With all this gothic themed player options coming out. I was wondering how would you guys best build a dhampir that was also an undead warlock. Also, could you be youre own patron this way?
No, by definition, you can't be your own Patron. However, you can reflavor the mechanics of the class however your DM will let you.
The thing that makes a Dhampir unique is its natural spider climbing and vampiric bite. The Undead patron doesn't really have anything synergistic with this other than flavor.
The most interesting feature is the Dhampirs ability to boost its own skill check. If you max your constitution score, and cast Guidance, you'll be able to reliably have up to a +13(avg +8) to a proficient skill at level 1. With a Bard in the party, that turns into +19(avg +11.5), which is pretty crazy.
The Vampiric Bite ability is capped at Proficiency mod, so even if you were to take a martial class with multiple attacks, it would pretty much exhaust itself after one round, so I wouldn't try to build around it for combat normally.
That said, the bite counts as a Simple Melee Weapon, which means it's eligible for Divine Smite and Hunter's Mark. Now... any sane DM would cap your benefit at d4+Con mod. However, as written, stacking Smite, Hunter's Mark, and similar features could net you d4+Con+5d8+d6 for upwards of +55HP. That would be a crazy amount of free healing, and a stupid bonus to a skill check.
This is entirely dependent upon the meaning of "the bonus equals the damage dealt by the bite".
Hmmm.... ruling out the stacking abuse, I would most likely just play it as a great RP perk to whatever class I was in the mood to play. Spider Climb alone is fantastic for a ranged attacker or a scouting class. Vampiric bite offers advantage when below 50% HP, which is very tempting for a melee build, but also a dangerous place to spend too much time.
Ok, for undead flavor synergy, I would build a Rogue (Phantom). You can swap your proficiencies out on a short rest, and stack that with the vampiric bite bonus.
A Cleric (Grave) would be interesting. Since they have Channel Divinity: Path to the Grave, which grants damage vulnerability, I don't think there would be any issue with the Vampiric Bite benefiting. Against an incapacitated/sleeping target, it would be an automatic critical hit and grant up to +22 on the next skill check at level 2, which could be game changing, but not too controversial since it requires a very specific and cinematic encounter.
I really want to suggest a monk for the upgraded damage die and speed, but since Vampiric Bite doesn't count as an Unarmed Strike, it wouldn't benefit from Flurry of Blows, which is unfortunate.
So..... I guess I would go with the Grave Cleric, use Spider Climb while casting ranged spells, and reserve the Vampiric Bite for when we really need to blow an ability check out of the water. You could bite an ally for a critical hit to essentially guarantee success on any check. With a Bard and Guidance, you're giving yourself a remote chance to hit DC 50 at level 2.
With all this gothic themed player options coming out. I was wondering how would you guys best build a dhampir that was also an undead warlock. Also, could you be youre own patron this way?
No, by definition, you can't be your own Patron. However, you can reflavor the mechanics of the class however your DM will let you.
The thing that makes a Dhampir unique is its natural spider climbing and vampiric bite. The Undead patron doesn't really have anything synergistic with this other than flavor.
The most interesting feature is the Dhampirs ability to boost its own skill check. If you max your constitution score, and cast Guidance, you'll be able to reliably have up to a +13(avg +8) to a proficient skill at level 1. With a Bard in the party, that turns into +19(avg +11.5), which is pretty crazy.
The Vampiric Bite ability is capped at Proficiency mod, so even if you were to take a martial class with multiple attacks, it would pretty much exhaust itself after one round, so I wouldn't try to build around it for combat normally.
That said, the bite counts as a Simple Melee Weapon, which means it's eligible for Divine Smite and Hunter's Mark. Now... any sane DM would cap your benefit at d4+Con mod. However, as written, stacking Smite, Hunter's Mark, and similar features could net you d4+Con+5d8+d6 for upwards of +55HP. That would be a crazy amount of free healing, and a stupid bonus to a skill check.
This is entirely dependent upon the meaning of "the bonus equals the damage dealt by the bite".
Interesting. So how would you build your dhampir?
Hmmm.... ruling out the stacking abuse, I would most likely just play it as a great RP perk to whatever class I was in the mood to play. Spider Climb alone is fantastic for a ranged attacker or a scouting class. Vampiric bite offers advantage when below 50% HP, which is very tempting for a melee build, but also a dangerous place to spend too much time.
Ok, for undead flavor synergy, I would build a Rogue (Phantom). You can swap your proficiencies out on a short rest, and stack that with the vampiric bite bonus.
A Cleric (Grave) would be interesting. Since they have Channel Divinity: Path to the Grave, which grants damage vulnerability, I don't think there would be any issue with the Vampiric Bite benefiting. Against an incapacitated/sleeping target, it would be an automatic critical hit and grant up to +22 on the next skill check at level 2, which could be game changing, but not too controversial since it requires a very specific and cinematic encounter.
I really want to suggest a monk for the upgraded damage die and speed, but since Vampiric Bite doesn't count as an Unarmed Strike, it wouldn't benefit from Flurry of Blows, which is unfortunate.
So..... I guess I would go with the Grave Cleric, use Spider Climb while casting ranged spells, and reserve the Vampiric Bite for when we really need to blow an ability check out of the water. You could bite an ally for a critical hit to essentially guarantee success on any check. With a Bard and Guidance, you're giving yourself a remote chance to hit DC 50 at level 2.
Toss in the Insignia of Claws for good measure.
The healing dosent stack it says that you heal for the piercing dmg that means huntersmark works and divine smithe dose not
This thread was created prior to the release of Van Richten's Guide, so the theorycrafting here is no longer relevant.