This mod allows for followers to die and get injuries resulting from battles. The chances are quite low, but it will keep the game fresh and allow for more interesting experiences and narratives when it happens.
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Author notes
Always drop me a message, I reply quickly :)
File credits
iAFT for the idea of a random chance for followers to die :)
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Follower Death and Injury Chance - Followers Can Die (PTBR)
Changelogs
Version 3.12
Small update. Safe to update mid-game.
This update is coming thanks to JamesTParker, who came up with this tweak that should've been in the mod from the start!
When your follower takes the knee OUTSIDE combat, the chances of them dying/getting injured are now disabled. Why? Because NPCs are dumb and I don't want them to die from following you off a cliff or by being stuck in a trap loop and being too dumb to get out of it. That's not the type of dynamic story telling this mod should be bringing. I want them to die in epic fights, not because of bad AI.
This update doesn't have any script changes, so if you're using mods that tweak this mod, you should be fine to update.
Kudos again to Jason who figured this out. If you haven't checked his profile yet, I invite you to do so. He's got some hidden gems, like additional perk trees and things that should've been in the game from the start, such as the Thieves Guild traders not caring if your items are stolen: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/121350
Version 3.1
Safe to update mid-game.
Essential followers that should've died but cannot die because they've got a quest assigned will now get the "permanently injured" status. They should've died, but they didn't because of their quest, so they will now permanently wear a bandage (applying the injured animation + debuff) and will not engage in combat anymore, as they have really bad injuries that prevent them from fighting. Keep in mind that TECHNICALLY, they should be dead. Permanently injured followers that should've died but didn't will flee during combat if you enter a fight with them following you. This is done because since they cannot die, some of you were still using these followers as meat-shields, which is what this mod aims to "fix". My recommendations... If an unkillable followers get permanently injured, you should dismiss them and let them live the rest of their days in peace.
Followers should stay down a bit longer, to avoid having them constantly take the knee in fights.
When heavily injured, followers will use a custom animation if DAR/OAR is installed. This is a modified version of Funnybizness's wounded animations, so kudos to them for sharing the resource with the skyrim modding community. Thank you!
This update also adds support for an upcoming mod I'm working on.
Version 3.0
Not compatible with older versions of this mod. Do not update from older versions.
Mod now uses SPID, this allows me to get rid of the vanilla quest edit, so also compatible with mods that have their own follower system out of the gate (NFF).
Decreased the default chances of death. From 15% to 5%. Followers were falling too often in combat.
Version 2.51
Safe to update mid-game. ONLY the vanilla version of the mod has been updated, no changes required for the NFF version of the mod.
Update forwards a missing property from vanilla, related to making your follower a blade.
Version 2.5
Changed a lot, please read sticky :)
Version 2.01
Fixed a bug that would make permanent injuries worse than they should be. Followers shouldn't go down as much now after a permanent injury, as they will only lose 50HP from their health pool.
Version 2.0
Changelog for 2.0:
• "Permanent injuries" are now "Serious injuries". A serious injury will heal in X amount of days, If however your follower gets hurt again and receives a second serious injury (without healing the first), that one will be permanent. Permament injuries can stack. If you care about your followers, you will send them home after they get an injury to avoid this. • How long it takes for serious injuries to heal is up to you. By default, followers will heal within a random period between 2 and 20 days, but you can customize it and set your a fixed number of days instead. If Random is selected, the system will notify you of the duration of the injury, as well as let you know when your follower is healed. • Injured followers are now more likely to get new injuries or die (10% more likely). Remember to send them home to heal! • EFF version now supports up to 10 tracked followers, same as NFF. (Plus +3 custom followers) • MCM menu added. Preview here: https://i.imgur.com/i11QU4Y.jpg
Options include: 1. Death chance % 2. Injury chance %, 3. Duration of injuries in days (Random or Fixed number of days) 4. System for importing special followers non supported by normal follower frameworks (Up to 3 special followers are supported*)
*Not all special followers are killable, but all of them will support injuries once imported. Importing is as easy as going into the MCM menu while facing the follower and clicking "Import" on one of the slots. You can also import any NPCs (non-followers too), but not sure why you would want to (maybe if you want to kill a vanilla NPC marked as essential - That works but might break quests). Definitely avoid importing normal followers already covered by this mod or EFF/NFF, as then they would get injuries from the two systems at the same time.
I've tested some of the most popular "Super Follower" mods to see if they supported injuries only or also death, here are the results:
- Inigo, Lucien, Serana: They get injuries, but cannot die. Remember however to send them home after an injury, if you want their injury to heal. Otherwise serious injuries will start stacking and leave them with literally 1HP in extreme cases. - Inigo is a bit special as he doesn't like the head bandage all other followers use when injured. Instead of the head bandage, he uses hand-bandages when hurt. - Kaidan, Sofia, Auri: Fully compatible. Once imported, they will get injuries and possibly die. - Interesting NPCs followers: Fully compatible. Once imported, they will get injuries and possibly die. HOWEVER, you don't need to import them via my mod if using the EFF or NFF Interesting NPC patches. So basically, only import them if you're not using follower frameworks.
To keep your game narrative more interesting and unpredictable and to prevent you from using them as meat shields, I present to you...
This mod allows for followers to die (killed by other NPCs) and there's also a chance they get injuries resulting from battles. As per version 3.0 (August 2023 update), this is what happens when your followers' health reaches 0:
Follower is fine (mini injury). → 80% chance. They get a small debuff for a couple of minutes.
Follower gets a serious injury. → 15% chance. They're injured for a number of days, which decreases their stats. They get a bandage in their head (or in their arms if it's a khajiit/argonian race) and the system notifies you of their injury. You should consider sending your follower home to heal as otherwise their stats will be quite low and they will be more likely to fall in battle (and possibly die). -
Follower dies. → 5% chance. May their soul go to Sovngarde. Your follower has suffered an injury they could not recover from.
~COMPATIBILITY~
As of version 3.0, this mod is handled via SPID, meaning no edits to vanilla records. Should be compatible with everything.
~FAQ~
You monster, why do you want followers to die! → I love story-telling and creating my own narratives when I'm playing Skyrim. Having a follower die on you can be a turning point in the story of your character. In vanilla, leaving a follower behind and running for your life has no consequences, as you know they will be fine. Now, you will have to wonder if you've left your follower to their death, or if they manage to sneak out somehow and come back to you. Having actual stakes when playing with followers is something I really wished to have, but simply marking followers "non-protected" is just unfair to the player, as we know most followers fall to their knees every second fight they're in. I think this is a good balance where you'll actually have to actively protect your followers.
Why can't Serana die? → I'm sure it can be changed, but I don't want to mess/break the Dawnguard expansion. If imported into EFF or NFF, she will suffer injuries just like other followers.
How did you get your followers to look injured in the pictures included in this mod? And the grave? → The bandage is part of this mod. If you want the injuries, you'll need to use EFF (for access to the follower tattoo system), or use the EFF Standalone Cosmetic Menu. The overlay used in the screenshots belong to Skin Feature Overlays. The bandage gets applied automatically by my mod, the visual injuries is something completely optional and external that you'd have to do yourself with the mods I mentioned here. The grave from the screenshot is also from another mod (Skill of the Wild).
