Homebrew Vampire Species Details

"But to think that the vampires of legend actually existed."
"Oh yeah, now that you mention it, could she really be a vampire? What are the vampires like in the stories?"
"They look like humans or Erunes except they have sharp fangs and bat-like wings on their heads. Compared to humans they're way stronger. They can use magic, and they live for hundreds of years. But the biggest difference is they use their fangs to suck people's blood."
"No way!"
"Plus when a person is bitten, they become the vampire's underling. Though, it might just be an exaggeration. No one's seen a real vampire, after all."

— Granblue Fantasy, Fall of the Dragon

Vampires are fearsome, bloodsucking creatures of legend - and to most people, not much else. For most of the sky, Vampires are nothing but a horror story for Halloween. This is the result of Vampires isolating themselves for hundreds of years on the island of Medvecia, where they live with pride, tradition - and wait to die out.

Monsters of Legend

Though most people have never met a vampire, many can identify one. While legends may differ on the specifics, all can agree on two defining features: their sharp fangs and the bat-like wings on their heads. And these are accurate - all vampire of Medvecia have sharp fangs with which they can suck blood and a pair of vestigial reddish-black wings on their head. Otherwise, vampires resemble humans in appearance. They usually have pale colored skin and light colored hair, ranging from deep blonde to pale white. Their eye colors can be any human color as well as red.  As almost all remaining vampires come from the island kingdom of Medvecia, their sense of fashion is fairly uniform, matching a high Gothic style.

While the legends of vampire's powers and weaknesses are as numerous as their tellings, only a few are actually true. Vampires have powerful regenerative abilities and near supernatural charm. They are quick and agile, but most do not have the ability to fly or turn into bats, though some have affinity for controlling them. They do have a weakness to sunlight and other strong lights, though they do not immediately turn to ash upon exposure. They are weak to silver weapons, but it is not the only way they can be injured. Though they boast impressively long lifespans, they are not truly immortal, nor are they undead. They do not need to feed on blood, as the Kingdom of Medvecia has proven, but they will inevitably face a slow decline until death.

A Kingdom of Isolation

Once upon a time, Vampires were the terrors of the sky. Stronger than any other race, able to conquer and control anyone they wanted, it seemed there was nothing they could not do. But they were regarded as monsters, even by their own kind - so a thousand years ago or more, the king of Medvecia chose for Vampires to all withdraw to their kingdom and leave the greater world, before they became nothing more than monsters, that they might live out the remainders of their lives and die with dignity. Since then, Vampires disappeared from the wider skies and have lived in isolation since.

Any intruders onto their kingdom, on purpose or on accident, have been dealt with harshly. Strict laws forbid any contact with outsiders or the outside world, and many more restrict the actions of the Vampires who live within the kingdom. For a thousand years these tenets have governed their lives and given structure to their society as they lived out their remaining time with nobility and decorum. With their long lives and stiff statutes, nothing changed for centuries within Medvecia.

It was not until recently, in the past decade, when a certain incident caused the kingdom of Medvecia to rethink their policies. After disaster that nearly ruined the entire kingdom was overturned with the help of a group of outsiders, and at the prodding of the princess heir apparent to the royal throne, Vampires have begun to rethink their stances on the outside world. Though the taboo against sucking blood and making more servants, or bloodkin, remains in place, and they still do not welcome visitors to their misty kingdom, there are now some few vampires who travel the wider world to see what changes have been wrought in the past millennium - and perhaps what can be changed for them.

Vampire Names

Almost all vampires hail from Medvecia and thus share a similar naming sense that hasn't changed in hundreds of years that includes a number of glottal tones and voices consants and a penchant for V.

Male Vampire Names: Feldrac, Veight, Darton, Jelvic, Thaldus, Masvet, Vermas, Talvet, Vantein

Female Vampire Names: Vania, Malinda, Alouis, Eliza, Veti, Savena, Devlendi, Vessa, Maria, Carmeli

Vague Legends

While most people might say they can identify a vampire by their prominent features, with all the different humanoid monsters in the world it can be hard to pinpoint them among the crowd. The wings on their head might be seen as the mark of a demon, or their fangs might be of a bestial nature. But once people hear the word "vampire", a large scale panic is not uncommon. Vampires hoping the travel the skies will have to be careful who they reveal their true nature to, as they can cause fear - or deadly curiosity, as there are those who might see such a rare specimen as  a perfect addition to their collection. Fortunately, as long as they keep their wings hidden and don't make their fangs too obvious, most vampires seem perfectly human at a glance.

Vampire Traits

Vampires share a certain number of strengths and weaknesses in common with their legends.

Ability Score Increase

Your Constitution score increases by 1, and your Charisma score increases by 2.

Age

Vampires age extremely slowly and can live for hundreds of years. The exact time it takes them to mature, age and decline is unknown. Their mental maturity tends to match their physical appearance in most cases though.

Alignment

Having spent all or most of their lives growing up in the strict kingdom of Medvecia, most vampires are Lawful.

Size

Vampires are about the same size and build as humans. Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Superior Darkvision

You can see in dim light within 120 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Sunlight Vulnerability

You have disadvantage on attack rolls and on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight when you, the target of your attack, or whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct sunlight.
You have vulnerability to radiant damage and silvered weapons.

Bite

Your fanged maw is a natural weapon, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with it, you deal piercing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.

Vampiric Body

As long as it was not in direct sunlight, if you regain hit points at the end of a short rest by spending one or more Hit Dice, you regain an extra 1d6 hit points. The extra hit points increase to 1d8 at 9th level, 1d10 at 13th level and 1d12 at 17th level.

Vampiric Drain: As a bonus action, whenever you deal necrotic or melee damage equal to or greater than the size of one of your expended Hit Dice, you may regain that Hit Dice. You can use this to regain any hit die when you bite a willing, grappled, incapacitated or restrained creature as long as you deal at least 1 damage. In all cases, the creature must have blood. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier (a minimum of once). You regain any expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Vampiric Recovery: As an action, you can spend Hit Dice to regain hit points as if you had just completed a short rest once with this feature and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest.

Glamour of Night

You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed. Creatures you have bitten in the past 24 hours have disadvantage on saving throws against being charmed by you.

When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the charm person spell twice with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for it. You may also expend one use as an action to extend the duration of the charmed condition of any creature originally charmed by you by the original source's duration without rolling as long as they are within the original effect's range.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common.