you are a monk with friends who weapon up like Buffy) the rest of the vampire spawn's un-natural life.

 

[delericho]

For me, it depends on one question: how often do you intend to use vampires?

Because if this is going to be one of very, very few encounters with vampires in the course of the campaign, I'd let it run exactly as you described. It's clever use of teamwork, and should be rewarded.

But if you're doing an entire "Buffy" campaign where every other week the PCs are going to be fighting vampires, you really don't want to give the group a near-trivial way to take out those creatures.

(In the latter case, I would rule that a vampire can be staked in this manner but only when incapacitated in its coffin (or bed, or similar). And then I'm make sure that every Vampire had such a location designated. Which is, after all, what this bit of text is supposed to be emulating - the classic approach staking of the vampire while he sleeps away the day.)

 

[castlewise]

For me, it depends on one question: how often do you intend to use vampires?

Because if this is going to be one of very, very few encounters with vampires in the course of the campaign, I'd let it run exactly as you described. It's clever use of teamwork, and should be rewarded.

But if you're doing an entire "Buffy" campaign where every other week the PCs are going to be fighting vampires, you really don't want to give the group a near-trivial way to take out those creatures.

(In the latter case, I would rule that a vampire can be staked in this manner but only when incapacitated in it's coffin (or bed, or similar). And then I'm make sure that every Vampire had such a location designated. Which is, after all, what this bit of text is supposed to be emulating - the classic approach staking of the vampire while he sleeps away the day.)

Its a good limitation. It also makes the generic "dungeon barracks" have more of a purpose since that's where the vampire spawn can sleep.

 

[Dausuul]

Vampire spawn have the weakness "The vampire is destroyed if a piercing weapon made of wood is driven into its heart while it is incapacitated in its resting place." We were fighting two spawn in their "resting area" (they didn't have beds or anything similar). The monk used stunning strike on the spawn to incapacitate them and the barbarian made an attack roll (with advantage) to "stake" them with an appropriate weapon and that was the end of it.

After thinking about it, I wasn't sure what "driven into its heart" translates to in game terms. Is one weapon attack enough? Should there be a damage threshold or should it be a "Coup de grâce" type of attack. At the end of the day the DM was happy to reward clever play, but it was an awfully big shortcut.

From a game-balance point of view, that is stretching things rather a lot. After all, if you were attacking an incapacitated human foe, an attack with advantage doesn't mean you get to stab your foe in the heart. Heck, you don't even get an auto-crit out of the deal (incapacitated =/= paralyzed). It certainly makes vampires substantially weaker if such tactics work on them.

On the other hand, it's a clever, fun idea. If it makes things more exciting, why not? The DM just has to remember to take the possibility into account when planning encounters. Smart vampires will be aware of this vulnerability and take steps to minimize it, like not fighting in their resting areas.

 

[jodyjohnson]

"The [creature] is [killed] if a piercing weapon ... is driven into its heart ..."

Most creatures have this weakness.

How would any kind of stun and stab combo not end the typical fight under these kind of interpretations?

There is a reason why I like my defeat conditions to be based on Hit Points.

I would interpret 'incapacitated' in this specific sense as 'reduced to 0 hp' or effectively zero (so close that the damage from the wooden weapon causes reduction to 0).

 

[castlewise]

I agree with your general sentiment. Your point about using "stake to the heart" on just a random guy is well taken. But 'incapacitated' has a pretty formal meaning and changing it would annoy me (as a player). I think tightening it up with defining "resting place" to be more specific or to make "stake to the heart" require you to also reduce the creature to 0 hit points would sit better.