Vampire Question

[LordBOB]

Just out of curiosity, LordBOB, you never stated if the game was a Ravenloft game or not. Is it? You've got the right idea about paladins. They are supposed to get rid of evil, but it doesn't always have to be by the end of a blade. Redemption is always harder than violence and the reward should be greater too. If you can get the half-vamp to do good, that would be great and could make for an interesting campaign. Just keep in mind the consequences of that half-vamp having to feed.

honestly I dont know what rules my DM is following at the moment. It is mostly a home-brew game for the moment with some ideas from scattered places and such

 

[Hawken]

No, but I do know that you sound like paladins are all but unplayable in your game.

Again with your assumptions. Is that a hobby of yours or a compulsion?

So, when a foe is defeated and is wielding a magical sword, your paladin forces the party to leave it with the body? Same for all the rest of the gear? Like I said - sounds like you make paladins unplayable.

More assumptions. Must be a compulsion. Make all the assumptions you want, it really does make an ASS out of U, not ME. I don't have to defend myself against your assumptions on my games. You can guess all you want, make more assumptions and whatever. But you're never going to have the chance to experience it, so why keep mouthing off? I have and have had players run paladins in my game and they have always done a great job of it and had a great time as well!

Further: The paladin has only a few options - especially when running with your "vampires must eat people" line.
1) The vampire is allowed to feed on fallen foes.
2) The vampire doesn't feed on fallen foes, goes crazy and feeds on just anyone.
3) The vampire is killed despite being non-evil

As far as I can see, all three of those are going against the paladin's code.

It's not my "vampires must eat people" line. You're the one that came up with that. Take credit for your own fallacies and don't try passing them off as others' ideas. LordBOB several posts back stated it was a half-vampire, not a "full blooded" vampire. So, try to present scenarios in line with the current situation. Dhampir do not HAVE to feed to survive. They lose their supernatural abilities if they don't, but they don't weaken or go crazy. So with those guidelines, a paladin could get along with a LN Dhampir, unlike with a Vampire.

I think any DM who looks to force the paladin to commit code infractions is being a complete jerk.

So do I.

Doing so usually requires the DM to be really loose with the definition of what counts as an infraction. That's what I see you doing with "draining blood is torture, so it's evil" + "drinking blood of a fallen foe is desecration, so it's evil" + "you must drink the blood of a humanoid".

Hey! You're finally getting it! Those are the reasons WHY a paladin doesn't work with a Vampire! That's why a paladin that does work with a Vampire and let's (and by "let's", I mean not making the Vamp answer for its actions sooner or later) a Vampire feed on someone isn't going to be a paladin much longer! Good job! You finally clued in!

I honestly don't see how you could not come to the conclusion that any paladin must be a pacifist vegetarian if your definition of evil is quite so broad.

Maybe you should join the Olympic track team where you're at. You're so good at jumping to conclusions, I don't think anyone could out jump you!

Torture is an evil act. Desecrating/mutilating corpses is an evil act. Drinking people's blood, straight from the vein/artery is an act that follows an assault on someone else, which is also a crime (and thus an evil act). None of these have to do with being vegetarian or being a pacifist. So, I don't really see how you jumped to this conclusion. Are you taking my comments out of context again to try to justify your own faulty ideas? I bet that's how you thought this up! No paladin should or would condone any of those three acts. And if you think a paladin should, then maybe you need to rethink your idea of just what a paladin is and what they're supposed to stand for!

 

[ken-ichi]

What if the vampire just finds people who are willing to feed him?
There are a lot of weird people out there and some would be gung ho on being chosen or asked to feed a vampire.
Would drinking the blood of a willing person be evil if you made sure that you would not kill them?

It might be very hard for a paladin to fully trust a non-evil vampire that does something like this, because one slip and it could be a short slid to evil, but that would not stop the paladin from associating with the vampire. The paladin would probably even stick close to the vampire as a precaution incase something ever goes wrong.

 

[Jack Simth]

None of these have to do with being vegetarian or being a pacifist. So, I don't really see how you jumped to this conclusion. Are you taking my comments out of context again to try to justify your own faulty ideas?

I can't be certain, but I suspect he got the "vegetarian" bit from:

[...]but the first time he takes blood from some person or animal, he's just committed an evil act by intentionally inflicting harm on someone else[...]

(empahsis added)
So let's see... you can't intentionally inflict harm on someone else (that's evil) .... that includes animals... and what, exactly is slaughtering a cow if not inflicting harm on the cow?

This may not be the intended interpertaion of your words, but such an interpertation isn't difficult to reach. I suspect similar could exist for Pacifist; I haven't looked that closely. I wouldn't exactly call it a major jump to reach such a conclusion.

 

[LordBOB]

it seems like we have a few mixed points about how this matter should be handled. Everyone here has made a good point and ill take all of them into consideration when we play Tomorrow ( tuesday ). If the new player is introduced tomorrow ill update you with what happens and what I do.

HAVE A NICE DAY!!!!

 

[Staffan]

Where does it say all undead detect as evil?
a lawful good ghost detects as evil?

Yes. The detect evil spell has entries for the aura strength of these categories: "evil creature", "undead", "evil outsider", "cleric of evil deity", and "evil magic item or spell". Note the lack of the "evil" qualifier on "undead." Just like a LN cleric of Hextor (LE) will detect as evil, so will a good ghost.

 

[werk]

the Campaign Im playing in is about to introduce a Vampire into the Party. Some how this Vampire is LN ( yes i said LN) HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE??

The SRD vampire says:
Alignment
Always evil (any).
-(and)-
Vampire Characters
Vampires are always evil
(gives restrictions regarding this)

So you shouldn't have a LN vampire if playing RAW, and it looks like they went out of their way to explain that they must be evil.

Nothing about them needing rest or anything. http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/vampire.htm
I wouldn't allow a cloak and sunglasses, not effective enough.

 

[Ovinomancer]

The SRD vampire says:
Alignment
Always evil (any).
-(and)-
Vampire Characters
Vampires are always evil
(gives restrictions regarding this)

So you shouldn't have a LN vampire if playing RAW, and it looks like they went out of their way to explain that they must be evil.

While I can't find it in the SRD, the glossary of the monster manual has this to say about alignment:

Alignment: This line in a monster entry gives the alignment that the creature is most likely to have. Every entry includes a qualifier that indicates how broadly that alignment applies to all monsters of that kind.
Always: The creature is born with the indicated alignment. The creature may have a hereditary predisposition to the alignment or come from a plane that predetermines it. It is possible for individuals to change alignment, but such individuals are either unique or rare exceptions. ...

The emphasis on the last line is mine.

 

[werk]

This is not in the monster entry, it is in the template, and specifically in the Vampires as Characters section.

I provided a link in my previous post, no need to search.

I believe this to be part of the problem with this character. Everyone is treating him like he is a D&D vampire but the character concept is very different from that. (Blade/WoD)

 

[Voadam]

The SRD/MM never really talk about it, but according to myth Vampires had to rest for the daylight hours in their coffins, drink blood every now and then and did not "Slam" their enemies.

I am playing a Vampire in a D&D game and was wondering, any idea on such rules? Any house rules or suggestions. If you need a reference I was aiming for an Anne Rice style vampire.

There are lots of variant vampire templates and monsters.

I like the Kingdom of Kalamar variant ones (Harvest of Darkness I think) that drink blood but don't have the energy drain slams. Not that strong an anne rice version though.

The ravenloft monster book has lots of variants as does out for blood from Bastion press that might be worth checking out if you want differences from the MM version.