I'm wondering if what I'm currently doing can work to force spawn this damned vampire. What I'm doing is

1. Go to Whiterun
2. Enter my house
3. Sleep until night time
4. Exit house to see if Traveler is there
5. Not there, repeat process of going in house, sleeping 24 hours, going outside, and repeating.

So far I've come up dry, I'm thinking this isn't reloading the cell to Whiterun Hold? Maybe I'm wrong, I probably just don't understand it correctly. Should I leave the hold completely and return? Just keep doing that over and over until the Traveler spawns? Any help would be mucho appreciated, friends.

EDIT:

Some more things I would like to know regarding him is if it takes a certain amount of time for him to show up after loading a hold's cell? Also if continuously traveling to Whiterun would work? You know, I'd fast travel to Whiterun and if he's not there, fast travel to Whiterun again and repeat. If he does take a bit to walk through the doors or spawn, how long would anybody think that would take? Few seconds? Few minutes?

Traveling to various settlements, not necessarily a major hold, will spawn the Traveler. I've had him spawn in Riverwood, Dawnstar, Rorikstead, Whiterun, Solitude, and Windhelm; there's a gap of how many days it takes for these random encounters to happen, but I'm sure it's not more than 15 days. I think 5-10 days for these vampire encounters to take place would be an appropriate guess. Out of curiosity, how far have you progressed in the Dawnguard questline?

I have finished it all. I've finished nearly every possible thing to do on my Dark Elf. I'm level 121, trying to expand myself into mage territory now. Need his unenchanted hooded black robes so I am VERY desperate to make him spawn. I'm not necessarily interested in traveling to other holds or areas, however. I've seen some vague videos on him where people found him in Whiterun after exiting their house, so that leads me to wonder if he would spawn if I waited inside my house, left it at night time, and checked the area in front of the gates. Thoughts?

Ive seen him in riften and whiterun, always on fast travelling, waiting for shops to restock with the wait function always seem to trigger a world event if Im doing it for a long time, also seen him both during day and night

So we can correctly assume that if I sat in Whiterun next to the main gates and waited 24 hours, eventually he will spawn? Again I am extremely desperate to achieve this.

yea try it, try waiting more if necessary, iike 5 days, then fast travel inside whiterun, it's all I got on this one

Unenchanted hooded black robes? There's a set in Fellglow Keep if I'm not mistaken. I acquired them recently in the CoW questline.

Thank you for your help, friend.

You are not mistaken. However, believe me, I would have gotten those already if I hadn't spent an hour running around the keep only to discover that after the quest 'Hitting the Books' is completed, the upper part of the tower where the robes are is completely blocked off by rubble.

I know you probably don't want to hear this, but you probably will find him much quicker if you stop looking for him. I swear my copy of Skyrim knows when I'm looking for a specific random encounter and deliberately doesn't spawn it just to spite me.

However if you are dead set on hunting him down, try fast travelling from settlement to settlement. He can spawn in any town or city, so if you fast travel to Rorikstead to Whiterun, to Riverwood etc you will likely find him much quicker than sitting in one place.

Untrue, as I still have that encounter after beating Dawnguard. I'm trying to remember where I acquired my second set of hooded black mages robes, as I currently have two on one of my characters without ever having touched Dawnguard. Is your search strictly limited to the black robes?

e: http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Hooded_Black_Mage_Robes

I remember collecting the robes from the enthralled wizards. If you're not opposed to murdering an NPC with possible consequences stemming from it, then Atub of Largashbur is outfitted with them.

Thank you a lot! I was actually thinking of doing that instead. I totally know how you feel though, many things in life do that to me ALL the time.. searching for keys, phone, etc.. You've been a great help!

Well, long story short, I have done most things in Skyrim and it gets a little boring at times so to keep myself preoccupied I power level the hell out of myself and start new things, like being a heavy armor warrior. Originally I am a Dark Elf assassin-based character, and don't get me wrong I still love doing that stuff, it's just I like to expand and do other things, like said heavy armor warrior. Well this time, I am trying out being a mage. Telvanni robes don't come with obtainable boots in game even though Neloth has them so that struck me down pretty quick, then I figured I'd get some unenchanted black robes with a hood so I can enchant them, some rings, necklace, etc with fortify destruction (I only have 100 magicka despite having 800 health and 600 stamina).. turns out, the only two pairs in game, one I can't obtain anymore and two I have to find this vampire. I know he comes more times, which could be useful so I can get multiple sets of his robes, but this is so tedious.. Yes, I have to have these black robes. I'm kind of OCD, and black hooded robes make my dark elf look like a badass IMO.

I still get random vampire assassins with a writ of execution or something like that. I then proceed to hunt down the perpetrator and slaughter them.

When you all encountered him by fast travel, did he take a few seconds to spawn in?

didnt notice, he usually was just there, he's not attacking anyone at first, just walking around

It took a few moments, yes. He'll spawn in the middle of Rorikstead & Riverwood, at the gate of Whiterun, I've seen him spawn in front of Proudspire upon leaving and at the gates of Solitude as well. Just wait and wander a few moments -- if nothing happens then try again.

Alright, thank you all!

If you haven't, do Molag Bal or Azura's quest.

I have done all the daedric quests a very long time ago

Black Hooded Robes can be found randomly on Warlocks, And Logroff the Willful during associated Daedric Quests.

If you have finished Dawnguard, chances are you are not going to ever see the Traveler, and if you joined the vampires you would probably not see him. But you want to be adventurous, you could always get some blood cursed arrows and use them near a town, something could appear. Either that or use the Vampire Lord form near a town at night and go visiting to see what you catch.

I only ever accidentally set off a vampire attack by going near a town in VL form once, both my characters already had plenty of attacks so I never bothered using the blood cursed arrows. I had more than enough trouble without looking for more.

I am sure there are easier ways to get the robes.

They're enchanted. The only unenchanted black hooded robes you can obtain are from Fellglow Keep during the quest 'Hitting the Books' or from the Traveler.

Lucky. :/ Did you finish Dawnguard?

I finished it, but I chose the Dawnguard side. I don't see why he shouldn't spawn afterwards, I get other vampire attacks (not in cities anymore for some reason)

That's good because now I know he spawns after Dawnguard. Thank you!

I also get random attacks out in the wilds of other vampire groups, but not the traveler. I have had all sorts of vampire attacks, disguised vampires as well as garglyles and deathhounds. None of which attacked in a town after Dawnguard was finished, mainly on the roads or out in the wilds. I am doubtful you will be seeing him.

My vampire character who had a lot of attacks every where, never ever saw the traveler, before, or after he first joined up.