Vampire

Vampires are a type of undead that feed on blood. They are one of the most feared and powerful undead creatures.

Description

A vampire looks very much like it did when alive, but with paler skin, hardened and feral features giving them a predatory aspect, and more vibrant eyes. When they are hungry, their eyes turn red. Their hands have claws on the tip that they can retract similarly to a cat, allowing them to hide among the living better.
They do not cast shadows, and have no reflection on silver, including a majority of mirrors.

Personality

Vampires enjoy fine things and engaging in decadent behavior, sharing such habits with liches. A vampire is almost always a creature of evil. If it was not evil in life, it almost certainly becomes so in undeath. Some rare vampires turned against their will manage to hold onto a shred of their humanity, typically being neutral. Very few if any vampires are good-aligned, as the very act of infusion of negative energy to sustain their undead form gnaws at their morality.

Powers

A vampire retains all the abilities it has in life, and it gains the ability to drain blood and life energy, and to dominate other creatures with its gaze. A vampire can also command rats, bats, and wolves, or take the form of such creatures.

Weaknesses

The greatest weakness of all vampire kind is their hypersensitivity to sunlight. If exposed directly to sunlight, they start to instantly burn, and will eventually burn away to ash if they do not hide in the shadows. Additionally, they can not spend more than a moment in running water without being injured.
Vampires are eternally bound to their coffins and the unholy earth where they were buried. While they are either resting or regenerating in their coffin, driving a steak through their undead heart will destroy them instantly. They also can not tolerate the smell of garlic and will not voluntarily enter an area with a strong odor of it.
Lastly, they can not enter any residence without an explicit invitation of the beings inhabiting it. This applies only to the private residences of the living, and so a vampire could freely enter a public building or a crypt only lived in by the undead.

Creation

A new vampire is created when another vampire drains the life out of a living creature. A humanoid or monstrous humanoid can become a humanoid.
Alternatively, a willing creature can perform the ritual of vampirism, originally devised as a rite of Ismaraun, to become a vampire. However, the archdevil can choose not to grant this "blessing" in return for the rite, depending on how faithful the would-be vampire has been.
Half-vampires can be created in one of two ways. First, in some rare cases, a vampire can consume enough blood that is can breed with a humanoid or monstrous humanoid, creating half-vampire offspring. Second, in even rarer cases, if a pregnant mother survives having her blood drained by a vampire, her unborn can be "tainted" with vampirism instead.
Master vampires are vampires that have perfected the art of making spawn, and as a result, can lead large gangs of them. They usually have one chosen spawn that is much better than the others. However, all of the master vampire's spawn are better than the norm: stronger, faster, and more numerous.

Activities

Vampires typically plot to empower themselves and produce spawn that will spread across the world.

Varieties

• The Domains of Dread have a number of forms of vampirism that only certain demihumans can contract, including dwarf vampirism, elf vampirism, and gnome vampirism.
• Corpse Vampire
• Dhampyr
• Eastern Vampire
• Master Vampire
• Nosferatu, a more hideous and savage strain of vampirism
• Spirit Vampire
• Vampire Lord
• Vampire Muse
• Vampire Spawn
• Vryloka

Notable Vampires

• Jassin Errora, a sun elf vampire who works to exterminate the undead to atone for his wrongdoings.

Civilization and Culture

History

It is believed that the first vampire was formed by an ancient worshiper of Ismaraun who devised and performed the Pact of Blood. Ismaraun had called upon his followers to expand his influence on the Material Plane. He hungered not just for flesh, but for souls, and he craved immortality beyond even the eternal existence of devils.
In his insatiable quest for power, Ismaraun made a pact with a group of powerful mortal mages who were obsessed with achieving eternal life. While he could not provide them with the ritual to achieve lichdom, he devised a new form of undeath of his own. These mages, seduced by promises of dark knowledge and forbidden power, willingly bound themselves to Ismaraun's will.
Ismaraun granted them the twisted gift they desired: immortality, but at a terrible cost. They were transformed into the first vampires, creatures cured with eternal undeath, sustained by the blood of the living. Each vampire became a vessel for Ismaraun's influence, perpetuating his dominion over the mortal realm.
Each of the original vampires had a power bound to their lineage, similar to the bloodline powers of the "blooded" rulers. There were eight in total, and each vampire could only have a singular lineage gift. Unlike bloodline powers, these lineage gifts could not be stolen under normal circumstances. The lineage gifts are:

1. Bloodlord Lineage. Those with this gift have increased magical affinity in the use of blood magic, allowing them to accelerate or halt bleeding wounds, control the flow of blood in their victims, and even shape their own blood into weapons or barriers.
2. Nightshade Lineage. Vampires of this lineage possess an innate affinity for darkness and shadows. They can meld seamlessly into shadows, becoming virtually invisible in dim light and darkness. This power also allows them to travel through shadows similarly to how a dryad can traverse among trees, stepping from one shadow to another to move swiftly and undetected.
3. Venomfang Lineage. Vampires from this lineage have potent venom glands in their fangs. Their bite injects a paralyzing and hallucinogenic venom into their victims, incapacitating or disorienting them. With practice, they can tailor the effects of their venom to suit their needs.
4. Fleshrot Lineage. This lineage gift allows the vampire to exude an aura of death and decay that withers living plants, corrodes metal, and weakens the resolve of their foes while empowering undead. This aura can extend for a short distance around them, sapping the strength and vitality of those who dare to approach.
5. Mindwrack Lineage. This power allows those of the lineage to delve into the darkest recesses of the mind, invading the dreams of others and weaving nightmares tailored to their deepest fears and insecurities. They can torment their victims with phantoms and illusions, driving them to madness or despair. Those of this lineage are also semi-incorporeal, being partially made up of dreamstuff.
6. Duskshape Lineage. This lineage has far greater ability to transform and shape their body, expanding their shapeshifting to new forms. Those of this lineage can become spiders, ravens, and almost any other natural animal. While transformed in this way, they are only half as vulnerable to sunlight and running water.
7. Daywalker Lineage. Daywalkers, also called brightwalkers and imposter vampires, are able to walk freely in the rays of sunlight much as a human does. Strangely, these vampires are also able to see through magical darkness, and so light- and dark-based spells are useless against this brood.
8. Dreadwraith Lineage. While all vampires can become a mist for some time, dreadwraith vampires are able to become a floating black mist still roughly in the form of their body, having their eyes replaced by two motes of red light. While in this form, they can move freely through the Ethereal Plane. This grants them unparalleled mobility and allows them to bypass obstacles and defenses with ease, making them extremely elusive. However, this does not allow them to enter an inhabited residence without permission.

All true vampires belong to one of these eight lineages, however vampire spawn can only use these powers while their creator gives them express permission to do so. Should the creator redact their permission, the use of the power immediately ceases.

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