I'm making a character to play both sides of the upcoming Dawnguard DLC. Having trouble with the vampire. Need race, skill set, necessary perks, the whole nine yards basically. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I recently made an imperial Mage. I tend to use destruction, illusion, and sneak.

Race- I'd say Dark Elf for their 50% resistance to fire
Skills- In my experience Illusion, Sneak, Destruction, and One-handed are the best skills for a vampire. Depending on if you'll be using light armor or robes, go with either the Light Armor tree or the Alteration tree respectively.
Also there is a perk in Restoration called Necromage that will basically give you bonuses to your active effects because as a vampire, you are considered "undead"

Race does not really matter to much. I think going for a magic hybrid will be the best thing. Illusion and sneak would be useful for feeding purposes though they will begin to lose as much importance when dawnguard comes out since their will be alternate ways to feed. Also you need to get the necromage perk from restoration as soon as possible. It causes all effects on undead to be inhanced which includes you.

I know the dark elf's fire resistance helps with being a vampire, but I don't think they look right as vampires. The Dunmer already look the part of a vampire in my opinion, I think a proper vampire would be a human. So , Imperial or Breton. Redguard is out of the question, never have liked them.

I agree with the whole human thing, I had the same thought when making my vampire. Out of those two I would choose Breton since they're more magic-oriented.

Yeah, I've just started the game, going to be a tough choice. Question, someone mentioned that a perk "Necromage" would help my vampiric powers, anyone care to explain how that works?

Dark Brotherhood is a must.

I honestly tend to go for Breton vampires. I don't really know why, they just seem like they fit better to me.

As for the skill set, Spellthief type builds are the way to go. Illusion, in particular is good for vampires.
And, while Restoration doesn't seem like it fits, getting the Necromage perk out of it will boost basically every single spell effect you use, even the strength of your enchantments, & the potency of your potions, & the Recovery perk allows your mana to continue regenerating in sunlight, paired with Respite, & Regeneration(the latter of which you have to get for Necromage) you can largely ignore the sunlight penalties.

So in my opinion, Thief builds that dabble in magic, particularly Restoration, & Illusion.

It's a perk in restoration that makes all of your magic more effective against undead. as a vampire you're considered undead, so this is a little bit of a glitch where you can get a nice bonus for your active effects

Necromage magnifies your spell effectiveness against undead by 75%, since as a vampire you have the undead tag, it powers up spells, & other magical effects you place on yourself as well.

Can you give an example spell and how it differs without the perk? I'm still not following

Well for instance the basic heal spell heals you by 10 hp a second. You get the Regeneration perk, which you would have to get to acquire Necromage, & that becomes 15 hp per second. Then stacking the bonus from Necromage on top of that if you're a vampire it heals for 18 hp a second.

I was also mistaken by the way, Necromage is plus 25% spell effectiveness, & 50% spell duration.

The duration bonus, would stack onto other effects. Namely alteration, & Illusion. So take ebonyflesh, which has a duration of 60 seconds, & for a Necromage vampire it lasts for 90 seconds.
When you enchant an item, it's enchantment is twenty five percent stronger than what it would be without Necromage.
And when you drink a potion it's magnitude is increased by 25%. And if it has a duration that's increased by 50%.

Basically if you're a vampire with Necromage it makes any magic you use on yourself last half again as long, & be one fourth again as strong.

Also though, Necromage makes turning effects, damaging effects, & illusory effects more powerful when used on undead.

Pretty much everything magical about your character is buffed. e.g. the fire breath shout does more damage, your shout meter recharges more quickly, armor enchantments (e.g. fortify Sneak, fortify health, etc.) are increased, your Conjuration summons last longer, weaknesses are also increased (e.g. Vampire 25% fire weakness is increased, making you more vulnerable to fire), etc. It's a very useful skills for vampires of all sorts, especially mages.

Here's the build I'm currently using. It's very effective, and I'm having a lot of fun with it so far:

Male Dunmer Vampire
Sign: The Steed

Primary Skills:
- Heavy Armor
- One Handed
- Sneak
- Illusion

I use Restoration when needed, and I've put perks into Regeneration, Respite, etc. It has some useful perks besides Necromage. Definitely worth using. I also dabble in Alchemy, but I don't bother perking it or buffing my Alchemy skill before making potions. I mostly just save ingredients and then make useful potions for my exploring (Invisibility, Paralyze, Restore Health, Restore Magicka, Damage Health, etc.). The Steed allows me to move freely in Heavy Armor; it's a fantastic perk, and it makes Heavy Armor and Sneak a very potent combination. My four primary skills all level naturally by the nature of my play style. I have Illusion very heavily perked, and I have the right side of the Sneak tree perked as well (up to Assassi's Blade: 15x sneak damage with daggers). Illusion provides Muffle and Invisibility for avoiding detection, Calm for when I am detected and need to hide again, and Frenzy for getting rid of groups of enemies without being detected. Heavy Armor and One Handed come into play for those rare cases when I need to engage an opponent face on without help from stealth or illusion. Dunmer is a good race for vampires because of their 50% fire resistance, which counters the vampire fire weakness.

You swap the Dunmer out for a Breton, & we're playing the same character right now.
Especially if you're dashing about with steel plate, & a silver sword.

I have 2 Vampires. One is a Male Argonian Mage, the other is a Female Dunmer Nightblade.

My Argonian Mage is currently http://skyrimcalculator.com/#137093, and going for http://skyrimcalculator.com/#137094 at Lvl 81.
My Dunmer Nightblade is currently http://skyrimcalculator.com/#137097, and going for http://skyrimcalculator.com/#137100 at Lvl 81.

Steel Plate - yes
Silver sword - no (I'm using Mehrune's Razor)

Great minds think alike.

I just dig the silver swords, I'm going to get Dawnbreaker I guess, since I just find the beacon. It is fun for the dead guy to run around with the anti-undead sword.

That they do.