Pale Men?

Recently, I have seen some of these new monsters encountered on the roads. While my Epic characters have had little trouble with them, the same cannot be said for my 8th lvl Wizard.

They tore through Stoneskin and other low lvl buffs with ease, so this seems to indicate +5 or higher weaponry. Plus they seem to regenerate. And they appear to be able to see invisible, though this may be a flaw with that spell, as other encounters have also been able to target the non-visible Mage. And they are not the usual vampiric looking Undead, as they were able to follow the Wizard across the server in daylight

What exactly are these new beasties? And why do they hate me?

Thanks!

They are vampires. I'll have to check the daylight coding. They do not have +5 weapons (just +1), but the warrior ones are 10th level fighters with 2 attacks/round, so they wear down defensive magic faster. And yes, they regenerate.

The vampires do have the Alertness feat and some points in Listen, which helps them notice invisible foes (invisible is not silent).

I'm going to have to check coding for sunlight and vampires. They may be missing a variable, since their appearance type has changed. Are they spawning during the day outdoors? Or are the battles lasting until after the sun rises? Or are they spawning indoors and are just able to follow you out into the sun?

As I recall, one spawned outside in one of the Dome village tiles, and I attacked first. I got in a couple of decent licks with Flaming staff, but then it's attacks knocked me down about 1/3 of my hp for each hit. As I had just invested in some speedy boots, I used them to outdistance it, but also had to outmanuever one or two others met heading to the exit. And then they (or at least one fully healed one) kept coming after me, following as fast as it could.

I believe I made it to the Inn in Primustown(?), caught some sleep, recast spells the next morning, and as soon as I left, it came from behind the building and continued to fight and give chase. I would lose it for a little while, then it would appear like an albino terminator. This went on like this all the way back to the farms just outside the Vale, now being pursued by a Pale Man and a few Cave goblins. And then for the life of me, I cannot recall what occured; just remember being relieved.

I know at some point, my game locked between transitions, as I was forced to log back in, afraid for an ambush, but it was still at a distance, but closed immediatly. And I believe it killed the Hooded One that sells at a shop at night near Mountainholm. I recall getting to Campton for another needed rest stop, but it was still waiting near the Hin camp; they had already killed each other off in the faction wars.

Note: very scary encounter for an 8th lvl Wizard. I was never killed, remember asking someone else on-line for info, and returned to the game later to play with an Epic character for venting and retribution, but no Pale Stalker; my new name for this creature.

Heh. If you want retribution, I can tell you where they live