Vampire in play

[abyssaldeath]

I don't get why would a vampire be trained in History just because they lived for a long time... I can barely remember what happened to me 10 years ago, let alone 100s of years.

Agree'd. A long lived Vampire is no different than a long lived Elf.

 

[Klaus]

Here's a vampire geared towards "centuries-old, heightened senses":

====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
Human, Vampire
Human Power Selection Option: Heroic Effort
Human - Ancestral Holdings (+2 to History)

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
STR 10, CON 10, DEX 20, INT 10, WIS 13, CHA 15

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
STR 10, CON 10, DEX 17, INT 10, WIS 13, CHA 14


AC: 19 Fort: 14 Ref: 18 Will: 16
HP: 42 Surges: 2 Surge Value: 10

TRAINED SKILLS
Athletics +7, History +9, Intimidate +9, Perception +10, Stealth +12

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +7, Arcana +2, Bluff +4, Diplomacy +4, Dungeoneering +3, Endurance +2, Heal +3, Insight +3, Nature +3, Religion +2, Streetwise +4, Thievery +7

POWERS
Basic Attack: Melee Basic Attack
Basic Attack: Ranged Basic Attack
Human Racial Power: Heroic Effort
Vampire Attack: Blood Drinker
Vampire Attack 1: Swarm of Shadows
Vampire Attack 1: Dark Beckoning
Vampire Attack 1: Taste of Life
Vampire Attack 1: Vampire Slam
History Utility 2: Legend Lore
Athletics Utility 2: Bounding Leap
Vampire Attack 3: Feral Assault
Vampire Utility 4: Strength of Blood
Vampire Attack 5: Unfettered Hunger

FEATS
Level 1: Disciple of Shadows
Level 1: Alertness
Level 2: Ki Focus Expertise
Level 4: Skill Power

ITEMS
Cloth Armor (Basic Clothing) x1
Adventurer's Kit
Ki Focus x1
====== End ======

Disciple of Shadows gives Darkvision 2, and Alertness gives immunity to surprise and +2 Perception. These represent the vampire's heightened senses.

Legend Lore (Utility 2) is an Encounter power that turns a knowledge check into a History check. Skill Power was in order to take Blunding Leap, meaning the vampire can make jumps without a running start and with a +5 bonus, and the distance can exceed the vampire's speed. Skill Power can be exchanged for Durable for the faint of heart.

The abilities reflect a normal human (Str, Con and Int 10), changed by his vampiric nature. The background reflects the old origin of the character.

 

[Klaus]

More of a creature with a vampiric bloodline, but that doesn't seem to be what we're discussing here. We're talking about the Vampire class.

But how would you handle a Vryloka (race) Vampire (class) getting rid of his 'curse', anyway?

I'd build the character again as a human <something>, and when the character fulfills his arc, I'd change characters to reflect the untainted nature.

 

[Incenjucar]

While I understand the perspective of those who find monster races "wrong," I have quite the opposite perspective, having read enough fantasy literature with monster races as main characters, and not being under the impression that D&D is fantasy Europe.

There are some serious mental gymnastics going on here to justify keeping a character out of the party. There is significant irony in a paladin, which once had to be lawful good, being viewed as unable to suffer non-evil undead to "live." In my mind's eye I see a self-righteous paladin murdering a vampire in the streets after catching him flying in bat form to save a kid's puppy from a burning building.

 

[Ryujin]

I'd build the character again as a human <something>, and when the character fulfills his arc, I'd change characters to reflect the untainted nature.

That's sort of my point though. To reflect the "redemption", you'd have to create a completely different character. Going the other way, by say altering a character to a Revenant, is trivial by comparison.

 

[Incenjucar]

Which you would also have to do if you redeemed a warlock.

 

[the Jester]

For the record, I've always thought that 4th edition has gone WAY too far in making monstrous races socially acceptable. I played in the Giant modules when Drow were first invented. The reaction to a Drow walking into a bar should be one of sheer panic. Kill it if you can, flee if you can't. The vampire just brings out that reaction in spades.

I 100% agree- but with the caveat that this is a matter of preference and playstyle, not doing it right. Still, it's a longstanding joke imc that a player will ask, "Hey, can I play a Drow?" or "...a Drow _____?". They all know the answer.

 

[generalchaos34]

I 100% agree- but with the caveat that this is a matter of preference and playstyle, not doing it right. Still, it's a longstanding joke imc that a player will ask, "Hey, can I play a Drow?" or "...a Drow _____?". They all know the answer.

I think the issues is that when people are playing those races that they arent being properly "stimulated" by being that race. By this i mean the GM isnt having people run and panic, or the barkeep saying "we dont serve your kind here, youre Drow!" Which removes the stigma of playing said character.

Now on the flipside....

Being a GM with a game containing a Shardar Kai and a Minotaur, i have tended to ignore that fact only because it distracts from the gameplay and story i had planned. The players did not select those races for their monstery evilness, they did it more for stats and style (a la WoW). As a GM ive decided to roll with it until i have wrapped up the current play arc and they have actually learned how to RP, THEN i will challenge them. This would be more interesting imo when they are powerful and famous adventurers who saved the land, only to have kids throw rocks at them, since they didnt give the "second class PC races" a second glance until they managed to make themselves known.

 

[Ryujin]

Which you would also have to do if you redeemed a warlock.

I haven't heard of anyone wanting to play a Warlock in need of redemption yet though whereas it's a meme, where vampires are concerned.

 

[Mirtek]

At first glance yes, but at second glance no.

The problem with 'I am going to attack you because your evil!!!!!' paladins and clerics is that they wouldn't last two microseconds in a group of people

The problem is that these are not "'I am going to attack you because your evil!!!!!' paladins and clerics" but "'I am going to attack you because I serve the deity of death who commands that all things dead stay dead and that anyone defying this edict is a walking affront to his divine will!!!!!' paladins and clerics".

It's a pitty that LFR allows both fanatical hunters of the dead as well as undead PCs and that both could find themselves in the same group. However this ship already sailed with revenants

I wonder what those same palidns that hate undead did when revrents entered the party??

Well, there were passionate threads about this very problem at the LFR boards.

or worse, what if oneplayer hadan infernal warlock... i mean they draw power from a deal with devils...big nono

Actually no problem at all. The deity is unaligned and actually deals with devils himself quite often. It's just that he's lord of death and has decreed how dead people have to behave. And anyone defying this edict gets target by one of his many undead-hunting-orders.

Now if there are no Drow PCs and you hate drow, fine...

To be fair, Kelemvorites were in LFR long before any undead PCs were possible