My Take on This
Well, I've migrated. That aside.....
I use vampires extensively in one of the Ages of my homebrewed campaign world, and we have them catoragorized into the following:
Dark Spawn-Blood Drinker, increased strength, vulnerable to crosses, holy water, sunlight, wood through the heart. Soft and squishy bodies, normal/sexy forms, hideous forms, and bat form. These guys have level drain touch, but they are abominations, a wierd half-spawn.
Vampires-Which is what everyone really cares about, not the dark spawn.
Elder Vampires-What I think you guys are looking for.
OK, the Elder Vampires are suave, urbane, cultured, knowledgable, and different. Str is increased, as is Dex (Remember in Bram Stroker's Dracula, how he was climbing along the wall? Pretty dexterous for an grandpa, eh?) Spider Climb at will, feather fall (for dramatic, cape flaring entrances), no Con (they are still undead), Cha increased. The do not bestow negative energy levels, but instead do the blood drain via the bite. Domination (we use the Thrall power from the psionics handbook for a reference, in actuallity, we have the rules written as Vampiric Domination in the write-up.
Sunlight does not make an Elder (or True) Vampire go "EEAAAHH, I FORGOT MY RAYBANS! POOF! but instead strips away thier vampiric abilities, leaving them with only the form that the vampire had when the sun rose (Wolf, Bat, Human, and one personalized one), but then, that can be handy. The only exception to this was after we watched Dracula 2000, we decided that if you hang a vampire by a rope at dawn, they choke and kick and die.
They can cross running water, but they know all too well just how untrustworthy bridges can be, although they may try to leap them (if being chased by villagers!)
So, what the party fears, rightly, is a masterful manipulator who lives forever, and can dominate through thier gaze, or their touch (A small quote- "Shaven's fingers carress your cheek, his breath hot on your neck. "Why do you tremble, butterfly? I do not bring you death, I bring you life. Life eternal." His fingers leave glowing sparks beneath your skin that race through your nerves and fill you with a dark exstacy."), can spider climb, have shape change, feather fall, are immune to blunt weapons (the magic might whomp on them, but the warhammer part doesn't bother them), runs when confronted by superior numbers, has minions to do thier bidding (All True Vampires are snobbier than even the most deluded elf so they have very few minions. Would you want every lackwit villager you bit joining your exclusive little countryclub?), strike when you are the weakest, and might be following you, above you, in the form of a bat?
I have noticed a disturbing trend. Too many people have the Vampire charge in like it's the set of From Dusk Till Dawn. Those vampires deserve to die. Darwinism at it's best. The true scary ones use hit and run tactics that leave a kobold breathless, manipulate the stock market to bankrupt adventurer's, have multiple layers, cover identities, ect ect ect.
Hopefully the days of the shroud covered lackwit that lays in his tomb waiting for the village idiot or dumb adventurers (only distinguishable by thier clothing and equipment) before rushing out and clobbering everything in sight with thier level drain (including that bush that's been teasing them!) are over.
