Vampirism (Oblivion)

Vampirism is a syndrome acquired once Porphyric Hemophilia has infected the body for three days and the victim has slept a minimum of one hour. One infected with vampirism is called a vampire. Sunlight damages their pale complexion and a sensitivity to fire is acquired. Beneficially, vampires acquire a resistance to frost magic, the ability to see living beings in complete darkness, enhanced speed, swordplay abilities, resilience to normal weapons, and boosts to magical skills such as Destruction, Illusion, and Mysticism.
Attribute and skill bonuses and deficiencies, in addition to uniquely acquired spells and abilities, increase with the severity of infection. Vampirism comes in four tiers. The first being the closest to mortality, the fourth being fully vampiric. The first tier occurs just after sleeping, once the Porphyric Hemophilia disease has taken root. Afterwards, the degree of infection increases the longer a vampire goes without receiving sustenance from human blood. To feed, approach a sleeping person. A cursor depicting an ajar mouth with fangs appears. Press the activation button and commence feeding.
==Porphyric Hemophilia==
The disease, Porphyric Hemophilia, causes the vampiric condition after being infected for 72 hours. After this point, a bed must be slept in for the disease to take root and cause vampirism. If the infected is due for a level up, the addition of vampire skills takes precedence, meaning another sleeping session must be performed to advance in level afterwards.
Once vampirism has been successfully acquired, a message will display, indicating that the infected dreamt of feeding as a vampire. A list of abilities and modifiers are immediately applied.
Porphyric Hemophilia can be cured at any altar, with a Cure Disease potion or through the Restoration spell. Vampirism can only be cured in the base game through the quest Vampire Cure, and it cannot be acquired again without the uses of console commands or the quest "Darkness Eternal." With The Vile Lair plug-in, the Font of Renewal can be used to cure vampirism as well.
The moment the Imperial City Sewers are exited, after the completion of "Tutorial", Porphyric Hemophilia (or vampirism) can be contracted.
===Methods of contraction===
When the disease is successfully contracted, a message will display in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. The active-effects list in the Character Menu will display the disease, which has a five-point Drain Fatigue penalty.
 
Being the subject of a vampire's physical attack causes the infection to take root. This includes attacks made by blades, blunt weapons, unarmed blows, and arrows. Unlike , which requires being the victim of the Vampiric Drain spell cast by vampires, getting attacked with a spell by a vampire in does not cause the Hero to contract Porphyric Hemophilia. Vampires inhabit caves across Cyrodiil. The Barren Cave, along the Blue Road, west of Cheydinhal, always contains vampires, regardless of Character Level.
During the Dark Brotherhood quest "Darkness Eternal," Vicente Valtieri offers the "dark gift" as a reward for completing each contract up to that point. Accepting the offer infects the target with Porphyric Hemophilia, after which, the standard procedure for advancing the infection must be performed. Note that this method causes the Hero to contract the disease even if they have 100% resistance to disease. However, Vicente is killed by the Hero of Kvatch during the quest The Purification, so if one wishes to become a vampire, the dark gift should be accepted as soon as possible. This is also the only way to become a vampire if the Hero has already been cured once.
==Stages of infection==
As the severity of vampirism increases, the vampire's weakness and strengths enhance. Some effects are constant across the infection, while others are dynamic. The vampirism increases one stage each 24 hours gone without feeding, upon the next sleep or wait.
===Static effects===
*Resist Paralysis – vampires are 100% immune to paralysis.
===Dynamic effects===
====Resistances and weaknesses====
Stage	Resist Disease	Resist N. Weapons	Weak. to Fire	Sun Damage
One 	25% 	5% 	20% 	0 pts per sec
Two 	50% 	10% 	30% 	1 pt per sec
Three	75% 	15% 	40% 	4 pts per sec
Four 	100% 	20% 	50% 	8 pts per sec
====Attribute and skill modifiers====
Statistic 	Stage one 	Stage two 	Stage three	Stage four
Attributes 	Attributes	Attributes	Attributes 	Attributes
Strength 	5 pts 	10 pts 	15 pts 	20 pts
Willpower 	5 pts 	10 pts 	15 pts 	20 pts
Speed 	5 pts 	10 pts 	15 pts 	20 pts
Skills 	Skills 	Skills 	Skills 	Skills
Acrobatics 	5 pts 	10 pts 	15 pts 	20 pts
Athletics 	5 pts 	10 pts 	15 pts 	20 pts
Destruction 	5 pts 	10 pts 	15 pts 	20 pts
Hand-to-Hand	5 pts 	10 pts 	15 pts 	20 pts
Illusion 	5 pts 	10 pts 	15 pts 	20 pts
Mysticism 	5 pts 	10 pts 	15 pts 	20 pts
Sneak 	5 pts 	10 pts 	15 pts 	20 pts
===Abilities===
*Stage One: Hunter's Sight – Night-Eye for 30 seconds on Self. Detect Life 100 ft. for 30 seconds on Self.
*Stage Two: Vampire's Seduction – Charm 50 points for 20 seconds on Touch.
*Stage Three: Reign of Terror – Silence 20ft. for 60 seconds. Demoralize up to level 6 for 60 seconds on touch.
*Stage Four: Embrace of Shadows – Night-Eye for 90 seconds on Self. Invisibility for 180 seconds on Self.
===Vampire nightmares===
Each change from one stage to the next triggers a nightmare after sleeping or waiting. The effects are applied, and a message appears, describing one of the Vampire nightmares, chosen randomly.
Click to show
The first nightmare occurs after first becoming a vampire, is always the same, and does not recur:
"You dream of someone sleeping peacefully in his bed, when a shadowy, gaunt figure silently enters the room. Approaching the bed, the figure leans down and sinks its fangs into the sleeping person. After a few moments, the pale figure rises, blood dripping down his/her chin. As color flows back into the vampire's face, and his/her features fill out, you recognize the face as your own. You awake screaming."
Thereafter, one of the ten random nightmares is experienced:
"You dream of long days spent basking in the sunlight of your native lands. You feel the warmth and the heat, and feel your body become refreshed. Then you awaken, knowing it was but a dream."
"In your dream, you see a beautiful young woman holding an infant to her breast. It is only as you draw near that you realize that the woman is a desiccated corpse and the child is purple and bloated, dying of plague. As mother and child crumble to dust, you awaken."
"In your dream, an old wise-woman treats you for burns on your hands. As she applies a salve to your skin, you feel the tingle of magic as the pain begins to subside. But as you watch, the flesh of your hands begins to bubble, crack, and split, falling in chunks to the floor of her hut. As the wise-woman smiles, you wake up."
"In a dream from your childhood you remember playing hiding games with your young friends on a warm summer afternoon. You hide in your parents’ barn, sure you will not be found. Soon, the sweet smell of hay is replaced by a darker, sickly smell. You move deeper into the barn, only to stumble on the rotting corpses of your parents, their throats ripped out. You try to scream as your parents rise and pull you into an embrace."
"You dream of a sumptuous banquet spread out before you. You feast on a particularly choice cut of roasted meat, and its aroma makes your mouth water. It is only as you cut into the last portion that you see the larvae squirming inside. You cough blood as the larvae begin eating their way out of your stomach."
"You lay on your back, with a blissful feeling of peace swirling through your brain. Your every muscle is relaxed. There is no tension in any part of your body. You feel completely at ease. As your vision comes into focus, you notice others standing around you. As a man leans towards you, you recognize the robes of the Necromancer, and you see a glint of light from his scalpel as it begins to cut through your flesh."
"A warm, gentle breeze causes a tickle on your face, but as you go to brush it off, you find you cannot move your arms. Looking at your skin, you realize that it has turned to a brittle, green glass. Standing perfectly still, you breathe in shallow gulps of air, knowing that moving would cause your skin to shatter into thousands of pieces. The tickle on your face worsens, and you know that you are about to sneeze. As your skin shatters, you wake up sweating."
"In your dream, you open your eyes to a beautiful blue sky. The sun is bright, but you feel cool, even a bit damp. You draw a breath but begin to cough, as you expel blood and dirt that you’ve inhaled into your lungs. As you try to draw another, you see a shovel of dirt being emptied onto your face. The sunlight grows fainter as you view it through the soil that covers your body. You would scream, but your mouth fills with dirt before you can make a sound."
"In your dream, you approach a vampire ancient. Having just completed a perilous task for him, you swell with pride, sure that he will now bestow even greater power upon you. The entire clan’s eyes are upon you. Walking towards the dais where he stands, you realize that your task for him is actually unfinished, and that all of your vampiric powers have left you. You cry out as the clan descends upon you, and the ancient’s fangs rip into the flesh of your throat."
"You dream of walking through the cool night air. Your body cries for blood, having not fed for days. Weakly, you stumble to a small pool. As you bend down to it, you see that it is not water in the pool, but warm, fresh blood, steam rising off of it. You lower your head to drink, but cannot open your mouth. As you realize in horror that your lips have been sewn shut, a pair of cold, white hands reach out from the pool and draw you under."
==Feeding==
To feed, approach a sleeping NPC and interact with them. The choice to feed then appears. Feeding reverts the vampire back to the first stage of vampirism. Feeding on a guard sleeping in a barrack nets a 40 bounty and immediately wakes them up. Sneaking decreases the chances of being caught while feeding. If the vampire is witnessed feeding on a victim, the witness sounds the guard.
===Easy victims===
*Aelwin Merowald in Weye, just outside the Imperial City. His door is not locked.
*Members of the Mages Guild can be fed upon. Since the mages sleep in close quarters, some can awaken and alert a guard.
*Members of the Fighters Guild can be fed upon. As the porter follows the Hero around, close all doors leading to the sleeping quarters before feeding.
*In the Dark Brotherhood, you can feed on members without violating any of the tenets.
==Curing vampirism==
Aside from the Vampire Cure, initiated by Raminus Polus of the Arcane University, the only method for curing vampirism that does not involve the use of console commands is the Font of Renewal. Added through the DLC, The Vile Lair, this magic fountain cures vampirism instantly upon activation. The Font is located in Deepscorn Hollow.
Once vampirism has been cured, the only way the Hero can contract it again without console commands is with the Dark Brotherhood Quest "Darkness Eternal".
==Trivia==
*A later-stage vampire cannot initiate fast travel during the day, as one cannot fast travel while taking damage. One must either wait indoors until night falls, feed shortly before fast traveling, or merely travel manually and avoid fast traveling at all.
*When speaking to the Hero at a later stage of vampirism, some characters may comment on it without any opportunity to speak with them further. This may prevent some quests from being advanced or completed until the Hero has been cured or reduced their stage of vampirism.
==Bugs==
* Game of the Year versions of Oblivion for PS3 have no cure for vampirism. This only applies to North American copies of the game. During the quest "Vampire Cure", Melisande will not accept the Bloodgrass samples, causing the cure to be inaccessible.
**European versions of the game can bypass this by switching the in-game language to German, then giving the Blood Grass to Melisande, saving the game, and switching to any other desired language.
*Transforming into a vampire causes male faces to revert to the Old Man default skin. Females are reverted to the default male face. Curing vampirism may or may not resolve this.
**Possible fix: Save after curing vampirism, then restart the game. Face should change back to normal.
==See also==
*Vampire (Oblivion)
*Order of the Virtuous Blood (Faction)
ru:Вампиризм (Oblivion)
Category:Oblivion: Diseases