Vampires are slippery little bastards.
Between turning into bats, becoming mist, or even using a Legendary Action to move (if you happen to be up against a certain dark lord of Barovia), these things are hard to pin down.
So, naturally, it makes sense for an adventuring party’s spellcaster to pull out the trusty Hold Person to keep that bloodsucker in one place, right?
Wrong.
According to the language of the Hold Person spell: “Choose a humanoid that you can see within range. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be paralyzed for the duration. At the end of each of its turns, the target can make another Wisdom saving throw. On a success, the spell ends on the target.”
The key word there is humanoid, and while vampires may seem like they should fall under the category (they have arms, legs, heads, and all that good stuff, after all) they officially fall under the undead type.
And, as with sleep and charm spells, hold spells work differently for undead.
Jeremy Crawford, the principle rule designer for Wizards of the Coast, made it official in a tweet on August 24, 2015:
A vampire has the undead creature type, not the humanoid type, so it isn’t affected by the hold person spell. https://t.co/S35bV2IhMg
— Jeremy Crawford (@JeremyECrawford) August 24, 2015
If you think you can get around the issue by just bumping up to a 5th level spell slot and using a Hold Monster, you’d be wrong again.
“Choose a creature that you can see within range. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be paralyzed for the duration. This spell has no effect on undead. At the end of each of its turns, the target can make another Wisdom saving throw. On a success, the spell ends on the target.”
As with all things D&D, there is some wiggle room if a DM and table agrees that it’s just more fun to allow Hold Monster (or even Hold Person!) to affect vampires… we’re just here to explain the RAW and RAI.
And if you want to read up on some in-depth discussion about the ruling (specifically about how “types” play a role in the game), Morrus’ Unofficial Tabletop News has a great thread from the month before Crawford’s tweet.
Given the mist-form ability, you’ll be hardpressed to keep a vampire around where they don’t want to be. The 7th level spell Forcecage is a good bet, but those who are hoping to use a lower spell slot may just have to get a little creative.
Because isn’t that what D&D is all about?
