Quick mini-guide here on how to become a vampire or werewolf in Skyrim.
Vampires:
First a bit of an intro. Being a vampire in this game is similar to being a vampire in Oblivion, however there definitely are some key differences.
Basically, when you're a vampire you gain some serious benefits, at the cost of being weak to sunlight. The longer you go without feeding (drinking blood from a sleeping victim), the more powerful you become, but you also are increasingly weak to fire and sunlight. In addition if you go more than 72 hours without feeding (stage 4 vampire) every NPC turns hostile.
Without further ado, here's the skills and benefits from being a vampire (copy pasted from the wiki)
Spoiler
Stage One
Abilities:
Champion of the Night - Illusion spells cast by your vampire are 25% more powerful.
Night Stalker's Footsteps - Vampires are 25% harder to detect while sneaking.
Resist Disease - Your vampiric blood gives you 100% resistance to disease.
Resist Poison - Your vampiric blood gives you 100% resistance to poison.
Resist Frost - Your vampiric blood gives you 25% resistance to frost.
Weakness to Fire - Your vampiric blood causes you to be 25% weaker to fire.
Weakness to Sunlight - Health, magicka and stamina do not recover while in sunlight and are reduced by 15 points (only when you are outside during the day).
Powers:
Vampire's Servant - Reanimate a weak dead body to fight for you for 60 seconds (can only be use once a day).
Vampire Sight - Improve night vision for 60 seconds (can be used multiple times a day and be toggled on/off).
Spells:
Vampiric Drain - Absorb 2 points of health per second from target (novice destruction spell, cost of 5 magicka per second).
Stage Two
Changes from Stage 1:
Resist Frost - Your vampiric blood gives you 50% resistance to frost.
Weakness to Fire - Your vampiric blood makes you 50% weaker to fire.
Weakness to Sunlight - Health, magicka and stamina do not recover while in sunlight and are reduced by 30 points (only when you are outside during the day).
Vampire's Servant - Reanimate a more powerful dead body to fight for you for 60 seconds (can only be used once a day).
Vampiric Drain - Absorb 3 points of health per second from target (novice destruction spell, costs 10 magicka per second).
Powers:
Vampire Seduction - Creatures and people up to level 10 are calmed (cease to fight) for 30 seconds.
Stage Three
Changes from Stage 2:
Resist Frost - Your vampiric blood gives you 75% resistance to frost.
Weakness to Fire - Your vampiric blood makes you 75% weaker to fire
Weakness to Sunlight - Health, magicka and stamina do not recover while in sunlight and are reduce by 45 points. (only when your outside during the day)
Vampire's Servant - Reanimate a powerful dead body to fight for you for 60 seconds. (can only be use once a day)
Vampiric Drain - Absorb 4 points of health per second from target. (novice destruction spell, costs 12 magicka per sec)
Stage Four
Changes from Stage 3:
Resist Frost - Your vampiric blood gives you 100% resistance to frost.
Weakness to Fire - Your vampiric blood makes you 100% weaker to fire.
Weakness to Sunlight - Health, magicka and stamina do not recover while in sunlight and are reduced by 60 points (only when you are outside during the day).
Vampire's Servant - Reanimate a very powerful dead body to fight for you for 60 seconds (can only be used once per day).
Vampiric Drain - Absorb 5 points of health per second from target (novice destruction spell, costs 15 magicka per second).
people will be Hostile to you and might attack you on sight.
Powers:
Embrace of Shadows - Vampire becomes invisible, with improved vision for 180 seconds (can only be used once per day).
You can feed on sleeping NPCs in the same way you'd pickpocket from them. This reverses the progression of the disease. Your vampiric abilites will weaken as you revert through the stages.
Right, onto the srs bsns of it. In order to contract the disease to become a vampire, you need to be attacked by a vampire. The difficult part is finding a vampire in the first place. My main character is a vampire, and here's where I contracted the disease.
Spoiler
Basically leave Whiterun and follow the river East. You will know you're going the right direction when you come across two towers and a bridge which spans the river (the first blue dot) that is occupied by bandits. Continue following the river, and right as it begins to bend (second blue dot) exit the river and go onto the bank on the left side. Look around a bit until you find Cradlecrush rock (should be a camp occupied by Giants). Now that you know you're in the right place, basically go directly Northeast for a bit. You will eventually run into a landmark called Gallows Rock I believe (third blue dot). It's a dilapitated fort of sorts, and will have several hostile Silver Hand members there.
Directly east is a large pond with an island in the middle, the island has a canoe parked next to it. (the arrow points here). There's a trap door near the canoe, which leads to a dungeon. Inside the dungeon are a couple vampires. Let them attack you until you contract Sanguinare Vampiris (make sure to have cured all other diseases like Rockjoint prior, as they may interfere with getting the disease.)
Once you have the disease, you have 3 days to cure it before you become a full fledged vampire. There are plenty of other places to find vampires and become one, however I have personally confirmed the prior method (I'm a vampire myself). If you guys have any other locations, post them and I'll try and confirm them.
Werewolves
I don't know as much about being a werewolf, however here's what the wiki has to say. I plan on making a Warrior werewolf character next, so I'll update this when I know more personally.
Spoiler
When you become a werewolf, you acquire a new Power known as Beast Form. This allows you to transform into a werewolf once a day. Once transformed, you remain as a werewolf for 2.5 minutes of real time. You can extend this time by approaching a corpse and activating it to feed on it. This restores 50 points of Health, and gives you another 30 seconds of time as a werewolf.
Advantages of Beast Form includes:
Your maximum health increases by 100 points, but does not regenerate. Your maximum stamina also increases by 100. You have a faster sprint speed (even faster than horses). Wolves will treat you as an ally, and won't attack you. Any Crimes you commit as a werewolf don't count against your "normal" self.
But there are some disadvantages as well:
You can't loot any corpses you slay. You can't pick up or use any items you find. Since this includes keys, you may find your progress blocked in some dungeons. You can't equip or use any of your normal weapons, spells, items, equipment, Shouts, or Powers. You can't even open the Inventory Menu. Your large, hulking form may have trouble fitting through some narrow passages. You can't speak with anyone, even your own Companions breatheren. Citizens of Skyrim are rightly terrified of you; some of them flee, while the battle-hardened, brave, or foolish stand their ground and attack you. If anyone sees you transform to or from a beast, the transformation is considered a major Crime (1000 gold bounty in the area). You can not become "well rested" when sleeping in a bed.
There are a couple methods to becoming a werewolf. The first is similar to becoming a vampire, just get attacked by a werewolf. Finding a werewolf is difficult, however I have heard that there is a location to find werewolves that's very close to the vampire location listed above. Follow all the the steps to get to the vampire cavern, however when you get to Gallows Rock and are attacked by the Silver Hand members, stay there. Try and find an entrance to the fort, and inside there should be Werewolves in cages (this makes sense, because the Silver Hand are an organization devoted to the destruction of werewolves). THIS IS UNCONFIRMED.
The second method contains a SPOILER FOR THE COMPANION QUESTLINE OPEN AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Spoiler
The companions are led by a group known as the "Circle", who are all werewolves. When you complete up to a certain point in the questline, you will have the chance to drink a werewolves blood. This will turn you into a werewolf.
Alright guys! Enjoy sucking blood and wreaking havoc, and feel free to post locations of werewolves and vampires!
In Falkreath there is a man who says his daughter was murdered by a man who is now in prison. When you visit this bloke, he tells you he is a vampire cursed by hircine. ( another werewolf location)
Now, to settle this score. it IS possible to become both a werewolf and vampire, in an easy, simple, but quite long process. this process works not only on PC, but on Xbox 360 and PS3. I Discovered this trick 5 months ago while trying to form the ultimate character. no internet browsing was used, just my sad attention to detail and large amounts of time spent on the game.
For all the people who think that just cos this is my first post that its a lie, IT ISNT. i was watching a video of dawnguard when i saw a comment saying there was no guide on this, so i thought i would share my geeky knowledge. just follow the steps and you can become a Hybrid WerePyre
1. join the companions, and become a werewolf.
2. progress through the companions, right to the point when you kill the Glenmoril witches. take TWO heads with you.
3. Proceed through the questline until you recieve Wuuthrad. Do NOT go to Ysgramor's tomb after this, not yet.
4. travel to Falkreath, enter the barracks, then the prison. speak to Sinding and he will give you a quest and the Cursed Ring Of Hircine. proceed to complete this quest, by letting Sinding live at the end, to get the true Ring Of Hircine. this ring allows you to either turn into a werewolf if you are not one already, or gain an extra transformation each day if you are. this doesnt matter yet. if you want, you can exploit the quest, go back into Bloated Mans Grotto immediatly and kill sinding for the Saviours Hide.
5. travel to the Ysgramor's tomb, and finish the companions questline. BEFORE you leave Ysgramor's tomb, equip the ring of Hircine and cure yourself of lycanthropy by tossing the second witches head into the fire. kill your wolf spirit. as long as you were wearing the Ring Of Hircine when you killed it, you will find that if you take the ring off, the ability to transform will remain there, effectively making you a werewolf, and still able to equip another ring.
6. become a vampire normally and Viola! you are a hybrid!
P.S. i have checked. this also works not only for a normal vampire, but also allows you to become both a werewolf AND a Vampire lord. So Enjoy your newfound power
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