Interesting notions. I've been mulling over these today, while pondering connections with the latest issue of Dragon (which, among other things, has three variant Vampire templates as well as a variant vampire type in the article on Vecna that isn't actually statted up).
Personally, I've never considered the Dominate ability to be central to the vampire mythos; granted, it's a large part of the original vampire folklore that RPG vampires are typically based on, but in my experience it's not what people think of first when thinking of vamps. Now, given the way D&D SRD Vampires are built, Dominate is certainly the ability they use most often, I'd estimate because their other abilities are mostly combat focused (or at least "flashy" and attention-drawing- whereas in social situations one typically wants to avoid drawing attention). Referencing those Dragon variants, only one of the four actually retains the Dominate power; the others all get different mind-affecting powers (or none at all in the case of the Savage Vampire).
That said, the Erythreon was suggested to have an ability to control creatures in its vicinity by means of entering their blood and merging with them in some way; if it specifically targets gods with this power, that could serve as the foundation for Fieari's idea. But here's another thought: we still haven't started discussing the third Spirit combination, Spirit + Flesh. What if that creature is specifically founded on the idea of possession? Since they'd arise from Hunefers, which are (according to the ELH) supposedly mummified demigods trying to "recapture their divine essence," as well as Ghosts which can sometimes possess living victims, it would make sense for the Flesh/Spirit entity to specifically try to inhabit divine targets. It also makes sense from a folklore perspective, since Spirit inhabits Flesh to give rise to a living person- that is, after all, the whole idea behind Ghosts being able to possess people. What else could a combination of Flesh and Spirit do?
Anabstercorian, did you mean the Rogue Eidolon from MM2? Those are Constructs, but they are supposedly leftovers of spirit fragments cast off from ancient (possibly dead) "dark gods." We might take the idea and build something on IH notions with it.
UK, that's a great breakdown- it gives us targets to shoot for, certainly! Seeing the Nosferatu and Cimeriel, not to mention the Welkin, could help clarify matters of course, but Bestiary II is still only on the horizon so we'll have to wait and work with what we have.
Personally, I've never considered the Dominate ability to be central to the vampire mythos; granted, it's a large part of the original vampire folklore that RPG vampires are typically based on, but in my experience it's not what people think of first when thinking of vamps. Now, given the way D&D SRD Vampires are built, Dominate is certainly the ability they use most often, I'd estimate because their other abilities are mostly combat focused (or at least "flashy" and attention-drawing- whereas in social situations one typically wants to avoid drawing attention). Referencing those Dragon variants, only one of the four actually retains the Dominate power; the others all get different mind-affecting powers (or none at all in the case of the Savage Vampire).
That said, the Erythreon was suggested to have an ability to control creatures in its vicinity by means of entering their blood and merging with them in some way; if it specifically targets gods with this power, that could serve as the foundation for Fieari's idea. But here's another thought: we still haven't started discussing the third Spirit combination, Spirit + Flesh. What if that creature is specifically founded on the idea of possession? Since they'd arise from Hunefers, which are (according to the ELH) supposedly mummified demigods trying to "recapture their divine essence," as well as Ghosts which can sometimes possess living victims, it would make sense for the Flesh/Spirit entity to specifically try to inhabit divine targets. It also makes sense from a folklore perspective, since Spirit inhabits Flesh to give rise to a living person- that is, after all, the whole idea behind Ghosts being able to possess people. What else could a combination of Flesh and Spirit do?
Anabstercorian, did you mean the Rogue Eidolon from MM2? Those are Constructs, but they are supposedly leftovers of spirit fragments cast off from ancient (possibly dead) "dark gods." We might take the idea and build something on IH notions with it.
UK, that's a great breakdown- it gives us targets to shoot for, certainly! Seeing the Nosferatu and Cimeriel, not to mention the Welkin, could help clarify matters of course, but Bestiary II is still only on the horizon so we'll have to wait and work with what we have.
