So chiv not important for survivability but for damage yes?
another one. Bushido make parrying most powerful... maybe. shield also reduce damage incoming?
This is the main/only question you need to figure out:
How do you want to heal yourself?
Bandages? This is the most basic approach, relies on Dex 140 for fastest bandage self time of 4s.
+Not reliant on hitting to heal
+Can cross heal/cure/res others fast
+Cheapest and most easy to use
-Slow
-Interruptible
-Bandages can be looted/run out mid fight
Leeching? This is the mid level approach, relies on either Necromancy for Wraith Form with Curse Weapon (requires Necro and SS), or Vamp Form (requires only Necro), or Hit Life Leech on weapons.
+Fast
+Synergy with damage output (the harder/faster you hit the more you heal)
+Heals through Poison/Bleed/Mortal
+No consumable
-Reliant on hitting to heal
-Some monsters have anti life leech abilities
-Can't cross heal
-If using Hit Life Leech from weapons you are losing a property for this purpose on every weapon.
Regens/Images? This is a mid-high level approach, relies on Ninjitsu.
+No consumables
+Huge damage mitigation (Mirror Images cause the monster to lose target when trying to hit you 90% of the time at 120 Ninjitsu
+Low skill investment compared to traditional Sampires (Bushido+Parry)
+Not reliant on hitting to heal
+Not reliant on casting to heal
+Regens through Poison/Bleed/Mortal
-Lower damage output due to being in Animal Form prevents casting of Chivalry spells/special moves
-Mobility reduced due to being on foot
Spells? This is a high level approach, requiring Chivalry or Mysticism.
+/- Either fast but interruptible with FC/FCR and no Protection, or slower and uninterruptible with Protection
+Not reliant on hitting to heal
-Reliant on Mana, not being frozen/parralysed to heal
-Easily blocked by many effects spell interruption/Poison/Mortal/Parra/lack of mana (If using Mysticism in Stone Form you are immune to most of these effects)
The answer to this determines what skills/stats/equipment are important and which are not. Although they can be combined to an extent you need to decide the core method for your character. For example an ordinary sampire relies on leeching but will have Chivalry as well, primarily to boost damage.
Personally I think you are somewhere between Bandages and Leeching, probably closer to Bandages, this is based on experience, knowledge and available equipment.
I would suggest:
120 Weapon
90 Tactics (this is the minimum needed for both weapon specials)
100 Healing
100 Anatomy
120 Parrying
120 Resist
70 Chivalry
This is strong, solid, simple and defensive, you won't get Parrad or Mana drained or die to Blood Oath (although most of us play without it we still die to the occasional bit of stupid timing/bad luck because of it), you will Parry melee hits and special moves and get all the benefits of shield properties (get one with Reactive Parra for more defense), you have enough Chivalry for Enemy Of One, Divine Fury and Consecrate weapon, Dispel Evil for getting rid of Revenants summoned by Necros (Halloween is coming up and there are Necro casting monsters in it). You can cross heal, cure and res without redlining yourself. If you wanted more damage you could change Healing and Anatomy to 85 and boost Tactics to 120, or Chivalry higher. You should play something like this until you know more about the game in general as most of the other templates involve specialised gear that is easy to get if you have a ton of gold, your own crafter or both. With this setup most of your defense is passive, meaning you don't need to worry about your damage output, hitting the enemies, being frozen, casting, mana pool. All you need to remember is to bandage yourself (or your guildies) and cast the occasional Chivalry spell. You will need 140+ Dex to be at your best bandage wise, but with 120 Resist on your template this shouldn't be hard to maintain, as you aren't reliant on mana and will have high Dex anyway you should go with Swords or Macing for higher base damage weapons. Swords has more variety and the only 1 handed Whirlwind Weapon in the game.