I was looking at the Vampire and Vampire Spawn entries in the monster manual, and a little blurb in the green box next to Von Zarovich's note talks about player characters becoming vampire spawns, then vampires. The step between living human and spawn is simple enough…
A humanoid slain [with a vampire's bite] and then buried in the ground rises the following night as a vampire spawn under the vampire's control.
The step between Spawn and Vampire, however, seems a lot more fuzzy. How, exactly, does one make the transition from spawn to full-fledged vampire?
I'd prefer RAW, but i'll also take RAI or a homebrew option in its absence.
Best Answer
The step from Spawn to Vampire is described on page 295 of the Monster Manual as:
Interestingly enough, that suggests that any true Vampire can promote a Spawn, not just the Vampire that created the Spawn.