Custom races and sub-races.

[xBlackWolfx]

i believe second edition did something similar to that.

i believe humans had an option, where they could start leveling up in another class. they would automatically loose all their abilities tied to their previous class, but once their level in the new class matched that of their old class, they would immedietly regain all their abilities and level up in their primary class again.

you could do something similar to that, where the character gains levels in solely in 'vampire' until that reaches the same level as their class, and from that point onwards they would start gaining levels in their primary class again, or perhaps they could continue to gain levels in both 'classes'. this would be like the new vampire getting used to his new abilities and focusing on learning and developing them until he believes he's learned all he can for the time being.

of course, a simply method would be to just have the character start over and lvl 1, saying that the process of turning into a vampire erases most of their memories, causing them to forget most if not all of their skills and eventually leading to them forgetting who they once were.

[Joe the Rat]

Ah, good old dual-classing. The rules on that were a bit weird at points - or at least I thought so at the time. I see where they're coming from now, though.

I went back and read the vampire rules, and starting from scratch is a reasonable approach. Memories aside, vampires are created by being level-drained to 0. Using standard rules, your ability to do things goes down, permanently, even if you survived. So becoming a vampire should set you back to level 1. So now there's the question of whether vampire is a race or class (or race/class).

You could play with the race negative xp rule from the old monsters as races supplement - in short, you had to earn one or more hit die as your creature type (1500 xp/die) before you could take class levels. You get to keep the BAB from those levels, and count them as part of your level total. Picking up character levels later could be seen as learning a class, or remembering their skills from prior to their conversion. The number of extra HD required, and the cost for getting them could be played with if you need to balance against non-supernatural types... or give the "normal" characters some modest specials to even things out.

[SmootRK]

while draining back to level one fits the idea (level drains to become a vampire), I personally don't feel it matches with the genre (movies, tv, books, etc) that vampires become blank slates. They always each have personality and recall of events, so this would not work well with my mindset on the topic.

[Sorin_777]

Bumping for interest.

As I just had my players encounter a vampire, I pondered what would happen if they turned. In the BFRPG rules (as well as BECMI Expert Set) it states that a person turned will be controlled by the vampire who turned them.

Vampire interest has never been higher, and everyone has their own ideas of what vamps should be like. So I want to put out there, how important is it to the game that a vampire be controlled by their "biter"? Would it be a loving or resentful devotion? Wouldn't it be great if there were a sith-like betrayal, of the apprentice killing the master? Lastly, has anyone successfully run a vampire as a character?

[LibraryLass]

I've had the odd PC vampire... granted several of them were in my 4e days where there was a vampire class available. As far as I'm concerned if you can come to some kind of gentlefolks' agreement between your group and your DM about what is and isn't acceptable for the vampire PC, it's kosher.

[Jandolar]

The only vampire PC I've ever encountered in game was Martel. Very complex character and made DMing as much fun as playing. His take on biting someone was two fold.

1) He would drain them down and each level drained meant they were under his control for a year.
2) He never did "command" them to do things. He used suggestions, which he was very good at, to get them to do things he wanted.

Made for an interesting PC to be watch from behind the DM screen.

[Solomoriah]

I've considered a Vampire Supplement, providing options for "levels" of vampires who receive added/increased powers as they age. Just not interested enough to write it.

[Sorin_777]

Perhaps people who have vampire house rules could write up a draft supplement?

I'm running a vampire story that is in the making right now, and am planning ahead should one of my players get turned. I think I will stick with the rules of maintaining servitude to the biting vamp, and require any remaining party members to slay that vamp in order to get their party member back. This, I believe, would not only be flavorful, but add an element of balance. Otherwise, you could have PC's just letting themselves get turned by vampires just to gain extra abilities!

Who knows, maybe adding a second layer of lesser devotion and/or control to higher ranking vamps... Like every other level or so, a higher level vampire comes into the picture and exerts control over the PC in some way. It would reinforce vampirism as an eternal curse, not just a source of eternal life and super powers.

[Dimirag]

A bitten character could remain "normal" except he must obey any order from his master and can't act violently against him (he suffers sharp pains or something like that).

The master can see and hear through his minion.

This means that a bitten character is still playable without gaining any power ups.

Other ideas: If the minion shows devotion and efectiveness towards his master this will give him a little of his blood to drink, wich will give him some vamps abilities, he becomes something like a familiar, from that point onwards he must drink his master blood or loose any benefit.

After a long time of this kind of living the character will acquire further lesser abilities and gain some drawbacks until he becomes a lesser vamp (with a ritual or something from his master if wished by the GM).

[LibraryLass]

That's not a bad idea. Slow process of conversion. Very Dracula, which as far as I'm concerned is the right way of doing it.