I Need Help! Making a Vampire Class!

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Rucht Lilavivat
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I Need Help! Making a Vampire Class!

Post by Rucht Lilavivat »

So, I'm running a solo campaign for a client of mine, and she proposed making a character that is a vampire.

Back in the day, I would have said no way - because the prevailing thought was that this would be "too powerful". But this is a solo game, mind you, so we needn't worry about one character outshining the others. So, I have strongly considered making a vampire class that her character can take levels in. The premise of the campaign would be that she starts with one level in the class, but there would be enticements to take more levels in that class...pushing her further down the dark path.

There are already a number of pretty compelling vampire classes for 5e out there on the web, some great - some not so good. But ultimately, I wanted something that was very Ravenloft. Meaning, something that was about that constant temptation for power.

So, for each level of the class, the vampire will get more and new weaknesses. I don't want to dump a ton of information on you all, so what do you think about this ladder of vampire weaknesses (so far) as levels progress?

Vampire Weaknesses
You are no longer a being of the natural world. As you advance in level in this class, you will gain power from the Negative Energy Plane, but you will also begin to suffer more and more penalties as the natural world rebels against you. At first, the detriments against you are minor, but as you grow in power, the world will take more notice of you can turn its will against yours. Eventually, despite all of a vampire’s might…nature wins in the end. Nature always wins.

The following weaknesses apply to your character advances in level:
• 1st level: As an undead being, you can no longer benefit from healing magic of any kind. Instead, Cause Wounds spells can be used on you for healing. You cannot naturally heal (such as through a long rest or the use of hit dice) unless it accompanies the drinking of blood. Also, you cannot sleep or take a long rest unless it is upon soil from your homeland. Not sleeping continuously can make your character gain levels of exhaustion.
• 2nd level: You cannot enter a domicile unless expressly invited by someone occupying it. Also, the smell of food is repulsive to you. You also cannot eat food or drink anything besides blood. Doing so makes you violently ill and stunned for one round.
• 3rd level: Animals no longer trust you. No natural animal will approach you of its own volition. All Animal Handling checks you make are at disadvantage as are any other checks having to do with animals. The only animals that will approach you now are those that you summon with your Children of the Night ability. Needless to say, riding a normal horse is now impossible for you, though riding a carriage is still a viable option.
• 4th level: Daylight now irritates you. If you spend more than an hour in daylight, your character gains a level of exhaustion. A short rest away from the rays of the sun cures this. In addition, you are now vulnerable to radiant damage.
• 5th level: Entering any kind of running water causes you to lose 1 Constitution point. When you have lost all of your Constitution while in running water, you die permanently. Once out of running water, you can recover your Constitution points by taking a long rest. The presence of holy symbols irritates you, causing you to take a level of exhaustion. A short rest away from such symbols cures this exhaustion.
• 6th level: You no longer cast a reflection, which can be very noticeable to those around you. Your shadow also gains a life of its own, moving of its own accord. Anyone may make a Perception check to notice these oddities about you.
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alhoon
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Re: I Need Help! Making a Vampire Class!

Post by alhoon »

WHat edition? As I am absolutely sure you know, the Requiem adventure, the one where Azalin goes kaboom, has a vampire class... and how the character slowly moves towards evil. It is 2nd edition.

The main problem with the mechanic of slide to evil IMO, is that your ethical alignment changes too. You go from Chaotic good to lawful neutral (?!?) and then to true neutral, chaotic neutral and then... lawful evil (?!?) etc.
I am sure you can find useful info in there and remember: 5e is backwards compatible. You could turn that vampire class to a class.
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Rucht Lilavivat
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Re: I Need Help! Making a Vampire Class!

Post by Rucht Lilavivat »

This is for 5th Edition.

For the purposes of this game, the character's alignment will not mechanically slide towards evil. Meaning, if you take a level of X, you don't immediately shift on the alignment scale. That will be more a matter of roleplaying for our purposes.
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alhoon
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Re: I Need Help! Making a Vampire Class!

Post by alhoon »

Then why not go with the Requiem rules?
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Rucht Lilavivat
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Re: I Need Help! Making a Vampire Class!

Post by Rucht Lilavivat »

The Requiem rules are meant for 2nd edition and do not port over very well, IMO. The other, free, 5e Vampire classes out on the internet seem to fit 5e far better.
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Re: I Need Help! Making a Vampire Class!

Post by Pizza »

If there’s no forced alignment change, why would appropriate holy symbols cause issues? Maybe there’s some obvious answer, but I would think the character might well think some appropriately aligned deity or deities was helping it stay where it was alignment wise.
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