Copyright 2011 Wizards of the Coast.

Vampiric Mists originally appeared back in AD&D 1e, in Dungeon Magazine 17. This is their 4e debut, with lore appropriate to the Nentir Vale.

The Lore

Ancient legends tell that the Witchlight Fens mark the spot where a demon lord was slain at the dawn of time - the region became a swamp when its corpse fell there.

In slightly-less-ancient times, a lich whose name has been lost to history established a lair in the Fens with the goal of finding the remains of this demon lord and reanimating them as a super-powerful undead creature. Accompanying the lich was a coven of nine vampire lords, its loyal retainers. These vampires were tasked with hiding and guarding the lich’s soul vessel.

Some time after that, one of the lich’s enemies, a powerful hag, came to the fens in search of its soul vessel. She had created a custom ritual to destroy the vampires, and she enacted it there, but it didn’t have the desired effect. Her magic succeeded at destroying the bodies of the vampires, but their essence remained and coalesced to form a new, more dangerous creature. The hag left without finding the artifact, which remains in the Fens protected by its gaseous guardian.

There’s a deserted clearing in the Fens that contains a single slab of stone in its middle. That is the territory of the monster known as the Crimson Deathmist, who endlessly roams it looking for new victims. It prefers the blood of elves and other fey, but it will kill anyone it can reach. It has been a very long time since anyone who encountered it has lived to tell the tale.

The stone slab conceals the entrance to a catacomb complex where the lich’s soul vessel is hidden. The fate of the lich itself is unknown. Maybe it’s still in the Fens somewhere, or maybe something peculiar happened to it to take it out of the picture without destroying its vessel.

Not all vampiric mists have such an epic origin. A more common and less powerful variety appears when a vampire who is forced into mist form has its resting place destroyed before it can get there. To avoid permanent destruction, the vampire will sometimes shed its physical form by an act of will, becoming a vampiric mist. This causes it to lost most of its intellect and memories, and to become a creature of hunger and instinct. They’re still smart enough to team up with other evil or predatory swamp dwellers like hags, vine horrors, and outcast lizardfolk. There’s always the danger the mist will turn on these allies if they have blood and victims become scarce.

The Numbers

We get several varieties of vampiric mist here, which I guess come from different types of vampire, or vampires who met different ends. One of those is the late-Paragon Crimson Deathmist, but others hover hungrily around the late Heroic and early Paragon tiers.

All of them have Darkvision, immunity to disease, 10 Resistance to necrotic and poison damage, and 5 vulnerability to radiant damage. Their ground speed is 0, but their flight speed is a 5 with an altitude limit of 2. That means they never land, but also can’t fly beyond melee reach.

All of these creatures have the Mist Form trait, which lets them move through openings of any size and occupy the same space as other creatures. They also count as Insubstantial, taking half damage from everything but fire, force, or radiant damage. Fire or radiant damage additionally makes them lose this trait for a turn.

Lesser mists have an aura (1) named Siphoning Presence that prevent enemies inside from spending healing surges, and deal 5/tier necrotic damage to enemies who end their turns inside. When the aura deals damage, the mist recovers 5 HP. Being inside the mist does count as being inside its aura. They are Medium.

Vampiric Mist

Our basic model is a Level 9 Skirmisher with 85 HP and all the standard traits listed above. It can shift its speed as a move action using the Shifting Mists ability, which ensures it will never move normally. Its basic attack is a contact Life Drain that targets Fortitude, deals necrotic damage, and makes the target vulnerable to necrotic damage for a turn. It can also spread a Wave of Lethargy (recharge 5+) that attacks a Close Burst 2, deals a bit of psychic and necrotic damage, and slows for a turn.

This thing is almost impossible to pin down. With multiple mists in the same encounter, some can “prime” targets by hitting them with Life Drain to make them take increased damage from a Wave of Lethargy.

Vampiric Mist Corruptor

I guess this is what you get from a more traditional D&D vampire who was capable of using a dominating gaze and really leaned on this ability. Corruptors are Level 11 Controllers with 100 HP and all standard traits described above.

As soon as the fight starts they’ll try to hit someone with their Corrupting Gaze, which dominates (save ends) on a hit and deals necrotic and psychic damage as an aftereffect. This recharges whenever the creature doesn’t have a dominated victim!

After dominating a PC, it will attack the others with its bite, which deals necrotic damage and slides 2 squares on a hit. Perfect for dragging other PCs closer to the dominated one.

When the mist is first bloodied, it will let loose a Deathly Howl that hits a Close Burst 5, pushes 3 squares on a hit and forbids targets from spending healing surges (save ends).

Don’t add more than one or two of these to an encounter group. It’s no fun for anyone if the whole party ends up dominated.

Chillborn Vampiric Mist

This is a cold-themed mist. It’s a Level 9 Soldier with 85 HP and all standard traits described above. All of its attacks do cold and necrotic damage. There’s a bite that slows for a turn and the Grasp of the Cold Grave that immobilizes for a turn.

These mists lack marking capabilities, but their attacks are still very good at making movement difficult for PCs. It could easily be reskinned into some other frost-themed ghost without any changes to its stats.

Crimson Deathmist

The legendary Crimson Deathmist is a Huge entity, and a Level 19 Elite Soldier with 328 HP. It’s faster with a flight speed of 6 and an altitude limit of 3. It is however slightly more vulnerable to radiant damage (10 instead of 5).

This monster has all the standard traits, but its Siphoning Presence is renamed to Impending Doom and upgraded. I has a radius of 2 instead of 1, and restores 10 HP to the mist instead of 5.

The Deathmist can pull enemies 4 squares closer with its Hypnotic Lure (at-will, minor action), and then Demand Obedience from them. This is a melee attack that can target two creatures at the same time. It deals psychic and necrotic damage, with an additional 10 damage the next turn if the targets attack anyone other than the Deathmist.

Its basic attack is a Deathly Grasp that deals necrotic and poison damage and also slows for a turn. It can also release a Terror Wave that deals psychic damage in a Close Burst 2 and immobilizes for a turn. That last one recharges when it’s bloodied.

Final Impression

The mists’ mechanics are cool, but what really drew my attention was the story about the lich. A lich whose name is unknown, who lived in ancestral times, who was interested in undead demon lords, and who is no longer around? That could be Vecna, whose deeds in this place let him ascend. And instead of a typical soul vessel you’d find his Eye at the bottom of this catacomb dungeon.

If that doesn’t appeal, you’ll notice that any party capable of defeating the Crimson Deathmist guarding the entrance is at about the right level to tackle the Tomb of Horrors… You’d need to change that clearing a bit to include the three entrances, but otherwise it’s as good a place to put it as any.