A thrax holding what remains of his latest victim.

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The Lore

Once upon a time there was a town named Gerot at the foot of a mountain near the city-state of Raam. Its people were great warriors, but also haugthy. When the Sorcerer Queen Abalach-Re sent them an offer of alliance in exchange for them joining Raam’s legions, they signaled their refusal by killing the envoys.

Abalach-Re was obviously very angry at this, so she double-cursed the people of Gerot: they would be afflicted with an unquenchable thirst and pure water would become like a poison to them. In short order, the entire town was dead. The bit the queen hadn’t predicted was that the dead of Gerot would rise again, as the first thraxes.

A thrax is a water vampire. Still afflicted by the sorcerous curse, it suffers from constant, unquenchable thirst, which it tries to satisfy by draining the fluids from the flesh of the living. Thrax victims become desiccated husks, and it’s said to be an agonizing death.

Unlike a standard D&D vampire, a thrax seems to retain the mind and personality it had in life. This means they’re even more miserable, tormented not just by their cursed thirst but also by their regret at having to feed. Prime personal horror material there.

Unless, of course, we’re talking about the thraxes that seek revenge on Abalach-Re by haunting Raam and drinking her supporters dry. I imagine those are a fair bit less conflicted than the others.

Thraxes can drain fluids through skin contact, and they also have this trick where they can cause a victim’s fluids to all move close to the skin, making the victim bloated and easier to drain.

The Numbers

We only get a single stat block here, so let’s get right to it.

Thrax

The thrax shown here is Medium Natural Humanoid (undead) and a Level 11 Lurker with 88 HP, putting it about on par with the traditional vampires from the Monster Vault. It has darkvision, Resist 10 Necrotic, and Vulnerable 5 Radiant. Unlike a lot of other undead, it has no special resistance against poison and disease. And unlike a traditional vampire, it is not vulnerable to natural sunlight.

Thraxes are surrounded by Roiling Shadows which give them +2 to defenses against ranged attacks, and their Clinging Grasp makes them insubstantial and immune to forced movement while they have a creature grabbed. This takes away the PC’s easiest tactic for making them let go.

Their basic attack is the Grasp of the Dead, which deals necrotic damage. If the thrax has combat advantage, a hit also grabs the victim, which has a -5 penalty to escape rolls.

Once it has a creature grabbed, the thrax can proceed to Drain Fluids, which deals heavy necrotic damage, heals the thrax for 10 HP, and ends the grab. If the attack bloodies the target, they also fall unconscious (save ends).

The thrax can also attack with Flesh Bloat, the “trick” mentioned above. This is an at-will melee attack that deals a bit more necrotic damage than the Grasp, and also dazes and slows the target (save ends both).

Standard tactics for a thrax will likely be to bloat their intended victim, grab them with Grasp of the Dead, and then Drain Fluids, repeating as necessary.

Encounters and Final Impressions

Water vampires feel much more appropriate for Dark Sun than the traditional blood kind. I’m guessing all the traditional vampires in Athas must have melted in the heat from all those layers they tend to wear.

Thraxes will probably only join up with other thraxes, and a fight against five of them will be nightmarish for the party. You could also mix it up with other relatively “dry” undead types. Maybe angry ghosts, or the animated corpses of their dried-out victims.