D&D 3E/3.5 Help me create a 3.5E LA+0 half-vampire race

[Waylander]

With a view to having an emrgence of an new race in the current campaign based on a legend that the players are already aware of . . .

The following are some rough ideas that I'd be grateful for comment on :

Back story: During the Coalition Wars that raged across the continent the population of the besieged city of Questas mysteriously disappeared shortly before the fall of the city gates.

The population did not disappear but instead passed through a gateway to another plane. Unfortunately this was a part of the Plane of Shadow ruled by vampire lords who used the newcomers as “cattle” to breed and feed upon. Over the following centuries most of the human’s “devolved” into a near animal-like state but some were subject to interbreeding with the vampires. Seen as a perversion by the vampire hierarchy these “half-breeds” were tolerated. The dhampir, as the half-breeds were called, were sandwiched in an awkward position in society - reviled by their masters and despised by their human forefathers. Cain, the dhampir leader and direct descendant of the Duke of Questas, stumbled upon a gateway back to their fabled home plane and led his people home.

Physically I envisage the dhampir to look like Elric, i.e. taller than a typical human with a lean wiry frame. They will also be long lived akin to half-elves.

[Inspired by the Daywalker in Green Ronin's Fang and Fury]

Dhampir Racial Traits

• +2 Strength, -2 Constitution, -2 Charisma. The vampire blood running through their veins make dhampir physically powerful but their time on the Plane of Shadows has reduced their ability to combat human diseases. They have difficulty relating to other cultures that they see as cattle.
• Medium-size: As a medium-size people, dhampir have no special bonuses or penalties due to size.
• Dhampir have a base speed of 30 feet.
• Weapon familiarity: Dhampir may treat the double scimitar as a martial weapon rather than an exotic weapon.
• Doomed (Ex): Seen as abominations by all of the gods, as they are neither truly alive nor dead, dhampir cannot benefit from divine magic. They may still be harmed by it.
• Craving (Ex): Dhampir must feed at least once per week on humanoid blood or must make a Will save (DC 10 + 1 per week of abstinence) or their craving for blood becomes uncontrollabe and they feed on the nearest appropriate victim.
• Bite attack (Ex): Dhampir who make a successful unarmed attack roll can bite an opponent and take a "slurp" of blood that causes 1d4 damage. If the victim is humanoid, the dhampir heals hit point equal to the damage inflicted.
• Light sensitivity (Ex): Dhampir are dazzled in daylight, they take a –1 penalty on attack rolls, spot and search checks.
• Low-light vision (Ex): Dhampir can see in dim illumination as a human can in daylight to 120 feet.
• -2 racial penalty on Handle Animal and Ride checks excluding bats, rats and wolves. Animals can sense the true nature of the dhampir and are resist control
• -2 racial penalty on Swim checks. Dhampir have an innate fear of immersion in water and so finding swimming difficult.

Notes/Questions
- Thirst is there to be a challenge for the character but not so challenging that it must be faced on a daily basis - is weekly still too frequent?
- The healing nature of the blood drain is compensated by the lack of magical healing available to dhampir (I appreciate as written above they can't become clerics). I know blood drain for a vampire is based on a grapple attack but wanted this to be less problematic than that to implement (I'm not a big fan of grappling) and make it a normal attack aking to a monk's open hand attacks not being grappling.
- Light sensitivity, low light vision, and the skills penalties are to enhance the similarities with vampires. Is there anything else? Is this too much?

As another aspect I had thought of a "Blood Gift" ability where a dhampir could give his/her blood to a human who would heal half the number of hit points the dhampir received for supplying the blood . . .

Please let me have your thoughts . . . Many thanks in advance!

 

[Matrixryu]

Lol, Ironically some of my players wanted half vampire characters for my current rp, though the style was pretty different from this version.

Hmmm, the main thing is that the bite attack happens a little too easily, don't you think? I just checked standard vampires, and they have to do a grapple check to do blood drain. Why would a half vampire have an easier time doing it?

Maybe you could offset some of the healing problems with increased natural healing? Not fast healing (since that would give a level adjustment), but maybe you could give them healing equal to their con bonus every hour or something. Maybe they could take a racial level or two to increase it to fast healing or something?

Hmmm, that's the main stuff that comes to mind. Honestly, I think the class might need 1 more bonus of some type to make up for all the penalties it is getting. I mean, they're getting +2 to str, double simitar, low light vision and blood drain, but have -2 to 2 other stats, doomed, craving, light sensitivity... Maybe take away one of the -2's?

 

[Hawken]

Hmmm, the main thing is that the bite attack happens a little too easily, don't you think? I just checked standard vampires, and they have to do a grapple check to do blood drain. Why would a half vampire have an easier time doing it?

I gotta agree with Matrix on this point. No reason for Dhampir's to have an easier time of it. Keep it at a grapple check, plain and simple. If you want, give them Improved Grapple.

Maybe you could offset some of the healing problems with increased natural healing? Not fast healing (since that would give a level adjustment), but maybe you could give them healing equal to their con bonus every hour or something. Maybe they could take a racial level or two to increase it to fast healing or something?

Personally, I don't see the problem with healing. My issue is with the divine magic thing. If they are immune to one aspect of divine magic (healing), why wouldn't they be immune to all other aspects of divine magic? I just can't picture every god in the universe having time to sit around and see if any of their clerics are going to try and heal these guys and then say "no" at the last second, or bothering to put a macro in their healing spells that they don't work on dhampirs.

How about giving them SR against Divine spells instead? SR that cannot be voluntarily shut off. That would be a 'neutral' trait. It is useful but at the same time is a big weakness as well.

A better way to handle healing would be to let them heal 1 point per minute, or maybe their Con score per hour. Not useful enough to be of any benefit in combat, but between encounters it lets them recover. If they feed, give them Fast Healing 1 for 1 minute per round spent consuming blood.

If you want to upgrade it, make it a racial feat:
Blood Feeding
Prereq: Must be a dhampir.
Benefit: As long as the dhampir has consumed the needed amount of blood, he has Fast Healing 1.
Special: This feat may be taken more than once. Each time it is taken, the amount of Fast Healing increases by 1. This feat can be taken a maximum number of times equal to the dhampir's Constitution modifier (min of 1).

I don't see the Cha penalty. Undead in general are Cha beasts, vampires especially. If these guys are half vampire, they should have a Cha bonus instead of a penalty. Ghouls get what a bonus to Cha, and you think they DON'T have a problem relating to people? If you're changing it to a penalty just to edge closer to LA +0 instead of +1, that's weak.

That said, I don't really see the Con penalty either. If something is tough enough to gain immediate nourishment from draining blood, that's some damn fierce metabolism going on there, not a weak or frail system.

You might need to take a new look at this. And maybe even consider an LA of +1 at least.

I'd try to use the following:

• Str -4*, Dex -2*, Con +4, Wis -2, Cha +2.
• Medium size.
• Speed 30'.
• Weapon Familiarity: Dhampirs that take a level in a fighting class (+1BAB ) learn to use the Double Scimitar as a martial weapon instead of exotic.
• Light Sensitivity.
• Low Light Vision: In dim illumination and outside of sunlight, dhampirs have low light vision.
• Bite Attack: With a successful grapple check, dhampirs can make a Bite attack for 1d4 damage. The Bite is treated as a pin in that the grapple cannot end unless the dhampir releases the target or the target makes a successful grapple check against the dhampir to free himself from the bite. Once a bite is established, continued successful grapple checks allow for Blood Drain.
• Blood Feeding: Dhampirs must feed daily on blood, consuming a number of hit points equal to 1/2 Con score. For every 5hp the dhampir feeds, they can negate 1 point of their racial penalty to Str or Dex for the day. For every day a dhampir goes without blood, they are fatigued until they consume blood and any condition that would fatigue them makes them exhausted. After one week of not drinking blood, they begin to suffer as per rules for thirst and must start making hourly Con checks until they either consume blood or fall unconscious. Once unconscious, they continue to make checks until they get blood and after 3 failed checks, the dhampir dies.
• Blood Drain: After a successful Bite attack, dhampirs can begin draining blood. For each successful grapple check after a Bite, they drain 1d4hp worth of blood.
• Shunned: Dhampirs are universally shunned by all gods. Dhampirs are unaffected by divine spells of all kinds. They can still be subjected to damage though and take normal damage from Exalted, Vile, Profane and Divine types of damage. Cause Wounds would not harm a dhampir, but a Flamestrike that inflicts Profane damage instead of fire damage would. This also means that Raise Dead, Resurrection, True Resurrection and Miracle cannot bring a dhampir back from death--although a Limited Wish or Wish could do so.
• Animal Animosity: Dhampirs do not get a bonus to Handle Animal or Ride checks for their ability scores. Instead, they take a penalty to these checks equal to their Charisma modifier. Dhampirs cannot take levels in any class that has Wild Empathy as a class ability.
• Running Water: Dhampirs share a vampire's weakness toward running water. They are treated as Exhausted when crossing running water and their Strength and Dexterity are reduced to their default values. Immersion in running water inflicts 1d6 nonlethal points of damage per round, this damage cannot be recovered until they are out of the water. When their hit points are reduced to 0, they die three rounds later if they are still immersed. Still bodies of water do not damage them so severely, but they become Sickened if immersed in still water.

* These ability score penalties can be negated through sufficient blood feeding, but doing so must be done daily.

This is a bit more complex than what was written, but I think this evens out to an LA +0 while giving some vampire goodies.

Here's a couple of feats that can be thrown in too:

Blood Surge
Prereq: Dhampir.
Benefit: The vampire can increase his Str and Dex through consuming more blood than his daily requirement. For every 10 points of blood over his daily needed amount, he gains the benefit of a Bull's Strength or Cat's Grace spell treating his character level as caster level for the duration of the effect. This can be activated at will as a free action.

Sanguine Recovery
Prereq: Dhampir.
Benefit: When draining blood, the dhampir recovers a number of hit points equal to the hit points drained from his target.

Sanguine Regeneration
Prereq: Dhampir, Sanguine Recovery.
Benefit: When draining blood, the dhampir gains Fast Healing 1 for 1 minute per round of blood draining. If the dhampir is at full hit points, this process does not begin until he loses hit points. Fast Healing through this method cannot recover hit points lost to blood thirst or immersion in running water.
Special: This feat may be taken a number of times equal to the dhampir's Con modifier; each time it is taken it increases the Fast Healing amount by 1.

 

[Waylander]

. . . Hmmm, the main thing is that the bite attack happens a little too easily, don't you think? I just checked standard vampires, and they have to do a grapple check to do blood drain. Why would a half vampire have an easier time doing it? . . .

Thanks for the reply Forgetting about the way ordinary vampires drain blood, how could I penalise the dhampir bite attack to keep it balanced but maintain it as an ordinary unarmed strike? e.g. apply an additional -2 attack penalty, reduce the damage inflicted to 1d3?

With regards to another potential bonus, does anything else spring to mind? Perhaps a +2 bonus to Will saves against compulsion (mind-affecting) spells and spell-like abilities which would give some minor additional protection to any attempt to dominate them?

. . . My issue is with the divine magic thing. If they are immune to one aspect of divine magic (healing), why wouldn't they be immune to all other aspects of divine magic? I just can't picture every god in the universe having time to sit around and see if any of their clerics are going to try and heal these guys and then say "no" at the last second, or bothering to put a macro in their healing spells that they don't work on dhampirs. . . .

Sorry if this was unclear in the write up. My intention was that dhampir cannot benefit from any divine magic but would could still be harmed by it (and also could not be accepted as a cleric by any of the gods).

I like the rest of your write up - I particularly like "shunned" over "doomed". However, I think your version is 3/4 vampire and 1/4 human whereas I'm looking at mainly human with a hint of vampire - LOL This perhaps explains the tone of the other penalties I've applied, e.g. to ability scores.

In light of this, do you have any other suggestions? I'm principally interested in balance with other LA+0 races.

 

[Hawken]

Forgetting about the way ordinary vampires drain blood, how could I penalise the dhampir bite attack to keep it balanced but maintain it as an ordinary unarmed strike? e.g. apply an additional -2 attack penalty, reduce the damage inflicted to 1d3?

Give them natural attacks, two slam attacks and a secondary bite attack. Of course, you'll have to come up with something to offset this to keep the race LA +0. Maybe give them a persistent -2 to attacking with their natural weapons.

With regards to another potential bonus, does anything else spring to mind? Perhaps a +2 bonus to Will saves against compulsion (mind-affecting) spells and spell-like abilities which would give some minor additional protection to any attempt to dominate them?

What other bonus are you looking for? And why? The more bonuses you add, the more deficiencies you must add to keep this race LA +0. And you're wanting fairly significant goodies, which means you're going to need equally significant penalties.

Why a Will bonus? What is the reasoning for that? Vampires are immune to compulsion and other similar effects because they are Undead, not because they are vampires. And without being undead, and per your later words, "hint of a vampire", there's no reason for them to have any of this.

Sorry if this was unclear in the write up. My intention was that dhampir cannot benefit from any divine magic but would could still be harmed by it (and also could not be accepted as a cleric by any of the gods).

The easiest and simplest way to accomplish this is to give them the Tomb Tained Soul feat from Libris Mortis.

However, I think your version is 3/4 vampire and 1/4 human whereas I'm looking at mainly human with a hint of vampire

You should have said this at the beginning. That would have saved me a lot of unnecessary effort and possibly gotten more people to respond to this rather than thinking of a weak version of a dhampir.

This perhaps explains the tone of the other penalties I've applied, e.g. to ability scores.

Not really. The DMG suggests that for a Str bonus to be evenly offset, two mental abilities should be penalized. I think Con is enough by itself. There is absolutely no reason for a Cha penalty, especially when you're shooting for something that emulates a monster with a good Cha bonus. Light Sensitivity is a pretty weak weakness too and easily overcome/ignored. Your skill penalties are also very weak as well and effortlessly overcome--with your penalty to swim effectively cut in half by the race's bonus to Str. And the craving for blood that you list is not even a weakness at all but a minor inconvenience at best since the majority of adventures last a week or less or there is enough time between adventures for the character to take care of this requirement "off screen".

A handful of weak weaknesses do not balance out the benefits you're wanting this race to have.

Since you're looking for maybe a half-dhampir, this should work:

• Str +2, Con -2.
• Size: Medium
• Speed: 30'.
• Weapon Training: Half-Dhampir treat double scimitars as martial weapons, but they do not learn training with the short sword, long sword or great sword and these weapons become exotic for them.
• Natural Attacks: Half-Dhampir get 2 slam attacks (1d4+Str damage each), and a secondary bite attack (1d3 + 1/2 Str damage). If the Half-Dhampir hits with both slam attacks, he grabs hold of the target long enough to deliver a bite attack (no attack roll needed). Because Half-Dhampir are used to preying upon helpless targets, they suffer a -2 to attack rolls when making these attacks against anyone who is not Helpless.
• Blood Hunger: With a successful bite attack, Half-Dhampir can feed on the blood of their victims, instantly healing 1hp with every successful bite attack, maximum of 1hp per round. Half-Dhampir must consume a number of hit points in blood per day equal to 2 X Con modifier (min. of 2, max. of 10), but must eat only half as much food as a normal person and can go without water for a week before suffering any adverse effects of thirst. If they do not feed on blood daily, they are fatigued until they do. If they go without blood for a week, they are exhausted and must make hourly Con checks as if suffering from thirst.
• Dark Allure: In social situations, Half-Dhampir gain a +2 bonus to Bluff, Diplomacy, and Intimidate and their Charisma is treated as 4 points higher toward humanoid members of the opposite sex.
• Tomb Tainted Soul: Half-Dhampir gain this bonus feat from Libris Mortis.
• Low Light Vision: When the sun is down, or they are out of direct sunlight (or Daylight), Half-Dhampir have Low Light Vision.
• Curse of Vampirism: Because of their vampiric heritage, Half-Dhampir must select any two of the following weaknesses.

**Aversion to Sunlight: In direct sunlight, Half-Dhampir suffer a -1 penalty to all rolls and checks. For Search and Spot, they suffer an additional -2 penalty.
**Taint of Death: Animals react adversely to Half-Dhampir. Handle Animal and Ride are ALWAYS cross class skills for them and they suffer a -5 penalty to these skills.
**Unnatural Existence: While not undead like Vampires or even Dhampir, Half-Dhampir are set apart from nature. They can never take levels in any class or prestige class that has or uses the Nature Sense or Wild Empathy abilities.
**Aversion to Water: Unlike their Vampire grandsires, water is not fatal to Half-Dhampirs but it is dangerous still. Half-Dhampirs suffer a -10 penalty to all Swim checks and can hold their breath only half as long as normal when immersed in water.
**Religious Affront: When in the presence of someone Turning or Rebuking Undead, the Half-Dhampir's reacts as if affected if his HD is equal or less to the Turning Check and his HD always count against the Turning Damage. If affected, the Half-Dhampir is forced away from the one making the Turn and cannot get closer than 10' from them, 20' if they worship a Sun/Light deity. If they are in the area of a Greater Turning, they are affected as if they were Undead and had been just been Turned (but are never destroyed).

 

[Waylander]

Give them natural attacks, two slam attacks and a secondary bite attack. Of course, you'll have to come up with something to offset this to keep the race LA +0. Maybe give them a persistent -2 to attacking with their natural weapons.

Not a bad idea - thank you

What other bonus are you looking for? And why? The more bonuses you add, the more deficiencies you must add to keep this race LA +0. And you're wanting fairly significant goodies, which means you're going to need equally significant penalties.

This was a direct reply to a comment by Matrixryu?

Why a Will bonus? What is the reasoning for that? Vampires are immune to compulsion and other similar effects because they are Undead, not because they are vampires. And without being undead, and per your later words, "hint of a vampire", there's no reason for them to have any of this.

This was not focusing on the vampire traits the dhampir would have but the human adaptability of their make-up. Spending centuries with their vampire forefathers it isn't unreasonable to expect some sort of resistance to a vampire's dominate ability - and again it was a suggestion based on a comment by Matrixryu.

The easiest and simplest way to accomplish this is to give them the Tomb Tained Soul feat from Libris Mortis.

Thank you that's a good idea - I also allow players to assign a single regional or culture feat at 1st level and the other "Tomb-born" feats could be tailored for this.

You should have said this at the beginning. That would have saved me a lot of unnecessary effort and possibly gotten more people to respond to this rather than thinking of a weak version of a dhampir.

Oh dear . . . if I say sorry again will that make you feel better?

It wasn't my intention to waste anyone's time and as I've only had two people reply so far, one who appeared to understand what I meant and one who didn't, I'm not sure the evidence supports your hypothesis but I really do appreciate your efforts

Not really. The DMG suggests that for a Str bonus to be evenly offset, two mental abilities should be penalized. I think Con is enough by itself. There is absolutely no reason for a Cha penalty, especially when you're shooting for something that emulates a monster with a good Cha bonus. Light Sensitivity is a pretty weak weakness too and easily overcome/ignored. Your skill penalties are also very weak as well and effortlessly overcome--with your penalty to swim effectively cut in half by the race's bonus to Str. And the craving for blood that you list is not even a weakness at all but a minor inconvenience at best since the majority of adventures last a week or less or there is enough time between adventures for the character to take care of this requirement "off screen".

A handful of weak weaknesses do not balance out the benefits you're wanting this race to have.

I can see why you'd think this but I think your point of view is taking the vampire and then assuming the human part merely dilutes it down. For the Charisma penalty, that was intended to evoke the effect of the human part of the dhampir only seeing humans used as little more than food by the vampires and having a deep rooted distain for them which they still carry with them (please see the back story).

Again to be fair I didn’t present the race as a perfect one but a draft that requires work to achieve balance. Based on the original write up it may have been marginally too strong, e.g. I don’t know what campaigns you play in but having the penalties of “light sensitivity“ applied when ever it isn’t night or characters are underground has a fairly major impact in our campaign.

Thank you for the race summary which I’ll consider further.

Does any one else have any comments? Many thanks!

 

[Hawken]

This was a direct reply to a comment by Matrixryu?

Didn't mean to confuse you. This is all of us chatting here about this.

This was not focusing on the vampire traits the dhampir would have but the human adaptability of their make-up. Spending centuries with their vampire forefathers it isn't unreasonable to expect some sort of resistance to a vampire's dominate ability - and again it was a suggestion based on a comment by Matrixryu.

Huh? Forever, humans have been vulnerable to swords and gunshots. By that logic, humans should have developed some sort of resistance to edged weapons and firearms. But that doesn't happen. Once a vampire dominates someone, they're dominated until the vampire decides not to re-up the domination. If anything, successive generations of those humans would be MORE susceptible to domination, not less.

And whether the comment was Matrix's or yours doesn't matter. You started this, but we're all doing this together. If he makes a point, nothing wrong with me questioning it and directing it your way, especially since this is your concept you're asking for help with.

I can see why you'd think this but I think your point of view is taking the vampire and then assuming the human part merely dilutes it down.

Ah, so you want to take a human and dilute that with vampire stuff, not the other around. Six of one, half dozen of another.

For the Charisma penalty, that was intended to evoke the effect of the human part of the dhampir only seeing humans used as little more than food by the vampires and having a deep rooted distain for them which they still carry with them (please see the back story).

I saw the backstory, but a difficulty relating to others doesn't necessarily translate into a charisma penalty. Charisma also has to do with appearance, leadership, strength of personality, and such beyond social interaction. Ghouls and liches have trouble relating but they have charisma bonuses. I'm not trying to be a smart-ass here, but for even a kinda-sorta vampire race, going the way of a Cha penalty doesn't really seem to fit to me. If they are humans with vampire traits, one of the likely traits is a bonus to Cha, not a penalty. If they broke away from the control of their vampiric progenitors, then that would indicate sufficient strength of personality and character to also indicate a bonus, not just a penalty. Inability to relate to others would translate maybe into a penalty to Diplomacy and Sense Motive.

I don’t know what campaigns you play in but having the penalties of “light sensitivity“ applied when ever it isn’t night or characters are underground has a fairly major impact in our campaign.

It can't unless you're always playing very low level characters or you apply a greater penalty than what is listed. A -1 penalty to attack, spot and search is so quickly and easily overcome that, unless it is a low level game, it is really meaningless unless you're going out of your way to roleplay it. But for game mechanics, its insignificant at mid and higher level games.

 

[Erekose]

Interesting discussion!

I saw the backstory, but a difficulty relating to others doesn't necessarily translate into a charisma penalty. Charisma also has to do with appearance, leadership, strength of personality, and such beyond social interaction. Ghouls and liches have trouble relating but they have charisma bonuses. I'm not trying to be a smart-ass here, but for even a kinda-sorta vampire race, going the way of a Cha penalty doesn't really seem to fit to me. If they are humans with vampire traits, one of the likely traits is a bonus to Cha, not a penalty. If they broke away from the control of their vampiric progenitors, then that would indicate sufficient strength of personality and character to also indicate a bonus, not just a penalty. Inability to relate to others would translate maybe into a penalty to Diplomacy and Sense Motive.

Just as an aside, even though Charisma is a composite of force of personality, persuasiveness, personal magnetism, ability to lead, and physical attractiveness; I thought the "fluff" around the Charisma penalty for dwarves was based around them being dour and taciturn rather than them having weak personalities, inability to lead, etc.

 

[Hawken]

Just as an aside, even though Charisma is a composite of force of personality, persuasiveness, personal magnetism, ability to lead, and physical attractiveness; I thought the "fluff" around the Charisma penalty for dwarves was based around them being dour and taciturn rather than them having weak personalities, inability to lead, etc.

That doesn't mean its a good example. And if you look at just about any fantasy novel with dwarves in it, you're going to have a hard time imagining them as having a penalty to charisma.

Dwarves get a Cha penalty because they can't put the penalty anywhere else. Str? Nope, they're tough, thick and stocky. They can't be weak. Dex? Nope, dwarves have always had rogues or thieves. Int? No, only creatures with an Str bonus get an Int penalty. Wis? No because they make good clerics plus they have that legendary dwarven stubbornness which translates in game terms to a good Will. Only thing left is Cha. But how to explain it? Dour and taciturn? Why not, doesn't sound good and most people need to look it up to find out exactly what it means. The only thing is dour--stern, unyielding, harsh, and taciturn--disinclined to talk, aren't really negatives. If anything being dour would indicate a bonus to Charisma and how exactly is 'disinclined to talk' a negative. So someone doesn't want to babble unnecessarily, that's actually smart behavior in a rigid, militaristic society.

 

[Waylander]

I've been musing on the whole craving/healing part of the puzzle and wondered if it could be approached in a different way. The way the race is currently written they cannot gain healing through divine magic but otherwise heal as normal. And their need to feed is driven through a craving for blood rather than a healing necessity.

What if they healed much slower than normal? This would be an issue for the non-adventuring members of the race and a severe limitation to adventurers? However, when they feed they gain hit points (either as a result of the damage dealt or as a time-limited fast-healing). This could be part of a coup de grace bite attack?

I can already see potential role playing moments with the dhampir character asking his/her neutral/evil comrades not to kill the last opponent as s/he needs one alive!