Bloodsworn
Monstrous races are always fun, and this week, we have one of the most classic monsters out there as a player race; vampires! Converting a monster of CR 13 to a balanced player race is no simple matter, but we're confident that we kept enough of the essential parts to make you feel dead but still thirsty. Strahd will still eat you for breakfast, but we promise, you will pass the vibe check every time. Just be sure to wipe your chin.
To see all of our more recent, premium content, join our Patreon, where all our spiciest new brews are at your disposal. We’re slowly remastering the highlights of our backlog, and if you’re a patron, you can vote on what gets updated next! And, if you want to ask us about our homebrew, new or old, our Discord is public and full of all kinds of brewers and internet goblins. If you’re either of those, we’d love to hear from you!
Bloodsworn
The bloodsworn are a form of lesser vampire that serve no master. They lack many of their true vampire counterparts’ awe-inspiring powers, such as the ability to create vampire spawn. Caught between two worlds, bloodsworn are regarded as lowly commoners and cheap imitations to greater vampires, while still often considered monsters and hellspawn to the living. This drives most bloodsworn towards a life of self-reliance and adventure, as they struggle to find a place that they can call home.
Born from Blood
Bloodsworn are not created through direct interactions with vampires or their spawn. A bloodsworn achieves its undeath through a ritual requiring dark magic, murderous sacrifice, and ravenous cannibalism. The secrets of these rituals have largely been forgotten or locked away, but they still circulate in the darkest corners of the realm and are much more practical to the average scoundrel than more esoteric forms of unlife, such as lichdom.
A bloodsworn, much like a greater vampire, is afflicted with
a curse of undeath. They appear as they did when the ritual
was complete, retaining the appearance of their race before
undeath. However, though their physical characteristics may
appear the same, their bodies undergo an intense change
during this forbidden ritual. Though they can die, they cease
to physically age upon their transformation and cannot expire
from old age.
Relentless Hunger
Though the transformation into a bloodsworn might relieve one from many of the troubles of the living, bloodsworn cannot escape hunger. The transformation into a bloodsworn imbues an individual with a hunger unlike anything experienced by the living - a deep and ravenous hunger for blood. Though a bloodsworn does not lose their soul like a greater vampire, this hunger twists and corrupts the spirit. Even the most disciplined of individuals would be challenged by the deep agony experienced by a starving bloodsworn.
Though a bloodsworn can be satiated for a short time, the hunger will inevitably return. A starved bloodsworn slowly withers until reaching a breaking point, after which the bloodsworn loses its faculties entirely and becomes a wandering mindless husk of its former self. These lost souls are weak, pitiful, and feral, and only the sweet release of death can cure those afflicted.
Lowly Status
True vampires find the bloodsworn to be nothing short of a mockery. Seen as outcasts and mad dogs, a bloodsworn is cursed to wander, being accepted by neither vampire nor the living. Though small communities of bloodsworn have been known to form, they are rarely fruitful, as the hunger works to slowly divide the community. Truly, a bloodsworn is suited best to travel with very few companions.
Still, though they do not inherit some of the more powerful traits of the greater counterparts, they are neither afflicted with some of the crippling weaknesses. The sun is no friend of the bloodsworn, but it poses more of an inconvenience than a threat. Likewise, bloodsworn are not bound to a certain place, nor are they bound by some of the stranger laws that govern their nobler brethren.
Bloodsworn Names
Bloodsworn are not born; they are made. They often retain their birth names into undeath. Though they may change their name upon their rebirth or add the odd title or moniker, they generally follow the conventions of the culture they are best familiarized with.
Bloodsworn Traits
Your bloodsworn character has the following traits:
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength or Dexterity increases by 1, and your Charisma increases by 2.
Age. Bloodsworn don’t mature and age in the same way that other races do. You appear the same age as you did when you transcended life.
Alignment. Most bloodsworn tend towards evil, as the nature of their dark abilities grants them terrible power and the hunger of undeath twists their soul.
Size. Your size is that of your body before you transcended life. Your size is either Small or Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Blood Magic. Born of darkness, you can call on your curse to produce magical effects. You can cast charm person with this trait. Starting at 3rd level, you can cast spider climb with it, and starting at 5th level, you can also cast gaseous form with it. Once you cast a spell with this trait, you can’t cast that spell with it again until you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Bloodthirst. You can drain blood and life energy from a willing creature, or one that is grappled by you, incapacitated, or restrained. Make a melee attack against the target, using either Strength or Dexterity for your attack roll. This attack hits automatically if the creature is willing. If you hit, you deal 1 piercing damage and 1d6 necrotic damage. The target’s hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the necrotic damage taken, and you regain hit points equal to that amount. The reduction lasts until the target finishes a long rest. The target dies if this effect reduces its hit point maximum to 0.
If you go for 7 days without dealing this damage, your hit point maximum is reduced by 1d6 per week. This reduction lasts until you deal damage with your Bloodthirst ability and complete a long rest.
Change Shape. You can use your action to magically assume the shape of a bat as if affected by the polymorph spell, but you retain your Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores. You also retain all of your skill and saving throw proficiencies. You can stay transformed for a number of minutes equal to your proficiency bonus. You then revert to your normal form. You can revert to your normal form earlier by using a bonus action on your turn.
After you use this trait, you cannot do so again until you finish a long rest.
Darkvision. Accustomed to dark dwellings and the night sky, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. 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.
Sunlight Sensitivity. You have disadvantage on attack rolls and Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight when you, the target of the attack, or whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct sunlight.
Undead Body. Your body differs from that of the living in the following ways: You have advantage on saving throws against being poisoned. You have resistance to necrotic and poison damage. You have vulnerability to radiant damage. You don’t need to eat, drink, or breathe. You are immune to disease.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and one other language of your choice.