Vampires.

[Epically]

So I'm a little confused at the moment when it comes to vampires.

One of my friends is going to roll up and play a vampire. One of the things he was concerned with is sunlight, so I started going through my Requiem book and Van Richton's guide to Vampires, and even Monstrous manual, to find some way to get around sunlight, but they all have different rulings to each other.
If I were to roll him up using Requiem, sunlight isn't a bane to these vampires, even though they seem significantly weaker than their Van Richton's guide friends - not even having an age factor. Whereas in VRGtV, it says only patriach's are immune, other's having a slight tolerance, and even if immune, they still loathe it.

Anyone got any definitive answer here, or should I just roll him up as i see fit?

[Zilfer]

The thing about Vampires is they are supposed to be each unique with different powers. Maybe his manifests as a "daywalker" type power. I believe there are also certain vampires that are killed by the moonlight instead of the sun. I'm not sure you'll get a clean cut answer from any of the books....

I was looking into this myself when it came to Jander Sunstar, wanted him to be able to move about during the day, so PC's don't instantly suspect vampire since they have only seen him at night. xD

[A G Thing]

Well... Don't Nosferatu lose most of their powers in the sun but regain them after rest?

[Zilfer]

Yep that was one of my ideas

[Mortavius]

I would not recommend Requiem as a source for rules on undead PCs. The rules in that system seem to be made solely to use and compliment that adventure, with little thought to a long term campaign outside of that box.

Honestly, it can be overcome easily, depending on how you rule it works. Are Vampires only affected by direct sunlight? In which case, a Vampire who takes some care and wears a heavy cloak during the day can be okay. Is indirect sunlight enough to harm them? Now you have more of a problem, but you could still cover yourself from head to toe and be okay...but you'd have to deal with awkward and troublesome social situations.

[High Priest Mikhal]

Van Richten's Guide and Requiem require adaptation to 3.x or other rules to become useful. The Monster Manual offers only the base template while the 3.5 supplement Libris Mortis has expanded rules, feats, spells, and alchemical and magical items for undead--but not much for vampires and sunlight. The nosferatu that can stand sunlight but require eight hours of sleep in their coffins to regain their supernatural powers after even a couple seconds exposure is about the closest to a canonical "sunlight-tolerant vampire" there is.

That doesn't mean a magical item or some such device couldn't be designed to obviate the sun's effects. Only that if they lose it, or it's stolen or destroyed, they're in trouble if they're in broad daylight.

A final option is the half-vampire (dhampir) template from Denizens of Darkness/Dread (3.0/3.5 version of Ravenloft monster manual, respectively). They still lose their supernatural powers in sunlight but still possess an array of extraordinary abilities, preternatural prowess, and don't require any recovery time to regain their supernatural powers once out of the sun. The half-vampire template from LM is disappointingly weak and underpowered, IMO.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Van Richten's Guide and Requiem require adaptation to 3.x or other rules to become useful.

Not if you still play 2nd edition. Which, IIRC Epically does.

[Zilfer]

Interesting.... o.O'

[Dion of the Fraternity]

Try Libris Mortis. There's an entire class progression there for Vampire Spawn, but one who fully completes the progression is a vampire on their own.

[High Priest Mikhal]

Van Richten's Guide and Requiem require adaptation to 3.x or other rules to become useful.

Not if you still play 2nd edition. Which, IIRC Epically does.

Ah. Then more power to them. I still wouldn't recommend Requiem for rules on undead players, though. It's a little to Necropolis-centric for campaigns beyond former Il Aluk.

Oh, yeah. Thanks for the reminder, Dion. I forgot there were monster class progressions in LM.

[Epically]

Thanks guys. I'm actually impressed you remembered I play 2e lol.

[Intrepid]

I honestly think that your best off just making your own decisions here. While the rule books mentioned can give you some inspiration I can't think of anything that actually allows vampires to walk around in the daylight as vampires. Good luck though, and LOVE the fact you still play 2E!

[HuManBing]

Anyone got any definitive answer here, or should I just roll him up as i see fit?

Roll (or stat) it up as you see fit. It's your campaign, your player, and your gaming group. Anything else is just somebody else's homebrew, no matter how official it is. Even official campaign canon is ultimately just the homebrew of a paid writer.

Vampires are especially poor candidates for any sort of canon treatment. Their D&D stats derive from a very broad spectrum of cultures and myths, sometimes self-contradictory.

The sunlight restriction is said to have come about in literature and folklore as a sign of purity destroying the unclean - and this apparently dates back from the "nosferatu" vampire variant which was much closer to a shambling plague corpse than a dapper bloodsucking nobleman. A similar thematic element is present with the prohibition against immersion in running water: both are essentially antiseptic measures, highly effective against a creature who's a manifestation of rot and filth.

A completely separate theme common to post-Stoker vampires is the hunger for sustenance. You could go with an examination of the apex predator (humans eat everything else, but now we have a life form that eats only humans) or you could focus instead on "borrowed time" (this soul should have died long ago, but it has found unnatural new ways to prolong its existence). Both examinations could have ample room for some sympathetic treatment of an antihero figure, so your player wouldn't have to role play a completely unsympathetic character.

Note that the means of sustenance doesn't have to be blood or even any organic material. Purely symbolic sustenance can work too - I've rewritten Kazandra (of Martira Bay Kargat fame) to be a ballroom butterfly, flirtatious and flighty... but she feeds off the joy and passion of others, eventually leaving them completely incapable of feeling emotions. After a time, her lovers succumb to listlessess, depression, and suicide.

More details in this old thread.

[Epically]

We ended up making a vampire from all the books I have, bit of a chop shop vamp. As for the sunlight thing, we ended up going with he can walk around all covered up, but the longer he stays in the sun, the more debilitated he gets ie; spelling casting takes longer, loses regeneration, 1 point of dmg every turn, can't shapechange, and his vision is that of normal people walking around at night.