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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TrinityDM" data-source="post: 6898297" data-attributes="member: 2944">OK, I'm gearing up to run Curse of Strahd, and ran into a general question on how the Stake to the Heart feature works.Both the vampire and vampire spawn have regeneration, and both have the Stake to the Heart weakness (when the specifically-worded condition of "a piercing weapon made of wood [is] driven into its heart while incapacitated in its resting place", a vampire spawn is destroyed, and a true vampire is paralyzed).The true vampire also has the Misty Escape ability, which changes how the creature functions when brought to 0 hp when not in sunlight or running water (instead of dropping unconscious, it assumes mist form and travels back to its resting place where it must stay, paralyzed, for an hour before it regains 1 hp, at which point it can begin regenerating).However, vampire spawn do not have the Misty Escape ability, which makes the fact that it has the Stake to the Heart weakness (with conditional wording very similar to that of the true vampire) very confusing.a) Is a vampire spawn destroyed when simply reduced to 0 hp (regardless of whether it's in sunlight or running water)? If not, why bother with the Stake to the Heart entry (it seems unlikely that it would ever be "incapacitated in its resting place", as it cannot Misty Escape)?b) What happens if the vampire spawn (or true vampire, for that matter) is staked when otherwise incapacitated but not in its resting place?Further confusing things, the Shapechanger ability implies that magical damage would affect the vampire in mist form, by specifically mentioning immunity to nonmagical damage except sunlight. However, while engaged in Misty Escape, it's already at 0 hp. Is this meant to imply that the alternative way to permanently destroy a vampire while it is engaged in a Misty Escape is by dealing massive damage (i.e. > max hp) to it from magic or have it enter sunlight / running water (which would preempt the Misty Escape ability)?Just hoping for some clarity on the conditions under which vampires and vampire spawns can be permanently destroyed.</blockquote>

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