More of a personal question.. and I'd like some mature input.

I have four characters that I play regularly in Skyrim. I have the typical archetypes: mage, warrior, assassin, and battlemage.

I know when DG comes to PS3 (the system I'm waiting on the DLC for) I will continue my orc-warrior down the path of werewolf (and DG faction), my mage will certainly go VL, my battlemage I'm undecided (I made him for the DLC and was going to hold at level 10, but he was played to 25).. BUT.. I have my Khajiit assassin (level 62, proficient in both bow/dagger, master--and maxed--in illusion) I am currently a werewolf with (I love the irony of that ).

My question simply is: would you go DG with this character (and stay a werewolf), or side with the vampires and go VL?

My initial thought (from a RP point of view) was to stay werewolf for the irony of a cat-turn-into-pup. However, with my build on this character it seems vampire would benefit far more from VL and vampirism in general due to the sneak bonuses and illusion bonuses. I would go vanilla vampire now, but I misplaced the witches heads and therefore must wait to get the VL form when the DLC arrives.

I would love people's thoughts on this.

Thank you all in advance for the input!

Edit: I am also aware that I can certainly create two different paths, but I would prefer folks' input from a RP stance. Thank you everyone!

Addendum--

As a side note, I love the utility of my assassin Khajiit. Having mastered sneak and illusion (along with lots of bow perks and 5 levels in the first rank of one-handed) allows me the freedom to either toy with my foes or take 'em out if I so choose. I am thinking of going VL when the DLC hits to further enhance those skills, but as I currently am doing the totem quests for Aela I would like to have some input

VAMPIRE LORD

MUAH-HAHAHAHahahahahaaaaa.... *coughcough*

[Edit:] I'd say Vampire for no other reason than your build fits better.
But if you factor in RP, it all depends on which direction you want to take your Kajit. While neither side is "type-cast", you'll inherently gain a "holy crusader" type aura if you follow the Dawnguard and a "darkly brooding" type feel if you go for the Vamps. Neither side is technically good or evil (well, strictly speaking quests your "kinda" forced into being a good-guy on both sides) but you could still be a blood-thirsty Werewolf-cat for the Dawnguard that loves killing Vampires if you wanted. I'm just sayin...

I was certainly thinking that route for this character. With sneak and illusion maxed (along with high levels of one-hand and bow) I figured VL may be the best fit for that character, even though I initially went wolf for the dichotomy of the premise

Edit: The more I think about it, the more I think VL would be more appropriate for this character. Assassin, thief, murderer... all the tradmarks of a killer.. and add the intrigue of politics.. Furry bat.. I like it

Double edit: Also, a werewolf could serve as a killer (duh), but with this build a VL would be the best route to take for the increases and availability of being able to toy with foes (something my Khajiit is famous for--ex. maxed illusion). It stands to reason a vampire build would best serve the power-mongering of this kind of RP character.

Welcome to the Family!
Hail Sithis...

Have you even listened to Isran mumbling to himself? The guy is a paranoid sociopath who almost manages to make Harkon look reasonable. And thats the good guy? lol. For every shiney Paladin there is a bloody handed hunter who will do what ever it takes to end a monsters life. Not all vampire hunters are 'good' just as not all werewolves are evil. It's a mater of perspective. My Nightblade is the Listener of the Dark Brotherhood and joined the Dawngaurd for two reasons. First, vampires make for a much more challenging target then the usual run of the mill marks the Night Mother gives her. 2, the Dawnguard had new toys for her to kill things with. Yes it's just a mater of roleplaying but neither of those reason are in any way for the overal 'good' of anyone else.

-edit- I've played both werewolve and vamp lord, even maxed out the tree for each. Of the two, for me atleast, the fully perked werewolf is more fun to play and in much better keeping with anyone wanting to rp a darker story. Sadly VL's get one and only one kill cam, the neck bite. And if you've any followers at all maxing out the perk tree can get ... frustrating. Never mind the occasions Serana MUST be your tag along and completely nerfs your VL form. I swear that woman should wear knee pads for all the power she svcks out of a Vampire Lord.

Given what you've written here, my advice to you would be to try to decide what you value more when it comes to this particular character: RP considerations or build considerations, and then make your choice based on that.

I couldn't have said the bold part better if I had said it myself...
oh wait...
I did say it myself.
Whaaaa?


Perhaps I should amend my "good-guy" statement. The Dawnguard Main Quest-line pushes you into being "Heroic", because killing Harkon is the "heroic" thing to do. I feel the rest of that statement is fairly straight forward, but if you'd like me to further clarify later I can certainly do that.

As have I, and I disagree. The Vampire Lord is "in much better keeping with anyone wanting to rp a darker story".

It's all a matter of perspective really, you like to RP a vampire and thus would recommend that a vampire/vampire lord would be the darker path, myself and ExaltedPariah like the werewolf form most and recommend them as the darker path. It's quite easy for both to be very dark paths, vampires you become undead children of the night that have to feed on the blood of the living, werewolves are moon born, living creatures that feed on the flesh of men. The only real difference between the two is which one still has a heart beat, I RP a character that's rather " dark " and he's a werewolf. He views all as potential prey and lives his life as a hunter that's always on the hunt, always looking for a challenge and there's no greater challenge then hunting the altimate prey...man/mer. Even when in Orc form he hunts human prey along side animal prey, which is why he joind the Dark brotherhood, he takes what he pleases no matter who's the rightful owner and if you steep between him and what he wants then you will not be standing for much longer.

So really it's all about personal preference, neither one is more evil then the other it's all about how evil your willing to go yourself. And judging by my murder count, maul count, and number of things killed in general, I must be the worst thing on the map, I'm starting to make Ted Bundy look like a boyscout

Which is the point I made in my original comment .

I offered the OP my opinion on which side to choose solely based on his Khajiit assassin's build. It seemed to me that it better fit a Vampire.
I only later commented on the RP aspect, and offered my opinion on the "general feel" of each side. It all boils down to which direction you want to take your character, i.e. your perspective on the matter.

Somehow everything you post has somewhere in it a sig worthly line .

Though about serana and nerfing the vamp lord I'll just say this.....I love mods .

I thank you very much for the input folks.

I think I probably had my answer before I even questioned it.. but I still wanted some RP thoughts. When (oh man..when!) DG releases for PS3 I think I'll go VL with the Khajiit. It better enhances his skills overall. Now my orc.. well.. he'll certainly stay wolf and continue to either decapitate in "human" form and tear throats out in werewolf form. My straight-mage Dunmer will go VL and I haven't quite decided on my battlemage Breton.

Another thing.. where the heck is DG for PS3?!? It's getting tiring waiting so long

I was reading moments ago that Hearthfire may be released around Halloween and have something to do with Necromancy/zombies.. I really hope DG comes to PS3 beforehand or I'm going to be really upset with Bethesda. We all know that this DLC (Hearthfire) is also a timed-exclusive so...

I've made very dark Rp story involving werewolves and VL. Both of which involves carnage. Bloody Carnage .I still wish there was a way as a werewolf to destroy the dawnguard though. My werewolf wanted to destroy the dawnguard but not join the vampires.

What can i say? It's a gift. -shrugs- and possably a result of a singularly oddball sense of humor on my part.

The reason I recamend a werewolf for a darker story how ever isn't a mater of personal preffernce but simply because of the kill cams. The werewolf kill cams are addictively bloody affairs that help you feel the part of the beast by ripping your victims into bloody shreds.. that and the blood spurting all over the place when you feed lol. For me it gives it that unique feel. Vampire Lord reminds me more of a dragon priest with a life drain attack. Realy wish the VL had more kill cams.