Vampirism

You've been bitten and exposed to the contagious and complex magical disease known as vampirism. Because of this you are now beginning to be filled with a desire for blood.

Prerequisite(s): Must be a living creature prior to taking the first talent, cannot be a Construct, Ooze, Plant, or Undead.

You must select the following talent first:

Sired: You've been bitten by another vampire, and the disease was passed onto you. Upon acquiring this talent you physically die and your type changes to Undead, however you ability scores remain unchanged. You acquire the defensive abilities an intelligent undead would receive, and you receive a bite attack which deals 3d4 points of slashing and piercing damage. Attacks with your bite attack heal you for 1d4 points of HP. You're forced to subsist on the blood of the living at least once per week else you'll begin to starve (see Nosferatu at the bottom of the page). Finally you no longer cast a shadow nor have a reflection in the mirror.

Create Spawn: If you've slain an opponent with your bite attack, you can raise them as a spawn and effectively siring them as their own vampire. They acquire the Sired talent as above, though they aren't under your control.

Bat Shape: You are able to transform yourself into either a larger than average bat or a swarm of bats. As the singular bat you're small size, acquire wings and a fly speed equal to double your land speed, and finally you receive Dark Vision if you didn't have it already. Transforming into a swarm of bats can be done instead as a means of escape due to the swarm granting you a fly speed equal to quadruple your land speed, you're unable to attack or cast spells in this form, and while in this form you receive a +10 to Physical Defense against ranged attack rolls (except for those which affect multiple targets such as a Radius from a fireball). These transformations can be done once per day, cost 4 Stamina to perform, and last for 3d4+1 rounds.

Unholy Durability: You receive Regeneration 5 (Silver), and this Regeneration doubles for one hour after you feed your hunger for blood. The doubling effect can only be triggered once per day.

Jiang Shi: Transform your bite attack into a slam attack which instead deals 2d6 points of bludgeoning damage. Attacks with this slam heal as per normal, however instead of drinking blood you are drinking "chi" or the "life essence" within a person. You also acquire an ofuda which must be worn on your forehead, and so long as it is worn you receive a +2 bonus to all Defenses against spells. This bonus stacks with bonuses granted to Defenses by other talents. Taking this talent is permanent, and cannot be removed without first being cured of your vampirism.

Nosferatu

Though sometimes used to refer to all vampires, 'Nosferatu' refer to those who have lost all humanity and sense of self, having given themselves to their bloodlust and desire to feed. Reaching this point is every vampire's nightmare, but it is easily avoided by feeding...something which not all vampires find themselves willing to do to another living person due to the cannibalistic action chilling most individuals to the bone just to think about. Those who try to resist feeding for long stretches are the most likely to become nosferatu, and this mistake is a lot more common with those recently sired as long-lived vampires only ever become nosferatu if they are forced to such as by being taken prisoner.

Vampires aren't evil by nature, and although nosferatu aren't either, it's easy to view them as such due to being the animalistic form of an undead group already reviled for merely existing. Nosferatu are only ever violent when hungry, and much like an animal will avoid or ignore people when already fed, or can even be easily distracted by the mere presence of blood in the same way a steak may distract a wolf away from you.

For every week you go without feeding, you add 1 to your Hunger. And until you drink at least 1 pint of blood this will continue. Satiating your hunger recovers 1 Hunger. If your Hunger ever exceeds you Intellect, you become a nosferatu and permanently reduce your Intellect (and all sub-attributes of it) by 4 (to a minimum of 1, and the sub-attributes cannot exceed your new maximum and are lowered to the new maximum if they do exceed it after the subtraction).