Copyright 2012 Wizards of the Coast

This article is part of a series! Click here to see the other entries.

Legend has it that vampires were an even earlier addition to D&D than the cleric class - the first cleric was designed specifically to counter Sir Fang, a vampire PC. As monsters, they were the second most powerful rung in the Undead Power Ladder, below liches. As expected of a creature with such a long history, they are present in both the Monster Manual and the Monster Vault.

The Lore

Vampires in media and folklore are an incredibly varied lot. Each source has a slightly different type of vampire than the rest, including D&D.

As the Monster Vault says, vampires “rule the night”. They’re powerful sapient undead with an insatiable hunger for the blood of the living, which gives them a big incentive to interact with the living often. A lich will stay in its lair and perform experiments for years on end. A ghoul is content to squat in its hole and brood hungrily until someone wanders by. A vampire has to hunt. A particularly ambitious vampire will get itself a “flock” to rule over, and extract blood as tribute.

I imagine that the scholars who study the subject always argue over whether a vampire is the same person it was in life. They retain their memories and intelligence, and they answer to the same name; however, the baroque curse that propels them also makes them wholly evil, no matter what they were like when alive. And while it also imbues them with great and terrible power, it takes away some of the abilities they had in life.

There are as many superstitions surrounding vampires in D&D’s implied setting as there are in the real world, and very few people know which are true and which are not. You know all of them: garlic, running water, fear of holy symbols, and so on. Aside from a vulnerability to sunlight (and other radiant damage, to a lesser extent), most of these are fake. Perhaps these falsehoods are even spread by the vampires themselves. The good news is that you can still fight and even kill them with the usual adventurer arsenal of weapons and magic, it’s just really hard.

The other true vampire fact is that they’re tied to their grave or place of death. Vampires need to rest during the day, and they must do so either inside their coffins or crypts, or under the earth of the place where they died if they didn’t get a formal burial. A vampire who’s prevented from resting in this way will become less and less rational as the days pass, until it enters a self-destructive feeding frenzy that lasts until it’s either slain or finally manages to get some shuteye.

All of the above applies to what Fourth Edition calls vampire lords, which are the typical sophisticated vampires of editions past. You also have vampire spawn, which tend to be weaker and have a personality that can be summed up as “angry and snarly”. Spawn are created when a vampire spawn drains someone dry - the corpse rises a day later as a spawn under the complete control of its sire. A victim incapacitated by blood drain but not killed will enter a coma and rise as a spawn in the same way.

Creating another vampire lord requires an elaborate magic ritual. This ritual is named “Dark Gift of the Undying”, and must be performed by a vampire lord on a mortal victim. There’s an exchange of blood before the victim is killed, and then the corpse must be buried and numerous prayers and invocations to Orcus recited over it. A day later, the victim will rise as a new vampire lord. This process is draining for the sire, so it’s not done lightly. The MV adds that it’s also possible, but rare, for someone who would rise as a spawn to become a full vampire instead.

In both cases, the turning can be prevented with a casting of Raise Dead before that one-day interval has elapsed. If the victim is merely comatose instead of dead, Remove Affliction will also work to prevent the transformation and allow the victim to be healed normally.

The concept of vampire player characters has enjoyed enduring popularity ever since a certain other game introduced it in the early 90’s. So when Heroes of Shadow came out late in Fourth Edition it added like three or four different ways to play a PC who could call themselves a vampire (including a full Vampire class). Unlike the Monster Manual/Monster Vault varieties, these didn’t have to be evil. I’d be inclined to say the Orcus-worshipping ritual described here only produces evil vampires, so the non-evil ones in your setting are likely to have other origins.

The Numbers

Monster Manual Vampires are built using templates, in a way similar to death knights and liches. By the time of the monster vault the concept of rigid monster templates had been dropped, so vampires there are built from scratch following similar guidelines.

Both types of vampire are Medium Natural Humanoids with the Undead keyword. They have Darkvision and the usual undead traits: immunity to disease and poison and resistance to necrotic damage (10). Most also have some vulnerability to radiant damage as well. They also tend to have a high running speed, and a climb speed with Spider Climb.

I think it’s fun to point out that back in the AD&D days, vampires didn’t actually drink blood, or even bite. Instead, they drained your life energy by punching you in the face. Around the time the Ravenloft setting became popular, they published a variant that behaved more like you’d expect from a horror movie vampire.

Here, the Monster Manual vampires do explicitly drain your blood, but this isn’t described as a bite in their stat block. The Monster Vault vampires eliminate this remaining ambiguity, and have bite attacks.

Vampire Spawn Fleshripper (Monster Manual)

These Level 5 Minion Skirmishers are fairly basic. They have the usual undead immunities and resistances, darkvision, a speed of 7, and a climb speed of 4. They attack with a claw that does necrotic damage, with a small damage bonus against bloodied targets.

They’re also Destroyed by Sunlight: a spawn that starts its turn in sunlight can only perform a single move action that turn. If this isn’t enough to get them out of the light, they are destroyed at the end of that same turn. So you get a dramatic slow death out of them instead of having them pop like soap bubbles.

The MM also has a Vampire Spawn Bloodhunter which is level 10 and exactly the same with bigger numbers.

Elder Vampire Spawn (Monster Vault)

This Level 10 Minion Soldier is a little more interesting than the MM spawns. It has everything they have, but its attacks are a little different.

The claw does physical damage and grabs on a hit (escape DC 18). The spawn can then bite the grabbed victim. A hit does more damage than the claw and dazes the target until the grab ends - and bites against a dazed target hit automatically. So after the first bite hits, there’s no need to make another attack roll for a while.

Vampire Night Witch (Monster Vault)

As a Monster Vault vampire, the Night Witch is built from scratch and doesn’t use the template rules. It’s a Level 10 Controller with 98 HP and all common vampire traits, plus Vulnerable 5 Radiant.

Like all non-minion vampires, the night witch is Burned by Sunlight, taking 5 radiant damage whenever she starts her turn exposed to direct sunlight. Does the vulnerability get added on top of this?

The night witch fights with Claws that also slide the target 3 squares on a hit. She can also cast a Dream Lure (ranged 5 vs. Will) to do psychic damage at range, daze the target, and pull them 3 squares. Against dazed or similarly impaired targets (stunned, unconscious, dominated) she can bite, which does high physical damage and heals her for 15 HP on a hit.

Once per encounter, when the night witch takes damage while bloodied, she can vanish into shadow, becoming invisible until the end of the encounter or until she attacks. This is a nice escape hatch and can allow the night witch to be a recurring opponent.

Vampire Lord (Monster Manual)

Built using the template rules, this is a Level 11 Elite Lurker with 186 HP who used to be a human rogue. It has all the vampire traits mentioned in the Numbers intro, plus Vulnerable 10 Radiant and Regeneration 10 that doesn’t work while the vampire is exposed to direct sunlight. Sunlight exposure doesn’t harm it further than this. Its speed is 8, and it has Spider Climb 4.

This blood-sucking rogue deals extra damage with all of his attacks when he has combat advantage. He fights with a short sword, and what is probably a printing error has also given him a spiked chain. He also has a couple of rogue powers; Deft Strike allows him to move up to 2 squares and make a melee basic attack. Imperiling Strike is an encounter power that does a bit more damage than the basic sword and inflicts a -3 penalty to all of the target’s defenses for a turn.

After that come the template powers. Blood Drain (melee 1 vs. Fortitude) requires combat advantage, does more damage than any of the “rogue” attacks, and heals the vampire for 46 HP. It recharges whenever an adjacent creature becomes bloodied. Dominating Gaze (ranged 5 vs. Will) does no damage but dominates on a hit, (save at -2 ends). As an after-effect, the target is dazed (save ends). Fortunately only one creature can be dominated at a time. And finally, Mist Form is an encounter power that does what the name implies. In mist form, the vampire is insubstantial and has a fly speed of 12, but can’t attack. It lasts for 1 hour or until the vampire ends the effect as a minor action, so it’s another “escape hatch” power.

Any vampire built using the template is going to have all three powers in the preceding paragraph. This one also has a Second Wind that works like the player version, and recovers 46 HP.

Master Vampire (Monster Vault)

A Level 12 Lurker with 98 HP, this monster follows the same concept as the Vampire Lord. It has all standard vampire traits, with no radiant vulnerability.

Of course, it’s still a vampire and is still Burned by Sunlight, taking 10 damage on any turn it starts exposed to it. It also has Regeneration 10, which shuts down for a turn if the vampire takes radiant damage (from sunlight or any other source).

The master vampire fights with claws like a proper monster, and has a Dominating Gaze (ranged 5 vs. will) that dominates for a turn. Its bite is like that of the Night Witch but heals it for 20 HP instead of 15.

It has the Vampire Lord’s Mist Form power, and it can also turn into a Cloud of Bats (though not at the same time). That last ability is at-will, and works very similarly to Mist Form with the following differences: it only lasts for a turn, the fly speed is only 8, and the vampire gains a +5 bonus to Stealth in this form. This is clearly what it uses to “lurk”, though it doesn’t gain extra bonuses beyond CA when it attacks from hiding.

Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

The sample encounter is level 12 and has 1 vampire lord along with an entire undead retinue: 1 battle wight commander, 3 battle wights, and 6 vampire spawn bloodhunters.

I like vampires as monsters. Looks like the vampire lord/master vampire is tough to put down even in its Monster Vault incarnation, where it has both Regeneration and a draining bite. It’s the MM variant that easily crosses over into “annoying” territory, since Blood Drain heals a lot more and it has Second Wind.

5e makes a huuuge deal out of Count Strahd, the game’s Dracula expy, but in his original incarnation he was explicitly described as a vampire who was only a bit more powerful and clever than what’s average for these monsters. You could easily stat him up in 4e by making him an Elite or Solo Controller with the Vampire Master’s gaze, bite, and transformation powers, plus a strong claw/slam attack and some necromancy-themed powers or rituals. He should be part of an encounter of the party’s level +3 or +4, suitable as a final boss battle.