Too many times in a battle, some idiot guard or an NPC gets in my way and I hit them accidently, and I get a 40 septim bounty and there is nothing I can do about it. What the hell? There is a thing called friendly fire you know!

It would be helpful if the game could distinguish being hit while fighting a common enemy from just hitting a guard yes.

I hear ya. This has bugged me so many times.

Yup. I can whack and whack away at my follower but if I sneeze on a guard he gets all touchy.

ME: oh a dragon! better help these guards *thwack*
Guards: kill him at all costs his 40 gold bounty is too important forget fighting the dragon!!!!

Simple to impliment, since the game knows which is an enemy, and which is not...

I can't figure-out why they didn't implement it.

Unless you attack a non-attacking player, when there is no conflict in the area... it should be assumed to be an accident... (Perhaps even, for realism... They could make them hate you for a while, which is understandable.)

Hell, you are a Thane, which is higher than a guard, eventually... And you still have to talk your way out of things! LOL.

Just let them do the fighting, and die. That is how I handle it. (They would be better-off making those important people running away, and letting the disposable people dive into battle. Disposable, with no real disposition to hate you. How the heck do they know it was my arrow that hit them? Oh, yea, they weren't going for realistic game-play, or logical reasoning, for the NPC's you are trying to help. Like they said... "All NPC's hate you in the game." Great motivational inspiration to keep the player fighting to keep them alive. Let them die.)

That happens to me when thiefs strike.

Cheers

yea, its really annoying. Furthermore in some weird moments they don't accept your yield.