Homebrew Vampire Species Details

Awakened to an endless night, vampires hunger for the life they have lost and sate that hunger by drinking the blood of the living. Vampires abhor sunlight, for its touch burns them. A vampire also cannot enter a residence without an invitation from one of the occupants. They never cast shadows or reflections, and any vampire wishing to move unnoticed among the living keeps to the darkness and far from reflective surfaces.

Dark Desires

Whether or not a vampire retains any memories from its former life, its emotional attachments wither as once-pure feelings become twisted by undeath. Love turns into hungry obsession, while friendship becomes bitter jealousy. In place of emotion, vampires pursue physical symbols of what they crave, so that a vampire seeking love might fixate on a young beauty. A child might become an object of fascination for a vampire obsessed with youth and potential. Others surround themselves with art, books, or sinister items such as torture devices or trophies from creatures they have killed.

Twisted Fates

Normally, a new vampire is created when an existing one allows their spawn to drink of their blood. But, the first vampires could not be made this way. The vampires we describe here are made differently. To understand, we must first understand the succubus. A succubus--or an incubus--comes to the material plane to drag souls to hell in order to fuel their demonic lords army. They do this by infatuating humanoids and tell them to do unspeakable things in order to win the succubus's love. These things damn the victims soul, and then the succubus grants them their reward in with the kiss of death.

However, in some rare cases the succubus actually falls for the one they are damning. In a case such as this, the kiss grants not death to the victim, but cursed immortality. They become a vampire. These vampires can be called "pure" vampires, where the ones we most commonly find are "true" vampires. True vampires are what are born when a pure vampire bites a victim and chooses to pass their vampricy, akin to the way true vampires create their spawn. 

Cursed Nomads

Pure vampires did not truly "die" to the succubus's kiss, thus they have no graves. Unlike true vampires, they can revive anywhere they should be slain, their bodies turning to dust at the next morning and then reforming with renewed undeath at the break of night. However, the general weaknesses of the vampire are not escaped by even the pure's. Sunlight, running water, holy water, and in this case, the wooden stake. Should one be in the chest of the vampires body, and dragged before the rising sun, they will perish forever like any other of their kind.

PLAYING A VAMPIRE

The vampire subrace was intended to be applied to any race that had a subrace, and replaced that race’s existing subrace options. Alternatively, you would have applied this new subrace to a race without subrace options using the modification options detailed below. Since DnDBeyond cannot handle a Subrace that can be applied to anything, I have made the "Race" the vampire, and the "Subraces" all of the Races that you could have applied it to. Sorry for the confusion. Every "Subrace" for this "Race" is exactly the same as the base level Races without any of their Subraces applied, with exceptions being detailed below.

This subrace is intended to give new roleplay and world building opportunities to players and DM's. A player should not run a vampire character if they intend to abuse its power without suffering the roleplay repercussions, and a DM should not allow one unless they intend to regularly employ the harsh lifestyles a vampire player will need to endure. Vampires are despised and hunted throughout the world, and it would not make sense for a vampire to appear in most adventuring parties. Please consider these things when deciding to use the vampire subrace.

Racial Adjustments

For races that don’t have subrace options, taking on the vampire subrace means making changes to your character’s base traits, as follows. (This playtest article provides options only for human and dragonborn characters. Because halfelves and half-orcs have no subrace options, they shouldn’t be used with these vampire subrace rules.)

Human Vampire. If you want to play a human vampire, modify the human’s Ability Score Increase trait to the following: Two different ability scores of your choice increase by 1. If you use the variant human traits, remove the Skills trait and the Feat trait.

Dragonborn Vampire . If you want to play a dragonborn vampire, modify the dragonborn’s Ability Score Increase trait to the following: Your Strength score increases by 1, and your Charisma score increases by 1. Additionally, your Draconic Ancestry trait uses necrotic damage as its damage type, replacing the damage type that applies to your breath weapon and your damage resistance.

Tiefling Vampire. If you use one of the two tiefling variants presented in the unearthed arcana, you can use any of those subraces to make a tiefling vampire, replacing the subrace options with the vampire subrace options.

Vampire Traits

Your vampire character has many twisted properties that come from the curse of night.

Ability Score Increase

Your Dexterity or Charisma score increases by 1.

Superior Darkvision

You gain Darkvision up to 60ft., or if you already had Darkvision, it increases to 120ft.

Bite

You have the iconic fangs of a vampire, they can extend and retract at will. As a bonus action, you can use your fangs to attack with either Strength or Dexterity. On a hit, the attack deals 1d6 + the modifier you used to attack. You gain temporary hit points equal to half of any damage you deal with this attack.

Additionally, once per long rest you can choose to add necrotic damage to your bite on a hit. The damage is equal to your level. Any humanoid creature who is reduced to 0 hit points by the necrotic damage cannot be revived by normal means, and you can choose to inflict vampricy upon them. If you do inflict vampricy, they rise at the next dawn with the vampire subrace, or as a vampire.

Vampire Magic

You know the thaumaturgy cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the charm person spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the polymorph spell (can only be used on self, and only to turn into a Bat. Its Bite attack is replaced with yours) once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.

Spider Climb

Your vampire form cares not for the laws of gravity. You can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.

Vampiric Vitality

The rules of life and death work differently for a you. The following roleplay elements and gameplay changes apply to your vampire character.

• your character does not age, and remain whatever age they were when they were turned.
• You count as undead as well as humanoid. HP restoring effects from spells other than Necromancy spells have no effect on you, and effects from abilities such as chill touch or a Clerics Channel Divinity: Turn Undead work on you.
• Normal means of Resurrection do not have any effect on you. If you die to exhaustion, in sunlight or in running water, you are destroyed instantly. If you die by any other means, your body will turn to ash at the next dawn, and reform at the following dusk, reviving you at 1 hit point. If a wooden piercing object is piercing your heart at dawn, your body does not turn to ash. If the object is removed, your body begins the revival process at the next dawn.
• Whenever your character take's a short rest, their regenerative properties allow them to regain hit points equal to their level. To gain this benefit, they can't be resting in sunlight or running water.
• You take damage equal to your level whenever you end your turn in sunlight or running water. Radiant damage for sunlight, and Acid damage for running water.
• Your character's diet is that of blood. Bread tastes of dry sponge, and water of oil. When reading the rules for food and water (page 128 of the PHB), ignore the rules for food, treat water as blood, and treat days as weeks.
• You can't enter a residence without an invitation from one of the occupants.