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Message: <blockquote data-quote="77IM" data-source="post: 7234658" data-attributes="member: 12377">I have a lot of opinions on this, which I incorporated into my vampire class: <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/rpgdownloads.php?do=download&downloadid=1282" target="_blank">http://www.enworld.org/forum/rpgdownloads.php?do=download&downloadid=1282</a><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">My vampires start out very weak, with just some extra necrotic damage and mild regeneration; weird creepy powers take a few levels to get. That may be the opposite of what you want, but it's a lot easier to balance. Most of the powers are based on spells, so that spell level can be a guideline for when to make those powers available.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Flexibility in power choice lets players decide what sort of vampire fiction they want to emulate. For example, vampires in mythology are often pyrokinetic; so is Dracula in Castlevania. Others are depicted as savage and bestial (the line between vampire and werewolf is blurry). Even something iconic like animal form is wide open, because some vampires can turn into swarms of rats or snakes.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I dramatically toned down the vampire's weaknesses to make them playable. Sunlight still hurts a lot, but dark clothing protects. A lot of folklore weaknesses just get subsumed into a "you get inspiration if this causes problems" mechanic, which lets the player and DM decide how much of that stuff to worry about. One of the vampire's biggest weaknesses is that cure wounds doesn't work on them, and turning undead does work. Those are easier weaknesses to manage, while still mattering.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Vampires can deal minimum damage while biting, and only need to bite once per day, so a willing victim can supply the blood drain requirement. Also, vampires can drink the blood of animals. In folklore, the main problem with vampires is that they would sicken your cattle. I'm pretty sure this is mentioned in Dracula as well -- the title character isn't required to drink human blood, he just does it because he's a monster.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Balance-wise, the biggest problem of the vampire in the Monster Manual is Misty Escape. This ability makes them pretty much indestructible, as long as they can get out of sunlight. My class limits this ability to 1/short rest, but it's still super amazing. Weapon resistance is also quite potent, as is creating spawn, but I felt fine moving those things to 20th level capstones. The stat increases listed in the MM are also overpowered, but not at all necessary.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Likewise, the lycanthropes in the MM have outrageous stat increases, that you can mostly skip (give them a +2 Strength or something and call it a day). But the immunity to weapons is grossly overpowered. Like seriously, a single werewolf can take out a small army of orcs because those guys have no silver weapons! That's pretty cool as a challenge for the PCs to overcome, but it is much too strong for a PC, ever. Even resistance is very strong; it would be like a barbarian in permanent rage.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">My biggest misgiving with this class is that it's a 20-level core class instead of a shorter "prestige" class, which hampers multi-classing. I like multi-classing and feel it can allow for interesting character concepts. But balancing all of the vampire's crap was just too difficult for me to fit into fewer than 20 levels.</li> </ul>Sources of inspiration: Curse of Strahd; Dracula (Stoker novel); Bram Stoker's Dracula (Coppola version); Castlevania franchise; The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion; The Enchanted World: Night Creatures (Time-Life Books); Let the Right One In (novel); Wikipedia.</blockquote>

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