Grey Vampire (3.5e Monster)

''After a long struggle you burst into the evil baron's chambers, ready to strike a blow for freedom. To your horror you find several human bodies stewn about the room, decrept of blood, and the baron sitting upon his throne swirling a glass filled with something too thick to be red wine, as he asks you with a cold glare... what is a man?''

Grey Vampires are a species of vampire free from the heirachy of vampire lord and spawn. Each is his own master, each his own danger, and each incredibly dangerous. They hide within society appearing as one of the living, beautiful, loved, and inevitably dangerous.

Combat
In ideal conditions a grey vampire never need face combat himself. Through beguile and charm, and judicious use of minions, he pulls strings and nothing more. Of course, to hunt is part of the plan and a vampire does everything in his power to isolate, disable, and strip their prey of power before moving in for the kill. Through spell or brute force, once subjucated you are doomed to have your blood drained whole, to leave no witnesses.

Spell-Like Abilities (Sp): At will- charm person, darkness; 2/day-gaseous form. The save DCs are Charisma based.

Alternate Form (Su): As a standard action, a grey vampire may take the form of a bat, wolf, or rat at will.

Blood Pool (Ex): As an undead, a grey vampire lacks a constitution score. However they possess a sort of quasi-constitution score called a blood pool (which by default begins at 10). For the purposes of hp, a blood pool acts as your constitution score. The blood pool decreases by 1 point every day, and if it hits 0 points you drop into hibernation. You can increase your blood pool by draining creatures of their blood with your bite attack (see above). Any creature with blood will suffice, but it will max out at 10 points. Only the blood of humanoids allows you to exceed 10 points. You may fill your blood pool up to your HD + 15. Thus at 1 HD a grey vampire can have a blood pool of 16, while at 20 HD they can have a blood pool of up to 35, and the impressive hit points which come with such a thing. Effects which deal constitution damage or drain through the act of draining blood (rather than by poison) will instead damage a vampire's blood pool.

Hard to Kill (Ex): To defeat a vampire is easy, one simply must deplete its hit points. But to destroy a vampire is a bit difficult. When a vampire drops to 0 hp or below they fall inert, and gain fast healing 1 until they are at 1 hp. To kill a vampire for good you must stake it in the heart (a coup de grace action with any piercing weapon) or destroy the body utterly (via disintergrate, setting it on fire, or leaving it in the sun). If a vampire loses its head (from vorpal for example) they fall into hibernation but can be restored by attaching the head back to the body, which regrows in 3d6 rounds, leaving the vampire at 1 hp.

Hibernation (Ex): In the event of decapitation, or failing to feed in time, a grey vampire enters a state of deathly sleep. They remain in such a state dreaming dark dreams, until a blood-bearing creature passes within 30 ft. of their prone body. At that point they awaken, crazed, and attack until they lose their target (and fall in hibernation again once moving for a safe space) or manage to regain at least 1 blood point. They gain +4 strength and dexterity when in a craze, but can do nothing but attack, not even cast spells, use spell like abilities, or recognize friend from foe. A vampire can willingly hibernate (and thus lose no blood points from the passage of time) in the course of 1 minute, and wake as a full-round action.

Turn Resistance (Ex): A grey vampire gains +2 turn resistance against the turn and rebuke attempts of others.

Sunlight Vulnerablity (Ex): All grey vampires share a common weakness to the light of the sun. In actual daylight (but not the spell daylight, they lose 1 hit point per HD every round, until they find at least shadowy illumination or darker. If reduced to 0 hp while in sunlight, the vampire disintergrates into ash.  A hood may suffice in typical situations, but in the heat of combat maintaining the shade from any headgear results in a -2 penalty to all attack rolls and skill checks.  Most vampires choose to employ their darkness spell-like ability in cases where they must move within daylight.

Unique Vulnerability (Ex): By curious quirk all grey vampires have at least one thing which is anathema to them. Regardless of what form it takes, when within 30 ft. of the vampire they cannot stand its presence, and take a -3 penalty on all attack rolls, skill checks, and saving throws until it is removed. Such vulnerabilities include: Garlic, Running Water, Holy Symbols of good aligned dieties, Salt, and Constant Fire (fireball does not count, but a bonfire does). If you go beyond the limits of this list, the item should be either relatively common, or easily accessable.

Warlock Invocations Known: The example warlock grey vampire has the following invocations, blast shapes, and essences known: Eldritch GlaiveDM, Entropic WardingCA, See the UnseenCA, Fell FlightCA, Walk UnseenCA, CharmCA, Devil's Whisper'sCity