Vampiric Bloodline

Hello, everyone! In light of Halloween coming up, this month’s class archetype is a Vampiric Bloodline origin for sorcerers. And if vampires aren’t quite your cup of tea, don’t go howling at the moon! Hopefully, next month’s subclass will sate your hunger.

Sorcerous Origin

Vampiric Bloodline

Your innate magic comes from vampirism, a powerful form of undeath which grants you impressive powers, as well as intense drawbacks. Sorcerers with this origin are often either descendants of vampires or people who were bestowed this supernatural curse by one. While most vampires’ names are forgotten secrets, a few ring out in infamy.

Blood Drinker

At 1st level, you experience a thirst for blood, and experience a form of withdrawal when you go without. Your creature type becomes Undead. You no longer need to eat or drink for sustenance, but may do so to pass as a living creature.

When you expend a hit die as the result of a short rest, instead of gaining hit points, you gain a number of temporary hit points equal to the maximum roll that hit die would provide. These temporary hit points can stack, and last until the end of your next short rest.

During a short rest, you may regain hit points by draining the blood of a helpless or willing creature. That creature expends a hit die, and you regain the resulting hit point roll.

Creature of the Night

As your curse of undeath manifests, you become fearful of the sun’s light and magical sources, feeling more at home in the darkness. Starting at 1st level, you gain vulnerability to radiant damage and resistance to necrotic damage. You gain darkvision up to 120 feet.

If you start your turn exposed to direct sunlight, you gain vulnerability to all damage, and you have disadvantage on all attack rolls and ability checks. You can wear heavy cloaks or obscuring veils to prevent this effect, but are likely to get undesired attention in public.

Shapechange

Starting at 6th level, you have attuned to your vampiric powers. As an action, you may spend 3 sorcery points to polymorph into a Tiny bat or a Medium cloud of mist. You may revert to your true form as an action, and you revert to your true form if you fall unconscious or after 1 minute.

While in bat form, you cannot speak, your walking speed is 5 feet, and you have a flying speed of 30 feet. Your statistics are otherwise unchanged. Anything you are wearing transforms with you, but nothing you are carrying does.

While in mist form, you can’t take any actions, speak, or manipulate objects. You are weightless, 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, you can do so without squeezing, and you can’t pass through water. You have advantage on Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution saving throws, and you are immune to all nonmagical damage, unless you are exposed to sunlight.


Subtle Weave

At 14th level, you no longer show any sign of effort to cast novice spells – eerie magical effects seem to occur around you without any cause. Whenever you cast a spell of 3rd level or lower, it is considered to be under the effects of the Subtle Spell Metamagic option without using sorcery points.

You may apply another Metamagic option to a spell cast with the Subtle Spell Metamagic option, provided you spend the requisite sorcery points during the casting of the spell.

Vampiric Regeneration

Beginning at 18th level, you develop the supernatural power to magically close your wounds in place of any natural ability to heal. You may expend 5 sorcery points to begin regenerating for one minute. At the start of each of your turns, you gain a number of hit points equal to your sorcerer level.

Vampirism in Unusual Circumstances

While living creatures are the easiest candidates for the curse of undeath, any sentient entity (capable of taking class levels), through unusual circumstances, may become undead. In these situations, no additional rules modifications need to be used, but the method through which these unique vampires drain blood will almost certainly be different.

Constructs and creatures without a means of ingesting blood will often ritually anoint themselves with the blood they’ve collected, or develop some similar ritual or habit which sates their need for the blood of the living.

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