Werewolf in my book is just awesome. If you sprint then attack it will knock things over and often kill them outright. It also has crazy fast melee attacks, alternating left and right mouse-button. It can sprint forever and has amazing stamina recharge. It can feed to gain more health and increase the time you can be a werewolf.

Downsides: turning or re-turning in front of people grants a 1000 gold bounty. Slow health recharge rate. Feeding only works on humanoids.

Now vampires, they get bonuses, but they get EQUAL penalties to something else. Frost resistance, Fire penalty. All equal. At stage 4 you get the invisibility spell but you will NEED that just to go back to stage 1 where you can walk in towns again. But, a vampire has no pure bonus, everything it has positive it also has negative on something else.

So, I don't really see why anyone would go vampire over being a werewolf...

Please, correct me here.

To role play or something I guess.

Are there any real bonuses to Vamps which outweigh having every NPC attack them?

You would only have every NPC attack you if you didn't drink blood to keep your vampiric level down. Drink blood regularly and you will be fine.

But yes, if you are playing a sneaky character (or certain types of magic character) Vampires provide some useful boosts. Plus potential RP fun.

Roleplay yer, and you can 'Charm' a shopkeeper to sell to you. I personally haven't played as one though, but when they release mods for it I shall.

Vampire is better IMHO. I travel at night only, and when I need to go into town, it's pretty easy for me to get Blood.

The bonus to Illusion is pretty hefty, and just as good at stage 1 as at stage 4, iirc. So I think it's pretty handy for Illusionists, if they can stomach or counteract the detriments.

So I've been holding off on trying this until the next patch resolves the resistances for PS3 (which seems like a major advantage) ... but maybe I am reading the wiki wrong. Do you keep the higher level stage bonuses after feeding? How often do you feed?

You lose the higher level bonuses when you feed. You increase one stage each day, and you drop back to stage 1 upon feeding.

So essentially you are more powerful the more you allow yourself to be a pariah?

I mean, not the worse Vampire metaphor in the world ... but is there a balance where it makes sense for normal, not RP play?

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Vampirism_%28Skyrim%29

I think stage one is potentially worth it if you use Illusion. My Illusionist character has some + regeneration gear to mitigate the daytime penalties, and routinely burgles occupied buildings at night (so feeding isn't much extra work), so stage one vampirism is okay for him.

So anyone think it would be worth it for a sneaker/thief/assassin type? No magic? Or just fun for the variation/curing quest/etc?

Personally, I wouldn't bother without Illusion. The big drawcard for me is the Illusion bonus; the other spells and abilities aren't that great, imo--especially in the lower stages. Without any substantial benefit, the vampirism drawbacks would be difficult to justify. In particular, the lack of regeneration during the daylight hours really hurts, unless you have enchanted regeneration gear or can be bothered always waiting until nightfall before adventuring outdoors.

Thanks - that's what I had kind of assumed from the wiki ... might try with sneaker just for the fun of a challenge

If were talking about the game, wolf is terrible due to unable to heal or pick up stuff. Vampire has bad traits.

Werewolf is awesome purely for the 100% resist disease, the rest is just added bonus in my book (I don't transform to werewolf very often).

I do, however, want to do a play through where I roleplay as a vampire. I'll infiltrate a city, and feed of the people, then move on when they start getting suspicious. I think it'd be really fun and different than the normal characters I make.

Use the lady stone and you're health will regenerate in sunlight still,I play as a vamp.

I may add that I use a mod which lets me change to werewolf when I want and for how long I want, and I can change back to human whenever I want. Now I feel like a real werewolf. As soon as I get out of town, and to a safe distance from the guards, I change to a werewolf and run the wild until I reach my destination. I may make a roleplay thing and limit myself to only be able to change when the moon is out. I loves my roleplay.

^^This all the way. I also play as a vampire and to me its only weakness is the thirst. Every other weakness can be remedied with enchantments(and lets be honest, the majority of people max it out). Any person who plays this game and is a master illusionist, understans how easy the game is when you can control everything in the game. Just stay at stage one and you will be fine. Werewolves(which i have played as) is really only good for the disease immunity.

Actually not really. I have personally tried it with a fully mastered illusionist.

The master skills do not gain enough from the 25% bonus to affect high end enemies like 45 level drauger death overlords or 50 level dragon priest.

While the expert level skills do not need the 25% bonus, just needs to be dual casted in order to affect them.

Hence the 25% stronger illusion is actually a dud in practise.

Never been a vampire in skyrim (yet) so can't really say much on it, I will give my opinion on warewolves though.

I hate the fact the casting animation takes time, I hate the fact that all my gear gets unequipped upon transforming back, but I just love their sheer brute strength as a result and you can't beat just running into a pack of bandits and just knocking them backwards in the air with a single swing! (Oh the fear ability isn't to bad either)

Also, fun fact about werewolves. Wolves and Skeevers will not attack you Perhaps more animals but those are the only ones I tested on so far.

It's still, imo, potentially useful for a lower levelled, less perked Illusionist, but I'm glad you pointed out that its utility degrades. It's a bit hard to estimate these things since it's not easy to determine enemy level. I'll remember to cure my vampirism with my current character after I've picked up the last perk. It'll be really nice to have full regeneration again.

DAMN that svcks....well guess I can just stay a vampire out of loyalty...or nostalgia....one of those.