Presented below, along with the vampiric creature template, you will find example stat blocks for a vampiric wolf and a vampiric saber-toothed tiger. Imagine a vampiric chimaera with three fanged maws. Think of the implications of a vampiric elephant - would it suck blood through its tusks? (yes).
As Halloween approaches, d20 Despot will continue to post seasonally appropriate monsters. You might want to stock up on ammunition and board up your house before next week's monsters arrive en masse to claw at your door.
Plot Hooks and Encounter Ideas
The following text in gold is available as Open Game Content under the OGL. Open Game Content is ©2018 Jonah Bomgaars.
Vampiric Creature (CR +2)
Vampiric
creatures lack the cunning and advanced abilities of humanoid vampires, but
they are driven by the same unnatural hunger for the blood of the living.
Vampiric creatures are gaunt and feral looking, often pitch black or ghostly
white in color, with elongated fangs.
Becoming a Vampiric Creature:
“Vampiric
creature” is an acquired template that can be added to any living creature. Most
vampiric creatures were once animals or magical beasts. A vampiric creature
retains all of the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as
noted here.
CR:
Same as the base creature +2
Alignment:
Any evil
Type:
The creature’s type changes to undead (augmented). Do not recalculate BAB or
saves.
Senses:
A vampiric creature gains darkvision 60 ft. Creatures that already had
darkvision have its range doubled.
Armor
Class: Natural armor improves by +4
Hit
Dice: Change all racial hit dice to d8s. As undead, vampiric creatures use
their Charisma modifier to determine bonus hit points instead of Constitution.
Saves:
Base save bonuses are Fort +1/3 HD, Ref +1/3 HD, and Will +1/2 HD +2.
Defensive
Abilities: A vampiric creature gains channel resistance +4, DR 10/magic,
and resistance to cold 10 and electricity 10, in addition to all of the defensive
abilities granted by the undead type. A vampiric creature also gains fast
healing 5. If reduce to 0 hit points in combat, the vampire is not destroyed
but is helpless and appears inert. 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.
Weaknesses:
Vampiric creatures cannot tolerate the strong odor of garlic and will not enter
an area laced with it. Similarly, they recoil from mirrors or strongly
presented holy symbol. These things don’t harm the vampiric creature – they
merely keep it at bay. A recoiling vampiric creature must stay at least 5 feet
away from the mirror or holy symbol and cannot touch or make attacks against
the creature presenting it. Holding a vampiric creature at bay takes a standard
action. After 1 round, a vampiric creature can attempt to overcome its
revulsion of the object and function normally each round it makes a DC 25 Will
save.
Reducing a vampiric creature’s hit points to
0 or lower incapacitates it but doesn’t always destroy it (see fast healing).
However, certain attacks can slay vampiric creatures. Exposing any vampiric
creature to direct sunlight staggers it on the first round of exposure and
destroys it utterly on the second consecutive round of exposure if it did not
escape. Each round of immersion in running water inflicts damage on a vampiric
creature equal to one-third of its maximum hit points – a vampiric creature
reduced to 0 hit points in this way is destroyed. Driving a wooden stake through
a helpless vampiric creature’s heart instantly slays it (this is a full-round
action). However, it returns to life if the stake is removed, unless the head
is also severed and anointed with holy water.
Speed:
The creature’s primary speed increases by 10 ft. If the base creature has a
swim speed, the vampiric creature is not unduly harmed by running water (see
weaknesses).
Attacks:
A vampiric creature gains a bite attack if the base creature didn’t have one.
Damage for the bite depends on the creature’s size. If the base creature
already had a bite attack, its bite attack deals damage as if the creature were
one size larger. A vampiric creature’s bite attack deals 1d6 points of bleed
damage and has the grab ability.
If one of the base creature’s natural
attacks inflicts poison, it instead inflicts blood drain without the need for
the vampiric creature to establish or maintain a pin.
The vampiric creature’s other natural
attacks cause energy drain (see below). If the base creature had no other
natural attacks than its bite, it gains a slam attack, dealing damage
appropriate to its size.
A vampiric creature’s natural weapons are
treated as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
Special
Attacks: A vampiric creature gains several special attacks. Save DCs are
equal to 10 + ½ vampiric creature’s HD + vampiric creature’s Cha modifier
unless otherwise noted.
Blood
Drain (Su): A vampiric creature can suck blood from a grappled opponent; if
the vampiric creature establishes or maintains a pin, it drains blood, dealing
1d4 points of Constitution damage. The vampiric creature heals 5 hit points or
gains 5 temporary hit points for 1 hour (up to a maximum number of temporary
hit points equal to its full normal hit points) each round it drains blood.
Create
Spawn (Su): If a creature slain by a vampiric creature’s blood drain or
energy drain attacks is of the same creature type as the vampiric creature’s
base creature type, the victim rises from death as a vampiric creature in 1d4
days. This vampiric creature is under the command of the vampiric creature that
created it, and remains enslaved until its master’s destruction. Such vampiric
creature spawn lack the ability to create their own spawn until they are freed.
A vampiric creature may have enslaved spawn totally no more than twice its own
Hit Dice; an spawn it creates that would exceed this limit become free-willed
undead. A vampiric creature may free an enslaved spawn in order to enslave a
new spawn, but once freed, it cannot be enslaved again.
Energy
Drain (Su): A creature hit by a vampiric creature’s natural weapon (other
than its bite) gains two negative levels. This ability only triggers once per
round, regardless of the number of attacks a vampiric creature makes.
Fearful
Howl (Su): Once per minute, a vampiric creature can unleash an unearthly
howl, roar, or other call as a standard action. All creatures within 60 feet
who can hear it must make a Will save (DC 10 + ½ the vampiric creature’s HD +
the vampiric creature’s Charisma modifier) or become shaken for 1d4 rounds.
Whether or not the save is successful, the creature is immune to the same
vampiric creature’s fearful howl for 24 hours.
Special
Qualities: A vampiric creature gains the following special quality:
Shadowless
(Ex): A vampiric creature casts no shadows and shows no reflection in a
mirror.
Ability
Scores: Str +6, Dex +4, Int +2, Wis +2, Cha +4. As an undead creature, a
vampiric creature has no Constitution score.
BAB:
A vampiric creature’s base attack bonus is equal to ¾ its Hit Dice.
Skills: Vampiric creatures gain a +8 racial bonus on Perception and
Stealth checks.
Feats:
Vampiric creatures gain Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, and Toughness
as bonus feats.
This gaunt but powerful wolf has pitch-black
fur and long fangs dripping with blood.
Vampiric Wolf CR 3
XP 800
NE Medium
undead (augmented)
Init +8; Senses low-light vision, darkvision 60
ft., scent; Perception +17
DEFENSE
AC 20, touch 14, flat-footed 16 (+4
Dex, +6 natural)
hp 14 (2d8+3); fast healing 5
Fort +0, Ref +6, Will +5; +4
channel resistance
DR 10/magic; Immune undead traits
Resist cold 10, electricity 10
Weaknesses vampiric weaknesses
OFFENSE
Speed 60 ft.
Melee bite +5 (1d8+4 plus 1d6 bleed plus
grab and trip), slam +5 (1d4+4 plus energy drain)
Special Attacks blood drain, create
spawn, energy drain (2 levels), fearful howl (60 ft., DC 11, shaken 1d4 rounds)
STATISTICS
Str 19, Dex 19, Con --, Int 4, Wis 14, Cha 10
Base Atk +1; CMB +5 (+9 grapple); CMD
19 (23 vs trip)
Feats Improved InitiativeB,
Lightning ReflexesB, Skill Focus (Perception), ToughnessB
Skills Perception +17, Stealth +16,
Survival +2 (+6 scent tracking); Racial
Modifiers +8 Perception, +8 Stealth, +4 Survival when tracking by scent
SQ shadowless
ECOLOGY
Environment cold or temperate forests
Organization solitary, pair, or pack
(3-12)
Treasure none
This large, white-furred cat has flashing
red eyes and long, saber-like fangs dripping with blood.
Vampiric Saber-Toothed Tiger CR
10
XP 9,600
NE Large
undead (augmented)
Init +8; Senses low-light vision, darkvision 60
ft., scent; Perception +21
DEFENSE
AC 23, touch 13, flat-footed 19 (+4
Dex, +10 natural, -1 size)
hp 105 (14d8+42); fast healing 5
Fort +6, Ref +10, Will +11; +4
channel resistance
DR 10/magic; Immune undead traits
Resist cold 10, electricity 10
Weaknesses vampiric weaknesses
OFFENSE
Speed 50 ft.
Melee 2 claws +21 (2d4+11 plus grab
plus energy drain), bite +21 (2d8+11/19-20 plus 1d6 bleed plus grab)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks blood drain, create
spawn, energy drain (2 levels), fearful howl (60 ft., DC 19, shaken 1d4
rounds), pounce, rake (2 claws +21, 2d4+11)
STATISTICS
Str 33, Dex 19, Con --, Int 4, Wis 14, Cha 14
Base Atk +10; CMB +22 (+26 grapple); CMD
36 (40 vs trip)
Feats Improved Critical (bite),
Improved Initiative, Lightning ReflexesB, Run, Skill Focus
(Perception), Skill Focus (Stealth), ToughnessB, Weapon Focus (bite,
claw)
Skills Acrobatics +8, Perception +21,
Stealth +25, Swim +16; Racial Modifiers +4
Acrobatics, +8 Perception, +12 Stealth
SQ shadowless
ECOLOGY
Environment any forest, plains, and
swamps
Organization solitary or pair
Treasure none
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Plot Hooks and Encounter Ideas
- The dark woods are haunted by more than fell spirits - a pack of blood-sucking black wolves have been marauding through the land, and your adventurers are the only ones brave enough to stand up to them.
- Sailors around the Cormorant Reach speak of a terrible vampiric octopus that climbs into ships at night and turns good sailing men into bloodless husks.
- As the PCs burst into the Lord Bloodula's Sanctum Sanguinis, they find him garbed for battle and astride his mighty steed - a vampiric tyrannosaurus rex!
-your haemophiliac d20 despot
Hey, sorry I was late with my post this week. I was up in the mountains on Monday and it turns out there isn't any internet there! Weird, huh? We'll be back on schedule from here on out, and my patrons on Patreon should be seeing a small back-log of monsters come flooding into the d20 Despot Patreon feed pretty soon.
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