one of my players wants to play a half vampire, but hes given me the idea of creating a table for whenever the vampiric urge takes over but ive no idea what to put in the table
My idea, and this is purely off the top of my head, is thus:
"At the beginning of the session, the half-vampire must roll on a d6 table to see what will trigger their bloodlust.
The half-vampire's bloodlust is triggered by the sight of a fresh wound.
The half-vampire's bloodlust is triggered by the smell of cold, dry earth.
The half-vampire's bloodlust is triggered by the taste of their latest meal.
The half-vampire's bloodlust is triggered by the sound of anguish.
The half-vampire's bloodlust is triggered by feel of another's touch.
If none of these things trigger their bloodlust throughout the session, they suffer no ill effects. They must satiate this bloodlust by meeting one of the conditions by the end of the session, or take a point of exhaustion (see below).
The half-vampire craves the blood of someone older than themselves.
The half-vampire craves the blood of a beast-type monster.
The half-vampire craves the blood of a party member willing to give their own.
The half-vampire craves the blood of a criminal.
The half-vampire craves the blood of a joyful person.
The half-vampire craves nothing this session.
Due to the undead nature of the half-vampire, each point of exhaustion's negative effects will be replaced by the following:
Resistance to physical damage except non-magical fire.
Resistance to non-magical physical damage except non-magical and magical fire. 1d8 extra damage taken from fire. The half-vampire unconditionally suffers the effects of sunlight sensitivity. The half-vampire suffers a negative PB to their Persuasion checks, and proficiency in Intimidation if they do not already have it.
Resistance to all types of damage except non-magical and magical fire, and radiant damage. The half-vampire unconditionally suffers the effects of sunlight sensitivity. 2d8 extra damage from fire, and 4d8 extra damage taken from radiant damage. The half-vampire suffers disadvantage to their Persuasion checks, but gets expertise in Intimidation if they do not already have it.
Resistance to all types of damage except non-magical and magical fire, and radiant damage. The half-vampire unconditionally suffers the effects of sunlight sensitivity. 8d8 extra damage from fire, and 8d8 extra damage from radiant damage. The half-vampire automatically fails all Persuasion attempts, but gets advantage on all Intimidation checks.
Resistance to all types of damage except non-magical and magical fire, and radiant damage. The half-vampire unconditionally suffers the effects of sunlight sensitivity. Any damage taken from fire and radiant damage requires an immediate death-saving throw. The half-vampire automatically fails all Persuasion attempts, but automatically succeeds all Intimidation checks (to what end is up to the Dungeon Master).
As I say this is spitballing. If it makes playing a vampire of any amount difficult I'd argue that's the point. As cool as they are it's not going to be easy. Vampire: The Masquerade, one of my inspirations for this idea, makes a point of reminding the player that for all their cool abilities they come with drawbacks and the nightly struggle of maintaining humanity and staving off the Beast.
The benefits may be too strong or weak and may encourage the half-vampire to abandon whatever humanity they have left for powergaming, but hopefully they'll be more motivated by morality and goodness to stave off the good and ill effects of vampirism.
I don't expect you to implement these ideas, but I hope the template is somewhat useful or inspiring. Good luck with however you might go about this!
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Zero is the most important number in D&D: Session Zero sets the boundaries and the tone; Rule Zero dictates the Dungeon Master (DM) is the final arbiter; and Zero D&D is better than Bad D&D.
"Let us speak plainly now, and in earnest, for words mean little without the weight of conviction."
If you click on the planeshift: ixalan setting it'll give you a pdf and there is a playable vampire race on page 14., There is a small variant of this race in one of the other settings as well. They have a special attack that covers their feeding (involves it being used against a target that is willing or that is grappled or restrained) but you could stipulate they need to use it once per day or get hungry and then give them a Wisodm Saving throw with an increasing DC for each day they do not feed or become exposed to blood, on a failed save they use their feeding attack on the nearest /next living creature.
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* Need a character idea? Search for "Rob76's Unused" in the Story and Lore section.
Hi,
one of my players wants to play a half vampire, but hes given me the idea of creating a table for whenever the vampiric urge takes over but ive no idea what to put in the table
Thanks
My idea, and this is purely off the top of my head, is thus:
"At the beginning of the session, the half-vampire must roll on a d6 table to see what will trigger their bloodlust.
If none of these things trigger their bloodlust throughout the session, they suffer no ill effects. They must satiate this bloodlust by meeting one of the conditions by the end of the session, or take a point of exhaustion (see below).
Due to the undead nature of the half-vampire, each point of exhaustion's negative effects will be replaced by the following:
As I say this is spitballing. If it makes playing a vampire of any amount difficult I'd argue that's the point. As cool as they are it's not going to be easy. Vampire: The Masquerade, one of my inspirations for this idea, makes a point of reminding the player that for all their cool abilities they come with drawbacks and the nightly struggle of maintaining humanity and staving off the Beast.
The benefits may be too strong or weak and may encourage the half-vampire to abandon whatever humanity they have left for powergaming, but hopefully they'll be more motivated by morality and goodness to stave off the good and ill effects of vampirism.
I don't expect you to implement these ideas, but I hope the template is somewhat useful or inspiring. Good luck with however you might go about this!
Zero is the most important number in D&D: Session Zero sets the boundaries and the tone; Rule Zero dictates the Dungeon Master (DM) is the final arbiter; and Zero D&D is better than Bad D&D.
"Let us speak plainly now, and in earnest, for words mean little without the weight of conviction."
- The Assemblage of Houses, World of Warcraft
i think your best option might be to let them play a vampire from the magic the gathering planeshift series that WOTC did many moons ago.
Link to the wiki here: https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Plane_Shift
If you click on the planeshift: ixalan setting it'll give you a pdf and there is a playable vampire race on page 14., There is a small variant of this race in one of the other settings as well. They have a special attack that covers their feeding (involves it being used against a target that is willing or that is grappled or restrained) but you could stipulate they need to use it once per day or get hungry and then give them a Wisodm Saving throw with an increasing DC for each day they do not feed or become exposed to blood, on a failed save they use their feeding attack on the nearest /next living creature.