3.5 Vampires

[Desdichado]

I remember several months ago a thread about how 3e vampires weren't very vampiric at all, really. I just picked up my 3.5 Monster Manual (undecided on when I'll get the other books -- I'm in no hurry) and one of the things I noticed (besides the much improved artwork by WAR that finally looks like a vampire instead of -- whatever the heck BAXA's scribbling is supposed to be) is that vampires no longer slap the levels out of you, they now pin you and make a blood drain attack (1d4 Con damage for every round you're pinned.)

Anyway, I'm quite pleased with this book -- obviously a lot of it is repeat material for me (even the stuff that is new, like the Gith and inevitables, for instance) but nonetheless, this is a pretty solid book. A lot more animals than we had before too -- I also specifically remembering someone asking for hyena's once, and I did see one in the animals section. The lycanthrope section is also very, very useful.

 

[Emiricol]

I'm likewise fairly impressed with it. The leveled-up monsters as examples of more powerful versions of a critter was particularly welcome, as were the numerous templates with abundant examples.

I was worried, but in the end I like it!

 

[Shadeus]

I remember several months ago a thread about how 3e vampires weren't very vampiric at all, really. I just picked up my 3.5 Monster Manual (undecided on when I'll get the other books -- I'm in no hurry) and one of the things I noticed (besides the much improved artwork by WAR that finally looks like a vampire instead of -- whatever the heck BAXA's scribbling is supposed to be) is that vampires no longer slap the levels out of you, they now pin you and make a blood drain attack (1d4 Con damage for every round you're pinned.)

Actually, vampires have both energy drain and blood drain. But they had both of these in 3.0 as well. You are right about the art being very cool.

The new MM also gives a fairly cool example of an "elite vampire." A 9th-level monk/4th-level shadowdancer. Don't worry. Energy drain is a maximum of once per round, so no flurry of energy drains.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I'll use Sean K Reynold's flesh-bound vampire template, but I'll be sure to modify the Elite Vampire to fit.

Arrggh... the vampire (even SKR's) get way too many feats! Do you know how hard it is to design a vampiric fighter? Many of the feats I would have spent are freebies! There aren't a lot of feats for a 14th-level vampire fighter.

 

[Desdichado]

Re: Re: 3.5 Vampires

Actually, vampires have both energy drain and blood drain. But they had both of these in 3.0 as well. You are right about the art being very cool.

The new MM also gives a fairly cool example of an "elite vampire." A 9th-level monk/4th-level shadowdancer. Don't worry. Energy drain is a maximum of once per round, so no flurry of energy drains.

Gah! I need to pull up my 3e MM and compare the two. Also, gah because my mouth is burning -- I should know better than to add "Dave's Insanity Sauce" to this bowl of dirty rice!

 

[heimdall]

I know it's been talked about before, but Bottled Imp Games' Lords of the Night: Vampires is a nice twist on the bloodsucker. You may take a look at some of the reviews of this book.

 

[Desdichado]

I made some homebrew vampires that were loosely based the Warhammer Vampire Counts varieties that I'm still pretty happy about. I didn't make it a template, though -- they are actually three seperate races.

 

[Coik]

I'm not going to get my books for a day or so yet, so...

Do vampires still do permanent Con damage, or do people now have the ability to replace lost red blood cells in 3.5?

 

[Desdichado]

No, it's still CON drain, not CON damage.

 

[Hand of Vecna]

wel, remember, in the folk tales, Vampires were'nt just draining blood, they were draining life-force itself, using blood as a medium. Victims can regain their blood cells, but their life-force is still lost (and would be until major magical mojo is used to restore it).