Vampire (Race)

## History

Stories tell of a god that, in a fit of rage, cursed a man who had slighted him. No more would he walk in the sunlight bestowed upon him by the god, for his skin would burn should it ever touch sunlight again. No more would he be allowed to wear the amulet of the faith or metal it was made from, for his skin would melt should it ever touch either again. And forever shall he know the feeling of unquenchable thirst for blood, for that is what happens when your faith has abandoned you. As the final act of the curse, the god decreed that any being the man fed from would, too, become a monster like him.

Throughout the ages, the vampiric curse has spread from one region to another, disappearing for periods of time before reappearing again.

On rare occasions, a woman infected during the final months of her pregnancy would give birth to a living child. This child would be inflicted with Vampirism.

## Society

Vampires tend to form close nit covens with one another with different roles, which are not subclasses, but pecking orders which exist to ensure the best interest of the coven. These are more societal classes and are closer to a caste system than a subclass.

### Elders

Leaders of the coven, the Elder and his appointed Queen will foresee matters of the coven in their own hands and will act in the best interest for the family. The Elder tends to have been a previous heir and will not have been a changed vampire for millenia if the coven is old and established. But will still have the same blood through his veins as the first vampires did. The Queen tends to be a changed vampire from either his coven or from outside that he favoured. Occasionally, vampire families make pacts with each other to marry heiresses to single elders and heirs. Elders are allowed to be overthrown and the next elder will be the vampire who killed them, but if the coven is unhappy they will be killed too.

* True Vampires are the only vampires able to create Fledglings with a higher chance of survival. 80% for True Vampires, 50% for Vampires. This is because True Vampires are born from fledglings.

### Heirs

Due to lead the coven, will usually have to partake in a tournament with their brothers and sisters where they fight to the death to be the Elder. Many heiresses are bargained off by their Elders to marry into other covens to give their families stronger standing. They are created by the Elder infecting a late trimester pregnant woman and having her give birth in the fledgling state. The Fledgling gives birth to a ‘True Vampire’, but is then killed by the Vampire Queen in order to feed the birth mother’s blood to the child to inaugurate them into the coven. Both the Queen and the Elder are seen as the biological parents. The blood of the birth mother may also be kept by some covens to give to the child in order to pay homage to the role she played in their creation.

### Gentry

Elders intrust their created vampires who they trust the most with these roles, while the entirety of the coven is based off of trust and respect for the Elder, the Gentry have more standing than any other non-relative ranking. They tend to manage the other ranks of the coven, such as instructing New Blood to become Guardians and managing the other established Guardians. They can also do espionage and assasination jobs, as well as propose Fledglings who would make good Guardians. They also manage tasks that the current elder could be inexperienced in. Most Elder’s don’t trust very easily these days and leave their children to do this work rather than create new roles, meaning that Gentry tends to be far more common in younger covens.

### Guardians

Soldiers and generals. They usually are in charge of the Fledglings, who only listen to them when they carry a vial of the elder’s blood around their necks. The Guardians make up the majority of the covens number as there can be anywhere between 3-10 of them in this rank at a time, since there are around 20-25 vampires in each coven.

### New Blood

New Blood are freshly changed vampires that need to be educated in the role they are needed in. These tend to be the least experienced Vampires.

### Fledglings

Fledglings are stuck in purgatory between becoming fully vampire and remaining human, because of this, they are the only state of vampirism that can be cured. To understand Fledglings, you need to think of Vampirism in its earliest forms as a parasitic disease. The Vampirism attacks only some parts body and only the most primal forms of the human mind, leaving the host, Fledglings rather mindless. They are rabid in the sense that they are always itching for the Elder’s blood, in order to transform fully into a New Blood for a sense of relief, but they don’t have any concept of what the Elder’s blood is. They simply follow whoever carries it. Since the Fledglings mostly have human bodies, their skulls are not the right size for their canines, making them protrude out of their mouths, causing them a lot of pain; on top of this their nails also painfully grow out into sharp spindelly claws. Both of these features in combination with the grotesque way they walk on all fours, Fledglings fight in a very cannibalistic style, eating whoever they attack.

* Vampires can however feed on Fledglings, which is the main reason why they keep them. It’s an easy source of food for a big coven with a True Vampire Elder.
* They are also not regarded as members of the coven.

## Physical Description

Vampires appear almost identical to their origin race but with subtle details revealing their true nature: their skin tone is slightly paler, and they have elongated fingers and upper canine teeth.

## Names

Vampire names are changed upon rebirth from a fledgling to a coven member. These are disposed upon the member upon inauguration into the coven by the elder, and are a symbol of your new life.

## Racial Traits

### Immortality buffs

Due to Vampires being both undead and alive, they face certain weaknesses to their immortality which means they can cease to exist. When killed in a certain way, they regenerate from a pile of ash. And this is a way to keep all the class benefits not as over powered because fucking hell there's lots.

Vampires reach maturity at the same time as their origin race does. True Vampires reach maturity at the same time as their birth mother’s origin race.

### Death is certain

There are three certain ways to kill a Vampire, these are:

* Death to the heart with a silver coated or silver weapon.
* Drain all of the blood in the vampire's system (usually the honourable way elder's choose to die).
* If never cured to be human (by killing the vampire who turned him), or by never turning the Fledgling into a vampire, eventually they would fever out and die.

### Short Regeneration

Takes around 60 minutes to fully regenerate, which of course rushes the process, making the character liable to losing abilities or a level until they regenerate properly this depends on how low their hit die was when downed. Short regeneration also means that cosmetically they can make mistakes which can give them an embarrassment buff. Sometimes short regenerations go so badly, they ask their allies to kill them so that they can complete a long generation.

### Long Regeneration

Takes around 4-6 days. No cosmetic or ability mistakes made. Vampires can only regenerate 30 times in this way in their entire lifetimes, which if they live a cosy life can last them for centuries. After 30 however, they turn to ash and cease to exist.

### Ability Score Improvement

Your Strength, Dexterity, and Charisma scores increase by 1.

### Skills

You have proficiency in Perception and Deception.

### Darkvision

As a Vampire, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of grey.

### Vampiric Fortitude

You are immune to disease. You have advantage on saving throws against necrosis, and you have resistance against necrotic damage.

### Undead

You are an Undead creature. Necrotic damage does not affect you. You also need 1 ration of blood every 5 days or your body begins to cease functioning. On the 5th day without blood, the Vampire is unable to heal and takes 1d20 of damage every hour and rolls disadvantage on everything. If the Vampire drops to 0 hit points from this, they are paralyzed until force fed blood. Then they regain 1d20 hit points taken from loss of blood and no longer roll disadvantage.

### Bite

On a successful Bite attack, you subject the target to the Grappled condition, deal 1d4 piercing/necrotic damage, and you heal for the amount equal to the damage dealt. The damage/healing increases to 1d6 at 6th level, 2d6 at 11th level, and 3d6 at 16th level.

### Blight

If you bite humanoid prey, and don’t completely drain them of blood you have a 50% chance of turning them into a fledgling.

If you are a true Vampire, this chance increases to 80%. Drink responsibly.

### Sunlight Damage

While in sunlight, Vampires have disadvantage on attack rolls, ability checks and a slight negative to their initiative. If exposed for around 30 minutes they will start to take damage. 1d4 sun damage, roll a d6 to see on what turn it would be, for example: ( 1d6 = 3 and 1d4 = 2. Every 3 turns you would get 2 hit points in sun damage).

### Bloodlust

While you can control your bloodlust most days, the urge to feed is always present. As a Vampire, you must feed this thirst every 3 days or your body begins to weaken. Every day you go without feeding after the third day, starvation causes you gain one (1) level of Exhaustion that cannot be removed by any means except for the consumption of blood. Each successful use of your bite attack against a willing, incapacitated or restrained humanoid will remove one (1) level of Exhaustion. Alternatively, each Potion of Blood Healing will remove one (1) level of exhaustion.

During combat, if you drop below 5 hit points, you must make a DC13 Wisdom saving throw or you will become frenzied. During this time, the DM has control over what your character does; however, upon your first successful bite attack, you regain control of your faculties.