Ok im a first time dm and one of the PC's wants to play a vampire and have dr bonuses and healing items for his magic items now what im doing is having him level 8 times before he is a full fledge vamp and we start at 6th level so 1. he will have 12 hp more if we cut abilities and put in HD but the bad part is he will have dr to EVERYTHING (10/magic 10/silver 10/electricity 10/cold). My problem is A. do I let him play this crazy OP race and B. I've never worked with DR am I reading it wrong?
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Vampire PC in Ravenloft...help?
- Thread starter Vadanrinz
- Start date
DR is ok at low levels. But just to be clear Ravenloft is and can be a power gamer's death because you just fall asleep, wander into mist or generally get screwed in many wonderful ways... and a vampire... so many nice things to do them over 
if he goes super evil remeber the 'your now a lord of ravenloft' kicks in and oh dear reroll as you can't play a lord of ravenloft he's now an npc, but most importantly he will be undead and socially unexceptable even in Ravenloft and well ain't that enough!
I'm not sure how you should play it personally maybe let him have it all(won't level for ages as he needs tonnes of xp to make up his level) but just work encounters around it... hit them with special encounters althought i can't remeber the name of it there was a fantastic adventure in which you became body swapped with dolls(step in anyone if you remeber the name of it), could've been second edition so get creative and hunt down some adventures and rework them for you. Remeber down the line templates like vampire get weaker as you get higher level you'll see and it'll be easy to just carry on.
P.S I'd just put a max +2/3 racial template/race modifier on any game but your call.
if he goes super evil remeber the 'your now a lord of ravenloft' kicks in and oh dear reroll as you can't play a lord of ravenloft he's now an npc, but most importantly he will be undead and socially unexceptable even in Ravenloft and well ain't that enough! I'm not sure how you should play it personally maybe let him have it all(won't level for ages as he needs tonnes of xp to make up his level) but just work encounters around it... hit them with special encounters althought i can't remeber the name of it there was a fantastic adventure in which you became body swapped with dolls(step in anyone if you remeber the name of it), could've been second edition so get creative and hunt down some adventures and rework them for you. Remeber down the line templates like vampire get weaker as you get higher level you'll see and it'll be easy to just carry on.
P.S I'd just put a max +2/3 racial template/race modifier on any game but your call.
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Thanael
Explorer
If you're really a first time DM in a Ravenloft game I have two suggestions for you:
Disallow a vampire PC, and start slow and easy with a more or less typical group (i.e. no monsters, no vistani).
Check out the Fraternity of Shadows forums:Ravenloft: Fraternity of Shadows: Home of Ravenloft on the Net
Disallow a vampire PC, and start slow and easy with a more or less typical group (i.e. no monsters, no vistani).
Check out the Fraternity of Shadows forums:Ravenloft: Fraternity of Shadows: Home of Ravenloft on the Net
Try the savage progressions from the WotC site
Savage Progressions: Gaining a Template Midcampaign
And yes he will have next to no hit points for every level of this he takes.
But the rules for this progression is that you can take the levels as you wish (e.g., alternate them with class levels that provide hit dice).
Savage Progressions: Gaining a Template Midcampaign
And yes he will have next to no hit points for every level of this he takes.
But the rules for this progression is that you can take the levels as you wish (e.g., alternate them with class levels that provide hit dice).
Marius Delphus
Adventurer
A. No, don't let this player play a crazy overpowered race. For one thing, first-time DMs shouldn't have to put up with that kind of thing. For another, played strictly by the rules, a vampire PC in Ravenloft is going to fail powers checks at such a phenomenal rate that there's virtually no chance of the player's keeping the character long enough to level once, let alone 8 times.
B. It's not clear to me where you're getting this vampire PC race, or where all this DR comes from, so I have no idea whether you're reading it wrong.
Now if you're certain it'll be fun for everyone, then I guess you might as well try it, but my "DM sense" tells me disaster is in the offing. It sounds to me like the player wants protection vs. character death, possibly the ability to say "nuh-uh" to the DM all the time, and perhaps "permission" to be evil.
I'd say it'd be better to ask the player what the root purpose of the vampire PC is and, judging by the answer, determine whether there's any point to trying to run this game, or whether instead you should start out with something a little easier to DM. Something a little more "by the book" and not immersed in a setting whose purpose is partly to mess with players' expectations in order to keep them guessing.
If you really can't talk the player out of having a vampire character in Ravenloft, then mandate the template class (linked above), and refuse to go easy on powers checks. To my mind, Ravenloft is about heroes persevering in a time and place of great evil; characters who turn into monsters that prey on the defenseless need to be NPCs.
B. It's not clear to me where you're getting this vampire PC race, or where all this DR comes from, so I have no idea whether you're reading it wrong.
Now if you're certain it'll be fun for everyone, then I guess you might as well try it, but my "DM sense" tells me disaster is in the offing. It sounds to me like the player wants protection vs. character death, possibly the ability to say "nuh-uh" to the DM all the time, and perhaps "permission" to be evil.
I'd say it'd be better to ask the player what the root purpose of the vampire PC is and, judging by the answer, determine whether there's any point to trying to run this game, or whether instead you should start out with something a little easier to DM. Something a little more "by the book" and not immersed in a setting whose purpose is partly to mess with players' expectations in order to keep them guessing.
If you really can't talk the player out of having a vampire character in Ravenloft, then mandate the template class (linked above), and refuse to go easy on powers checks. To my mind, Ravenloft is about heroes persevering in a time and place of great evil; characters who turn into monsters that prey on the defenseless need to be NPCs.
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Thanael
Explorer
That's similar to what i was thinking too. It kind of misses the point of Ravenloft to start play as a vampire PC. While it certainly can be done, it is not imho a good start for a new DM or new group delving into Ravenloft for the first time. Keep it simple and classic the first time round.
Oh and aside from the FRAT forums i linked to above (which you reeeeaally should check out for all their resources, netbooks and very nice forums) check out this great thread: http://www.enworld.org/forum/genera...90-ravenloft-campaigns-what-s-meta-point.html, which is sort of on topic about how/why to play Ravenloft.
Oh and aside from the FRAT forums i linked to above (which you reeeeaally should check out for all their resources, netbooks and very nice forums) check out this great thread: http://www.enworld.org/forum/genera...90-ravenloft-campaigns-what-s-meta-point.html, which is sort of on topic about how/why to play Ravenloft.
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