Checking Out the Vampire Familiar

 Among the monster "families" getting a big expansion in the new Monster Manual, Vampires are feasting, so to speak.

From just the Vampire Spawn and Vampire classic (and variant options for the latter) in 2014, the new MM is bringing us a stat block for the midpoint between those (which makes me wonder if it'll be similar to Van Richten's Nosferatu, perhaps with a changed name just to make it easier to find?) as well as a higher-level Vampire Nightlord, which I believe will be a bit like a redesigned "warrior vampire."

But at the very bottom of the Vampire spectrum is a creature that isn't even a vampire themselves - the Vampire Familiar.

The trope is an old and well-established one. While his role in the actual, original novel is quite different, in the Bela Lugosi movie and subsequent adaptations, the disturbed mental patient Renfield is depicted as an enthralled, mind-controlled slave to Dracula. Because vampires (especially post-Lugosi, though it's there in the novel, and certainly in Dracula's lesbian predecessor which we probably all need to talk way more about, Carmilla - seriously, Stoker likely wrote Dracula in order to "correct" the subversion of traditional gender roles and explicit homosexuality in that earlier novel, which is a funny goal for a man who was likely gay, but hey, it was the 19th century) are seductive, a big part of the trope is that people will serve them in the hopes of being turned into one.

This trope goes all the way up to recent, comedic stories, such as Guillermo in the What We Do in the Shadows tv show that ended recently.

That show, and its predecessor mockumentary feature, have a ton of fun with this concept, where there's an entire subculture of familiars who are near-universally being strung along by selfish vampires who don't actually want to transform them but just want a servant who will do anything they ask. (Guillermo, being part of the core cast, has probably the broadest character arc.)

Still, there's a vibe here: the Familiar isn't really anything special or supernatural. But they're devoted to a being of darkness and death, and have often rationalized their heinous behavior if they aren't out-and-out under the Vampire's thrall.

In particular, the familiar is often tasked with fetching victims for their master. Mechanically (and we'll get into the mechanics eventually) this is reflected in the Familiar's non-lethal weapon, the Umbral Dagger, which makes it easier for them to subdue a victim in a way that can still leave them "fresh" for the master to drink.

Because they're humanoid, Vampire Familiars will not automatically set off any alarm bells when, say, the Paladin pops Divine Sense. They could easily fit into any settled environment, posing either as a harmless passer-through or even as a member of the community.

Here's how I would best imagine a Familiar operating:

No Familiar is going to be there without a Vampire. So, we need to think of where our Vampire is. It's possible that the Familiar is posing as a traveler and happens to have a massive trunk that is actually a coffin filled with grave soil and their master. The Familiar sneaks down into the ship's hold (if traveling by sea) with victims to feed to the master, but could be posing as just a wealthy person who would have reason to be traveling with a big-ass trunk.

Alternatively, if the Vampire has a lair like a big castle, the Familiar might make rounds to the surrounding villages, picking off victims who are on their own.

Strahd 100% has people like this (there are likely some NPCs in Curse of Strahd who would fit the bill, but I don't know them off the top of my head,) and would use them to try to find and bring him the various reincarnations of Tatyana.

For players, I think we start off with a mystery: people have been going missing, and there's a fear that there's some monster on the loose around town, but no one has seen it. The reason they haven't seen it, of course, is that it's not a "monster" per se, but someone in town.

Now, you'll run into a couple issues: the Familiar is not proficient with Deception. They are quite sneaky - actually having expertise in Stealth. They do have proficiency in Persuasion, though I'll confess I never quite know what to do with this - players are going to believe what they're going to believe most of the time. Instead, I think the better possibility is if they wind up contested Persuasion checks against the party in trying to convince an NPC of something. Say the party accuses them of kidnapping victims to the local magistrate. But our Familiar is a member of the village community, whereas the party are outsiders. I mean, surely you wouldn't believe this drivel! Besides, Old Eagan has been known to go drinking in the woods. Perhaps he passed out there and is simply lost? Indeed, isn't it suspicious that these sell-swords have jumped so quickly to accusations of abduction?

At CR 3, they're in an interesting place, challenge-wise. Against a level 1 party, they're deadly - or would be, if their attacks were lethal. A level 1 party could take one down if they got very lucky, but with 65 HP, I think the Familiar has the edge. However, an unbalanced encounter early on could actually be fantastic: Have the Familiar wipe out the entire party, only for them to awaken, bound in some subterranean crypt or old ruin, where the vampire villain perhaps wants them not to feed on them, but to pursue some other agenda (could even be a way for the party to first meet what becomes a dark group patron!) Or perhaps they awaken in a vampire's lair as their first dungeon - the goal being to find their way out before the vampire gets home!

The Familiar is immune to being charmed except by their Vampire master (it doesn't state that they are permanently charmed by them, but I feel like I'd treat them as such unless the party manages to prevail upon them and convince them to do a heel-face turn - which could then get undone when the Vampire uses a charm on them). The Vampire and Familiar can also communicate telepathically while on the same plane of existence, with the Vampire able to perceive through the Familiar's senses (in other words, somewhat like the Find Familiar spell, actually).

Of course, the headliner ability here is Umbral Dagger, which they get two attacks with. They also carry 10 daggers, so if they throw one, they'll have 9 left. The dagger deals normal piercing (1d4+3) and then 3d4 Necrotic damage. If this reduces the target to 0 HP, they become Stable and Poisoned for one hour, and while the Poison persists, they're Paralyzed.

So, that's interesting: even if you heal a downed ally, until you can clear that poison, they'll still be paralyzed. In other words, it's really not great to go down to this weapon, even if it won't kill you.

The nonlethal nature of the weapon also makes this an enemy that's safe to throw against a too-low-level party, though at CR 3, "too low" is probably just 1 or maybe, maybe 2.

Familiars get a bonus action called "Deathless Agility," which allows them to Dash or Disengage. Here, as soon as a CR 3 adversary is no longer an overwhelming threat to the party, the Familiar should use hit and run tactics, and honestly just "run" tactics. After all, they don't want to die in their master's service - they want to become a vampire and live forever!

Interestingly, Vampire Familiars have a climb speed. While not the uncanny spider climb that true vampires have, I see this as a means for a familiar to break into peoples' bedrooms. One of their massive advantages that their masters don't have is that they do not need to be invited into a home in order to enter it. They're also fairly strong (which they'll need to be in order to drag unconscious bodies around) which could help them break into places.

So yeah, I think that, especially after very low levels, this isn't going to be a total battlefield gamechanger of a stat block. But I feel like this will be a really potent NPC, doing their dirty work outside of combat. They might never even target the party, and only go for NPCs, doing little more than trying to escape if discovered (indeed, the Umbral Dagger could help as an escape tactic - paralyze one of your pursuers and force them to either abandon their party member or let you go).