Dark Age Of Camelot: Vampiiric Clarification

There was an incorrect answer (and a typo) in the Friday Grab Bag about the Vampiir. Please read the now-edited excerpts, Vampiirs:

Q: Regarding the Vampiir class and spellcasting, what is the primary casting stat?

A: The power pool is "filled" using melee, not the more traditional stats - so the vampiir is a casting class unto itself.

When I gave the player who asked that question this answer, he kindly replied with a clarification for me:

Q: I understand that, but my question doesn't concern the power pool. I'm wondering what the base attribute is that the spells and spell damage is determined by. I'm not going to get greater spell damage from speccing Piercing or from having a higher Strength. While that will increase my power gain, it won't affect spell damage. Training the spell lines will increase damage and reduce variance, but there must be an Attribute that is connected as well, else the class is limited to the stated damage in the spell description.

I.e., with my sorcerer's lifetap, I do (for instance) 100 dmg normally, and 155 dmg if I have a good acuity buff applied, all else being the same. Higher INT equates to higher dmg on the same target. So what I wondered was what Attribute affected spell damage for the Vampiir?

A: Now I understand (and I suspected I was missing something, which was why I replied to the player personally, something I don't usually have the luxury of doing) - the question required information from someone on the design team, not me. The answer I received from that team surprised me: "There is no stat that affects the Vampiir's power pool or the damage done by its power based spells. The Vampiir is not a focus based class like, say, an Enchanter." The Vampiir is a lot more cut and dried than the typical casting class.

EDIT, 12/13/04 - I was told today that this answer is not entirely accurate. While there is no stat that affects the damage dealt (in the way that intelligence or piety affects how much damage a more traditional caster can do), the Vampiir's power pool capacity is intended to be increased as the Vampiir's strength increases.

Q: Here's another for the design team: What is the design reason behind the Vampiir being unable to receive buffs from other players?

A: I asked, and ye shall receive: "The Vampiir has "built in" buffs, in that it receives extra bonuses to constitution, strength, dexterity and quickness as it levels. This is done at a rate of 3/3/3/2, meaning that for each level, the Vampiir receives 3 constitution, 3 strength, 3 dexterity and 2 quickness points, beginning at level 6 (EDITED 12/13/04 - mistakenly said 5). For example, at level 16, a Vampiir would have +33 to strength,

+33 to constitution, +33 to dexterity and +22 to dexterity.