“‘Vampyr’ is my new name. I still lust for life and youth, and I curse the living that took them from me.”

-Strahd von Zarovich

There are few supernatural creatures more renowned than the fanged devil who gains strength from consuming blood. Known by multiple names - nosferatu, vampyr, or the more standard “vampire” - these beings are iconic predators who deserve top billing in your campaigns. Whether you’re preparing for Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, running the classic Curse of Strahd, or looking for sophisticated ways of portraying the archetypal gothic horror villain, consider the following when utilizing these denizens of darkness.

Bloodthirsty, regenerating attackers with a few key weak points...

Aside from liches and mummy lords, the D&D vampire - along with its warrior and spellcaster variants - is one of the most powerful undead opponents in the Monster Manual. There’s also a vampire spawn that’s significantly less strong, though still deadly. Each of these types has the following common traits:

• Grab you by the throat, suck your blood - All vampires possess a Bite as well as an Unarmed Strike (or in the case of the vampire spawn, a Claw attack) that can grapple a target. These should be used in a combo to create a power move where the vampire grabs its quarry by the throat, lifts them in the air and shoves its fangs into their neck.
• Undead healing factor - The regular vampire and its variants all regain 20 hit points at the start of a turn if they have at least 1 hit point available, while the vampire spawn regains 10. This ability can be stopped if the vampire takes radiant damage or damage from holy water.
• Weaknesses inspired by folklore - D&D’s vampires have some of the same weak points popularized by cinema, though don’t expect to see total disintegration when exposed to the sun. Instead, they suffer from sunlight hypersensitivity, which gives them 20 damage and disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks. In that same vein, a wooden piercing weapon through the heart while the vampire rests can be effective, but it’ll only kill a vampire spawn, whereas regular vampires will merely be paralyzed. The vampire’s other weaknesses are lesser-known ones from folklore, including taking harm from running water and the inability to enter a residence without an invitation. All vampires must also retreat to a resting place during the day - be it a coffin or simple plot of earth - and that’s where they’re most vulnerable.

If these weak points sound substantial, remember that vampires are tacticians who are very aware of the seams in their armor and will prefer to manipulate weak-willed opponents and escape when necessary.

The true vampire - A shapeshifting, charming commander of night’s children...

The Monster Manual’s base vampire contains the traits mentioned above along with a few other key features.

• An armor class of 16, hit points of 144, high modifiers (including a +9 for Stealth rolls), and resistance to most nonmagical attacks means that the vampire can take a hit, but excels more as a surprise striker who’ll chuckle mercilessly at off-guard prey before unleashing its Multiattack. The first of these attacks is likely going to be Charm, which requires a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw to beat. Once a player is charmed, it becomes a willing target for the vampire’s Bite, which does necrotic damage that can reduce hit point maximum and kill a player once that max reaches zero. 
• The Children of the Night ability, which can be used once per day, summons 2d4 swarms of bats or rats, or 3d6 wolves if the vampire is outside. Considering that these swarms have low Challenge Ratings, this is an ability best used to startle players, soften them up or generate a sense of unease as they come closer to the vampire’s resting place.
• Vampires can polymorph into a tiny bat or a medium cloud of mist as long as they aren’t in sunlight or running water. While in bat form, the vampire maintains the majority of its stats and abilities, including Charm and Bite. As mist, the vampire can’t take action, but it can pass through tiny spaces and has immunity to all nonmagical damage except sunlight. Bat form can be used in tandem with Children of the Night to give players a fright (they’ll think normal bats are attacking them until one of those furry flyers just happens to Charm the fighter), and mist form is the ultimate mode of travel for a vampire spying on unwelcome heroes. Incidentally, it’s also the form that a vampire automatically assumes once it reaches 0 hit points and is forced to retreat to its resting place. 

With these abilities in mind, play your vampire as an intelligent foe whose main priorities are to hypnotize and feed. Just as a tiger might pick off the smaller or younger members of a herd, the vampire will target players low on hit points or those with middling Wisdom scores that it can easily control. In a social situation, use the Charm/Bite combo on an unsuspecting player who is unaware that they’re facing a vampire (maybe that charismatic NPC who asked to meet them for an evening rendezvous is someone much more sinister) and switch to the Unarmed Strike/Bite combo when the jig is up. In a more traditional dungeon environment, summon Children of the Night to disorient a party that’s already weakened from previous encounters, Charm as many targets as possible, and then have your vampire emerge in the midst of combat in its true form to take advantage of its bewitched victims. Make judicious usage of the vampire’s Legendary Resistances and Legendary Actions - which let it break up the turn order by moving, making Unarmed Strikes, or Biting - to avoid being targeted, and when in doubt, have the vampire turn into mist or Spider Climb away. 

Vampire warriors and spellcasters - Variants poised to make your character’s lives miserable...

These alternatives have the same skills as their regular counterpart with two twists - a greatsword and an extensive spell list.

• Bram Stoker tossed a hint in Dracula that the titular Count was once Vlad Tepes, the 15th century Wallachia ruler with a penchant for impaling. Media interpretations in the years since, notably the 1992 movie Bram Stoker’s Dracula and the Castlevania video games, have amplified this idea, presenting Dracula as a capable blademaster. The vampire warrior exemplifies this mold, with a greatsword Multiattack that can cause 2d6 + 4 slashing damage each round. One might assume this weapon would prevent the warrior from using its Unarmed Strike to grapple an opponent since a greatsword normally requires both hands. There’s nothing in the Monster Manual to specifically outlaw this, however - so as the DM, you could either rule that the vampire warrior’s excessive strength allows it to ignore the two-handed property, or perhaps you could make this variant more focused on killing a foe rather than feeding on it. One could argue that Dracula’s priority when facing Van Helsing was ripping him to shreds instead of sucking his blood, so there’s precedent for this!
• The vampire spellcaster - an archetype that the famous Strahd von Zarovich belongs to - adds magic to the mix. My favorite go-to's in its spell list are Dominate Person (essentially an elevated form of the vampire’s innate Charm), Bestow Curse (which can increase necrotic damage on a target, amplifying the rate at which the vampire’s Bite will drain its prey’s max hit points), Blight (thematically appropriate and fantastic for all-around damage), and Fog Cloud (for a sneaky vampire who wants extra obscuration to make its mist form more effective). 

Vampire spawn - The miserable progeny of the Undead...

Vampire spawn are animalistic servants - the sordid result of a true vampire draining a victim’s blood and burying them in the earth. 

• Vampire spawn have lower stats in all areas and can only rely upon a Claw/Bite combo, with no Charm at their disposal. They work well in packs and should be played in a reckless manner that indicates their lower status in relation to their creators. I prefer to judiciously use their Spider Climb ability for an insectoid depiction, having them descend in droves from walls and ceilings. (Remember the Bridge of Khazad-dum scene in The Fellowship of the Ring where goblins climb down pillars to encircle the Fellowship? Now imagine that with vampire spawn!)
• A true vampire’s Children of the Night ability complements vampire spawn well. Wolves, rats, and bat swarms might only be nuisances on their own, but when supplemented by three or four raging spawns, then you suddenly have the frontlines of a vampire’s personal army. 
• The Monster Manual states that vampire spawns have no free will unless their creator dies. Interestingly, however, they can be elevated to the status of a true vampire if their creator lets them imbibe blood from their own body. This ability (notably present in Bram Stoker’s original Dracula novel and the 1966 Hammer film Dracula: Prince of Darkness) begs one to ask why a true vampire would evolve one of its spawns. Loyalty might be the reason, but the loneliness of undead immortality might be another. A vampire spawn who gains self-awareness once its master dies could also be an intriguing NPC, or perhaps a future villain who’ll stop at nothing to exceed its former lord in vileness.

Cast the shadow of the vampire over your D&D campaigns...

From boss-level opponents to the players themselves, there are dozens of ways to incorporate vampires into an adventure.

• Typical vampire lairs include castles, abbeys, or manors. But if you’d rather choose something less traditional, why not a sanitarium or asylum? Perhaps the vampire is the head of the establishment or a top-level physician who’s secretly preying upon patients and always has a fresh supply of blood at his disposal. Take inspiration from Batman: Arkham Asylum for a horrifying campaign where the hospital itself becomes the dungeon, or check out the side quest “Carnal Sins” in The Witcher III, which features a vampire masquerading as a coroner.
• The default alignment for vampires is lawful evil, but you could certainly play with the concept of a sympathetic - or even good - vampire in your games. After all, the Monster Manual says that most vampires experience intense emotions despite their undead state, though feelings like love typically morph into obsessions. The 1993 computer game Quest for Glory: Shadows of Darkness features a great example of this with a vampire named Katrina, who acts as a quasi-antagonist but at the same time shows a maternal side, to the extent that she rescues the local burgomaster’s daughter from a poor home life, transforms her into an undead child and raises her as her own. Try tasking your players with a similar ambiguous situation - if the vampire saved the child from abusive parents, is she still a villain?
• Vampires in D&D tend to be depicted as humans or elves, but that’s quite limiting. Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden subverts this stereotype with a gnoll vampire named Tekeli-li who hunts the party in a series of glacier caves. Imagining what other creatures might be like if infected with vampirism is an easy way to defy player expectations - after all, who expects a firbolg or a cloud giant vampire? 
• On a similar note, players can theoretically become vampires over the course of a game. The Monster Manual states that this condition can only be reversed with a Wish spell, or if the character is killed and brought back to life. We’re all used to the tale of a heroic band vanquishing the undead mastermind...but the tormented adventures of a player-turned-vampire (or even an entire party-turned-vampires) on a mission to find a way to reverse their curse could be just as entertaining!

No matter how you choose to use vampires in your games, remember that these are enemies carrying centuries of mythology and pop culture connotations. Treat them with the respect they deserve - and consider investing in Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft for more gothic inspiration, including rules on how to create your own Domain of Dread suitable for any tortured nosferatu!

Jeremy Blum (@PixelGrotto) is a journalist, gaming blogger, comic book aficionado, and fan of all forms of storytelling who rolled his first polyhedral dice while living in Hong Kong in 2017. Since then, he's never looked back and loves roleplaying games for the chance to tell the tales that have been swirling in his head since childhood.