The multiverse is full of vampires that need to be dealt with, which has led to many adventurers specializing in hunting the undead. Blade from Marvel Comics (and the movie series of the same name) was the mythical daywalker, who had many of the powers of a vampire, yet could walk beneath the sun. The idea of a vampire hunter who is close to being a vampire themselves would make for an excellent D&D character and Blade is easy to replicate in the rule🤪s.
Blade is one of Marvel's horror heroes. He debuted in the '70s as a vampire hunter, who possessed many of the abilities of the undead, thanks to an incident involving a vampire that happened as he was being born. Blade rose to mainstream success when he became (debatably) the first Marvel character to star in a major movie. The Blade trilogy is composed of some excellent action/horror flicks, and the character found new success in the comic🀅s as a result. Blade is set to return to the MCU in the future, which means that vampires will als🦂o be coming to the movies, as he's going to need someone to fight.
Blade's Ability Scores, Class, And Background
The version of Blade we have created uses material from the Player's Handbook, , and . It bears mentioning that the content in the Unearthed Arcana article is considered playtest material and it needs to be cleared with the DM before use. Blade is a vampire fighter who takes on the Monster Slayer archetype at level three. Using the basic stat spread listed on page 13 of the Player's Handbook and 🌸taking his race into account, Blade's starting stats would be STR 15, DEX 14, CON 13, INT 13, WIS 10, and CHA 10.
Blade spent many years living on the streets before being found by his mentor, and he then spent years tr🎃aining to be a vampire hunter. This means Blade qualifies for either the Urchin or Soldier Background. The Urchin version of Blade's starting skills are Perception, Investigation, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth. The Soldier version of Blade's starting skills are Perception, Investigation, Athletics, and Intimidation. If the variant Feat rules are used, Blade would benefit from Alert, Crossbow Expert, Mage Slayer, or Sentinel. His Fighting Style choice would be Dueling, a𒀰s Blade tends to favor a single sword in battle.
Blade's alignment depends on the kind of setting he exists in. The vampires that exist in most Dungeons & Dragons world are almost universally evil, yet the ones from Zendikar are more complex and not pigeon-holed into any alignment. A Blade that exists in a world of evil vampires could easily fall into Neutral Good, but worlds with more complex vampires mighওඣt push him into Neutral or even Evil alignments.
Blade's Strategies And Roleplay
The Zendikar vampires can be used as an excuse for Blade's attributes being different from the c🐠reated vampires in most settings. Like the comic incarnation, his backstory can involve having a vampire feasting on his mother while she gave birth, passing on some of its attributes to him. This could be reason enough for his hatred of vampires and would be all of the motive he needs to take up the sword and become a hunter. Blade might have suited being a ranger with undead as his favored enemy, but their access to magical abilities goes against the concept we're going for. The Monster Slayer archetype is more focused on damage dealing, wh⛄ich can be coupled with the use of anti-vampire weapons and strategies.
One of the most broken aspects of the Zendikar vampires is their Blood Thirst ability, which allows them to create zombies by draining their blood. Vampire: The Masquerade players will recognize the potential for abuse with this strategy, as it allows players to flood the field with undead allies. When it comes to creating a Blade-style character in Dungeons & Dragons, his character arc can involve resisting the use of this ability. A D&D version of Blade who despises his own heritage and seeks to slay all vampires due to the crimes of the one who infected him as a child would make for an interesting character, especially if he discovers things aren't always as black and white as they seem. A commoner who only learns about vampires through myths and warnings could easily believe that they're irredeemably evil and should be destroyed, but the discovery of a vampire who is not as wicked as thꦉe legends suggest could be a huge ဣturning point for Blade and cause him to question his life up until that point.
Either that, or you could throw him into Curse of Strahd with aꦡ sword and stak⭕e crossbow and let him go to town on the undead residents of Barovia.
Source: ,