Am planning my roles ascensions for the second time thru . . . was wondering what I can and can't do as a vamp. Will I still be able to use my magic? Will I lose my traits? I have heard they can't use weapons. The one I had in mind is currently sporting Kerah's sword and I like it. What special abilities will I have and how well do they work? All I see is Bite in my manual . . . have heard toughen spell will "heal" hit points but not cure the condition.

My experiences so far.Vampires are immune to healing spells.They are immune to healing potions(I found this one out and was dissappointed).They can use the Vampires bite attack but it doesn't work, even with the patch it claims that they're out of range (even if you're standing on the monsters heads- I have done this, I know).If they don't make successful attacks they suffer blood starvation and die.Aparently the starvation comes of temporary hit points (ie. Toughen) first.They are also immune to healing scrolls.There are no bonuses (they don't even turn into turquoise skinheads in split-to-the-naval evening gowns,some graphics designer had a twisted immagination).There is virtually no point in becoming a vampire that I am aware of unless you've read Winter Warriors by David Gemmel (old retiring soldiers face ancient vampires who wear black full plate armour to avoid sunlight and do not need to rest).

Oh, and you don't loose any traits or skills, all you're old spells work normally unless they're healing ones in wich case they don't work on you.

HMMMM . . . rethinking the vampire whiskah babe. Sounds like NO fun . . . except with the vampire ring don't I get regeneration? I wanted to bite someone, DRATS!

I was curious yesterday, and since I was at that point in the game again I gave it a try; save your game just before meeting Lysandra and then have fun with it. Accessing the bite with the trait button (as far as I know, the only offensive trait besides Evil Eye), run around biting things.

Despite rumours to the contrary, the bite works remarkably well, doing sometimes as much as 30 damage to the creature getting bit, but averaging between 10 and 15 on my Ninja Vampire. It seems that you only get blood from living creatures (skeletons and ghosts, for instance, don't work), but I suppose that makes some degree of sense. Also, some creatures will give you more blood than others. It's really a fun trait, and extremely useful if the character has no decent weapons (READ: though you can still use weapons, you won't want to because every creature you see you'll have to bite to get blood; this sucks if you've got weapons more powerful than around 10-15 average damage).

IMPORTANT: If you really want to go for it, pick someone who has a LOT of HP, and I mean well into the hundreds, 'cause even then you'll always be looking for something to bite, even at spawn often.

Conclusion: The bite can be a potent weapon, and can turn an Oomphaz Warlock with absolutely no weapons skills into one of your strongest attack people; high HP is the key, and someone who sucks with weapons 'cause you'll never use 'em again. In the end, I decided that it sucked (I'm playing through with one character, named Loner, and his weapons are stronger than the bite), and after about 30 minutes reloaded before Lysandra and killed her

It would be really nice if the patch would let the bite work.My computer seems to have an aversion to letting me do this.All the patch has done for me so far is disable the ability to skip dialogue in town.

GAU: NOT ANOTHER ONE CHARACTER PLAYER! Sounds so hard but with all those points you must be MEGA death! Am trying to screw up the courage to have my four newbies leave the old zenmaster at the inn. AHHHHHH! So you don't attack normally you use the special traits button . . . THAT IS USEFUL! Was that your glitch Balgin? I hope so! So she could use Kerah's sword but probably wouldn't want too. HM. And if I want a lot of hit points it should be someone from a race who is hardy and has been a barbarian from the git go. HM. (hamster running on wheel) Still cannot picture the Oomphaaz vampire . . . trunk gets in the way. Must ponder this some more. Have slots picked for all my characters . . . hm. Tanks, I'll mull this over! You guys been very helpful!

GAU: NOT ANOTHER ONE CHARACTER PLAYER! Sounds so hard but with all those points you must be MEGA death! Am trying to screw up the courage to have my four newbies leave the old zenmaster at the inn. AHHHHHH! So you don't attack normally you use the special traits button . . . THAT IS USEFUL! Was that your glitch Balgin? I hope so! So she could use Kerah's sword but probably wouldn't want too. HM. And if I want a lot of hit points it should be someone from a race who is hardy and has been a barbarian from the git go. HM. (hamster running on wheel) Still cannot picture the Oomphaaz vampire . . . trunk gets in the way. Must ponder this some more. Have slots picked for all my characters . . . hm. Tanks, I'll mull this over! You guys been very helpful!

Darn <BACK button! Sorry!

No, I always used the Trait button, I just got a text message telling me that the monster was out of range, even if I was inside it's pixels! This is even with the patch (wich was suposed to fix that problem, it says so in the patch readme but it never works for me, that's why I tend to kill vampires).

Its true that the trait doesnt work, but it seems just on certain computers,,I had it also, and there was just no way I got it to work.....I got the message I wasnt close enough all the time also even thou I could smell the monsters breath..