You can find High Poly Head conversions of these followers here: High Poly NPCS

Overview:

In short, this mod:

-Adds 20 generic, respawning, followers to various inns and guilds across Skyrim

-Adds 12 unique, non-respawning, followers to various inns and a few non-traditional locations

-All followers from this mod can die, from anything. Enemies will continue to target and hit these followers until they are dead

-All followers are on a separate framework. You can take 1 Dragon Fodder follower along with a vanilla follower, and a pet

-Does not alter any vanilla followers. They function exactly as before and are still immortal to most enemy attacks

-Is NOT a full standalone-follower pack (e.g. depending on what skin re-textures you're using the followers's appearance will be different). Hair styles seen in screenshots ARE included with this mod.


Inspiration:

I loved the idea of followers in Skyrim but have always found them to be too much of a crutch most of the time. I wanted to be able to travel the open roads and explore dark dungeons with a faithful companion at my side, someone to aid me in battle, someone to have a drink with at the inn, or even just to give more purpose to crafting and finding gear my own character wouldn't use.

The problem though was always the same: my follower was invincible. Only under very specific, and rare, circumstances would they ever die. I was never once concerned for their well being and knew that no matter what threat we faced they would likely be just fine. This led me to never utilizing more than a few different followers per play-through, and often dismissing the ones I had to go solo so as to create a more challenging game. 

I thought back to playing TES 4: Oblivion and how each of the guilds there had respawning, generic followers that could, and often did, die while joining you on your adventures.

And I thought, why not for Skyrim?



Description:

Dragon Fodder - Mortal Followers introduces a custom follower framework in which followers are no longer flagged as essential or protected in either their actor profiles or as a part of the hidden "Dialogue Quest" that sets any active follower as protected. This mod only affects followers that are introduced in this mod, and does not alter the vanilla follower framework, or make any changes to vanilla followers. The Dragon Fodder framework is nearly identical to the vanilla framework and should be compatible with your favorite follower management mod.

Dragon Fodder introduces two types of followers: Respawning and Unique. All followers of both types have the Lightfoot perk (won't set off traps). 

Respawning followers are broken up into two classes: recruit and veteran. The only differences between these classes are their minimum and maximum level, and their starting gear. Spell caster classes will have different spells between recruits and veterans; usually more powerful versions of the same spell type (e.g. replace Flames with Firebolt). Respawning followers are easily identified in game by their actor name (Example: "Warrior Recruit", "Spellsword Veteran"). After dying, respawning actors can be recruited again from their home location after the cell has reset, usually 10 in-game days.

Unique followers are named actors with a variety of spells/perks and a single special item: their memento  keepsake. Unique followers do not respawn, and after they die they are forever gone. Unique followers have a wider and higher level range than respawning followers. All unique followers have the Healing spell to help keep them alive. Spellcasters have a mix of low and higher level spells, making them more powerful at higher levels and providing a "reward" for keeping them alive longer. Unique followers can be identified in game by their initials: they all use the initials "DF".

For a complete list of all the perks, spells and locations of all respawning and unique followers view the Read Me text file included with the download.


Mementos:

Each unique, non-respawning, follower has a special item in their inventory with their name attached to it. These are mementos, something to remember your fallen comrades with. These items include weapons, jewelry and armor. Memento weapons and armor have been tweaked to make them more powerful than the base item they are based on but will still be outclassed with later weapons and armor. Jewelry and clothing are enchanted.



Where to Find the Followers:

You'll find Dragon Fodder followers spread throughout Skyrim in the Inns and taverns of villages and cities, and faction-related followers in their respective faction headquarters. Generally speaking, respawning recruits will be found in the larger cities while veterans will be tucked away in more out-of-the-way locations. Unique followers can be found everywhere. Go explore!

If you want to know the exact location of each follower view the Read Me.


Tips for Keeping your Follower Alive:

-Stay close. Followers getting targeted by multiple enemies and hit from all sides is a sure way for them to get killed. 

-If you see your follower run away, let them! Confidence levels for followers vary depending on whether they are meant for melee fighting or support roles. Melee fighters will never retreat, support characters (mages, archers) will fall back to heal when low on health.

-Draw enemy aggression. Hit an enemy, stun them, dance naked and sing like a banshee. Do whatever it takes to get them to stop targeting your follower and start targeting you.

-Use Heal Other spells. 

-Have another follower/pet. The more allies there are to target, the lower chance a single follower will targeted by multiple enemies.

-Go slow. Give your follower some time to recover after a fight. Don't go barreling through a dungeon toward the next encounter.




Plans for Future Updates:

- Respawning recruits/veterans for miscellaneous factions (e.g. Forsworn, Bandits, Thalmor...)

- Retool the vanilla Hireling system for respawning followers at the inns

- Make faction recruits/veterans recruitment dependent on guild rank

- Plug-in for mortal Housecarls and vanilla Hirelings

- Unique followers's mementos have post-death quest

- Conversion spell to put any NPC on the Dragon Fodder framework

-Make a BSA file version


A Special Note About Marriage:

Unique Dragon Fodder followers can be married, where allowed based on their voice type. 

I DO NOT RECOMMEND YOU MARRY ANY FOLLOWER FROM THIS MOD.

I decided to include marriage as an option because, why not? It's your game, it's your decision, and I knew someone would ask to enable at least one follower or another for marriage. 

I don't recommend you marry any of the unique followers, though, because I don't know the ramifications for if your spouse dies. How does this affect Hearthfire for moving your family? Can your spouse die as a part of the 'abduction' quest? Is a married follower made invincible as part of another dialogue quest?

If you decided to marry a unique follower, please let me know via private message or the Posts section on how it goes, and if it breaks any part of the game or mod.



FAQ:

Q. How many followers are in the mod?
A. 20 respawning followers and 12 unique followers.

Q. How long do I have to wait for a respawning follower to respawn? Where will they respawn?
A. Followers will respawn at their home location (where you first found them) when the cell resets: between 10 to 30 in-game days.

Q. Are these followers standalone or vanilla assets?
A. Many Dragon Fodder followers have standalone custom hair styles, otherwise all followers use vanilla assets, or any NPC body, skin, eyes, etc. replacer you might have.

Q. I'm using a follower management mod (like Amazing Follower Tweaks) and my followers are not dying.
A. AFT (and perhaps other mods, I don't know) automatically flag followers as Essential (i.e. cannot die). Change the protection level assigned to your followers under your follower management mod's settings and Dragon Fodder followers will be mortal once more.

Q. I'm using a follower management mod (like Amazing Follower Tweaks) and I see duplicates of the follower dialogue controls.
A. Yup, that happens. I suspect it's because mods like AFT are designed to work with (and overwrite) the vanilla follower framework and so they don't quite know how to handle a custom framework which is usually reserved for individual standalone followers, and generally not recommended to use on custom frameworks in the first place.

Just to re-iterate: it's perfectly safe to use AFT, or any other follower management mod, on Dragon Fodder followers. Just be prepared to see duplicate dialogue controls.

If your follower isn't responding as you'd expect after issuing a command, try the other instance of the same command. I know after testing with AFT that only one of the "Dismiss" options would actually dismiss the follower. Both options would trigger the correct follower dialogue and audio clip, but only one would trigger the script to dismiss the follower.


Q. My Dragon Fodder followers will occasionally still go down on their knees when low on health and enemies will no longer target them. 
A. The "on knees" state is fixed into Skyrim's combat system and isn't controlled via the follower dialogue quests (aka. the follower framework). Consider it a variable that there is a small chance that your follower will survive combat by no longer being perceived as a threat.


Q. Why are some follower dialogues silent?
A. Not all races/gender combinations have supported follower dialogue. I had to decided between using non-immersive voice types, or custom silent dialogue. 


Q. What NPC texture replacer mods are you using in the screenshots?
A. See below for my recommended mod list.


Q. Can you increase the follower limit?
A. I don't want to because two reasons: balance issues and script issues. Your follower isn't supposed to survive your entire play through, having multiple followers decreases the chance of any one of them being killed and defeats the whole purpose of the mod.  You can already use a vanilla follower, a Dragon Fodder follower and a pet at the same time. 

The other reason is because I'm not confident how the framework would handle multiple instances of the same actor dying, being recruited, dying, etc..  This could lead the framework into believing your follower limit is artificially higher or lower and ultimately break the mod.

If you want to have multiple Dragon Fodder followers, then use a follower management mod that is designed to do just that.


Q. My unique follower died! Bring them back and make them immortal please?
A. Glad to hear the mod works as intended. I don't recommend doing this mid-play through, but here it goes. Use the creation kit to change the follower's factions to CurrentFollowerFaction (-1), PotentialFollowerFaction (0) and PotentialMarriageFaction (0) if applicable. They should now be on the vanilla follower framework.




Compatibility:

-Compatible with any other follower(s) mods. Dragon Fodder does not alter the vanilla follower framework.

-Should be compatible with any follower management mod. I tested Dragon Fodder followers with Amazing Follower Tweaks (AFT) and Simple Follower Manager (SFM) and everything appeared to work fine. Just remember to use any "Manage with [Follower Mod]" spell you might have to enable those features on Dragon Fodder followers.

-Compatible with My Home is Your Home.


Recommended NPC Retexture Mods (what I used in screenshots):

Tempered Skins for Males by traa 108
Tempered Skins for Females by traa 108
Improved Eyes Skyrim by Nazenn
Freckles and Rough Skin Complexion Retex replacer by RX310


Installation:

Mod Manager Users:
-Click Download and have fun

Manual Installation (why?!):
-Copy archive files/folders into your Skyrim Data folder.


My Other Follower Mods:

Megdra gra-Dushnikh - A Standalone Orc Follower

Credits:
Kalilies for KS hairdos SSE
Apachii for Apachii SkyHair SSE
Matthiaswagg for the follower framework template 
Bethesda Game Studios for Skyrim SE