Converting monsters from Imagine Magazine

[freyar]

Sounds good. I could see a use for these when the vampire doesn't want to focus its energies on complete domination.

I think for the arch-prince, we should simply improve its dominating gaze to affect all creatures rather than just humanoids.

Funny, thought I'd answered this one. I'm not sure about changing the gaze; that would be a very different mechanic for the arch-prince than the others.

I like the other suggestions, and I'll tabulate them over the weekend.

 

[Shade]

Funny, thought I'd answered this one. I'm not sure about changing the gaze; that would be a very different mechanic for the arch-prince than the others.

I was just thinking of changing the standard vampire's dominate like so...

Dominate (Su): A vampire can crush an opponent’s will just by looking onto his or her eyes. This is similar to a gaze attack, except that the vampire must use a standard action, and those merely looking at it are not affected. Anyone the vampire targets must succeed on a Will save or fall instantly under the vampire’s influence as though by a dominate person spell (caster level 12th). The ability has a range of 30 feet.

Change person to monster. Maybe increase caster level. Something like this:

Greater Dominate (Su): An arch-prince can crush an opponent’s will just by looking onto his or her eyes. This is similar to a gaze attack, except that the vampire must use a standard action, and those merely looking at it are not affected. Anyone the vampire targets must succeed on a Will save or fall instantly under the vampire’s influence as though by a dominate monster spell (caster level 20th). The ability has a range of 30 feet.

 

[freyar]

I see what you're saying, but it doesn't really fit with the other additions, which are more like standard SLAs. How about adding SLAs as follows (forgetting the funny durations, maybe)?

Add the following spell-like abilities (1/day each), cumulative.
Lord: Charm animal, Hold person, Summon monster III
Arch-Lord: Dominate animal, Hold animal, Summon monster IV
Princeling: Charm monster, Hold monster, Summon monster V
Prince: Mass charm monster, Mass hold person, Summon monster VI
Arch-Prince: Mass hold monster, Summon monster VII

And the immunities as discussed before. Then we can use your Greater Dominate gaze.

 

[Shade]

It's time to get our fangs dirty!

Lord
Blood drain: 1 pint

Arch-Lord
Blood drain: 2 pints

Princeling
Blood drain: 3 pints

Prince
Blood drain: 4 pints

Arch-Prince
Blood drain: 5 pints

Blood Drain: Any greater vampire can drink blood as described in the article. In addition, a greater vampire has the ability to suck blood rapidly during combat, making this an effective attack form. This bite attack can be used at the vampire's option in place of the hand attack during "surprise" situations; that is, when a creature is surprised by the vampire. At other times the bite can only occur if the vampire has rolled a hand "to hit" value 5 places better than required. The monster then gains an immediate "to hit" roll for the bite (with no Dex or shield considerations to the AC). If this bite succeeds the vampire proceeds quickly to drain the opponent of blood. For any one bite the actual amount taken (in pints) depends on the vampire's title and is the value shown. Obviously in combat a vampire ignores any thoughts of blood-type preference. The effects of this sudden loss in blood are different from those produced by the previously described gradual decrease (see Table 3).

Table 3: Effects of Rapid Blood Loss
% of Blood Lost / Effects on Str, Dex, Con / Effects on Movement
1-15 / nil / no charge possible
16-30 / -1 / fast trot max
31-45 / -3 / walk max
46-60 / -9 / can only stagger*
61-75 / -15 / can only crawl**
76+ / death /death

*Victim cannot attack or cast spells; may only defend
**Victim cannot attack, cast spells, or defend

For example, a human suffering 50% blood loss would lose 9 points each of Str, Dex, and Con, would not be able to attack by weapon or by spell, and could only move at a stagger. OF course all these penalties woudl be extra to the damage and drain effects caused by the initital hand attack that gripped the human so as to facilitate the bite!

It is important to note that the decrease in ability points arises indirectly from the blood loss; they are not drained as such. Thus it is possible for negative values to result and the victim to remain alive. However, if and when Con falls below 3, the individual must make a "system shock" roll (based on original Constitution) or else die. If Con falls to zero or below another check is required; teh chance this time being 20%. In any event an individual wiht negative Con value immediately becomes unconscious. Lost ability points are regained with rest at the rate of 2 points per day for each affected characteristic. Alternatively, a heal spell will restore values to their original number.

Any human/oid creature bitten by this "combat-drain" has a chance of becoming a vampire as described previously under "partial blood-drain".

Whew!

My initial thoughts are:

1-15 = No ability drain; cannot run
16-30 = 1 point of Str, Dex, and Con drain; fatigued
31-45 = 3 points of Str, Dex, and Con drain; exhausted
46-60 = 9 points of Str, Dex, and Con drain; staggered
61-75 = 15 points of Str, Dex, and Con drain; nauseated
76+ = dead

 

[freyar]

Yeah, whew! says it all!

I'm not sure that this % blood drained is really the best mechanic, but we can think about that. First off, though, the ability damage is regained with rest, so it's damage and not drain. Next, when should the vamps be able to do this? As if using sneak attack?

 

[Shade]

Agreed. A couple ideas:

1.) Tie the extra conditions like exhausted to the amount of ability damage dealt, rather than just dealing X amount of ability damage. Each step up of greater vampire could deal an additional point of ability damage, say 1d4 for lord, 1d4+1 for arch-lord, 1d4+2 for princeling, and so forth.

2.) Tie the extra conditions to the number of rounds the vampire maintains the grapple and chooses to drain blood.

I think I'd prefer #1.

 

[freyar]

I like idea #1 also. How about:
Ability Damage Condition
3 pts cannot run
4 pts fatigued
5 pts exhausted
6 pts staggered
7 pts nauseated
8 pts dead

What kind of saves to we want to allow?

 

[Shade]

I'm not a fan of cannot run, since it is already part of other conditions. Likewise, I'm not a fan of "dead", since the Con damage should take care of that for many creatures anyway.

Fort saves to avoid special conditions?

Here's the standard vampire blood drain ability:

Blood Drain (Ex): A vampire can suck blood from a living victim with its fangs by making a successful grapple check. If it pins the foe, it drains blood, dealing 1d4 points of Constitution drain each round the pin is maintained. On each such successful attack, the vampire gains 5 temporary hit points.

Shall we follow this blueprint, but replace the 1d4 Con drain with the ability damage to all physical scores? Something like...

Rapid Blood Drain (Ex): A greater vampire can rapidly suck blood from a living victim with its fangs by making a successful grapple check. If it pins the foe, it drains blood, dealing 1d4 points of Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution damage each round the pin is maintained. On each such successful attack, the greater vampire gains 5 temporary hit points.

This rapid blood drain may cause additional effects. The victim is allowed a Fortitude save against these additional effects. <list additional effects and trigger conditions>

 

[freyar]

Did we want to increase the number of points of damage by "level" of greater vampire?

Or, different idea: what if, rather than doing more damage, a higher level of greater vampire has a nastier extra effect? So
Lord: ability damage only (or maybe plus Fort save or dazed for X rounds)
Arch-lord: ability damage plus Fort save or fatigued for X rounds
Princeling: ability damage plus Fort save or exhausted for X rounds
Prince: ability damage plus Fort save or staggered for X rounds
Arch-Prince: ability damage plus Fort save or nauseated for X rounds .
It's not quite the same, but I think it catches the flavor in a relatively simpler way.

BTW, I keep meaning to look up the AB dread vampire for comparison but forgetting...

 

[Shade]

I like that solution. Simple, yet elegant.

Also, I'm a bit concerned about the greaters dealing ability damage, while the standard vampire gets ability drain (even if it affects less ability scores). See any issues with improving it to drain?