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Vampire Familiar 5e: The Vampire's Living Servant
A vampire familiar is a CR 3 Humanoid servant of a vampire, new in the 2024 rules (SRD 5.2.1), with AC 15, 65 hit points and two Umbral Dagger attacks a turn. Its daggers don't kill. A creature they drop to 0 hit points becomes Stable but is Poisoned for an hour and Paralyzed for as long as it stays Poisoned, which makes the familiar a kidnapper. It's alive, so sunlight, running water and Turn Undead don't touch it, and its master can see and hear through it from anywhere on the same plane.
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Vampire Familiar Stat Block (2024)
There is no 2014 SRD vampire familiar. It serves the vampire and works alongside vampire spawn. DM ruling, not rules text: at a 2014 table it still fits next to the 2014 vampire, because Stable, Poisoned and Paralyzed exist in both editions.
Vampire Familiar
Medium or Small Humanoid, Neutral Evil
Armor Class 15
Initiative +5 (15)
Hit Points 65 (10d8 + 20)
Speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft.
STR
17 (+3)save +3
DEX
16 (+3)save +5
CON
15 (+2)save +2
INT
10 (+0)save +0
WIS
10 (+0)save +2
CHA
14 (+2)save +2
Skills Perception +4, Persuasion +4, Stealth +7
Resistances necrotic
Immunities Charmed
Gear Daggers (10)
Senses Darkvision 60 ft.; Passive Perception 14
Languages Common plus one other language
Challenge 3 (XP 700; PB +2)
Traits
Vampiric Connection.While the familiar and its vampire master are on the same plane of existence, the vampire can communicate with the familiar telepathically, and the vampire can perceive through the familiar’s senses.
Actions
Multiattack.The familiar makes two Umbral Dagger attacks.
Umbral Dagger.Melee or Ranged Attack Roll: +5, reach 5 ft. or range 20/60 ft. Hit: 5 (1d4 + 3) Piercing damage plus 7 (3d4) Necrotic damage. If the target is reduced to 0 Hit Points by this attack, the target becomes Stable but has the Poisoned condition for 1 hour. While it has the Poisoned condition, the target has the Paralyzed condition.
Bonus Actions
Deathless Agility.The familiar takes the Dash or Disengage action.
Stat block from the SRD 5.2.1 (2024 rules) by Wizards of the Coast, licensed under CC-BY-4.0. Check an encounter with this monster in the encounter calculator.
The numbers that matter:
•Umbral Dagger: +5, melee or thrown 20/60 feet, 5 piercing plus 7 necrotic, 12 a hit. Two a turn. Against AC 16 each hits half the time, about 12 damage a round. It carries ten daggers.
•Deathless Agility: Dash or Disengage as a bonus action. It can stab twice and walk away without opportunity attacks, or cover 60 feet (climbing included) in a turn.
•Stealth +7, Persuasion +4: it's built to get close, by sneaking or by talking.
•Vampiric Connection: its master can talk to it telepathically and perceive through its senses while both are on the same plane.
•Defenses: resistance to necrotic damage, and immunity to the Charmed condition except from its vampire master.
How Vampire Familiars Fight
It takes prisoners. When an Umbral Dagger drops a target to 0, the target is Stable, so it isn't dying, but it's Poisoned for 1 hour and Paralyzed the whole time it's Poisoned. A Paralyzed creature is also Incapacitated. That matters, because the 2024 vampire's and vampire spawn's Bite targets a creature that is willing or Grappled, Incapacitated or Restrained. The familiar delivers meals.
It works by day. Its master has to avoid the sun; the familiar has no Sunlight weakness. It runs errands, buys silence, watches the party at the inn and reports everything through the Vampiric Connection.
Hit and fade. Two daggers, then Disengage, then climb 30 feet up a wall. It stays in range for thrown daggers next turn while melee characters look for stairs.
Carry, don't fight. If a target drops, the familiar picks it up and Dashes. Strength 17 gives it a carrying capacity of 255 pounds (Strength × 15), enough for most Medium characters and their gear.
Running a Vampire Familiar Encounter
A vampire familiar is worth 700 XP. Using the 2024 SRD 5.2.1 budget for four characters:
•Hold Person works. It's a Humanoid with Wisdom save +2. Hold Person paralyzes it on a failed save. Charm Person doesn't work: it's immune to Charmed except from its master.
•Don't use anti-undead tools. It isn't Undead, so Turn Undead does nothing and sunlight doesn't hurt it. Necrotic damage is halved.
•End the Poisoned condition. The paralysis lasts only while the victim is Poisoned. Lesser Restoration ends Poisoned, and the paralysis goes with it. Healing alone wakes the victim but leaves them Paralyzed.
•Remember who's listening. Anything said near the familiar may reach its master. Capturing one and interrogating it is a good plan, if the party remembers to blindfold and gag it.
Vampire Familiar Encounter Ideas
The helpful clerk. The town archivist who keeps finding the party what they need is a vampire familiar, reading their notes for her master. The first sign: a party member's research disappears the night they find the vampire's name.
Rooftop kidnapping. A familiar drops the party's patron with two daggers in a crowded market and climbs onto the roofs with the body. The patron stays Paralyzed for up to an hour, and the vampire wakes at sunset.
The bargain at the door. A familiar meets the party at the crypt entrance with an offer from its master: leave by dawn and the hostage lives. The vampire is watching through its eyes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a vampire familiar undead?
No. It's a Medium or Small Humanoid, neutral evil, with no sunlight or running-water weaknesses.
Is the vampire familiar in the 2014 rules?
Not in the SRD. It appears in SRD 5.2.1 (2024). The 2014 SRD's vampire servants are the vampire spawn.
Is this the same as the Find Familiar spell?
No. Find Familiar summons a spirit in animal form for a spellcaster. The vampire familiar is a living Humanoid that serves a vampire.
What happens when a vampire familiar drops you to 0 hit points?
If its Umbral Dagger drops you to 0, you become Stable instead of dying, but you're Poisoned for 1 hour and Paralyzed while Poisoned. Ending the Poisoned condition, for example with Lesser Restoration, ends the paralysis.
Stat blocks: System Reference Document 5.2.1 (2024), Wizards of the Coast, CC-BY-4.0. Tactics, encounter math and ideas are Loreify's own.
This page includes material from the System Reference Document 5.1 and 5.2.1 by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Loreify is not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast.