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Madfox11 wrote:

Doesn't part of the article say that dhampyrs could also result just because the person or the person's parrents live in an area infused with dark energies from Shadowfell? Why focus all that much on the vampire origin?

In any event, dhampyr is legal. Hence PCs can be clerics of Kalemvor who are dhampyrs and killing them on sight would fall under the RPGAs code of conduct for DMs. Treating them with mistrust is fine, and in fact, should be expected. Making it impossible for them to be played is not.

Pieter Sleijpen
RPGA LFR Global Administrator

If they are legal (never mind the fact that they go against the Lore completely) I will simply not play with such a character at the table. I'd get up and leave. I'd also ask to be excused from DMing such a character. I have principles. It seems other people, who are more interested in playing Angel Ripoffs, don't.

(never mind the fact that they go against the Lore completely)

Once again, where's the lore? Here's some relevant lore.

Undeath is an affront to Kelemvor. Undead creatures are to be destroyed or given true death whenever they are met with, and even sought out and hunted down for that holy purpose.

Clerics of Kelemvor consider all undead abominations, and do whatever they can to put them to eternal rest. They contend that those who create undead are fit only for swift and utter destruction.

Undeath—the most blasphemous of abominations. Demons are born what they are, but to tether the spirit of the departed to a rotting shell or anchor it in the world with hate and misery—there is no greater evil in the world. It is up to you to set the souls of the wretched undead free, and send them on to Kelemvor’s waiting judgment. You send these wayward souls to their final reward, so they can pass into eternity as Kelemvor intends.

Yes, the Church of Kelemvor is anti-undead. Without a doubt. However...

Dhampyrs are mortal.

Prerequisite: Living humanoid race

Despite the powers they can share in common with vampires, dhampyrs are not undead.

So once again, what lore slaying? Kelemvor is anti-undead, but Dhampyr's are not undead. So on what basis would Kelemvor or his church be anti-dhampyr? Here's some more lore.

Kelemvor has made no official statement to single out good-aligned undead creatures as an exception to his policy, though specific temples and individuals often take only lenient action against or ignore such creatures in the field, preferring to concentrate their efforts on those creatures of obvious malevolent intent or who are likely to quickly multiply.

Wait, wait, wait, what?!? So the Church of Kelemvor has... *gasp* ...been MERCIFUL towards good undead? Wow, who knew? And yet somehow we're expected to believe that they'd be absolutely ruthless to creatures who aren't even undead?

Here's some more lore for you.

Undeath is an affront to Kelemvor. Undead creatures are to be destroyed or given true death whenever they are met with, and even sought out and hunted down for that holy purpose. Priests of Kelemvor are free to hire or take as companions folk of other faiths to assist them in this purpose, for the great sin of undeath must be stamped out by whatever means possible.

Members of the clergy tend to be taciturn, even morose at times. Many came to the church after losing loves ones to undead incursions...

Kelemvorite clergy sometimes declare crusades against the undead or against creatures deemed to have caused to much untimely death. Occasionally, this leads them to employ adventurers to solve problems with which they cannot contend alone.

Coupled with the ability to recognize those of vampire blood, dhampyr make effective vampire slayers. These avenging heroes, however, seldom limit themselves to solely hunting vampires. They are equally adept at tracking and slaying several forms of undead...

With the innate ability to sniff out the undead, you have dedicated your life to the stalking and slaying of such abominations. Perhaps the calling of this vocation was passed down from your parents as a macabre tradition. Maybe vengeance has motivated you to slay the unliving. Perhaps you’ve turned your birthright into an asset that allows you to protect those weaker than you.

First up, we see a whole bunch of commonalities, like a strong desire to destroy the undead. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, and all that. Then we see that the Church of Kelemvor has been known to hire out people to destroy the undead. And who better to do the job than someone who's both adept at tracking them, and with the motivation to destroy them?

Come to think of it, why DOES Kelemvor hate the undead?

Kelemvor is interested in having followers who recognize that death is but a part of life. It is not an end but a beginning, not a punishment but a necessity. There is no deceit in death, nothing concealed, nothing chaotic. Death is an orderly process.

Because of Kelemvor’s deep respect for both life and death, the undead enrage him.

The charge of Kelemvor to his novitiates is this: “Death is but part of life: fear it not, evade it not, and view it not as evil. To fear death delivers you into the hands of those who can bring death down upon you. Die with dignity, neither raging nor seeking to embrace undeath.

So we see he hates them because they disrupt the natural process of life and death. You're supposed to be born, grow old, and die. Undeath isn't supposed to be part of that cycle. That's why he hates undead, despite how wildly different they all are. He doesn't hate zombies because they eat brains. He hates them because they're undead. He doesn't hate Wights because they sap levels. He hates them because they're undead. And he doesn't hate vampires because they drink blood or turn into mist. He hates them because they're undead.

But blood drain, mist form, etc, the abilities that Kelemvor doesn't give a damn about, that's all the Dhampyr's inherited from the vampires. Nothing more. They're not undead in the slightest. They're born, just as every other mortal is born. They'll age, grow old, and die, just as every other mortal will age, grow old, and die. They're governed by natural processes, which makes Kelemvor automatically a fan of them. Sure, they're more longlived, but there isn't any lore with him having a problem with longlived races. He has no issues with Elves, Dwarves, or Eladrin due to their lifespans, because they're still governed by natural processes. They'll still grow old and die.

Undeath—the most blasphemous of abominations. Demons are born what they are, but to tether the spirit of the departed to a rotting shell or anchor it in the world with hate and misery—there is no greater evil in the world.

Kelemvor doesn't hate demons, because they're born what they are, and we're expected to believe that he'd hate Dhampyr's when A) They're not even undead, B) Are mortal, and C) When quite often their beliefs and interests coincide with his own? So I ask, where's the overriding bit of lore that proves indisputably that Kelemvor hates Dhampyr's? Where's the lore that shows that, where Kelemvorites have been known to be merciful to good undead, they're completely merciless to Dhampyr's? I'm anxious to see it.

I have principles. It seems other people, who are more interested in playing Angel Ripoffs, don't.

From the sound of it, your "principles" are just an excuse to justify your player prejudices, seeing as how you're already insulting anyone interested in playing a Dhampyr by claiming they want to play Angel rip-offs. You certainly haven't produced a single shred of lore to back up your assertion. So again I ask, where is the lore that states that Kelemvor hates a mortal race, any mortal race, as he does the undead? Where's the copious lore that states that someone coming into existence because of the undead is equally hated, despite not being undead? If it's a "fact" that it "goes against the lore completely", then by all means, show us where in the lore we can read this for ourselves.