I've duplicated a key renamed it and added the key to Isran's inventory but when I go to pickpocket him he has no key, he has no loot whatsoever. Othe Dawnguard NPCs I can loot and I've checked to see if there are any differences. I can't see any.

There are a lot of things that can cause something like that.

Is the game modded??

How did you place the Key on him?

What is in his inventory when you look at is template in the kit. He may not have any items on him that you can loot at your pickpocket level.

As far as a change you made not showing up in game. Some changes require you reload the cell after you make the change.

Load from the last save you made before you entered the fort.

Cheers masterofnet. I spent some more time checking and it looks like it could be down to another mod, now I need to track down the culprit/s.

I have modded just about every Actor in the game and have never encountered that.

Although most of the time I use script or a quest alias to place an item. It will be interesting to see what this turns about to be.

A dirty edit or conflict could possibly cause something like this that is why I asked if your game was Modded( Are you running a lot of Mods. )

Do you have Tes5edit? If you do you could delete the change you made to Isran and see if his inventory returns in game.

It turns out Dawnguard Arsenal was doing somthing, well I didn't think it would be able to mess Isran's inventory...

My mod is http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/55347/? and for whatever reason Dawnguard Arsenal has to go first in load order for Isran's invetory and the key I want placed in it to shows up.

DawnguardArsenal.esp
DawnguardArsenalFDOverhaulPatch.esp
Fort Dawnguard Overhaul.esp

No don't run that many mods (about 64) and only 3 which have anything to do with Fort Dawnguard, Dawnguard Arsenal being the only one which edits Isran. I'll have to take a look at this in more detail later as my key now shows up but Israns other loot isn't showing up (LootBanditRandom and LootGoldChange25 plus weapon). Yes I use Tes5edit to clean my mods but need to spend more time learning to detect and solve mod conflicts and spend some more time learning NPC stuff.

I re-equip Isran with a DG Greatsword in place of the warhammer. I additionally change his armor to one of the DG heavies to reflect his heavy armor master trainer status. Both of these involve altering his NPC_ form.

After some anolysis, I think the retro system should be enough, and I'll be removing the NPC_ form alterations to let the retro script handle it all in the next update. A suggestion for that key: Use a Quest Alias to add that to Isran's inventory so you don't directly alter his NPC_ form either. Quest Aliases and Story Mode Events: the two true boons at the core of the Radiant Story system.

Thanks for the reply Madcat. I don't know all the ins and outs of why Isran's inventory is not working properly (without your mod installed and a recent save I only get a partially working inventory), if it's my mod, your mod, our mods, another mod... Anyway due to health I'm bowing out of modding for the foreseeable future.