Template

The Grave-Touched Template (Dhampir)

Basic first import from the rulebook — text and tables are in place; formatting is still being refined and design/RP notes may still be visible. Corrections welcome.

Template Cost: 11–13 RP (depending on Base Race vision tier)

Prerequisite: Any Humanoid race with 10 RP or less.

History & Origins

The Grave-Touched are the progeny of romance or tragedy between the living and the undead—specifically vampires. They are not undead themselves, but they stand in the twilight between life and death: mortal enough to walk in sunlight, yet touched deeply enough by the grave that their bodies reject the healing warmth of positive energy. They tend toward pallor, an unnatural and unsettling beauty, and the faint elongation of their canine teeth.

Grave-Touched exist in two worlds and belong fully to neither. Among the living they must conceal their nature to survive, and so they become expert observers of mortal behavior—watching, cataloguing, and mimicking the social rhythms of those around them. Among the undead they are seen as a curiosity at best and a failed creation at worst. This liminal existence breeds self-reliance and a certain cold perceptiveness that those who know them find deeply unsettling.

Creating a Grave-Touched Character

Choose a Base Race. Retain all traits of that race except where the template specifies otherwise, then apply the following modifications.

1. Type (2 RP)

Humanoid (Dhampir): You retain your base race’s type and subtypes but gain the Dhampir subtype in addition. You are still considered a Humanoid for all game effects.
Design Note: Unlike the Hell-, Heaven-, and Element-Touched templates, the Grave-Touched does not become a Native Outsider. The Dhampir is a creature of flesh and mortality, not of planes. Gaining the subtype costs 2 RP; it enables interactions with effects that specifically target or detect Dhampirs without altering any of the benefits or immunities of the Humanoid type.

2. Defensive Traits (3 RP)

Undead Resistance: You gain a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against disease and mind-affecting effects.
Resist Level Drain: You take no ability penalties from energy drain effects. You can still be slain if you accumulate more negative levels than you have Hit Dice, but you do not suffer any secondary penalties while negative levels persist.

3. Senses & Vision Discount (Variable RP)

The Grave-Touched inherit the predatory senses of their vampiric lineage. The cost of this block depends on what vision the base race already possesses.

Standard Cost (3 RP): If your base race has Normal Vision, you gain Darkvision 60 ft. and Low-Light Vision. This dual-sight is unique to the Grave-Touched among all templates in this document and reflects the vampiric inheritance more fully than a simple vision upgrade.
Discounted Cost (1 RP): If your base race has Low-Light Vision, you gain Darkvision 60 ft. The Low-Light Vision is retained.
Free Cost (0 RP): If your base race already possesses Darkvision, you gain no additional benefit from this block and its cost is reduced to 0 RP.

Design Note: The Free vision tier is permitted but not recommended. A base race with existing Darkvision gains nothing from this block, reducing the template’s effective value and lowering its total to 10 RP rather than the standard 11–13 RP range.

4. Magic Racial Traits (1 RP)

Grave Sense (Sp): You can use detect undead three times per day as a spell-like ability. The caster level for this ability equals your character level.

5. Ability Score Modifiers (2 RP)

Vampiric Heritage: +2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, –2 Constitution. Apply these modifiers in addition to your base race’s ability score modifiers.
Design Note: The Grave-Touched are graceful and magnetically compelling, but their half-dead physiology is fragile. The Constitution penalty reflects a body that does not heal or sustain itself quite like a living creature.

6. Skill Racial Traits (4 RP)

Shadow & Study: You gain a +2 racial bonus on Stealth checks and a +2 racial bonus on Sense Motive checks.
Design Note: The Grave-Touched must pass as living creatures in mortal society. They develop an instinctive talent for moving unseen and an obsessive ability to read the living—watching faces, measuring reactions, cataloguing the social performances that keep them alive. Stealth is the predator’s tool; Sense Motive is the survivor’s.

7. Weaknesses (–2 RP total)

Negative Energy Affinity (–1 RP): Your body responds to energy the way an undead creature does. Positive energy (such as cure spells and channeled positive energy) harms you. Negative energy (such as inflict spells and channeled negative energy) heals you.
Light Sensitivity (–1 RP): You are dazzled in areas of bright sunlight or within the radius of a daylight spell.

Balance Note — Negative Energy Affinity: This trait carries one of the most significant in-play costs of any racial weakness in this document. In most parties, positive-energy healing is the primary recovery method; a Grave-Touched character is damaged by every standard cure spell cast on them. Players choosing this template should coordinate with their party on alternative healing options (inflict wands, channeled negative energy, alchemical healing, fast healing items, etc.). The –2 RP total weakness cost reflects this severity.

Racial Point Summary

Free Vision Tier: A Darkvision base race costs 10 RP total (Senses block = 0 RP). This falls outside the standard 11–13 RP range and is not recommended. See Section 3 above.

Sample Grave-Touched Characters

The Pale Stalker (Halfling Dhampir)

Base: Halfling (9 RP) + Template (13 RP — Standard vision) = 22 RP total

The Grave-Rat (Goblin Dhampir)

Base: Goblin (10 RP) + Template (10 RP — Free vision tier) = 20 RP total

Favored Class Options

Note: The Grave-Touched template does not provide its own Favored Class Options. Characters use whichever Favored Class Options their base race provides. The template modifies the body; it does not replace the cultural and vocational inheritance of the race underneath.