[HoneyBadger]

I'm surprised you didn't base him on Brian Lumley's vampires, Poopsi, given your affection for the C'thulhu Mythos-yes I'm well aware that he's not the second incarnation of Shakespeare, but I've enjoyed worse, and I found his vampires interesting and original.

Actually, that might be fun to mod into the game-vampires gaining the Secondform of a nasty little Cth'octopus (Def. "Cth'octopus": A weird/bizarre/unnatural, specifically tentacled, creature-usually evil or amoral, often sentient, that is based on, inspired by, or connected in some way to; the Lovecraft "C'thulhu" Mythos. Origin: your friendly, neighborhood HoneyBadger.) that disappears after the battle, since they can't exist outside the Host.

Would make vampires a little more formidable and hard to put down, without destroying balance, and if the Vampire Queen had a particularly tough one, that *didn't* disappear after battle, it might well restore her to some level of prominance.

P.S. Who else thinks the VampQ-and maybe Vamp Counts as well-ought to produce the occasional Thrall?
Perhaps Thralls could even contain an Aboleth Polyp-like Vampire larvae. That would serve to bulk them up a bit, as well, and if the larvae were weak-like polyps-and left after battle, that wouldn't make them overpowered, either.