Homebrew Ascendant Vampire Species Details

"I thought the stories of the hunter in the night untouched by the tyranny of the sun to be mere legends," Ithil said to his daughter as he stroked her silvery white hair and gazed down at her red eyes. "And yet here you are standing before me. You possess my powers, but not my weaknesses. My child, your mother and I knew from the beginning that your birth was a miracle, and yet we only now realize how much the Lord, the Father of Blood, has truly blessed us." Hand in hand, the father led his beloved daughter, his only child, to the fountain. The light of the moon shone down on the scarlet pool, reflecting the twinkling stars, the swaying leaves of the trees above them, and the villagers dancing about and scooping out cupfuls of blood from the fountain. For the first time in her life, Illya could not see her own reflection. "There is much I have to teach you, and I am overjoyed at the possibilities of what more you can become."

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Most dhampirs are turned into one; only a very few are born as such, for true life can not bloom from undeath -- usually. It was long assumed that the mysterious dhampir born from the union of a vampire and a mortal, too, was nothing more than a living humanoid possessing vampiric traits. But tales tell of a born-dhampir who finds herself slowly losing her mortality, and her humanity, as the darkness within her grows and she ascends into a true vampire -- or potentially something much more fearsome: a vampire just as cunning and brutal, but one who can tread the daylight.

Origin of Ascension

There are only theories surrounding the existence of the ascendant vampire and how one arises from a born-dhampir. Wizards and scholars theorize that it's through the exploitation of dark magics that amplifies their vampiric powers. Clergymen of life and light preach that the ascendant vampire was one who succumbed to their evil nature, selling what little was left of their soul to a vampire patron in exchange for the chance to pervert their own lives further. While vampires and their followers believe the ascendant vampire to be a gift from the progenitor lords as the next evolution of the vampire.

Reasons for Adventure

Dhampirs are typically nomadic, either of their own volition -- to resist the temptation of feeding on mortal neighbors, -- or due to their inability to find a community that can accept them. A few, who have less vampiric features and have a greater will to resist their thirst, are able to settle down in remote villages or live reclusive lives in towns and cities. The ascendant vampire, however, with her more manifest vampiric traits and insatiable bloodlust, can not afford the luxury of settling down among other races. They usually find and are indoctrinated into vampire societies, which use the ascendant vampire as a weapon to deploy in the daytime, when their enemies and prey least expect a vampire to strike. One may also venture out to create more dhampirs, either to expand the bloodline of her parent or to start her own. But those who scorn their condition may go on a quest to hunt the vampire parent who has cursed them with this perverted form of life, or to perform heroic deeds and prove, mostly to themselves, that they are not the monster that the world sees them to be.

A Semblance of Life

The ascendant vampire retains the physical features of her parents' heritage. Her body ages only until young adulthood (around 25 for human dhampirs, 80 for elven dhampirs, etc.) and remains at its peak physical form for the rest of her immortal life. She is graced with breathtaking beauty, serving as the perfect bait for unsuspecting prey. But traces of undeath, though subtle, are manifest in the ascendant vampire: white silvery hair that contrasts her youthful appearance, bright red irises, pale skin that's ice cold to the touch, and nails that are ever sharp. While seemingly only exotic to the unfamiliar, the ascendant vampire would be easily recognizable to the studied, such as scholars of undeath, vampire hunters, and older true vampires.

Born Evil, or Made Evil?

Almost all known ascendant vampires are lawful evil, but it's unclear whether this alignment is an inescapable truth for the vampire, or if it's learned either from the culture of vampire societies or from a hatred for mortals who fear, scorn, and hunt her. It's true, however, that the ascendant vampire, just like the true vampire, possesses innately heightened senses of lust and greed, driving them towards promiscuity and excessive luxuries, as well as the urge to get their way through manipulation and deception. And with a thirst for mortal blood, the vampire tends to convince herself that she is a predator, and everyone else is prey.

Ascendant Vampire Traits

The Ascendant Vampire unlocks more of their vampiric powers over time. However, be wary that such dark powers always come at a cost.

Ability Score Increases

The vampire is an agile and cunning creature. You gain a +2 racial bonus to DEX, and a +1 racial bonus to WIS.

Creature Type

Your creature type is Humanoid until you reach level 11. Afterwards, your creature type turns to Undead.

Deathless Nature

You are a living creature, and yet your undead nature allows you to not need to breathe.

Spider Climb

You have a climbing speed equal to your walking speed. In addition, at 3rd level, you can move up, down, and across vertical surfaces and upside down along ceilings, while leaving your hands free.

Vampiric Bite

Your fanged bite is a natural weapon, which counts as a simple melee weapon with which you are proficient. You add your Constitution modifier, instead of your Strength modifier, to the attack and damage rolls when you attack with this bite. It deals piercing damage on a hit. While you are missing half or more of your hit points, you have advantage on attack rolls you make with this bite.

When you attack with this bite and hit a creature that isn’t a Construct or an Undead, you can empower yourself in one of the following ways of your choice:

You regain hit points equal to the piercing damage dealt by the bite.
You gain a bonus to the next ability check or attack roll you make; the bonus equals to half of the piercing damage dealt by the bite.

You can empower yourself with this bite a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

As an ascendant vampire, your bite strengthens as you get further in your path toward vampirism.

From levels 1-5, use 1d4 for your bite's piercing damage
From levels 6-10, use 2d4 for your bite's piercing damage
From levels 11-16, use 3d4 for your bite's piercing damage
From levels 17-20, use 4d4 for your bite's piercing damage

Vampiric Awakening

For the earlier part of your life, you assumed you were a regular living dhampir; you were wrong. You are something else -- less than a true vampire but more than a dhampir. When you awaken to your vampiric ascension, your features reflect the change as all your hair turns a silvery white, and the red tint of your eyes grows brighter and spreads from your irises to your sclera.

Creature Type

Your creature type changes to undead, as you are now a form of vampire. As an undead creature, you gain resistance to necrotic damage and vulnerability to radiant damage. You also gain immunity to diseases. You lose the ability to sleep, but you are still required to commit 8 hours each day to light activity to afford your body the rest it needs.

Thirst for Blood

Your body is no longer nourished by regular food and drink -- only the sweet nectar of the blood of humanoids, feys, celestials, dragons, or fiends who are either alive or have been dead for no more than an hour. You must drink at least 3L of blood a day. As days pass without the consumption of enough blood, your physical features deteriorate (e.g., your hair falls off, wrinkles form across your face and body, and your eyes turn from red to jet black). At the end of the 7th consecutive day without blood consumption, you perish. All effects are reversed when the vampire returns to a normal feeding schedule.

For reference: a small creature's body would hold about 2.5L of blood, 5L for a medium creature, and around 50L for a large creature. If you drink more than half the amount of the blood a creature has in its body, it dies.

Claws of the Beast

Your nails grow into hard and sharp claws, which count as natural weapons with which you are proficient. The damage you can do with your claws increases with your character level.

Vampiric Charm

As a vampire, you have the ability to bend the minds of the living. You learn the spells suggestion, hypnotic pattern, charm person, and dominate person. These don't count against your number of known spells. However, their use still requires a spell slot.

Eyes of Darkness

You are a predator in the night, a creature of darkness. You rely not only on sight but also on your ability to sense blood from those around you. Your darkvision increases to 120ft, and you gain blindsense of 10ft against all creatures except constructs, elementals, oozes, plants, and undead.

Impure Soul

Like true vampires, you are harmed by clean running water. If you start your turn in running water, you take acid damage equal to your character level. Impure water sources like stagnant ponds, swamp water, saltwater oceans, or rain don't affect you in this way.

Sunlight hypersensitivity

Unlike the true vampire, the ascendant vampire does not burn in sunlight. However, you lose your vampiric powers (including those you had prior to your awakening, such as spider climb and vampiric bite) so long as you stay under direct sunlight.