I have the Dawnguard expansion. I am a newby and am really trying to understand HOW to play the game. Thank you.
Ok no worries. I will just say that this is by no means a complete list as I will probably forget something. Especially the Werewolf side.
Vampire & Vampire Lord Pros: (please note that different abilities and effects occur at different vampire stages)
- Resistance to Frost 20-50%
- 100% immune to poison and disease (some rare exceptions apply)
- 25% more powerful Illusion Magic
- 25% harder to detect while Sneaking
- Many unique powers and magic (vampire drain, invisibility, reanimate just to name a few)
- Opens 'Necromage' exploit
- able to change back and forward into VL form at will
- VL form is very powerful and has potential to be more so with unlockable perks
Cons:
- Weakness to Fire 20-50%
- must feed to return to stage 1 (stage 4 is the highest). With Dawnguard, feeding is not necessary and with the right style of play, I would go as far as to say dont feed as you lose certain powers
- Weakness to Sunlight (15-60 less points in health/stamina/magicka and 0% H/S/M regeneration)
- Attacked on sight
The Cons can be easily fixed by avoiding sunlight and/or using strong enchantments or potions
Some helpful web pages:
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Vampirism
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Vampire_Lord
Werewolf Pros
- Very powerful melee attacks
- Interesting and powerful perks able to be unlocked
- 100% immune to disease and poison (again rare exceptions)
- Increased health and stamina as a Were
Werewolf Cons
- Change once per day (unless you have a certain ring equipped)
- Change length is determined by how many bodies you feed on. This can be good and bad as its usually not hard to keep up the form, but as you cant interact with anything as a werewolf, you may have to let your game idle for several in-game hours to change to human (to open chest, doors etc)
- Your character is naked once they change back every time
- No sleeping bonus
- Attacked on sight
Web page
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Lycanthropy
Hopefully this is what you were looking for
Oh, and Vampire Lords are better