The Vampyr-with illustrations, age categories, a PrC, & a half-vampyr template!!!

[Ferret]

Marvellous, well set out. Is the attachment updated?

Also when talking about the prestige class, it would be better if you said the bonuses stacked, and clairify the whole animal shapes. You can assume only a large canine or(and?) flying creature, unless one is a big cat? The other is a bat or flying animal. Yes? The confusion is that it says

"each vampyr gains the ability to assume a single form, which must be specified when this ability is first acquired". The only other thing I can think of is ifis if you embolden the titles of abilities.

Other then that perfect.

 

[Dagredhel]

Marvellous, well set out. Is the attachment updated?

Yup.

Also when talking about the prestige class, it would be better if you said the bonuses stacked...

Which bonuses? Do you mean for the Age Categories?

...and clairify the whole animal shapes. You can assume only a large canine or(and?) flying creature, unless one is a big cat? The other is a bat or flying animal. Yes? The confusion is that it says

"each vampyr gains the ability to assume a single form, which must be specified when this ability is first acquired".

I wondered if my wording was clear enough here...

"The second form a greater vampyr may take is that of a flying creature of tiny or diminutive size. This form is normally that of a bat, although avian forms are possible; each vampyr gains the ability to assume a single form, which must be specified when this ability is first acquired..."

Would it clear it up enough if I substituted the word 'specific' for the word 'single', and made it read, "...each vampyr gains the ability to assume a the form of a specific flying animal; this form must be chosen when the ability is first acquired..."?

Basically, the vampyr gets 2 forms, the canine or feline one, and then the flying one. Obviously, you could come up with other alternatives, but I thought mentioning the possibility was sort of muddying the waters enough... I've been trying to stay true to the specific type of vampire found in Dracula, after all.

The only other thing I can think of is ifis if you embolden the titles of abilities.

If you download the Word Doc, the formatting is correct, with things in boldface and italics. I copied & pasted from there, and the formatting doesn't transfer.

Other then that perfect.

Thanks again. I do really appreciate the help.

 

[Essex]

I read it, and liked it much better than the standard DND vamps--- I'm just one of those people who can't leave well enough alone. I'm going for a creature that is as close as I can make it to those Stoker described in his novel, filling in the blanks where necessary, of course.

Sorry about the delayed reply. Damn my ISP...

So far, what you've got looks good. I'm trying to decide if I should replace the Nosferatu with your bloodline, or introduce them as a separate one.

I may just use your vampyrs as another bloodline. In a small nod to White Wolf, I'm using the well-written vampire variants I can use as varying bloodlines. The differences between them have to do with originI am being picky though. Right now, there are just the Standard Vampires (unholy, damned creatures; chaotic evil), Nosferatu (Dracula's bloodline; created by a curse (anyone else see Dark Prince?) neutral evil), Chiang-Shi (Oriental bloodline, haven't decided an origin yet, lawful evil) and Vryolakta (monstrous sewer-dwelling, animalistic vampires; a twisted necromantic experiment gone horribly wrong). I'm using the main templates as Masters and the Spawn templates as the grunts, who can die just by being staked.

 

[Essex]

One additional point: you say you want an accurate Dracula-style vampire.

Dracula can go out in the daytime. Its in the novel and the Copolla movie. In fact, many of the original lore from Romania surrounding their idea of the vampire bears this out as not being for just the Impaler himself. The disadvantage in this is that they lose their powers while the sun is up. This was why I pointed out the Nosferatu from Sword & Sorcery.

Aside from this one little Dracula-perfectionist nitpick, I love it.

 

[Ferret]

Excellent, I can't see anything wrong.

 

[Dagredhel]

One additional point: you say you want an accurate Dracula-style vampire.

Dracula can go out in the daytime. Its in the novel and the Copolla movie. In fact, many of the original lore from Romania surrounding their idea of the vampire bears this out as not being for just the Impaler himself. The disadvantage in this is that they lose their powers while the sun is up. This was why I pointed out the Nosferatu from Sword & Sorcery.

Aside from this one little Dracula-perfectionist nitpick, I love it.

I've gone through the novel a couple of times, and didn't find a single instance where Dracula was clearly active between sunrise and noon--- but plenty of examples of him traipsing around later in the day. So my 'vampyres' have to 'rest' during those hours. Note that they have no problem with sunlight, per se. One thing he can't do, during the day, except at exactly noon, and over his grave soil, is change shape.

And isn't my whole effort Dracula-perfectionist nitpicking, anyway?

Thanks!

 

[Dagredhel]

The vampyr template is now illustrated, thanks to a couple of kind--- and very talented--- folks over at Elfwood. I also reformatted the text (added boldface and italics,) and made a few minor corrections.

 

[Dagredhel]

...So far, what you've got looks good. I'm trying to decide if I should replace the Nosferatu with your bloodline, or introduce them as a separate one...

I'm partial to the idea of separate stats for different 'kinds' of vampire, rather than variations on a standard template, mostly because I think the creatures from the folklores of various cultures that get lumped together as varieties of 'vampire' are diverse and distinct enough to merit individual description. The similarities between these creatures are, arguably, often no greater than their differences. Even in the case of the archetypical 'western' vampire, there are a thousand variations on film and in print... No two 'Draculas' are alike, for that matter.

As to your decision of whether to replace your Nosferatu with my Vampyres or use them as a separate bloodline, I have two thoughts: First, take into account that the vampyr isn't much of a combat monster. It is a menace, but not so much the stand-up fight variety. Second, you might want to hold off until I get the Half-Vampyr posted. It might factor into your decision.

 

[Dagredhel]

A 'Vampyr Spawn' writeup used to be posted here. But as Camarath pointed out, it wasn't much different from the template. So I got rid of it, replacing it with instructions for applying the template to creatures of 4 or fewer Hit Dice.

 

[Dagredhel]

Upon consideration, I'm pretty much decided that I'll have to rework the vampyr spawn as a template to account for racial differences.