Cheiromancer said:
I echo Dagredhel- tell us more about these mystic benefits!
Hmm...well, I know that you were asking Al the Absentminded, but your comment sparked something in my brain and I had this furious need to toss in my opinion.
How about this?
First, make some changes to the Vampire template, to make a more PC-friendly version of vampire (allowing my players to play undead characters, especially the vampire as written in the SRD, would be far too unbalancing for my campaign.) Something like this (which I just hammered out on the fly, without any thought for balance or structure, and which probably needs adjustment by people more knowledgeable of game mechanics than I):
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- Type, Size, Hit Dice, and Armor Class are same as base creature. (or maybe Monstrous Humanoid?)
- Attack, full attack, and damage: base creature gains the vampire's slam attack, but not the energy drain.
- Special attacks: the vampire gains only the Blood Drain ability.
- Special qualities: the base creature gains darkvision 120', blood thirst, and the drow's Light Blindness trait only.
- Abilities: Str +2, Dex +2, Cha +2.
- Skills: +2 racial bonus on Bluff, Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Search, Sense Motive, and Spot
- Feats: the base creature gains Alertness as a bonus feat
- Environment, organization, treasure, alignment, and advancement are all the same as the base creature. Vampires who are good in alignment are sensitive to unholy symbols and unholy water. Vampires who are evil in alignment, or are neutral with respect to good and evil, are sensitive to holy symbols and holy water (see below).
- CR = base creature +2
- Level Adjustment: +2
- Weaknesses: garlic nauseates them (10' range), silver items and (un)holy symbols burn their skin (as if affected by a permanent
heat metal spell, and (un)holy water deals damage equivalent to acid (1d6, splash 1). All other vampire weaknesses are omitted.
Blood Drain (Ex): A vampire can suck blood from a living victim with its fangs by making a successful grapple check. If it pins the foe, it drinks blood, dealing 1 point of Constitution damage each round the pin is maintained. For each point of Constitution drained, the vampire gains 5 temporary hit points. Lost Constitution returns at the rate of 1 point per day.
Blood Thirst (Ex): Vampires do not eat, but derive their sustainence from the blood of the living. A vampire must drink a number of points of Constitution equivalent to one-half his Hit Dice each day, or begin to suffer the effects of starvation as written in the SRD.
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Once you have a PC-playable version of the vampire template created, you could create a series of feats that do other nifty things when blood is consumed, called "Vampiric" feats or something like that. Some examples (which I have just created off the top of my head, and are probably in serious need of balancing):
Vampiric Regeneration [Vampiric]
Prerequisite: Vampire, base Fortitude save +4
Benefit: you gain Fast Healing 5 for 1 minute following a successful Blood Drain attack.
Blood Hunter [Vampiric]
Prerequisite: Vampire, base attack +6
Benefit: you gain a +2 bonus on damage rolls, and a +2 bonus on Bluff, Listen, Sense Motive, Spot, and Survival checks when using these skills against a living creature whose blood you have tasted within the last 24 hours. If you are also a ranger, these bonuses stack with your Favored Enemy bonuses when applicable.
Vampiric Resistance [Vampiric]
Prerequisite: Vampire, base Fortitude save +4
Benefit: you gain a +2 bonus to all save throws when using your Blood Drain attack. The benefits of this ability last for 1 minute per point of Constitution damage dealt.
Blood Caster [Vampiric]
Prerequisite: Vampire, Spell Focus [Necromancy], caster level 5
Benefit: If you drain 5 or more points of Constitution with your Blood Drain ability, you gain a +1 bonus to the save DC of your Necromancy spells for the remainder of the day. This bonus stacks with the bonus granted by the Spell Focus and Greater Spell Focus feats.
Voice of the Night [Vampiric]
Prerequisite: Vampire, bardic music ability, base Will save +4
Benefit: If you deal 5 or more points of Constitution damage with your Blood Drain attack, you gain one extra use of your bardic music for the day.
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Is this what you had in mind?