Vampire in play

[Saeviomagy]

As for that WOTC article, suddenly because there is a Vampire PC the world shifts and my 5th level character with Arcana and Religion as trained skills doesn't know anything about vampires? Yeah, right.

No, your 5th level character with arcana and religion knows that despite being compelled to drink blood, there are vampires out there that resist their bestial nature and are heroes, and therefore deciding "hey, let's kill this guy because he's a vampire" is completely not a heroic path to take.

 

[Salamandyr]

I've got a different problem. I typically play morally ambiguous sword and sorcery types who, while never trusting the vampire, would not have too much trouble working together for some mutual goal. At least until this exchange happens.

Vampire "Oh man, I'm still wounded from that last fight. Give me a healing surge so I can heal up".

Me "What exactly does that entail?"

Vampire "Oh in game, you're letting my character feed on you. It's cool, your character and mine are friends. Friends would totally do that for each other."

Me "Uh...no. I'm pretty sure my character wouldn't let his friends do that to him, and I'm pretty sure nobody he considers would ask him to. That's horrible.".

I love vampires, I'd probably love to play one, but I have a little trouble playing a character who feeds off the others like they're cattle, and even more the assumption that the other characters would be cool with it.

 

[Incenjucar]

If it's a big enough concern, you can always just say that the vampire feeds through touch instead of through blood, which just makes them kind of a reverse paladin.

That said, relatively few cultures nibble on their cattle's necks and then fight zombies with them afterwards.

 

[Salamandyr]

If it's a big enough concern, you can always just say that the vampire feeds through touch instead of through blood, which just makes them kind of a reverse paladin.

That said, relatively few cultures nibble on their cattle's necks and then fight zombies with them afterwards.

So in other words, the solution is for the vampire to not actually be a vampire?

I think I would have instead preferred if they had designed the class assuming that the vampire instead bites people he doesn't like, instead of assuming that he casually feeds off his companions.

 

[Incenjucar]

Energy vampirism is still vampirism. They can still bite unwilling victims to force them to give up energy. It works mechanically and thematically. Of the alternatives, barring WotC producing biting-ally-free rules, it's the one that requires the least compromise. WotC obviously assumed that people would be more upset with vampires being magically unable to bite their allies.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I've got a different problem. I typically play morally ambiguous sword and sorcery types who, while never trusting the vampire, would not have too much trouble working together for some mutual goal. At least until this exchange happens.

Vampire "Oh man, I'm still wounded from that last fight. Give me a healing surge so I can heal up".

Me "What exactly does that entail?"

Vampire "Oh in game, you're letting my character feed on you. It's cool, your character and mine are friends. Friends would totally do that for each other."

Me "Uh...no. I'm pretty sure my character wouldn't let his friends do that to him, and I'm pretty sure nobody he considers would ask him to. That's horrible.".

I love vampires, I'd probably love to play one, but I have a little trouble playing a character who feeds off the others like they're cattle, and even more the assumption that the other characters would be cool with it.

ok...so I can see it both ways.

On one hand the idea of the vampire needing blood and the compainion giving it freely is just iconic...

but not every fight...not 250 times in your story...


As far as a D&D playable vampire it works well enough

 

[Aegeri]

With durable and multiple uses of blood drinker, it shouldn't be very often that the vampire should need to do that (because they can have extra surges to spare and remember that they lose extra surges anyway). Vampires are really only worried about surge draining skill challenges (wilderness ones for example) and trap based encounters (where they can't get surges).

So I don't think if a party wasn't happy with a vampire feeding off them, it would entirely cripple them (again, assuming durable).

 

[ForeverSlayer]

Durable actually makes it a bit harder to gain those extra surges in order to regain full HP when you rest unless you don't use any. Just have two surges and having to worry about getting those back and some extra was easy enough but now with Durable your normal surges are now 4 instead of two so it's harder. Also wait until you get higher level and you gain a few more surges.

 

[Mika]

The simplest way to integrate a vampire into a party is to make him relatively young (as a vampire) and give him a connection with at least one other party member. It is one thing to want to want to destroy all of those blood sucking monsters -- it is quite another to want to destroy your best friend from childhood who had the misfortune to be transformed by a curse -- and you know that he does try really hard not to hurt anyone who doesn't deserve it....

 

[ForeverSlayer]

The vampire class is something that should be discussed with the group and the DM before bringing it to the table. I wouldn't advise just showing up at the table with a vampire and expecting everyone to be okay with it. Sure you have some groups that only focus on the mechanics and really don't care, but you also have groups that care about the role play and want characters coming in to actually fit the campaign.

I think the biggest problem with the class is the requirement to feed from your companions. I don't understand why the rules weren't written a little different. I could see the vampire knocking an enemy unconscious and feeding from the victim after the fight is over, or Dominating say a towns person, taking just enough and then letting them go with no memory of it.

In my opinion the designers created a controversial class.