Oblivion's Vampirism - Is Being a VAMPIRE Worth It? Lore, Analysis, & Quests EXPLAINED

[@d3dhook]

At risk of sounding like an insufferable boomer, you should check out vampirism in Morrowind. There are three different variants of porphyric hemophilia that you can contract, each associating you with a different vampire clan. Each clan has their own benefits, strongholds, and questlines. The quests are very limited and the content in general feels incomplete, but it's clear that Bethesda had big plans for vampirism that were never fully realized until Dawnguard, several releases later.

[@ABardsBallad]

That’s actually really interesting and I didn’t know about that! It would’ve been so cool to see the exact same thing in Oblivion!

[@joshuakruebbe3762]

Based and Chimpilled

[@huskiefan8950]

This is one of the reasons why Morrowind is one of the best in terms of lore

[@frogman72davitto94]

​@@huskiefan8950nothing gives me greater pleasure than going through the main story from Morrowind on a decently high enough level. And not just the main quest either. But the interesting political side Morrowind and the lore behind Bloodmoon and Tribunal expansions.

[@joshrodriguez2711]

Ahh come too this place where destiny is made

[@AeridisArt]

The infinite sun death loop... I'm sure all of us who've played Oblivion as a vampire has experienced that at least once.

[@jcaesar19871]

That's why you save often, and with multiple files. Lol

[@Delbel_Giggles91]

I stopped playing after this happened to me and had to restart my game.

[@brutuschapman2508]

Yuuupp.

[@TheMerchantGuild]

I had one where it was just the start of the day, I went into a hut in the woods but an enemy was outside who I couldn’t kill and couldn’t skip time because of them, I couldn’t bare to wait the whole day

[@ArvelDreth]

No, actually. Not only have I never experienced this, I don't really know how this would happen unless you only keep a single save file for a character and you're just really careless.

[@ironscalp484]

There's a 4th way to contract the disease: If you sleep in random bedrolls throughout the wilderness there's a small chance a vampire might feed on you and give you the disease It often happened to me as a noob, before i figured it out, when i slept near Vilverin to level up

[@bluegrassmaniac3740]

That explains it

[@denisrivarola2387]

Man Skyrim is more practical for combat and that's it. Oblivion is so much more fun.

[@RockinLockin]

A mf vampire fed on me when I slept in my imperial waterfront shack. Guess it must count as the wilderness

[@liquidsleepgames3661]

Omg it happened to me in the sewer.

[@gobbo1917]

​I could see that actually being the case due to the fact that it's the only district in the imperial City that's loaded on the outside world, meaning that you could go do a quest for like the fishermen, to collect slaughter fish scales, then when your done you can just waltz on back to your shack, no loading screens required so I'm pretty sure a vampire in the hills could easily just walk in there. ​@@RockinLockin

[@rondorthecruel124]

Vampirism is the ultimate dungeon build, especially if you want a powerful character. No feeding so you get maximum stat bonuses for battles. Be a dark elf to help with fire resistance. Enchantments help as well. Sun damage and fast travel is extremely easy to work around with minimal hassle as well. If it’s daytime and you need to fast travel, just go back into the dungeon or building you just came from and wait until nighttime. Then leave and fast travel. It only takes 5 seconds and is incredibly easy. On occasion I would feed, but it was rare as I usually didn’t mind just going inside. You can also stop and rest at inns or other landmarks as daytime approaches if you’re on foot, which is a MORE IMMERSIVE adventure experience because you have to actually plan your trips. If you need to travel a bit on foot during the day, keep a decent to powerful restoration spell on your favorites or hot keys and keep casting. It’s good for training your restoration anyway. If you need to barter but you’re concerned the trader won’t cooperate, get your disposition higher with as many of them as possible before you get to stage 4 and you’ll never have to deal with it. The dying of sun damage fear, while not unfounded, usually is a problem with being too weak or low a level as a vampire. Become ultra powerful, while every potential negative can be worked around.

[@solomonstello]

You're pretty smart!

[@grimnir7749]

That's exactly how I went about it! Nice to know I'm not the only one who didn't have a problem with this :D Although, I did cure it in the end though, for role playing reasons :)

[@infernaldaedra]

I would swap dark elf fire resistance instead you want High elf and Apprentice for 200% weakness to magic so that while you have a higher base Magicka, movement speed, your end game spells cast on self will be more powerful. Especially absorbing attributes with a magnitude effect. The effect of the sun can be countered entirely with a weak restoration spell that lasts a longer period than the first day of advanced stage vampirism . u.u

[@wareforcoin5780]

Plus there are very easy potions you can make at any level that heal over time. Just keep a bunch of those on you and proceed as normal. You'll level up alchemy making them all the time and eventually you'll basically ignore the sun damage.

[@ode8416]

I use orc for magic resistance and equip a fire resistant ring

[@et34t34fdf]

I know most don't like being vampire, but i quite like it. If you do it once your athleticism, acrobatics, strength and speed are already 100, you can boost them all to 120, and possibly further if you get addicted to felldew first. In short, you jump really far, you run really fast, and you can carry a good bit of extra weight, not bad.

[@ABardsBallad]

That’s definitely a good point for vampirism! I will say the movement was really nice when I was playing as one!

[@xxXXRAPXXxx]

Also if you are really high lvl anyway than you don't really need to sleep (to lvl up) and instead of waiting if i need for a quest i just go do other stuff (or wait get higher vampirism and just use 100% chameleon and go into peoples homes to feed. If i don;t feel like using fast travel [and rather stack speed/athletics/acrobatics/feather for ridiculous speeds on the map] i can be higher vampire lvl because at lvl 30+ and using various exploits you can do pretty much what you want.).

[@r4v4g3r]

@@xxXXRAPXXxx wow that’s awesome that you’ve spent so much time as a vampire you know all that. I’m one of the people who have avoided vampirism in general in oblivion, despite playing like 10,000 hours of it lmao

[@eliwoodnguyen1505]

@@r4v4g3r 10k hrs and still havent play as a vampire is a big misss😂

[@jamesdavidson9327]

@@eliwoodnguyen1505I don’t think it is tho. Oblivion is the worst elder scrolls game to be a vampire in. Daggerfall, Morrowind, and Skyrim with dawnguard did it better.

[@tphillips1990]

That message legitimately spooked me during my first playthrough. This was my first Elder Scrolls experience, and although I was aware vampires existed, I didn't think they'd be factored in as something you could become. And I had no idea I even had the disease. I was at the point where Martin needed a daedric artifact and went with the Blood of the Daedra quest. Had my ass handed to me by the vampires in the cave...and I guess I missed the infection message. Then days later...I thought I ruined my entire playthrough.

[@ABardsBallad]

😂😂😂 I can only imagine how good of a scare it was and the confusion that must’ve caused!

[@IcyWraith]

I have ruined my entire playthrough by clearing saves and forgetting about the sun and getting trapped in an inescapable death loop. I know better now but it's a risk to new players, I think I did it twice, ruined my dark elf and red guard.

[@RMJJ91]

@@IcyWraithI had the same problem at the palace grounds of Sheogorath. I didn’t see it was day time and could not get back inside to wait it out. I recovered a slightly older save. If everything else fails, you can always delete vampirism via console. Beats needing to play it all over again.

[@HyruleWanderer]

In a recent playthrough, i got hit 1-2 times by a single vampire, missed the message and there is another ass with vampiric powers.

[@eliwoodnguyen1505]

The only things i love about being a vampire is reading their nightmare. When u on infection, those nightmares r super dope to read I wish they wrote more nightmares, even more grotesque, horror nightmares

[@OneKauz]

I played originally when Oblivion was launched on the Xbox 360. With little to no online info at that time I had no idea what happened to my playthrough. I contracted the disease without even being aware of it & was wondering why after a few days in-game I got the popup notice. I continued playing adapting to my new found needs & wants slowly starting to understand what had happened. After a few more days irl I started to get more comfortable with the new version of my character. I continued to play all the way till end game & then decided I would make it my personal journey to find the cure. Mind you, this was without any online resources or guides. In the end it made Oblivion & The Elder Scrolls games that much more endearing & beloved.

[@ABardsBallad]

It’s cool to hear all the different sides of those who’ve experienced playing as a vampire! It’s a really cool way to immerse yourself further into the gameplay!

[@esot7760]

The vamp cure quest bugged out for my brother back in 2007. Remember watching him feed so much in that play through.

[@ABardsBallad]

From making this video, a lot of the features with vampirism were really finicky and glitchy for me too! I wonder if it’s just the games coding as a whole for being a vampire!

[@nathanpoertner]

Same happened to me but I didn't want it and had to go back 30 hours to get rid of it. Was so glad when it was patched which wasn't a common thing yet back then.

[@OttermanNathan]

Man. Vampirism is definitely one of those “if you like it, you love it, but if you don’t, you’d hate it” kinda things. It was super cool having those buffs, but between feeding, sun damage, and NPCs not interacting with you if you get to 100%, it was fun to do once, and only once. If it was like the cowl of the gray fox where you can toggle it to any capacity with more convenience, yeah, I’d be cool with it. But your point of it removing too many big aspects of the game, I have to agree

[@natebush8217]

Funnily enough, my first oblivion playthrough of Oblivion ended with me ending up in an infinite sunlight death loop. Most memorable and yet most annoying moment in my time playing that game. 🤣

[@azraelselvmord3650]

That very reason is why do don't play vanilla vamp.

[@jayflorien4621]

My dad had the same thing happen but he somehow got lucky enough to get inside the building he left lol

[@ImperialKnowledge]

Man the rate you are pumping this good content out is astonishing! Keep it up!

[@ABardsBallad]

Thank you for the continued support! :) 😂 I just get so excited to make them that I become obsessed with them!

[@winter_ghosth]

Another of my favorite creators what a crossover

[@ImperialKnowledge]

@@ABardsBallad Happy to hear it man! You do you and keep doing it with a smile :)

[@DarkLOREDash]

Do you even sleep?!

[@ABardsBallad]

😂😂😂 apparently not as much as I should! Thank you again for the continued support!

[@alext9320]

I would say that the 20% resistance to normal weapons is far and away the best benefit of vampirism. That's a very rare effect to get, and if you're a vampire, it's possible to stack it with items from the plugin Unearthing Mehrune's Razor to achieve over 100% resistance, making you immune to normal weapons, like a ghost. Needless to say, that trivializes most non-magic encounters. Even if you're not building for that, the 20% resistance plus an 85 armor rating is going to make you a damn tank. Almost every other effect is relatively negligible and more often than not will stop having any impact at all on a high level character. That said, there are easier ways to become immune to normal damage, like stacking Reflect Damage in a similar vein, with the added benefit that enemies basically will kill themselves via attacking you. There's really only two notable downsides of being a vampire. The first being the lack of fast travel. The actual damage you take from being in the sun can easily be overcome by crafting a healing-over-time spell that matches or outpaces the sunlight damage you take. However even if you're healing faster than you're taking damage, the game still blocks you from fast traveling. The second downside is NPCs no longer talking to you when you're maxed out on your vampire rating. Four days SEEMS like a long time between feeding, but if you're questing around, dungeoneering, and fast traveling, those four days will go by faster than you think. You wind up basically having a chore that you have to do every time you get into town, waiting until nightfall and going to (usually) the same easily-accessed sleeping NPC over and over again. You don't feel like a predator stalking their prey, you feel like someone waiting outside of the grocery store every week, waiting for them to open. All in all, definitely not worth it from a tactical viewpoint. Fun for an evil playthrough, maybe, but otherwise it is just a chore. There's a reason the negatives were all but removed in Skyrim, and even then it is very arguable it's worthwhile. A small aside, when I was a child playing for the first time, I was infinitely disappointed that you'd still take sunlight damage while in the shade. Never made much sense to me then. I was also sad that Vampire's Seduction didn't make people vulnerable to you feeding on them while they were awake, as the quest Order of the Virtuous Blood suggests that vampires are able to seduce people into thralldom and that ability SEEMS like the means that they do that. Which of course *is* implemented in Skyrim, even though feeding is considerably less important in that game.

[@ironscalp484]

I wonder if you mix this build with the atronach star sign to make you absorb spells, you'd be basically unkillable 🤣man i'll have to try this someday if i ever play again

[@alext9320]

@@ironscalp484 I've done this exact build, just to see how easy it is to set up. It's disgustingly easy to set up, albeit basically every armor slot you have will be devoted to the build. Absorbing magic is fun, though I personally prefer to reflect it just because it's funnier. And amusement is a big factor because otherwise the game becomes a walking simulator.

[@trickyfoxx6941]

​@ironscalp484 this is what I always do on mage playthroughs atronach and sorcerers ring with ring of the iron hand I think it's called then fire shield and frost shield stuff on clothes with the alchemy skill for making sorcery potions as well as making poisons with maxed out umbra sword always poisoned and black soul gems in the pocket all on a high elf vamp

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Ghosts might be 100% resistant to normal weapons, but fists aren't normal weapons. And since it's a resistance, there is always a way to lower that resistance, just like increasing it. To quote another challenge run: "ghosts are immune to poison. Unless you use magic to convince them that they are, in fact, not immune to poison"

[@alext9320]

@@HappyBeezerStudios Fists actually ARE normal weapons in Oblivion until you hit the Journeyman rank in hand-to-hand. "You are able to punch so well that you can now punch ghosts" is one of the wilder implications of a level-up perk in the game imho. In Morrowind everyone can just punch ghosts from the get-go. The ability to turn one's hands into ethereal weapons must be an art somewhat lost between the regions I guess.

[@xChaosFlower]

The first time I contracted the disease was when I slept in bedroll at an abandoned camp in the woods. I got the prompt that something bit me and got a weird disease. I had no idea that vampirism was a viral infection and not instant turning. I also didn't know I had it. I thought I caught some random disease from sleeping outside and never slept outside again. Every time I went to bed, I got those horrible dream prompts and tried repeatedly to cure it to no avail. I had to legit look it up to understand what was going on. The worst part about it was turning in the ingredients since in the base game, the quest is glitched to where you HAVE to give the bloodgrass first, otherwise you can't complete the quest. I made that mistake and had to make a new character. I also kept getting stuck in the death loops, so all in all, vampirism IS NOT worth it.

[@ABardsBallad]

I can only imagine how confusing and awful it must’ve been not knowing how it happened!

[@anthonynorman7545]

I played Oblivion as a kid, so I thought I had been doing that quest wrong. I'm so glad to know it was bugged. I hadn't thought about it in a long time.

[@trickyfoxx6941]

Imagine if you did food reviews lmao I had pizza did not understand why it's covered with cheese or why I have pizza will not try pizza again not worth it. I play vamps a lot it's totally worth it when you actually understand how it works and the purpose of it and I've beaten the game so many times as a vamp that I forget I'm not one on my normal character play throughs

[@grimnir7749]

@@trickyfoxx6941 Yeah, they don't like it 'cause they don't understand it! The thought of being inconvenienced by a game mechanic makes them...Heh! And it's not like the game doesn't give you hints and how to avoid getting it or even curing it at all, all in the game!

[@nickelakon5369]

​@@grimnir7749i mean, feeding isnt that hard to keep up with, and if your dark elf theres basically zero bad effects from level 1 vampirism other than maybe being a little uglier.

[@ampeater777]

From a pure meta gameplay standpoint, being a vampire is very worth it and I immediately do the azura shrine quest to get it asap. If you don't mind visiting ongar the world-weary (who can almost always be found sleeping) in bruma when you occasionally have to sleep and keep yourself at 25% then it's just a hard buff with disease immunity and a kickass night eye/life detect minor power that is easily spammable. Both of those things are super valuable and all it costs is visiting an old guy when you level up and your skin starts burning. Also just letting yourself go full vampire for access to all its abilities and buffs before dungeon crawling is just ridiculous. You can pretty much go super saiyan whenever you want, shit it even happens at a relatively similar speed as it does in dbz

[@ampeater777]

Lol I honestly forgot about weakness to fire because I tend to play dark elves so that gets entirely negated unless you are intentionally going for a higher level of vampire

[@dylansylvester4719]

@@ampeater777 covering the weakness to fire is can be done as an atronoch birthsign or a breton with a mundane ring iirc

[@supremepennypincher3194]

Gonna be real your production far outclasses most channels of your size. Very well made vid my man

[@ABardsBallad]

Thank you very much! I really appreciate it! :)

[@Joeyisagonnawin]

Probably the most important piece of information is how the original plan was to be a vampire from the start. This implies it was meant to be major factor when considering your character and your playstyle, more akin to a class decision than a race. That's probably why they removed it from that point.

[@ABardsBallad]

I think it’s really fascinating the angle they were going for there! I’d love to see it further explored in TES one day!

[@speedy4574]

Self sufficiency is the key to being a vampire. Having a maxed out skill in Armorer is essential and Alchemy is good too. When you can make more powerful potions and poisons than what can be bought, along with being able to repair your own gear without fear of running out of hammers, you greatly reduce the need to venture into town. Maxed out security is good too for the same reason. Nobody likes running out of lockpicks. The less you need from the townfolk, the better vampire you will be and the less reasons you need to feed, allowing you to enjoy the full power of the disease.

[@ABardsBallad]

Very solid point! The less reasoning for needing to move around towns in the daytime the better!

[@cherry9787]

Just cheese spell the skills

[@amduil8168]

I still don't understand why you get more powerful as you starve yourself of blood. It just seems completely backwards to me.

[@mathiaschristensen1194]

Im p sure its cause of this specific bloodline being based on blending in, so when you feed, you are then allowed to blend in with society.

[@samhall5096]

I think the idea is a starved vampire is feral. A satiated vampire would be more humanlike.

[@amduil8168]

@@samhall5096 I agree, but you'd think they would lose their magic strengths and buffs and gain stronger melee focused buffs to make them more animalistic.

[@missing_links]

Skyrim's "Better Vampires" mod does exactly this, in addition to many other enhancements to vampirism.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

@@amduil8168 totally agree. In most media vampires become more powerful the older they get. And to continue existing, they need to feed. Translating that to TES mechanics, it would be as if your vampire powers get stronger with every feeding.

[@hody.8381]

The threat of gaining Vampirism is the sole reason "cure disease" potions are a must carry. Nothing more annoying than finding yourself dying out in direct sunlight.

[@thisismyyoutubecommentacco6302]

You don't immediately get vampirism, you get Porphyric Hemophilia and it takes three days for full blown vampirism. You also don't take sun damage until you have full vampirism and have rested another two days. There is no scenario where you would need a cure disease potion to immediately cure the condition before you would start taking sun damage, if you're taking sun damage, you have neglected the issue at multiple turns after being informed of what's going on.

[@ABardsBallad]

Yes! I literally only carry them around for this disease! Rockjoint, brain rot, etc. I’ll just go to a wayshrine but I don’t mess around with Porphyric Hemophilia 😂

[@NegativeDumpster]

@@ABardsBallad I'll add to that; in quite literally _all_ of my Oblivion playthroughs, Restoration is *ALWAYS* a skill that I main, even if it technically isn't one of my "Major" skills. Because it has a "Cure Disease" spell, which you can buy from healers in the churches. Having access to that spell means you no longer need to worry about a bunch of "Cure Disease" potions clogging up your inventory. That, in turn, means extra room for more loot, and extra money (from selling the potions in question). Not to mention Restoration is already a pretty useful thing to have, anyway.

[@huskiefan8950]

I consider vampirism in elder scrolls games to be almost like a "replay mode" after youve experienced the entire questline as a non-vampire, it makes for an alternative and interesting replay option. Thats how ive always seen it, along with lycanthropy in skyrim.

[@Oekiero]

I love seeing oblivion still being mentioned. Love your channel and I have huge respect for you!

[@multigamer856]

I've always heard that vampirism in Oblivion sucks and it seems it really does. Btw I had no idea you will not become a vampire again after curing. Seems like the Argonian disease immunity is literally in your blood after consuming the antitode or something.

[@winter_ghosth]

in all the games it sucks ESO get the better version of it and still trash

[@thisismyyoutubecommentacco6302]

It's always been more for role playing than anything else, mechanically it's always had pretty bad drawbacks. Skyrim with Dawnguard at least tried to make it more attractive but even then it's always been very meh and something you really just take if you're going "evil" or maybe you're playing a "blade" type character who hunts your own kind.

[@ABardsBallad]

Yes! I’d say Oblivion might have it the worst for vampirism tbh! Like the previous comment mentioned, Danwguard in Skyrim tried to make it appealing, but Oblivion gets none of that 😂

[@azraelselvmord3650]

@@thisismyyoutubecommentacco6302 Missed opportunity to join Dawnguard as a vampire. At least make speech craft actually do something to persuade him.

[@thisismyyoutubecommentacco6302]

@@azraelselvmord3650 Yep, when he shines the light on Sorine and Gunmar that should have been an opportunity to talk your way into staying a vampire, rather than having to be forced to go get yourself cured. My guess is they figured it would make Serana basically redundant as she's the one hogging the "vampire with heart of gold" role in the questline.

[@EA_SP0RTCENTER]

In my headcanon, order vampyrum (iirc the name of the cyrodillic clan of vampires) are more closely related to Clavicus Vile than Molag Bal. I think in the book Immortal Blood, it does say that some vamps are associated with him along with Molag.

[@ABardsBallad]

That’s very interesting! I’ll have to read up more on that! Thank you for bringing it to my attention!

[@CornBreadtm1]

That's not headcanon. It's just canon. Clavicus Vile created Porphyric Hemophilia. He can basically make off shoot vampires using his power of wish. Mortals wish for something and it lets him preform tasks outside of his wheel house. Molag Bal created Sanguinare Vampiris, which makes traditional vampirism. The pure blood strain is gotten from sharing blood with a vampire (like traditional vampires) and the diseases variant is way weaker. It's rare and not often shared which is why you have Vampire lords in Skyrim from ancient pure blood strains. Pure vampires can't infect people with diseases, they can only turn from sharing blood. So only their weaker offspring can run around spreading Sanguinare Vampiris. Porphyric Hemophilia is in Cyrodil and Morrowind since people wished for vampiric power and Clavicus gave them the new strain. But it's obviously way weaker and doesn't get much stronger with age. It's also gotten from blood sharing, though the player can't do this and is shunned by their clan in Morrowind till you win them over with quests. Noxiphilic Sanguivoria is the daywalker strain. Lamae Beolfag's pure strain created by Molag Bal when he... you knowed her. You only get this is TESO during the 2nd era. Lamae is gets stronger with each vampire that she blood shares with that sires children. So she's the reason that vamprism spread all over Tamriel.

[@Skylerjones624]

Heard that if you're a vampire after completing the great gate quest your characters statue will burn in the sunlight

[@ABardsBallad]

That’s really interesting! I’ll have to check that out!

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

The statue is basically an NPC with the AI scripts disabled (that way they can make it look like the player, by simply copying the player actor), like mannequins in Skyrim and Fallout 4. And sometimes that script is buggy and the mannequins walk around.

[@misterturkturkle]

i remember a friend showing off the game, but he was stuck for a while- he was a vampire, low level, low hp, and couldnt heal through the sun damage. so he was trapped in a house with an unkillable npc who wanted him to leave their house. so he had to keep fighting the npc cause he couldnt wait or leave till nightfall

[@Triseptagon]

I contracted the disease from a vampire but thought nothing of it. Soon, my brother came into the room and saw that I contracted it. Then, he had the brilliant idea of telling me to sleep, causing me to get that chilling message. He burst out in laughter as I sat there in complete confusion. Either way, being a vampire is fun, but can also be annoying at times. Overall, it's my favorite part of this game.

[@Shushkin]

I was not aware of the easier way to cure vampirism. I always did it the hard way. Which in my humble opinion is the mother of all fetch quests. Honestly, I thought that being a vampire was a liability. You learn something something new all the time about the game.

[@subtle340]

That fear of the infinite sunlight death loop isn’t irrational. RIP DeAndre. 😪

[@ABardsBallad]

😂😂 pour one out for DeAndre!

[@Cheezoidberg]

Level 75, I locked my Argonian in one of the sewage hallway doors that requires a gate control while on the run from vampires. The hallway had a double door and I was stuck with no way to operate the controls. I accidentally saved over my last save instead of loading to it. Was a sad day.

[@jamaicahampton4818]

Damn

[@Cheezoidberg]

Didn’t play for year after that lmao 🥲😂

[@intuitionedits2.032]

I once randomly became a vampire. I had NO clue how it happened lol. I just started burning up in the sun and the game was like "hey uh you got vampirism buddy" and I was like "wth?" It was an interesting experience.

[@DrNatemiester]

Love to see a nascent Elder Scrolls lore channel on its way up. Keep it up, love your content.

[@steestephen]

Always great to see new Elder scrolls channels. Keep up the great work.

[@JohnDoe-uq2qd]

If you're a stealth based character then Vampirism is worth it for Hunter's Sight alone. It blows every other night eye or detect life spell out of the water. Feeding is super easy once you have a decent security skill, and I always found the feeding animation very cool and satisfying. The downsides to vampires are pretty minimal at 25% and can be overcome with enchantments. Hunter's Sight is just so damn good.

[@DustinManke]

If you can get 5 items, each enchanted with 20 chameleon, you can feed anywhere a person is sleeping. Once you just start the mages guild questline you get access to all of their sleeping quarters.

[@dylansylvester4719]

I mean with chameleon 100 on your gear you pretty much break the whole game

[@TheFloodFourm]

This is how you end up on another adventurer’s quest log

[@SandGentleman]

There's a mistake in the video. You say that Brain Rot comes from rats, but actually you get it from Twitter.

[@pastorofmuppets9346]

They have the same name but twitter reduces intelligence while rats drain strength

[@999haunted]

You can also it from anyone under the age of 20

[@Boulderpuncher98]

​@@999haunted There are also plenty of people over 20 that can give you it as well

[@DepressedSkorpion]

My first character became a vampire naturally very early on. It made for a very interesting first playthrough. I had a blast having to deal with it all.

[@BananaGatorProds]

Kinda crazy that Molag Bal arguably has the most widespread presence on nirn out of every daedric lord because of this one disease. Good video btw.

[@ItsChevnotJeff]

It's also funny how it's basically HIV but with extra steps, and one that started as an STD, unsurptisingly

[@billygoodmeme7635]

On a side note I like how some of the clips are just of you punching enemies

[@debbiegilmour6171]

Vampirism in original release Skyrim was really poor, there was the vampire cure quest only and the only thing going for it was necromage which nobody was really sure was a deliberate design choice. Dawnguard made Skyrim about par, as far as the vampirism's power level itself goes, with Oblivion's, though with the added quests it did push Skyrim's ahead. However, Skyrim's moddability is what really makes Vampirism stand out. Mods like sacrosanct, better vampires, royal bloodlines, vampires fly (with collisions) are all amazing.

[@denisrivarola2387]

I heard "tasks, responsabilities and restrictions" and this stared my attention back to real life again -_-

[@flipdrumkip]

I always became a vampire asap and maintained it at 25%. The dungeons and oblivion levels are dark. I wanted hunter's sight. Very handy for a thief/assassin. The feeding never bothered me. Thought it was fun sneaking around cities looking for beggars.

[@JesusChrist-pd9py]

Even level 1 vampirism is useful, those 5 attribute/skill points can really make a difference, in the early game at least

[@lolmanmagee2785]

iv always hated how vampirism feeding is the inverse of what it should be in skyrim and it seems to be the same in oblivion. role play wise if i am resisting my urge to devour, i should become less of a powerful vampire and if i am a predator in the night feeding constantly, i should be very powerful.

[@MuchWhittering]

That Azura thing isn't technically part of the main quest. You can do any Daedra shrine, that's just the one Martin tells you about.

[@winter_ghosth]

me walking around as a level 4 vampire during the day leveling up my restoration...

[@ABardsBallad]

Honestly, that is definitely a decent way to level up restoration!

[@MrRattlebones640]

I remember soft locking my character on PS3 with Vampirism, I was stuck in the witches house during the daytime, which counted as trespassing, so i couldnt wait and had to constantly yield to the witch. My dad had a similar experience, becoming a vampire because he thought it would be cool, getting softlocked and then trying to load a save only to find they had been corrupted.

[@TheRealGameTime]

The PS3 one is bugged , you can not be cured. When you give her the items she won't proceed to the next stage of that quest. PS3 is how I play oblivion. So I try my hardest not to become one lol

[@jmc154]

I do most my playthroughs as a vamp. I think its fun

[@joshualynam3094]

Loved playing with my Dad on PS3 back in the day. His best character accidentally became a vampire and he went through the whole cure quest only to discover a bug where after turning in all of the quest items she would never hand over the cure. Turned out the entire PS3 GOTY version is bugged and it was not going to be fixed unless you purchased an original edition copy of the game and loaded your character with that disc in and completed the quest that way lmfao.

[@jamesa1226]

Hunters sight was a great bonus while a vampire. Getting the cure was a royal pain in my playthrough. I found all of the difficult to obtain by simply progressing through the game. The 6 garlic were the problem. It actually took close to 10 gameplay hours of active search and that involved actively going to places where you can buy food. Just about drove me crazy.

[@user-yu3td5ie9t]

nice video i love this type of stuff and it makes me really happy that people still make videos on these games as they deserve to stay alive

[@Teradyne87]

If I recall correctly, my argonian shadow spell had an uncharacteristically smooth time living as a vampire after learning 100% chameleon allows one to be unseen by the light of the sun. Actually took me a while to figure out why I was getting the sun damage warning message but not losing health.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Being able to hide so well, not even the sun can see you

[@Reallytallsocks]

I loved playing as a vampire tbh

[@qvcybe]

i like the mods that reverse it and make you get stronger for each time you feed as it feels better then starving to get stronger XD

[@dumbnfreshh]

so glad i found this video. in my current file as a mage, i somehow contracted Porphyllic Hemophilia without noticing and woke up confused cuz i don't remember receiving the disease; although, i should've probably known since i fought a bunch of vampires. i'd entirely forgot how to cure it-forgotten since i had an older file where i contracted Porphyllic Hemophilia and had to cure my vampirisim after it was too late there as well-and was far too lazy to search up how to cure it, so i just let it stay. thank Kynareth i ran into this, though

[@nolanlaframboise4354]

I would be so smart if I cared half as much about school as I do the effects of vampirism in oblivion…

[@ConeFlower-gx2qk]

I remember I made my oblivion character like glowing Snow White and when he became a vampire it actually made him way tanner instead of paler

[@0tt0z]

Your videos are great! I havent played Oblivion for a year or two and now have it for the PC so im looking forward to playing it again.

[@TwilightRogue15]

I once tried to play a Vampire specific run in Oblivion. I went in fully aware of everything, with my challenge originally set to mostly maintain a 100% vampire state, only sneaking in to feed and spend the day shopping and selling goods, then slinking back into the night. Going between the Imperial City, Bruma, Chorrol, and Cheydinhal was pretty easy. No issues hiding in dungeons and sneaking into town to feed. The waterfront makes for an especially easy entrance into the Imperial City. When I went down to Bravil and Leyawin, it wasn't much more difficult, but there were too many outside nuisances that slowed me down and no real place to sneak off to to avoid the road when travelling, though dungeons were still numerous and entrance into town wasn't too difficult. Then was the Skingrad-Kvatch-Anvil trek. Getting from the Imperial City to Skingrad wasn't too difficult, though I swear there are more guards on the road in this stretch than any other save perhaps around Bruma, though the Bruma mountains make them easy to avoid. Anything past here, though, is a nightmare. Way too many bandit camps in the Gold Coast that, while they make for easy feeding, are very annoying and time consuming, as are the various dangerous wild animals. Dungeons are clustered in some areas and then there are wide stretches without them. This made the gameplay either very difficult in full vampire form or pretty much the same as any other run in 25% form, and I gave up on the run at this point, as it was no longer fun.

[@ABardsBallad]

I really like to hear people’s different experiences with playing as a vampire! I think it’s a very interesting and neat way you did it!

[@TwilightRogue15]

@@ABardsBallad Thank you! I like to RP hard when I play RPG's, and I love to keep coming back to Oblivion and Morrowind. They're both games I love to play to relax after a long day. It's usually a ton of fun, but on occasion an idea just doesn't pan out. The journey is always worthwhile, though.

[@tannerkirk4332]

26:30 you talk about the infinite death loop save file… that was the last time I ever played oblivion… I was very far into the game. Constantly going into daedra territory closing gates just for farming fun.. and I caught the disease and became a vampire. Had no idea how to handle it. And I had an auto save or something that starts with me walking out of a door in some town midday. And I instantly die. Not even with 1 second of time to turn around and re-enter the building. No time to pause and do any other action. It was literally infinite death save file. There were no options other than die, reload, die, reload, die. and the game was over. I didn’t have any other save files anywhere near that point. So I was done gaming. I was just a young man… so I didn’t have the capability or know how to research what was happening and how to handle it. A lot of the gaming went that way for me

[@justinnyugen7015]

I was stage 4 and incredibly vulnerable to the sun since I wouldn't feed, leading me to go on the cure quest. I fast traveled to the cure lady's house, which ended up being daytime. The cure lady kept kicking me out of her house and into sunlight (and I couldn't wait / sleep since I was technically trespassing in her hut). I ended up sneaking in and out of her house for a few in-game hours until she either slept, went in the cellar, or did not detect me, healing up sun damage each time

[@LoveSickWorld]

One major thing that could’ve made it better is if instead of the sun just killing you it would you give you several debuffs

[@Forsparda]

Oddly enough i found vamperism useful early on but after a while like around the early to mid 30s i was generally strong enough and had enough resources that i didnt need the bonuses like immunity to disease anymore, early on being able to cure disease is rough if you like doing the thieves guild and dark brotherhood questlines first

[@jordanstark5924]

I feel like it helps a lot knowing that you can fast travel from inside player homes so you can fast travel during the day as a vampire. I like it for lore reasons as it adds a reason for your character to own a home in every city and it makes sense that an old vampire could own a lot of homes anyway. Sucks that you can't fast travel from the ghost house in Anvil though

[@mrmalcolm]

The sunlight damage can be mitigated or eliminated with heal self enchanted equipment. If you make one powerful enough you may only need one.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

the fine for feeding is 40, that isn't even that bad.

[@ABardsBallad]

I believe it’s treated the same as assault!

[@solomonstello]

Sounds like an incentive

[@AliceWanders]

I had played other games before, but Oblivion was my real first game that I ever sat down and deep dove into and played every inch of. I had no idea that I was supposed to be making multiple save points just in case something goes wrong, not only did I not know how I got vampirism, but I didn't even know I had it until I was walking around in the Sun and died. I did not have a safe point from before I was a vampire, back then there wasn't really like anything I could look up for how to fix myself, so that ended that playthrough. The next playthrough that I did I got stuck in a house that I could not get out of it kept saying I need the key but I couldn't find the key and nobody ever showed up. I just figured I wasn't meant to play Oblivion

[@FRAAANKYSUUUPER]

My first play through my game glitched, I was a level 4 vampire with no negatives and all positives. No sunlight damage and everyone was happy to talk to me.

[@Guitarist3134555]

Thank god, I found another quality Bethesda video essay channel! I wonder what happens if you let the Dark Brotherhood guy bite you after you've completed these quests?

[@ABardsBallad]

Thank you for the support! :) I appreciate it! :)

[@theRaven131]

Here's a plus for being a vampire briefly. As a vampire, you can go to an enchanting altar, and you can access Fortify Attribute and Fortify Skill. So, you don't have to pay for those spells. I use them, then cure myself of vampirism in vile lair. You keep what you've added there.

[@jacklansdale77]

Once during a admittedly modded playthrough, but of course with the bug fixing mod, I got a hotel door to stay open so every night I could feed as I pleased there in the imperial city and shop freely in the morning.

[@chavhater08]

you can also get it when you do the arena challange while you sleep

[@ABardsBallad]

I’ll have to check that out!

[@mentalshatter]

The was really well thought out.

[@ABardsBallad]

Thank you for the support! I appreciate it! :)

[@Destroyer2k16]

I remember back in the day I had a vampire mage character, I created a spell that would last as long as the game would let me and I made it heal me just a little more than the sun could drain my health, that was my work around for sun damage as a vampire.

[@tw1st3ds0ul9]

The first time I played Oblivion, I had just cleared out a bandit camp and had a level up. Since there were bedrolls around, I just went to sleep right there. When I woke up expecting a level screen, a pop-up came up, and without reading it, I cleared it to level my character. I tried to figure out what it was and not finding it went about my business. The next time I leveled, I became a vampire. I was completely unprepared for what that entailed. I ended up deleting that character because I had no idea what to do about it. Now, on certain builds, I purposely become a vampire and have a blast.

[@RelixsCrow]

a good way i always deal with vampirism, is as soon as i have a house for 2000 gold, i seek out an area with vampires, such as the cave with the vampire who's ashes you are meant to retrieve, a lot of saving, loading, dying, and misery later, simply wait, and get the ingredients, although these steps can be taken in well in advance to cut down on time. the only real negatives is being on the clock before everything goes crumbling down, and the grand soul gems are a pain, more often than not i simply buy them outright or steal them stealthily when possible. the positives are pretty obvious with not having this cursed burden on you, and waiting until my character reaches level 30 before claiming a fat pay check at the end.

[@majdanica]

love your videos!!

[@ABardsBallad]

Thank you for the support! I appreciate it! :)

[@burge117]

Great video man 😊 I always thought that if you sleep in certain places you could become infected, I have slept in I think the abandoned shack at the waterfront on several playthroughs and woken up with vampirism...though maybe I was infected and didn't realise 😂

[@KhanIlkara]

I remember contracting vampirism within Skyrim with the Dawnguard expansion. The grind leading up to the full perk power on legendary mode at near level cap: Cave Johnson Lemon Rant.

[@springheeljak145]

I only became a vampire once just so I could do the cure quest because it was one of the few quests I never completed

[@ABardsBallad]

I totally get it from the completionist angle!

[@Dragon_Lair]

Currently playing as a Vampire in Oblivion right now. It's not that bad at all. But I'm also refusing to fast travel and I'm planning my excursions accordingly. I'm doing a lot of dungeon delving to avoid the sun, I'm training up my restoration skill by healing myself while traveling, and then I feed when I get to the next major settlement, usually at the fighter's or mages guild. I'm a Breton with the mage star-sign so I have a lot of magicka. It's actually an incredibly fun playthrough, not because of the challenge but because I'm doing a lot of things I had never done before. I'm actively planning my trips around the times of day and distance, I'm making pretty solid money since I'm a mage so I don't need a lot of armor or weapons and can cast the bound armor spells should I need them. When I get to the arcane university (only have Leyawin and Anvil left to go) I'll be able to customize a spell to let me summon the full suit of armor and weapons all at once for 60-120 seconds as I choose with a single cast so I'll always have weapons and armor that will hurt ethereal beings. I just got to level 10 (got the vampire disease while exploring some ruins near chorral at a lower level) and I'm having a blast.

[@darktheloser]

My first time playing Oblivion I accidentally got vampirism and got stuck in this loop of dying in the sun. I didn't even realize i contracted the disease cuz i missed the message. I only found out I had it after becoming a vampire because i went to sleep and the message scared the shit out of me

[@izzym9385]

Dunno if anyone else has said this in the 9 ish months this has been posted, but I noticed in a recent playthrough attempt of oblivion that immediately after I killed an enemy, I’d be able to wait, no issues. No need to walk out of range of others nearby, just wait an hour to immediately restore magicka and health. Can’t remember if I did it when other enemies were even right next to me but I thiiiiiink it worked. Dunno if everyone has had that gli- feature, but my guess is that immediately after killing an enemy, the game took a second or two to identify others. Unsure though, but definitely helpful

[@Aaahrg]

I like playing vampires simply because I love them. Avoiding the sun and drinking blood is part of the expirience. And its neither shining in dungeons and oblivion. A considerable problem in oblivion is obviously the fire but im a Breton and powerful mage so its mitegateably. The sinister look is also an advantage for me.

[@lynk3067]

Slept at the blades base protected my ass “can hold off 1000 men with 100” he says yet a sneaky guy bites me bologna guy

[@Ace2014Ace]

2 things you missed. You can also get the disease from being hit by zombies. Some people say if you sleep at a bedroll at a camp it can happen, but i can't confirm. The other thing is the quest to cure yourself can easily bug out, so hand in all minor ingredients at 1 time to avoid this.

[@MrLightningbob]

I’m glad I never became a vampire in oblivion… except once many years ago in a file long since deleted. However, I tend to go got the vampirism in Skyrim when I play. I also have two characters in ESO who are vampires, one of which is nearly unkillable for most.

[@Johnson_2022]

Ultimately for oblivion vampire your definitely right about it not being worth it. If could have made three changes to the system they would be: To allow full coverage clothes to dramatically cut down on sun damage and disposition penalties (this allowing you to still adventure and the like but with the penality of no armour). Increasing the the time between level transformations from daily to every three or 4 days (this would make feeding less of a pain by reducing it's need while still making it something you need to consider). Feeding to reducing your vampire level by 1 rather than being a complete reset (as it is trying to stay at levels 2 or 3 is pretty difficult so allowing feeding to simply reduce the level would provide more player control and make these stages more useful). The theme of these changes is to make the game more difficult but in a unique way to still keep it fun.

[@ABardsBallad]

I like it and totally agree! I think if they changed up how the mechanics for Vampirism worked it would be a lot more tolerable!

[@Johnson_2022]

@@ABardsBallad indeed, which is something they learnt for Skyrim. However they over compensated and essentially made the penalties meaningless.

[@darkhysteriaraven506]

In a way contracting vampirism is like unlocking a new difficulty you've heard of hard mode now get ready for The Planes of Oblivion Difficulty.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Ironically visiting the planes of Oblivion are a safe place for vampires.

[@pipzchan]

Here before it blows up

[@ABardsBallad]

Thank you for the support! :)

[@Srab23]

The vampires being an option as a starting race was possibly a debug tool during develpment to test the vampire faces

[@cyglassworks]

So I always played Argonian as a kid. So diseases weren't ever a problem for me. I remember coming back to the game as an adult and playing a different race. I had contracted a few illnesses here and there and cured them with little notice. However it was because of how easily those other diseases went away that I stopped checking to confirm. I would notice I got a disease mid combat and cure it after I finished whatever I was doing. So you can imagine my horror when I woke up from a lvl up rest and was informed that I was now a vampire. Jesus lol. I played this game so much as a kid and yet here it was almost 20 years later giving me a new adventure.

[@brunoh.1312]

Certainly not for first time players as it gets annoying, but a second time player looking for the utimate dungeon destroyer can enjoy it quite a bit, i've always had my character turn into a vampire, the first vampire playthough is quite challenging but on the second one you just learn to break the game and you really become drunk with power, and it turns extremely fun until it ends and then all playthoughs become the same so you install a boatload of mods and make it fun again.

[@BlazingLee0610]

Always keep a couple Mandrake Root on hand in case my character gets a disease, but especially for Porphyric Hemophilia! The cure vampirism quest can be extremely inconvenient, especially when you're not allowing yourself to fast travel.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

The fact that vampire skills grow when not feeding means that the most powerful vampires are those who cause the least harm.

[@cloudkitt]

Thanks, I have wondered about this but never enough to follow through

[@Veevee.Smollfox]

i remember my time with oblivion vampirism. Took damage in the sun suddenly figured it was vampirism, tried doing the cure quest, it bugged out and i couldnt give the questgiver the ingridients. that was my first charater in oblivion and it was way to annoying to deal with that, made a second one, but the magic was gone basically and i didnt play long

[@drkirbkennethkirby7634]

I rolled High Elf, Atronach sign , plus everything else possible for maximum magicka. Created restoration spells that buffed my stats by 100 for maximum amount of time, Athletics, Acrobatics, Speed, etc, and caught vampirism. My dude literally flies everywhere. I STAND on water. Not walk, not run. Stand. I can jump from the bottom of the stairs of the Arcane University and clear the wall with plenty of room to spare, and I have full movement control on the way down. Couple this with destruction spells doing 100 of every element in a 5m range, and a second tick of damage, and my character is an F35 jet raining hell down on Tamriel. Only downside is needing to dupe stones because magicka potions are a drop in the bucket.

[@JuanSanchez1]

Since in my first ever play through I lost my file because I got stuck with an auto save in the light and died instantly upon reload vampirism will never be worth it to me. 150+ hours gone because I was dumb, and didn’t keep hardsaves. Many lessons learned

[@KHA0T1X]

Is it on PC? if so & you still have that auto save, reload & immediately press the key for entering the command prompt & enable an invincible command or one that gives you x amount of health, you can find a list online of all possible commands easily

[@JuanSanchez1]

@@KHA0T1X nah it was in 360, and def still don’t have that save. That was back when it originally came out. God I wish I could go back and play it blind again