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Daelon DuLac

How do you backstab a Dragon?
So, I started Dawnguard and rescued Serana and delivered her to her father. Then I was given the choice - Vampire or meat.

I did two saves: 1 w/Dawnguard 1 w/Vampire.

Not sure which way to go.

Vampire: There are so many significant weaknesses, particularly the loss of health & regeneration benefits of being alive during the daytime, not to mention having to feed all the time. There are significant bonuses as well, but, I don't really use magic too much (or even my shouts for that matter) so it seems kind of moot to me

Dawnguard: I have no idea where this line will lead, but, at least I could remain alive.

Anybody have opinions on both sides as to the cost/benefit analysis?

Thought.
 
Oblivion had real negatives to being a vampire. You can pretty much ignore them in Skyrim.

I joined the Dawnguard because I prefer to hunt the most dangerous creatures.
 

Nighthiker77

Well-Known Member
I played a VL the first time and just couldn't get into it. The quests are cool, but i didn't like vampire form or the sun warnings, which don't even seem to match sunrise and sunset, and even still apply underground sometimes. I would play both just to do it, and keep whichever one you like better. I think unless you are low level, using illusion, or exploiting necromage, there aren't any benefits to being a vampire Lord, but there's plenty of annoyances.
 

Karen

boop.
Yeah, I just found that there is too much maintenance involved with being a vampire, and I didn't like the perk tree or benefits enough to continue being one. The sun issue does kind of go away after the quest line, but the sun literally goes away in order for you to be able to regenerate during the day, and I didn't like that idea because I enjoy seeing the sun in my game.

With the Dawnguards, you get a sweet, upgradable crossbow out of it, which is great if you like ranged weapons, spells that damage the undead, as well as armored troll followers and huskies. Those are the main perks I can think of in joining the vampire hunters.

I think Vampire Lord abilities aside, it mainly just depends on which aspect you'd like to roleplay from. There's a clear "good guys" and "bad guys" thing going on in Dawnguard, imo. Aside from Serana, I thought everyone in Castle Volkihar was kind of a jerk, and while Isran is a huge buzzkill, Fort Dawnguard just felt marginally more inviting to me. I just never really got into the whole vampire thing, it's not me.
 

Daelon DuLac

How do you backstab a Dragon?
Yeah, I just found that there is too much maintenance involved with being a vampire, and I didn't like the perk tree or benefits enough to continue being one. The sun issue does kind of go away after the quest line, but the sun literally goes away in order for you to be able to regenerate during the day, and I didn't like that idea because I enjoy seeing the sun in my game.

With the Dawnguards, you get a sweet, upgradable crossbow out of it, which is great if you like ranged weapons, spells that damage the undead, as well as armored troll followers and huskies. Those are the main perks I can think of in joining the vampire hunters.

I think Vampire Lord abilities aside, it mainly just depends on which aspect you'd like to roleplay from. There's a clear "good guys" and "bad guys" thing going on in Dawnguard, imo. Aside from Serana, I thought everyone in Castle Volkihar was kind of a jerk, and while Isran is a huge buzzkill, Fort Dawnguard just felt marginally more inviting to me. I just never really got into the whole vampire thing, it's not me.

I do agree with you, but think, as with most of Skyrim that the good guy/bad guy thing is kind of a grey area. My character in roleplay doesn't really have anything against the vampires and doesn't really care who they kill or feed on (unless it's him, of course) except that it inconveniences him. I believe his only real motivation in this is that he doesn't like to have his moneymaking inconvenienced and therefore would want to elimate the problem. All of my characters are quite schizo morally and don't really make connections with other characters or people, so the whole evil/good thing is kind of moot. Basically I believe that he is joining the Dawnguard for what they can give him (not because he believes in their cause) and for the opportunity to eliminate his business obstacle. If the same thing could be accomplished without ever having to involve the Dawnguard, I am quite sure he would do it, but, as it doesn't seem like there is, he just goes along until he can walk away - kind of like he did with the Companions, Brotherhood and Guild, and lord knows he ditched the Blades at the first opportunity. Who knows what a future build's motivation will be. Being a vampire is definately not in the cards for this guy though and, if he did, the other vampires better watch out as he would make it a point to kill every last one of them (including Serana) as revenge. To sum it up, he's one selfish motherf****.
 

Perkless in Skyrim

Bad to the Dragonbone.
I had a vampire character and enjoyed it. It IS more maintenance although apparently with Dawnguard installed you no longer need worry about feeding to avoid all the hate that being a stage 4 vampire induces. As for being about in the daytime, there are several types of food you can eat that will make it more of a nuisance than a serious disadvantage.

It's not for everyone, any more than being a werewolf.
 
Can't go the Vamp thing I kill them all , And The Werewolfs too. Now this Time I'm going put ALL the DB to the Sword ". Stendar Guys is getten to me I guess.:D
 
I found Vampire also annoying. I took it to get that side of the vampire quests out of the way before I enjoyed the Dawnguard side of the game. My character being an assassin/thief became a vampire out of benefit to his trade. But clearly the need to maintain feedings, always avoid the sunlight, constantly playing the game with night vision sucks and outweights the benefits of the Vampire powers. I had to use PC mods to improve the game play (Vampires are feared, extra powers).
Ultimately it's your choice, Role play and decide for real, what would your character do?
 

Jader

The Mystic Marksman
Unless with mods,vampires are kinda ugly..can't focus on playing if my char makes me want to hurl.
 

mast3rlinkx

Active Member
My character is a werewolf, and became such by choice. As you can probably imagine, the idea of losing that form was what really turned her away from the vampire offer, in addition to her dislike, but not really hatred, of vampires in general. She doesn't actually hate them, she just finds them to be an annoyance.

As a lot of people said, it all comes down to the character's attitude more than anything.
 

orca45

What we do in life, echoes in the eternity !
I’ve never chosen the vampire path. I just can’t stand them. They are very annoying and feed on innocent people. I consider them, public enemies of Skyrim as dragons and all of those trying to hurt this province. :)
 

wrighty

Thalmor 3rd Emissary
I don't really understand the dislike for vampires.
I don't really use the vampire lord form or the werewolf i just like the added benefits of the vampire.
With dawnguard you don't need to feed at all, your max weakness is 50% to fire but you also get 50% frost resistance, frost is by far the most used element by enemies in the game, the fire weakness can be reduced by using the lord stone, magic resist perks/items or by being a dunmer.
Regeneration of stats is stunted during the day but if you take the lady stone your health and stamina will regen, just more slowly, if you have a magicka regen item like novice robes your magicka regens at almost normal rate. Also take into account that you do very little fighting in the open sunlight, in a cave or building your stats are fine and the majority of combat is inside.
Vamps also get 100% resistance to diseases and poisons, you can just stand there as a chaurus spits at you and take 0 damage.
You also get a 25% sneak and illusion bonus which increases the level your illusion spells effect, and helps you remain undetected, as a vampire with necromage you can make dragon priests fear you. This is not to mention the other useful powers such as calm, invisibility, night eye etc.
Also I prefer the rewards of the Vampires, you get ring of the erudite which more than doubles magicka regeneration so if you had items and perks that gave you 200% faster regen(like arch mage robes + morokei), with the ring it would be 400%, the best item in the game for a magic user.
Theres also ring of the beast which is deadly on a khajiit giving an additional 20 unarmed damage and 100 health. the special vampire lord amulets can also be enchanted in addition to their standard enchantments. Harkons sword is exceptional too, absorbing all 3 stats.

The dawnguard get some cool items, the rune axe can become quite powerful against the undead, the spells suck though imo and the heal undead spells are far more useful to a necromancer/ dead thrall user.
The Crossbow also sucks, unlike the original bows it is not silent, and therefore is not as useful to a stealthy player, the best bow and arrows does more damage than the best crossbow and enchanted bolts, which is not taking into account the much higher damage per second of the bow due to its much faster reload speed. There are also many powrful unique bows in the game and no crossbows.

The way i see it is, a melee user should join the dawnguard and a mage/assassin/thief should join the volkihar.
 

mast3rlinkx

Active Member
I have a mod that adds a realistic power level to the crossbow. Base damage on a standard crossbow does almost as much damage as the best bow in the game fully upgraded, and you can get one near the beginning of the game. Then the recurve upgrade adds even more to the already ridiculous damage. So crossbows are anything but useless for me. You can also eventually add a silencer to a crossbow to cut the noise level completely. I will admit that the vanilla crossbow is useless, but my crossbow is not useless.

And most of my characters hate vampires, and I tend to go with what my character would do rather than choosing the best bonus. Skryim's an RPG, after all.
 

Fenix09

Member
Vampire for sure, I did both sides and I think that it was more fun with vampire but after the dawnguard quest was over I changed back to my werewolf.
 

JClarke1953

Well-Known Member
I did the Vamp thing, even becoming a Vamp Lord and killing Harkon.

Thing is, after all of that, nothing much changed. As with all of the other "title's", you still end up running "errand's", like being a Listener for the DB. Instead of going after people, you go after rogue Vampires or perhaps a Vigilant here or there. Nothing special. Can't even go back into the Soul Cairn for Valerica to let her know she can return.

Going after the Dawnguard was easy after becoming a Vamp Lord. I just caught them all asleep, and there was only one way out. It took less than 30-seconds to wipe them all out.

For me, all of the work to gain a "title" seems for naught, Legate, Listener, Guild Master, Harbringer...the list goes on. You still end up just running the same "errand's" of job's. I even dumped Hearthfire because there was so little to it, as well as the mass of glitches and bug's. Not to mention the so very little and limited interaction with kids/wife.

So, all my treasure's are in Severin Manor, I need no follower, and have abandoned my home's in Whiterun and Solitude. All I do now is explore and farm for mats to increase Legendary skills.
 

mast3rlinkx

Active Member
Yeah, I haven't tried the Vamp side yet, but you at least get to return to the Soul Cairn after completing the Dawnguard side of the DLC. And there's no use trying to tell Valerica she can return. She disappears once you leave the first time.

And I'd recommend getting the unofficial patches off of Skyrim Nexus. They fix a lot of the bugs in the game. There's one for the main game and then one for each DLC.
 

JClarke1953

Well-Known Member
You must be on a PC? As I've not been able to return to the Soul Cairn, as a Vamp Lord, or as Dragonborn. Even tried getting infected again, just to go in and maybe loot some stuff.

I use and XBox 360 "slim", so getting unofficial patches....well, short of using my laptop and then sneaker net the patch to my Xbox would be the only way to get those patches. Something I'm not yet willing to do, as I'm not sure of how effective they would be, or how they would affect my XBox.
 

Pete

Well-Known Member
Questions to consider:
  • Want to be able to sneak into a room, cast fury/frenzy and watch your opponents kill other?
  • Enjoy raising the dead and having temporary followers?
  • When attacked by a party of three do you like to calm the first 2 and then take each one down one at a time?
  • Is being hunted and attacking vigilents and dawnguard exciting?
  • Is discovering the power of wards your savior against fire dragons?
  • Enjoy using all 3 words of whirlwind sprint to escape and befuddle foes?
  • Enjoy wearing eminent vampire armor of destruction?
  • Love the fear of being out in the country and sunrise an hour away?
  • Is absorb health your favorite spell (especially effective on daggers)
It's an easy choice for me.
 

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