Interseptor's Guide to being a Vampire

Interseptor's Guide to being a Vampire

(There are no real SPOILERS in this post. Just basic information about being a Vampire. Feel free to post any questions you might have.)
.
.
.
Ok, let's start off by saying that being a Vampire is much harder in this game than in Oblivion. I was a Vampire in Oblivion and found it very easy to deal with the condition. Not so much in Skyrim. Only people serious about being a Vampire should apply. In Oblivion, you could feed and be "normal" as long as you didn't rest or sleep. This was helpful for completing some mission and trading etc... You could go days or even weeks as long as you didn't wait or sleep. In Skyrim you will slowly turn whether or not you sleep. It is based on the in game clock and you have 4 sunsets before you will be a full blown vampire.

You progress at 1 stage per day and gain additional powers with every stage (stage powers listed below). Stages 1, 2 and 3 are all pretty easy to live with. You can still walk around in the cities and trade with any trader/store. However, at stage 4 life is a b1tch and everyone will attack you on site, without warning. Guards, villagers etc... Use extreme caution going anywhere near a town while fully turned. Not only will you have a fight on your hands but you will also start racking up a serious bounty. My advise if you find yourself in this situation is to get close to a town and stay out of site. Once you are relatively close, use your invisibility (Vampire power granted only at stage 4) to sneak in and feed. Once you feed you will be restored to stage 1 and you will be pretty much normal. But 4 nights later you better be ready to feed again. It is a constant concern and one you have to always keep track of.

On the positive side (compared to Oblivion), direct sunlight does not physically damage you. You can go out in the sunlight, walk around towns and do missions/trade etc... However, sunlight will seriously nerf all of your abilities. You take a 15 point hit to Health, Stamina and Magicka plus you will not regenerate any of those abilities while in sunlight. You can fortunately go inside and all of you abilities will be restored. So day/night make no difference only exposure to sunlight.

Being a Vampire does come with it's upside too. below is a list of all the abilities/powers you gain. In particular, Vampire Sight and the boost to Sneaking are 2 of the main reasons I like to play as a Vampire. Remember, I am a Dark Elf Thief/Assassin so it fits my character very well. I always intended to be a Vampire from day 1 and my class was built to accommodate this desire. Other classes/builds might not be as well suited. In any event, here is the list...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stage One Abilities:
Champion of the Night- Illusion spells cast by your vampire are 25% more powerful.
Night Stalker's Footsteps - Vampires are 25% harder to detect while sneaking.
Resist Disease - Your vampiric blood gives you 100% resistance to disease.
Resist Frost - Your vampiric blood gives you 25% resistance to frost.
Resist Poison - Your vampiric blood gives you 100% resistance to poison.
Weakness to Fire - Your vampiric blood causes you to be 25% weaker to fire.
Weakness to Sunlight - Health, magicka and stamina do not recover while in sunlight and are reduced by 15 points (only when you are outside during the day).
Powers:
Vampire's Servant - Reanimate a weak dead body to fight for you for 60 seconds (can only be use once a day).
Vampire Sight - Improve night vision for 60 seconds (can be used multiple times a day and be toggled on/off).
Spells:
Vampiric Drain - Absorb 2 points of health per second from target (novice destruction spell, cost of 5 magicka per second).

Stage Two
(Changes from Stage 1:)
Resist Frost - Your vampiric blood gives you 50% resistance to frost.
Weakness to Fire - Your vampiric blood makes you 50% weaker to fire.
Weakness to Sunlight - Health, magicka and stamina do not recover while in sunlight and are reduced by 30 points (only when you are outside during the day).
Vampire's Servant - Reanimate a more powerful dead body to fight for you for 60 seconds (can only be used once a day).
Vampiric Drain - Absorb 3 points of health per second from target (novice destruction spell, costs 10 magicka per second).
Powers:
Vampire Seduction - Creatures and people up to level 10 are calmed (cease to fight) for 30 seconds.

Stage Three
(Changes from Stage 2:)
Resist Frost - Your vampiric blood gives you 75% resistance to frost.
Weakness to Fire - Your vampiric blood makes you 75% weaker to fire
Weakness to Sunlight - Health, magicka and stamina do not recover while in sunlight and are reduce by 45 points. (only when your outside during the day)
Vampire's Servant - Reanimate a powerful dead body to fight for you for 60 seconds. (can only be use once a day)
Vampiric Drain - Absorb 4 points of health per second from target. (novice destruction spell, costs 12 magicka per sec)

Stage Four
(Changes from Stage 3:)
Resist Frost - Your vampiric blood gives you 100% resistance to frost.
Weakness to Fire - Your vampiric blood makes you 100% weaker to fire.
Weakness to Sunlight - Health, magicka and stamina do not recover while in sunlight and are reduced by 60 points (only when you are outside during the day).
Vampire's Servant - Reanimate a very powerful dead body to fight for you for 60 seconds (can only be used once per day).
Vampiric Drain - Absorb 5 points of health per second from target (novice destruction spell, costs 15 magicka per second).
People will be hostile towards you and might attack you on sight.
Powers:
Embrace of Shadows - The vampire becomes invisible, with improved night-vision for 180 seconds (can only be used once per day).

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note: Remember, it is a constant ticking clock and you need to be aware of how far gone you are. Since there is no easy way to tell, if you are unsure how far gone you are take a look in the Magic menu and look at the constant abilities that are active. Weakness to Fire increases by 25% at each stage. So if you see 75% you know you are stage 3 and should probably feed soon.

Contracting Vampireism: The only way to contract the disease is to take damage from a Vampire. The more damage you take the more likely you are to contract it. Needless to say, I took a lot of damage just to make sure that I would get it. You then have 72 hours to cure the disease before you become a Vampire. Within this 72hrs a simple Cure All potion will do the trick. Once a full Vampire, it is much harder to cure (I actually don't know how since I currently don't have any desire to cure it). I do know that there is a quest to cure it and I know that becoming a Warewolf will overwrite even a full blown Vampire. But other than that I really don't know the details.

Feeding: The only way to feed is to drink the blood from a sleeping NPC. Generally this is only doable after about 1am and usually involves sneaking into someones house late at night. (again, you see the benefit of being a thief? Picking locks, sneaking etc...)

And that is about all I can think of right now. Please feel free to add your own experiences and post any questions. I would be happy to tell you anything I know.

Not reading your post because I don't want spoilers, but I just joined the Companions and plan to be a Werewolf... because werewolves > vampires. And I was a vampire in Oblivion and want something different.

Coolhand, when you get all the info on werewolves can you post it as a reply to this thread. When I get the game I'd like to have an idea as to which route I'd like to take. Being a vampire sounds pretty sweet, especially since I like the thief/assassin route when I start playing RPGs, but I bet the werewolf route has to be just as appealing to make it match up with vampires.

S7 Coolhand wrote:Not reading your post because I don't want spoilers, but I just joined the Companions and plan to be a Werewolf... because werewolves > vampires. And I was a vampire in Oblivion and want something different.

I just became a werewolf too. It's ok for out in the wild but against the silver hand in those caves....the lack of healing sucks dick.