Also, technically the Vampire doesn't have to die if forced to resume his normal form while a 0 HP. He's unconscious but the DM can allow him to make Death Saving Throws. If the party doesn't finish him off (just like when he's in the coffin), he can turn back into mist once the moonbeam is gone.
D&D 5E Can Moonbeam out-right destroy a vampire?
- Thread starter MiraMels
- Start date
The idea is to hit it with moonbeam and then bring it to 0 hit points (either with the moonbeam's own damage, or some other way). When the vampire hits 0 hp, it would normally trigger the Misty Escape ability: When it drops to 0 hit points outside its resting place, the vampire transforms into a cloud of mist (as in the Shapechanger trait) instead of falling unconscious, provided that it isn't in sunlight or running water. If it can't transform, it is destroyed."
Moonbeam, assuming the vampire failed its save (and by the time it's brought to 0 hp, it is usually out of Legendary Resistances, and it has disadvantage on the save), prevents the vampire from transforming. Thus, it is destroyed. This seems fairly clear by the book.
Now, you could also use moonbeam on a vampire that had already fallen to 0 hit points and gone misty. This is a bit more iffy. For one, the Misty Escape trait says the vampire can't revert to humanoid form, and the moonbeam spell says it has to. Also, it doesn't drop to 0 hp by being hit with the beam, so the first paragraph doesn't trigger. I think I would judge in favor of the moonbeam here - it seems weird that it would kill a vampire if it hits it before it goes mist, but not afterward. On the plus side, it wouldn't have disadvantage on the save if hit in mist form, because the advantage it gets on Constitution saves cancels that out.
MiraMels
Explorer
I'm not sure how I would judge it either, but it might be a moot point. The vampire still gets legendary actions in mist form. Unless you could find some way to reduce a misty vampire's speed to 0, it could just keep moving out of the moonlight before the spell had a chance to take effect.
Not necessarily. Once cast, the druid could ready an action to move the beam just before the vampire's turn. Or perhaps that's just the way the initiative order goes (and the vampire already used its legendary actions before). But yeah, that part is going to be tricky.
Sorcerers Apprentice
Hero
"Just before the vampire's turn" isn't an observable event and so not a valid trigger for a readied action. You could ready an action for when the vampire moves, but the vampire can make multiple legendary moves while you only have one reaction. You need some luck with the initiative order to pull this trick off
No. You can destroy a vampire with a 2nd-level spell and a whole bunch of damage and exhausting its Legendary Resistance. The spell is the easy part.
However, as far as the spell itself goes: Moonbeam shuts down shapechanging, the vampire's ability is specifically called out as a shapechanging ability, and if the vampire is prevented from transforming, it goes phut. That seems pretty darn clear-cut to me.
Saeviomagy
Adventurer
You could read the vampire entry as overriding the moonbeam spell (ie - "vampires transform regardless of other effects unless they are in sunlight or running water") or the moonbeam as overriding the vampire (ie - sunlight and running water is not an exclusive list of things that stop a vampire from shapeshifting).
I'd personally go with the first, because it stops a CR 13 creature from being slaughtered by a level 2 spell, which is already too good. For reference the only other 2 spells that can pull that off are 6th and 8th level, respectively.
I'd personally go with the first, because it stops a CR 13 creature from being slaughtered by a level 2 spell, which is already too good. For reference the only other 2 spells that can pull that off are 6th and 8th level, respectively.
jaelis
Oh this is where the title goes?
Well... you can also pull it off with the rather mundane effects of a sunny day or a river.
My own feeling is that vampires are not supposed to be impossible to kill, just that it should require care and planning. As has been noted, getting a vampire down to 0 hp (and not letting it escape before that) should already be a significant challenge.
The same creature can be slaughtered by a wooden stick.
I mean, if you're going to totally ignore the fact that you have to beat the vampire in combat first.
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