Dhamyre (5e Race)

Dhamyre

“

When the spawn were not enough; when fresh, living blood proved scarce, they turned for everyone and everything.

”

Physical Description

By Mateusz Skutnik

Dhamyres resemble humanoids with pale to near translucent skin that is wet and slimy. When translucent, the veins and musculature are nearly entirely visible due to the disintegration of flesh. Their musculoskeletal structure can also be easily seen due to their nearly transparent dermis. Most notable are the impressive vampiric fangs in their mouths, which are long as a vampires might be. They usually have red eyes and are hairless. Some have skin missing in places where fluids may ooze as a result. They are commonly said to be cold and wet to the touch and exude a foul odor of death.

History

In the crusades against the night, many fell to the hordes of vampires and their army of spawn. However, near the end of the triumph of light, the vampires were desperate to turn the tides. The other side had thoroughly choked off much of their resources, such that they could not easily secure fresh blood or new victims to turn. They were entrenched within the towns where they had gorged wantonly, surrounded only by corpses of their own, spawn, and innocents. It was never thought to be possible, nor healthy, that a vampire stoop to using a rotten source for sustenance. They always did it fresh, raising spawn from the recent kills the night after. However, in their desperation, they chose to feed on the dead and try to turn them. This seemed to have been a failure of judgment on their part in desperation.

The forces of light galloped in by dawn, while the vampires were trying to get the last drop of gross, coagulated blood out, which did not sustain them enough against their enemies. The battle ended in favor of radiance and the vampires were slain. The spawn were burned and the innocents were buried. About a year later, there were reports of dead rising from where they had buried those slain by the vampires, whom they had thought unturned. These odd monstrosities of undead roamed about, looking for corpses to loot and turn into more dhamyres. They display an odd knack for finding burial grounds despite their misleading appearance of a brainless creature. The sight of them became a common cautionary tale among keepers of gravesites. This behavior has earned them the nickname of "corpse-looter vampire."

Society

Dhamyres are risen from their graves with long delays unlike vampire spawn. They are slow to recognize anything but other corpses which they can feed and turn. As they wander, they are said to regain a limited sentience and intelligence only, as their bodies and minds are thoroughly damaged beyond a certain point of repair. This does not make them, however, prone to destruction. They are shown to have a sense which draws them to other undead, like zombies and shadows, as well as dhamyres. The most observed activity they display cohesively is hunting or raiding, which they do en masse. A good many dhamyre can usually over take a settlement in a night, despite their initial appearance of a shambling figure. They retain some vampiric hunger and viciousness. While they prefer to feed on corpses, it is rumored that drinking the blood of the living can bring them closer to becoming true vampires. This has never been proven. The living slain by dhamyres usually become dhamyres a long time after their bodies rot and they rise. As such, dhamyres are among the hunted undead. Some say that even vampires hunt them, seeing them as a taboo which must be erased.

Dhamyre Names

Dhamyres usually have little to no recollection of who they once were. Their tendency to slur syllables makes for odd and funny names. They have no concept nor care for gender so their names are gender neutral.

Names: Galagzz, Ahsshreef, Zzbolo, Balagassh

Dhamyre Traits

Zombie vampires
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2.
Age. Dhamyres do not age, per se, after they are risen, nor do they die of age. However, due to the often poor state of their bodies, they can break due to wear and tear if they do not feed to rejuvenate themselves.
Alignment. Dhamyres are very dull and neutrally inclined to kill, like zombies.
Size. Dhampyres have a similar build to zombies. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 feet.
Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Undead. Your creature type is undead. As such, you are immune to spells targeting specifically humanoids like hold person. Healing potions and spells do not affect you. To heal, you must either drink blood, spend hit dice, or finish a long rest. You are also resistant to necrotic damage, but vulnerable to radiant damage.
Blood Feeder. Even though you are undead, you still require sustenance in the form of blood to sustain your unholy existence. You are immune to diseases. You do not need to eat or breathe, but you can ingest food and drink if you wish, though this food is always bland and stale to you. If you go for longer then seven days without drinking at least one ration of blood, you suffer one level of exhaustion on the midnight of that day, which can only be removed by drinking a ration of blood. After consuming one ration of blood, you recover all levels of exhaustion. If you reach six levels of exhaustion due to this trait, your body ceases to function and disassembles back into a rotting corpse and you are destroyed.

A ration of blood is a vial, roughly 4 ounces and while that is just enough to sustain you each week, you still feel the urge to drink and may still appear twitchy or ravenous in the heat of battle or when treating a wounded ally. A pint, such as that contained within a flask is considered a healthy amount, enough to keep you sustained while also keeping you from drifting into thoughts solely of hunger. Each ration of blood heals you for 1d4+1 hit points while a pint will heal you for 2d4+2 hit points.
Bite. You have the sharpened teeth of a vampire with which to draw blood. If a willing, paralyzed, charmed, incapacitated, restrained, or grappled, creature within 5 feet of you has blood, you may use your bonus action to Bite them dealing 1d6 piercing damage and draining their blood dealing additional necrotic damage equal to your Constitution modifier. Drinking blood this way is equal to consuming a ration as per your Blood Feeder trait. You may also feed on corpses this way and fulfill your Blood Feeder trait. However, if you do so, you do not recover hit points as you normally would. When you use your Bite, you can choose to not deal damage.
Corpse Finder. Whenever you make an intelligence (History) check related to the location of a burial ground or graveyard, you are considered proficient in the History skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus. Additionally, you have advantage in Wisdom (Survival) checks to locate corpse remains.
Languages. You can read, speak and write in Common. Your script is badly scrawled, however, and your speech is heavily slurred with bad sentence structure (e.g., "Ahz ... not ... zombeee...").

Random Height and Weight

Base Height	Height Modifier*	Base Weight	Weight Modifier**
5′ 0''	+4d10	150 lb.	× (1d6) lb.
*Height = base height + height modifier **Weight = base weight + (height modifier × weight modifier)

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