As playtesting of Realm of Runes continues driving the system to be the best it can be, the rulebook art (by the fantastic Nikki Smith-Cielo) has been rolling in. In a recent milestone, the portraits for each of the ancestry entries have been completed. This is a great time to show off Nikki's great work, and to also explore each of the ancestries in a more detailed fashion. Working alphabetically, we'll start with one of the hybrid ancestries, the dhampir.
From the rulebook: "A dhampir is the result of a pregnancy that has been complicated by vampirism. Whether one of the parents was a vampire, or the mother was fed upon by a vampire while carrying the child, the result is a being that straddles the line between living and dead. "Often sickly and misidentified as vampires themselves, dhampir are rarely trusted by any community in which they reside. The fact that they are harmed by energy typically associated with life does them no favors in this regard. Most parents of a dhampir do their best to keep their child’s strange nature a secret, though a dhampir born to a true vampire, or in a place that tolerates or accepts undead, might revel in the special status afforded its place between two worlds. "Dhampir live much longer than others of their ancestry, often having a life span about five times longer than the natural life expectancy of those without their taint, and appear to age very slowly. This can make keeping one’s nature a secret difficult, and many dhampir stay on the move, adopting new lives in new places under new identities." As a hybrid ancestry, dhampir can be born to any of the basic ancestries and is gained by spending one of a character's ancestry feats. Like other hybrid ancestries, dhampir have free choice on whether their remaining three ancestry feats come from their basic ancestry or from those exclusively available to those with their unique heritage. How strongly the vampire influence affects your character is inherently customizable, as with most aspects of character creation and advancement in Realm of Runes. Dhampir ancestry feats tend to offer more power than most others, but typically come with a cost that must be considered carefully. With an internal focus on blood and undeath, the vampiric influence can have excellent synergy with class specialties like Undead Sorcerers, Negative Energy Clerics and Paladins, Spirit Clan Barbarians, and Necromancy-focused Wizards. Let's take a closer look at each of the exclusive options available to dhampir:
HYBRID ANCESTRY (DHAMPIR) ANCESTRY FEAT [Ancestry, Biology, Dhampir, Hybrid] Prerequisites: You are not undead Your heritage manifests as pale skin, sharply pointed teeth, and an aversion to positive energy. You gain the Dhampir trait, an ability flaw to Endurance and a free ability boost. This boost does not stack with other boosts from ancestry. You have darkvision, but are dazzled in areas of direct sunlight, and positive and negative energy treat you as undead. You can select dhampir ancestry feats. This is the basic entry feat, and taking it is what signifies that you are a dhampir. The prerequisite is there to look forward. Future supplements might include ancestries that are already undead, though none of the ones in the core rules conflict with this prerequisite. A free ability boost can help characters of any ancestry fill many different roles, but a flaw to Constitution makes being a combat-focused dhampir tricky. Being treated as undead by positive and negative energy makes many sources of magical healing dangerous, and dhampir are typically better able to thrive in parties that make use of the Medicine skill or items for their healing needs.
BLOOD SCENT ANCESTRY FEAT [Ancestry, Biology, Dhampir] You can use smell as a precise sense within hex 12, but only to detect creatures that are alive and have blood. The range of this sense is doubled for detecting creatures suffering bleed damage. Unusual precise senses are valuable in Realm of Runes, and the ability to sense living creatures by smell serves many dhampir well. Even beyond functioning effectively in situations where stealth or magic makes sight non-functional, being able to recognize that things you can see don't have blood can save a party from nasty surprises.
FANGS ANCESTRY FEAT [Ancestry, Biology, Dhampir] Your teeth are especially sharp and your saliva contains a strong anti-coagulant. You have a jaws unarmed attack that deals 1d6 piercing damage with the agile, finesse and simple traits. Damaged creatures also take 1d6 bleed damage, and you can drink a target’s blood as a free action triggered by dealing damage with this attack. You can use your fangs to Riposte. While this attack is only a little stronger than the basic unarmed attack in terms of raw damage output, its ability to inflict bleed damage is stronger than it looks at first. As un-typed damage, bleed is never subject to damage resistance or immunity. The ability to drink as part of the attack also has excellent synergy with one of the other dhampir feats we'll look at shortly. Another way in which a dhampir's jaws improves over the basic unarmed attack is its inherent ability to Riposte, which puts a dhampir in position to punish those that critically fail to attack them. UNDEAD SYMPATHY ANCESTRY FEAT [Ancestry, Biology, Dhampir] Undead recognize you as their own. Mindless undead are indifferent to you unless you act hostile to them first, and you have a +1 un-typed bonus to Deception, Diplomacy, Intimidation, Religion and Society checks against undead. Treat your level as 2 higher when you Command or Control undead. Some dhampir are so close to undead that they can walk among zombies, skeletons and other dangerous foes without drawing their ire. While this protection may not help the rest of your party when you encounter them, their tendency to ignore you can really help a non-combat focused character assist comrades without also taking fire, which is especially helpful with smaller Hit Point pools. Command Undead (for Clerics) and Control Undead (for Wizards) are more difficult to use on undead that are higher level than the caster, but even strong undead are vulnerable to the control of a dhampir with Undead Sympathy. VAMPIRIC THIRST ANCESTRY FEAT [Ancestry, Biology, Dhampir] You are afflicted with stage 3 vampirism, but are not contagious. If your blood craving withdrawal stage has no symptoms, you have a +1 un-typed bonus to Strength-, Agility- and Charisma-based checks and damage. If a creature in reach is bleeding, you can Interact to drink its blood. Activate its bleed damage and recover Hit Points equal to the damage taken. If the target is unwilling, you must attempt an Acrobatics or Legerdemain check against its Reflex DC.
Success: You drink its blood. Success (+5): As success, and you do not trigger reactions. Failure: You do not drink its blood. Failure (-10): As failure, and you are flat-footed to reactions triggered by the attempt. Special: This feat does not function if you are not a vampire. The feat resumes function if you contract vampirism again. This feat is for dhampir that are more than just tainted by vampirism, but have been born as actual vampires. The ability to activate a creature's bleed damage multiple times, and between its turns, can erode a foe's strength while healing from it bolsters your own at the same time. This feat comes with a strong drawback, however. Creatures with stage 3 vampirism take un-typed damage when starting a turn in an area with direct sunlight, or when entering it, and also when ending a turn in direct sunlight as well. Thick clothes can help reduce that damage, but dhampir born with the blood craving must always be careful during the daytime.
Whether your character is only mildly afflicted by vampiric heritage, or dives headfirst into the power afforded by its birth, dhampir make for interesting and flavorful characters with a strong thematic focus. Their utility as a hybrid ancestry helps ensure that dhampir have incredible breadth of variety, as well. A gnomish dhampir and an orcish dhampir may have access to similar blood-related abilities, but are very different creatures otherwise. Next week we'll continue our ancestry exploration with a fantasy staple, dwarves.
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