Vampire Spawn 5e: Stats, the Grab-and-Bite, and How to Kill One

A vampire spawn is a CR 5 undead with AC 15, 82 hit points, Spider Climb, and a two-step attack: a claw that grapples, then a bite that drains the grappled target's hit point maximum and heals the spawn. In the 2014 rules it also regenerates 10 hit points every turn and resists bludgeoning, piercing and slashing from nonmagical attacks, which makes it a wall for a level 5 party without radiant damage or magic weapons. The 2024 rules (SRD 5.2.1) remove both of those, raise it to AC 16 and 90 hit points, and let it claw twice and bite in the same turn, so it hits harder but dies to ordinary steel.

Table of Contents

• •Vampire Spawn Stat Block (2014)
• •Vampire Spawn in the 2024 Rules
• •How Vampire Spawn Fight
• •Running a Vampire Spawn Encounter
• •How Players Beat Vampire Spawn
• •Vampire Spawn Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Vampire Spawn Stat Block (2014)

This is the SRD 5.1 vampire spawn, the same creature as in the 2014 Monster Manual.

Read the stat block from the bottom up. The bite only works on a creature that is willing, grappled by the spawn, incapacitated or restrained, and the claws can grapple instead of dealing damage (escape DC 13). Everything else exists to keep the spawn alive long enough to land that combination: Regeneration returns 10 hit points at the start of each of its turns, and resistance to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing from nonmagical attacks halves most of what a level 5 martial character deals.

The 2014 spawn also has to make a choice each turn. Its Multiattack is two attacks, only one of which can be a bite, so the options are two claws, or one claw plus one bite. A claw used to grapple deals no damage.

Vampire Spawn in the 2024 Rules

The 2024 spawn (SRD 5.2.1) keeps the theme and changes almost every number around it.

What those changes mean at the table:

• •It no longer needs magic weapons to hurt. A level 5 fighter with a plain longsword deals full damage to the 2024 spawn. The 2014 spawn takes half.
• •It no longer out-heals the party. Without Regeneration, damage sticks. The only healing left is the bite, which restores hit points equal to the necrotic damage it deals.
• •The bite is a saving throw, not an attack roll. AC doesn't protect against it. A grappled character with a poor Constitution save is the one in trouble.
• •It can run. Deathless Agility lets it Disengage after biting and climb up a wall or across the ceiling, out of melee reach.
• •The stake works in combat. The 2014 stake only works in the spawn's resting place. The 2024 version only needs the spawn to be Incapacitated, which a cleric's Turn Undead can cause. See the counters section below.

How Vampire Spawn Fight

A spawn is built to isolate one target and feed on it. Play it that way and it feels like a vampire. Play it as a brawler that trades blows with the fighter and it's a 90 hit point sack.

Pick the soft target. A spawn has Stealth +6, darkvision and Spider Climb. It starts the fight on the ceiling or high on a wall, above the light, and drops onto the wizard or cleric rather than the plate-armored front line. Grappled creatures have Speed 0, so once the claw lands the victim is pinned in place.

2014 turn by turn. The 2014 spawn spends its first turn setting up: one claw to grapple, then a bite if the grapple landed. Against AC 16 (a wizard with Mage Armor and Dexterity 16), the +6 claw hits on a 10 or better, 55% of the time. So turn one is weak, about 4 expected damage. From turn two the grappled target eats a claw and a bite every round: 0.55 × 8 + 0.55 × 13 = about 11.5 damage, with each bite also lowering their hit point maximum by about 7 and healing the spawn by the same amount. Add 10 from Regeneration and the spawn recovers about 14 hit points per round while it feeds.

2024 turn by turn. The 2024 spawn claws twice, and each hit both deals damage and grapples. At least one of two claws hits AC 16 about 80% of the time. Then it uses Bite on the grappled target: a DC 14 Constitution save, and a typical caster with +2 Constitution fails on 11 or lower, 55% of the time. That's 0.55 × 8 × 2 = 8.8 claw damage, plus about 0.8 × 0.55 × 15 = 6.6 bite damage, about 15 per round from the first turn, with roughly 4 hit points of self-healing a round. It's more damage up front and less staying power than the 2014 version.

Drag the victim. A grappler can drag a grappled creature, at half speed (each foot of movement costs an extra foot). In 2024 a spawn that has its prey can pull it 15 feet back into the dark, away from the healer, and finish it next round. In 2014 the dragging rule is the same.

Leave when it goes wrong. Spawn are servants, not suicide troops. When one drops under a third of its hit points, have it climb out of reach and retreat toward its master. A 2024 spawn Disengages as a bonus action, so it walks away without provoking. A 2014 spawn simply waits on the ceiling and regenerates 10 a round until it's back to fighting shape. Players learn fast that a spawn that leaves the fight will come back.

Mind the weaknesses. A spawn won't follow the party into running water (20 acid damage if it ends its turn there), won't cross a threshold uninvited, and avoids sunlight, where it takes 20 radiant damage at the start of each turn and has Disadvantage on attacks. A fight at dusk has a hard clock: at sunrise the spawn must be indoors.

Running a Vampire Spawn Encounter

The spawn is a mid-level threat. At CR 5 it's a solo boss for a level 4 party and a lieutenant for level 5 to 8. Under the 2024 rules, the XP budget per character is 500 / 750 / 1,100 (Low / Moderate / High) at level 5 and 750 / 1,300 / 1,700 at level 7.

The 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide guidelines, which our encounter calculator uses, put one spawn (1,800 XP) at Easy for four level 5 characters (the Medium threshold is 2,000): the party thresholds are 1,000 Easy, 2,000 Medium, 3,000 Hard and 4,400 Deadly. Two spawn are 3,600 XP, multiplied by 1.5 for a pair, which is 5,400: past Deadly.

The XP math understates the 2014 spawn against a party with no magic weapons and no radiant damage. Resistance plus 10 hit points of Regeneration means the party has to deal 20 nonmagical damage a round just to cancel one spawn's healing. If your level 5 party has neither a +1 weapon nor a cleric, use one spawn, not two.

Pairings that work:

• •With its master. A vampire at CR 13 with two or three spawn is a classic finale for a level 11 to 13 party. The spawn grapple; the vampire bites.
• •With swarms. A spawn hiding among swarms of bats or rats makes the party waste attacks on the swarm while the spawn picks someone off.
• •With mortals. Charmed servants, a household of thugs or cultists, give the party something to fight in daylight while the spawn sleeps.

How Players Beat Vampire Spawn

Check your edition first. The counters differ more than the stat blocks.

• •Radiant damage (2014). Radiant damage or holy water switches off Regeneration for one turn. A cleric with Guiding Bolt or Spirit Guardians (radiant if the caster is good or neutral in 2014) cancels 10 points of healing every round it lands. Holy water in 2014 is a ranged improvised-weapon attack that deals 2d6 radiant to undead.
• •Magic weapons (2014). Any magic weapon ignores the resistance. Spells that deal fire, cold, lightning, force or radiant damage do full damage.
• •Sunlight. In the 2024 rules Daylight creates real sunlight, so a level 5 cleric, druid or sorcerer (or a level 9 paladin or ranger) can fill a 60-foot-radius sphere with it. A spawn that starts its turn there takes 20 radiant damage and has Disadvantage on attack rolls. In the 2014 rules, Daylight is only bright light and does not count as sunlight.
• •Don't get grabbed. The bite only works on grappled, incapacitated, restrained or willing targets. Escape the grapple with an action (Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) against DC 13), or have an ally knock the spawn away. A character who escapes on their turn is safe from the bite until the next claw lands.
• •Turn Undead. The spawn's Wisdom save is +3. Against a level 5 cleric's DC 14 it fails on 10 or lower, about half the time. A turned spawn runs, which splits a group of spawn apart.
• •The 2024 stake. In the 2024 rules, Turn Undead gives the Frightened and Incapacitated conditions, and Stake to the Heart only needs a piercing weapon driven into the heart while the spawn is Incapacitated. Read strictly, a turned 2024 spawn can be destroyed by a fighter with a spear. The catch: turning ends early if the spawn takes any damage, and the SRD doesn't say whether the stake's own hit breaks the turning before the stake counts. Settle that ruling before the session, not mid-fight. From level 5, a 2024 cleric's Sear Undead adds radiant damage to Turn Undead, and that damage explicitly does not end the turning.
• •Running water and thresholds. Ending a turn in running water costs it 20 acid damage, and it can't enter a home uninvited. A party that fights from a stream or a friendly farmhouse picks where the spawn can reach.

What doesn't work: Hold Person and Charm Person target Humanoids, and the spawn is Undead. On the other hand it has no condition immunities at all, so anything that restrains or frightens it works normally, and a restrained spawn can't climb away.

Vampire Spawn Encounter Ideas

The new widow. A miller's wife was found dead last week, buried in the churchyard, and has been seen at her own kitchen window since. She's a spawn, and her master told her to wait inside the house she was invited into decades ago. The party has to deal with her without burning down a building the miller still lives in. She remembers him, and might be talked into leaving her master if someone offers her a way out.

The ferry crossing. A ferry crosses a fast river at night. Two spawn ride it, clinging to the underside of the hull out of sight. They can't stand in running water, so they need the boat, and the boat needs a ferryman. Halfway across, they climb over the rail. The party who figures out the trick can sink the ferry.

The bell tower. A spawn has fed on a village for a month by climbing the church tower and coming in through the roof. The villagers ring the bell at dawn. Someone has cut the rope. If the party can get the bell ringing before sunrise, the spawn has to break off and run for shelter, and the party can follow its trail to the crypt where it sleeps.

If the spawn gets away and returns three sessions later, it helps to have a record of who it bit and what it said. Loreify can record your sessions and keep track of the NPCs and monsters the party met.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is a vampire spawn in 5e?

A vampire spawn is CR 5 (1,800 XP) in both the 2014 and 2024 rules. It has AC 15 and 82 hit points in 2014, and AC 16 and 90 hit points in 2024.

Does a vampire spawn have regeneration?

The 2014 vampire spawn regains 10 hit points at the start of each of its turns unless it's in sunlight or running water, or it took radiant damage or holy-water damage since its last turn. The 2024 vampire spawn has no Regeneration trait; its only healing comes from its bite.

Is a vampire spawn resistant to nonmagical weapons?

In the 2014 rules, yes: it resists bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage from nonmagical attacks, plus necrotic damage. In the 2024 rules it only resists necrotic damage.

How do you kill a vampire spawn permanently?

Reducing it to 0 hit points destroys it like any other monster. Stake to the Heart is a second option: in 2014 it needs a wooden piercing weapon driven into its heart while it's incapacitated in its resting place, and in 2024 any piercing weapon works while it has the Incapacitated condition.

What is the difference between a vampire and a vampire spawn?

A vampire is a CR 13 legendary undead with shapechanging, a charm, and legendary actions. A vampire spawn is a CR 5 servant created when a vampire kills a Humanoid with its bite and the body is buried. The spawn is under the vampire's control and lacks its master's legendary actions and forms.

Can a vampire spawn climb walls?

Yes. Spider Climb lets it climb difficult surfaces, including across ceilings, without an ability check, in both editions.

Stat blocks: System Reference Document 5.1 (2014) and 5.2.1 (2024), Wizards of the Coast, CC-BY-4.0. Tactics, encounter math and ideas are Loreify's own.