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Message: <blockquote data-quote="77IM" data-source="post: 6628672" data-attributes="member: 12377">This is totally awesome and I may steal it, or portions of it.But it's also too complicated for my tastes. For example, I would ditch Dark Gifts altogether and divvy those powers up amongst the bloodlines. Mayyyyybe leave a few Dark Gifts here and there, but make them minor. Here they are more like warlock Invocations, but I am thinking something along the lines of a Fighting Style, where there's like 6 to choose from, and they all do fairly minor or passive things (like permanent spider climb is a good one). That psychokinesis gift is much too huge: ditch it.I love the flavor of your 3 bloodlines and would emphasize them over the Dark Gifts. I think there's a temptation to make it so every vampire character can acquire all the classic vampire moves, but I don't think it needs to be that way. Things like domination and turning into a swarm are actually pretty powerful so I'd leave those for the bloodlines and maybe have weaker versions available as Dark Gifts. Actually looking at Subsume the Lesser Mind and its prerequisite-tree, that is screaming "subclass" to me.I'm confused about the relationship between Claws and Bite, Blood Drain, Blood is Life, and Vampiric Fury. I'll be honest, it was a blob of text and I didn't read it very thoroughly. I'd streamline the heck out of that. I like the way claws are described, but I'd combine bite with Blood Drain and just make it one thing that you can do against a grappled, restrained, incapacitated, or willing character. I'd definitely give the vampire regular old Extra Attack at 5th level, since this clarifies how the ability stacks with other class abilities. I'd recommend giving Blood is Life at 2nd level, since that is a powerful ability and many classes have their powerful ability kick in at 2nd level to prevent one-level dips into the class (examples: rogue's Cunning Action, paladin's Smite, druid's Wild Shape, fighter's Action Surge, cleric's Channel Divinity).Also the language about "exceeding your maximum Vitae" is a little weird. I'd just make maximum Vitae = level, and then find other subtle ways to drain Vitae faster. For example, maybe a long rest costs you half your current Vitae? I actually really like the mechanic -- where you can exceed the set-point and gravitate towards it -- just the language could be better.This class also seems slightly overpowered. The damage exceeds monk damage, and the blood drain is a really sweet ability. With all of the class's other benefits, I don't see why they need d10 hit dice and 3 skills, either. I'd reduce that to d8 and 2 skills, since the vampire will probably be getting abilities to make up for it (like resistances and healing instead of d10 hit points, and charm/climb/stealth/speak-with-animals stuff instead of skills). The proficiency list is needlessly complex; just give them "all simple weapons and short swords" and be done with it. I think you could give them light armor proficiency too; it's a matter of style, but it allows characters to dump Cha and still achieve a decent AC, if they want.You might also point out some of the balancing factors involved with being Undead type. You're immune to charm person, hold person etc., but in my experience those don't occur in play often. However, cure wounds and healing word don't work on you, which is pretty harsh, but spending Vitae as hit dice as an action during combat is quite strong, so maybe that balances out. I don't like the idea of a class with no hit dice; it interacts poorly with other rules that affect hit dice. Instead you might say "spending a hit die requires the use of 1 Vitae" or something. It's also unclear what happens if you have levels in some other class that grants hit dice; can you use them normally and regain them normally during a long rest?HUGE important balancing factor: sunlight.1. Does wearing dark clothing with a hood count as protection against direct sunlight? This is kind of a big deal. What does it take for an opponent to rip off your hood mid-fight? Normally I'd leave this stuff up to the DM but because there is so much damage on the line I think you need to spell it out.2. 10 radiant damage: does that get further doubled due to vulnerability? Either way, that is a lot of damage. A typical low-level character is going to evaporate in just a round or two. I would change this to 1d6 damage -- it makes it more clear that yes, it does get doubled, and it's easier to deal with -- and I'd make it happen at the END of a round. That way the PC has one round to scramble for cover, pull on their hood, whatever. I wouldn't increase this damage at higher levels -- it makes sense to me that a high-level vampire can shrug off a little sunlight, the way a high-level fighter can jump off a castle and live. I've seen parties avoid adventuring during the day because of a drow's sunlight sensitivity, so I can't imagine what people would do with a PC that is going to take 7 damage per round in direct sunlight. Of course I would keep this vulnerability since that's part of the fun of being a vampire!Related question: you are vulnerable to Turn Undead, but what about Destroy Undead? It's based on CR; what's a PC's CR? I might actually replace the normal Turn affect with a more straightforward Frightened effect, as that's easier on PCs. Also, are you susceptible to your allies' turning attempts? It's generally frowned upon to create a character that nerfs some other PC's ability.So as you can see this class has got me thinking. I feel like at a high level, this is a really good idea, and it is made of smaller really good ideas, but it needs to be cleaned up a bit to be playable. I hope you find my feedback helpful!</blockquote>

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