Vance (Fallout 3)

Vance is the 41-year old, mysterious leader and guide of the Family. He adopts outcasts with cannibalistic urges from all over the Wasteland into the Family. At the start of Fallout 3, he is trying to train his charges to drink blood as if they were vampires, as opposed to eating human flesh. His followers have described him as having a "sixth sense" about people who are good candidates for the Family. Vance is encountered during the Blood Ties quest. Despite appearing shady, and being disliked (although not personally) by Evan King, he is fairly cordial towards the player, and shows no hostility should you state your intentions of taking Ian West away from Meresti.

He is equipped with the Shishkebab, and wears Vance's Longcoat Outfit.

At the conclusion of Blood Ties, Vance will teach you the Hematophage perk.

Vance is quite a smooth talker who chooses his words carefully and weighs those of who he is dealing with, so be prepared for tough Speech checks if you want to come to terms with him.

To gain positive karma and friendship with the family, you can make a deal with Vance. You can have the citizens of Arefu donate the family a periodic supply of bloodpacks to keep them sustaining and to keep them from killing people and brahmin alike.

It is possible, with the correct speech path, for Vance to give you the Shishkebab Schematics. This author collected it by convincing Vance to let Arefu donate blood packs and the Family then protect Arefu.

Vance states clearly and repeatedly throughout the PC's discussions with him that, besides their ability to drink blood, he and the Family have no other relations to Vampires as commonly portrayed. This means that he can't turn into a bat and that he does cast a reflecton in a mirror. Both of those were specifically mentioned by Vance in his talks.

Statistics
Vance has a very high amount of health and is significantly tougher than a standard human NPC (his durability is slightly less than that of a Joinable NPC Companion and (with his armor) slightly more than that of a Super Mutant Brute), and he wields a powerful "flaming sword" melee weapon (Shishkebab) that can kill you in just a few hits. Combat with him can be difficult, if you choose to deal with the Family violently.

Bugs

 * Vance can sometimes never appear in the game, for an unknown reason he can be not listed as part of The Family. (Confirmed Xbox 360}

Appearances
Vance appears only in Fallout 3.