LE Higher Mortality Rate for Followers

[Moonfluk]

I was unable to find an existing mod or mod request for this, but apologies if I just missed it.

 

Basically, I love experimenting with different followers, especially in conjunction with mods like UFO or AFT. However, I think that the game would be much more compelling and immersive if it were easier for followers to die in combat. Others might have the opposite feelings, and I certainly respect that, but in the countless hours I've spent playing this game I have never had a follower die, and to me that just doesn't sit well for me and breaks immersion in a big way.

 

I was in a fight recently between my character + Vilja + Faendal against two giants and two mammoths. We were badly outmatched, and I found myself kiting around boulders and over hills in a desperate attempt to stay alive. It would have been a very intense and rewarding game experience if it weren't for the fact that on at least three different occasions Faendal was incapacitated by a giant and was then left alone long enough for his health to regenerate and for him to rejoin the fight. Faendal isn't necessarily a favorite of mine, but had he died heroically trying to defend me rather than just getting knocked down again and again A) he might have become a favorite (posthumously) and B) I could have had an even better game experience capped off with a melodramatic "nnnoooooooooo!!!" upon seeing him go down for good.

 

How to do this?
First, I'll I assume that the rules for follower death listed at the link below are accurate. That wiki page states that a follower can only die if they become incapacitated and then lose all of their health again in this state via either friendly fire, AOE damage, or a DoT or stray arrow (as enemies will no longer attack them directly while they're in this state). So, a quick-and-dirty solution might be to extend the duration of the "incapacitated" state of the follower, and also perhaps decrease the amount of health that they can lose in this state for them to be killed. Alternatively, we could leave theses settings as is but put a limit on the number of times the follower can be incapacitated in a set amount of time. For instance, if Faendal is incapacitated for the third time in, say, two minutes, he simply dies.

 

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Followers#Follower_Death

 

A more complex solution might be to change basic enemy AI behavior, perhaps to have enemies deliver a "finishing blow" to an incapacitated NPC if the PC has fled out of a certain range. I'm not sure how or if threat range is calculated, but this might be too tricky to pull off -- especially with dragons, given the fact that they can move so quickly across the map.

 

Either way, follower mods (like the above mentioned AFT or UFO) that include rules for making it impossible for a particular follower to die should be respected. Faendal I can lose, but not Vilja. No no no.

 

Anyway, that's the idea. Any feedback would be most welcome. Thanks for reading. :smile:

 

 

[axfvh]

i think this would be nice in combination with anything that adds expendable, generic followers

[reyzark]

theres an option on the follower dialog menu of ufo that make each character killable or not, just hit the -you know...- option.

[Moonfluk]

theres an option on the follower dialog menu of ufo that make each character killable or not, just hit the -you know...- option.

Thanks, reyzark. My understanding of UFO was that the "everyone dies" option (the one you describe) was just the default game setting for followers and that users of the mod could then set their followers instead to be truly invincible (i.e. don't even die due to friendly fire). So, you're saying that the opposite is true then? That is, follower immortality is the default game behavior and that mod setting will make them easier to kill?

 

Anyone know if Amazing Follower Tweaks' option of follower mortality/immortality works that way, too?

[Vaelka]

Most followers in the base game are protected, meaning that they can only be killed by the player. Using mods or the CK, this status can be changed to essential (never die) or not protected (can by killed by anything).

So if you want your follower to be killable, it's a simple matter of going into the CK and undoing a checkmark. I'm sure there's mods out there that do similar things, as well as built-in features for some of the follower overhauls, though I haven't experimented with them enough to know for sure.

[Moonfluk]

If I understand reyzark correctly, then it looks like you can do this via UFO (and by AFT, I think). I'm going to try it, but I fear that it's going to be a little too unforgiving. I think what I'm looking for is the sweet spot between "un-killable" and "dies every other fight". Does anyone know where in the code are the basic rules for handling combat with protected/essential NPCs? I wonder if there's a central place where those rules can be adjusted for all characters with that designation. I've never used the Creation Kit before, but I have some experience with coding so I could give it a shot.