Vampire Lore in D'n'D

[A Disembodied Intelligence]

Hey! Just figured I'd ask for a crashcourse on our favourite party member's lore
As we all know, ________ is a vampire spawn.

From playing Early Access, I've gathered that d'n'd vampire lore includes the following:
* Running water harms them
* They need permission to enter homes
* Stakes are bad for their arteries
* They're fine with animal blood but it's not very tasty
* Silver might do something?
* They can't survive in daylight
* They have to obey their masters (the ones who turned them) unless 'free'

What about Garlic?
Or being buried?
Or turning into Bats?

Don't come from a d'n'd background so figured I'd ask if there're any other juicy tidbits of d'n'd lore to be aware of with regards to Vampires.

[DeadBeat61]

Just realized, if the tadpole is the only thing saving Astarion from dying to sunlight, are we ever actually gonna remove them?

[A Disembodied Intelligence]

Originally posted by DeadBeat61:

Just realized, if the tadpole is the only thing saving Astarion from dying to sunlight, are we ever actually gonna remove them?

I doubt that character would want to. But the rest of us sure do!

edit - just noticed when you hover over a thread to see the preview of what its post is about, the spoiler block doesn't show and you still see the text that's meant to be blocked out, so all this trying to keep the least guarded secret in the game a little more secret way of talking probably isn't doing much lol

[Aoroi]

Originally posted by The Sarah:

Don't come from a d'n'd background so figured I'd ask if there're any other juicy tidbits of d'n'd lore to be aware of with regards to Vampires.

There are lots, spanning multiple books and writers and series. Anyways, here are the stat blocks if you would like more direct info to infer from.

https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/17043-vampire

https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/17044-vampire-spawn

Kinda neat that they have Spider Climb.

[MeatGolem]

Seems likely that Cazador (or whatever his name is) will end up coming up at some point. Killing him frees Astarion but doesn't make him not a vampire spawn anymore. However, he can just go back to being nocturnal if the tadpole is removed. Better than being devoured and your corpse used to create a mindflayer.

To the OP: Garlic is not a thing for vampires in D&D. They don't need to be buried in native soil but they can turn into bats. That's full vampires. Spawn have way less cool stuff they can do.

[Arkil]

silver does nothing to the vampire same for garlic (in lore they just react to the smell)
the spawn is bound to its lord (the one who transforms them) as long as they have not drunk his blood or the master is alive
if the master is killed, the spawn remains a spawn and must find its master's remains and eat it to become a full vampire
blood taste varies, but the healthier the victim, the better (young adults are the main target)
the vampire cannot walk on hallowed ground
you have to find a vampire's coffin or kill him in sunlight/running water or be in a place away from his coffin otherwise he will resurrect 1h after his mist form reaches his coffin

[KingOfFriedChicken]

Originally posted by DeadBeat61:

Just realized, if the tadpole is the only thing saving Astarion from dying to sunlight, are we ever actually gonna remove them?

Astarion himself when you first meet him doesn't wanna remove it he wants to control it, so yeah probably not.

[A Disembodied Intelligence]

Originally posted by Arkil:

silver does nothing to the vampire same for garlic (in lore they just react to the smell)

Oh, I thought I remembered a line about Silver in Early Access when Astarion was talking about Vampire weaknesses and Tadpoles. My bad!

Originally posted by Arkil:

if the master is killed, the spawn remains a spawn and must find its master's remains and eat it to become a full vampire

Oh dear, I hope there's not a bad route in the game for you know who to end up having to eat his master's remains, that would be particularly ghoulish!

[Aoroi]

Originally posted by KingOfFriedChicken:

Originally posted by DeadBeat61:

Just realized, if the tadpole is the only thing saving Astarion from dying to sunlight, are we ever actually gonna remove them?

Astarion himself when you first meet him doesn't wanna remove it he wants to control it, so yeah probably not.

Astarion reminds me of "Spike" from Buffy/Angel series, personality and angst-wise, and to a degree Angel. The soul gives Angel more control and a different experience, like how the tadpole gives Astarion control.