Okey. So vamps are giving me a headache. The normal vamp form gets bonuses to illusion and sneak (suggesting a assasin type of play) while the vamp lord form has a spell and melee mode, the spell mode suggests high mana (mage) while the melee mode seems more inclied to high health and stamina. Arghh! xD

(Being a none beast mode form vamp lord is the same as a normal vamp)

A Nightblade build is pretty much the perfect Vampire and reaps all the benefits of being one.

One-Handed (Dagger/Sword)
Sneak
Illusion
Conjuration (Bound Weapons if you want, too.)
Destruction
Restoration (Make sure to get Necromage)

Add things such as Enchanting and/or Alchemy, and choose between Alteration or Light Armor or both, tailor the rest of the skills to suit your needs.

Why not marksman?

just depends on playstyle

here is a build that might work http://theskyrimblog.ning.com/group/character-building/forum/topics/character-build-nightbow-level-50

THIS. Though personally I chose archery over destruction.

Virtuosus has it about right for my style of play for a VL.

I like to go a Stealth/Assassin route. 30% Health 30% Stamana 40% Mana (Gave mana some more because VL needs it)

One-Handed (Dagger/Sword)
Sneak - Take advantage of sneak bonus Vampires have
Illusion
Destruction
Restoration - Necromage
Archery - for ranged silent kills
Light Armor

Then the crafting skills you want, I go Smithing and Enchanting both

I'm making a build around this.

I'm spamming restoration to necromage perk. Easy enough. I'm not sure if it is a bug but necromage can also increase the power of some perks. Reportedly the dual weilding speed perk increases from 25% and 50% to 33% and 66% respectively. That is a pretty big improvement. So I'm then going to have a powerful Mage vl.

^This. Whatever you do, if you play as a vampire. ALWAYS get necromage!

I only split points between health and magicka (50/50). Points in stamina aren't worth it to me unless you plan on going to level 81. The perk "respite" in the restoration tree will allow your healing spells to regen stamina. You only need 1 stamina point to power attack, roll, ect. Having a larger stamina pool would only allow you to sprint longer. I know for VL you need stamina for other reasons, but 100/150 is enough IMO.

My base build would be:

One-Handed
Sneak
Restoration (Necromage)
Illusion
Alteration (Flesh Spells or Dragonhide before starting the VL transformation)

Other skills I like to add are:
Archery
Conjuration (Necromancy)
Enchanting

Truthfully you really dont need magic skills to be an effective vampire/ VL, you just need a high magic pool. So unless your wanting a more Mage type vampire, then sure go with the magic skills but as far as i can tell none of the vampire specific magic needs it.

My vampire isnt a Mage, therefor he doesn't rely on magic outside of his vampire specific abilities.

Oh, I really like that. The problem I have is getting my illusion up, it seems like I'm going to have to grind on things my weak fury spell actually works on for an eternity. oh, wells haha.

Firstly, how defensive is that build? It lacks an armor skill or Alteration. Secondly, would you be so kind as to link us to an example build that's at or below level 50? I've been trying to perfect this for a long time, and I've been having trouble.

http://skyrimcalculator.com/ is the easiest and best calculator that I know of. Very reliable stuff.

Play Morrowind. Vampires (along with everything else) were much better in that game.

Other than graphics that is.

Yeah its really cool insnt it

here is another http://theskyrimblog.ning.com/group/character-building/forum/topics/character-build-the-volkihar?xg_source=activity if you are looking for something a little different. I am using this one on my current vampire and its amazing.

This is a good Nightblade build for Vampires. http://skyrimcalculator.com/#147239. You can improve Health/Stamina/Magicka equally through level ups. 33% Health, 33% Stamina, 33% Magicka. Dunmer is a very good race for Vampire, especially now that they changed the Fire/Frost penalty/bonus to -50%/+50% at Lvl 4 Vampirism. My Female Dunmer Nightblade (Vampire) wears the Nightingale Set, so before, at Lvl 4 Vampirism she'd still have -50% Fire Resist, and the extra Frost Resist granted by the Nightingale Set was worthless due to the +100% Frost Resist at Lvl 4. Now with the change, her Fire Resist is 0%, but her Frost Resist is still capped at 85% at Lvl 4 Vampirism.