Blood Creature (3.5e Template)

Blood Creature
Summary::Blood Creatures are hematophages who drain blood from their victims. While similar to vampires in passing, they are living creatures, though fierce and baleful as any dire beast.

Blood creatures use blood as their main source of food, though many often devour meat as well, draining it dry of its vital fluids and releasing the remaining subtance as waste. If satated, blood creatures are merely scarier looking but no more violent than their kin. However, the thirst of blood is insatable and such creatures become violent when on the hunt for food. Blood creatures appear like feral versions of their normal selves, with enlarged fangs or strange needle-like tongues, disturbed yellowed eyes, taut zombie like skin, signs of patchy balding, and spurs of bone and raw flesh. A blood creature uses all the base creature's statistics and abilities except as noted here.

Creating a Blood Creature
"Blood" is an inherited template that can be added to any corporeal aberration, animal, dragon, gey, giant, humanoid, magical beast, monstrous humanoid, ooze, plant, or vermin. Animals or vermin with this template become magical beasts, but otherwise the creature type is unchanged. Do not recalculate the creature's Hit Dice, base attack bonus, saves, or skill points if the type changes.

Armor Class
Bony growths provide blood creatures with a +2 natural armor bonus.

Attack
The base creature gains a primary bite attack dealing 1d6 + strength in damage, and which counts as a magic weapon at 5 HD, and a silver weapon at 10 HD. Creatures which already possess a bite attack treat as if their bite was one size larger.

Special Attacks
A blood creature retains all the special attacks of the base creature and also gains the following.


 * Blood Drain (Ex): When striking with its bite attack, a blood creature automatically recovers half the damage dealt as healing to itself. This does not function on creatures without blood, such as most undead (excluding things like vampires), plants, oozes, and constructs.
 * Blood Rage (Ex): Once per day the creature can enter a state similar to a barbarian's rage, gaining +4 Str, +4 Con, +2 Will saves, +10 to all movement speeds, and -2 to AC. During this rage, they strain themselves dealing 2 points of nonlethal damage for every round they remain in rage.  The rage lasts for 3 + their newly modified Con score rounds.  They cannot willingly cease their rage, and will attack allies if no other source of blood is available up until the rage runs out, or they are brought to full health.  At 10 or more HD, the bonuses rise to +6 Str & Con, +4 Will, +20 bonus to all movement speeds, and take 4 points nonlethal damage a round.  At 20 or more HD, the bonuses tise to +8 Str & Con, +6 Will, +30 bonus to all movement speeds, and take 6 points nonlethal damage a round.  Blood creatures with levels in a class which grants rage can choose to gain additional uses of blood rage in place of the standard benefits.

Special Qualities
A blood creature retains all the special qualities of the base creature and also gains the following.


 * Darkvision out to 60 feet.
 * Damage Reduction/silver equal to 1/2 HD.
 * Scent. Wounded and bleeding creatures are easier to notice, and it is capable of detecting them from twice as far away (typically 60 feet, and longer if downwind).

Abilities
+2 Str, +2 Con, +2 Wis, and intelligence is at least 3.

Feats
The blood creature gains the Track feat.

Environment
As base creature.

Organization
As base creature, but as they tend to be more dangerous and competitive, they are much more likely to be found solitary, if not in the company of other blood creatures.

Challenge Rating
HD 9 or less, as base creature +1; HD 10-19, as base creature +2; HD 20 or more as base creature +3. For each additional two bite attacks the creature possesses beyond one (such as a hydra) increase the CR by +1. For example, a five headed hydra (5 HD) therefore has it's CR +3.

Alignment
As base creature.

Level Adjustment
+Level Adjustment::2