Is it possible to play a vampire in a fantasy setting without being a huge edgelord?

If vampirism acted like a disease, then yes. I don't think you can create a vampire character when vampire is a race without being an edgy boy though. Also, you could just make a gerps world where you could be a vampire and live like a normal person.

Drain bad guys, snack on allies during downtime (with permission), wear heavy cloaks at day.

Any system worth its salt would include all those cool folklore weaknesses vampires have like forbiddance, aversions to running water, and shriveling in the sun. These weaknesses are what make battling an enemy vampire fun for the players. Navigating and accomodating these weaknesses is a fuckin nightmare for a PLAYER vampire, though, and for their party.

Like, damn, guess the party can never go in the sunlight again or else Dave the Weirdly Pale Rogue will spontaneously combust.

The best you can do is to be, like, Blade.

>>Pic related

What if everyone in the party was vampires and all questing and stuff happened at night? Surely you can find enough inspiration in fiction for heroic vampires even if someone wants to be good.

You can have them do the leper act. I mean a vampire can be a convincing leper during the day. Unable to show their face in daylight as they wear an armor mask or a tattered cloak, the face of puny men turning pale after an encounter with the vampire in daylight. At night theh go from hated and despised to feared and respected as their powers are put to good use.

Being a Vampire would realistically require a bit of homebrew DM fiat to make it less inhibiting. Instead of instant death to sunlight, just makes sunlight weaken you, -2 to stats, -3 to saving throws, can't use your vampire powers under sunlight, all skill checks suffer a penalty. You could mitigate this with something like a heavy cloak and hat combo but still be weaker under the sun.
You don't inherently have to be evil as a vampire, although your character shouldn't be a goody two shoes either. A certain callousness should be mandatory if you want to play a real fucking vampire.

I would also say you should tone down on the vampire's abilities at a base level. Start as a Fledgling, you can't Polymorph into a bat, you don't have Spider Climb or Regeneration or Legendary Resistance and your Mist form can only be used once per day. Overall just make your character begin as a slightly more agile and stronger human that is a leper on the verge of death in direct sunlight.
+1 to all climbing and dexterity saves, and maybe 1 better AC. By the time you hit level 7 maybe return most if not all the standard vampire powers.

>Pic related

Totally is possible. Play one in Discworld, play up the edgelord. Make them an insufferably depressing megagoth whom even other vampires think takes it way to seriously.

Look, if you're playing discworld, you can easily play a good vampire. You even get to dom qt13 werewolf girls who are natural subs

...

was it ever explained why female vampires lose their clothing when they turn into a bat cloud on discworld but male ones don't

Magic.

Sure, why not? You may need to muck about with rules a bit, like the always evil stuff in the D&D games. Or just play a Lawful Evil vampire knight or something and go out swinging side by side with the paladin and the knight mecause this is what chivalry is about. Maybe something like BRIAN BLESSED's Richard IV in Blackadder.

Or go full Genevieve Dieudonne.

Vampires are shit, don't even bring them up

>Men, the polite ones, at least, call me a monster. A blood-drinking freak.

that's the how

>give the vampire pc an enchanted flask that slowly refills itself with fresh blood so your character can only use it once a day
>give your vampire pc a fantasy themed gimp suit, like a Plague Doctor outfit, so never comes into direct contact with sunlight
>find a deity that is all about lawful neutral. The diety doesn't give a shit if your pc is dead or alive. So long as they don't go out of their way to be an ass and always follow the laws the diety set down. Thus there is always at least ONE temple the vampire pc can enter into for healing and shit without bursting into flames.

You are an idiot, if you are drawing on RL folklore then there is a HUGE amount of folklore to draw on, most of it contradicting itself.

For instance, there is a type of vampire that is completely head less, it rides around on a decapitated horse, carrying it's own head that shines like a light house. Whenever a mortal sees it, it throws a bucket of blood all over them.

The only way to protect yourself from this vampire is with gold.

Does that sound like the kind of creature anyone in this thread is looking for?

What is this, a picture for ants?

Play as a plauge doctor vampire, your covered head to toe for sunlight and you can take blood from the sick that have no hope of recovery. And if you deem a sick dude worthy you could give him the option of turning him. Cureing his disease and saving his life. Also drink from enemies or close allies if there's no other options.

What's the purpose of playing an undead blood drinking creature of the night if you don't want to be edgy? Like, why fucking bother?

This dudeson has a point here, I've got to admit

Bonus points if you have come up with a neat blood substitution
An addiction to friendship or shitty puns or something

>Then there's the problem of forcing the rest of the party to travel at night so you don't burst into flames.
Invent rubber. Boil it. Take a dip in it. Regenerate the wounds. You are now encased in a layer of sun-blocking material. As an additional bonus, it protects you from holy or running water as well.

I've played one that was turned against her will after being left for dead by the leech that drained her. Members of the party made it their goal to see her returned to her natural half-elven state, and started what turned into a well-run side story that the DM linked rather well to the main story.

The need for blood was handled by her buying potions of restoration and lesser restoration to heal the ability damage, and a party member volunteering some blood to keep her from going into a frenzy. She was hungry most of the time, and suffering penalties for it, but it was kept in check.

The vulnerability to sunlight was handled by wearing a gray, long hooded wool cloak over her armor. Made easier by the game taking place in what was essentially northern Not! Imperial Germany during a little ice age.

That she's an Imperial Ranger with a focus on fighting Undead and Aberrations makes it easier. I have the idea of getting a ring of sustenance and paying for the party Sorcerer to craft a sort of "Flask of Preservation" so that blood can be stored for a time, enabling her to keep fed and ready without having to bite someone.

Meier Link is a pretty awesome vampire.

Feels genuine love.

Can resist the urge to feed, even when on the brink of death.

Is willing to walk through blazing sunlight to save the HUMAN WOMAN that he loves with all his soul.

pic related

I'm letting two pcs play vampires in an upcoming out out the abyss campaign.

Custom template for it. May tweak it a bit more.

Underdark helps, and they're gonna be able to feed off of the mounts if they're careful. They may also feed on downed opponents.

Circumstancemods .blogspot. com

so basically he's pic related

and forgot image

Kinda.

Except Meier Link isn't a redeemed cuck.

He's still a vampire, he just hasn't become a haughty bastard, he wants peace between humans and vampires.

You could ask the DM to modify the setting so that there's an integrated vampire community, with magic blood banks and stuff. This would also make it less weird for your fellow PCs.

Also, if it's level-appropriate you could ask for the Daywalker spell to remove your sunlight weakness in exchange for most/all of your powers.

Characterwise, I take it you neither want to play a maniacal Dracula or a self-loathing Angel. Without me getting too creative, this leaves either any non-evil character who just happens to see their undead nature as a disability which they have to deal with *or* someone who relishes in the experience of being immortal without necessarily wanting to dominate others (I was myself thinking about making a pic-related Bloodmage who is a connoisseur of exotic blood.).

Jesus christ just cover yourself up if you ever have to go into the sun, with a hood or something.

Direct sunlight makes vampires burn, if you're covered you'll be alright (unless someone takes down your hood or you get your clothes torn while fighting, that is...)

Pretty much this, one of my campaigns had a dude that played a Vampire Loli, I was a Cleric, the session we found out the child was a vampire was not a huge amount of fun

All this BS while Dave Fant played one when D&D wasn't even released yet

That's an easy fix, just create a medieval gimp suit by weaving chainmail and cloth together or some shit.

>the classic style of vampire
You mean the ones that could travel in sunlight no problem. The whole bursting into flames in daylight deal is a Hollywood invention.