Why is it that enemies 'beg' for mercy after I knock down to the floor, I give them it, and they attack again?

I'm currently roleplaying a character who I consider quite a merciful fellow, and I thought i'd let a couple of hired thugs go for once (since i've never actually accepted a plea before) but they just got back up again and attacked me! I was forced to kill the morons of course.

I mean, I just kicked your ass with like 2 hits from my sword, you beg for mercy, I accept, and you decide to attack me again?

Why?

Bandits are cowards, they should receive no mercy. If you do, they will stab you in the back. What they do to innocent women alone grants them the reward of death.

Do you think the bandits would give you mercy if they had the advantage ?

I'm the same way, because my characters are the good guys. If the enemy begs for mercy, they get it. Once. Attack me again, and you're worm food.

I agree, it's a poorly designed mechanic. It should work like this:

Enemy reduced to 25% Health: 10% chance of fleeing or surrendering. 50% chance of trying to attack again.

Enemy reduced to 10% Health: 30% chance of fleeing or surrendering. 20% chance of trying to attack again.

Enemy reduced to 5% Health: 50% chance of fleeing or surrendering. Will not try to attack again.

Something like that anyway.

Bandits I don't really care much for mercy, but common stormcloak soldiers or hired thugs say, deserve some pity in my more moral playthroughs.

The only people I'll accept yields from are those who were minding their own business when I attacked them.

I experienced a bug which seems like how it was supposed to play out where a bandit actually yielded and said something like "thank you" or something along those lines as he ran away. I also had one that kept running and screaming as I gave chase but I let him go because I was laughing that he didn't stop.

"Strike an enemy once and for all. Let him cease to exsist as a tribe or he will live to fly in your throat again" - Chaka Zulu

I sometimes give them mercy. When they turn on me, I simply make their deaths twice as painful.

Just a faulty game mechanic or oversight.

I love how one second, they're so eager to kill me, and the next, they're begging for mercy. If my character asked for mercy, would they spare them? Why should my character spare the thief/assassin/bandit, just so they can ambush the next random famer/merchant who happens to walk along the road and who's far less able to defend themself? Anyone foolish enough to attack my dragonborn deserves their fate.

Especially when an npc begs for mercy, and 5 seconds later, they resume attacking, it really makes the "mercy" scenario seem pointless.

Not all try and back stab you. I have seen quite a few remain peaceful after begging for mercy. If they rejoin a bandit group Ill end up getting to em at some point. Kill in self defense but when someone begs for mercy and lays down their arms who are you to judge their fate. Catch doing it again.. well then they know whats coming. Fool me twice and all that jazz.

"Tell ya what, you start running so I can stab you in the back!"

Yeah, this is a feature that they should definitely actually develop for future games.

Make it so that when enemies "surrender" they actually turn non-hostile and cease to pursue the player, regardless of what happens next.

As it is now, any NPC that "surrenders" will eventually come back for you. Been this way since Oblivion, and it makes the whole "surrendering" thing pretty pointless.

It would've been cool if they gave dialogue allowing you to rob random NPCs so that people could RP as highwaymen/thugs.

There are a couple random travelling nobles with such dialogue, but not rearly enough to consistently rp this.

They hold no honor & will use the cloak if surrender to get the upper hand in battle. Slay then like the rabid dogs they are.

if an enemy begs me for mercy i basically tell them no by putting an arrow in them.

Its mostly wimperials.
"Victory is yours I submit."
"Alright wimperial, you've convinced me to let you live."
*Wimperial attacks me and dies*

The evil Demeter prefers that her enemies die on their feet...so she lets them get back up, and then finishes them with a shot from her crossbow.

Brings up a point, future games should have a very distinct "yield button". I know you can sheathe your weapon and it MIGHT be taken as a yield by guards, but you should be able to very clearly beg for mercy from anyone. Some still might kill you, but they should say something before they do that acknowledges you yielded and they just dgaf. Even just "nice try *stab*", and bandits could be like "fine, give me your stuff" and you actually lose items before they run off. Would also allow roleplaying as a sinister coward where you can yield and then sneak up behind them and stab them in the back.

A lot of people want to roleplay passive non-violent characters, this would be one way to assist them in being able to achieve that. It's virtually impossible in pretty much all games at the moment.

Hah, you show mercy to a bandit pleading for his/her life and the next day they pick on someone their size or smaller and kill them! How would these passive non-violent characters feel about that?*

*Okay, being serious now; maybe there should be a way to roleplay less violent individuals or those who would only fight to protect themselves and go no further, but Skyrim - and the rest of Tamriel for that matter - isn't like our modern world where such a choice might be the difference between excessive force or allowing the police to take over and do their job. In Skyrim, if you show mercy to many of these bandits, they will live to kill another day. Bandits don't just mug people, they brutally cut them down and take all of their belongings. If any victims escape, chances are they'll be bringing back either the authorities who won't be bothered with too much mercy against such violent law-breakers, or worse...

Your non-violent character doesn't necessarily need to have the weight of the world on their shoulders worrying about what bad people will do tomorrow, they might just be a normal person that doesn't go around killing people and doesn't want trouble. If you want to be captain justice and protector of all that is good then yes you should kill bandits, but you might want to roleplay as a woman that learns about ingredients and crafts potions to sell and has no interest in combat (for example - a million possibilities, all sorts of people in the world).

Set up a spell through creation kit that allows you to be like...

sages aura .. or something.. calm humanoid/beast

and just have it role play into your will your chosen response puts them at peace

Yeah, but if the passive character has to fight to defend themselves, it does pose a potential moral dilemma if they gain the upper hand and a bandit wishes to yield. It's besides the point though...NPCs usually get back up and continue fighting except for in mods, so the game doesn't allow even that moral dilemma. I'm not sure if it's an effect of SkyRe, but some of the travelling bandit groups have featured a cowardly bandit who just keeps running and running if his/her mates are...wait, no, it isn't SkyRe. Sometimes you can encounter a group of bandits on the roads, and one of them does flee from battle while pleading for mercy. Not sure how into fighting he/she is, I'm usually preoccupied with not being killed by the bandit's higher-ups.