Editing Vampire (section)

=====Ravenloft=====
Being a [[Gothic Horror]]/[[Dark Fantasy]] setting for [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]], and considering AD&D's general approach to monster design (aka "let's turn as many alternate names as possible into unique monsters!"), you better believe that [[Ravenloft]] was ground zero for an invasion of an absolute ''fuckton'' of vampire variants!

Firstly, there's the ''Oriental Vampire'', which is native to the Domains of I'Cath and Rokushima Taiyoo. This one is a weird blend of the "classic" D&D vampire given an Asian reskin and the [[Jiangshi]]; in 3rd edition, it would lean slightly more towards the latter and become known as the ''Chiang-ahi''.

Secondly, there's the ''Cerebral Vampire'', an artificially created vampire that is only found in the domain of Dominia, a corrupted insane asylum. They feed on cerebro-spinal fluid, hence the name. In AD&D, they caused madness and their victims would die and return as [[ghoul]]s, whilst in 3e, they cause permanent Intelligence loss and can reproduce this way.

''[[Nosferatu]]'' are a variant strain of vampire who actually feed on blood (drain Constitution) rather than sapping levels like other AD&D vampires. Otherwise, they're largely interchangeable. Ironically, [[Mystara]] has its own Nosferatu variant which is based more on novel!Dracula or Varney the Vampire, and the 3e update of Ravenloft rewrote the Ravenloft nosferatu based on the abilities of the Mystaran nosferatu.

Most famously, Ravenloft would introduce an array of [[demihuman]] vampires, as well as two monstrous vampires; the [[drow]] and [[illithid]]:
* [[Drow]] revere the transformation into vampires, referring the change as "The Kiss of [[Lolth]]". They can transform into giant spiders and clouds of poisonous vapor, but cannot cross a line of salt and are ''incredibly'' light vulnerable; even moonlight burns their flesh, whilst a single shaft of sunlight is instant death. Vampire drow can be placed in a death-like torpor by staking them through the heart with rock salt, but can only be killed by exposing them to sunlight, immersing them in a waterwall, or binding the torpid vampire in cords of silver thread, smearing it with oil, and burning it for at least 12 hours.
* [[Dwarves]] '''loathe''' vampires of their kind, who can pass through stone as if it were air and are unimpaired by sunlight. They can't transform, but they can command burrowing and subterranean creatures. They can't enter a home unless it's at least partially made of earth or stone, nor can they cross a line of powdered metal, and water from natural springs scorches them like acid (but holy water has no effect). Dwarven vampires can be rendered torpid by staking them with a natural stalactite or stalagmite. Actually ''killing'' them requires cutting out their heart, soaking it in oil for 3 days, then burning it to ashes.
* [[Elves]] regard their vampires with pity, for they are metaphorically and literally hideously warped, twisted, ugly creatures. These Charisma-draining undead can only walk about during the day, and perish if they remain abroad at night or if forced underground, in a reversal of the standard vampire. Their touch kills plants, and they possess a number of twisted [[druid]]-like abilities, such as assuming the form of an eagle and commanding forest creatures. They are burned by the sap of deciduous trees and repelled by fresh flower petals. They can be made torpid by staking them with a stake of charcoal, but to permanently kill them, the torpid elf's head must be cut off and burned for 24 hours in a fire made of flowers and flowering shrubs.
* [[Gnome]] vampires are twisted, perpetually silenced creatures with faces twisted into rictus grins. They can transform into the form of a will o' wisp and can freely command (but not summon) animals. Their touch slowly petrifies their victims. Though they hate sunlight, only natural sunlight hurts them. Defeating them is tough; once rendered torpid by pounding a stake of Blessed silver into their heart, their hands must be cut off and boiled in a natural hot spring for 24 hours whilst the gnome is placed in a wooden coffin. Once their hands have finished boiling, their eyes must be gouged out and replaced with high quality precious gems; once that is done and the coffin is nailed shut, the vampire is dead.
* [[Goblin]] vampires are weaker than most vampires, and are created artificially from the goblins of Tepest by its [[hag]] darklords. Oversized brutes with distended fangs and claws who feed on both blood and fear, they are mindless killers with few supernatural talents or resistances, although they prefer to hunt during the day, as goblins avoid the day. They can be killed by hammering a stake of obsidian into their hearts.
* [[Halfling]] vampires have a surprising array of magical abilities, including freely transforming into and commanding small woodland creatures, assuming a sweet-smelling smoke form, exuding an aura of fatigue and creating high-quality food and drink at will. They cannot approach somebody smoking a pipe, nor enter a room where a fire is burning in a hearth. They can be destroyed by sunlight and rain. To render one torpid, impale it with a burning length of wood taken ''directly'' from a hearth. To kill it, chop off its hands and feet and then burn them in a hearth for 3 hours.
* [[Illithid]] vampires were a mistake that went ''horribly'' wrong, creating mindless blood-and-brain-sucking brutes with no more than animalistic intelligence. Whilst they lack most of the sundry supernatural powers of both races, they are, to all intents and purposes, indestructible; nobody knows the method to truly kill them yet. They returned in 5e with a major overhaul; no longer technically indestructible, they also now serve a purpose - where as the original Vampiric Illithids were a failed attempt to create a weapon against the God-Brain, in 5e they are ''agents'' of the God-Brain. These short-lived creatures are sent to harvest cerebrospinal fluid from humanoids, then return to the God-Brain and are [[Ripper|dissolved into its nutrient-pool to infuse their life-energy and stolen bounty directly into the God-Brain]], which is the only thing slowing the God-Brain's decay into death.
* [[Kender]] vampires are only found in the domain of Sithicus, and in fact are destroyed instantly if forced over its border. Wracked with permanent rigor mortis, they are surprisingly easy to turn by [[cleric]]s and [[paladin]]s. They are repulsed by shimmerweed, and the sight of moonlight shining on shimmerweed can actually  destroy them. But the most effective weapon against them is their own iconic hoopaks; if a warrior can snatch away a kender vampire's hoopak, not only can they swiftly beat the creature into submission with it, but impaling the kender vampire through the heart with it (easier than it sounds) will instantly destroy the kender vampire forever.

3rd edition would introduce the only new Ravenloft vampire to this list, the disease-carrying, [[ghoul]]ish [[Vrykolaka]], and update all of the above, sans the [[Drow]] and [[Kender]] vampires.

In addition, Ravenloft also introduced three "vampire-adjacent" monsters; the Japanese-flavored [[Kizoku]] (a supernatural womanizer that lures women to commit evil acts, then turns them into willow trees), the [[Vampyre]] (a "living vampire" flavored monstrous humanoid), and the [[Vorlog]] (a human partially warped into a vampire).

But that wasn't enough for fans, so they got together and came up with the [[Aswang]] (based on Filipino vampires) and the [[Upir Lichy]] (Russian heat vampires).