Playing a Vampire in DnD 5E - Help Action Episode 6
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- Опубликовано: 20 авг 2024
- Did you know the Monster Manual has rules for turning into a Vampire? Probably not, since they're so broken no reasonable DM would ever let his players use them. Matt Erickson is here to present all of the various rules for turning into Vampires, from Races to the Monster Manual, and why some are better options than others.
Another commonly overlooked weakness of the true vampire is that you become undead. This means that 90% of the healing spells in the game don't work on you anymore and you kinda need the regeneration ability to accommodate for it.
That is a good point Thomas. The lack of ability to receive healing from most spells is a big hit. I still feel that in earlier levels this comes nowhere near making it a "balanced" character option, but at higher levels in certainly helps power down a vampire character to make it overall more reasonable.
@@downtimeactivities945 oh certainly not I'd never let someone use true vampire below level 10 at least probably higher depending. Spawn isn't too bad though for this reason and the fact that disadvantage on basically everything in sunlight can be a much bigger hindrance in practice than it sounds. The biggest problem with vampire is it doesn't scale at all.
Playing as a druid vampire solved that problem for me personally
Hey Vampire Player here, you forgot one BIG thing! Getting turned by acident!
My Changeling Bard got turned by Strahd (long Story Short, I maped out the Castle and stole some Things including a sentient weapon to secretly help my Party by lieing in his face)
And I wanted to keep that Character, so we kinda tuned down the Vampire (Monster manual) and I'm equaly afraid and amused.
... Also funny, my Charakters Best friend Died in the Final fight and got back to live! She was a cleric of Kelemvor and an hollow one (undead) so no Problem... BUT Lathander raised her, now she is human again and a life Domain cleric. We got this ying yang thing going on now
That is a very real possibility in play, especially in Curse of Strahd! Our experience with that campaign was cut short when we sort of accidentally kicked Strahd's butt and took his lunch money early on (our group has a habit of embarrassing vampires for some reason).
Out of curiosity do have any more specifics on what you did to tune down the monster manual vampire rules? I'm sure other people would love to see another way of doing this here in the comments.
@@downtimeactivities945 I have a blood Pool (75 HP the same as my Max HP) that I can use to regenerate, but I must Drink that much blood befor!
And every day I need 5hp of blood in that Pool or I get a point of exaustion.
The spiderclimb ability is a feat I can take next lvl.
And I can only shift in bat Form
Oh and of course I'm no longer a changeling so no shifts for me.
But the biggest Problem! I'm a Bard that can't get drunk :'(
@@BabsiJonas Awesome! Thanks for sharing. As far as losing the ability to get drunk, I feel like Strahd has truly crippled you. A bard that cant get drunk is hardly a bard at all :(
@@downtimeactivities945 yep! Right in the Feels :'(
My personal suggestion is Dhampir Undead Patron Warlock. You get every ability you would want.
That is a really good combo to build a vampire character. Thanks for the suggestion!
@@downtimeactivities945 you are very welcome!
Fae patron can be usefull to, if you want a charming vampire.
@@jm7781 but Undead is more thematic
Thank you for this video you explained it so well :D
I'm a DM and like most of my group completely new to dnd
One of my players really wants to play a vampire and I didn't even know about the Dhampir race so really thank you, this gives me the chance to a have a more familiar race as a basis :]
What race do you believe would be the best (and most realistic) to use for the ancestral legacy?
You are very welcome! Thank you for the kind words!
Pretty much any race can work for the ancestral legacy. It really depends on the backstory the player wants for the character, and the setting your campaign takes place in.
In most cases it is best to just use the default 2 skills that you can get from not keeping other racial bonuses unless you choose a race with a unique movement (fly/climb/swim speed). You can still describe the look and feel of the character to be like their race prior to transforming without choosing to keep that races ancestral legacy bonuses.
I would ask the player what they want the life of their character to have been like prior to transforming and make a race decision based on the part of the world/type of culture they want to come from.
I hope this is helpful. If you need any clarification or have any other questions feel free to ask!
My biggest issue with the damphir and MTG vampire races is while they are more balanced they don't have any of a vampires traditional weaknesses. Neither of them give you any penalty for sunlight for example and that loses a lot of the flavour for me.
That is a fair point. If it is important to you to have such weaknesses you could definitely work something out with your players to give weaknesses perhaps in return for an ability of some kind. An example would be to give them sunlight sensitivity or even the vampires sun weakness, but in return allow them a 1/day shapeshift into a bat using the druids wild shape rules. Giving them a flavorful ability in return for the weakness should keep things balanced while providing the wanted flavor.
i was about to comment the same thing this is my biggest issue i want to play a vampire with the weaknesses of one, not just a weaker vampier with no drawbacks, and one thats counted as undead
Yeah they are very light vampires. Really just spiderlings who climb on ceilings and bite people
I do some my characters become the next villain for next campaign
It is always fun to revisit worlds and have the previous characters and their actions be the challenges the new characters have to face off against.
Where can I find the Dhampir race? I want to make a character that race, it would be easier if I had a pdf
The race is in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, but the stats are here on the 5e wiki: dnd5e.wikidot.com/lineage:dhampir
The bite for dhampir is a simple weapon not natural. This matters because it means you can smite with them
I think the exact wording is that it's a natural weapon, which counts as a simple melee weapon. That being said I believe RAW you could totally smite with dhampir fangs!
Not a single DM will ever run a vampire because they have no idea how to and think all vamps have to be evil
It sounds like you have had some negative experiences with previous DMs. I'm sorry if that is the case. I assure you there are DMs out there that are open to having a player be a non evil vampire, and if that is what you want to do for a character I hope you find them. Happy gaming!
It's funny how these are always player advice videos. Im a dm madly searching for advice after a 10th level PC got turned last session
I think a lot of this advice can still be used by the dm. Choose the relative power spike you feel is appropriate for the character at this point and apply the abilities accordingly. Determine whether you are going to allow them to go full vampire or use one of the lesser versions discussed. Then have a conversation with your player and help them adjust their stats.
Hope this helps a little. It is hard for me to give more precise advice then that without a lot of context about your campaign.
@@downtimeactivities945 Oh it's alright. I just found it funny because this was the 5th or 6th video with essentially the same advice for players about how to pitch being a vampire PC for different campaigns etc
The powers and stats are cake. It's roleplay, setting and party integration that is tricky. I have ideas but they are all untested so i was looking for anyone who has done this before... which is apparently NO ONE haha
Dhampirs are dumb.
They are basically the Disney version of vampires.
Dhampir almost work better are NPC minions of the vampire. Like a lower form of spawn that is has only a few abilities and can operate in the dalight
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Love the content and the explanation but need some animation 🤔
Glad you liked the content. We are still learning about editing and animation, but we are certainly working towards more of it in our videos.
OMG just play World of Darkness.
Funnily enough, World of Darkness is actually on my list of systems to try. Any recommendation on which version is best? I like the neo-gothic style, at least in limited doses.