Vampires killing yo' NPCs.

[TheOneBearded]

If you don't want a certain NPC in a town to die, travel only in the day time if you are entering the town. Also, if you see a NPC by the name Traveler, stay away for it is a vampire and can attack you and everyone around him/her.

Or just kill him? Does it cause a bounty?

Kill him first before he does something crazy! No bounty will be put up unless you hit someone (everyone in the vicinity will gather around him to kill him too, so area spells are a no-no).

 

[Hagi]

Being a PC user I don't have Dawnguard yet but I find this somewhat worrying.

The problem with Skyrim is that whilst these NPCs can die they won't ever be replaced. If a town's blacksmith dies then that town won't get a new blacksmith ever again. If a significant portion of a town dies then that's a ghost town for the rest of the game. If all occupants of a house die then that house sits empty forever.

All of which, at least for me, breaks immersion quite badly. If I kill them then sure, there should be consequences to that like the town hating me and a giant bounty. But I feel that it's rather unfair that you can lose vital merchants to a pack of wolves you didn't even notice whilst you were at the other side of town. And then to look at a totally empty shop the rest of the town treats as if the owner is still there.

 

[Skops]

Sounds like Dawnguard needs a Belmont.

 

[TheOneBearded]

I really like the gothic feel too, but my favorite atmospheres are actually found later in the questline. Without spoiling anything plot-wise, there is an enormous open area you go to late in the questline that is bigger than Blackreach and is possibly the most stunningly beautiful landscape in the whole game.

Have you tried the new side quest with the ghost in the new Dwarven place? Not only is the ruined Dwarven cave amazing, but the entire quest is one of my favorites. The giant boss battle at the end and the loot you get from it is one of the best experiences I had in Skyrim.

I don't believe so. Where do you get it? All I have done so far is 90% of the mainquest, some Soul Cairn quests and the crossbow side-questline. That sounds pretty awesome.

Btw. Best part about Dawnguard is the awesome Morrowind reference in the Soul Cairn. I was cracking up so hard.

Not part of the main quest.
The Dwarven site is near Dushnikh Yal, an orc stronghold. If you are with the Dawnguard, there is a book in the fort. You could look around for the book that activates the quest for you or go straight to the site yourself. I highly recommend doing the quest and don't spoil the loot at the end by going on the Wikia - I was shocked at how good there were (there are three of them, one of them isn't that great, though)

"After taking a copy of "The Aetherium Wars" and reading it, it adds the miscellaneous task of travelling to Arkngthamz in The Reach, it is directly southeast of Dushnikh Yal and west of the ruin Valthume." (from the Wikia)


Can you go back to the Soul Cairn? I'm about to go to it - haven't had time for I was too busy doing the radient quests and the crossbow quests. Papa got himself a brand new Dwarven Crossbow!

 

[Fappy]

I really like the gothic feel too, but my favorite atmospheres are actually found later in the questline. Without spoiling anything plot-wise, there is an enormous open area you go to late in the questline that is bigger than Blackreach and is possibly the most stunningly beautiful landscape in the whole game.

Have you tried the new side quest with the ghost in the new Dwarven place? Not only is the ruined Dwarven cave amazing, but the entire quest is one of my favorites. The giant boss battle at the end and the loot you get from it is one of the best experiences I had in Skyrim.

I don't believe so. Where do you get it? All I have done so far is 90% of the mainquest, some Soul Cairn quests and the crossbow side-questline. That sounds pretty awesome.

Btw. Best part about Dawnguard is the awesome Morrowind reference in the Soul Cairn. I was cracking up so hard.

Not part of the main quest.
The Dwarven site is near Dushnikh Yal, an orc stronghold. If you are with the Dawnguard, there is a book in the fort. You could look around for the book that activates the quest for you or go straight to the site yourself. I highly recommend doing the quest and don't spoil the loot at the end by going on the Wikia - I was shocked at how good there were (there are three of them, one of them isn't that great, though)

"After taking a copy of "The Aetherium Wars" and reading it, it adds the miscellaneous task of travelling to Arkngthamz in The Reach, it is directly southeast of Dushnikh Yal and west of the ruin Valthume." (from the Wikia)


Can you go back to the Soul Cairn? I'm about to go to it - haven't had time for I was too busy doing the radient quests and the crossbow quests. Papa got himself a brand new Dwarven Crossbow!

I am pretty sure you can come and go from the Soul Cairn. I actually noticed that book the first time I went to the fort and thought to myself, "huh, looks like they added some new books". Now that you mention it I do have the Misc. quest for it. I'll check it out after I finish the main quest.

Some advise for the Soul Cairn: There is a collection quest that requires you to look for things high-and-low without any kind of compass to guide you. I suggest doing it even if it is a bit frustrating because the story for the quest is pretty hilarious (especially if you played Morrowind) and you get a good item at then end.

 

[chadachada123]

Being a PC user I don't have Dawnguard yet but I find this somewhat worrying.

The problem with Skyrim is that whilst these NPCs can die they won't ever be replaced. If a town's blacksmith dies then that town won't get a new blacksmith ever again. If a significant portion of a town dies then that's a ghost town for the rest of the game. If all occupants of a house die then that house sits empty forever.

All of which, at least for me, breaks immersion quite badly. If I kill them then sure, there should be consequences to that like the town hating me and a giant bounty. But I feel that it's rather unfair that you can lose vital merchants to a pack of wolves you didn't even notice whilst you were at the other side of town. And then to look at a totally empty shop the rest of the town treats as if the owner is still there.

I do feel like killed NPC's shouldn't get direct replacements. For example, if the apothecary dies, the replacement shouldn't be a re-skin with the same dialogue. Make the next person nicer, or meaner, or crazy, or sane, or something *different.*

Hell, give the first few replaced NPC's the ability to trigger a new quest related to townspeople being killed or something.

There are many options for this.

On topic: I feel that Bethesda could have handled this a little better. Luckily, I'm on vacation, so I won't have to worry about my save losing anything for quite some time.

 

[Mekado]

It's a good idea, but the Skyrim world already is a bit under-populated (compared to FNV or Oblivion anyways), if vampires starts killing in towns this is going to make ghost towns fast...

Then again, when it comes on PC you can use the almighty console to resurrect people, though that's probably not intended.

 

[Gennadios]

See, if Skyrim were to have procedural NPCs moving in and replacing losses, this would actually add a ton instead of a cause for nerd rage.

But then that's asking too much. Bethsoft is known for over scripted messes, not procedural generation.

I really hoped Skyrim would have gone down in price by now, though. Really want to give it a try.

 

[TheCommanders]

It's a good idea, but the Skyrim world already is a bit under-populated (compared to FNV or Oblivion anyways), if vampires starts killing in towns this is going to make ghost towns fast...

Then again, when it comes on PC you can use the almighty console to resurrect people, though that's probably not intended.

Also, if you have the Midas Magic Mod, there is a spell to resurrect NPCs. If you're hoping to stay somewhat in game this is a slightly better option. The Midas Magic spells are powerful, but the most powerful ones actually require sacrificing unique magic items to unlock them, so I consider it... well not balanced, but... maybe fair is a better word?

 

[SB Ripping]

I think it would be cool if the vamps could turn the NpCs into vamps and add to the undead army instead of just killing them?

 

[SmegInThePants]

there's a mod on the pc that makes "Vendors, Quest Givers, Unique Citizen's, and Trainers unkillable", except for those that need to be killable for quests involving killing them. Called "essential npc's" and its over at skyrim nexus, maybe also on steam workshop (i got it at skyrim nexus so i don't know about steam).

 

[TwiZtah]

So, I heard that apparently, dawnguard causes vampires to come to towns and kill NPCs. On the one hand, it's a pretty cool idea, on the other, these can include merchants and misc quest givers.

There's quite a bit of rage surrounding this. I looked up a few forums, and people have been complaining about vampires killing a massive amount of people in cities, and a mysterious vampire traveller who can even enter houses to kill people. On the other hand, there's just as many people saying the ragers are over-reacting, that the vampires rarely kill anyone important.

Has anyone had this? I haven't had it much yet, but I practically only just made the decision not to join the vampires. There was a vampire master and his thrall in riften who killed some guy I didn't care about, but I suspect that's scripted.

Think I may go on the side of caution and only play as my new, evil character until I hear more.

Please say they can kill the kids, pretty please?

 

[geK0]

Somebody needs to make a parody song out of this! Autotuning skyrim!

 

[Doclector]

They've claimed their first minor NPC victim! Arrendus something or other. He was a good man. He worked for belethor, at the general goods store, and could repeatedly carry around some wood like no other.

They managed to kill belethor too, first time they attacked, but I wouldn't stand for it and kept reloading and managed to save him. Twas kinda cool, but really annoying.

Oh sh**! I found a bunch of death hounds outside trying to kill some khajitt merchants! Luckily they appear to be invincible. Hopefully bethesda make the rest of the merchants the same in the next update, that'd be an easy fix.

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

Console commands can fix this on PC!
Ha!
"You want to kill that shopkeep? Try killing 100! *****!"
I better be able to commit vampire genocide, though.

 

[M-E-D The Poet]

Being a PC user I don't have Dawnguard yet but I find this somewhat worrying.

The problem with Skyrim is that whilst these NPCs can die they won't ever be replaced. If a town's blacksmith dies then that town won't get a new blacksmith ever again. If a significant portion of a town dies then that's a ghost town for the rest of the game. If all occupants of a house die then that house sits empty forever.

All of which, at least for me, breaks immersion quite badly. If I kill them then sure, there should be consequences to that like the town hating me and a giant bounty. But I feel that it's rather unfair that you can lose vital merchants to a pack of wolves you didn't even notice whilst you were at the other side of town. And then to look at a totally empty shop the rest of the town treats as if the owner is still there.

doesn't this actually improve immersion

Bar the final dialogue part thingy but that's nto such a big deal

I would be rather upset if vampires were meant to be slaughtering whole towns and I'd find the townfolk merily walking around again every time I left town

 

[Hagi]

doesn't this actually improve immersion

Bar the final dialogue part thingy but that's nto such a big deal

I would be rather upset if vampires were meant to be slaughtering whole towns and I'd find the townfolk merily walking around again every time I left town

Except that's exactly the problem.

Once the combat is over and the vampires are dead all the townsfolk are merrily walking around even though half the village is dead, including the farmers and hunters that put food on the table as well as the blacksmith and general merchant.

You've got a town that should logically be in extreme disarray as all major services required for survival are no longer available yet townsfolk are merrily walking around.

If, after some time has passed, those vital townsfolk were replaced by generic replacements then it'd make sense again. The town has suffered a major tragedy but it has recovered and life goes on, Skyrim is a harsh land after all.

But that doesn't happen. The towns never recover but they never die out either. Nothing happens. The entire town goes on as if they still had farmers and hunters to put food on their tables. As if they still had a general merchant to buy their daily goods. As if they still had a blacksmith to repair their tools and forge new ones.

 

[Brendan Stepladder]

Being a PC user I don't have Dawnguard yet but I find this somewhat worrying.

The problem with Skyrim is that whilst these NPCs can die they won't ever be replaced. If a town's blacksmith dies then that town won't get a new blacksmith ever again. If a significant portion of a town dies then that's a ghost town for the rest of the game. If all occupants of a house die then that house sits empty forever.

All of which, at least for me, breaks immersion quite badly. If I kill them then sure, there should be consequences to that like the town hating me and a giant bounty. But I feel that it's rather unfair that you can lose vital merchants to a pack of wolves you didn't even notice whilst you were at the other side of town. And then to look at a totally empty shop the rest of the town treats as if the owner is still there.

doesn't this actually improve immersion

Bar the final dialogue part thingy but that's nto such a big deal

I would be rather upset if vampires were meant to be slaughtering whole towns and I'd find the townfolk merily walking around again every time I left town

Immersion is in the eye of the beholder. One typically expects to really synchronize with the game world, but still have the game obey its regular rules. One such rule being no swarms of monsters in towns with vulnerable NPC's, barring the errant dragon in Windhelm.

 

[Krantos]

I can honestly say that's never happened. I've put over 30 hours into the expansion and completed the main Dawnguard questline. Never had vampires kill anyone in town.

I DID get the "traveler" vampire show up a couple times (once in Whiterun, Morthal, and Rorikstead), but he never killed anyone. Even all the guards survived.

 

[M-E-D The Poet]

doesn't this actually improve immersion

Bar the final dialogue part thingy but that's nto such a big deal

I would be rather upset if vampires were meant to be slaughtering whole towns and I'd find the townfolk merily walking around again every time I left town

Except that's exactly the problem.

Once the combat is over and the vampires are dead all the townsfolk are merrily walking around even though half the village is dead, including the farmers and hunters that put food on the table as well as the blacksmith and general merchant.

You've got a town that should logically be in extreme disarray as all major services required for survival are no longer available yet townsfolk are merrily walking around.

If, after some time has passed, those vital townsfolk were replaced by generic replacements then it'd make sense again. The town has suffered a major tragedy but it has recovered and life goes on, Skyrim is a harsh land after all.

But that doesn't happen. The towns never recover but they never die out either. Nothing happens. The entire town goes on as if they still had farmers and hunters to put food on their tables. As if they still had a general merchant to buy their daily goods. As if they still had a blacksmith to repair their tools and forge new ones.

I actually meant if your local victims respawned spring and sprung

I would prefer then either to have the townsfolk realize who's dead or to have the npc's replaced by travelers or something