Plot critical NPCs

A couple of weeks ago there was a fairly heated discussion on the death and respawn system in Neverwinter Nights 2 for Companions. In this thread a lot of concern was expressed over how easy NWN2 would be if after dropping dead your companions just come back to life. The reason for the inclusion of this feature in the NWN2 OC is that certain companions have a role to play in the plot - or at least cut scenes in the game. A role that they can't fulfil if dead.

This is not a new problem. The Bioware designers made the character Imoen essentially immortal for a certain section of BG2 (spellhold I think) for plot reasons along the lines of she has to be alive to contribute to the story. The issue with this is that A) you need characters to be alive for certain parts of the plot but B) making them invincible breaks the immersion of the game.

As it stands Eyes of Eilistraee is about to encounter this same problem with one henchman in particular. Because they have a large role in the plot - their death in combat and non resurrection would essentially break the storyline.

Good job I spotted this now, at least I can rethink the final act of the module before it's too late... I hope!


eR