# Race: Dhampir > [!info] Quick Facts > | | | > |---|---| > | **Rarity** | Extremely rare | > | **Perception in Gryth** | Very negative. A dhampir who is recognised is not usually given the chance to explain the distinction. | > | **Guide Section** | Transformed Lineages | ## Overview Something fed on you and did not finish. What walked away from that room afterwards was still you, still breathing out of habit rather than out of need, and carrying a hunger that has not gone quiet since and never will. ## Neither One Thing Nor the Other A dhampir is not a vampire and cannot become one. The transformation is the residue of an interrupted killing rather than a gift or a curse deliberately laid, and it grants none of the powers that the great undead hold and none of their standing. What it grants is a body that no longer requires breath, a set of fangs that were not there before, and an appetite that the older dhampirs describe as manageable in the way that a debt is manageable, which is to say constantly and for the remainder of one’s life. ## The Marks of It The change leaves signs. Colour drains from the skin over the first months, the eyes take on a flat reflective quality in low light, and the canines lengthen enough that a dhampir learns quickly to speak without showing them. Beyond that a dhampir keeps the face and frame they were born with, which is the only reason any of them manage to pass at all. Most learn to eat ordinary food in company and to attend to the hunger elsewhere. ## Hunted Where Known A dhampir who is recognised is rarely afforded the opportunity to explain that they are not a vampire, and the distinction carries little weight with people who have lost somebody to one. Dhampirs therefore keep moving, keep their mouths closed, and keep their explanations brief. Those who have survived a long time have generally done so by never allowing the question to arise. > [!warning] A difficult character to play > Dhampirs are hunted where they are recognised, and the recognition tends to come at the worst moment. A player choosing this lineage is taking on a roleplaying challenge built around concealment and appetite, and should agree that with the rest of the table before session one. ## Dhampir Traits **Ability Score Increase.** Your Constitution score increases by 2, and your Dexterity score increases by 1. This replaces the ability score increase of your original race. **Age.** You age as your original race did, though a dhampir’s ageing often slows markedly. **Creature Type.** You are a Humanoid. **Size.** Your size is the size your original race was. **Speed.** Your walking speed is 35 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 cannot discern colour in darkness, only shades of grey. **Deathless Nature.** You do not need to breathe. **Spider Climb.** You have a climbing speed equal to your walking speed. In addition, at 3rd level, you can move up, down, and across vertical surfaces and upside down along ceilings, while leaving your hands free. **Vampiric Bite.** Your fanged bite is a natural weapon, which counts as a simple melee weapon with which you are proficient. You add your Constitution modifier, instead of your Strength modifier, to the attack and damage rolls when you attack with this bite. It deals 1d4 piercing damage on a hit. While you are missing half or more of your hit points, you have advantage on attack rolls you make with this bite. When you attack with this bite and hit a creature that is not a Construct or an Undead, you can empower yourself in one of the following ways of your choice. ***Blood Restoration.*** You regain hit points equal to the piercing damage dealt by the bite. ***Stolen Vigour.*** You gain a bonus to the next ability check or attack roll you make, equal to the piercing damage dealt by the bite. You can empower yourself in this way a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest. **Languages.** You retain the languages you knew before. --- ## Gallery ![[Race - Dhampir.jpg]] --- *See also: [[Races]]*