Thanks!
The CR usually posits a group of 4 characters of that level. So figure a single level 8 Fighter is CR 2, meaning he's 1/4 as powerful as a party of 4 characters. If I'm right, then the ECL of a Dhampir is a whopping 8, which isn't impossible to believe. After all, the template is powerful based on the stat mods alone, let alone the automatic Feats and Skills and the Supernatural powers.
And while we're on the subject, I must admit I was dreading the template until I actually saw it. So few systems have ever made the "half-vampire" template work well or be anything but a twinkfest.
But I do have a question here that arises from a seeming omission in the text of either dhampir or vampire. Under what circumstances does this happen? Are vampires capable of procreating but just don't tend to engage in sexual activity? Is the chance of fertilization just vanishingly small (I prefer this idea)? Or is it something else? I can understand why the mother has to be human, I can't imagine a female vampire's body could sustain a fetus for nine months.
But then, that makes me think of something else. How about aging? They don't mention it at all in the template. Do dhampir age any slower than humans? I'd think this question would come up often enough to have been addressed.
- Yulian
"They say that blood is thicker than water. Maybe that's why we battle our own with more energy and gusto than we would ever expend on strangers." - David Assael
As to the procreation and aging, from what I've read and such (fiction, myths, DND books), it appears that young vampires are capable of proceating with humans. Like, they've been vampires less than a century. That seems to be the only way that dhampir come about.
As to aging, I personally feel they would age a lot slower, especially given a template with fast healing in it. Think Wolverine... he's much, much older than the 30-something he appears because of his regeneration. I expect they would have a lifespan akin to a dwarf or an elf. Finite, but much longer than that of a human.
Hmm... still hunting for the ECL. I VAGUELY remember it being around +4 or +5 but I need confirmation for a game I'm playing in.
And the CR of an 8th level figther is 8, not 2. CR is for individuals. EL is for groups. They assume a party of 4 for the PC's, not the bad guys. Of course a single Ftr8 isn't a match for 4 8th level characters. That because CR doesn't mean an even match, it means it should take 25% (or was it 20%?) of the party's resources (spells, hp, etc.) to defeat.
Some things are much more disruptive as a PC than as a one-shot NPC, so the CR adjustment of a template is not always the same as the LA.
I believe the Dhampir was something like LA +4 in Denizens of Dread, but I'm not 100% sure.
The CR for the dhampir is +2 over whatever the Challenge Rating of the creature is before the template is applied. This is just like what they did in the original 3e monstrous manual. What's the actual level adjustment for a PC and where I can I find corroborating proof of this?
Denizens of Dread is the 3.5 update to Denizens of Darkness. I know a lot of people coplained that the update was incomplete, but I'm pretty sure LA was one thing they added.
Alright right then, +4 it is. Thanks!
D, a dhampire and son of Dracula himself, doesn't age, but doesn't get the features older vampires usually get when they become older.
I personally recommend to use witchhunter as a prestige class for a good aligned dhampire.
Don't know if this info serves you, but in any case, see the D movies!
They feel sometimes like a kind of MoRD/RL clone. (In fact, they are...)
I thought that D was Dracula.
I remember that series - but I only saw the first movie.
I thought that D was Dracula.
No, D was Dracula's child. There are also only two movies out, but I hear there are several novels, none of which have been translated into English yet.
- Yulian
"The only thing wrong with immortality is that it tends to go on forever." - Herb Caen
As for what's up with vampires being able to procreate, I prefer the dhampir explanation put forward in the movie Blade. Blade (who is a quintessential dhampir) is created when his pregnant mother gets attacked by a vampire. This makes it a very sinister form of pseudo-**** which, while a little disturbing, is far more in-line with the gothic vampiric mythos than a happy couple longing for a child.
Vampires can't procreate (which is why the main plot premise in Van Helsing was so unbelievably retarded and, along with Count Fruity Fruity Bumchum, I mean Dracula, spoiled an otherwise great movie), their bodies are dead - walking corpses animated by unholy supernatural forces.
-VNM
As for what's up with vampires being able to procreate, I prefer the dhampir explanation put forward in the movie Blade. Blade (who is a quintessential dhampir) is created when his pregnant mother gets attacked by a vampire. This makes it a very sinister form of pseudo-**** which, while a little disturbing, is far more in-line with the gothic vampiric mythos than a happy couple longing for a child.
Vampires can't procreate (which is why the main plot premise in Van Helsing was so unbelievably retarded and, along with Count Fruity Fruity Bumchum, I mean Dracula, spoiled an otherwise great movie), their bodies are dead - walking corpses animated by unholy supernatural forces.
-VNM
Actually, it depends on what real-world mythology you use. Some mythologies do have vampires that can procreate. The Mullo of some Romany myths is quite able to procreate. Its children are often the only ones able to see vampires in their invisible form and thus, often became vampire hunters (sounds like an ideal con, doesn't it?)
Other cultures also have vampires that can procreate. The basic idea is that, though dead, the vitality of the creature has been restroted and, from a mystical standpoint, the ability to impregnant a woman is a powerful symbol of this vitality.
But still, the Ravenloft setting uses pretty typical Gothic vampires, who can't, and an Ecology section in DoD would have been nice to explain the circumstances and vampire behavior in this respect a bit better.
- Yulian
"There was a time when we expected nothing of our children but obedience, as opposed to the present, when we expect everything of them but obedience." - Anatole Broyard
Vampires reproducing? Why not?, they are UNdead.
What else could explain the fact that they get nourishment from the blood of others? A corpse needing nourishment? Doesn't make sense unless it was once dead.
Ghouls feasting on flesh comes to mind as well.
Outside of the fact that dhampir, along with ghosts and goblins and everything in between, are derived from actual world history (folklore).
The Secrets of the Kargatane website once delved into flailing the D&D skin from the backs of Ravenloft's denizens...I wonder if that section can still be viewed?
As for what's up with vampires being able to procreate, I prefer the dhampir explanation put forward in the movie Blade. Blade (who is a quintessential dhampir) is created when his pregnant mother gets attacked by a vampire. This makes it a very sinister form of pseudo-**** which, while a little disturbing, is far more in-line with the gothic vampiric mythos than a happy couple longing for a child.
-VNM
I also prefer that the undead cannot procreate the usual way (via sex). It adds to their "icky factor" that they're very sensual, and can perhaps perform the act without ever having issue. My personal take is that any woman who is pregnant and suffers either negative level that result in level loss or con drian from a supernatural/undead source has a chance to give birth to a Dhampire (just as Hag magic tends to warp unborn children into calibans). in my (totally personal) cosmology the first vampires are the result of Dhampires who continue on after life.
Just another 2 cents
-Eric Gorman
I also prefer that the undead cannot procreate the usual way (via sex). It adds to their "icky factor" that they're very sensual, and can perhaps perform the act without ever having issue. My personal take is that any woman who is pregnant and suffers either negative level that result in level loss or con drian from a supernatural/undead source has a chance to give birth to a Dhampire (just as Hag magic tends to warp unborn children into calibans). in my (totally personal) cosmology the first vampires are the result of Dhampires who continue on after life.
Just another 2 cents
-Eric Gorman
Now I have to ask a fun question. Does the newly born Dhampir age at a slowed rate from birth? Does this mean 4 decades of childhood? That in and of itself could be delightfully eerie, I must admit, and I always found that the cliche' of a child vampire can be one of the more frightening horror cliches if played correctly.
Or would it be more likely that said child would age until adulthood (which would be somewhere in the early 20s and then slow down?
I myself would tend to go with the latter. But...
- Yulian
"Youth isn't always all it's touted to be." - Lawana Blackwell
-Eric Gorman
Where did you find the LA for this template (page number please)? I do not see any for the template, only for the sample creature, which lists a LA +8 for a level 8 fighter/dhampir. Which I feel is too high, for a vampire is a +8. I was leaning to a +4 or +5 for this template, reason I searched the boards and found this topic.
I only have a photocopy of the two pages, DM doesn't want me to know too much of this world. I know it’s the 3.5 version, because it has correct damage reduction (10/magic) and provides base attack / grapple bonus.
Now comes a more complex question, what would the LA be, for a Dhampir that has never feed? What would the char start with? I am thinking Hit Dice increase, Natural Armor, Ability Mods, Feats, and Skill bonus. I think those are the racial abilities and not gained from feeding, but I might be wrong. Once/if the char ever feeds; of course the LA will increase.
Thanks for your input.