Sorry to hear about your testing. Then again it has proven to be very informative. The PC has some great mods that alter the look and the mechanics of the Vamp. But that does nothing for the console, sadly. I just made the move to PC a month ago.

At least you are finding your comfort zone with this. The Necro Mage is an absolute blast to play. My first character was a Necro Mage. I retired her at level 50 something, IIRC. It has been a while. Still she retired without ever falling in battle, playing Dead is Dead. The most fun about the Necro Mage, for me, was avoiding combat. That may sound weak and boring, but it is just the opposite.

Good luck with what ever route you choose. It's all about having fun doing it.

EDit : side note on the Dead Thralls, as great as they are, there is a dangerous drawback. I like to find female Bandit Chiefs that spawn with a full set of Steel Plate armor. (AND have the female animation...no gorilla arms here...) You can upgrade their armor and give them high end weapons to use.

The downside to that is going up against other Necros. If the thrall falls in battle, the Necro will raise them AS YOUR ENEMY, with all the high end gear you made for them. NOT good!

Sounds like you have everything.

For race I would go Dunmer. The resistance to fire will offset the vampires huge weakness to fire. You start off with the highest destruction skill early in the game, plus a high illusion. The once a day power is essentially flame cloak... which can be useful early in the game if you get stuck in tight quarters. I would also use the atronach stone. More magic is good for a mage, and absorbing spells will help offset the vampire's biggest weakness.... fire spells. One thing you will learn with a mage is that magic regen is VERY slow in combat so the slower magic regen of the stone won't really effect you in combat.

For enchantments focus on things that lower your destruction cost(you don't have to get to 0, but getting it down at least 50% is a must at higher levels), and increasing magicka.

I decided to not go the vamprie route and just make the character a necromancer. I am having tons of fun with it so far. I am finding it much more challenging than playing as an archer, specially since I am not using weapons but only magic for both offense/defense and am also wearing only robes, not armor. I decided to head straight to Winterhold after I killed the first dragon and was summoned by the Greybeards. Didn't go to them but decided to go to the Collage and start the Mage quest line. The mana management adds a new dimension to combat that I didn't have to consider with my archer. I found myself many times having to pull back a bit and dodge the enemy while waiting for my mana to refill, even while wearing the Necromancer robes that make mana regenerate 75% faster. Finding the challenge quite fun so far.


Ah, I will definitely need to keep that in mind.


It is really slow indeed and one has to make good use of it and even pull back from a fight to wait till it regenerates enough for you to launch and attack. It is lots of fun tho, I like that it is more challenging and that I can't just rush into a mob of falmers and blast them all away but have to take it slowly and with care, specially since my character can't really tank physical attacks.

All right! I'm glad to see you are off to a good start. So, you stayed with the Nord then?

Yes, I stayed with the Nord as I found the looks best suited the character I wanted to make.

Now that I am getting more of a feel of the character I think I'll focus more heavily on Conjuraiton and Illusion as well as Restoration. As I see her as someone who doesn't straight out jumps into combat directly but rather conjures or reanimates bodies to do her bidding or manipulates the mind of her enemies into turning things in her favor. Sure she cast powerful destruction magic but that is not really her first move and uses it more to complement the attacks of the bodies she conjures/reanimates in attacking an enemy who is distracted by them.

THAT, my friend is THE absolute best way to play a Vamp character. IMO it's the most fun even if not a Vamp, but that combo really shines as a Vampire.

I can understand about the Nord looks. I wanted to make a female Nord Vamp, I think they look the best, but I settled for the Imperial in lieu, because of the power. I was still happy with her looks, but would have been happier with the Nord.

Has anyone had any luck solving this problem with the skin tone? I'm planning a vampire character and wanted to use a breton. I know someone tried with lighter skin before infection, what about using a dark skin tone before infection? could this work?
If not would elf races keep pale skin after infection?

My assassin character just became a vampire at level 40, I'm playing on master. @ Nilsina, there's a mod called snow-white vampires that solves your problem.

A lot people agree that vampirism is meant for assasssins, mage works too but is redundent because you already have 3 powerful spells that help you without investing your time into magic, being able to calm, become invisible, and resurrect a powerful dead body along with night vision and sneak bonus gives power to an assassin that isn't vested into magic at all. If your a mage who can just cast these spells at will, then what is the point of becoming a vampire besides just looking like one?

I just grabbed the lover stone (regenerate health and stamina) and a necklace of health regeneration to help me out, I only have 100 magica and no restoration spells so this adds a good challenge for me, although I have a good amount of health.

@senor cinco, what's up dude.

Why not? A vampire is the Solitude court wizard, and she is not very nice, by all accounts.

Sorry should have mentioned I'm on PS3 so no mods for me

So I made a breton, set the skin tone slider to about halfway, slightly to the left/pale side (you can't set it exactly in the middle) and set set off to Haemer's Shame. Ran into my first vampire and with the first blast of red draining thing contracted the disease (its like she knew) any way after waiting about 70 hours vampirism struck and... The skin tone LIGHTENED! Only a few shades at first I waited another 24 hours and didnt feed now the skin is a greyish colour and looks perfect.

Hope this helps.