So while I was a soldier in the Imperial Legion, I stumbled across a few Stormcloak camps and everytime I tried to clear one out, I'd kill everyone, but it was impossible to kill the NPC leading that particular camp; So, I thought to myself "well, they must play a part at a later point in the Civil War and that's why I can't kill them yet", so I was okay with it, Until, I actually finished the Civil War quest (none of them played any part in the Civil War quest and the quest itself was a bit of a letdown). I was told I should clear out any remaining Stormcloak camps, so I thought "okay, cool NOW I'll be able to clear them out", well NO, I still cannot kill the NPCs that lead the camps. What is going on? I was told specifically to clear them out and it is actually IMPOSSIBLE to do so. Is this some joke from Bethesda??

Is it possible you might be too low of a level?

they are, litterally, impossible to kill, to bad too, those imperials all should die

As a Stormcloak, I couldn't kill the leader of the Imperial camps. He would cower down, I would hack away at him, but he got up everytime.

I made an almost IDENTICAL thread in the cheats/hints/spoilers board.

I was told that they cannot die, which is very unfortunate.

Bethesda forgot to remove the "essential" tag off those NPC's. That should have been placed in the quest script after you've completed either the Stormcloak, or Imperial Legion quest lines.

This is just one of the many oversights by the development team that might get fixed in the Data patches come January.

Hmm, I never liked the concept of an NPC that cant die. Ruins killing sprees.

Don't talk so hastily. What if they're essential to an upcoming DLC or expansion for more closure to the war? Since right now, it seems unlikely that the Thalmor are too keen on leaving.

We don't know that either.

But it's safe to say that no matter which side you choose, the end result is that either Ulfric or General Tullius "recommends" that you look for and take down any straggler camps you find.

Having an NPC in these camps that doesn’t die was probably not what Bethesda intended.

things should not be immortal, not even alduin was, no matter how important they may be i don't like for them to tell me what i should be able to do.

yea i dont like the "essential character" thing i preferred it in morrowind where they just gave out to you for killing them and warned you to reload as you will regret this later

fix'd

yeah, despite being nudged to clear out the camps, it is impossible because the officers are invincible. either bethesda f'd up and didnt remove the essential tags when you had committed to one side, or that suggestion to clear out the camps is beth trolling us.

Thanks for the fix!

I wanted to say that myself, but some folks are too "sensitive" about the fact that Bethesda makes a good game... but modders turn their good games into epic ones.

I made a "mod", that is, two text files executable as bats ingame, to make the big guys of either side killable. It just didn't sit right with me that I shouldn't be able to smoke out the whole camp.

http://www.worldofelderscrolls.de/?go=dlfile&id=298

I know, it's a German site, but works with the English version as well. Just choose one of the text files in the download, Legates or Cloaks, put it in your Skyrim directory (NOT Data) and start the game. Open up the console (with ~), type either

bat LegatesNE

or

bat CloaksNE

depending on which file you chose, and the respective NPCs will be killable. Once the CK is out, I guess there will be a cleaner solution to this, but the text files don't hurt, either. Honestly, I even like they idea that I don't need to install a plugin file to make it possible.

Hehe a subtle jab at console users, but true none the less.

Yeah, essential characters svck! It's awesome when you go to do a specific quest and you can't because they're dead! Really, really cool when it's part of a large quest line. I totally want to kill everyone in Skyrim and be the only one left!

PUH-LEEZ!

I discovered this today, and hated it. I want the Morrowind system back!

It's a bug, the essential tags remain even when they aren't quest essential.

I am a high level, but that is irrelevant, the NPCs are literally invincible.

Well if you can not kill them for their loot, simple pickpocket it all off them! Ah just joking, that is more of my style of sick humor befor the butchering.

Though this is quite odd, for this has never happened to me it seems.

The only way to kill these guys is if you disable essential NPC's in the Skyrim.ini file. So, if you play on console you're basically SOL.

Anyway, here is the line you need to add/edit if you want to disable the annoying NPC's.

[Gameplay]

bEssentialTakeNoDamage=0

;zero means they can be killed, if you want to make them invulnerable again you replace the zero with a 1;

It is a mechanic put into the game to stop people breaking the game by killing important quest givers by mistake. I agree it is a little annoying, but if they hadnt, many people would no doubt be complaining that alot of the quests did not work. People on the PC can change this via mods or consule commands, sadly not so easy for Xbox or PS3 players. Hopefully the Devs may adjust this in a future point, as it can be a tad silly....

Thanks for the link, ones i start with the Civil War i will try this one out.

the one guy you cant kill in the camps are quest givers for stormcloaks hinting why you cant kill them same goes for the imperials when you are stormcloaks

Yes yes. Most people seem well aware of this. The problem is that these NPCs stay unkillable after their respective questlines are done. And after your faction leader suggests that you should go and kill all of them.