Six Ways to Make Vampires Really Scary
1. Give Them More Fangs - a vampire with a whole mouth full of fangs is creepy and so much worse than one with just a couple fangs. Make them bloody fangs with flesh stuck in them.
2. Give Them Paralysis Abilities - a vampire with the Hold Person spell or a Monk’s Stunning Strike is really scary. Imagine being stunned as the vampire approaches for a bite on your neck. Nothing you can do as undeath approaches!
3. Cloak of Billowing - a vampire is the best use for the Cloak of Billowing. As they levitate down from above the terrified characters and their cloak billows out in a creepy way, it can set a perfectly scary mood.
4. Crawling on All Fours - a crawling, creeping vampire is much scarier than one that walks around and looks like nobility. Crawling through a back alley in the poor area of town finding food is much scarier than living in a fancy castle on a hill.
5. Minions - give them a small army of vampire thralls. They have been killing people and making thralls for ages, so it makes sense they have a whole army of minions. Maybe an entire town. That would be really scary.
6. Make Them Hungry - a calm vampire is scary, but one that is really hungry and desperately wants to drink the characters’ blood is nasty and creepy. It can create great chase scenes like a nature video where the underpowered players have to run for their lives.
Bonus - Don’t Make Them Kids… Child vampires are too creepy.