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Vampire: Past the Masquerade, How Not to Suck
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<blockquote data-quote="MwaO" data-source="post: 6927505" data-attributes="member: 12749"><p><strong>Power Source & Role</strong></p><p></p><p>Shadow & Striker</p><p></p><p>Class Features:</p><p><strong>Hit Points</strong> Standard Striker fare</p><p><span style="color: #FF0000"><strong>Surges</strong></span> - Yuck. But see Blood is Life+Child of the Night+Blood Drinker.</p><p><span style="color: #FF9900"><strong>Child of the Night</strong></span> - Regen, Vuln Radiant, Resist Necro. Hint: Wear a cloak at all times.</p><p><span style="color: #FF9900"><strong>Blood is Life</strong></span> - take a surge from a party member after regenerating to just above bloodied during a 5 minute aka 50 round short rest? Have one too many surges from Blood Drinker? Heal to full hp. Extremely efficient.</p><p></p><p>[sblock=Vampire Toughness]</p><p>Kind of just to spell out Vampire Toughness:</p><p>Suppose as an example, you're in a really rough combat. You get knocked unconscious, healed, then knocked unconscious again, then healed back to consciousness.</p><p></p><p>As it turns out, you're in a hurry, so there's only time for one short rest and the leader of the party needs to preserve their heals for the next combat. So you're now reliant to heal thyself.</p><p></p><p>-----</p><p></p><p>That scenario often happens to the striker of a party. Let's pretend this happens to a Rogue - he was healed twice in the combat and is probably near 1/4 hp. So to heal to full, he needs to spend 3 more surges for a total of 5. That means he has 2 surges for the rest of the day if he had a 12 Con or he's going into the next combat down hit points with 3 surges. Total Party Surge cost? 5.</p><p></p><p>Vampire at say 7th? That regeneration in combat maybe means he doesn't go unconscious, but let's say he does anyway. A short rest is the equivalent of 50 rounds - 50 rounds where the Vampire can regenerate. He regenerates to just a hair above bloodied. He uses the two surges he gained from Blood Drinker to keep himself at full surges. He takes a healing surge from someone else in the party and heals all the way to full. At 11th with Vampire Noble, he doesn't even need the one from the party. Total Party Surge cost? 1 or 0.</p><p></p><p>In that one combat, the Vampire managed to effectively gain +4 surges. That's almost a worst case scenario for any striker - in other words, to really truly take down the Vampire for the day, you have to either kill it dead, wipe the party for the day, or have the Vampire in a scenario where the players are too squeamish for him to drain surges, yet have enough healing to heal him more times than he gains surges.</p><p></p><p>And that's where the Vampire reputation for being fragile comes from - levels 1-6, the Vampire generates less surges than the Leader has heals while potentially being in a party where he can't ask for an extra healing surge...even though if he gets the healing surge, that's a fantastic use of party resources as it meant the DM spent a lot of effort to knock down the party a total of 2 surges for all the damage inflicted on the Vampire...[/sblock]</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #0000FF">Hidden Might</span></strong> - Vampire extra damage mechanic. Starts off strong, but because linked to Vampire, loses some punch when at higher levels.</p><p><strong><span style="color: #0000FF">Vampiric Reflexes</span></strong> - Rogue AC</p><p><strong>Nightcrawler</strong> - Level 8, get a climb speed. Useful enough</p><p><strong>Enduring Reserves</strong> - Level 13, get a 3rd surge. By this time, you ought to be typically gaining 2-3 surges per combat at a minimum, so this is more for stopping unusual skill challenges.</p><p>[B}Vital Consumption[/B] - as most of these options that could trigger this are on the bad side, something of a trap. Might give a small edge if you have too many healing surges, though.</p><p><strong><span style="color: #0000FF">Energized Blood Drinker</span></strong> - Vampires get really, really hard to hurt at this point.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Strength</strong> - there are a number of useful multiclass feats that require a 13 Strength. If you intend to power swap for Str-based powers, you'll want a 16, maybe even an 18.</p><p>Recommended Starting Score: 8-13, possibly 16-18</p><p></p><p></p><p><span style="color: #FF0000"><strong>Constitution</strong></span> - You don't get surges from a higher Constitution score. Maybe, just maybe you put an 11 in it for hp? Most of the time though, this is begging for one of the two 'set your hp to your highest stat' backgrounds - so do that.</p><p>Recommended Starting Score: 8-11</p><p></p><p></p><p><span style="color: #FF9900"><strong>Dexterity</strong></span> - This is your main stat. Most builds can even justify starting with a pre-racial 18. Boost it every chance you get. In addition, most Vampire Charisma powers have a built-in +2 to hit, so if you pick a Dex/Cha race, you'll end up with the same basic to-hit score with all your stats.</p><p>Recommended Starting Score: 18-20</p><p></p><p></p><p><span style="color: #800080"><strong>Intelligence</strong></span> - Generally not much use for it - you're not getting the defense for it because of Dexterity.</p><p>Recommended Starting Score: 8-12, before racial adjustments.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Wisdom</strong> - Useful for specific MC feats. Otherwise, not particularly useful unless you're some sort of Dex/Wis build.</p><p>Recommended Starting Score: 8-13</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #0000FF">Charisma</span></strong> - the strong secondary of Vampires. Absolute minimum is 12 Charisma as otherwise, you don't regenerate and that would be very sad.</p><p>Recommended Starting Score: 12-16, maybe an 18 on certain MC builds.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Recommended Arrays</p><p></p><p>18, 14, 11, 10, 10, 8: Most conventional Vampire builds can safely take this. Dex-Cha</p><p></p><p>16, 16, 13, 11, 10, 8: Builds that need an immediate MC option with the tertiary stat, yet want the pre-racial 16 for the secondary one.</p><p></p><p>16, 16, 12, 12, 10, 8: Builds that post-racial and in Paragon, want a 15 in Wisdom, but a 12 in Charisma at 1st level.</p><p></p><p></p><p><u><strong>Skills </strong></u></p><p>In general, you want to train skills that maximize your skill power options. Vampires don't naturally get a lot of immediate action options, so skill powers that provide this are really strong.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #0000FF">Acrobatics</span></strong>- This is a useful skill that you will already be good at. Tumbling Dodge a very strong Skill Power at level 6 as is Reflexive Dodge at level 16.</p><p><span style="color: #800080"><strong>Arcana</strong></span> - not likely to have a great Intelligence Stat, but Insightful Warning is a solid Skill Power 6. The builds likely to really want Arcana likely have it from a Multiclass feat aka Sorcerer.</p><p><strong>Athletics</strong> - This helps with mobility, and therefore is useful. While Strength isn't likely to be higher than 13, Strength of Blood at level 4 tends to make the Vampire pretty good at this once per encounter.</p><p><strong><span style="color: #0000FF">Bluff</span></strong> "Um, really, this draining blood thing? I'm a variant on Artificer?" Good skill to have. Stall Tactics at level 10 is a Daily, but strong 'hey, we go first' power on a boss encounter.</p><p><span style="color: #0000FF"><strong>Diplomacy</strong> <span style="color: #00CCFF"><span style="color: #000000">-</span> </span></span>Good skill for talking things through. Cry for Mercy a strong level 10 Skill Power. Noble Sacrifice is a tricky to implement level 10 for a Vampire, but good if you can do consistently. Indomitable Ally a good 'hey, you're not really dying...'</p><p><span style="color: #800080"><strong>History</strong></span> - Yeah, not great</p><p><span style="color: #0000FF"><strong>Intimidate</strong> </span>- Skill that occasionally backfires, but good stat. Snap Out of It good Leaderish 10.</p><p><span style="color: #0000FF"><strong>Perception</strong></span>- Not necessarily even a tertiary stat, but useful to have. Guided Shot a good Leaderish Utility 6. Perfect Sight a great corner case utility.</p><p><strong><span style="color: #800080">Religion</span></strong>- It's based on a dump stat. However, some builds may have a use for it. Builds that really want it likely to already have it via multiclass feat into Paladin. If you have too many surges, and many Vampires will, Deliverance of Faith is an awesome skill power that you use out of combat. It then lasts until your next short rest - start every combat with more hit points than everyone else.</p><p><strong><span style="color: #0000FF">Stealth</span></strong> - If you train in it, you'll be as good as the Rogue. A couple decent skill powers, nothing crazy though.</p><p><strong><span style="color: #0000FF">Thievery</span></strong> - Train this, perception and stealth and you are the trap monkey, although you won't be great at Perception. However, it's used less in skill challenges that you might think.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="MwaO, post: 6927505, member: 12749"] [b]Power Source & Role[/b] Shadow & Striker Class Features: [b]Hit Points[/b] Standard Striker fare [COLOR=#FF0000][b]Surges[/B][/COLOR] - Yuck. But see Blood is Life+Child of the Night+Blood Drinker. [COLOR=#FF9900][B]Child of the Night[/B][/COLOR] - Regen, Vuln Radiant, Resist Necro. Hint: Wear a cloak at all times. [COLOR=#FF9900][B]Blood is Life[/B][/COLOR] - take a surge from a party member after regenerating to just above bloodied during a 5 minute aka 50 round short rest? Have one too many surges from Blood Drinker? Heal to full hp. Extremely efficient. [sblock=Vampire Toughness] Kind of just to spell out Vampire Toughness: Suppose as an example, you're in a really rough combat. You get knocked unconscious, healed, then knocked unconscious again, then healed back to consciousness. As it turns out, you're in a hurry, so there's only time for one short rest and the leader of the party needs to preserve their heals for the next combat. So you're now reliant to heal thyself. ----- That scenario often happens to the striker of a party. Let's pretend this happens to a Rogue - he was healed twice in the combat and is probably near 1/4 hp. So to heal to full, he needs to spend 3 more surges for a total of 5. That means he has 2 surges for the rest of the day if he had a 12 Con or he's going into the next combat down hit points with 3 surges. Total Party Surge cost? 5. Vampire at say 7th? That regeneration in combat maybe means he doesn't go unconscious, but let's say he does anyway. A short rest is the equivalent of 50 rounds - 50 rounds where the Vampire can regenerate. He regenerates to just a hair above bloodied. He uses the two surges he gained from Blood Drinker to keep himself at full surges. He takes a healing surge from someone else in the party and heals all the way to full. At 11th with Vampire Noble, he doesn't even need the one from the party. Total Party Surge cost? 1 or 0. In that one combat, the Vampire managed to effectively gain +4 surges. That's almost a worst case scenario for any striker - in other words, to really truly take down the Vampire for the day, you have to either kill it dead, wipe the party for the day, or have the Vampire in a scenario where the players are too squeamish for him to drain surges, yet have enough healing to heal him more times than he gains surges. And that's where the Vampire reputation for being fragile comes from - levels 1-6, the Vampire generates less surges than the Leader has heals while potentially being in a party where he can't ask for an extra healing surge...even though if he gets the healing surge, that's a fantastic use of party resources as it meant the DM spent a lot of effort to knock down the party a total of 2 surges for all the damage inflicted on the Vampire...[/sblock] [B][COLOR=#0000FF]Hidden Might[/COLOR][/B][COLOR=#0000FF][/COLOR] - Vampire extra damage mechanic. Starts off strong, but because linked to Vampire, loses some punch when at higher levels. [B][COLOR=#0000FF]Vampiric Reflexes[/COLOR][/B][COLOR=#0000FF][/COLOR] - Rogue AC [B]Nightcrawler[/B] - Level 8, get a climb speed. Useful enough [B]Enduring Reserves[/b] - Level 13, get a 3rd surge. By this time, you ought to be typically gaining 2-3 surges per combat at a minimum, so this is more for stopping unusual skill challenges. [B}Vital Consumption[/B] - as most of these options that could trigger this are on the bad side, something of a trap. Might give a small edge if you have too many healing surges, though. [B][COLOR=#0000FF]Energized Blood Drinker[/COLOR][/B][COLOR=#0000FF][/COLOR] - Vampires get really, really hard to hurt at this point. [B]Strength[/B] - there are a number of useful multiclass feats that require a 13 Strength. If you intend to power swap for Str-based powers, you'll want a 16, maybe even an 18. Recommended Starting Score: 8-13, possibly 16-18 [COLOR=#FF0000][B]Constitution[/B][/COLOR] - You don't get surges from a higher Constitution score. Maybe, just maybe you put an 11 in it for hp? Most of the time though, this is begging for one of the two 'set your hp to your highest stat' backgrounds - so do that. Recommended Starting Score: 8-11 [COLOR=#FF9900][B]Dexterity[/B][/COLOR] - This is your main stat. Most builds can even justify starting with a pre-racial 18. Boost it every chance you get. In addition, most Vampire Charisma powers have a built-in +2 to hit, so if you pick a Dex/Cha race, you'll end up with the same basic to-hit score with all your stats. Recommended Starting Score: 18-20 [COLOR=#800080][B]Intelligence[/B][/COLOR] - Generally not much use for it - you're not getting the defense for it because of Dexterity. Recommended Starting Score: 8-12, before racial adjustments. [B]Wisdom[/B] - Useful for specific MC feats. Otherwise, not particularly useful unless you're some sort of Dex/Wis build. Recommended Starting Score: 8-13 [B][COLOR=#0000FF]Charisma[/COLOR][/B][COLOR=#0000FF][/COLOR] - the strong secondary of Vampires. Absolute minimum is 12 Charisma as otherwise, you don't regenerate and that would be very sad. Recommended Starting Score: 12-16, maybe an 18 on certain MC builds. Recommended Arrays 18, 14, 11, 10, 10, 8: Most conventional Vampire builds can safely take this. Dex-Cha 16, 16, 13, 11, 10, 8: Builds that need an immediate MC option with the tertiary stat, yet want the pre-racial 16 for the secondary one. 16, 16, 12, 12, 10, 8: Builds that post-racial and in Paragon, want a 15 in Wisdom, but a 12 in Charisma at 1st level. [U][B]Skills [/B][/U] In general, you want to train skills that maximize your skill power options. Vampires don't naturally get a lot of immediate action options, so skill powers that provide this are really strong. [B][COLOR=#0000FF]Acrobatics[/COLOR][/B]- This is a useful skill that you will already be good at. Tumbling Dodge a very strong Skill Power at level 6 as is Reflexive Dodge at level 16. [COLOR=#800080][B]Arcana[/B][/COLOR] - not likely to have a great Intelligence Stat, but Insightful Warning is a solid Skill Power 6. The builds likely to really want Arcana likely have it from a Multiclass feat aka Sorcerer. [B]Athletics[/B] - This helps with mobility, and therefore is useful. While Strength isn't likely to be higher than 13, Strength of Blood at level 4 tends to make the Vampire pretty good at this once per encounter. [B][COLOR=#0000FF]Bluff[/COLOR][/B] "Um, really, this draining blood thing? I'm a variant on Artificer?" Good skill to have. Stall Tactics at level 10 is a Daily, but strong 'hey, we go first' power on a boss encounter. [COLOR=#0000FF][B]Diplomacy[/B] [COLOR=#00CCFF][COLOR=#000000]-[/COLOR] [/COLOR][/COLOR]Good skill for talking things through. Cry for Mercy a strong level 10 Skill Power. Noble Sacrifice is a tricky to implement level 10 for a Vampire, but good if you can do consistently. Indomitable Ally a good 'hey, you're not really dying...' [COLOR=#800080][B]History[/B][/COLOR] - Yeah, not great [COLOR=#0000FF][B]Intimidate[/B] [/COLOR]- Skill that occasionally backfires, but good stat. Snap Out of It good Leaderish 10. [COLOR=#0000FF][B]Perception[/B][/COLOR]- Not necessarily even a tertiary stat, but useful to have. Guided Shot a good Leaderish Utility 6. Perfect Sight a great corner case utility. [B][COLOR=#800080]Religion[/COLOR][/B]- It's based on a dump stat. However, some builds may have a use for it. Builds that really want it likely to already have it via multiclass feat into Paladin. If you have too many surges, and many Vampires will, Deliverance of Faith is an awesome skill power that you use out of combat. It then lasts until your next short rest - start every combat with more hit points than everyone else. [B][COLOR=#0000FF]Stealth[/COLOR][/B] - If you train in it, you'll be as good as the Rogue. A couple decent skill powers, nothing crazy though. [B][COLOR=#0000FF]Thievery[/COLOR][/B] - Train this, perception and stealth and you are the trap monkey, although you won't be great at Perception. However, it's used less in skill challenges that you might think. [/QUOTE]
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