Vampire Template

this template covers the very basics of what it means to be a vampire, so the benefits and costs are minimal. a character who wishes to advance their vampiric powers can take a vampire class or prestige class which taps into their innate vampiric abilities much like a sorceror taps into their innate magic. This template can be taken in place of a feat or as needed.

Undead Nature. You do not require air, food, or drink. You also are immune to being poisoned and poison damage. You cannot suffer from exhaustion unless by failing to meet your blood requirements. Your creature type changes to undead.

Darkvision. You a have darkvision of 60 feet. If you already have a darkvision of 60 feet, increase it to 120 feet.

Bite Attack. You can use your action to bite a creature and drain blood from it if it has blood. The creature must be willing, restrained, incapacitated, or grappled, you may omit these restrictions if your starting race is a dragonborn, tabaxi, lizardfolk, kobold, orc, or any monster race. The bite attack is an unarmed melee attack with a reach of 5 ft. You have proficiency with this attack and can use either your Dexterity or Strength modifier to attack. The attack does 1d6 piercing damage plus your Dexterity or Strength modifier plus 1d6 necrotic damage. The target's hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the necrotic damage dealt, and you regain hit points equal to that amount of damage. You may instead drain up to 4 hit dice from your target if the creature has hit dice. The reduction lasts until the creature finishes a long rest. Any creature whose hit point maximum is reduced to 0 hit points dies. This attack counts as magical for the purposes of overcoming resistances or immunities.

Bloodlust. Although you do not require food or drink the way a mortal creature does, you do require the blood of a living creature. You must drink a total of 7 pints (3.3 liters) of blood per week from a living creature that is the same size and the same creature type you were before becoming a vampire. You may subsist on the blood of another creature and size type, but require twice as much blood. If you do not meet half your blood requirement at the end of each week, you suffer 2 levels of exhaustion, if you do not meet your full blood requirement you suffer 1 level of exhaustion. To recover from exhaustion you must meet your blood requirement in a week times your exhaustion level. For example, if you suffer from 3 levels of exhuastion due to blood deprivation, and must spend a week drinking 21 pints (9.9 liters) of blood to recover from exhaustion, if you fail to recover from exhaustion but still meet your regular blood requirement, you remain at that level of exhaustion. After 6 levels of exhaustion you slip into torpor for a year unless woken up using a greater restoration spell but still suffer from 5 levels of exhaustion and cannot benefit from more castings of that spell or anything that replicates its effect until you drink blood to recover your exhaustion. After waking up regardless of how you are woken up, you are compelled to use your bite attack to drink 50 pints (24 liters) from the nearest living creature to you and cannot make any other actions besides movement actions until you drink a total of that amount and recover from all levels of exhaustion afterward. The rules on the blood of another creature and size type still apply.

Torpor. When you sleep, you appear to be dead to attempts at close inspection without magic. You may also adjust your duration of sleep to extend to up to a month to gain the benefits of a lesser restoration spell and up to three months to gain the benefits of a greater restoration spell.

Sunlight Sensitivity. You take 10 radiant damage when you start your turn in sunlight. While in sunlight, you have disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks. You may wear dark, concealing clothing such a cloak with hood to negate damage from this weakness. If you are reduced to 0 hitpoints this way, you are destroyed and can only be brought back to undeath by a true ressurection or wish spell.

Vampire Weaknesses. If a piercing weapon made of wood is driven into your heart while you are incapacitated or asleep, you are paralyzed until the stake is removed.

In addition you aquire an additional weakness from the following table. You may take a feat to remove this weakness.

Vampire Weaknesses

d6 Weakness 1 Harmed by Running Water. You take 20 acid damage when you end your turn in running water. 2 Forbiddance. You cannot enter a residence without an invitation from one of the occupants. 3 Stake Death. You are reduced to 0 hitpoints if a piercing weapon made of wood or silver is driven into your heart while you are asleep or incapacitated. 4 Sunlight Hypersensitivity. You take an extra 10 radiant damage from sunlight sensitivity. In addition you have disadvantage on attack rolls on targets that are in sunlight even if you are not. 5 Blood Frenzy. When you fail to meet your blood requirement, instead of suffering from exhaustion you temporarily loose a point of Wisdom and enter torpor when your Wisdom falls below 5. You also cannot make any actions other than movement or your bite attack. 6 Radiant Vulnerability. You are weak to all radiant damage, including what you take from sunlight.

If you decide to move onto a vampire class, adjust any traits to fit the class or ask your DM if you can keep this template version of that trait.