“The first vampire was an elf named Vol. After living for centuries, Vol saw the end of his life approaching and was determined to escape death. He prayed to the Sovereigns, but they dismissed his prayers. All journeys have an end, Kol Korran told him. Do not fear what lies beyond, Arawai said. Trust in our love. But Vol had no faith in the Sovereigns, and so he turned to the Dark Six in his quest for immortality. They were willing to aid him… but they had demands. The Keeper pledged not to take Vol’s life, but only so long as Vol continued to add to the Keeper’s hoard, sending him a steady stream of innocent souls. The Fury made Vol a natural predator, but charged him to prey upon his own kind. The Mockery made Vol a master deceiver able to move unrecognized among the living, but demanded that he spread terror with his deeds. And the Shadow made Vol the master of the night, able to command its creatures, to dissipate into mist, to enforce his will upon weak minds. They made Vol a champion of the shadows, a corpse imbued with a semblance of life so it could kill and kill again, spreading terror and feeding the Keeper. The Sovereigns could not simply undo what the Six had created, but they laid their own bans upon Vol. Dol Arrah cursed Vol; he might be the king of the night, the light of day would burn him to ash. Boldrei forbade Vol from entering any home, unless he was invited within. And Arawai said that as Vol had broken the cycle of nature, wood and water would be his enemies. Running water reflects the endless motion of nature, and it would tear away the vampire’s false life. And a simple stake of wood, driven through the heart, would lay the vampire to rest.” 

This is a story the Vassals tell. The elves of Aerenal don’t believe in the Sovereigns; they say it is Mabar that empowers a vampire to live on after death so long as they feed the Endless Night with a steady stream of blood and souls. Gift of the Shadow or the Endless Night, it makes little difference. The vampire is a corpse animated in violation of nature, which must consume the blood and essence of the living to sustain its undead existence. They hide among the living in order to prey upon them, and have the power to spread their corruption—consuming the souls of those they drain of blood, allowing them to rise as hungry spawn. But they cannot stand Arrah’s light, and they cannot enter a home without an invitation. So cling to the light and take care you know those you welcome into your home—for the vampires are waiting in the shadows, and they are hungry.   

—Dorius Alyre ir’Korran, The Manual Maleficent

Vampires are an iconic undead creature. Canonically, vampirism has become a practical tool in Eberron: the Bloodsails, the Seekers of the Divinity Within, and the Line of Vol all make use of vampirism as a way of extending life after death. It’s not surprising to find a vampire leading an Emerald Claw cell. But such a vampire is typically relevant as a threat in combat; the Emerald Claw usually isn’t very subtle. With this article, I want to start by exploring what makes vampires distinct from other common forms of undead and considering how this can apply to stories you might tell… and then to look closer at the role of vampires in everyday life in Khorvaire, and different sorts of vampires one could encounter. 

VAMPIRE STORIES

Set aside mechanics for a moment. What is it that makes a vampire spooky? What are hooks you can work into a story? Here’s a few. 

• Walking Dead. A vampire is an animated corpse. Aside from the various immunities this grants, it highlights the fact that they are deeply unnatural. They should be dead and yet they aren’t. It’s easy to ignore this—in part because typically, they don’t rot like a zombie—but when you stop and think about it, it’s disturbing. They are DEAD, but some power moves through them and makes their dead flesh move, sustaining them as long as they continue to feed on the living. There’s lots of little ways you can play with this. Cold flesh. They don’t drink… wine. Most notably, in combat I will typically describe a creature’s loss of hit points and nicks and grazes, near misses and deflected blows. In the case of undead creatures like vampires I may choose to highlight that an attack strikes true and just has minimal effect. You drive your dagger into his side, piercing the kidney. It’s a perfect, crippling blow… but he just laughs, and no blood flows as you pull the blade free from his body. 
• Predators. Vampires consume the life force of the living, typically through the medium of blood. They are wolves among sheep, and mortals are their prey. Often this is reflected by their appearance; not only can they conceal their undead nature, but they are charming or attractive, able to lure mortals to their doom. Now, specific vampires may resist their predatory urges—but it’s the fact that they are driven by their hunger that makes that a compelling story, as they strive to hold onto their humanity and not to become a ruthless predator.  
• Infestation. Specifics vary by tale, but under the mechanics of 5E, if a humanoid creature is slain by the life-draining bite of a vampire and buried in the ground, they will rise as a vampire spawn under the control of their sire. Depending on the needs of the story, a vampire may already have a network of spawn when it is encountered by adventurers—or a tale could involve the slow spread of a vampire’s reach throughout a community. This is especially effective when someone near and dear to the adventurers becomes spawn, or when the spawn is someone who was a hero in life—a friar of the Silver Flame who helped organize the fight against the vampire, or a young poet who wouldn’t hurt a fly. The point is that the vampire doesn’t just kill its victims—it turns them into tools, mocking who they were in life. 
• Age and Influence. Vampires don’t have to be old. But part of the story of the vampire is eternal life, and this can be a compelling part of a vampire’s story. Did this vampire fight alongside Tira Miron when she founded the Church of the Silver Flame? Was it there when Halas Tarkanan collapsed the old towers of Sharn? Did the vampire know an adventurer’s parents—has it been watching them, all this time? A secondary aspect of this is the fact that a vampire may have resources that can play a major role in a story. A vampire may have caches of gold and supplies hidden around Khorvaire. It could have a family of loyal servants that have been bound to it for generations. It could have friends in very high places, or very low ones. In Aundair, Lady Talon is an elf noble who advised King Galifar during the war of unification. She just had lunch with Minister Adal. And you want me to believe that she’s some kind of monster? This influence could also be maintained through the use of a faithful (humanoid) familiar with a hat of disguise—King Kaius just gave a speech in the plaza while the sun was at its height. And he regularly speaks out against the Blood of Vol. The idea that he could be a vampire is preposterous. Often, part of what drives a vampire hunting story is the fact that no one else but the adventurers can or will pursue the vampire; either no one believes what the adventurers know, or the vampire’s influence is so strong (reinforced by Charm and by well-placed spawn) that the forces that should help are turned against the party.
• Weakness. A vampire regenerates 20 hit points a turn, and can escape in mist form when it needs to get away. It cannot be killed by brute force… unless its weaknesses are brought into play. If cannot enter a home unless it is invited—giving adventurers ways to find a safe haven even when facing an overpowering foe. The vampire’s efforts to overcome its weaknesses and the adventurers’ attempts to take advantage of them add flavor to a story—especially if those weaknesses aren’t what the adventurers assume them to be. 

Keeping all those things in mind, let’s consider some of the ways adventurers might encounter a vampire. 

The Random Encounter. The adventurers are racing to reach an artifact in Xen’drik before the Order of the Emerald Claw finds it… and the captain of the Emerald Claw force is a vampire. In such a scenario, the fact that the enemy is a vampire may only become relevant in battle; they’re just a powerful foe to be overcome. Of course, they’ll primarily want to move at night and will have difficulty with water. But the DM might also emphasize their ability to charm people to get the things they want… or play up the infestation aspect as a weapon in their arsenal. Perhaps the artifact is hidden somewhere in a region populated by small villages of tabaxi. The adventurers discover a village that appears to be completely empty; the Emerald Claw has clearly passed through, but there is absolutely no sign of the tabaxi inhabitants. Then as night falls, the former villagers burrow up out of the ground, red eyes gleaming in the moonlight; the vampire killed them all, and left them to return as spawn as a trap for the adventurers. Such a scenario is both an opportunity for a challenging fight and a chance to showcase the utter cruelty and bloodthirst of the vampire, who’s willing to drain an entire village just to mock their rivals. 

They Are The Land. The vampire is in a position of unquestioned authority in an isolated place. The Lhazaar Principalities are an easy option for this, allowing a vampire to have entrenched power stretching back for generations. But they could just as easily be the lord of a remote community in the Five Nations… or the captain of a ship, or the foreman of a factory. The point is that they hold power; they have a secure stronghold and considerable resources; and that the local population supports them, whether due to actual devotion or simply because of overwhelming terror. Such a vampire might have supernatural connections that go beyond their typical powers. Perhaps the vampire can see through the eyes of every rat in their domain. Maybe they control the weather. Perhaps they have shadow-minions that can possess the shadows of residents or visitors. The adventurers can’t figure out how the count seems to know their every plan… and then they realize the wizard’s shadow is moving on its own!

The Spreading Cult. You have a quest that’s brought you to this small town, and that’s going to keep you there for a while, a quest that has nothing to do with vampires. But some of the people are acting strangely. When a blood-drained corpse shows up on the edge of town, you suspect there’s a vampire about… and perhaps you even have a clash with a spawn that proves it. But how do you go about discovering the identity of the vampire, and how do you balance it with your primary quest? How do you deal with it if someone vital to your quest becomes a spawn—or if you discover the identity of the vampire, only to realize that you need their help to accomplish your quest? I’ve suggested this as a small town scenario, but in a large town the spread of a vampire’s brood could be lost amid the noise of everyday activity. Perhaps the vampire targets a local gang; they’re already prone to violence, so a few deaths will go unnoticed. Once they’ve secured the gang, they start spreading throughout the entire underworld. Or perhaps they’re pursuing a political agenda… and once again, what do you do if you discover this, but you and the vampire both want the same political outcome? Do you destroy the vampire if it means losing that crucial vote? An interesting secondary question is what you do about the spawn after you defeat the master vampire. Do you hunt them all down, even those that used to be your friends or loved ones? Or do you believe that they can resist the hunger and retain their humanity? 

The Ancient Enemy. By the Monster Manual entry, a vampire spellcaster is a CR 15 creature—not something a low level character could face. I’ll talk more about this below, but one option is to say that there’s a vampire that has feuding with your family for countless generations, killing each member of your bloodline as soon as they have a child. The vampire shows up occasionally, to see how you’re doing and to mock you before vanishing in mist. Perhaps you go to sleep in an inn, only to wake up to find the innkeeper turned to spawn. Hopefully its overconfidence will be the end of it! Alternatively, the vampire in this scenario could be an agent of the Emerald Claw in addition to being the scourge of your bloodline; in addition to haunting you, they are also carrying out missions for Lady Illmarrow. If you cross paths, they won’t kill you, because it’s not time yet; but they can still make you suffer!   

The Desperate Spawn. A vampire exerts control over the spawn that it creates. But some spawn cling to their humanity and seek to defy their undead master. Your adventurers could receive assistance from just such a spawn. They might be very limited in the help they can provide, or only able to assist in certain places or at certain times. But this can be a compelling way to have a vampire as an ally. Of course, the question is whether the adventurers can trust the spawn… does it truly seek to retain its humanity? Or does it simply want its master slain so it can be independent and pursue its own malevolent path? 

The Repentant Monster. Vampires don’t have to do evil or to be evil. The hunger of Mabar—or whatever power animates the vampire—drives them to prey on the living, but they can fight these urges. The vampire mentors of the Blood of Vol are an example of this; they are sustained by blood freely given by the faithful, and (at least in theory) devote their undead existence to guiding and protecting Seekers. While there’s nothing wrong with having a vampire who’s never done anything bad in its entire existence, a repentant monster can be a compelling character. Most vampires begin as spawn under the control of a sire, who might make them do terrible things; consider a certain vampire king in Eberron canon who was forced to murder his beloved spouse. Or consider Angel from the Buffy series; his infamous past highlighted his currently heroism and also served as a lingering threat. This ties to a vampire’s longevity. How will adventurers react when they learn that the vampire NPC who’s serving as a patron or mentor now was an infamous murderer when they served alongside Malleon the Reaver? Do they believe that they are truly repentant? 

In considering these stories—I should call out the following concept from Chronicles of Eberron:

Once you have one vampire, it’s easy to make more … so why aren’t vampires more common? The primary reason is that it’s not easy being a vampire. A vampire is bound to Mabar, and Mabar is hungry. This fuels a vampire’s thirst for both the blood and life energy of the living, and over time, it becomes increasingly difficult for a vampire not to see all living creatures as prey. A weak-willed vampire quickly devolves into a feral predator; such creatures use the statistics of vampire spawn, but their Intelligence is more a measure of cunning than of rational thought. It takes strong will to maintain your personality as a vampire, and stronger still to maintain any empathy or compassion for other creatures. This is why vampires are seen as monsters, for many do become ghoulish killers that need to be hunted down by templars of the Silver Flame, the knights of Dol Arrah, or the Aereni Deathguard. This is an additional reason most vampires don’t make legions of spawn; all it takes is one spawn going feral and drawing templars to town to lead to a deep purge. Undead have no rights under the Code of Galifar, and destroying a vampire isn’t considered murder; you’d just better be sure the mayor is a vampire before you kill him.

You don’t have to embrace this idea, and it’s also something that could vary by strain. In the case of a cult, the idea is that the willpower of the sire sustains the spawn, but that if the master is slain the spawn could devolve into monsters. Likewise, in cultures like the Blood of Vol or the Bloodsails where vampirism is an accepted tool, a newborn will be guided through their new existence, so the feral collapse is rare. But it’s a reason people aren’t lining up to become vampires… and a challenge you’ll have to deal with when facing a cult. 

VAMPIRIC POWER

The default vampire in the Monster Manual has a Challenge Rating of 13-15… far too powerful for a starting party of adventurers. It also feels pretty dramatically powerful to use in many of the situations that have been described above. Is every vampire Bloodsail CR 13? Are you going to run up against a CR 15 vampire “mentor” if you start a brawl in a Seeker community? The CR 15 vampire spellcaster works great for The Ancient Enemy or They Are The Land… but it can be overpowering when you just want to have a vampire leading a small Emerald Claw cell. 

The simplest answer is that most of the vampires in Khorvaire—Seeker guides, Bloodsail pirates, Emerald Claw officers—aren’t vampires; they’re vampire spawn. With both the Bloodsails and the Blood of Vol, there are a few full vampires—Grim Lords of Farlnen, members of the Crimson Covenant—who turn the mortal aspirants who have earned a vampiric existence. In those cultures, the sire typically doesn’t enforce their will over their spawn, though they could. And in time, the spawn might earn the blood of their sire and unlock greater power. Nonetheless, the “typical” vampire you’re likely to encounter as a Seeker guide or an Emerald Claw enforcer would actually be a vampire spawn… which, at CR 5, is a more reasonable challenge for a low level group of adventurers. 

While this is a practical solution to the power level of a vampire, the default vampire spawn lacks many of the classic vampire powers and isn’t the most interesting opponent. I’m posting a companion article on my Patreon that provides additional options for vampire spawn to make them more interesting enemies.  

STRAINS AND BLOODLINES

There are many different forms of vampire that can be found across Khorvaire. The Qabalrin strain is the most widespread and well known, and it’s what the common person thinks of when they hear the word “vampire”. This section discusses the Qabalrin vampire and a few of the other bloodlines out in the world. 

Qabalrin: The Common Vampire

When the typical citizen of the Five Nations, they think of an undead creature with fangs, an affinity for bats and wolves, an aversion to sunlight and an inability to enter homes unless invited. Academics refer to this strain as the Qabalrin Vampire, as it was believed to have been created by the necromancers of the Qabalrin elves in Xen’drik. The Line of Vol revived this strain in Aerenal, and there were a number of such vampires among the elf refugees and exiles who fled following the destruction of the Line of Vol. Some went north and helped found the Bloodsail Principality on the island of Farlnen. Other exiled vampires traveled inland and helped establish the faith now known as the Blood of Vol. But there were a handful of vampires who broke ties with their fellow elves and carved their own paths… and they and their spawn spread out across Khorvaire and into infamous legend. While the oldest Qabalrin vampires are elves, over the course of their migration they have created spawn of many different species. It’s worth noting that “Qabalrin Vampire” is an academic term; even among the Seekers and the Bloodsails, most people simply refer to these creatures as “vampires.”

Qabalrin vampires use the Vampire and Vampire Spawn stat blocks from the Monster Manual, and have the standard weaknesses. Their Charm effect involves manipulation of desire and allure; their victims adore them. The Bloodsails have developed a magic item they call the Torc of Blood and Salt. When attuned, this protects a vampire from being harmed by running water; however, water dramatically bubbles and steams when in contact with the vampire. 

Qabalrin Example: The Phantom of the Grand Stage. An adventurer in Sharn is approached by an old friend who works at the Grand Stage in Upper Menthis. This friend has only been working at the Stage a little while, but it’s an excellent job they want to keep. But they’ve noticed something strange. The beloved leading man often seems pale and weak after major performances. There’s a surprising turnover in stagehands. The director absolutely refuses to make changes to a particular script, and the manager refuses to take the actor’s concerns seriously. Can the adventurers get to the bottom of this? One or more members of the stage crew are vampire spawn… and the investigation shows that their sire is a powerful Brelish noble. They finally come face to face with the Phantom, who wears a mask and has no desire to fight them; she appreciates how well they’ve played their roles. She tells them she’ll be leaving town for a decade now… and if the adventurers stop digging into her affairs, she’ll let them live. Perhaps if there’s a bard in the party, she even offers to sponsor their work; she would be an influential patron. At CR 13 the Phantom is too powerful for the adventurers to defeat; if they attack she might toy with them before making her offer again. Do they let her go? Do they fight until one or more of them are dead, at which point she laughs and mists away? Or do they agree to her terms, but then seek out allies—templars, knights of Dol Arrah—who can help them bring down the Phantom?  

Barrowbones: Vassals of the Bone King

Do y’know the story of King Odakyr, lad? This was before Karrn the Conqueror, before anyone ever sought the Divinity Within. Odakyr was a warlord and a tyrant, and he drew power from the darkness in the land. It was said the shadows obeyed his beck and call. He was a cruel man, and his own son eventually brought an end to his reign with a sharp length of steel. But just one day after Odakyr was laid beneath the stones, he rose from his barrow and slew the young prince. He ruled on then, holding court only at night, and his council had more shadows than it did ministers. It was Halon Harn who finally did him in, the greatest grandsire of House Deneith, the model for the Sentinel Marshals of today. But some say Odakyr’s shadow slipped away after the battle… and that he still lingers, haunting his long-buried barrow.   

The Bone King of Mabar can transform chosen mortals into vampires. Often this starts with a warlock-like pact. As with the story of Odakyr, the mortal might gain powers tied to the shadows of Mabar—abilities in line with those of a Hexblade or Undead warlock. When the individual dies, they rise again, infused with the hunger of the Endless Night. This is the source of the academic name for the line, as old stories speak of tyrants rising in their barrows. This can be a useful option for a recurring villain; the adventurers may bring an enemy down or see them die, only to have them return later in the campaign as a vampire. When a barrowbone vampire is finally destroyed, its spirit is drawn to the domain of the Bone King in Mabar, where it lingers as a wraith. 

Barrowbone vampires don’t have dainty fangs. When they reveal their true nature, their jaws distend to reveal rows of needle-like teeth. Long bone talons extend from their fingers; barrowbone vampires inflict slashing damage with their unarmed attacks. When a barrowbone is struck with a grievous wound, shadow leaks from them instead of blood. Barrowbone vampires don’t cast shadows—but the Bone King typically grants a vampire an undead shadow that accompanies the vassal, concealing this absence.

A barrowbone vampire may use the vampire or vampire spawn stat block as a foundation, reflecting the power of the vassal. Make the following changes to the base stat block. 

• Barrowbone vampires aren’t Harmed By Running Water and don’t have the Forbiddance weakness. However, they are vulnerable to Radiant damage. 
• A barrowbone can only use its Shapechange to assume mist form; for the barrowbone, this manifests as transforming into a shadow. 
• A barrowbone’s Children of the Night trait summons 1d4 Shadows. 
• While the barrowbone’s Charm action causes a creature to become charmed, the experience for the victim is one of abject terror; the victim feels that they must do what the vampire asks of them or they will be destroyed.
• A humanoid drained and slain by a barrowbone’s bite returns after burial with the statistics of a ghoul. These ghoul-spawn retain their appearance and memories from life, though like vampire spawn they are under the control of the vampire that made them. They cannot create other ghouls. 

Barrowbone Example: King Odakyr. As described in the legend above, Odakyr ruled as a tyrant long before the Seekers of the Divinity Within settled in the region that still bears his name. Over the centuries he has occasionally returned and sought to dominate the mortals that dwell in his ancestral domain, but Seeker champions have driven him back. Yet no one has ever found his resting place, hidden deep below the Mabaran manifest zone at the heart of the region. Odakyr is now the site of Fort Bones. Adventurers could get drawn into Odakyr’s attempt to return and seize control of Fort Bones; perhaps the Bone King has given him power over the Karrnathi undead! Or perhaps it’s a dungeon crawl, and adventurers need to delve into his deep crypt to recover an artifact the Bone King gave to the fallen tyrant long ago… 

Souldrinkers: The Keeper’s Chosen

Legends say Souldrinkers are bound to the Keeper and the Shadow, as described in the myth that starts this article. However, it may well be that they are creations of the dracolich Mazryalyx, the master of the Keeper’s Lair. Either way, the fact is the same. They are undead predators who pay for their eternal life by consuming innocent souls. Because of this, souldrinkers are often solitary wanderers, traveling from place to place, moving on after they have fulfilled their appetites. Souldrinkers often have a particular taste; a souldrinker might only drain poets, or soldiers, or people in the depths of despair. 

Souldrinkers don’t have fangs. They have a second tongue with a barbed end that can extend up to a foot from their mouth. In their vampiric form they appear to be ancient, with papery skin stretched over bone and eyes of pure darkness sunk deep in their sockets. They can use either the vampire or vampire spawn stat blocks as a foundation, with the following changes. 

• Souldrinkers aren’t harmed by Running Water or by Stakes to the Heart. They are vulnerable to psychic damage, as they feel things very intensely. They can only be truly destroyed by psychic damage, eradicating their will to return. 
• A souldrinker can use Shapechange to assume the form of a beast that can be summoned with Find Familiar. Each souldrinker has a specific beast form it can take; once chosen this cannot be changed. 
• Souldrinkers retain traces of the memories of the creatures they drain. A Souldrinker can speak with the voices of its victims, using these to taunt adventurers with those they’ve lost. A Souldrinker can cast speak with dead targeting its victims, as if their bodies were present. When the sun sets, a Souldrinker can choose one skill or tool that one of its former victims was proficient in; for the next 24 hours, the Souldrinker has proficiency and expertise with that skill. 
• Souldrinkers do not have the Children of the Night trait. 
• Souldrinkers don’t create spawn. Someone reduced to zero hit points by a Souldrinker can only be restored to life by a wish spell. The DM must decide if the souls remain within the Souldrinker—in which case, the victims could be restored to life through normal methods if the Souldrinker is destroyed—or if they are channeled to a specific place or power, such as the Lair of the Keeper.  

Malefic Vampires: Spawn of the Overlords

Ultimately, vampires are creatures that appear to be humanoids and prey on humanoids in order to prolong their unnatural existence. Many of the overlords can corrupt mortals to create predators. Such malefic vampires may be undead, or they may be fiends; it’s up to the DM to decide if they are a corpse animated by demonic forces, or a mortal husk possessed by fiendish power. There’s a few examples of malefic vampires, but it’s not a conclusive list. 

• The Cold Sun. Vampires created by the overlord Masvirik manifest serpentine traits. When they reveal their vampiric nature their jaws distend and reveal long, serpentine fangs; they shed their skin, revealing scales underneath. In addition to the standard effect, someone bitten by a Cold Sun vampire must make a Constitution saving throw (DC 17 for a vampire, DC 14 for spawn) or be paralyzed for one minute; the victim repeats the saving throw at the end of each of their turns, ending the effect on success and gaining immunity to that vampire’s venom for one minute. Poison Dusk vampires aren’t harmed by running water, but they are vulnerable to fire damage. A Poison Dusk vampire can shapechange into mist or into a tiny snake; the Children of the Night action can be used to summon 1d4 swarms of poisonous snakes. 
• The Heart of Winter. Vampires created by the overlord Draal Khatuur have veins filled with frozen blood. They don’t actually drink blood, but instead absorb the heat from creatures they embrace. When they reveal their vampire form, their flesh is encased in frost and they radiate an aura of cold, inflicting 5 cold damage on any creature that starts its turn adjacent to the vampire. Iceblood vampires are immune to cold damage and vulnerable to fire damage. In place of Charm, they can use an effect that mimics hold person; the victim is actually frozen for the duration of the spell. Icebloods don’t have the Forbiddance weakness, but they cannot move within 5 feet of a source of fire equal to or larger than a torch. The only form an iceblood vampire can take with shapechanging is a cold mist. Iceblood vampires don’t have the Children of the Night trait, but they can cast Ray of Frost, which manifests as the vampire trying to suck the warmth from the target at a distance. 
• The Oathbreaker. Eldrantulku loves to sow strife and intrigue among allies, and oathbreaker vampires use their gifts to set feuds in motion and cause vendettas. Once an oathbreaker vampire has tasted a humanoid’s blood, it gains a number of benefits. It can use its Shapechanger ability to duplicate the appearance of the victim (or to assume a misty form). It can cast dream on the victim once per day. And it can cast detect thoughts on the victim from any distance, provided they are both on the same plane. The victim feels that they are being watched when this occurs, but cannot identify the source of the sensation. If a victim makes a successful saving throw against either dream or detect thoughts, they are immune to the oathbreaker’s manipulations for 24 hours. Oathbreaker vampires don’t have the Children of Night trait. 
• The Gatekeeper. Katashka delights in spreading fear of the undead among mortals, and prefers its minions to be ghastly and dramatic. The nosferatu presented in Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft is a good example of a vampiric creature Katashka would create; the Gatekeeper is also known to create Spawn of Kyuss, though in Eberron these are “Spawn of Katashka.” 

Abominations: Creations of the Daelkyr 

The daelkyr have created their own variations of vampires and vampire spawn. Often, these creatures are alien entities animating corpses, and are aberrations rather than undead. Kyrzin vampires are a form of ooze that replaces the victim’s blood; when they use Misty Escape, they actually abandon their host body in vaporous form and have to animate a new corpse; they summon oozes instead of rats and bats. Valaara’s vampires are insect colonies animating corpses, a more subtle form of the Spawn of Kyuss. Dyrrn creates psychic vampires that consume thoughts instead of blood. 

Thelanian Vampires: Storybook Villains

While academics use the term “Thelanian,” most Thelanian vampires are natives of the material plane. Often they are transformed due to a connection to an archfey, similar to the relationship between the Bone King of Mabar and the barrowbone vampires. Lady Talon is an example of a Thelanian vampire; she is tied to the fey of the Riverwood, and has become something more than mortal. Thelanian vampires are considered to be fey as opposed to undead, but the key is that they are still unnaturally extending their life by consuming the blood or energy of others. The cosmetic details of a Thelanian vampire should reflect the Archfey or tale that has spawned them. The Archfey of the Riverwood is tied to owls, and so is Lady Talon; and as a spirit of the Riverwood, she enjoys running water. Typically, every Thelanian vampire will be unique; learning about the fey or the tale they are tied to will be the key to understanding their powers. 

ALTERNATE WEAKNESSES

Chronicles of Eberron suggests a number of alternative weaknesses for vampires. Here’s a few ideas that could be used instead of or in addition to the standard options. These ideas aren’t especially restricted to vampires; they could be tied to oathbound, death knights, or any other undead with an appropriate story. 

Anchors. The Monster Manual suggests that a vampire must be tied to its coffin and to grave dirt from the site of its original burial. But depending on the strain of the vampire and its personal story, it could be connected to something other than a coffin. This could be similar to a lich’s phylactery, an object that facilitates the vampire’s return if it is destroyed. Perhaps a barrowbone tyrant doesn’t flee in mist form, but they are tied to their spiked adamantine crown. They will only truly be defeated (and condemned to wraithdom) if the crown is destroyed; otherwise, some weak-willed mortal will be compelled to put on the crown, and their body will be reshaped into that of the vampire. Or perhaps specific abilities of the vampire are tied to an object. A handsome vampire keeps a portrait made of them in life in their mansion; if it is burnt, the vampire will be unable to conceal their true nature, becoming hideous and withered. A Thelanian vampire might be tried to a tree. They meld with the tree when they rest or retreat, and the sap of the tree is instead all the blood the vampire has drained from its victims. 

Ghostlight. Something familiar to players of Phoenix Dawn Command, this is the idea that certain undead are vulnerable to relics and reminders of their original death. By learning the history of the creature, adventurers can learn how to effectively defeat it. King Odakyr was first killed by his son, a human wielding a dagger. The closer adventurers can get to recreating this original death, the more bonuses they should receive. At the simplest level, a human attacking Odakyr with a dagger could get advantage to attack rolls. If the human is wearing a piece of clothing or jewelry that belonged to Odakyr’s son, the king might be vulnerable to the damage they inflict. If they can find the actual dagger originally used to kill him, they might get all of that and negate his regeneration, or score critical hits on an 18-20. Conversely, you could say that Odakyr cannot be permanently slain any other way, which is why he lingers to this day; the dagger is lost and has never been found. The point of this is to encourage and reward investigation; the only way to defeat the undead creature is to understand it, and to confront it with its own mortality. 

The Power of Faith. While many divine spellcasters have ways to harm undead, on its own a holy symbol has no power over a vampire. In my campaign, I like to give such symbols power based on the faith of the vampire. If a vampire (or other sentient undead creature) was an especially devout follower of a particular faith, it must make a Wisdom saving throw (DC 13) when someone uses an action to brandish a holy symbol of that faith and castigate them. If it fails the saving throw, the undead creature is frightened of the symbol until the end of the brandishing character’s next turn. For a more intense situation, a DM could allow a character of strong faith to take a bonus action to engage in an opposed Religion check with the vampire; if the adventurer wins the contest, the vampire has disadvantage on attack rolls against them and they have advantage on saving throws against its attacks until the end of their next turn. In both of these cases, the key is that the vampire has to have once had faith, and the adventurers have to know what it was they believed in. The point is that if a Souldrinker vampire believes its power comes from the Keeper, there is a level at which it believes it is an abomination in Dol Arrah’s eyes—and thus it responds to being cursed in her name. But a Qabalrin vampire that never believed in any power greater than itself won’t be shaken by your invocation of Aureon or the Flame. 

WHAT ABOUT DHAMPIRS?

Dhampirs possess vampiric traits but aren’t actually undead. In Chronicles of Eberron I suggested that dhampirs could mortals born in Mabaran manifest zones and touched by its all-consuming hunger, or that they could be shaped by pacts with Katshka or the Keeper. These ideas still work, but another option is that you became a dhampir due to extended contact with a vampire. Perhaps you were kept prisoner by a vampire, drained just to the edge of death time and again; you survived and eventually escaped, but you were forever changed by the experience. Maybe you were actually slain and returned as a vampire spawn… but due to a quirk of your sire’s bloodline, when it was destroyed, all of its spawn were returned to the half-life of the dhampir. Or perhaps you were a familiar who willingly bound yourself to a vampire… and through this bargain, you gained a fraction of your vampire’s power. 

That’s all for now, but I’m posting a companion article on my Patreon that delves deeper into vampire spawn, familiars, and dhampir, including optional abilities for vampire spawn and a background for familiars! I’m also going to be hosting a live Q&A on Discord this Sunday for my Threshold patrons, discussing ways to handle spooky stories and horror in D&D!