Morrowind Character Creation Guide: Becoming a vampire, part 1

Aside from the normal races present, you can also choose to play a vampire in the game, which opens up new possibilities in the way you approach the game. You can’t actually choose this race from the character construction as you begin the game, but once you have created your character you can become infected with the disease by getting bitten by one of the vampires in the game. You can either choose your bloodline, if you like the surprise element, or pick a particular vampire to fight in order to choose one of the clans.

There are benefits related to vampires, such as changes in Attributes or exclusive quest items which you can get. This will be looked at in the course of this multi part guide.

To get infected you simply need to fight a vampire. In the game, vampires do not actually bite and the only way is too fight one and get hit. The best thing to do is to attack the vampire and not fight back, as doing so will probably prompt the vampire to cast his spells which won’t infect you. Another simple way to get infected with vampirism is to search a dead vampire’s corpse repeatedly until the bloodline is transmitted. This is a lengthier process and may not succeed, and moreover there are no certainties regarding what bloodline you may eventually belong to.

Once you are infected, an icon will appear as with any disease, and you will have to keep this condition for three in-game days in order for the full condition to develop. You will know you are officially a vampire as you will have a strange dream which will inform you of your character’s change, and your appearance will also mutate accordingly.

The disease is actually called Porphyric Hemophilia in game, which roughly translates as ‘Blood change’ from latin. If you have gone far into the main quest, particularly the part where you are immune to common diseases and corprus as well, you will be unable to turn into a vampire, therefore it is something which must be done at the early stages of your characters development.

In the next parts of the guide, we will discuss attributes, clans and various other aspects related to this hidden character race.