Hella_Tellah
Explorer
Vampires took a heap of conceptual abuse in 3.X. Vampirism should be an affliction that a PC can stand a reasonable chance of contracting if they tangle with afflicted beasties, and the mechanics of vampires should reflect that. The actual practice of applying the template to infected PCs, however, falls absolutely flat, producing unbalanced PCs and derailing the game to a significant degree.
The Problem
How can a PC become infected with vampirism in 3.5? If a vampire drains his constitution to 0 with its Blood Drain ability, one of two things happens. If the PC has 4 or fewer hit dice, he becomes a vampire spawn, an intelligent, undead creature without a listed Level Adjustment. If the PC has 5 or more hit dice, he becomes a proper vampire, with a Level Adjustment of +8. In either case, he is said to be under the control of the vampire, unless the vampire already has twice its own hit dice in spawn. In practice, this means that the PC is either turned into an NPC or granted a fantastic and bizarre sweet of abilities worth (as far as the designers are concerned) class levels, with no increase in hit dice. The template comes with a gaseous form ability to keep the infected vampire from utter destruction in every battle, but falling eight hit dice behind the rest of the party tends to turn any vampire PC, regardless of class, into a stealth-focused controller of a cadre of thralls. Unless he immediately loses eight class levels, a new PC vampire becomes, far and away, the most powerful member of the group, and gains little to no experience for more than a month of gaming sessions, while his companions catch up to him.
The Solution
How should vampirism spread? Divorced from mechanics, a new vampire should take on some iconic qualities that alter the character to a significant degree. They should need to rest in a coffin at night, tremble in fear at the power of good-aligned gods, and become physically stronger and more resilient. Powerful vampires should be able to tap into their unholy essence to produce powerful supernatural effects, dominating the weak-minded, turning into bats and wolves, dissipating into mist and taking flight.
In 4th edition, a PC should take on the aspects of a vampire in stages. Initially, the vampire becomes stronger and more resilient, but addicted to the blood of the living and vulnerable to sunlight and holy power. These changes should be balaced against one another as a +0 template in 3.X would be. They should be noticable, but minor enough that they don't replace a PC's core function in the group: a vampire wizard remains a controller, a vampire fighter remains a defender, and so on. From there, the afflicted PC should have the option of pursuing the expansion of his abilities as a vampire as he would take levels in a class. The curse of vampirism opens up to the PC the option of taking levels in a vampire class, each level granting him supernatural abilities and, importantly, hit dice. Dominating mortal minds, commanding the creatures of the night, and transforming into useful animal forms should be the result of a vampire's diligence in focusing on the nature of undeath.
Similar methods should be used for all the iconic templates of D&D. Lycanthropes should learn control and enhanced beastial attributes over their level progression. Ghosts should gain increased influence over the affairs of mortals. Liches should unlock the secrets of control over the forces of life and death, leading at first small bands and then whole armies of undead minions.
tl;dr: Turn templates into prestige classes.
Your thoughts? How would you reform templated creatures in D&D?
The Problem
How can a PC become infected with vampirism in 3.5? If a vampire drains his constitution to 0 with its Blood Drain ability, one of two things happens. If the PC has 4 or fewer hit dice, he becomes a vampire spawn, an intelligent, undead creature without a listed Level Adjustment. If the PC has 5 or more hit dice, he becomes a proper vampire, with a Level Adjustment of +8. In either case, he is said to be under the control of the vampire, unless the vampire already has twice its own hit dice in spawn. In practice, this means that the PC is either turned into an NPC or granted a fantastic and bizarre sweet of abilities worth (as far as the designers are concerned) class levels, with no increase in hit dice. The template comes with a gaseous form ability to keep the infected vampire from utter destruction in every battle, but falling eight hit dice behind the rest of the party tends to turn any vampire PC, regardless of class, into a stealth-focused controller of a cadre of thralls. Unless he immediately loses eight class levels, a new PC vampire becomes, far and away, the most powerful member of the group, and gains little to no experience for more than a month of gaming sessions, while his companions catch up to him.
The Solution
How should vampirism spread? Divorced from mechanics, a new vampire should take on some iconic qualities that alter the character to a significant degree. They should need to rest in a coffin at night, tremble in fear at the power of good-aligned gods, and become physically stronger and more resilient. Powerful vampires should be able to tap into their unholy essence to produce powerful supernatural effects, dominating the weak-minded, turning into bats and wolves, dissipating into mist and taking flight.
In 4th edition, a PC should take on the aspects of a vampire in stages. Initially, the vampire becomes stronger and more resilient, but addicted to the blood of the living and vulnerable to sunlight and holy power. These changes should be balaced against one another as a +0 template in 3.X would be. They should be noticable, but minor enough that they don't replace a PC's core function in the group: a vampire wizard remains a controller, a vampire fighter remains a defender, and so on. From there, the afflicted PC should have the option of pursuing the expansion of his abilities as a vampire as he would take levels in a class. The curse of vampirism opens up to the PC the option of taking levels in a vampire class, each level granting him supernatural abilities and, importantly, hit dice. Dominating mortal minds, commanding the creatures of the night, and transforming into useful animal forms should be the result of a vampire's diligence in focusing on the nature of undeath.
Similar methods should be used for all the iconic templates of D&D. Lycanthropes should learn control and enhanced beastial attributes over their level progression. Ghosts should gain increased influence over the affairs of mortals. Liches should unlock the secrets of control over the forces of life and death, leading at first small bands and then whole armies of undead minions.
tl;dr: Turn templates into prestige classes.
Your thoughts? How would you reform templated creatures in D&D?
