I, like many people I’ve spoken to, were disappointed with the new vampire option presented in Heroes of Shadow. It’s not in fault to the mechanics. They feature excellent flavor and a fun balancing act of healing with limited healing surges. It’s not the fact that we already had vampire-esque options in the form of feats. I certainly don’t have a problem with such a dark character being played played by a PC (see the Werewolf theme in Kobold Quarterly #19).
So what’s the issue? They made it a class. That means no vampire rogues, no vampire wizards, nor vampire blackguards, assassins or most anything else. So many opportunities gone. It’s not like we don’t have options to make this happen in other ways either. I set about coming up with a way to fix this issue, and decided the Theme was likely the best mechanic for the task. That means no vampire merchants, students or nobles, but themes are secondary traits (even farther removed from secondary really), and it seemed the lesser sacrifice.
The next step was to determine the new mechanics, but the issue here is, I like the mechanics! My desire with the following is to present the Vampire class options as a theme format. There are more choices than a regular theme to help customize your vampire the way that suits your character best, but in the end, I don’t think this should create any serious balance issues. This theme references material found in Heroes of Shadow.
Vampire Theme
Level 1 Starting Feature
You are undead. You gain the traits associated with the undead keyword. You do not age.
You do not add your constitution modifier to your total number of healing surges. Your total number of healing surges is reduced by 2 (to a maximum of 2).
You can take either the dark beckoning power or the taste of life power in place of an At-Will power granted by your class.
You gain the blood drinker power.
Level 5 Feature
You gain the blood is life and enduring soul class feature.
Level 10 Feature
You gain the night crawler ability.
Optional Powers
Each of the remaining heroic vampire utility powers are available in place of your class utility powers for those levels.
Special Restrictions
A player character my not take the vampire class or hybrid vampire class and the vampire theme. You may take multi-class feats, and are considered to have the Vampirism feat (Dragon 400), if needed to meet the prerequisite for these feats (This will allow you to take Vampire Encounter and Daily Powers). For the purpose of meeting prerequisites you are considered to have the Vampire class.
It may seem lazy, but I see no reason why we should re-write what’s not broken, and I like the mechanics (it’s worth repeating). This limits your vampiric advancement to the first ten levels of play. Numbers seem to indicate that this is plenty for many groups. Some of us, however, might want a little more bite. It occurred to me that if my goal is the ability to combine my vampire with a class, what I might need is just a hybrid class. Most of the essentials classes haven’t been updated for the hybrid rules yet but we have a few to give us an example. That’s when I discovered there was a hybrid vampire option in Dragon 400. Go ahead take a look. It’s pretty good. . .
What? This is free content. Did you expect me to not point out the already available options? Have fun with the theme. Find the vampire that suits your game!
Brian Liberge
Brian Liberge is a father of one, living in Boston, MA. Introduced to AD&D at an early age, he’s continued to update with the editions, and new games. He loves home-brewed ideas, is honest to a fault, and thinks that ideas and mechanics should absolutely be shared between systems. With a B.S. Degree in Theatre Arts, a job in Information Technology, and a love of strategy gaming, he tries to bring the best of each into his new creations for StufferShack.
Check out his latest book the Midgard Bestiary for 4e, available now. Profile Page / Article Portfolio
I’m actually really enjoying the class as written. I added a theme and multiclassed into Assassin to establish a bit of background in another class and haven’t regretted it. But then again, I’m playing a character for whom “vampire” is his strongest defining trait. This theme looks like a pretty cool way to expand the options available for other types of vampires.
Nice work, Brian. Very nice work. 🙂
The Vampire class was one way to approach it. They also created the Vyrloka for a vampire “race” that approaches it from that direction. And as you mentioned, they had several feats that did similar things as well. However, I will never look down upon a good theme, and you, sir, have provided one! Great work. Maybe some more for other horror tropes?
[…] Autor: Brian Liberge Tradução e Adaptação: Aguinaldo “Cursed Lich” Silvestre Fonte: Stuffer Shack […]
I noticed a little thing yesterday. This Vampire Theme can walk under daylight with no problems. Shouldn’t it possess the Child of Night trait?
Yes, I thought the Child of the Night traits was a bit too much for a theme starting feature that already granted a fair bit. In the end the restriction of traveling during the day is easily solved by wearing a hooded cloak, and will rarely come up otherwise. It was the easiest thing to drop.