--Vampire lord build--

[IcyCool]

NOW WHERE WERE WE ABOUT THIS VAMP LORD?

You were about to post the link to the Vampire Lord template?

 

[Sir ThornCrest]

here is the vamp lord and a sample vamp lord/10th level wizard cr

Thorncrest

You were about to post the link to the Vampire Lord template?

 

[Sir ThornCrest]

see my last post I copied and posted it for you. Basically the vamp + vamp lord is only +5 to CR.

I think any character class of 15th level would have a very hard time 1 on 1 with this guy after you read it let me know what you think. Is it under CR for its bonuses which include the following..base 10th level class with
+12 to str, tk at will as 12th level caster, domination at will, ? turn resistance, fly at will, +8 to many skills...

Thorncrest

You were about to post the link to the Vampire Lord template?

 

[Elephant]

IRT discussion on my "pwned" comment:

I see it a lot in one of the IRC channels I idle in. It doesn't seem like an obscure reference - and certainly not a "coded insult" - to me at all.

For the record, I've never seen voila spelled as "walla" as a joke; I've only seen it done by people who don't understand the word. If the case here is otherwise, I apologize.

Also, Thorncrest, you would benefit from being a little more patient. These boards are generally not vicious at all, if you don't incite it. I wasn't trying to "AoO" you or anything like that, I was merely commenting on something that stood out looking odd (not to mention dead wrong).

As for your Vampire Lord, it seems to me that a fallen Paladin/Blackguard could be particularly vicious. Other than that, Bard, Cleric, Rogue, and Sorcerer also seem like they'd fit well with a successful politician archetype. The spellcasting of the bard or sorcerer would logically help a political career (think of spells like Charm Person, Tongues, Eagle's Splendor, Calm Emotions, Glibness, and Enthrall). The cleric's (or Paladin's) public piety would resonate strongly with the populace, and some of the "money spells" are also available to them. The Rogue has all the right skills - Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Sense Motive. The only missing Diplomacy-related skill is Knowledge: Nobility and Royalty.

Adding Assassin levels to the mix could also be good - they also have the important diplomatic skills (not to mention the way their political rivals have a knack for turning up dead...).

 

[DM_Matt]

IRT discussion on my "pwned" comment:

As for your Vampire Lord, it seems to me that a fallen Paladin/Blackguard could be particularly vicious. Other than that, Bard, Cleric, Rogue, and Sorcerer also seem like they'd fit well with a successful politician archetype. The spellcasting of the bard or sorcerer would logically help a political career (think of spells like Charm Person, Tongues, Eagle's Splendor, Calm Emotions, Glibness, and Enthrall). The cleric's (or Paladin's) public piety would resonate strongly with the populace, and some of the "money spells" are also available to them. The Rogue has all the right skills - Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Sense Motive. The only missing Diplomacy-related skill is Knowledge: Nobility and Royalty.

I think that a 10th-level caster would be rather redundant considering his spell-like abilities, unless you want him to be a burn mage, which doesn't seem appropriate for him. With Dominate Person and Telepathy at will, he pretty much has as good a political spell set as he needs, Telekinesis and Control Weather are nice BBEG offense and battlefield control. Wild Shape as Druid 12 at will is excellent disguise/shapechanging, create spawn is better than any animation or creation at this level, Children of the Night is some OK summoning, and his slam that does 3 negative levels plus a ridiculous str bonus with no save or SR is better than most touch attacks at that level.

 

[Jack Simth]

I was thinking the same thing but whos physically afraid of an aristocrap? Maybe a couple of levels but his main base...I was thinking of Psi Wariior just to mix it up a bit...basically he wont use a weapon just his claws and bite enhanced by the psi powers.

Question I thought I remembered reading that 1 of ther disciplines was not usable by the undead? was it metaphysical?

thorncrest

Many of them won't work on undead, many of the regeneration-style abilities won't work for undead (but whey would a Vampire need those?) - but it's by power, and shows up in the power descriptions. Note that as undead, they have many advantages against spells and spell effects:

• Immunity to all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects).
  
• Immunity to poison, sleep effects, paralysis, stunning, disease, and death effects.
  
• Not subject to critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability drain, or energy drain. Immune to damage to its physical ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution), as well as to fatigue and exhaustion effects.
  
• Immunity to any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects or is harmless).

(clipped from Online SRD)

Of course, most of those only stop things that are bad for the character.

Have you thought about a ghost character at all? You can even have Good ghosts, as there is no alignment restriction for them. As for the Why of a ghost, well, the epic spell rules list Ghost as one of the types of Undead you can create - it is concieveable that a character who couldn't bear to become an evil undead, such as a lich or a vampire, could choose the Ghost route to immortality via a spell/item/ritual.

 

[IcyCool]

The elite array is 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8. While the monster has one weakness compared to a typical member of its race, it is significantly better overall. The elite array is most appropriate for monsters who add levels in a player character class. I used it here, even though he has an NPC class, because he's the BBEG. Also, I seem to recall that a level in an NPC class doesn't equate to a whole point of CR. If that is the case, the Aristocrat might have another level or two.

So, here you go:

+2 CR for Vampire
+3 CR for Vampire Lord

Total CR: 15

Aristocrat 10:
HD: 10d12 (+10 from Vampire Lord) (75-ish?)
AC: 42 (+12 Natural, +5 Dex, +10 Armor, +5 Deflection), Touch 20, Flat-Footed 37
Speed: 30ft, Fly 50ft (Perfect)

Str: 26
Dex: 20
Con: --

Int: 18
Wis: 14
Cha: 24


BAB: +7/+2
Grapple: +15
Attack: Frostbrand (+18, 2d6+15 +1d6 cold 19-20/x2) or Slam (+15, 1d6+8 20/x2 plus energy drain)
Full Attack: Frostbrand/Frostbrand (+18/+13, 2d6+15 + 1d6 cold each)

Fort: 3 + 0 + 7 + 1 = 11
Refl: 3 + 5 + 7 + 2 + 1 = 18
Will: 7 + 2 + 7 + 2 + 1 = 19

1st - Combat Expertise
Human Bonus - Improved Trip
3rd - Power Attack
6th - Cleave (Or the feat that lets an undead use it's Charisma mod for bonus hit points (giving it +70hp)) (Does anyone know what this feat is called and where it is?)
9th - Knockdown

Feats: Vampires lords gain Alertness, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Leadership and Lightning Reflexes, assuming the base vampire meets the prerequisites and doesn’t already have these feats.

30 1st level followers
3 2nd level followers
1 3rd level follower
1 4th level follower
1 Cohort, either 8th or 13th

Treasure: Quadruple standard. (236,000) (I used the base for a 15th level NPC and quadrupled it.)

+5 Glamered Mithril Breastplate (31,700) (+5 is 25,000, Glamered is 2,700, 4,000 is mithril)
Frost Brand (54,475)
Ring of Mind Shielding (8,000)
Ring of Protection +5 (50,000)
Cloak of Displacement, Minor (24,000)
Glove of Storing (10,000)
Luckstone (20,000)
37,825 in assorted jewelry and coinage

Proficient with all Simple and Martial Weapons, all types of armor (Light, Medium, Heavy) and shields.

Skills: 100 skill points to spend, max ranks (13/6)
Cross class skills are marked with an *
Appraise (Int)
Bluff (Cha) (+8 Racial bonus)
Diplomacy (Cha) (+8 Racial bonus)
Disguise (Cha)
Forgery (Int)
Gather Information (Cha)
Handle Animal (Cha)
*Hide (Dex) (+8 Racial bonus)
Intimidate (Cha) (+8 Racial bonus)
Knowledge (All) (Int)
Listen (Wis) (+8 Racial bonus)
*Move Silently (Dex) (+8 Racial bonus)
Perform (Cha)
Ride (Dex)
*Search (Int) (+8 Racial bonus)
Sense Motive (Wis) (+12 Racial bonus)
Speak Language
Spot (Wis) (+8 Racial bonus)
Swim (Str)
Survival (Wis)

Attack: A vampire lord retains all the attacks of the base creature and also gains a slam attack if it didn’t already have one. If the base creature can use weapons, the vampire lord retains this ability. A creature with natural weapons retains those natural weapons. A vampire lord fighting without weapons uses either its slam attack or its primary natural weapon (if it has any). A vampire lord armed with a weapon uses its slam or a weapon, as it desires. (Slam 1d6)

Full Attack: A vampire lord fighting without weapons uses either its slam attack (see above) or its natural weapons (if it has any). If armed with a weapon, it usually uses the weapon as its primary attack along with a slam or other natural weapon as a natural secondary attack.

Special Abilities:
The saving throw, where applicable, is 10 + 1/2 the vampire lord's class and nonclass HD + the vampire lord's Charisma modifier, unless noted otherwise.

Blood Drain (Ex): A vampire lord can suck blood from a living victim with its fangs by making a successful grapple check. If it pins the foe, it drains blood, dealing 1d4+2 points of Constitution drain each round the pin is maintained. On each such successful attack, the vampire gains 5 temporary hit points.

Children of the Night (Su): Vampire lords command the lesser creatures of the world and once per day can call forth 1d6+1 rat swarms, 1d4+1 bat swarms, or a pack of 3d6 wolves as a standard action. (If the base creature is not terrestrial, this power might summon other creatures of similar power.) These creatures arrive in 2d6 rounds and serve the vampire lord until released. Further, the vampire lord can sense through the senses of any such commanded creatures, and communicate empathically with them, to a range of 10 miles.

Domination (Su): The vampire lord can crush an opponent's will just by looking into his or her eyes or speaking. This ability is similar to a gaze attack, except that it does not require line of sight to the target, the vampire lord must take a standard action, the range is 30 feet, and those merely looking at it are not affected. Anyone the vampire lord targets who can hear its voice when it speaks at a normal volume level must succeed at a Will save (DC 22) or fall instantly under her influence as though by a dominate person spell (caster level 12th).

Create Spawn (Su): A humanoid or monstrous humanoid slain by a vampire lord’s energy drain rises as a vampire (see the Vampire entry) 1d4 days after burial.

If the vampire lord instead drains the victim’s Constitution to 0 or lower, the victim returns as a vampire. The new vampire is under the command of the vampire lord that created it and remains enslaved until its master’s destruction, and the willpower of the vampire lord is too strong to allow it to break free of its enslavement. At any given time a vampire lord may have enslaved vampires totaling no more than twice its own Hit Dice; any vampires it creates that would exceed this limit are created as free-willed vampires. A vampire that is enslaved may create and enslave spawn of its own, so a master vampire lord can control a number of lesser vampires in this fashion. A vampire lord may voluntarily free an enslaved spawn in order to enslave a new vampire, but once freed, a vampire cannot be enslaved again.

Energy Drain (Su): Living creatures hit by a vampire lord’s slam attack (or any other natural weapon the vampire might possess) gain three negative levels. For each negative level bestowed, the vampire gains 5 temporary hit points. A vampire can use its energy drain ability once per round.

Special Qualities: A vampire retains all the special qualities of the base creature and gains those described below.

Alternate Form (Su): A vampire lord can assume the shape of any animal, as the druid ability wild shape used by a 12th-level druid. The vampire lord can use this power at will as a move-equivalent action. The vampire lord can change from one animal shape to another without having to revert to its humanoid form. This ability is similar to a polymorph spell cast by a 12th-level character, except that the vampire lord does not regain hit points for changing form. While in its alternate form, the vampire loses its natural slam attack and dominate ability, but it gains the natural weapons and extraordinary special attacks of its new form. It can remain in that form until it assumes another or until the next sunrise. (If the base creature is not terrestrial, this power might allow other forms.)

Damage Reduction (Su): A vampire lord has damage reduction 10/silver and magic. A vampire lord’s natural weapons are treated as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

Fast Healing (Ex): A vampire lord heals 8 points of damage each round so long as it has at least 1 hit point. If reduced to 0 hit points in combat, it automatically assumes gaseous form and attempts to escape. It must reach a place of rest within 24 hours or be utterly destroyed. (It can travel up to nine miles in 2 hours.) Any additional damage dealt to a vampire lord forced into gaseous form has no effect. Once at rest in one of its places of rest, a vampire lord is helpless. It regains 1 hit point after 1 hour, then is no longer helpless and resumes healing at the rate of 8 hit points per round. A vampire lord can have many places of rest prepared, since the only requirement is some soil from its homeland (the place where the base vampire was born).

Gaseous Form (Su): As a standard action, a vampire can assume gaseous form at will as the spell (caster level 5th), but it can remain gaseous indefinitely and has a fly speed of 20 feet with perfect maneuverability.

Control Weather (Sp): A vampire lord can cast either control weather or fog cloud as a 12th-level sorcerer at will.

Telekinesis (Su): A vampire lord can use telekinesis (caster level 12th) at will.

Telepathy (Su): A vampire lord can communicate telepathically with any living creature within 100 feet that has a language, and with any vampire under its direct control to a range of 1 mile.

Resistances (Ex): A vampire has resistance to cold 10 and electricity 10.

Spider Climb (Ex): A vampire can climb sheer surfaces as though with a spider climb spell.

Turn Resistance (Ex): A vampire lord has +8 turn resistance.

Undead Traits: The vampire lord is immune to poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, disease, death, effects, necromantic effects, mind-influencing effects, and any effect requiring a Fortitude save unless it also works on objects. She is not subject to critical hits, subdual damage, ability damage, ability drain, or energy drain. Negative energy heals her, and she is not at risk of death from massive damage but is destroyed at 0 hit points or less. A vampire lord has darkvision (60-foot range). She cannot be raised, and resurrection works only if she is willing.

Vampire Lord Weaknesses

Vampire lords have far fewer weaknesses than normal vampires, a benefit of their quest for power.

Vampire lords cannot be repelled by garlic or holy symbols, though they can be turned. Mere presentation of a holy symbol has no effect. They have no fear of mirrors, and they cast reflections as living beings do.

Vampire lords can cross over or through running water with no impediments. They are not harmed in any way by immersion in running water.

They are utterly unable to enter a home or other building unless invited in by someone with the authority to do so. They may freely enter public places, since these are by definition open to all.

A vampire lord is not as vulnerable to sunlight as a normal vampire, and can go about in broad daylight if it desires. Under sunlight, it takes a -4 penalty to all ability scores and on all attacks, saves, and skill checks. Also, a vampire lord in sunlight cannot use any of its supernatural powers. Victims of its domination power are not freed of the vampire lord's control during daylight hours; the vampire lord can verbally command any creature in its thrall even in direct sunlight. Spells that produce sunlight effects cannot harm a vampire lord; only direct light from the sun can weaken it. If the vampire lord is destroyed while exposed to direct sunlight, it seems to die, but unless the body is disposed of as described below, it assumes gaseous form as soon as the sun sets and attempts to return to its place of rest.

A vampire lord is not killed outright by a wooden stake driven through its heart, though the stake does cause normal damage if it can bypass the creature's damage reduction.

The only way to make sure that a vampire lord does not return is to cut its head from its body, burn the body and the head separately, scatter the ashes from the body over running water, immerse the ashes from the head in holy water, and bury the immersed ashes in consecrated ground. However, if the head ashes are ever unearthed and somehow separated from the holy water, dried thoroughly, and then subjected to an unhallow spell, the vampire lord can regenerate in a week if the ashes are placed inside one of its places of rest.

Would he be scarier as a PC class? You bet. Is he a waste of a BBEG? I don't really think so, but YMMV.

 

[Elephant]

I think that a 10th-level caster would be rather redundant considering his spell-like abilities, unless you want him to be a burn mage, which doesn't seem appropriate for him. With Dominate Person and Telepathy at will, he pretty much has as good a political spell set as he needs, Telekinesis and Control Weather are nice BBEG offense and battlefield control. Wild Shape as Druid 12 at will is excellent disguise/shapechanging, create spawn is better than any animation or creation at this level, Children of the Night is some OK summoning, and his slam that does 3 negative levels plus a ridiculous str bonus with no save or SR is better than most touch attacks at that level.

Redundant? Sure, from the perspective of "create this guy in a vacuum to fit this mold". If, however, a coherent background is desired, some spellcasting would come in handy to a politician at all stages of his career.

Thorncrest never did say if he was looking for someone who only entered politics after he grew to Vamp Lord status.

Out of curiosity, what would you suggest rather than spellcasting levels?

 

[Elephant]

(Or the feat that lets an undead use it's Charisma mod for bonus hit points (giving it +70hp)) (Does anyone know what this feat is called and where it is?)

Closest thing I can think of is Mind Over Body from Player's Guide to Faerun, which lets you use your Int or Cha to determine bonus HP at first level. You also get +1 hp every time you learn a metamagic feat and a +1 insight bonus to AC.

 

[IcyCool]

Closest thing I can think of is Mind Over Body from Player's Guide to Faerun, which lets you use your Int or Cha to determine bonus HP at first level. You also get +1 hp every time you learn a metamagic feat and a +1 insight bonus to AC.

I think this one is in Libris Mortis, though I can't find it for the life of me. Does anyone know which feat I'm talking about?