Dire Reverend Vampire (3.5e Template)

Vampire
Dire Reverend's Vampire is Summary::A vampire that is not incredibly powerful, and has 4 racial hit dice instead of +8 LA.

Vampires appear just as they did in life, although when in combat, their features are often hardened and feral, with the predatory look of wolves.

Like liches, they often embrace finery and decadence and may assume the guise of nobility. Despite their human appearance, vampires can be easily recognized, for they cast no shadows and throw no reflections in mirrors.

Vampires speak any languages they knew in life.

Creating a Vampire
“Vampire” is an acquired template that can be added to any humanoid or monstrous humanoid creature (referred to hereafter as the base creature).

A vampire uses all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here.

Size and Type
The creature’s type changes to undead (augmented humanoid or monstrous humanoid). Do not recalculate base attack bonus, saves, or skill points. Size is unchanged.

Hit Dice
Increase all current and future Hit Dice to d12s. A vampire gains four hit dice, which gives 4d12 hit points, a Base Attack Bonus of +4, Saves increase by +4 Will, +1 Fortitude, +1 Reflex, and they gain 16 + Int *4 skill points.

Speed
Same as the base creature. If the base creature has a swim speed, the vampire retains the ability to swim and is not vulnerable to immersion in running water (see below).

Armor Class
The base creature’s natural armor bonus improves by +2.

Attack
A vampire retains all the attacks of the base creature and also gains a slam or claw attack if it didn’t already have one. If the base creature can use weapons, the vampire retains this ability. A creature with natural weapons retains those natural weapons. A vampire fighting without weapons uses either its slam attack or its primary natural weapon (if it has any). A vampire armed with a weapon uses its slam/claw or a weapon, as it desires.

Full Attack
A vampire fighting without weapons uses either its slam/claw attack (see above) or its natural weapons (if it has any). If armed with a weapon, it usually uses the weapon as its primary attack along with a slam or other natural weapon as a natural secondary attack. Unlike regular natrual weapons, a Vampire's slam/claw attack can be used as many times as it's base attack bonus allows.

Damage: Vampires have slam/claw attacks. If the base creature does not have this attack form, use the appropriate damage value from the table below according to the vampire’s size. Creatures that have other kinds of natural weapons retain their old damage values or use the appropriate value from the table below, whichever is better.

Special Attacks
A vampire retains all the special attacks of the base creature and gains those described below. Saves have a DC of 10 + 1/2 vampire’s HD + vampire’s Cha modifier unless noted otherwise.

Blood Drain (Ex): A vampire can suck blood from a living victim with its fangs by making a successful grapple check. If it pins the foe, it drains blood, dealing 1d4 points of Constitution drain each round the pin is maintained. On each such successful attack, the vampire gains 5 temporary hit points.

Create Spawn (Su): A humanoid or monstrous humanoid slain by a vampire’s energy drain rises as a vampire spawn (see the Vampire Spawn entry) 1d4 days after burial.

If the vampire instead drains the victim’s Constitution to 0 or lower, the victim returns as a spawn if it had 4 or less HD and as a vampire if it had 5 or more HD. In either case, the new vampire or spawn's attitude towards the vampire that created it changes to friendly, unless the attitude was higher than that before becoming a vampire or vampire spawn.

Energy Drain (Su): Living creatures hit by a vampire’s slam attack (or any other natural weapon the vampire might possess) gain one negative level. For each negative level bestowed, the vampire gains 5 temporary hit points. A vampire can use its energy drain ability once per round.

Special Qualities
A vampire retains all the special qualities of the base creature and gains those described below.

Damage Reduction (Su): A vampire has damage reduction 5/silver and magic. A vampire’s natural weapons are treated as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

Fast Healing (Ex): A vampire heals 5 points of damage each round so long as it has at least 1 hit point. If reduced to 0 hit points in combat, it becomes helpless. Unless the body is destroyed, it regains 1 hit point after 1 hour, then is no longer helpless and resumes healing at the rate of 5 hit points per round.

Resistances (Ex): A vampire has resistance to cold 10 and electricity 10.

Spider Climb (Ex): A vampire can climb sheer surfaces as though with a spider climb spell.

Turn Resistance (Ex): A vampire has +2 turn resistance.

''Salient Selections (Ex or Su): A vampire selects two Salient abilities. The list of Salient Selections can be found here.

Abilities
Increase from the base creature as follows: Str +4, Dex +2, Cha +2. As an undead creature, a vampire has no Constitution score.

Skills
Same as the base creature.

Feats
Same as the base creature.

Environment
Any, usually same as base creature.

Organization
Solitary, pair, gang (3–5), or troupe (1–2 plus 2–5 vampire spawn)

Challenge Rating
Same as the base creature +CR::2.

Treasure
Double standard.

Alignment
Usually evil (any).

Advancement
By character class.

Level Adjustment
+Level Adjustment::4HD, no LA.

Vampire Weaknesses
For all their power, vampires have a number of weaknesses.

Repelling a Vampire: Vampires cannot tolerate the strong odor of garlic and will not enter an area laced with it. Similarly, they recoil from a mirror or a strongly presented holy symbol. These things don’t harm the vampire—they merely keep it at bay. A recoiling vampire must stay at least 5 feet away from a creature holding the mirror or holy symbol and cannot touch or make melee attacks against the creature holding the item for the rest of the encounter. Holding a vampire at bay takes a standard action.

Vampires are also unable to cross running water, although they can be carried over it while resting in their coffins or aboard a ship.

They are utterly unable to enter a home or other building unless invited in by someone with the authority to do so. They may freely enter public places, since these are by definition open to all.

Slaying a Vampire: Reducing a vampire’s hit points to 0 or lower incapacitates it but doesn’t always destroy it (see the note on fast healing). However, certain attacks can slay vampires. Exposing any vampire to direct sunlight disorients it: It can take only a single move action or attack action and is destroyed utterly in the next round if it cannot escape. Similarly, immersing a vampire in running water robs it of one-third of its hit points each round until it is destroyed at the end of the third round of immersion. Driving a wooden stake through a vampire’s heart instantly slays the monster. However, it returns to life if the stake is removed, unless the body is destroyed.

If a character attacks a Vampire in melee with a stake and would threaten a critical hit, he may make a roll to confirm the critical, even though vampires are not affected by them, at a -8 penalty. If the confirmation roll is successful, then the character successfully stakes the Vampire’s heart. In addition, a character can coup de grace a Vampire with a stake, even though they are immune to them regularly.

Vampire Characters
Unless there are extenuating circumstances, Vampires are always evil, which causes characters of certain classes to lose some class abilities. In addition, certain classes take additional penalties.

Clerics: Vampire clerics lose their ability to turn undead but gain the ability to rebuke undead. A vampire cleric has access to two of the following domains: Chaos, Destruction, Evil, or Trickery.