Western Vampire
The Way the West was Won
In the time before the West of America was settled a small group of vampires laid claim to was would be Montana. These vampires had developed large brimmed hats to protect them from the sun and relied on the clouds and snow to protect them the rest of the way.
Vampirism, A Blessing...
Do to the nature of being a true vampire you are blessed with powerful boons to make your life a long and fulfilling one. These unnatural feats include:
Feat: Superior Body
You can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check. While you are wearing no armor, your Armor Class equals 12 + your Dexterity modifier. Your base movement speed increases by 5 feet.
Feat: Shapechanger
You gain the shapechanger tag and if you are not in sunlight or running water, you can use your action to polymorph into a Tiny bat[4] or a Medium cloud of mist for 1 minute, or back into your true form.
- Bat Form: While in bat form you can't speak, your walking speed is 5 feet, and you have a flying speed of 30 feet. Your statistics, other than your size and speed, are unchanged. Anything you are wearing transforms with you, but nothing you are carrying does. You revert to your true form if you die.
- Mist Form: While in mist form, you can't take any actions, speak, or manipulate objects. You are weightless and have a flying speed of 20 feet, can hover, and can enter a hostile creature's space and stop there. In addition, if air can pass through a space, the mist can do so without squeezing, and it can't pass through water. You have advantage on Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution saving throws, gain a number of temporary hit points equal to twice your level, and are immune to all nonmagical damage, except the damage you take from sunlight. Once you transform this way you cannot do so again until you complete a short or long rest.
Feat: Animating Bite
You can suffuse your unholy lifeforce into creatures you drain. When you reduce a creature to 0 hit points you can choose to animate it, causing it to rise at the next midnight as a zombie under your control. This zombie can take simple commands from you. You may have up to one vampire spawn/zombie under your control through this method at any time.
Feat: Unnatural Charm
As an action, you can target one humanoid you can see within 30 feet. If the target can see you, it must succeed a Wisdom saving throw, or be charmed. The DC for the save is equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier. The charmed target regards you as a trusted friend to be heeded and protected. Although the target isn't under your direct control, it takes your requests or actions in the most favorable way it can, and it is a willing target for your Vampire Bite.
Each time you or one of your companions do anything harmful to the target, it can repeat the saving throw, ending the effect on itself on a success. Otherwise, the effect lasts for 24 hours, until you are destroyed, until you on a different plane of existence than the target, or if you take a bonus action to end the effect. You can only have one creature charmed this way at once and you can use this trait a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier before you must complete a long rest before using it again.
Race Bonus: Hat of Sun Protection
Wondrous item, uncommon
- This exotic hat of vampire design is made of black felt interwoven with faint silver threads. While wearing this brimmed hat, you become immune to the effects of sunlight. The hat allows for no sunlight to pass through. However, it can be knocked off with enough force.
And a Curse
Do to the Nature of being a vampire you also have a limited ability to survive in certain situations in the west.
Broken Coffin
Normally vampires are bound to a coffinlike structure, but on the frontier you move around too much for that. Instead of a coffin your soul is bound to a piece of your original grave or coffin. Typically you carry a necklace that you can return to after death. If you are destroyed you will need someone else to put the item in a grave to revive you from death
Vampire Weaknesses
Although vampires can be incredibly strong, their curse still comes with several notable drawbacks.
- Forbiddance: You can't enter a residence without an invitation from one of the occupants.
- Running Water: Your flesh is torn apart in the presence of water, you take 20 acid damage when you end your turn in running water. This damage may not be reduced in any way.
- Stake to the Heart: If a piercing weapon made of wood is driven into your heart you become paralyzed until the stake is removed.
- Sunlight Hypersensitivity: If you end your turn in direct sunlight without your hat, you take 20 radiant damage. You also have disadvantage on any attack rolls and ability checks when in direct sunlight.
The Vampire Race
Western Vampire Traits
As a western vampire you gain the following traits:
Undead. Your creature type is considered to be both humanoid and undead.
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength, Dexterity and Constitution scores each increase by 1.
Age. Vampires are immortal and can be any age. Vampires retain the physical appearance of the age at which they were turned at during their mortal life. They also retain the psychological development associated with that age, therefore vampires who did not reach adulthood in their mortal life may still have the impulses of an adolescent in their vampiric life.
Unholy Body. Dark magic sustains you, making you resistant to necrotic damage. Healing potions do not have a healing effect on you. Instead, they deal poison damage equal to the amount that was meant to heal. To heal you must either drink blood, spend hit dice, or finish a long rest.
Blood Drinker. Even though you are undead, you still require sustenance in the form of blood to sustain your unholy existence. You are immune to diseases. You do not need to eat or breathe, but you can if you wish, though this food is bland and stale to you. If you go for longer then seven days without drinking at least one ration of blood, at the midnight of the seventh day and every midnight on days thereafter, you suffer one level of exhaustion, which can only be removed by drinking a ration of blood. After consuming one ration of blood, you recover all levels of exhaustion caused by this trait. If you reach six levels of exhaustion due to this trait, you are destroyed.
A ration of blood is a vial[1], roughly 4 ounces[2] and while that is just enough to sustain you each week, you still feel the urge to drink and may still appear twitchy or ravenous in the heat of battle or when treating a wounded ally. A pint, such as that contained within a flask[3] is considered a healthy amount, enough to keep you sustained while also suppressing your less civilized behavior. Each ration of blood heals you for 1d4 + 1 hit points while a pint will heal you for 2d4 + 2 hit points.
Darkvision. 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 gray.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 35 with the Superior Body Feat.
Bite. Sharpened teeth capable of tearing flesh from bone and draining blood from the body. If a willing, paralyzed, charmed, incapacitated, restrained, or grappled, creature within 5 feet of you has blood, you may use your bonus action to Bite them dealing 1d6 piercing damage and draining their blood dealing additional necrotic damage equal to your Constitution modifier. Drinking blood this way is equal to consuming a ration as per your Blood Drinker trait. When you use your Bite, you can choose to not deal damage.
Claws. You have a set of claws, your claws are natural weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. You may use your Strength or Dexterity modifier for your attack and damage rolls with your claws. If you hit with them, you deal 1d4 slashing damage instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, as well as one other language of your choice, that you knew in life.
