Lord of Vampires

Immortal Ascendant

Prestiges 2: (works everywhere):

The first Kindred were descended from Cain. Given his curse and his gift. You are no kindred, but rather a descendant of the First Immortals. The sons of angels mating with the daughters of men. These Immortals were possessed of supernatural powers and immense durability. And yet, they also bore hunger for energy and life, for they did not possess the same connection to celestial energies as their fathers. As these Immortals bled, their blood filtered into the ground in which you were buried. After centuries, it awakened you as a ghoul. A creature cursed with hunger yet blessed with a fraction of an Immortal's might. Ghouls are supernaturally strong and durable as the supernatural energy that permeates their flesh empowers their physical bodies to perform feats of strength, speed, and endurance of supernatural proportions. Yet, they lacked the supernatural gifts and mystical powers of full-fledged immortality. Only by devouring other ghouls or by drinking the blood of an Immortal could a ghoul gradually gain supernatural abilities and eventually evolve into a genuine Immortal.

Your exposure to cosmic energy completed your ascension into an Immortal by supplementing the lack of Immortal blood. With this ascension, you possess many of the same supernatural powers and abilities of these Immortals. Among them is the power to extract the vital force, commonly called Vitae, from creatures and in doing so, enabling you to temporarily mimic and replicate their powers. Not only can this vitae be stored, it can be consumed to replenish your own pool of supernatural energy to enable to you continue to utilize the supernatural powers your ascension has granted you.

Vitae Extraction - When a creature takes damage or loses hit points while within 300 feet of you (once per turn), you can extract some of its vitae as you absorb the life energy released. You may choose a trait (resistance, damage immunity, condition immunity, damage absorption, proficiency, expertise, sense, speed) and gain the benefits of that trait for one hour, known as a Vitae Extraction. You can hold a total of five Vitae Extractions. If you attempt to hold more than five Vitae Extractions, you must choose a Vitae Extraction to end early. You can also end any number of Vitae Extractions early (no action required) to regain five Supernatural Energy, regain 20 hit points, swap a chosen discipline out for another one, and/or end an effect on yourself of your choice per Vitae Extraction ended (once per turn). You can move up, down, and across vertical surfaces and upside down along ceilings, while leaving your hands free, and have a climbing speed equal to your walking speed. You can see in both magical and nonmagical darkness to a range of 300 feet. You also have expertise with all weapons, as a lifetime of war has given you in-depth knowledge.

The Vitae you extract feeds into a pool of Supernatural Energy with a maximum equal to your Constitution score, and your Constitution score is set to 30. Your Supernatural Energy recharges after completing long rest. When you complete a long rest, you can choose three Disciplines from the Discipline Acquisition feat from the Kindred Class. You may use those Disciplines as though you had acquired the Supreme Discipline Acquisition and all preceding feats. The rest of the disciplines you can only use as though you had acquired the Discipline Acquisition feat. The DC for your Supernatural Powers is equal to 10 + your Constitution Modifier + your Proficiency bonus, and this may be improved by items and abilities that improve your Save DC. They do not require verbal, somatic, or material components, and you may use either your Action or Bonus action interchangeably to use them. Your Disciplines can be used while raging and are not considered spells, but rather supernatural powers as you draw energy from your own immortal life force rather than the Weave. If a feature grants you uses of a spell, you can choose to use its effects by expending Supernatural Energy equal to the level you want to cast it at. You are also considered to be Kindred for the purposes of acquiring feats or attuning to items that require you to be Kindred. 

Bloodlines

Prestiges 3-4: (Works in native realm and realms where you have roots.)

Your blood possesses the prerequisite power needed to fashion a bloodline of your own. By offering your blood to the willing or through murder, you can transform them into members of your own brood. 

As your kind grows, the most powerful and ancient among them may found covens of their very own. Blessed by your presence, these covens act as strongholds for vampire kind. With your blessing, these covens are protected from the ravages of the sun and the dangers that curse vampire kind. They act as the havens in which the Children of the Night of all broods and tribes may prosper. Over time, your blessings shall grow ever more potent and fruitful. And one day, your children shall come to rule the day as they rule the night.

Immortal Lineage - Vampires, Undead, and servants they control (including yourself but excluding players) of your choice within 500 feet of you have their Vampire Weaknesses suppressed and gain a bonus to d20 tests, armor class, Save DC, and damage rolls equal to your Constitution modifier, which is known as the Sire's Presence. You can create a new vampire by either giving a creature (it cannot be a player or a player's pet) your blood willingly, upon which they fall dormant for 24 hours, after which they awake as a fully transformed Vampire. Alternatively, when you kill a creature, you may spread your vampirism to them, and they rise as a fully transformed vampire after 24 hours. Only a Remove Curse at 5th level or higher in that time can actively cleanse the virus from their system prior to completing their transformation. You can read the surface thoughts of the vampires you have created, if you choose to, and you know their general locations. You may also commune with them telepathically and share thoughts and memories.

Once per IRL month, you can choose to elevate a Vampire of your lineage to the status of Vampire Elder. This is done by performing a special ritual in which the Vampire gorges on more of your blood and rests for 24 hours afterward. Alternatively, a vampire of your lineage can become a Vampire Elder through time and age (DM Discretion). A Vampire Elder gains access to your Prestige 2. It can create other vampires and project Sire's Presence within a 60-foot radius. A Vampire Elder can also be created if a vampire has either fed enough or gathered enough power to warrant the transformation (DM Discretion). These Vampire Elders or higher status regard you as their sire and their master. You may have a Vampire Elder or higher status vampire accompany you on your missions or quests as pets or summons (DM Discretion).

Coven Stronghold - Once per IRL month, you or a Vampire Elder with your permission may establish a Coven Stronghold. You or Vampire Elders with your permission can also establish a Coven Stronghold at the end of a quest in which you were in attendance. A Coven Stronghold is land that is consecrated in your name. These strongholds can take the form of a castle, fortress, burrow, or an appropriate structure to the realm in which it is made (DM Discretion). A vampire is considered to be in its Lair while it is within the Area of Consecration for a Coven Stronghold, which begins at five miles. The blessings made while consecrating a Coven Stronghold nullify the Vampiric Weaknesses for all vampires while they remain within its area of consecration and have the properties of Hallow with extradimensional interference, except it only affects nonvampires who lack your blessing. Each year the Coven Stronghold is active, this radius increases by one mile. The longer a Coven Stronghold is active, the more influence it might gain in its local region. Spreading your faith, corrupting local politicians, seizing control of vital assets, or attempting other actions in order to protect itself or establish control over the region.

A coven may be discovered by entering the coven, capturing and successfully interrogating a vampire for information as to the coven, or another method appropriate to the world or region the coven is located in (DM Discretion). A coven can be destroyed if the Vampire Elder(s) that rule the Coven are killed, and the land deconsecrated through the use of a Remove Curse of 7th level or higher at the heart of the Coven Stronghold.

Lords of Shadow

Prestiges 5-6: (Works in certain parts of the native realm):

The most powerful vampires of your lineage rule from the shadows. These Vampire Ancients spend most of their time in dormancy. Conserving their energies. When they do wake, they are walking manifestations of your own image. Gorged with your divine blood, they are capable of invoking powerful blood magics and calling upon their Dark Sire for miracles. Their mere presence makes every vampire around them far stronger, enhancing the curse and refining its purity. However, only a handful of Vampire Ancients can ever exist at one time. The inheritance of the mantle of Vampire Ancient is a bloody affair. Either the sweet release of death, to merge with their god, or to be devoured by their kin is the only way that a new Vampire Ancient may ascend once enough have been formed.

Your land similarly is infused with vampiric power. Those who would attempt to take your home from you find themselves beset by the supernatural at every turn. Their questions for guidance turned and twisted to your own designs. 

Ancient Bloodlines - When a Vampire grows strong enough (DM Discretion), it may begin to undergo a process to elevate it to the status of a Vampire Ancient. Once per IRL month, you can also elevate a Vampire into a Vampire Ancient by offering it a substantial portion of your blood, and the Vampire must rest within your domain for 7 days and 7 nights. If you have given blood this way, you cannot create another vampire with your Immortal Lineage Prestige for 2 IRL days, as it requires time to recover. Regardless of which method is used, a Vampire Ancient awakens as an aspect of your own divinity. Vampire Ancients possess all the powers of a Vampire Elder, but they are elevated further. They possess the full extent of your Prestige 2 and Prestige 4. A Vampire Ancient also possesses a Sire’s Presence with a 120-foot radius and may once per day invoke your divinity as though by Divine Intervention (2014), which automatically succeeds. When you or a vampire with the Vampire Elder status or higher would receive damage and/or effects, they may use a reaction to transfer it to a vampire of lesser rank within range of your Sire's Presence. In exchange for this enormous power, Vampire Ancients must spend their time slumbering in a state known as torpor. They may awaken either during times of war, when their Coven Stronghold is threatened, if you awaken them to aid in your own personal defense or serve you, or if significant events stir their interest (DM Discretion). Otherwise, they remain dormant, conserving their energy.

Accursed Lands - You are aware of all creatures who enter your domain or territory you control and the actions they take. You can communicate with them telepathically. Unless they are exempted, they suffer the following effects.

Cursed Wanderings - The land itself becomes difficult terrain, and their travel speed is halved as they are beset by supernatural phenomena that hamper their ability to travel. If a creature attempts to rest while under this effect, it must succeed on a Constitution Saving Throw equal to your Save DC. On a failed save, the creature requires twice as long to complete their rest if they attempt to take a long rest. If a creature failed the save while attempting to short rest, their short rest fails.

Omens of Woe - When a creature attempts to cast a divination spell such as Augury, Commune, and similar spells or abilities that attempt to contact a deity or otherworldly entity for questions or guidance, you are aware of it and can choose to hijack the spell. You can choose to lie or give misleading answers. A creature must succeed on an Insight Check against your Save DC to determine if these answers are true. Alternatively, the creature may make a Religion check against your Save DC to determine who is answering.

Legions of Night - Your influence over the land is such that even the beasts and the dead are compelled to serve you. Beasts and Undead in your land must succeed on a Wisdom Saving Throw against your Save DC or become compelled to serve your commands until you release them. When a creature is killed in your land and is not resurrected within 1 minute or has not had its corpse placed under an effect like Gentle Repose, it rises as a Beast or Undead creature equal to its CR or level. A Beast or Undead created this way will remain eternally loyal to you.

Portrait of Ruin

Prestiges 7-8: (works in domain or with explicit DM approval):

When the First Immortals were born, some of them chose to remain amongst mankind. Living out mortal lives as god-kings, prophets, and heroes of myth and legend. Eventually fading into obscurity and myth, their fates unknown. Others pursued paths of power. Drinking deep from the energies of the universe. Over time, they became Principalities themselves. Rivaling their divine ancestors in strength and power. As they grew, they eventually shed their physical bodies and ascended. Returning back to the celestial realms of their fathers. And yet, they were different. Their mortal origins enabling them to access powers different from the celestial hosts. 

For the few vampires who have earned their place in myth, you can grant them a fragment of your own divinity. They are Vampire Ancestors. Legends among their own kind. God-like in power and stature. A rival for the Antediluvians and Second Generation that the Kindred venerate. As for the Kindred, though you are not of Cain's blood, your blood is similar enough that you can create Kindred yourself. The mutable properties enabling them to adapt and blend in amongst the 13 clans. However, they will know that their blood traces its origins back to you.

Kindred Sire - Your blood is capable of creating Kindred through your Vampire Lineage feature. A Kindred may possess the traits of one of the original clans, but it can trace the origin of its Vampirism to you. The immortal properties of your blood enable it to replicate the lineage of the various Kindred bloodlines and blend in with them. These Kindred are not bound by the traditional ties of your Vampire Lineage, but you are still able to read their thoughts, know their general location, and commune with them telepathically. 

Ancestral Lords - The final stage of evolution for a vampire of your lineage is their ascension to the status of Vampire Ancestor. By offering a Vampire a portion of your own divinity, they transform into living avatars of vampirism. Alternatively, a Vampire Ancestor can be born by a Vampire Ancient finding their own path to ascension (DM Discretion). After performing this ritual, you spend 3 IRL Days in your domain resting, during which you cannot quest. A Vampire Ancestor has access to your Prestiges 2, 4, 6, and 8 and all the powers of Vampire Elders and Vampire Ancients. They also possess a unique power that enables them to execute your will more effectively. You and all Vampire Ancestors you control have the following traits in common.

Legendary Resistances (4/Long Rest)  - If you fail a saving throw, you can choose to succeed instead.

Call Vampires (Recharge 5-6) - As an action, you can call forth 4d4 Vampires, 2d4 Vampire Elders, or 1d4 Vampire Ancients. They act immediately after your turn, and you may issue them orders with no action required. If you do not issue an order, they will work to either kill your enemies, defend you, or defend your territory.

Vampiric Awakening (1/Day) -  If you would be reduced to 0 hit points or die, your current hit point total instead resets to your maximum, and you experience the benefits of a long rest. You may purge any number of effects and conditions from yourself, and you repair any damaged body parts and organs. For the next hour, you gain an additional two Legendary Actions.

Vampire Presence - Any hostile creature that targets you with an attack, effect, check, or spell must first succeed on a Charisma Check DC equal to your Save DC. On a failure, the creature must choose a new target or lose the attack, effect, check, or spell. If you are conscious at the start of your turn, you can choose to remove 1 effect or condition affecting you. 

Legendary Actions - You can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature’s turn. You regain spent legendary actions at the start of your turn.

Dark Flight: You can teleport 120 feet in any direction.

Flurry: You can take the Attack Action or cast a spell.

Feed (Costs 2 Actions): Until the end of your next turn, you heal for all damage you inflict.

Dark Rejuvenation (Costs 3 Actions): Replenish another feature that refreshes on a long or short rest except Vampiric Awakening.