I happened to come across some guard near Whiterun and I can't kill him. And he's hostile because I haven't fed recently.

The guard: [img]http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/5484/screenshot94k.png[/img]
The guard staying alive: [img]http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/2904/screenshot95h.png[/img]

There are a bunch of random essential NPCs tied to side-quests. I hate it.

Sadly the above is true, and gets so annoying.

Why not? You must be protect from yourself.

The reason why has a bit to do with Morrowind.

Bethesda had quite a few complaints regarding how players "broke" their games because they couldn't finish certain quests or entire questlines, in some cases, because of some important and related NPC having been killed by either the player or by something else (creature, another NPC with hostile faction association, and whatever else was possible).

So, in order to prevent broken quests and questlines due to dead NPCs associated with them, Bethesda made them essential, instead. Some of them do lose the invincibility after the quest or questline is completed, however.

I'd rather more the option to be able to turn off the "essential" status at my own peril, but I'm on the 360. At least when they're on my side, they can be handy to have in a fight.

^In regards to that statement, haven't they made many "essential" characters replaceable such as shopkeepers and some quest givers? Why the hell is a generic npc that can be easily replaced by simply respawning later essential? This makes absolutely no sense. This isn't directed towards you, of course. Just the idea that I cannot defend myself from some guards because they're essential. That's ludicrous.

Yes, I believe that all "essential" NPCs should be replaceable for quest-purposes. This way, the NPC itself isn't "essential", but rather that NPC's "place" in the game is essential. So if you kill an essential guard, another will spawn in the barracks and take his place later. If you kill a Jarl/Guild-Leader/Faction-Leader, they will all have replacements ready in case you decide to kill that person.

This would lead to more variety in gameplay, and a LOT more immersive role-playing elements. If you want to be a political-assassin, now you can be!

That would be terrific to mod in

Personally, I think it's the players fault if you happen to kill those npcs. You probably mentioned the only characters that actually aren't easily replaceable. That aside, it would be cool if there was a "knock-out" mod that allows you to "kill" npcs and if they're essential they'll respawn an ingame day later. Easy fix, right?

That's probably the best idea I've heard in the last week

Gotta push this idea to modders out there

Nah, that would totally ruin immersion. If you killed a Jarl, how would you feel if you went back the next day and that same Jarl greets you with a "Greetings, my friend!"? It would be ridiculous.

IRL, all leaders have a replacement ready to take over if that leader dies. Why should a game be any different? Also, it wouldn't even take that much work to make the game like this. The replacement could be a randomly generated NPC with a basic backstory, such as being the previous Jarl/Faction-Leader/Guild-Leaders son/daughter. Then, if you kill that person, the next could be that person's brother/sister, and so on and so forth.

Also, if you were caught doing this, the next leader could send people after you and you could become a fugitive. How intense would that be?

There are plenty of random essential characters who serve no purpose whatsoever. It gets irritating.