Skyrim Being Vampire

[Janeth Counter]

Becominga vampire in The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is a bit different from what players might expect. Rather than simply being bitten by a vampire and consequently transforming through supernatural forces, players become one of the undead creatures by contracting and failing to treat a disease. Players can contract Sanguinare Vampiris by taking damage from any vampire or creature. In these early days of transformation, vampirism can be cured like any other disease: by taking any blessing from any god's shrine. But if the Dragonborn isn't cured within three in-game days, they will become a vampire themselves.

But don't worry - even once fully turned into a vampire, the Dragonborn can still restore their humanity, even if the process is a little more complicated. Still, being a vampire has its perks, and anyone who didn't rush to the nearest shrine as soon as they contracted Sanguinaire Vampiris is likely to be at least a little curious about what vampirism entails. Here's everything to expect when the Dragonborn transforms into a bloodsucking creature of the night in Skyrim.

Once players become vampires, Skyrim's gameplay can change significantly. But before that, players will notice a variety of visual changes to the Dragonborn. Regardless of what race and customization options players choose at the beginning of the game, the Dragonborn's appearance will change slowly: as characters continue on the vampire path, they grow fangs, their skin becomes paler, and their eyes become red.

It seems like many players enjoy the perks of becoming a vampire in Skyrim more than the visual changes! Anyone looking to change their face while staying a vampire should check out the video from Lunchbox Gaming below, which details how to alter the Dragonborn's appearance without losing any vampiric powers:

Naturally, vampires also have to drink blood. There are two ways to feed on NPCs in Skyrim: target them while they're sleeping, or use Vampire's Seduction. Feeding on a sleeping NPC is easiest. Simply sneak up on them while they lie in bed, and the option to feed should appear. Otherwise, players can cast Vampire's Seduction to hypnotize a more wakeful NPC before chowing down.

There are four tiers of vampirism in Skyrim. The disease progresses for each in-game day a vampire fails to feed, but drinking blood will reset them to the first stage. Skyrim vampires have to track how long it has been since they last fed, as the longer they go without blood, the more severely the disease will affect them. However, it's not all bad: the different stages of vampirism have a variety of both positive and negative effects.

There are many benefits to becoming a vampire in Skyrim. Players gain several new vampiric abilities that boost their stats: Vampiric Strength improves unarmed attacks, Champion of the Night increases the efficacy of Illusion spells, and Nightstalker's Footsteps makes sneaking easier. Vampires also get an increased resistance to frost damage, along with three additional spells. Vampiric Drain chips away at the target's HP while healing the caster the equivalent amount, Vampire's Servant reanimates dead bodies as temporary allies, and Vampire's Sight grants night vision.

As players go without feeding and progress to higher stages of vampirism, these powers will get stronger and will bring additional spells: Vampire's Seduction, as explained above, and Embrace of Shadows, which makes the player character invisible and improves their night vision for three minutes. Skyrim vampires can also elect to activate the Necromage perk in the skill tree, which further strengthens these effects, significantly buffing gameplay.

With the Dawnguard DLC installed, a run-of-the-mill vampire can transform into an incredibly powerful Vampire Lord. Vampire Lords in Skyrim retain most of the mechanics of regular vampires, progressing through the four stages as normal. However, they also gain the ability to assume a much more powerful form once per day. Vampire Lords can fly, cast Blood Magic spells like Mist Form (which makes the Dragonborn invulnerable as they regenerate HP, Stamina, and Magicka), and execute melee combos with their claws. They have access to their own set of Night Powers, and their own branch of the skill tree.

In short, vampirism greatly improves abilities pertaining to Necromancy and sneaking, which can be a great boon for Skyrim character builds reliant on dark magic or sneak attack bonuses. Becoming a Vampire Lord fundamentally changes the gameplay of Skyrim and can be an interesting way to change one's playstyle completely. But it's not all sunshine and rainbows - there's a darker side to vampirism, too.

There are also some drawbacks players should be aware of before deciding to build a Skyrim vampire character. With all these buffs come nerfs, such as an increased weakness to fire and, unsurprisingly for vampires in any fantasy setting, a weakness to sunlight. When outside during the daytime, vampire player characters won't regenerate HP, Stamina, or Magicka, and the maximum capacity of those stats will be slightly penalized. Similar to the benefits, the drawbacks to becoming a vampire in Skyrim increase as players progress through the stages of vampirism.

Additionally, NPCs will automatically become hostile toward those who have reached the fourth stage of vampirism. This occasionally relegates vampires in Skyrim to traveling at night through uninhabited areas, lest they be accosted by people and the sun alike. However, this drawback is easy enough to mitigate - just make sure a vampire player character feeds before hitting day four, or turn into a Vampire Lord when given the opportunity. Vampire Lords won't cause immediate hostility, even at stage four, but they will draw ire if they take their winged, green-hued form.

Skyrim doesn't make the player character choose a team: vampirism doesn't necessarily preclude them from becoming a werewolf, but it does complicate the process. Using a complex a complicated leveling path, players may become a werewolf and vampire hybrid in Skyrim, but most players will likely only choose one or the other - if they choose any at all.

If a player character ever decides the vampire life isn't for them, it's easy enough to transform back. Players can purge themselves of Sanguinaire Vampiris by trapping a Grand Soul inside a Black Soul Gem, then bringing it to Falion in Morthal. He can be found wandering the streets, or at his house on the east side of the city. This method works for both regular vampires and Vampire Lords. It isn't permanent, however: if the player later wants to go back, they can contract Sanguinaire Vampiris again, or ask one of their vampire friends to turn them.

Vampirism is a literal game-changer: it offers a ton of benefits to certain Skyrim builds. While becoming a regular vampire is limited in its applicability, transformation into a full-fledged Vampire Lord makes the Dragonborn stunningly powerful, with a wide variety of powers that can benefit almost anyone. Still, vampirism comes with drawbacks that must be constantly considered and compensated for. As a result, vampirism isn't for everyone. Even though it's reversible, players should always consider the pros and cons before venturing down this dark path in The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim.

Even though this was answered a long time ago, I'm going to give a slightly different take on the answer with some additional information from a short time playing as both. I won't go into the perks of both since that has already been done.

NB: This answer relates to Dawnguard although the original question pre-dates the Dawnguard expansion. However, since many people, like myself, may think the original question is about DG, I will leave this answer here with the permission of the moderators.

From the point of view of quests, if you compare the quests for both factions you'll see that the locations don't have much difference to them. The first quest for each faction is different, but after that they're largely the same apart from the fact that you're either playing Dawnguard vs Vampire or vice versa. The current Wikipedia Dawnguard article mentions this, saying:

Obviously, you will not have access to Castle Volkihar if you choose Dawnguard or Fort Dawnguard if you choose the vampire side. Functionality-wise, the Fort is much more focused on weaponry and has a blacksmith, general goods merchant, arcane enchanter and forge. The Castle is more magic-orientated and has access to the Bloodstone Chalice, Amulets of Night Power, and Rings of Blood Magic. Looks-wise they both have a Gothic feel to them, though the Fort is more classical-Gothic and the Castle is more horror-Gothic: their locations match this since the Fort is in the auburn leafy clearing of Dayspring Canyon near Riften, whereas the Castle is the inhospitable cold of the sea west of Solitude.

As a vampire you do have to be careful when out in the sun. I play as a Redguard and like to explore Skyrim at all times of the day and night, and being out in the sun can damage your health [this does not apply to houses/caves/dungeons though]. If you like to fast travel this can cause problems, with sun damage or death being the result. Additionally you can get attacked even by your own brethren if they discover you're a vampire pre level 4 - I was killed by my own housecarl after he discovered. If you're level 4 you will get attacked by NPCs, pretty much everyone hates you.

Something else which hasn't been mentioned is any alterations you want to make to your character appearance. I'm the kind of person who likes to make occasional small changes to my character's appearance [hair/warpaint] via Galathil in Riften. When you become a vampire you get glowing red eyes all the time, and I felt that these didn't go well with my look, so I wanted to make changes to my character's physical appearance to match them. However, if you go to Galathil after becoming a vampire she will say she cannot make changes on the undead. Even the 'showracemenu' console hack will not work. Additionally, your appearance will become more haggard the longer you don't feed. If you're the kind of person who cares about your character's look, these things can bug the hell out of you.

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