Alt. Vampire - Hematovore

gamecat

Explorer
I didnt like the monster manual vampire from the beginning... my vamp here is less hardcore, but i like the abilities better...

Hematovore

A creation of the Lord-Marshal of the Undead Scourge, Hematovores only vaguely resemble the vampires of legend.

A Hematovore appears much like the creature that became it, only more menacing, with red pupils for eyes. Hematovores twitch when agitated, being creatures of amazing agility. A Hematovore must constantly feed on blood to survive, which it does by leading some of the Lord-Marshal’s minions on raids into the central and southern areas of The Land.

Creating a Hematovore
“Hematovore” is a template that can be added to any evil humanoid creature of 6th level or higher (referred to hereafter as the character). The character’s type changes to undead. It uses all the character’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here.

Hit Dice: All the character’s Hit Dice (current and future) become d12’s.
Speed: Hematovores triple their base speed, to a maximum speed of 150 ft.
AC: A Hematovore has +3 natural armor, or the character’s natural armor, whichever is better.
Attacks: Hematovores fight as they did in life, but many Hematovores learn to rely heavily on their powers of unlife.
Special Attacks: A Hematovore retains all the character’s special attacks and gains those described below.
Blood Edge: A Hematovore who has successfully used his Hematokinesis ability to withdraw blood from a creature may animate the blood as a floating blade of blood, sharp down to an edge of a single blood cell. Blood animated as a blood edge counts as a +2 Keen Longsword. The Hematovore makes attacks with his blood edges using its base attack bonus, but uses its charisma modifier in place of its strength modifier. A Hematovore may control a number of blood edges equal to its charisma modifier.
Hematokinesis: A Hematovore is gifted with a strange mental control over blood. As a full-round action, a Hematovore may concentrate upon a major vein in a creature’s body in an attempt to make the blood roil out of its vein, draining 1d4 constitution from the creature, and fly toward the Hematovore, who may then use it for nutritional or combat purposes. The Hematovore may immediately gulp the blood down, cleanly directing it down its throat hematokinetically, gaining 15 temporary hit points, or use the blood to power its blood edge ability. The creature is allowed a Fortitude save (DC 10 + ½ Hematovore’s HD + Hematovore’s Charisma modifier) to resist this effect.
Special Qualities: A Hematovore retains all the special qualities of the character and those listed below, and also gains the undead type.
Damage Reduction: A Hematovore’s undead body is supernaturally tough, giving it damage reduction 15/+1.
Turn Resistance: A Hematovore has +4 turn resistance.
Fast Healing: A Hematovore heals 5 points of damage each round so long as it has at least 1 hit point.
Agitated Celerity: A Hematovore that is damaged is considered to be under the effects of a Haste spell, as well as gains a +4 insight bonus to AC.
Saves: As the character.
Abilities: Increase from the character as follows: Str +4, Dex +8, Int +2, Wis +2. As undead creatures, Hematovores have no constitution score.
Skills: Hematovores receive a +8 bonus to Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Search, and Spot checks. Otherwise same as the character’s.
Feats: Hematovores gain Alertness, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved Initiative, and Lightning Reflexes, assuming the character meets the prerequisites and does not already have them. ______________________________________________________
Climate/Terrain: Any land and underground.
Organization: Solitary or Troop (1 plus 3d12 assorted undead)
Challenge Rating: Same as the character +2
Treasure: As the character
Alignment: Usually evil (Any)
Advancement: by character class.

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Constructive (I hope) crirtisism:

First off, I don't really care for the traditional vampire either. I actually created 3 other types of vampires to cover the different views on vampire mythology. This Hemotovore looks like it would be fun to play.

Base speed is the number of feet the creature can walk in one round. I think it's a bit crazy for a hematovore to walk 90 feet in a 6 second interval. If you're just trying to make them run faster, remember that the run action allows the creature to move at 4 times their base speed (or 5 times if they have the Run feat).

Blood Edge: I like the idea, but wouldn't these be Dancing weapons? Also, I think that 1d4 worth of Constitution damage due to blood loss isn't blood to make a longsword. Maybe they should be daggers or short swords? How long do the blood edges last?

Hemotokinesis: I think you could take this a step further, and allow them to control Blood Amniotes (name?) from Libris Mortis: The Book of Undead. If you don't have a copy, I could type up the creature entry for you.

Agitated Celerity: I guess the Haste effect is a variant for a blood rage? Why does it get a +4 Insight bonus to AC, is there a divination thing going on here?

Abilities: Most undead creatures gain a bonus to Charisma. Charisma is used in place of a constitution score for most effects, which you noted in Hemotokinesis.

Level Adjustment: If I let a character play this, what adjustment do I make to his Effective Character Level?

Thnx
 

I like the idea, could you fill out some detail?
Is creating a blood sword part of the full-round hematokenesis action?

As jaker asked, do the swords act as dancing weapons?
What kind of action is required to direct the sword's actions?
What is the duration on the sword once it is created?

What is the range on Hematokenesis?

With agitated celerity, you want to give them the haste AC bonus and an insight bonus?
Also you might want to specify "after being damaged by an opponent" for agitated celerity, otherwise you might have hematovores dealing a few pts of damage to themselves to get the benefits.

The speed boost seems excessive, for a human hematovore it's the same speed that a lvl 20 monk has.

Overall, I like the idea, though it seems a bit overpowered for a cr increase of 2.
 

jaker2003 said:
Constructive (I hope) crirtisism:

First off, I don't really care for the traditional vampire either. I actually created 3 other types of vampires to cover the different views on vampire mythology. This Hemotovore looks like it would be fun to play

Base speed is the number of feet the creature can walk in one round. I think it's a bit crazy for a hematovore to walk 90 feet in a 6 second interval. If you're just trying to make them run faster, remember that the run action allows the creature to move at 4 times their base speed (or 5 times if they have the Run feat).

The game-balance theory behind a Hematovore is that it trades those inane stake-to-the-heart running-water holy-water look-at-me-im-a-belmont methods of vampire slaying and trades it in for more outright combat powers. Monks move that fast, at some point, IIRC, and my design paradigm behind the Hematovore is a tweak-reflexed telekinetic blood sucker.

jaker2003 said:
Blood Edge: I like the idea, but wouldn't these be Dancing weapons? Also, I think that 1d4 worth of Constitution damage due to blood loss isn't blood to make a longsword. Maybe they should be daggers or short swords? How long do the blood edges last?

Well, i thought to make them dancing weapons at first, but the rules for them weren't in front of me. I remember something wonky about dancing, something like it fights for its enhancement bonus in rounds. I like using the Hematovore's hematokinetic control as the basis for keeping the blood edges afloat. Furthermore, the Hematokinesis allows complete control of blood upon liberation of it from the body of the original creature - my theory is that the width and breadth of the hematokinesis allows the Hematovore to shape the blade down to a single blood cell, making for a sharp and thin blade, held together by mental force. Hee hee... I coulda sworn I put that in. A Blood Edge is good for the Hematovore's Charisma modifier in rounds.

jaker2003 said:
Hemotokinesis: I think you could take this a step further, and allow them to control Blood Amniotes (name?) from Libris Mortis: The Book of Undead. If you don't have a copy, I could type up the creature entry for you.

hmmm... i have no idea what those be... but the Libris Mortis has appeal to me anyway... I might buy it.

jaker2003 said:
Agitated Celerity: I guess the Haste effect is a variant for a blood rage? Why does it get a +4 Insight bonus to AC, is there a divination thing going on here?

I imagine an agitated Hematovore to develop not only way increased reflexes, but also a near prescience.

jaker2003 said:
Abilities: Most undead creatures gain a bonus to Charisma. Charisma is used in place of a constitution score for most effects, which you noted in Hemotokinesis.

Noted... maybe a +2 to +4 bump in charisma might be in order...

jaker2003 said:
Level Adjustment: If I let a character play this, what adjustment do I make to his Effective Character Level?

whoa. Um, I'd say +3, but i think ECL is wacked system anyway :\

Thnx[/QUOTE]
 

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