You also forget the ROTB and Necromage bonuses VLs get. At level 81, I have 1010 magicka and 800 health while transformed.

But that just has to do with the "base character" level, right? That doesn't affect the "form" level....or am I missing something else?

Right, but that is based (*or rather dependant) on player build. I'm not sure what ROTB means, tbh. I'm only arguing the raw bonuses that the form gives the base character, assuming similar builds and levels.

*edits

Not sure I would think its base character.

Took me awhile to find a traveling group of Thalmor, but find them I did!

Vampire Lord Raven v.s. 4 Thalmor Agent escorts

FIGHT!

- I play at whatever the normal difficulty is when you first pop it on. I've never bothered to look at it, to be honest.

- I was in Vampire Lord form when I found them.

- I made it a point to equip only gear that has dropped as loot.

That said, I had equipped the Vampire Royal armor, Harkon's destruction circlet, a ring that had mana regen (40%), normal Vampire Boots and Gauntlets (unenchanted), and the Amulet of Bats.

The fight strangely went almost any other well balanced encounter. It wasn't a slaughter fest. The only edge I felt I had was that I'm the PC (player character), so I could manipulate their AI. I killed them all.

The battle lasted about as long as a fight with a couple Draugr Deathlords. They surprisingly had some nice spell absorption wards going and were popping some really nice heals throughout the encounter. Once their absorption spells wore off however, then my drain spells started svcking them dry. I did circle or otherwise stay in constant motion so their hits-on-target were fewer than my own. At no time did I really feel threatened....

...until I dropped down to my feet and start claw swiping.

That was a bad idea , which did cause a little pucker factor. The thing that hurt was that I didn't have any kind of "slap" rag doll ability, or a way to interrupt their combat while on my feet. It didn't occur to me at the time that I should have set it up with a few well placed paralyze spells, then go in for the claw. A well placed stagger was all they needed to put me in danger (coupled with the healthy beating I took while I was clawing their eyes out. Who knew their purses could hurt so much! ).

I popped my Bats, got floating again, and cast a few drain spells. That coupled with the Bat Swarm + Amulet of Bats and I was fine. My claw damage though was impressive. If I could have absorbed more damage I might have even killed one or two of them before Bats'ing out to recover.

While circling at a distance I did use my paralyze spell judiciously if they got too close, or to group them. I used Bats both as an escape and as a tool to help gather them into a tighter group. I did not use Gargoyles, though I would have had they been a little tougher.

Hmmm....That's about it. Kind of a cut and dry experience for me . I do regret that I wasn't able to get any Neck Bites from them.

So, to sum it up: They put out some impressive melee damage, but I found their fireball spells to be their biggest threat. They surprisingly absorbed my spells with their own shields and wards, but once those were down my Drain Spell damage rivaled their own. My melee damage exceeded theirs on a 1-to-1 basis, but group 4-on-1 they out damaged me by quite a bit. I have no real way to negate that, aside from preparing beforehand with a shield spell, or boosting my health points/regen through enchants...but that last bit would be cheating .

Next Challenge!

Find another group of Thalmor and kill them only by Neck Bite! I'll be shooting for this next.

- Only restriction on gear is that it can't have been created via a loop or glitch. O-Natural.

My vampire went to Solstheim once...fire, fire everywhere. It svcked being chased by 3 frigging ash spawn, much easier in regular form than Lord form.

That sounds like a good future challenge!

By all means, take it and turn it into a challenge.