The stages of transformation displayed on a male Bosmer. The leftmost image depicts a Bosmer before infection. Gradually, the severity of infection alters the pallor, eye color, and number of wrinkles.
- For this disease in other games, see Vampirism.
- For characters with vampirism, see Vampire (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. After, the degree of infection augments, 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
- Main article: Porphyric Hemophilia (Oblivion)
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.
Vicente Valtieri, a vampiric member of the Dark Brotherhood offers the Porphyric Hemophilia.
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 Skyrim, which requires being the victim of the Vampiric Drain spell cast by vampires, getting attacked with a spell by a vampire in Oblivion 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, despite 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. However, Vincente is killed by the 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.
Alternatively, sleeping outdoors, beyond civilization, can cause the disease to be contracted. Bedrolls such as those found at bandit camps like Fisherman's Rock are ideal places for contracting the disease this way. This only occurs if at least one hour is slept during the night.
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.
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 |
Skill and attribute modifiers
| Statistic | Stage one | Stage two | Stage three | Stage four |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| Attributes | ||||
| 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.
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
- Fast traveling as a late-stage vampire is not recommended, as the game takes into account how much time was spent in the sun during the travel and deals the appropriate amount of damage upon loading. This can result in dying as soon as the Hero exits out of fast traveling. To avoid this, one can either fast travel short distances and wait indoors until night falls, then repeat, feed shortly before fast traveling, and then waiting until the desired stage of vampirism is attained again, or merely travel manually and avoid fast traveling at all.
Bugs
|
This section contains bugs related to Vampirism (Oblivion). Before adding a bug to this list, consider the following:
|
- PS3 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 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.
- Advancing to the next stage of vampirism may only be possible through sleeping and waiting.