Hella_Tellah said:
These problems aren't insurmountable with well-designed mechanics. The whole point of my original post was that, in 3.X, they are effectively insurmountable, and 4e should rework those monsters so they don't break the game if a PC gets bitten. Do you have any suggestions for how that might be accomplished? The option already exists in the core rules of D&D 3.X, and I propose that those rules should be improved for 4th edition. There are plenty of people advocating their complete removal; is that what you propose?
The Paragon Path / Prestige Class / Monstrous Progression method is most definitely the way to go with acquired templates for players. But let's confront some other potential issues with vampiric player characters - and some way to solve them - by examining the distinguishing traits of vampires.
Aversion to Holy Symbols - Allied turning is definitely an issue. Most player clerics turn undead, which creates problems if an unfortunate priest's ally is afflicted with vampirism. Should the vampiric adventurer find himself unable to overcome his companion's ill-advised turning attempt, he'll either take holy damage, cower in fear, or flee in terror - perhaps right towards the enemy undead the cleric was attempting to ward off in the first place. This issue can be resolved through careful timing and communication. For instance, perhaps the vampire could turn into his bat form and fly out of range before the power activates, or at least position himself in the manner least likely cause significant injury, carefully avoiding hazards like enemies, traps, and cliffs.
While vampire characters could potentially have abilities to temporarily augment their natural resistance to turning, this would also apply to vampire opponents as well, and as such, be ill advised, as it would spoil clerics' fun.
Being Amongst the Living Dead - Previous editions had a karma-like fiasco where living things were animated by "positive" (Jedi) energy, while aberrant undead were fueled by "negative" (Sith) energy. This made very little sense, since our closest analogue in real life - matter and anti-matter - dictates that undead would explode if they touched anything. We should hope then, that all spells related to this positive / negative malarchy have been scrapped. Instead, powers that affect undead do so because they're unholy affronts to the natural order, not because they're a member of the Confucian version of the Jets or Sharks. By that same token, healing spells should heal anything that has a vaguely organic physiology. Since vampires are, for all intents and purposes, physiologically normal - aside from a distinct lack of digestive, respiratory, and cardiovascular activity, and a whole boatload of unexplainable supernatural abilities - we should give them the benefit of the doubt and say their broken bones and injured moral aren't that different from anyone else's.
Extreme Aversion to Sunlight - Many things in Dungeons & Dragons aren't fond of Mr. Sun. Everyone ignores this fact though, so it's cool. Orc skirmishers ambush your party regardless of the hour of day, as if they were the raider equivalent of Bagel Bites. Your typical Drow adventurer would have a tan if their skin could get any darker. You can't pull that s**t with vampires. Everyone and their grandma knows direct sunlight is what vampires fear most, especially if their grandma is Eastern European. The easiest solution to this problem is having the brilliant light dawn not outright vaporize the unfortunate undead, but instead place immense strain upon the profane mechanism that fuels them, forcing them to feed sooner than they otherwise would. Entirely faithful to the mythos? Hardly. Significantly less annoying? Certainly.
EDIT: To be continued later, due to length and sleep.
