Vampire Highlord (3.5e Creature)

	Vampire Highlord
Size/Type:	Medium Undead (Outsider)
Hit Dice:	26d12 (180 hp)
Initiative:	+22
Speed:	60 ft.
Armor Class:	31, touch 22, flat-footed 31
Base Attack/Grapple:	+7/+2/+19
Attack:	slam +15 melee (2d6+8 plus energy drain) or unarmed strike +15 melee (1d10+8 lawful damage plus energy drain) or initiate grapple +15 melee touch (attempt grapple plus energy drain)
Full Attack:	initiate grapple +7/+2 melee touch (attempt grapple plus energy drain plus attempt blood drain) or unarmed strike +7/+7/+2 melee (1d10+8 lawful damage plus energy drain) or slam +7/+2 melee (2d6+8 plus energy drain) or Dominate
Space/Reach:	5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks:	Blood Drain, Children of the Night, Create Spawn, Dominate, Energy Drain, Flurry of Blows
Special Qualities:	AC Bonus, Alternate Form, Damage Reduction, Evasion, Fast Healing, Fast Movement, Gaseous Form, Improved Evasion, Ki Strike, Purity of Body, Resistances, Slow Fall, Spider Climb, Still Mind, Turn Resistance, Undead Traits, Vampire Weaknesses, Wholeness of Body
Saves:	Fort N/A, Ref +9, Will +9
Abilities:	Str 26, Dex 18, Con —, Int 16, Wis 16, Cha 22
Skills:	Knowledge (arcana, architecture and engineering, dungeoneering, geography, history, local, the planes, religion, nobility and royalty, nature) +13, move silently +29, bluff +29, sense motive +29, Diplomacy +22, Profession (politician) +13, spot +18, search +16, hide +16, listen +18
Feats:	Alertness, Combat Reflexes, Deflect Arrows, Dodge, Improved Disarm, Improved Grapple, Improved Initiative, Improved Unarmed Strike, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Mobility, Stunning Fist, Weapon Foucus (Grapple)
Environment:	Underground
Organization:	Honor Guard (1 plus 2-4 5th level Vampires), Caravan (1 plus 1 7th level Vampire, plus 3-6 5th Level Vampires, plus 3-6 Vampire Spawn, plus one Covered Wagon, plus one light horse per Vampire), Castle (1-2 plus 3-4 7th level Vampires, plus 12-24 5th level Vampires, plus 20-50 3rd level Vampires, plus 10-20 Vampire Spawn, plus 10-20 light horses, plus 5-10 light warhorses, plus 10-20 wolves, plus 3-6 rat swarms, plus 3-6 bat swarms), or Alliance of Evil (6-8 plus 12-24 8th level Vampires, plus 18-36 7th level Vampires, plus 25-60 5th level Vampires, plus 50-80 Vampire Spawn, plus 30-40 bat swarms, plus 35-50 rat swarms, plus 25-40 wolves, plus 25-35 dire wolves, plus 12-22 Worgs, plus 1-2 Liches, plus 1 Cauchemar Nightmare, plus 3-4 Nightmares, plus 20-30 wraiths, plus 6-10 dread wriaths, plus 100-200 level 1 Human Commoner Zombies, plus 3-6 Greater Barghest, plus 7-13 Barghest, plus 175-300 level 1 Human Warrior Skeletons)
Challenge Rating:	15
Treasure:	quadruple standard, non-food only
Alignment:	always lawful evil
Advancement:	by character class
Level Adjustment:	+26

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The immaculately dressed creature before you could be mistaken for a stunningly beautiful human, if not for its elongated canines and glowing red eyes. The air about it is charged with both an alluring sense of supreme self-confidence and a menancing aura of darkness.

Partially composed of the essence of the Plane of Shadow, Vampire Highlords enter this world to fill it with Vampires in the hopes of creating an Undead "utopia" under their control. Though they were never alive, Highlords, like the Vampires they create, are forever linked to a coffin home. A Highlord's coffin is always elaborately decorated with inlaid precious metals and intricate carvings. Vampire Highlords are physically beautiful, especially while their predatory characteristics are hidden. Female Highlords often wear very revealing clothing, while male Highlords usually wear a black suit and cape. Highlords typically inhabit great underground castles in the depths of the earth. If a castle is in contact with other Highlords' castles, meaning that it is possible for Vampires to travel from one castle to another without going aboveground, a Highlords' council may form, whose members are the Highlords of all connected castles. Vampire Highlords are very willing to work together, being one of the few undead races that is not inherently power crazed. While Highlords value their own life above all else, they also place great value in the lives of their enslaved spawn and even in the lives of their allies. Highlords are often the mysterious force behind organized gatherings of savage creatures. Highlords speak Vampiric, a language that shares the elven alphabet, but usually know Common, Undercommon, Imfernal, and Abyssal due to their high inteligence scores.

Vampire society:

When three or more Highlord's Castles are connected, a vampire society may form, as other Highlords will construct tunnels linking their castles to the Underground Network. Highlords often use Vampirized Derro or Deurgar to dig tunnels when nessasary. Because Highlords often personally control 30-40 Vampires at a time, their "enslaved" subjects are often given a large degree of free will; Highlords assign general missions to their subordinants, but do not directly control them except in the case of emergency. This cultural rule in intended to inspire loyalty in the Highlords' slaves so that, when a master vampire who is subordinant to a Highlord dies, the Highlord does not lose all the Vampires the master had controlled to rebellion. As Highlords' castles grow, undead cities of formerly enslaved vampires still loyal to a Highlord form. Given enough time, the entire underground area will become a thriving undead metropolis that engulfs all of the connected Highlords' castles. The leaders of such a society are always the Highlords themselves, who vote on issues to determine the societies actions. Free Vampires also are allowed membership in the council, but their votes are weighed considerably less. The social status of a Vampire in the society is determined by his relative proximity to being directly enslaved by a Highlord, how many Vampires he personally controls, and how much free will he is able to allot them. Free Vampires always have a higher social standing than enslaved Vampires. Vampire Society values order and loyalty above all else, even evil, and so Highlord Councils are actually more likely to hunt demons, who they despise above all else, than humans, though they certainly wont pass up an opportunity to enslave the latter. Vampires also generally see Vampirism as a gift, which they will only bestow upon the worthy. Vampire spawn hold the lowest rung of Vampire society, and are generally regarded as the effects of vampirism on the unworthy. Vampire Spawn are never alloted free will, as they cannot create spawn themselves, and are generally used to perform menial labor and attack non-humanoid chaotic beings en masse. Because Vampire societies immediately "convert" any hominoids they run into, they cannot co-exist peacefully with other underground hominoid societies. Vampire societies can and do ally themselves with unconvertable lawful evil beings, such as wraiths and displacer beasts. Societies also ally with nuetral evil creatures, such as Nightmares and Worgs, if possible. While they share their lawful evil alignment with Devils, alliances between Highlord councils and these beings of darkness are rare, probably because of the physical similarities between Devils and Demons. Additionally, Devils do not generally prove reliable allies, often betraying councils after obtaining enough power to destroy them. Because of this, Devil-Vampire relations generaly fall somewhere between openly hostile and a mutual defense agreement. The only time Vampire socities will willingly seek out the assistance of Devils, or Devils the aid of Vampires, is when they come into contact with Demons. While Demonic forces are usually capable of defeating either a Vampiric metropolis or an army of Devils, the two together can usually crush the demons with relative ease. Once the Demonic forces are defeated, the Vampires and Devils return to a state of uneasy peace. When underground prey, Dwarves, Drow, Goblins, and the like, runs low, Vampiric Metropolises will raid humanoid cities on the surface for "food" and supplies.

Combat

Vampire Highlords always try to begin encounters by suprise attacking their opponents. If the suprise attack is sucsessful, the Highlord will order its minions to use Children of the Night and then attempt to grapple all opponents who are wielding melee weapons. At least one of them will summon rat swarms. The Highlord himself will use Children of the Night to summon extra assistance, in the form of a wolf pack unless the opposing party is known to lack an offensive spellcaster, in which case the Highlord will call rat swarms. The Highlord then makes a knowledge(nobility and royalty) check to identify which enemy character has the highest level. The check is DC 35 minus the highest level character's total character level. If the check fails, the Highlord will assume that the party is not worthy to recieve Vampirism from him, and will use his slam attack to kill the enemy characters. If the check is sucessful, he will use Dominate on the highest level character and attempt to force that character to walk towards him. On the third round he will initiate a grapple on the dominated character, a free action if the charachter is controlled, and begin draining blood. If Dominate was unsuccessful, the Highlord will use Dominate on the same character again until sucessful. When the creatures summoned by Children of the Night arrive, they will appear behind the opposing party and cut off the enemies' escape route. When Once the highest level opponent is slain, the Highlord will wade into battle with the remaining opponents, entering melee with whichever enemy is causing the most damage to his party and using Flurry of Blows and Stunning Fist to incapacitate that opponent before moving on to the next one. If the Highlord's party appears to be losing the battle, he will order one of his minions each round to retreat to his castle, starting with the Vampire that is the lowest on hp. If the summoned creatures have arrived, he will order them to form a barrier and prevent the enemies from following him for 3 rounds while he escapes. He will order two rat swarms to follow him while he leaves and make them carry the body of the dead enemy. After 3 rounds the defending creatures will flee. If the creatures have not arrived, he will continue to fight the enemy party until they do arrive, retreating only Vampires who are critically low on hp.

AC Bonus (Ex): Monks are highly trained at dodging blows and a Highlord's monk class levels allow him to add his Wisdom modifier to his AC while unarmored and unencumbered. Additionally, Highlords gain +2 AC under the same conditions. These bonuses apply even to touch and flatfooted attacks.

Alternate Form (Su): A Vampire Highlord can assume the shape of a bat, dire bat, wolf, or dire wolf, each with 2d12 extra hp, as a standard action. While in an alternate form the Highlord loses its slam attack and dominate ability, but gains the natural weapons and extraordinary special abilities of its new form. It can remain in that form until it chooses a new one or the next sunrise.

Blood Drain (Ex): A Vampire Highlord can suck blood from a living victim with its fangs by making a sucessful grapple check. If it pins the foe, it drains blood, dealing 2d4 points of constitution damage each round the pin is maintained. On each successful attack the Vampire Highlord gains 10 temporary hp points that last for up to two hours.

Children of the Night (Su): Vampire Highlords can call forth the lesser creatures of the night once per day, using a standard action to summon 3d6+3 rat swarms, 3d4+3 bat swarms, or a pack of 6d6 dire wolves.

Create Spawn (Su): A humanoid or monstrous humanoid slain by a Highlord's energy drain rises as a Vampire Spawn 1d4 days after burial. If the Vampire Highlord instead drains the victim's Constitution score to 0 or lower, the victim rises as a spawn if it had 4 or less HD and as a Vampire if it had 5 or more HD. In either case, the new Vampire or Vampire Spawn is under the command of the Vampire Highlord that created it and remains enslaved until its master's destruction. At any given time a Vampire Highlord may have enslaved spawn totaling no more than four times its own Hit Dice; any spawn it creates that would exceed this limit are created as free-willed Vampires or Vampire Spawn. A Vampire that is enslaved may create and enslave spawn of its own, so a Vampire Highlord can control a number of lesser Vampires in this fashion. A Highlord may voluntarily free spawn to enslave new spawn, but once freed a Vampire or Vampire Spawn cannot be enslaved again.

Damage Reduction (Su): A Vampire Highlord has damage reduction 20/silver and magic. A Vampire Highlord's slam and unarmed strike attacks are treated as epic magic weapons for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction.

Dominate (Su):A Vampire Highlord can crush an opponent's will just by gazing into his or her eyes. This is similar to a gaze attack, except that the Highlord must use a standard action, and those merely looking at it are not affected. Anyone the Highlord targets must succeed on a Will save or fall instantly under the Highlord's influence as though by a dominate person spell (caster level 24th) the ability has a range of 60 feet.

Energy Drain (Su): Living creatures hit by a Vampire Highlord's slam or unarmed attack gain four negative levels. For each negative level bestowed, the Highlord gains 10 temporary hit points. Highlords can use their energy drain ability twice per round.

Evasion (Ex): Highlord Vampires can avoid even magical or unusual attacks with great agility. If they make a successful Reflex saving throw on an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, they instead take no damage. Evasion can only be used while the Highlord wears light or no armor.

Fast Healing (Ex): Highlord Vampires heal 10 points of damage each round as long as they have at least 1 hit point. If reduced to 0 hit points in combat, it automatically assumes gaseous form and attempts to escape. Any additional damage forced on a Highlord who has been forced into gaseous form has no effect. It must reach its coffin home within 4 hours or be utterly destroyed. (It can travel up to 45 miles in four hours). Once at rest in its coffin, a Vampire Highlord is helpless. It regains 1 hitpoint after 1 hour, then is no longer helpless and resumes healing at a rate of 10 hitpoints per round.

Fast Movement (Ex): Highlord Vampires gain a 30 ft. speed bonus to all kinds of movement in all of forms. This bonus increases to 40 ft. at level 12, 50 ft. at level 15, and 60 ft. at level 18. This bonus is already included in the Highlord's speed stat and in the description of its Gaseous Form ability.

Flurry of Blows (Ex): When unarmored, a Vampire Highlord may strike with a flurry of blows using the full attack action. When doing so, he gains one extra attack at his highest base attack bonus. When using flurry of blows, a Vampire Highlord may only strike with unarmed attacks or special Monk weapons, though he may strike with the two interchangebly. When a Highlord advances to 11th level, he gains a second bonus attack at his full base attack bonus.

Gaseous Form (Su): As a standard action, a Vampire Highlord can assume gaseous form at will as the spell (caster level 10th), but it can remain gaseous indefinitely and has a fly speed of 50 ft. with perfect manuveurability.

Improved Evasion (Ex): Vampire Highlords' evasive abilities have progressed to the point of perfection. Not only do they continue to take no damage from attacks on successful Reflex saves, but they also take only half damage on a failed save.

Ki Strike (Su): A Vampire Highlord's unarmed strikes are treated as lawfully aligned weapons for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction in adittion to the charachteristics applied due to his Damage Reduction ability.

Purity of Body (Ex): A Vampire Highlord has immunity to all diseases except for supernatural and magical diseases.

Resistances (Ex): A Vampire Highlord has resistance to cold 20 and electricity 20.

Slow Fall (Ex): Vampire Highlords treat falling distances as if they were 50 ft. shorter than they actually are, as long as they are within reach of a wall or other grounded object. This bonus increases by 10 ft. every two levels the Highlord gains, until, at 20th level, the Highlord can fall any distance without harm.

Spider Climb (Ex): A Vampire Highlord can climb sheer surfaces as though with a Spider Climb spell.

Still Mind (Ex): Vampire Highlords gain a +4 bonus on saving throws against spells and effects from the school of enchantment, since they are highly experienced in mental combat.

Turn Resistance (Ex): A Vampire Highlord has +8 turn resistance.

Undead Traits (Ex): A Vampire Highlord is an undead creature, and as such has the following traits:

No Constitution Score Immunity to all mind-affecting effects Immunity to poision, sleep effects, paralysis, stunning, disease, and death effects Not subject to critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability drain, or energy drain Not subject to damage to its physical ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution), as well as to fatigue and exhaustion effects Healed by Negative Energy, harmed by Positive Energy Immune to any effect that requires a Fortitude save Uses its Charisma modifier for Concentration checks Not at risk of death from massive damage Not effected by Raise Dead or Reincarnate spells or abilities, but destroyed upon a successful casting of Resurrection or True Resurrection. Proficent with all simple and martial weapons, in addition to all special Monk weapons, spiked chains, and two-bladed swords. Proficent with light armor Does not need to eat, breathe, or sleep, though Highlords, like all Vampires, thirst constantly for blood.

Vampire Weaknesses (Su): For all their power, Vampire Highlords are affected by a number of weaknesses. Vampires cannot tolerate the strong odor of garlic and will not enter a room laced with it. Similarly, they recoil from a mirror or a strongly presented holy symbol. These things don't harm the Highlord -they merely keep it at bay. A recoiling Highlord must stay at least 10 ft. away from the creature holding the mirror or holy symbol, and cannot touch or make melee attacks against the creature with the item for the rest of the encounter. Holding a Vampire Highlord at bay takes a standard action.

Highlords are also unable to cross running water, though they can be carried across while resting in their coffins or on board a ship. They are utterly unable to enter a home or other building unless invited in by someone with the authority to do so. They may, however, enter public spaces freely, as these are by definition open to all.

Reducing a Vampire Highlord's hitpoints to 0 incapacitates it but rarely destroys it; see the notes on Fast Healing. However, certain attacks can slay Vampire Highlords. Exposing a Vampire Highlord to direct natural sunlight instantly deals half the Highlord's maximum hp in damage to it, destroying it permanently if this damage reduces its hp to 0 or less. Additionally, the Vampire Highlord becomes disoriented; it can take only a single attack or move action and is destroyed utterly in the next round if it cannot escape. Similarly, immersing a Highlord in running water robs it of one third its hitpoints each turn until the Highlord is destroyed on the third round of immersion. Driving a wooden stake through a Vampire's heart instantly slays the monster. However, the Vampire Highlord returns to life if the stake is removed, unless the body is destroyed.

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