LE Immortal Vampires

[DanteWrath]

To start out, while I am sure the things I am suggesting for the mod could be used for the player as well, there are so many mods out there that change PC vampirism that compatibility is sure to be an issue.

However there aren't many mods that effect NPC vampires.

 

A while ago I came across a mod that allowed you to finish of a weakened Vampire by staking them. Although I have never been much of a fan of the vampire staking lore, I did like the idea that a Vampire could only be killed in a certain way. However it turned out the mod only gave the option of killing vampires with the stake, but they could still be killed normally, which seemed pointless since to use the stake, the vampire had to be near death anyway.

What I am suggesting for this mod is to make Vampires incredibly difficult to kill.

 

The idea of this mod, is to follow some of the mixed myths on killing vampires and make it so that there are only a couple of ways to truly kill a vampire.

Although of course a modder could add staking and whatever else he/she sees fit, here are my suggestions.

 

A Vampire can only be killed via;

Decapitation (Requiring of course the Decapitation Perk).

Silver Weapons. (And if possible the addition of Silver Arrows and Bolts)

Being mauled by a Werewolf.

Sun Damage (I am aware there may be no way actually allow NPC vampires to take damage from the sun, for now this refers to the sunlight spells added in Dawngaurd).

Dawnbreaker (As it is a deadric weapon designed for fighting the undead. Although this could also be achieved by downloading the 'Dawnbreaker, Sun Damage' mod combined with the above suggestion, It would probably make more sense to have it added separately).

 

I personally believe that this would make Vampires a serious threat, and would require you to either be well trained (Decapitation, Spells), well prepared (Silver, Dawnbreaker) or a Werewolf to stand a chance.

If a Vampire is not killed by these methods, there are various options for what happens, the simplest for modding sake being that they simply will get knocked down and get up again (As if Essential).

However other alternatives could include;

The Vampire will just continue fighting until one of these methods are used.

The Vampire will flee if he/she is brought down to 0 (Or practically 0) health.

The Vampire enters a 'Feign Death' State and will return to life after a period of time. (This is my personal favourite, but also the most difficult to implement. If this was used, it may be an idea to allow the Vampire to be decapitated or finished with Silver while in this state).

 

Anyway, this is my request. I am aware that it is a big one, so I thank anyone in advance for taking interest.

If any non-modders are reading this, feel free to post your own ideas and feedback, any responses will be appreciated.

Edited November 14, 2012 by Dante Wrath

[optimus0]

i find your idea espectacular and really necessary (i can't believe that i don't notice before, and really i can't believe that Bethesda don't think it either) also

it could expand to a vampire player too, some how that don't make it too powerful

[coldreactive]

Sunlight arrows basically just do fire damage. Seeing as Vampires are basically "undead" they would be weak to fire too.

[ArgintSilver]

Sunlight arrows basically just do fire damage. Seeing as Vampires are basically "undead" they would be weak to fire too.

Yep , that's wright ... burn the suckers :pirate:

[DanteWrath]

Sunlight arrows basically just do fire damage. Seeing as Vampires are basically "undead" they would be weak to fire too.

 

I forgot about fire actually. In terms of realism you are right, it should be effective against vampires.

However the only thing I fear about adding fire to the list is that it could take away the challenge since fire spells are common place (And 'Flames' is the first spell you start with).

[DanteWrath]

Been racking my brain trying to think of a work around to the fact that fire should be effective, but would defeat the challenge.

The only solution I can see is if the mod was also to make fire spells harder to come by.

First I'd suggest something similar to in this mod: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/9835, removing flames as a starting spell.

Then to further add balance you could increase the cost of spell books for fire spells.

I think this would be enough to balance it, however you could also add an increase magicka cost and damage to match their increased value.

[jack013]

you could give vampires super regeneration rates and then have all these special ways of killing pause their regen for x seconds, sun, fire, silver, holy spells. that seems more skyrim-ish.

[DanteWrath]

you could give vampires super regeneration rates and then have all these special ways of killing pause their regen for x seconds, sun, fire, silver, holy spells. that seems more skyrim-ish.

 

I did actually think about this, but their health would also have to be significantly increased so they would have a chance to recover (At level 40 most vampires only take a couple of hits, even on the higher difficulty settings)

[ArtMurder]

I've always been frustrated by how easy vampires were to kill (including the PC) in skyrim. Disappointing to say the least. I always thought about a 'revenant' power, similar to the 'raise zombie' spell, but instead of having to cast it it activates automatically when the NPC/PC with the spell dies, reviving them, and giving them a 60-120 second health booth, health regeneration boost, magicka boost, magicka regeneration boost, armor boost, etc, basically making them HELL to deal with, and forcing you to kill them twice. I personally see this as being a 'once daily power', so if the PC has it, once a day you can be brought back to life. A way to do this would be, to have a character with the power active impossible to drop below 1 health, and when they hit one health, an effect triggers (kinda like the 9th dragon priest mask) Maybe have it activate a powerful push back effect as well, like fusrodah in all directions.

 

I also see giving vampires a constant really high health regeneration and a large health boost (as well as maybe a magicka/magicka regen boost) at NIGHT. Killing a vampire during the day time should be WAY easier then killing one at night. Also, the PC should feel like an undead monster at night, shrugging off normal blows like they're nothing, using the darkness to regenerate their dead flesh as fast as it can be sliced from there bodies.

 

I really don't think damage to them needs to be modified much, as fire is suppose to be their main weakness, and really is the best way to kill them. I do think adding a 'hidden' effect to silver to make it temporarily stop health regeneration in undead/werewolves would be pretty cool, and make killing them with it a lot easier.

 

I also think that POWERFUL vampires could have a 'shadow cloak' spell that made them immune to physical damage for 60 seconds. Yes, a bit abusable, but it would still leave them open to fire/light damage, and could possible double their light damage to make it more balanced. And I imagine you could make silver weapons still damage them in this state as well. Visually, you could just use the ebonymail effect. This would also obviously make them more difficult to see. It would be a great escape technique when a vampire is badly hurt, or a risky attack strategy, go in for a full frontal assualt, and hope like hell your opponent doesn't have something that does light damage.

[DanteWrath]

I have to admit, although the ideas presented to make vampires stronger do have more of a skyrim feel to them, I still actually prefer the idea of them only being killed in certain ways. Its much more fitting with almost every type of vampire lore other than skyrim.

 

Plus, it could be extended to other creatures for example:

Werewolves - Can only be killed by Silver.

Ghosts, Wisps, Wisp Mothers - Can only be hurt with iron, spells or enchanted weapons.

Skeletons - Take significantly less damage from arrows and swords.

And possibly more.

 

Although expanding like that would be a mammoth task, it would make skyrim a lot more interesting. If you were planning to be an adventurer, traveling around doing all sorts of different quests, then you would have to come well equipped to handle all the possible foes you may face.

It would also add a new level of strategy choosing the weapons during a fight, as well as a new challenge. Not to mention the difficulty if you ever faced off against two creatures each with different weaknesses.