I am a relatively new DnD player and a brand new DM. My group is in the vampire's lair and one of my players asked me if they can become a Dhampir after a vampire bites them. I would allow them to, but I have some issues with understanding if it is possible to do so mechanically.
If it is possible, then how should it work? Lineages replace the PC's race, with all its racial traits. PC is a Human, so will their +1 bonus to each ability score be lost?
Yes, Ravenloft states that replacing the race with a lineage also replaces the ability scores. They can then increase one score by 2 and another by 1 or 3 different scores by 1.
Yes after level 1 characters can replace their race with new lineage such as Dhampir, including ability score increase.
Lineages: A character might choose a lineage during character creation, their transformation having occurred before play begins. Or, events might unfold during adventures that lead your character to replacing their race with this new lineage.
Dhampir: Dhampirs often arise from encounters with vampires. Origin 3 You survived being attacked by a vampire but were forever changed.
Ancestral Legacy. If you replace a race with this lineage, you can keep the following elements of that race: any skill proficiencies you gained from it and any climbing, flying, or swimming speed you gained from it.
Ability Score Increases: If you are replacing your race with a lineage, replace any Ability Score Increase you previously had with these.
Languages: If you are replacing your race with a lineage, you retain any languages you had and gain no new languages.
If you replace a race with this lineage, you can keep the following elements of that race: any skill proficiencies you gained from it and any climbing, flying, or swimming speed you gained from it.
* If you don't keep any of those elements or you choose this lineage at character creation, you gain proficency in two skills of your choice.
Humans don't have a special movement speed to keep, and only the Variant Human has a racial Skill Proficiency, but only one, so neither of the PHB Humans has anything your player will be keeping by taking the Dhampir Lineage, so the player would be fully removing all Human features from the character (including the Feat if a variant human), and replacing them with the Dhampir features.
I'm currently playing a Dhampir in one campaign, and it's not overpowering. The strongest thing it has that's come up in my game is the Spider Climbing, because if you're walking on ceilings, you're going to avoid most traps that you'd otherwise be dealing with. If you allow it, make sure you let the player use this sometimes, but to switch it up, you can on occasion introduce hurdles, such as a cave where the entire ceiling is covered in stalactites some of which would break and fall if grabbed, or depending on level, there might be monstrosities or aberrations lying in wait in the dark, cavernous ceilings of the cave. You can also have battles out in open areas where the climbing doesn't come into play. As long as the character gets to use the abilities sometimes to do cool things, everyone should be happy.
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I am a relatively new DnD player and a brand new DM. My group is in the vampire's lair and one of my players asked me if they can become a Dhampir after a vampire bites them. I would allow them to, but I have some issues with understanding if it is possible to do so mechanically.
If it is possible, then how should it work? Lineages replace the PC's race, with all its racial traits. PC is a Human, so will their +1 bonus to each ability score be lost?
Yes, Ravenloft states that replacing the race with a lineage also replaces the ability scores. They can then increase one score by 2 and another by 1 or 3 different scores by 1.
Yes after level 1 characters can replace their race with new lineage such as Dhampir, including ability score increase.
Ancestral Legacy:
Humans don't have a special movement speed to keep, and only the Variant Human has a racial Skill Proficiency, but only one, so neither of the PHB Humans has anything your player will be keeping by taking the Dhampir Lineage, so the player would be fully removing all Human features from the character (including the Feat if a variant human), and replacing them with the Dhampir features.
I'm currently playing a Dhampir in one campaign, and it's not overpowering. The strongest thing it has that's come up in my game is the Spider Climbing, because if you're walking on ceilings, you're going to avoid most traps that you'd otherwise be dealing with. If you allow it, make sure you let the player use this sometimes, but to switch it up, you can on occasion introduce hurdles, such as a cave where the entire ceiling is covered in stalactites some of which would break and fall if grabbed, or depending on level, there might be monstrosities or aberrations lying in wait in the dark, cavernous ceilings of the cave. You can also have battles out in open areas where the climbing doesn't come into play. As long as the character gets to use the abilities sometimes to do cool things, everyone should be happy.