Vampires: Early Heroic Tier

Not all vampires are powerful undead overlords ruling dark empires from their mountain castles. The blood of orcus eventually runs thin, resulting in weaker, stupider vampires that terrorize the living like wild animals. Here are some of them.


Vampiric Zombie; Level 1 Controller (100 XP)
Medium undead humanoid (vampire, zombie)
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Initiative +7 Perception +10 (darkvision)
HP 30 Bloodied 15
AC 14 Fortitude 14 Reflex 13 Will 13
Speed 5
Skills Stealth +6
Resist cold 10, necrotic 10
Immune poison, disease
Vulnerable radiant 5
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Standard Actions
-
basic melee attack Claw (at will):
attack one target within 1; +6 vs. AC; 1d8+4 damage.
-
Hypnosis (at will):
attack one target within 6; +3 vs. Will; target is pulled 3 squares toward the vampire and immobilized and grants combat advantage (save ends). If the vampire attacks another target with Hypnosis, any previous targets stop being immobilized and granting combat advantage.
-
Blood Drain (encounter; recharges when an enemy within 6 is first bloodied):
attack one target within 1; +6 vs. Fortitude; 2d6+4 damage and target is weakened (save ends). The vampire heals 7 hp.
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Passive
-
Sunlight Vulnerability
While exposed to direct sunlight, the vampire is dazed and cannot use its Hypnosis or Blood Drain attacks.
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Alignment Chaotic Evil
Languages -
Str 18 (+4) Con 18 (+4) Dex 8 (-1) Int 4 (-3) Wis 10 (+0) Cha 14 (+2)


The lowest of the low among vampires. Vampiric zombies are created when a vampire wishes to punish one of its subordinates, reducing it to a mindless, hungry drone. Vampiric zombies shamble aimlessly about in the dark, hypnotizing any living beings who come close into offering themselves to appease the beast's tormented thirst.


Feral Vampire Spawn; Level 3 Minion Skirmisher (37 XP)
Medium undead humanoid (vampire)
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Initiative +5 Perception +3 (darkvision)
HP 1 (a minion is never damaged by an attack that misses)
AC 16 Fortitude 15 Reflex 14 Will 14
Speed 7
Skills Stealth +10, Athletics +11, Acrobatics +10
Resist cold 10, necrotic 10
Immune poison, disease
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Standard Actions
-
basic melee attack Frenzy (at will):
attack one target within 1; +7 vs. AC; 6 damage.
Combat Advantage: 8 damage.
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Immediate Actions
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Bloodthirst (encounter; recharges whenever an enemy within 7 is first bloodied):
Move 7 squares toward the triggering enemy.
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Passive
-
Sunlight Vulnerability
If exposed to direct sunlight, the vampire spawn is dazed and cannot make attacks. If it hasn't gotten out of the sunlight by the end of its next round, it is destroyed.
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Alignment Chaotic Evil
Languages Common
Str 16 (+4) Con 14 (+3) Dex 14 (+3) Int 6 (-1) Wis 14 (+3) Cha 10 (+1)

Feral vampires are degenerate and stupid creatures, many generations removed from the blood of Orcus. Their spawn attack in tidal waves of bestial hunger.

Feral vampires can understand the languages they spoke in life, but can't often think coherently enough to communicate back.



Feral Vampire Creeper; Level 4 Skirmisher (200 XP)
Medium undead humanoid (vampire)
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Initiative +7 Perception +10 (darkvision)
HP 42 Bloodied 21
AC 18 Fortitude 16 Reflex 17 Will 16
Speed 7; swim 5; climb 5 (spider climb)
Skills Stealth +13, Athletics +12, Acrobatics +13
Resist cold 10, necrotic 10
Immune poison, disease
Vulnerable radiant 5
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Standard Actions
-
basic melee attack Claw (at will):
attack one target within 1; +8 vs. AC; 1d10+5 damage.
-
Tackle (at will):
attack one target within 1; +8 vs. Reflex; target is knocked prone and grabbed.
-
Blood Drain (encounter; recharges when an enemy within 7 is first bloodied):
attack one target within 1; +8 vs. Fortitude; 2d6+5 damage and target is weakened (save ends). The vampire heals 10 hp.
Special: if the vampire is grabbing the target, it automatically hits with this attack.
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Move Actions
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Creep (at will):
The vampire shifts 5 square and gain a +2 bonus to AC and Reflex defenses until it acts again. A creeping vampire ignores difficult and challenging terrain, and can shift while climbing or swimming.
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Passive
-
Sunlight Vulnerability
While exposed to direct sunlight, the vampire is dazed and cannot use its Blood Drain attack.
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Alignment Chaotic Evil
Languages Common
Str 16 (+5) Con 12 (+3) Dex 18 (+6) Int 6 (+0) Wis 16 (+5) Cha 12 (+3)

Feral vampire creepers are average specimens of their kind. Too primitive for houses or coffins, they instead dig burrows, bury themselves in moss and mud, or hide in hollow trees during the day. They are very stealthy, creeping on all fours across the ground, scuttling up trees, and swimming through shallow lakes and swamps to sneak up on their prey.

Feral Vampire Destroyer; Level 5 Brute (200 XP)
Medium undead humanoid (vampire)
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Initiative +5 Perception +7 (darkvision)
HP 56 Bloodied 28
AC 16 Fortitude 18 Reflex 16 Will 17
Speed 7; burrow 2
Skills Athletics +12, Acrobatics +9, Endurance +11
Resist cold 10, necrotic 10
Immune poison, disease
Vulnerable radiant 5
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Standard Actions
-
basic melee attack Claw (at will):
attack one target within 1; +8 vs. AC; 1d10+5 damage. Shift 2 squares before or after making this attack.
-
Double Claw (at will):
Make two Claw attacks. If both attacks hit, the vampire heals 2 hp.
-
Erupt (at will):
Vampire must be burrowed just below the surface; the vampire surfaces and makes this attack; close burst 1; +8 vs. Reflex; 1d6+5 damage and target is blinded by flying dust and pebbles until the end of its next turn.
-
Blood Drain (encounter; recharges when an enemy within 7 is first bloodied):
attack one target within 1; +10 vs. Fortitude; 2d8+6 damage and target is weakened (save ends). The vampire heals 14 hp.
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Passive
-
Sunlight Vulnerability
While exposed to direct sunlight, the vampire is dazed and cannot use its Blood Drain attack.
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Alignment Chaotic Evil
Languages Common
Str 20 (+7) Con 18 (+6) Dex 14 (+4) Int 6 (+0) Wis 10 (+2) Cha 16 (+5)

An old and heavily mutated feral vampire. This brute has massive claws for digging, and its fangs are so overgrown that it cannot close its mouth.

Ability Scores are Obsolete and Stupid

As I said last post, I've simplified the fourth edition character sheet a bit. Its only a small change, but it saves you a bit of headache, and makes character creation take a little less time (okay, DnD char-gen will always be a time-consuming nightmare, but this helps a bit).

Basically, since the beginning of third edition there has been no reason for ability scores to exist in their traditional form. Except for very few cases, the only thing you use is your ability bonus (your ability score -10 /2); the score itself is just a clunky and totally unnecessary detour before arriving at the bonus, an artifact of first and second edition that no longer makes sense.

So, just get rid of them. Ability Scores and Ability Bonuses are now the same thing. Instead of 10 being the baseline for abilities, its 0. For instance, I usually used to have my players start all their ability scores at 8, and then give them 28 points to distribute (with every point increase above 14 in one stat costing double). Nowadays, I tell them to start at -1, and give them 14 points to distribute with the cost doubling after 2. Each racial and leveling bonus adds +1 to the ability stat, rather than the default +2.

The only place where this doesn't work is when you're determining your starting hit points in fourth edition (not a problem if you're playing third). There are two solutions to this.

• Double your CON score and add 10 when using it to determine starting hit points.

or the much more elegant

• Just replace Constitution with a set number for this purpose (I use 15). Its not like the variance in starting hp matters after the first few levels anyway.

Like I said, it's not an amazing revolutionary change that fixes everything. But I do like it better than the default.

The Players Roll All the Dice

Finally back to this blog. I've done some editing on the earlier monster entries, and finally added the lore and descriptions for the Mummy entry (check it out; I'm quite proud of it).

More importantly though, I've been trying out some new houserules with my group that turned out to be a great success. Allow me to share them with you.


Let the Players Roll All the Dice

This is really extraordinarily simple; I'm surprised it hasn't been popularized before. One of the most annoying things about playing D&D is the sheer number of things determined by the Dungeon Master's die rolls. Every time something happens to the PC, its up to the DM's dice. If you're attacked by a monster, you just sit there and wait for the DM to determine if you get hit or not. If you're using a passive Perception skill, you just stare at the number on your character sheet and hope that its higher than whatever the DM rolls.

With this houserule, every die roll that involves conflict between a PC and an NPC is rolled by the player. The character sheet no longer has any static values (well, aside from hit points). The monster stat blocks no longer have any d20 modifiers. If the paladin is getting stabbed by an orc, the player rolls 1d20 and adds his armor bonus in hopes of beating the orc's static attack value. When his paladin counterattacks, the player is still rolling the dice, making an attack roll against the orc's static AC as per usual.

Its super easy. Just tell your players to subtract 10 from all their defenses and passive skill values (in fact, you can just cross out "passive perception" and "passive insight" on the sheet entirely), and draw a little + sign in front of the remainder. On the DM's side of things, add 10 to the attack and skill bonuses of all the monsters and remove the +. In most battles, the Dungeon Master will not roll a single d20.

I've found that doing things this way makes the players feel more engaged in the combat. It also makes them feel more in control of their characters' safety, even if the dice are still random.


Sometime in the next few posts, I'll share another new houserule of mine, this one related to simplifying the frankly bloated character creation process.

Aranea

Another previous edition aberration that I suspect no one had any idea of what to do with. This version of the seemingly inane aranea is, once again, partly inspired by Camu from the Wizards of the Coast forums.

...

The Aranea is a horrible aberrant creature, the vanguard of an invading army from beyond reality. Cunning, ruthless, and utterly inhuman, Araneas excel at infiltrating humanoid societies and weakening or manipulating them from within. They do this by slaying other creatures and wearing their hollowed-out bodies as a disguise.

A "naked" aranea resembles a human-sized spider made of bones, ribs, and tendons. Its eight legs are arranged in pairs, with two legs emerging from a single "joint." The creature's mouth has both tearing fangs and sucking probosci, and its tail is tipped by a collapsed, humanoid skull. It impersonates people by consuming their bones and innards and then replacing the skeleton, collapsing and seperating its bony body segments to fit the body it wears. The skull-like tail of the aranea fills the corpse's empty head, while the true head of the beast is folded up inside the belly. The disguise is perfect; the aranea looks and sounds exactly like its latest victim.


Arcana or History

DC 20: There are rumored reports from throughout history of alien beings that kill mortals and use their skin and flesh as a disguise.

DC 25: Araneas are spider-shaped aberrations that can impersonate humanoids and similarly sized creatures by wearing their skin and outer tissues like a suit. Araneas are said to be incredibly skilled at impersonation and deception, and their goals always to the detriment of the society they infiltrate.

DC 30: Araneas are covered in sharp spiricles that pervade their worn flesh and hold it in place. These protrusions also rejuvenate the flesh, keeping it alive and undecayed and manipulating the nerves that control facial expressions and the like. The aranea has two weaknesses. 1) It does not gain the memories of the person it impersonates; they are skilled actors and immitators, but quizzing them on personal history might reveal the deception. 2) the aranea cannot produce human speech on its own; it relies on a symbiotic, snakelike creature to replace the victim's jaws with its own mouth. These tongue-symbionts can also detatch themselves and attack.

DC 35: Araneas are the vanguard of the Tsarok-Hem, tasked with weakening the armies of the natural world and finding a way to bring their masters into our world.


Aranea Spider (Level 9 Lurker) (400 XP)
Medium Aberrant Beast
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Initiative +13 Perception +8
HP 65; Bloodied 32
AC 23 Fortitude 21 Reflex 22 Will 23

Speed 7; climb 5 (spider climb)
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Standard Actions
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basic melee attack Kick (at will):
Targets one enemy within 1; +14 vs. AC; 2d6+5 damage and target is pushed 1.
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Death from Above (at will; requires Combat Advantage):
The aranea must be directly above the target or a square adjacent to it; the aranea drops into a square adjacent to the target and makes an attack; +14 vs. Reflex; 2d12+10 damage and target is grabbed.
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Eviscerate (at will; target must be grabbed):
+14 vs. Fort; 2d12+10 damage.
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Minor Actions
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Tongue Symbiont (once per round; at will):
Targets one enemy within 1; +14 vs. AC; 8 damage.
-
Detach Symbiont (encounter):
An aranea tongue appears in a vacant square within 2 and makes an attack. The tongue continues to act after the aranea until the end of the encounter. Special: after using this ability, the aranea can no longer make tongue symbiont attacks until it is reunited with its tongue.
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Alignment Evil
Languages none (understands Common, can speak with the aid of a Tongue)
Str 18 (+20) Con 16 (+22) Dex 20 (+21) Int 20 (+18) Wis 18 (+19) Cha 22 (+21)
Skills Stealth +16, Bluff +17



Aranea Tongue (Level 9 Minion Soldier) (100 XP)
Tiny Aberrant Beast
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Initiative +13 Perception +8
HP 1; a minion is never damaged by an attack that misses.
AC 25 Fortitude 21 Reflex 22 Will 21

Speed 6
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Standard Actions
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basic melee attack Leaping Bite (at will):
Targets one enemy within 1; +14 vs. AC; 8 damage and the tongue attaches itself to the target. While attached to the target, the tongue blinds it and can deal 8 damage to the target as a standard action; an Escape roll is needed to detach the creature. Miss: the tongue shifts into another vacant square adjacent to the target.
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Alignment Evil
Languages none (can translate the aranea spider's speech)
Str 10 (+4) Con 18 (+8) Dex 20 (+9) Int 4 (+1) Wis 18 (+8) Cha 10 (+4)

Diablo Series: Megademon

Megademon Scourge (Level 27 Brute) (11,000 XP)
Medium Elemental Humanoid (demon)
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Initiative +21 Perception +19
HP 252; Bloodied 126
AC 39 Fortitude 40 Reflex 39 Will 39

Speed 6; fly 5 (clumsy)
Resist 30 variable (2/encounter) 
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Passive Abilities
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Smoking Blood (aura; bloodied only):
Aura 2; enemies that end their turn within the aura take 10 fire and poison damage; all creatures within the aura gain concealment.
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Standard Actions
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basic melee attack Abyssal Sword (at will):
Targets one enemy within 2; +32 vs. AC; 4d8+12 damage.
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basic ranged attack Venom Bolt (at will):
Range 10; targets one enemy; +30 vs. Fort; 3d8+8 poison damage and the target is slowed and receives a -5 penalty to saving throws (save ends both).
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Breath Weapon (recharge 5, 6):
Close blast 2; +30 vs. Reflex; 4d8+12 fire damage and ongoing 15 fire damage (save ends).
Effect: until the end of the demon's next turn, its Abyssal Sword deals fire damage and targets reflex.
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Reactions
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Buffeting Wings (interrupt; when the demon is flanked):
Close burst 2; targets enemies within the burst; +32 vs. AC; 3d8+8 damage and target is pushed out of the burst.
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Alignment Chaotic Evil
Languages Abyssal
Str 24 (+20) Con 28 (+22) Dex 26 (+21) Int 20 (+18) Wis 22 (+19) Cha 26 (+21)


Megademon Vortex Dancer (Level 30 Lesser Skirmisher) (9,500 XP)
Medium Elemental Humanoid (demon)
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Initiative +25 Perception +21
HP 108
AC 45 Fortitude 43 Reflex 41 Will 41

Speed 6; fly 5 (clumsy)
Resist 30 variable (2/encounter) 
Vulnerable a lesser monster is instantly killed by a critical hit.
Saves a lesser monster automatically fails all saving throws.
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Standard Actions
-
basic melee attack Red Hot Sword (at will):
Targets one enemy within 2; +35 vs. AC; 25 normal and fire damage.
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Breath Weapon (recharge 4, 5, 6):
Close blast 2; +33 vs. Reflex; 20 fire damage and the demon teleports 5 squares.
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Reactions
-
Buffeting Wings (reaction; when the demon is reduced to 0 hp):
Close burst 2; targets enemies within the burst; +35 vs. AC; target is pushed out of the burst.
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Alignment Chaotic Evil
Languages Abyssal
Str 30 (+25) Con 30 (+25) Dex 26 (+23) Int 20 (+20) Wis 22 (+21) Cha 26 (+23)