Well the area of effect is 2x that of a fireball and the damage can't be healed.a CR 23 creature that spends its entire action and bonus action on dealing less damage than a fireball and getting 10 temp. HP
I know. My point was, he'll never use that trait. He will die (for real) really fast, if that is going to be his use of action + bonus action against a 20th level party.
Thankfully, it would only be for a couple of rounds.
I don't know. I guess it's great for flavor, but putting abilities in epic level monsters' stat blocks that are mostly aimed at how they defeat peasants, are really not that useful at the table, imo. I mean, you don't see Demogorgon's or Zariel's statblock filled with abilities that will get them curb stomped in short time. Because it's not very helpful at in the middle of combat that the DM wll have to sort between actual efficient powers, and ..not so effective abilities.That's not there to be a main mode of attack, but I suppose he could rely on it. Consider instead throwing Dracula into a group of peasants. They'll all certainly fail their saves (DC 21!), die from 21 necrotic damage, and then rise the next night as a vampire spawn. One could easily transform dozens of people into vampire spawn in a single night using an ability like that, especially while shapechanged into a bat. Even more if they came back the next night and commanded those spanking new vampire spawn to start catching people for meals/more traditional vamping.
Let's stay on the offensive thread though because I think it's satisfyingly chewy. In an average round of attacks, Dracula here will bite somebody for 7d6+5, smack three folks for another 16 a pop, and then gets to legendary actions. To get the same damage output using Life Stealer, he'd have to fit ~pulls on thinking cap~ 4 targets inside of an 80-foot diameter circle.
Let's check out some other big bads for comparison.
Ancient Black Dragons will pop off for 58 damage before LAs if just smacking things (compared to Dracula's 82), but can do a 90x10 ft line for 15d8 acid! That's not bad, but it's a line (harder to nail as many targets as a 40-foot radius will), and more importantly it's a Dexterity saving throw which means rogues, monks, and anyone wearing a ring of evasion will take half or no damage. It's also a basic energy type which means it's not hard to snag some resistance. Otherwise it doesn't do anything for the dragon, nor does it create servants for later, and it has to recharge.
That's a CR 21 creature though--let's kick up a notch!
Ancient Blue dragons! They're chomping away for 63 damage a turn (still behind big D) and get an even longer, more damaging and difficult to avoid line (120 feet!) but again, no extra frills and will give away a ton of Get-Out-Of-Area Free cards because it's a Dexterity saving throw, and it has to deal with accessible damage resistances. If they're fighting on an isolated mountaintop and everyone's trudging up the trail? Awesome. In almost any other scenario I think I'd want to have Life Stealer—there's no wait between uses, the monster regains hit points, its area is just so great, and most importantly it forces a party (which probably has a paladin giving off aura effects) to disperse or suffer while reinforcing their foe. Plus it'll make adventurers poop themselves when their maximum hit points take a hit from an area effect.
He doesn't need it though. Dracula's got that mostly for easily overtaking settlements.
But the damage is insufficient for taking up all the action so to speak. He will get hit for hundreds of damage and not returning the favor. The action economy is harsh enough on the monsters as is!
I know. My point was, he'll never use that trait. He will die (for real) really fast, if that is going to be his use of action + bonus action against a 20th level party.
Thankfully, it would only be for a couple of rounds.
I don't know. I guess it's great for flavor, but putting abilities in epic level monsters' stat blocks that are mostly aimed at how they defeat peasants, are really not that useful at the table, imo. I mean, you don't see Demogorgon's or Zariel's statblock filled with abilitiess that will get them curc stomped in short time. Because it's not very helpful at in the middle of combat that the DM wll have to sort between actual efficient powers, and ..not so effective abilities.
Show us the stats, then!
) 5E - Epic Monsters: Dracula (5E)
It may be because there's some RAW erratta that I'm not familiar with, but temp HP doesn't stack afaik, so he will only get about 10 temp HP, yes? His bite wil heal him for more.
They don't stack, but temporary hit points are granted by the feature/trait/spell, and the amount of temporary hit points granted by it is determined by the number of targets and the total damage dealt.It may be because there's some RAW erratta that I'm not familiar with, but temp HP doesn't stack afaik, so he will only get about 10 temp HP, yes? His bite wil heal him for more.
I can see the point about hitting 4 with the power. I just dunno, it seems to me, that the damage he will dish out - healable or not - is too little when assaulted by a party dealing hundreds of damage.
But, enough with my negativity, looking forward to further previews
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I built mine as a PC with some nice gear.... the conceit of the CV series is generally that a single man with blessed equipment and a lot of grit can overcome every challenge in the castle using no overtly magical abilities. NPC builds with new features open up a lot of possibilities for him being lower level.
That linked build isn't an NPC! It's a PC build that uses a class that appears in Book of Celestial Heroes (put together to promote the Kickstarter of yore that funded the lame-o holy tome and much cooler Book of Exalted Darkness). There are so many Belmonts I figured you might be able to scratch his name off for one of the other ones in case the need arises.
