Review: Astarion’s Book of Hungers - Backgrounds, Feats & Sexy Vampire Fun

Art by Magali Villeneuve

Astarion’s Book of Hungers opens with a quick, charming introduction explaining how Astarion has partnered with a vampire hunter, trading his deepest secrets in exchange for protection from rival vampires. The entire book is sprinkled with Astarion’s personal inserts, many of which are (unsurprisingly) pretty horny.

Below is a breakdown of the book’s highlights: backgrounds, general feats, epic boons, player species, creatures, and the included "adventures".

Chapter 1: Vampiric Character Options

Backgrounds

Carouser

A fun, lighthearted background built around the idea that you’ve spent your life partying and… not much else. The origin feat Tireless Reveler can be powerful, and easily abused, if you coordinate with another player to also take it, allowing you to essentially farm Inspiration. Most tables will wisely agree to not do that, but it is an option.

Vampire Devotee

A standout background for players who want to adore, or despise vampires. The real value comes from the origin feat Vampire’s Plaything, which lets you create a free potion of healing or antitoxin each long rest and gives you Dash or Disengage as a bonus action a few times per rest. Any class would benefit from it. It also establishes a connection to your former vampire master, giving DMs a perfect narrative hook to play with.

Vampire Survivor

A more straightforward background, focused on someone who survived or witnessed a vampire attack, likely shaping them into a lifelong vampire-hater. The origin feat Vampire Hunter grants advantage when escaping nonmagical restraints and grapples, and once per rest you can reduce a sizable chunk of necrotic damage.

Personally, I hoped for a little more juice from a feat called Vampire Hunter. It plays more defensive than offensive which feels less exciting to me. Overall this is my least favorite of the new origin backgrounds.

General Feats

There are 10 total feats in this book, which is awesome. There is something in here for most people, but here are some of my standouts.

Cloying Mists

Allows you to summon a fog cloud that debuffs enemies and snuffs out flames. More flavorful than mechanically potent, but undeniably stylish.

Light Bringer

A must-have for any vampire hunter. Creating actual sunlight for an hour (without concentration!) is wildly strong. Vampires would be right to fear it.

Rebuke

Automatically knocking a creature prone when you deal radiant damage is a cleric/paladin dream combo.

Epic Boons

Overall, the three new epic boons are flavorful and seem pretty useful. Here are my thoughts:

Boon of Misty Escape

My personal favorite. Great for players wanting to emulate a vampire’s supernatural evasiveness. Added healing makes it the strongest of the three, in my opinion.

Boon of Blazing Dawn

Radiant immunity is fantastic, but by level 19 the ability to switch damage types isn’t as impactful as it would be earlier in a campaign.

Boon of Looming Shadows

Extremely thematic and, when paired with the right feats, can turn a PC into a shadowy, terrifying monster. Extending your melee attack range through shadows is spooky as hell. I like it enough that I may homebrew a lower-level version usable a few times per rest. You also gain Dodge as a bonus action really drives home the “creature of darkness” vibe.

The Dhampir

The Dhampir makes a return, looking very similar to its previous incarnation from Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft. You still get a 35 ft. walking speed, spider climb, and the iconic vampiric bite.

However, there are two notable changes:

• This version needs to breathe, unlike the VRGtR lineage version.

• You now gain resistance to necrotic damage, which is an excellent trade-off for the breathing requirement.

Overall, it’s a strong and flavorful species choice, especially for players wanting that “halfway to vampire” vibe without going full undead.

Chapter 2: Creatures of the Night

This chapter delivers a collection of stat blocks for both vampire and infernal creatures. Interestingly, for a vampire-themed book, there are some very solid devil entries, specifically the kind that make shady deals at crossroads. Notable inclusions:

• A powerful Vampire Infernalist stat block for Cazador (just in case you feel like killing him again).

• The Fiendish Icon, essentially a devilish gargoyle that's perfect for keeping your players paranoid about every statue in the city.

Overall there are only 5 new monsters, but each of them is a solid addition to the game.

Chapter 3: Adventures with Astarion

Family Outreach

This is less of a full adventure and more a chain of themed combat encounters. It provides just enough narrative justification for fights, but not much beyond that.

The Wayward Son

Similar to the previous entry, this primarily combat-focused scenario doesn’t fully qualify as an adventure on its own.

Rat’s Run Inn and Tavern

This is the redeeming quality for the earlier mentioned "adventures". Rat's Run Tavern is fully fleshed out including details about a fiendish owner and a surprisingly kind manager. There are secret rooms, loot and interesting NPC's. This is far more useful than the adventures mentioned in the book, but coupled together they provide a useful tool for dungeon masters looking for a quick Astarion themed session.

Overall Thoughts

Astarion’s Book of Hungers offers more value to players than DMs, which isn’t surprising given its focus. As a pure DM supplement, it lacks the depth to justify a standalone purchase. However, if you plan to use the backgrounds and feats, it becomes far more worthwhile.

There’s plenty of creative material here, and yes, it’s absolutely a horny vampire thirst trap, which I’m certainly not opposed to. A fun addition to the shelf, but not an essential must-buy.