Why are some Skyrim NPC's marked essential?

[Misterian]

Anyone else here have slight trouble with how certain NPC's are marked essential? even if they don't have any vital role in any quest?

I keep running into certain characters that I don't think have any reason to really be marked essential, granted, Skyrim isn't supposed to be just a murder-fest, but for the sake of roleplay there were few times in my first playthrough where I tried to kill certain individuals because either 1) they're being big douchebags (Ala Maven Black-Briar) 2) they're being bigots (ala that Stone-fist guy in Windhelm whose name I forget) or 3) they're Imperial Legionaires (Ala the Legates in the Imperial Camps)

Now, Maven Black Briar being marked essential I think makes sense, because she has a buddy-buddy relationship with the Thieves Guild (But I don't get why she apparently thinks she can still call the Dark Brotherhood after I killed them), but then, I didn't get to joining them on that playthrough.

That Stone-fist guy, well, the only thing I've been able to do with him was have a fist fight with him, what other quest is he connected to?

Those Legates, I have no idea at all why they're marked essential, I recently finished siding with the Imperial Legion in my second playthrough, but I wasn't able to talk to any of them, yet in my first playthrough after siding with the Stormcloaks, I can easily butcher the other Legionaires in their camps, but the Legates can't be killed, forcing me to run out away 'till I lose them, so why exactly are they marked essential even after they lose the civil war? And why exactly are the other NPC's I listed marked essential as well?

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

A way to compensate for random dragon attacks. Missing out on a quest because the RNG God decided to spawn a dragon wouldn't be fun. Other than that, hand holding.

 

[Corven]

A way to compensate for random dragon attacks. Missing out on a quest because the RNG God decided to spawn a dragon wouldn't be fun. Other than that, hand holding.

But wasn't there prerelease hype about a feature wherein if a character who had a quest for you died, one of their relatives would take their place and would then offer the quest in their place. Guess that idea was scrapped.

 

[The Lunatic]

A way to compensate for random dragon attacks. Missing out on a quest because the RNG God decided to spawn a dragon wouldn't be fun. Other than that, hand holding.

But wasn't there prerelease hype about a feature wherein if a character who had a quest for you died, one of their relatives would take their place and would then offer the quest in their place. Guess that idea was scrapped.

That's exactly what I was about to say.

At the very least, they could have cobbled something together with a few of the more important characters, such as finding documents on a desk or a note on their body, or a speech they'd prepared, or whatever, rather than just making them immortal.

 

[Corven]

Also they could have made it where if a dragon attacked a city, npc's besides the guards would flee to their homes away from danger.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Anyone else here have slight trouble with how certain NPC's are marked essential? even if they don't have any vital role in any quest?

All the time. Especially when there are certain NPCs who do have vital roles in quests, who you can kill and simply fail the quest (like a certain someone in Markarth).

Most recently, I came to wonder why in the living hell I can kill the guards in Solitude without wanting to (they violently object to my interrupting an execution), but the guards in Markarth who I want to throat-slice for being corrupt douchebags just take it and get back up.

 

[Odbarc]

A way to compensate for random dragon attacks. Missing out on a quest because the RNG God decided to spawn a dragon wouldn't be fun. Other than that, hand holding.

No way, all part of the experience. If anything, I'd like to throw a saddle on the dragon and terrorize everyone in the entire game.

TROGDOOOOOOOOOOOR!!!!!

 

[tendaji]

Some of them are somewhat odd though. I played a rebel character and noticed the skyrim icon symbol on the map for the first time, decided to have a look, imperial army camp. Oh bugger. So a huge battle breaks out, but in the end I'm thinking I've killed this guy before.

Turns out the legates are marked as essential.

Kind of ruins the 'we raid this camp and kill everyone because they're the enemy' point. I haven't seen it all the way through yet, but I wonder how those are going to become vital in the future as I've already chosen for the other side.

Well if you had gone Empire you would be getting quests from him, too bad there isn't a switch that recognizes you are with the opposite faction so removes that essential marking...

 

[Freaky Lou]

There are a really obnoxious number of essential characters, and not all of them have any apparent reason to be. On top of that, there's not (at least as far as I can tell) any way to know before you attack if they can be killed or not. In Oblivion, there was a little crown icon when you moved your cursor over them; now you just gotta try them.

 

[Something Amyss]

A way to compensate for random dragon attacks. Missing out on a quest because the RNG God decided to spawn a dragon wouldn't be fun. Other than that, hand holding.

But that totally kills my immersion.

 

[Kalamala7]

At least they not die so I can notice which ones are going to get back up unlike oblivion where they lied on the floor with all the other dead people and then when I'm busy stealing the home-owners stuff stabbing me in the back.

 

[Vegosiux]

In Morrowind, if you killed an essential character, you got the following:

With this character's death, the thread of prophecy is severed. Restore a saved game to restore the weave of fate, or persist in the doomed world you have created.

That meant, you mucked up the main quest, basically. So some characters are flagged as "essential" because they play a big role in the main quest or faction quests (TG, DB, College, Companions) and the game doesn't let you kill them so you don't lock yourself out of completing those quest lines in the future.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

A way to compensate for random dragon attacks. Missing out on a quest because the RNG God decided to spawn a dragon wouldn't be fun. Other than that, hand holding.

But that totally kills my immersion.

It does kill the immersion for me. But I understand why they did it.

 

[Vegosiux]

A way to compensate for random dragon attacks. Missing out on a quest because the RNG God decided to spawn a dragon wouldn't be fun. Other than that, hand holding.

But that totally kills my immersion.

It does kill the immersion for me. But I understand why they did it.

This "kills my immersion" argument is basically an undead horse trope nowadays. It's never used, and if it pops up, it's being parodied.

Then again, whenever a dragon popped up in my games, I heroically saved the day with zero casualties, so I wouldn't know.

 

[HerbertTheHamster]

Because Bethesda knows that you're too stupid to be allowed to kill whoever you want.

 

[Versuvius]

Don't worry. The creation kit comes out in january. Modders will fix it! If a good game can be fixed by modders because the devs release their tools well...fine by me, i wont critisise.

 

[Something Amyss]

It does kill the immersion for me. But I understand why they did it.

I don't. Think of how immersive the game would be if your questi could be ended by a random dragon attack killing everyone involved!

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

It does kill the immersion for me. But I understand why they did it.

I don't. Think of how immersive the game would be if your questi could be ended by a random dragon attack killing everyone involved!

It is a losing battle trying to get immersion in Skyrim, anyway. Whether it be the randomized guard dialogue (referring to me as a new member of the Companions despite me being the leader), the game not being able to keep up with your accomplishments (A woman threatened to call the Dark Brotherhood to take care of me if I got out of line. I was the leader of the DB. There was no option to burst her bubble), or just encountering glitches that remind you that you are playing a game.

 

[JET1971]

Don't worry. The creation kit comes out in january. Modders will fix it! If a good game can be fixed by modders because the devs release their tools well...fine by me, i wont critisise.

Already done:
http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=2570

I am quite amazed how many people mention "there will be a mod" and the mod already exhists.