It seems weird to ask this, even disturbing...

Can any NPCs be drowned in the game? Specifically, hold guards? Demeter is planning her next kill so she can get the Riften Hold Guard armour and shield set* - she wants all the various hold armours - and she has decided that she must kill each guard a different way. She engaged a Whiterun Guard in combat away from Whiterun and its farmland so no one else could come to his rescue, but she doesn't want to kill the Riften Guard at the south gate to Riften in the same manner. She wishes to use a Scroll of Mass Paralysis combined with a few potions if need be, after luring the guard into the water of Lake Honrich.

*

I don't think so.

Nope.

nope they can swim just fine.. although not so sure about when you paralize them while swimming just try it out yourself i suppose

I'm pretty sure NPCs cannot drown, they will most likely swim back toward you.

They could in Oblivion, at least that's how I killed Mannimarco. Haven't actually tried it in Skyrim though...

Maybe they will just...be bugged?

Not tested it in Skyrim but in Oblivion they did surface for air and would not drown.

Not sure that would happen if they was unable to get to air.

Remember I was chased by a lot of guards in Oblivion, I did not want to kill them so I swam out and down in the sea, the guard followed but had to surface regularly, I stopped at an deep place and they swam down but was unable to reach me before surfacing, then they tried again. It looked pretty stupid.

The trick here is getting them to stay underwater long enough to see if they do. Very few places where resurfacing is hard/impossible, in Skyrim.

Any time I have had a follower go under water with me, they don't drown when I would have if I did not have a potion or spell.

They do actually drown in Oblivion if they run out of air though in Skyrim I have never seen them even dive in the water.

I'll be able to test it out this evening, hopefully all goes to plan (for Demeter, not the guard!). For good measure, she'll break into Elgrim's Elixirs for the extra potions of Paralysis.

I did unrelenting force on a forsworn ravager into a river and she died after floating a distance. I don't know if it was a glitch or drowning though.

We'll know soon enough...

Serves the guards right for making me pay a visitor's tax! Of course, I didn't plan on any breaking-and-entering malarky, but it wouldn't be any fun if I wasn't fully prepared and it did work, and then fell short of being a success with me running out of paralysis potions.

I remember I knocked the Orc hunter in the hunters run into the water and basically hung out on top of him and he drowned but I've never tried anything like that in Skyrim. I'm kind of curious.

I'm not sure why some creatures have waterbreathing... but in skyrim, only you the player can drown. It could be a bug, or more likely an engine limitation. Clearly, npcs and creatures were intended to be able to drown.

If they don’t drown, would it be possible to mix a paralysis potion with a damage health secondary affect? Sort of create the illusion of a drowning?

I’ve gone around collecting hold armours as well. I tend to use them for disguises…

I'm not sure the guards in my play-through would be killed by the damage health effect, Demeter isn't an alchemist (she likes preserving the environment). Potions for sale don't seem to have enough of a kick either. If the guard had low enough health I suppose it would work...

I...don't like you.

Say, nice armour...

I used to drown guards in the first town in Morrowind so I could have OP armor and weapons.

ce la vie.

Treng, killing Imperials since 3E 427

I believe they do. The guy who showcased the Tamriel Underater mod showed how people did die. However, like many of the people here, I have never tested it.