Ability Requirements:
Strength 9
Intelligence 9
Wisdom 9
Prime Requisites: Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom
Alignment Requirements: Must be Good or Neutral
Races Allowed: Human or Dhampire
A vampire
hunter is, in layman's terms, a hunter of the undead. However, this hunter seeks above all else, vampires. You see, a vampire, even several at a time,
may not match up to the power of a lich, but one can look at a lich and know
there is danger. A vampire doesn't
suffer from that flaw. Except for a
vampire elf or a vampire illithid, which wasn't attractive as a living
illithid, vampires are usually attractive, or at least alive looking. Due to this, this secret society of men and
women have devoted their lives and resources to wiping out vampires
everywhere. They go to the ends of the
Earth, and sometimes to other planes, in pursuit of their foes.
Vampire
hunters are sort of a three class character class. They bring in some powers of priests, mages, and fighters. From their priest aspect, they can cast
priest spells as long as they have something to do with harming undead or
preventing a victim from becoming undead.
They are barred any other priest spells unless otherwise gained, for
they are not true priests. They can
also turn undead as a cleric can. At 15th
level, a vampire can be automatically turned, while at 18th level,
they are destroyed. Vampire slayers
always carry holy water and holy symbols on their person, and some have
glaives, actual holy crosses that have been tipped with silver points and are
thrown like a shriuken or a boomerang.
If they miss, they always come back.
For their
mage class-aspects, vampire slayers can cast any spell involving harming
undead, such as undead drain and destroy undead, along with
spells to find undead. They can use ANY
weapon and can use magic to enchant weapons to do the jobs they need them
for. They also can use magic to go
places, like other planes, where a mage vampire might feel it can evade its
warrior pursuer. Other spells are
possible if DM permits. Vampire slayers
are immune to vampire charm abilities, and only those of a vampire.
When you get
right down to it, a vampire slayer is mainly a fighter. They primarily use swords and shields, along
with crossbows and the occasional glaive.
Half of the crossbow bolts will be wooden, with tips dipped in silver
nitrate, so they act like a stake to incapacitate a vampire. Unless otherwise stated by the character,
assume that the slayer is always aiming for the target's heart. They practice quite a bit and can hit a
target's heart with relative ease from over 30 yards. One-third of the bolts will be silver-tipped for undead that
require it, and only one-sixth of the bolts will be regular or
poison-tipped. Vampire slayers don't
like to use crossbows on living people obviously, feeling it a waste of an
arrow and space in a quiver for arrows more suited to their chosen prey.
For
run-of-the-mill fighting, slayers may use swords, shields, glaives, staffs, and
even the rare axe or mace. They always
use shields of special make of the guild.
These shields have a highly polished front, enough to serve as a good
mirror. They are made by wizards and
weaponsmiths of the guild whose sole purpose is to supply weapons to the
fighters. Mirror shields are originally
regular mirrors made in the shape of shields.
After they are shaped and trim is put on the edges, a wizard casts glassteel,
on it, making it a shield AC 1. Vampire
slayers use these so that vampires will keep their distance.
Vampire
slayers rarely use weapons that aren't enchanted and can get them from members
of the society at special discounts.
They especially like undead slayer swords, which are +2/+5 vs. undead
and necromancers. It gives a +2 bonus
to saving throws vs. undead attacks and necromantic spells. Once a week, it can summon a Valkyrie.
Many members
of the guild aren't actually hunters at all.
They work for the guild as weapons manufacturers and salesmen. They mostly work in shops in the larger
cities and serve the purpose of supplying slayers with what is necessary for
the slayer's task. A sign and a word
are all that is required to purchase "undisplayed" weapons; weapons no one else
ever knows is in the shop. Slayers
always get 10% off on the weapons they purchase from their fellows. If need be, a slayer can get his weapons at
a discount of ¼ to ½ off price. All
slayers know not to accept the discount unless absolutely necessary and use
another sign to except it. People who
somehow learn the regular recognition symbol and word, and accept the discount
right away, are never seen alive again.
The signs must be kept secret, after all.
Vampire
slayers have bases all over the universe.
The main base of the Guild is somewhere on the Clerk's Ward in Sigil,
while others are spread out in most of the Upper Planes and the Prime Material
Plane. They have one outpost in each
Lower Plane. A large base sits in
Ravenloft, another in the Gray Waste, and a third in the Demiplane of
Shadow. Smaller outposts are based in
The Beastlands, Mechanus, Carceri, and other various places. The Guild's viewpoint on so many bases is
"If a vampire can go there, we'll have someone there first." Any base in a large city is masqueraded as a
business of some kind, such as a weapons shop.
The Guild has
a pact with a god of life whom no outsiders have put a name to. It is through this deity that the slayers
get their priest abilities. This god
detests undead, vampires especially, and almost always grants the powers a
slayer requests when he/she is in battle.
The pact states that as long as a slayer lives a GOOD life, which means
that of a good aligned character, and does everything in his/hers powers to
destroy vampires, if the day should come when a slayer becomes that which he
hunts, the deity will utterly destroy the slayer, to spare him from a life
where his former allies would hunt him forever. If a slayer was particularly good and had the vampire that
drained him is close to dead, the deity may, rarely, transform him or her into
a virtually immortal undead vampire slayer.
At this point, any vampire is very likely to end up dead, since they
really can't hurt an undead vampire slayer.
In this state, the slayer will attack with a touch that drains vampires
just as vampires would drain others. If
the vampire attempts to drain an undead vampire slayer, since they have no way
of telling the difference between it and a living slayer, another one of the
deity's tricks, take the damage that would be done to the slayer, double it,
and take it away from the vampire. The
undead vampire slayer will lose no energy from a vampire's drain. If a slayer is transformed, it finds the
nearest Guild shop, drops off its weapons, for the use of another slayer later,
and informs a member of its passing.
These slayer's names are recorded for history and honored above all
other members of the Guild.
An undead
vampire slayer lives until the vampire who killed it dies. The slayer doesn't have to be the one to do
it; it just has to happen. No slayer
will become an undead vampire slayer if its killer is immediately killed. When they finally do die, their body is
transported by the will of the deity to Sigil, where it receives proper burial and
honors. To date, only eighteen slayers
have died in battle with a vampire; most deaths are caused by other
things. Only three slayers have ever
become undead vampire slayers. All
three now rest, their killers taking the Sleep Eternal.
Notes to DM's: Only allow at most two uses of the major
discount purchasing. They ALWAYS
receive the small one. Never allow
anyone to start out as an undead vampire slayer. In case of a slayer's death via vampire's energy drain, roll a
1d6. On a 1, have a character become an
undead slayer, if the vampire is very near death in DM's opinion. Otherwise, it counts as a 3. On 2, reroll. Continue to reroll as long as it stays 2. On a 3, 4, or 5, character dies, stays dead,
and appears at the Sigil fortress for burial.
On a 6, character rises as a vampire.
At that point, if no one is present to cure the former slayer, the deity
absolutely annihilates it, ending that character's career forever. NOTHING can bring a player back from this
act.
W W
By Arak Calandryll