Homebrew Van Richten's Dhampir Species Details

Straddling the realms of both life and the spectral world, dhampirs maintain their hold on existence while constantly wrestling with overpowering cravings. Their connection to the undead endows them with a hint of a vampire's formidable abilities, manifesting as enhanced agility, the ability to see in darkness, and a vitality-sapping bite.

Dhampirs, with their inherent understanding of undead creatures, often venture into lives of adventure and hunting monsters. Each dhampir's journey is deeply personal. Some are drawn to the thrill of the hunt, seeing in their prey reflections of their own inner demons. Others seek vengeance against the forces that transformed them into dhampirs. Then there are those who choose the lonely path of the hunter, seeking to keep a safe distance from those who might ignite their dark appetites.

Van Richten's Dhampir Traits

The Dhampir have the following traits.

Dhampir Hungers

Every dhampir knows a thirst slaked only by the living. This desire is a whisper in the mind, a tinge to the sight, a reflex constantly needing to be suppressed. Those who overindulge their thirst risk losing control and forever viewing others as prey. Those who resist might find exceptional ways of controlling their urges or suppress it through constant, molar-grinding restraint. In any case, temptation haunts dhampirs, and circumstances conspire to give them endless reasons to indulge.

While many dhampirs thirst for blood, your character might otherwise gain sustenance from the living. Roll on or choose an option from the Dhampir Hungers table to determine what tempts your character to feed.

Dhampir Hungers
d8 Hunger
1 Blood
2 Flesh or raw meat
3 Cerebral spinal fluid
4 Esoteric humors
5 Psychic energy
6 A color from one’s appearance
7 Dreams
8 Life energy

Dhampir Origins

Dhampirs often arise from encounters with vampires, but all manner of macabre bargains, necromantic influences, and encounters with mysterious immortals might have transformed your character. The Dhampir Origins table provides suggestions for how your character gained their lineage.

Dhampir Origins
d8 Origin
1 You are the reincarnation of an ancestor who was a vampiric tyrant.
2 Your pact with a predatory deity, fiend, fey, or spirit causes you to share their hunger.
3 You survived being attacked by a vampire but were forever changed.
4 A parasite inhabits your body. You indulge your hunger to sate it.
5 You loved an immortal and were willing to be transformed into a vampire to join them, but tragedy interrupted the transformation.
6 You are a diminished manifestation of an otherworldly being. Slaking your hunger hastens your renewal.
7 You don’t know your origins, but you were raised by vampires or other monsters.
8 A radical experiment changed your body, making you reliant on others for vital fluids.

 

Ability Score Increase

 Increase one ability score by 2 and increase a different one by 1, or increase three different ability scores by 1. If you are replacing your race with this lineage, replace any Ability Score Increase you previously had with this.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and one other language that you and your DM agree is appropriate for the character. If you are replacing your race with this lineage, you retain any languages you had and gain no new languages.

 

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.
    • 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.

 

Darkvision

You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light and in darkness as if it were dim light. You discern colors in that darkness as shades of gray.

Deathless Nature.

You don't 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 1d4 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 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.

 

Previous Versions

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