2E 851 - Moongrave Fane - Elsweyr
The clatter of steel echoed through the ancient temple; J'Raksa's ears twitched as the yells of battle greeted them. This was the end, the Undaunted were here and there was no turning back. With a roar, Sahrotnax was awake, the wounded dovah being drained of his blood to empower the vampiric clan. The young vampire didn't know what to do, he was inexperienced and unfamiliar with battle, and there was no way he could face the experienced fighters that were quickly approaching. Shame rose within him as he took his subsequent actions, he sheathed his dagger and turned to run toward the ritual chamber. He was fleeing.
Entering the chamber, he could see Grundwulf and Nisaazda preparing for the ritual to empower the reckless Nord. J'Raksa grabbed a vial of the crimson dragon blood and slipped through the passage at the rear of the chamber, he was gone, he had survived.
3E 196 - Wayrest - High Rock
Almost two hundred and fifty years had passed, J'Raksa had searched for more survivors, but it was increasingly clear that he was the last of his clan. Many years after his escape, he finally mustered the courage to drink the vial of dragon blood, but unexpectedly, he felt nothing. No surge of power, no great enhancement of his vampiric abilities, nothing. One thing he did realize, he could now sense the presence of dragons, but as the years passed, he began to realize that they were disappearing one by one.
4E 201 - Cheydinhal - Cyrodiil
J'Raksa awoke in his lair outside Cheydinhal. He could sense a dragon, but this one was different, it made the blood in his veins burn with power. Skyrim, it was coming from Skyrim. He immediately set north, this must be investigated...
Character
Name: J'Raksa
Race: Khajiit Vampire
- Sacrosanct Passive - Misfortune: You bring bad luck. In combat, your enemies within 50 feet have a 5% chance per second to trip and fall.
Age: 698 (19 at the time of his clan's destruction in 2E 851)
Specialties: Blood Magic & Alchemy
Standing Stone: The Serpent Stone
Stat Distribution: 2/2/1
Mods
Required Mods:
Sacrosanct - This is a complete vampirism overhaul, adding a lot of depth to the curse.
Optional Mods:
Unofficial Patch - This is just a general quality-of-life improvement, no major character mechanics are reliant on these bug fixes.
Acquisitive Soul Gems Multithread - This allows you to collect souls more efficiently, preventing large gems from being filled with small souls.
- PapyrusUtil SE - Required for the above mod.
- Address Library for SKSE - Required for the above mod.
- SKSE - Required for the above mod.
Quests
College of Winterhold - Before J'Raksa can hunt down Alduin, he must prepare himself. What better way than to strengthen his magical abilities? It may be unlikely, but perhaps the College can provide him with some additional insight.
Main Questline - J'Raksa can sense the dragons and yearns for their power. He will hunt them down, not caring who he uses to reach his goal. The realization that he is Dovahkin only reinforces his belief that his destiny is to obtain the dragon's power for himself.
Dawnguard (Volkihar Vampire Clan) - Although he holds no loyalty to this ancient clan, he does sense their great power and chooses to mix their blood with his own to enhance his vampiric abilities. (I recommend starting this as soon as possible as an easy way to obtain vampirism and the Vampire Lord ability)
A Night to Remember - His clan's history of Sangiin (Sanguine) worship allowed him to immediately sense the true identity of the drunken stranger. Eager to aid the Blood Cat, J'Raksa plays along with the game, eventually obtaining a great Daedric artifact.
Obtaining Additional Powerful Artifacts - Many magical objects are scattered throughout Skyrim, these artifacts would greatly aid the Khajiit in his quest for power.
Blue Blood (Sacrosanct) - Where is the fun in preying on the weak? Feeding on some of the strongest individuals in Skyrim (Ulfric, Elenwen, etc.) grants up to 7 additional abilities. After your first feeding, you receive the Blue Blood quest, marking all targets with strong blood on the map.
Perks
Alchemy
Your primary focus. The Hollowfang were renowned for their mastery of Alchemy. Useful potions will be listed below.
Destruction
This will be where the majority of your damage will be, but due to Blood Magic not falling under one of the three elements, you will only be grabbing the Novice-Expert perks.
One-Handed
Your secondary source of damage.
Conjuration
Where would a vampiric master of Blood Magic be without the ability to raise conquered enemies and bend them to your will?
Enchanting
698 years is a long time to live. What better way to spend your time than studying how to imbue your equipment with powerful enchantments?
Sneak
A vampire preys on the blood of the living. In order to avoid widespread ridicule, feeding must be done in secret. Sneaking up on your enemies is the best way to do this.
Sacrosanct Perks
The Sacrosanct mod adds a lot of passives and abilities to your vampirism. You gain more of these perks the longer you live as a vampire. Below are the suggested perks. During my playthrough, I was only able to reach 30 days as a vampire. As you progress, choose whichever you feel is appropriate.
Harvest Moon - Draining a victim also creates a Potion of Blood for later use.
Night of the Wolf - Able to sneak feed on people who are not detecting you.
King Among Kine - You no longer lose any powers when feeding.
Vampire Lord Perks
Below are the suggested perks to gain as you advance your Vampire Lord ability. These are also added or changed by the Sacrosanct mod.
Power is Power - All attributes (Health, Magicka, Stamina) are increased by 50 points as Vampire Lord. Choose an attribute (Magicka) to further increase by 100 points.
Unearthly Will - Blood Magic, Night Powers, the Raze spell in your right hand, and Hemomancy in mortal form cost 25% less. The Vampiric Drain spell in mortal form costs 50% less.
Astral Poison - Attacks in melee form deliver an unnatural toxin, dealing 25 points of poison damage and absorbing 50 points of Magicka over 5 seconds.
Mist Form - Night Power: Morph into a dark mist for 15 seconds, becoming undetectable and invulnerable but unable to fight while regenerating 25 points of Health, Magicka, and Stamina per second. (Magicka cost: 50, cooldown: 30 seconds)
Amaranth - Vampire's Seduction works on vampires. Able to Drain humanoid vampires to disintegrate them and absorb their power. Your reward for this depraved act is a 30% bonus to combat and social skills while weaker vampires flee from you, for 5 minutes.
(Any additional perks required to reach the above or beyond these that you feel appropriate.)
Equipment
Vampire Armor (color of choice) - Enchanted with Fortify Destruction & Magicka Regen.
Vampire Gauntlets - Enchanted with Fortify Magicka.
Vampire Boots - Enchanted with Resist Fire.
**Vampire Hood - Enchanted with Fortify Magicka.
Gold Necklace of Choice - Enchanted with Fortify Magicka.
Gold Ring of Choice - Enchanted with Fortify One-Handed.
Ebony Sword - Enchanted with Firey Soul Trap.
**Ebony Crossbow - Enchantment of choice, mostly used to deliver poisons to dragons and fleeing enemies. (Can be found in Ironback Hideout)
Potions
Helpful Potions:
Fortify Health + Restore Health - Blue Mountain Flower + Wheat
Fortify Magicka + Restore Magicka - Creep Cluster + Red Mountain Flower + Tundra Cotton
Regenerate Health + Regenerate Magicka - Garlic + Namira's Rot + Salt Pile
Regenerate Health + Invisibility - Luna Moth Wing + Vampire Dust
Resist Magic + Invisibility - Luna Moth Wing + Nirnroot + Tundra Cotton
Regenerate Magicka + Resist Fire + Resist Frost + Restore Magicka - Fire Salts + Moon Sugar + Snowberries
Poisons:
Damage Health + Ravage Health + Weakness to Poison - Deathbell + Giant Lichen + Skeever Tail
Damage Health + Slow - Deathbell + River Betty
Spells
Mortal Form
SPELLS:
Vampiric Drain
**Choking Grasp
**Strangulation
**Touch of Death
**Hangman's Noose
*Blood Seed
*Blood Brand
*Blood Garden
*Blood Scourge
*Blood Ankh
LESSER POWERS:
*Vampire's Seduction - 1/day - Silently bewitches a person up to level 10 for 30 seconds, calming them and allowing you to feed.
*Vampire's Sight - At will - Improved night vision. Cast again to disable.
*Vampire's Will - 1/day - Clouds a person's mind for 120 (Sated) to 15 (Blood Starved) seconds, ending combat and making them unlikely to detect you while sneaking.
*Vampiric Drain - Spell - Absorb 5 (Sated) to 20 (Blood Starved) points of Health per second from the target.
*Blood Cauldron - At will - Expend some of your Vampiric blood to replenish Health, Magicka, and Stamina, becoming thirstier.
...when Thirsty, turns into...
*Blood Revel - At will - In combat, gain 25% bonus attack damage and spell effectiveness for 120 seconds or until combat ends, but activate Wassail.
*Nightwalk - At will - Send forth a mist for 15 seconds. Use it again to teleport to its location. The maximum range is 100 feet.
...when Parched, turns into...
Obfuscate - 1/day - Blend into your surroundings, gaining unbreakable invisibility for 60 seconds.
*Vampire's Command - At will - When talking to unoccupied people, adds new dialogue options that must be obeyed. Lasts 60 seconds.
...when Blood Starved, turns into...
*Flaywind - 1/day - Target person within 10 feet flees while vampire bats absorb 25 Health per second for 30 seconds. If the target dies, counts as feeding.
DRAGON SHOUTS:
Aura Whisper - Northwind Summit, Valthume, Volunduud
Dismay - Dead Crone Rock, Lost Tongue Overlook, Shalidor's Maze
Drain Vitality - Arcwind Point, Dimhollow Crypt, Forgotten Vale
Soul Tear - Learned from Durnehviir each time you summon him.
Summon Durnehviir - Soul Cairn
Vampire Lord Form
*Raze - Cast a wave of blood that cuts through targets in a line, absorbing 15 (level 5) to 25 (level 50) Health and dealing 50 (level 5) to 150 (level 50) additional magic damage.
*Lord's Servant - Reanimate a level 25 (level 5) to 50 (level 50) corpse for 60 seconds.
*Bats - Dash in your direction of movement. (2 charges)
* = Sacrosanct
** = Creation Club
Closing
I had a lot of fun with this build, it gets really strong as you progress through vampirism, so I recommend keeping your difficulty setting set decently high. Shout out to Saronis and Furrion 17 for the inspiration that I borrowed from some of their previous builds, as well as everyone on Discord for their assistance in the lore and gameplay.
Replies
Awesome work on bringing the Hollowfang to Skyirm
Thanks. I still have a few additional things to add, but nothing that's going to alter the gameplay too much.
Hey, I quite like this! Not familiar with the Hollowfang as I only tried ESO wayyy back in the ol days but I like the idea of really maximizing your vampire power. +1
Also, it might be just me being a nit-picky, but some of the bigger and smaller texts look a bit odd when they are grouped together within the same paragraph or line. Probably consider changing them into the same font size for the most part.
Yea, I was just trying to add little clarifications to the text without it being too intrusive. I'll look into cleaning up the format.
But thanks, I'm working on expanding the character even more, I'm just going to wait until the event judging is done before I make any changes.