Mod to help NPCs survive?

[GamerChas]

I always work to try and keep as many people alive as possible. I have to be the ultimate hero (a Batman complex?) The companion/helper NPCs do not level up to your/game level and will all die if you do a quest late in the game when you are at a high level. Is there any mod that fixes this? I know I could just console them to be essential but I am not going to do that. I just want the fights to be more fair for them.

 

[TheMastersSon]

You can always adjust their health and other stats in the CS to whatever amounts you think are fair. The main problem I've seen with companions is that most have no or very little discernment about entering battles. Without stat adjustments they'll attack anything regardless of circumstance or odds for survival, and it gets them killed easily. I finally resorted to giving my favorite companion a Goldbrand that auto-recharges every 24 hours. It doesn't make him invincible but something just short of it, and it's a whole lot of fun watching him take the sword to unsuspecting attackers. I've seen him slice bears in half and Umbra was history in three swipes. :smile:

Edited January 7, 2017 by TheMastersSon

[Striker879]

Three very useful enchanted items for companions are Ring of the Iron Fist, Amulet of Axes and Necklace of Swords ... all include a 33% reflect damage enchantment along with their fortify enchantment.

 

Enchanted jewelry that is distributed by leveled lists is most easily found in containers in monster dungeons (usually boss chests). Fort Empire and Fort Coldcorn are sort of on my usual route so they are the ones I'm more likely to look in (and both have boss chests).

[bangsatlu]

click npc. type setav health 1000

[Oblivionaddicted]

You can set them to level up with you in the CS and give them some powerful objects either through the CS or using this.

[GamerChas]

Thanks for the link to the Active Inventory Spell. I like the idea of donating some of the extra stuff you collect to NPCs. The beggars will all be dressed like nobles if it works.

 

For my original question, I am thinking about the killing fields, or Castle Kvath type quests. Where you have temporary 'companions' that you have no control over and they are not leveled.

 

I have never used the CS. I am not a modder. I have played a little with the GECK from Fallout 3. I do see where I can learn all about the CS. Can you set some kind of global leveling up for NPCs or do you have to enable it for each one separately? A hint on how to do this in the CS would be appreciated :)

[Striker879]

In the CS Object window double click the NPC you wish to edit. In the edit dialogue that opens you will see a check box named PC Level Offset in the left hand area of the dialogue (ticked to enable, unticked to just set the NPC's level independent on the player's level) and beside that a box named Offset that will allow you to put in how many levels above or below your character the NPC will be.

 

Above is always that many levels above, so if you put 3 in the Offset box that NPC will start out at level 4 when your character is level 1. If you put negative numbers in the Offset box (example -3) the NPC will be 3 levels below your character but only once your character has advanced enough level for that NPC (so the NPC will be level 1 until your character levels from 4 to 5, at which point they would advance to level 2).

 

Some caveats on editing NPCs, especially if you use Oblivion Character Overhaul. After you've edited a particular NPC, records for that NPC that you didn't even look at (never mind change) will be reverted to the state they were in when you edited the NPC. A trick you can use with the vanilla CS (which doesn't allow ESPs to be masters to other ESPs) is to always select the other mod (in this example Oblivion_Character_Overhaul.esp) ... just don't make it active. The other thing, even if you aren't wanting to make any change to their face bring up the Face tab before you close the edit dialogue.

 

Another bit of advice when editing either your own NPCs or NPCs added by other mods (in which case you will be changing that original mod's ESP) ... backup, backup and backup. Makes getting out of tight spots a breeze.

[TheMastersSon]

"The other thing, even if you aren't wanting to make any change to their face bring up the Face tab before you close the edit dialogue."

 

Clicking on the Face or Face Advanced tabs may cause the CS to crash on Win7 and later Windows versions, unless you first click on the Preview option (lower right-hand corner of the initial NPC window).