Vampire

Vampires were a type of powerful and feared undead that fed on blood and showed no mercy, had no feelings of compassion.
==Description==
For the most part, a vampire retained the appearance they had in life. The main differences were their pale skin tone and sharp, feral features, giving them a predatory aspect. Whatever their eye color was in life, after transformation, vampires' eyes changed to a red color that was hard to forget. Their hands ended in sharp, glassy claws. Notably, vampires possessed retractable sharp monstrous canines used to pierce the victims' flesh. When vampires were well-fed, their undead bodies' decomposition halted and was reversed. A recently-fed vampire had a more pinkish skin color, staving pale complexion and kick-starting the circulatory system temporarily. Sometimes, vampires conceal their undead nature by wearing blush and makeup.
They did not cast shadows, had no reflections in mirrors, and moved in complete silence. Sages claimed vampires retained their souls after turning.
==Personality==
Vampires enjoyed finer things in unlife and engaged in decadent behavior, often sharing such habits with liches. A vampire was always a creature of evil. If they were not evil in life, they became so in undeath, whether they retained the memories of their mortal existence or not. Whatever attachments and affection they had towards things from their life, all were changed and corrupted by the transformation. Love was flipped to obsession, and the feelings of friendship were made into feelings of jealousy. Many vampires became obsessed and fixated on things they desired in the past – those who once sought love became predators searching for beauty in their victims, and those who valued youth could fixate on children, snuffing out the future potential of mortals at the very beginning of their journeys. These obsessions extended to possessions, as many vampires delved into collecting art, acquiring terrifying implements of torture, or decorating their lairs with trophies.
Being highly intelligent and ageless creatures, vampires forged their plans meticulously and advanced the schemes slowly, sometimes taking decades to take steps toward their goals. Vampires felt no need to rush as they could outlive their mortal enemies and spend decades or centuries planning revenge.
==Abilities==
A vampire retained all the abilities they had in life but also gained the ability to drain blood and life energy and the ability to dominate other creatures with their gaze. They could also command vermin creatures such as rats, bats, and wolves or take the form of those creatures. Vampires could also transform their bodies into a gaseous form at will, and they transformed into the same state upon the death of their physical bodies, allowing the vampire to slink away into their coffin and recover. They could walk on all surfaces as if under the effects of the spider climb spell.
Like all undead, vampires existed on two planes at the same time – the Prime Material plane and the Negative Energy plane. Being undead, they were also immune to the effects of the sleep, charm, and hold spells. Vampires were extremely resistant to non-magical damage of bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing variety, and were unaffected or barely harmed by necrotic magics, were resistant to cold and lightning, and completely unaffected by psionics and paralysis. In addition to resistances, they possessed a powerful ability to regenerate, unless the damage dealt was done via holy water or radiant magic.
Vampires possessed unnaturally acute sensory organs. Their eyes possessed darkvision, their hearing was impeccable, and the sense of smell was beyond that of a mortal.
===Weaknesses===
The greatest weakness of all vampirekind was their hypersensitivity to sunlight. If exposed directly to the light created by the sun, they would start hurting instantly and would eventually burn to ash if they did not hide in the shadows. Additionally, they could not spend more than a moment in running water without being injured.
Vampires were permanently bound to their coffins and the earth, corrupted by their burial. While they were either resting or regenerating in their coffin, driving a stake through their undead heart would destroy them instantly. They also could not tolerate the smell of garlic and would not voluntarily enter an area with a strong odor of it.
Lastly, they could not enter any residence without an explicit invitation of the beings inhabiting it.
==Combat==
When forced into combat, vampires could easily fight unarmed, using their great strength to slam, rend, punch, and bite. All these physical unarmed attacks were as powerful as enchanted weapons. They did not hesitate to use their ability to dominate the opponents. On top of that, vampires could use all the skills and battle strategies they utilized in life. A vampire's bite attack resulted in the creature draining their opponent's blood. And once per day, they could use the ability to summon swarms of vermin into battle.
==Society==
Most vampires typically plotted to empower themselves and produce spawn that would spread across the world. Most vampire victims were made into such subservient undead creatures who sought to bleed and drain their victims. However, vampire spawns could not spread vampirism. This changed when a vampire master allowed their spawn to imbibe some of their blood, turning the spawn into a full vampire. Few vampires were willing to turn their spawn into vampires and give up control of their thralls. However, when the vampire master died, their spawn were granted free will.
Some vampires were known to serve powerful beings, like Szass Tam of the Red Wizards of Thay. The lich built vast armies of the undead with vampire generals at their helms. However, most vampires were solitary predators. When they were gathered in groups, vampires usually were ruled by a vampire lord.
Outside of the Prime Material plane, vampires could be found inhabiting the Thanatos layer of the Abyss. They served the drow deity Kiaransalee in Naratyr, the City of the Dead, as her advisors. More powerful undead creatures such as vampire lords maintained shrines on the wailing plane of Pandemonium. Vampires were also a common sight on the Negative Energy Plane and in the Shadowfell, where they were known to carve out baronies to rule over.
===Lairs===
Some vampires chose defensible locations of grandeur as their lairs, frequently such places as castles, manses, or other fortified structures. Oftentimes, vampires felt a strong attachment to locations soaked in tragedy, like graves of those who perished via suicide or a site of murder. Their most important possession – the coffin with the burial dirt, was often well hidden underground or within deviously trapped and guarded vaults. Lairs of especially powerful vampires spread corruption onto the land surrounding it, attracting an unnaturally high population of vermin, causing plantlife to wither and turn into thinned brambles within , coating the areas in clinging fog, and causing the shadows within the territory twist and extend making them appear sinister as if they moved on their own. This corruption lifted between two and twelve days after the vampire's destruction.
==Ecology==
Like other undead beings, vampires were not a part of a natural world, only existing to spread evil. They did not need to eat mortal food, did not need to breathe, and did not need to sleep apart from when confined to their coffins, resting themselves. When feeding, vampires often attacked swiftly, feeding on unsuspecting victims but leaving them alive. When hunting to kill, vampires made sure to destroy their prey's bodies to stop them from rising as undead. Their evil was so strong it was detectable by sensitive creatures like dogs.
===Creation===
A new vampire was created when another vampire drained the life out of a living creature. A humanoid, a monstrous humanoid, an illithid, a giant, or even a dragon, among others, could become a vampire. This was different for lesser creatures; for example, when a vampire drained a flying snake, it had a chance of being raised as a deathfang. Only those drained victims who were buried actually transformed into the undead. Another way to create a vampire was via the undeath after death or the create undead minion spell.
Rarely encountered creatures, known as half-vampires, could be created in one of two ways. First, in some rare cases, a vampire could consume enough blood that it could breed with a humanoid or monstrous humanoid, creating half-vampire offspring. Second, in even rarer cases, if a pregnant mother survived having her blood drained by a vampire, her unborn could be "tainted" with vampirism instead.
On at least one occasion, a dying hill giant shaman of the Kryptgarden Forest was granted vampirism by Grolantor, to whom Morg, the wounded giant, addressed pleas for strength.
Vampires could also be created by enchanted items, such as the Bloodvein – a cursed evil vampiric sword that fed on the blood of creatures it wounded. If the weapon's wielder died, Bloodvein brought them back to life at a permanent cost of their constitution. If the last of the wielder's constitution was drained with a resurrection, the sword brought them back as a vampire, bound to the sword and its hunger until the vampire was permanently destroyed.
===Usages===
Vampire dust, left after the creature was slain, was a valuable spell component. A pinch of vampire dust was a material component needed to cast the gaseous form spell, the skulltrap spell, protection from all undead, 5' radius, death shroud, as well as the energy drain spell. A droplet of vampire blood was also used in spellcasting as a material component of the Ensul's soultheft. Vampire ichor, in turn, was used as the material component for the casting of the deathbolt spell, while a bit of vampire's bone can be used to cast the undead summoning IV, undead summoning V, undead summoning VI, and undead summoning VII spells.
Vampire dust was used in a similar manner in alchemy. It was an ingredient in brewing potions of gaseous form and potions of human control.
Vampire blood, in a certain complaint of other monster fluids, such as trolls, could be magically transferred into a humanoid to grant them regenerative abilities. One such individual changed by necromantic rituals performed by a Zhentish wizard named Dysklai was Kavan Brenzan of Ravens Bluff.
Apart from spells, vampire blood was sought after for being a part of the dracolich transformation. In a similar fashion, those humanoids who wished to achieve lichdom had to gather a quart of vampire's blood or blood of a person infected with vampirism. This blood was one of many ingredients that went into the preparation of the special potion used to prepare the body for transformation.
===Varieties===
The Domains of Dread had a number of forms of vampirism that only certain demihumans could contract, including dwarf vampirism, elf vampirism, gnome vampirism, halfling vampirism, and even kender vampirism.
Other varieties included:
*Cerebral vampire, a rare variety of vampires that were not affected by sunlight.
*Corpse vampire, or pouncing vampire, a type of vampire that emerged in the Realms following the Spellplague, created by improper burials, grave robbing, or evil energies' pollution.
*Dhampyr, or daywalkers, living creatures who had inherited some of the tainted blood of vampires. 
*Eastern vampire, a different breed of vampire found in Kara-Tur that had the ability to turn invisible at will and could not take on a gaseous form nor charm their victims.
*Hellborn vampire, a variety of vampire immune to sunlight and unable to fly nor turn into vapors. 
*Master vampire, a vampire that had perfected the art of taking spawn and, as a result, could lead large gangs of them. They usually had one chosen spawn that was much better than the others. However, all of a master vampire's spawns were better than the norm: stronger, faster, and more numerous.
*Nosferatu, a more hideous and savage strain of vampirism primarily found in the Domains of Dread.
*Velya, a species of aquatic vampires.
*Vampire lord, an especially powerful vampire breed that often led their own armies of lesser undead.
*Vampire muse, a variety of vampires that originated from the Feywild and were renowned for stimulating creativity in artists.
*Vampire spawn, lesser bloodsuckers that serve their vampire masters.
*Vampyre, or fireghosts, a rare strain of vampirism found in Faerûn.
==History==
Orlak, the Night King, a prominent vampire, took over the city of Westgate in the and remained on its throne for more than a century until his death at the hands of paladin Gen Soleilon. Orlak's vampire minions retreated into the deep catacombs under Westgate, the so-called Undergate. There, the vampires elected a new Night King to reign over Westgate's shadowy underbelly. The title continued being passed along from one individual to the next until the late 14 century DR, if not later.
Sometime during his reign as the Magister of Mystra, between the and the , Gelthin Hornreach stroke a deal with a vampire who resided in a nearby crypt somewhere on the Sword Coast North. The Magister used his spell-illusions to lure adventurers and treasure expeditions into the vampire's hands.
Vampires were the force that ended the existence of a pastoral community of Merrydale in the Dalelands. An infestation covered that area in blood, forcing family members to kill their relatives affected by vampirism. After the tragic event, locals could not call the region Merrydale, resulting in it being renamed to Daggerdale in the .
In the , a powerful vampire took residence in the Valhingen Graveyard in the monster-infected city of Phlan. The creature and his undead minions attacked one of the Heroes of Phlan – Tarl Desanea, killing his cleric companions and gravely injuring his mentor, Anton. The undead stole the holy relic, the Hammer of Tyr. Subsequently, Tarl and his companions Ren o' the Blade and Shal Bal challenged the undead of the Valhingen Graveyard, presumably slaying the vampire and reclaiming the stolen artifact.
The Skull Crag Keep in the Storm Horns once belonged to a vampire couple, aged around 1200 by the 1360s DR. Khulzond and his consort Mordroka were forced out and the keep taken by Cormyr's Purple Knights who later established the Roadwarden Guard operating out of the keep. Both vampires survived, swore vengeance, and returned in the 1360s DR. The vampires slew and turned Vidruand Starbrow, a hero of the keep, who, in turn, killed Arelin Starbrow – his mother. When the crime was uncovered, Arelin's children and a group of caravan guard heroes foiled the vampires' ploy.
In the , vampire activity was reported in the ruins of the city of Dajaan on the Deepwash lake.
Vampires once again rose to prominence in the . The Shadow Thieves of Athkatla faced a new thieves guild that seemingly appeared out of nowhere and poached many of their numbers, sparking a bloody guild war in the city's shady underbelly. The new guild was a vampire coven led by Bodhi, a ruthless vampire sister of archmage Jon Irenicus who was aiding him in gaining god-like powers, bringing her in conflict with the Bhaalspawn Abdel Adrian and his companions.
A court case of some notoriety involving vampires took place in the city of Ravens Bluff in the late 14 century DR. DMHOC, an equal opportunity employer, faced legal action from the city zoning board, overseen by Magistrate Justin Valerius. The city refused to allow DMHOC's operations whilst employing sentient undead. DMHOC's points were made to present this as discrimination, and the city zoning board simply refuted it by saying that these employees were evil, bloodsucking creatures that should not be allowed on the streets of the Bluff.
Circa the , vampire attacks began plaguing Westgate's merchants and nobles. The threat came from the notorious Night Masks guild that was taken over by some vampire wizard (in reality – Orbakh, a vampire clone of Manshoon), and some members of the guild were changed into bloodsucking monsters to strike at the guild's enemies. During the same year, rumors began spreading of the hobgoblins of the Gray Forest gaining a new leader, a vampire of a werewolf by some accounts, aided in their attacks on local by dire wolves. Another notable vampire activity of 1372 DR took place in the hamlet of Liam's Hold during the time the Wailing Death ravaged Neverwinter. The drow priest of Vhaeraun turned vampire named Sieronius Dethick, who was trapped under the hamlet by Sunder Halyndliam, began haunting the village, draining blood from its inhabitants at night. He planned on finding a bride to drain and raise as a fellow vampire. One way or another, the haunting was ended with help from the Hero of Daggerford.
The was the year when the Bandit Wastes in Halruaa were roamed by a band of savage dire weremole gnomes called the Blood Screamers, led by the Blood-Curdling Scream, a rock gnome vampire illusionist.
Circa the , the Baronies of Erlkazar were plagued by the vampire menace – the bloodsucking thralls of the Night Barony. The Barony's vampires infiltrated as far as the city of Riatavin and actively sought to be exterminated by Riatavin's Chosen Council. During the same period of time, the Old Vaelan hid a sizable population of the undead and lycanthropes under the command of the vampire lord Saed. Another place where vampires gained power at the time was the Black Network – Zhentarim, taken over by Orbakh, who claimed Manshoon's name and establishing vampire lords as the organization's primary leaders.
In the , an elvish or half-elven vampire lord from Kozakura, Cazador attempted to perform a ritual granted to him by Mephistopheles, transforming himself into a powerful form of a vampire ascendant – removing all undead weaknesses from the vampire and giving him back pleasures of the living. The preparation for the ritual took two centuries. Cazador's favored vampire spawn, the number that included Astarion Ancunín, a member of the Absolute Adversaries, collected countless victims for their master, turning them all into spawn who were to be sacrificed to empower the vampire at the center of the ritual. During the Absolute crisis, the ritual was initiated. However, its outcome nor Cazador's fate were recorded.
==Notable Vampires==
===Notable Vampire Individuals===
*Artor Morlin, a more than 400 years old Shoon mercenary outlaw and the baron of Steeping Falls, who later moved on to Waterdeep by the late 14 century DR. 
*Dayan, a vampire who claimed a domain in Undermountain after the presumed death of Halaster Blackcloak.
*Desiree Nadeaux, a human-vampire innkeeper of The Silver Lily in Ravens Bluff in the 14 century DR. 
*Erliza Daressin, the Viceroy of Westphal on Snowdown in the Moonshae Isles, secretly, a vampire in the late 15 century DR.
*Glarandarlophyklees, a black dragon vampire from Laerakond who was transformed into a vampire by the liches who laired under the Great Swamp of Rethild during the Second Sundering.
*Hamezaar, a dwarven vampire who ruled The Boneyard, a necropolis of 5,000 inhabitants located in the Middle Earthroot.
*Jander Sunstar, a sun elf of Evermeet who was turned vampire and found himself in the Domains of Dread.
*Kierkan Rufo, an exiled priest of the Church of Deneir who turned into a vampire after drinking the contents of the Chaos Curse in the 14 century DR.
*Nyressa Flass, The Vampire Zulkir of Thay, a Zulkir of Necromancy and the predecessor of Szass Tam.
*Shyntlara Auvryndar, a drow vampire, the matron mother of House Auvryndar and a cleric of Lolth in the 14 century DR.
*Shulgi, a secret vampire of Messemprar who refused to sire other vampires due to unpleasant memories of being mistreated by his master.
* Shyressa, an archmage and a Runemaster of the Twisted Rune.
*Thibbledorf Pwent, a dwarf and once a vampire battlerager who guarded Gauntlgrym with his army of undead drow.
*Ulgar the Undying, the two-thousand-year-old vampire who lorded over the Ulgar's Isle, believing to be the destined rule of Chessenta.
*Yoeval, a vampire flumph who drained and killed a vampire transformed into a rat in the Underdark near Skullport in the 15 century DR.
*Strahd von Zarovich was a vampire and the dark lord of the valley of Barovia, one of the Domains of Dread located in a remote corner of the Shadowfell.
*Bodhi was an exiled elf from Suldanessellar who was later transformed into a vampire.
*Cazador Szarr was an elf vampire lord who lived in Baldur's Gate.
===Notable Vampire Organizations===
*The Midnight Men, a mercenary company that operated across Faerûn, from Waterdeep to Thay. It consisted of more than one hundred undead creatures, including vampires. 
==Rumors & Legends==
*Many sages believed that Strahd von Zarovich, the darklord of the vampire-infested Domain of the Dread – Barovia, was the first vampire, born out of a curse bestowed upon him by the Dark Powers. Yet another legend claimed that the Demon Prince Orcus created the first vampires in imitation of blood fiends. 
*One legend suggests that when a vampire was destroyed, their soul transformed into a crimson death, also known as vampiric mist. By another account, crimson death was the result of a vampire being destroyed and unable to return to their burial grounds to be restored. Another tale stated that when a vampire was sired, a crimson death counterpart was created as well, and if the vampire were ever to rejoin with their crimson death, they could be restored to life.
* According to another legend, the Gulthias tree that spawned the blight creature was an accidental creation of the vampire named Gulthias. When a steak was bloodied with the vampire's blood, it sprouted tendrils, eventually growing into the first Gulthias tree.
*Some believed that the enchanted arrows of the vampire were made using teeth of actual vampires. This was probably not true due to the sheer number of these arrows circulating the quivers across the Realms.
* A primitive belief that if one saw no reflection in a mirror, it meant that the soul had already left the body and the death was inevitable was believed by some to be the reason or one of the reasons for vampires casting no reflection.
==Appendix==
===Notes===
The 1 edition accessory Lords of Darkness described a "greater vampire" which was created from the life-draining kiss of a succubus. A greater vampire had all the abilities of a lesser vampire and could also move about freely in daylight, allowing it to take on the persona of a normal person, usually a wealthy individual. During the hours of daylight, the greater vampire retained its superior strength and spell immunities but could not use any of its special abilities such as life-drain, shapeshifting, or gaseous form.
===See Also===
*Death kiss
*Jiki-ketsu-gaki
*Kiss of the vampire
*Potion of vampire control
*The Vampyr
*Vampire bat
*Vampire moss 
*Vampire rose
*Vampire squid
===Gallery===
Vampire.jpg|A female vampire.
Vampire mc2e.jpg|A male vampire.
Bald vampire.png|A bald vampire.
Vampire nwn2.jpg|A posing vampire.
DeathKeep vampire.png|A tiny vampire.
===Appearances===
===External Links===
*
* 
===Further Reading===
*
*
*
===References===
===Connections===
Category:Creature templates
Category:Creatures found in the Domains of Dread
Category:Creatures found in the Negative Energy Plane
Category:Creatures found in the Shadowfell
Category:Creatures found in Thanatos
Category:Creatures found in the Abyss
Category:Creatures found in Pandemonium
Category:Spell components
es:Vampiro