LE Bounty Hunter

[DefectiveLife]

In the vanilla game, bounty quests are liberally granted to the player by Stewards and innkeepers across Skyrim. These quests are accompanied by bounty letters that detail exactly who has offended and what action must be taken to collect the bounty on the bounty holder's head. However, the only things that seem capable of accumulating a bounty upon themselves are giants, bandit chiefs, dragons, and dovahkiin. I find that to be a little irritating and damaging to my immersion with the game - perhaps to others as well. Ergo, I'd like to propose a radiant quest in which the player is sent on such a bounty quest, but instead of killing various condemned outlaws, the player is commissioned as a Bounty Collector. Indeed, there are Bounty Collectors in the base game who attempt to amend large, outstanding bounties, but what if the player was sent to do the same job?

 

There are several ways to go about this.

Firstly, the player may simply be given the quest exclusively by Stewards, asking to collect a bounty from a randomly-generated NPC used solely for the miscellaneous quest, found outside the walls of the hold's major city, surrounded by outlaws that must be killed first. The player does so and must then present the Jarl or Steward with the bounty funds, at which point an assortment of precious stones are presented to reward the player. Two alternate quests follow similar plotlines, but the outstanding bounty may be a bit more significant or may be unacceptable for simple collection. In the former case, the option to beat the NPC into submission and arrest is available, and in the latter it is mandatory. However, this is actual combat, not a mere brawl, and the NPC is essential and levelled. Upon arrest, the player must ask a guard or Jarl's housecarl to escort the NPC to the prison through dialogue, and then the player may collect his/her bounty (which is the entirety of the bounty on the NPC's head, not a mere fraction of it).

Secondly, the random NPC's may instead be replaced with actual existing civilian characters, and instead of beating into submission and arresting, they may be killed (so essential characters should never be targeted by this quest). It is never necessary to kill the character, and is purely optional. You are a bounty hunter, not the Morag Tong. The characters are approached doing their regular thing, rather than hiding outside city walls or anything of the sort (though they could hide in their homes).

Thirdly, there could be a version of the quest where the NPC is alone, and the player is only able to speak to or arrest him/her. Should the player talk, the NPC will explain that they promise not to cause any more harm or trouble if the guards can forget his/her outstanding bounty. The player can accept and try to persuade the Jarl, persuade/intimidate the NPC to simply pay up, or choose to attempt an arrest instead.

 

I have no experience with modding, and so if any one of you modders out there thinks this is a good idea, contact me and I'll write dialogue for you if you want; just tell me how you intend to do it. Thanks!