Illustartion by Joe Calkins
Last week, I put together rumor involving an ankheg vampire but never got around to statting that monster up. According to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary, a vampire is an acquired template that can be added to any living creature with 5 or more hit dice. So step one to building a vampire ankheg is going to be to advance the standard ankheg 2 hit dice. I think I’ll also make him an Advanced creature as described in the same bestiary. Based on the Advanced template and the increase in hit dice he should be about CR 5.
Advanced Ankheg CR 5
XP 1,600
N Large magical beast
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, tremorsense 60 ft.; Perception +11
[Defense]
AC 20, touch 11, flat-footed 20 (+2 Dex, +9 natural, -1 size)
hp 57 (5d10+30)
Fort +9, Ref +6, Will +4
[Offense]
Speed 30 ft., burrow 20 ft.
Melee bite +9 (3d6+7 plus 1d4 acid plus grab)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks spit acid
[Statistics]
Str 20, Dex 14, Con 21, Int 5, Wis 17, Cha 10
Base Atk +5; CMB +11 (+15 grapple); CMD 23 (31 vs. trip)
Feats Improved Natural Attack (bite), Skill Focus (Perception), Toughness
Skills Climb +13, Perception +11
[Special Abilities]
Spit Acid (Ex) Once every 6 hours, an ankheg can spit a 30-foot line of acid. Creatures struck by this acid take 4d4 points of acid damage (Reflex DC 17 halves). Once an ankheg uses this attack, it must wait 6 hours before using it again. Additionally, during this time period, its bite attack does not inflict any additional acid damage. As a result, an ankheg does not use this ability unless it is desperate or frustrated, most often spitting acid when reduced to fewer than half its full normal hit points or when it cannot not successfully grab an opponent. The save DC is Constitution-based.
So that is the basic model upon which to build my ankheg vampire. Below are the stats of the ankheg vampire using the RAW approach.
Advanced Ankheg Vampire CR 7
XP 3,200
NE Large undead (augmented magical beast)
Init +8; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, tremorsense 60 ft.; Perception +23
[Defense]
AC 29, touch 14, flat-footed 28 (+4 Dex, +15 natural, -1 size, +1 Dodge)
hp 37 (5d8+15); fast healing 5
Fort +8, Ref +10, Will +5
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4; DR 10/magic and silver;Immune undead traits; Resist cold 10, electricity 10
Weakness vampire weaknesses
[Offense]
Speed 30 ft., burrow 20 ft.
Melee bite +12 (3d6+8 plus 1d4 acid plus grab), slam +12 (1d6+8 plus energy drain)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks blood drain, children of the night, create spawn, dominate (DC 14), energy drain (2 levels, DC 14), spit acid
[Statistics]
Str 26, Dex 18, Con --, Int 7, Wis 19, Cha 14
Base Atk +5; CMB +14 (+18 grapple); CMD 29 (37 vs. trip)
Feats AlertnessB, Combat ReflexesB, DodgeB, Improved InitiativeB, Improved Natural Attack (bite), Lightning ReflexesB, Skill Focus (Perception), Toughness
Skills Bluff +10, Climb +16, Perception +23, Sense Motive +15, Stealth +8;Racial Modifiers +8 Bluff, +8 Perception, +8 Sense Motive, +8 Stealth
SQ change shape (dire bat or wolf, beast shape II), gaseous form,shadowless, spider climb
[Special Abilities]
Spit Acid (Ex) Once every 6 hours, an ankheg can spit a 30-foot line of acid. Creatures struck by this acid take 4d4 points of acid damage (Reflex DC 14 halves). Once an ankheg uses this attack, it must wait 6 hours before using it again. Additionally, during this time period, its bite attack does not inflict any additional acid damage. As a result, an ankheg does not use this ability unless it is desperate or frustrated, most often spitting acid when reduced to fewer than half its full normal hit points or when it cannot not successfully grab an opponent. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Unfortunately, the vampire template just kind of makes a mess of a perfectly good ankheg and leave us with an extremely complicated statblock and an off balance monster with ridiculously high AC for CR 7 and really low hit point totally. The truth of the matter is that the Vampire template is really a Dracula template. It is very good at creating a charming, mysterious figure that drinks blood, scales walls, controls wolves, dominates the minds of foes and is repulsed by garlic. I don’t think it would be what I would want to throw at my players so I think it is best to use the template as, well a template, and pick and choose what to use and chuck the rest. Below is what I would probably use.
Advanced Vampiric Ankheg CR 7
XP 1,600
NE Large undead (augmented magical beast)
Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, tremorsense 60 ft.; Perception +16
[Defense]
AC 23, touch 13, flat-footed 23 (+4 Dex, +9 natural, -1 size)
hp 52 (5d8+30); fast healing 5
Fort +9, Ref +8, Will +6
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4; DR 10/magic and wood;
Immune acid, undead traits; Resist cold 10
[Offense]
Speed 30 ft., burrow 20 ft.
Melee bite +11 (3d6+10 plus 1d4 acid plus grab plus energy drain)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks children of the earth, dominate (burrowers, DC 17), energy drain (2 levels, DC 17), spinal fluid drain, spit acid
Weaknesses vampiric ankheg weaknesses
[Statistics]
Str 24, Dex 18, Con --, Int 5, Wis 21, Cha 21
Base Atk +5; CMB +11 (+15 grapple); CMD 23 (31 vs. trip)
Feats Improved Natural Attack (bite), Skill Focus (Perception), Toughness
Skills Climb +15, Perception +16, Stealth +8; Racial Bonus +8 Stealth
SQ liquid form, tremorless, spiderclimb
[Special Abilities]
Children of the Earth (Su) As a vampire’s children of the night ability but the vampiric ankheg can all 1d3 centipede swarms or 2d6 darkmantles.
Liquid Form (Su) As a standard action, a vampiric ankheg can assume a liquid form at will. This allows it to burrow leaving no tunnel and thus escape opponents like to kill it.
Spiderclimb (Ex) As a vampire
Spinal Fuild Drain (Su) As vampire, except the drain deals 1d4 Dexterity damage.
Spit Acid (Ex) Once every 6 hours, an ankheg can spit a 30-foot line of acid. Creatures struck by this acid take 4d4 points of acid damage (Reflex DC 17 halves). Once an ankheg uses this attack, it must wait 6 hours before using it again. Additionally, during this time period, its bite attack does not inflict any additional acid damage. As a result, an ankheg does not use this ability unless it is desperate or frustrated, most often spitting acid when reduced to fewer than half its full normal hit points or when it cannot not successfully grab an opponent. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Tremorless (Ex) Ankheg vampires cannot be detected with tremorsense.
Weaknesses Ankheg vampires cannot tolerate the strong odour of lye and will not enter areas laced with it. Similarly they recoil from strongly presented wooden farm tools and scarecrows. Ankheg vampires reduced to zero hit points are incapacitated but not slain. An incapacitated ankheg vampire can be killed by exposure to sunlight, immersion in running water or through decapitation.
There an ankheg vampire ready to terrorize a community. He has many of the same-ish features of the standard vampire but doesn’t need to live in a castle and wear a cape anymore. I have the CR set at 7, 6 may be more appropriate it will need further playtesting to make sure.
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