Maybe this is the wrong place for this, but I don't know where the proper channels would be.

I'd suggest, in the few months remaining before launch, that Bethesda at least attempt to make the dog killable in Fallout 4. I have a feeling there are some quests that require him since they are really pushing the dog relationship it looks like, but (of course) I don't know this for sure. If this is the case they should, at the very least, make is so the dog can be injured to the point of being completely incapacitated and needing to go back to your base thing (which they are also pushing) to be fixed up.

I seem to be alone in thinking that the dog should be able to die, so maybe this should just be a slider option at the menu to turn this on and off, or maybe only make it a feature in harder difficulties.

Here is my rationale for why I think it should be this way:

Nothing makes me devalue a relationship faster than having one of the parties be completely indestructible. Why is this? Well it's a little obvious, it is because, at that point, you don't have to worry AT ALL about your partner. Really, how many times have you been playing games with un-killable NPCs and gone "eh, [censored] it. They can't die they'll be fine." When you remove the concern, you remove the connection that is supposed to be there too.

Part of the fun of having Dogmeat in Fallout, fallout 2, and fallout 3 was that he COULD die. Getting through the game with him alive was a feat, it let you connect with him, it let you worry about his well being, it forced us to load games hours back in order to keep him alive. What if you never had to worry about him in Fallout 3? Would you REALLY have connected with him in the same way? Really, there wasn't even much of a character or interaction between them for you to get attached/connected to. The only reason we did so was because we had to worry about him in combat and, every time you came out the other side together and alive, you felt a little more attached because you actually did something together. Dogmeats mortality is what made him lovable; if you could have thrown him into combat and KNOWN he would come out fine every single time we wouldn't have given a d**n about him, other than to have him thin down packs of enemies (which would make him a tool and joke more than a loveable character).

Take, for example, the Witcher 3 and Red Dead Redemption. Neither one of these games stressed the relationship with the horse, really. In fact, Gerelt pretty much admits he doesn't care at all about his horse. But, while both games have horses, and don't stress the relationship, only one game lead you to be even remotely attached to your horse and that one was Red Dead. Nothing made me devalue my horse in Witcher 3 more than the fact I could not kill it. I could run it off a cliff, stab it, leave it in the middle of combat, and no matter what it'd be fine. This leads to a Devil-may-care attitude when it comes to the horse and exploration. The only thing that made you like your horse in Red Dead was the fact that you could be stranded out in the wilderness should it die in combat or due to your negligence running it off a cliff.

Tl;dr - Mortality increases affection. Make the dog killable in Fallout 4, at least as an option.

If you make it killable some of us won't take him with us. I honestly don't want to see the doggie die and will leave him in a safe area. Then again, if it's optional then why not.

The dog can die. Just not while he's following you.

^ This.

i agree that the dog should be killable though i can also see people leaving it behind so that its not killed. mabye it needs to be with the player for some missions at least?

If there's a hardcoe mode, then killable companions should definitely be apart of that.

I also wish Bethesda Game Studios at least gave a option in the menu to toggle essential NPC's on or off, but Todd Howard said Dogmeat will not be killable due to people reloading a quicksave or a saved game when their companions die.

So I have no hope for hoping for a essential NPC's on and off option in the options menu for Fallout 4.

At least I can make all NPC's killable in the GECK if I ever purchase and play Fallout 4.

Given how easy it's been to adjust whether or not characters are essential in past games--and the number of X is essential mods there are for Skyrim (yes, there's also a no one is essential mod), I think they've made the right choice. With mods likely coming to the consoles, I'm guessing that most who want companions (or other characters) to be killable will be able to adjust the setting in their game. Of course, the priority you give to control over such things is one of the trade-offs in choosing a platform, with each having its advantages and disadvantages.

You have the option to not even ever take the dog with you.

And even if you do take it with you, but decide you don't want it anymore around, you can just order it to stay at some spot, and then leave it and never come back.

Been playing New Vegas in anticipation of Fallout 4. Picked up Guts, a dog companion you can get that's added by the excellently made New Vegas Bounties mod.

Guts died within five minutes, running headlong into a nest of Fiends and getting chopped to pieces in the crossfire.

Suddenly, I was grateful for the fact the Dog in Fallout 4 can't be killed in combat.

I had the same experience aswell, albeit back a few months ago. I reloaded and left Guts back at that saloon in Novac, I think he'd be better off there. in Skyrim ive cracked open the console to make Meeko essential, which works pretty close to the Fallout 4 system. Just in Fallout 4 ill need to stick a stimpak in poor dogmeat to get him back in the realm of the living.

No. Todd said Dogmeat will be unkillable as companion. Companions are unkillable. New Vegas had unkillable companions too and no other essential NPCs. You could even kill Boone or Rex as long as they are not your companions.

Todd don't say the dog will be unkillable. He said companions will be unkillable.

The main problem is that the AI is idiotic and doesn't do what you tell the companion(s) to do (if you have the choice). We'll see if they fixed it, but I doubt it due to Todd saying that they only made companions incapacitated. People who want non-essential NPCs usually do not want AI that does completely idiotic things or does things that the player has expressly stated not to do. If the only way Todd feels that they can prevent AI stupidity is to make essential NPCs, I guess we're stuck.

However, there is no need for GECK or mods to change this. It's just a console command, so running a simple batch file to change the switch for any NPCs you want non-essential fixes the problem (except for the idiotic AI committing suicide or refusing to follow orders, of course).

Edit:

Regarding Todd's statement(s), in the interview I saw, he stated that the dog cannot die but can become incapacitated. He said the same thing applies to Codsworth and other companions and yes, you can have Codsworth as a companion (this was where he confirmed that). He didn't say that potential NPC companions could die when they are not actually companions, but he didn't say that they can't, either, so it's unclear at this point.

Honestly, I'd prefer a Companion system akin to the one seen in Skyrim.

Companions are *mostly* unkillable, but if I hit them in the crossfire or they get smacked while "catching their breath", they're out.

Far better then New Vegas' system where there's no physical indication in combat that a companion is close to death.

Agreed, I do hope Bethesda borrowed that concept from Obsidian as well as some other great NV ideas.

Oh man, that's just cold.

Yeah, I know, it 'just a game'. But, I still wouldn't be able to do that..... If he follows me, but, is NOT a 'follower', I.E. Mortal..... Think I would pick him up, just to see if I could find him a good home......

nice he actually stressed he is only unkillable as a companion? Thanks man, well at least i know ill be able to splatter his brains when we first meet and not have to worry about some contrived "oh noez dog sacrifice, much sad" plot point

Killable companions was necessary back in the Morrowind days where your companions followed you extremely closely (and with mods teleported to you when they were too far away). They would often be attacking the same unit and the game was flat and empty enough where if they died you would be able to see. And as most all of us would end up reloading if our favorite companion died (at least, on our main playthrough) that was fine because we knew when it was time to reload. Now in Fallout, you're going to be sitting across a river with a sniper rifle aiming at a bunch of raiders (no peripheral vision) while dogemeat runs all the way around the river to get some raiders. Lets say theres deathclaw by dogmeat and he dies. First off all, this is not your fault, its dogmeats for charging the deathclaws. Secondly, you have no way of knowing he's dead until you look behind you and realize you're missing a follower. This is a GREAT mechanic in games with lots of followers (like Skyrim). However, in Fallout...with only 5-6 companions....No I don't want one of my companions dieing forever because of one careless mistake. This isn't Xcom when I make a careless mistake I restart from my last save restarting a game the size of fallout is just no fun (esp with the 20min tutorial).

If you're extremely serious about Fallout, theres mods. And I guarantee there will be a free (its a simple tick of a check box per companion in the GECK, I'd do it if no one else did for free) mod for ALL platforms. Theres debates about which mods will be available for consoles but something this simple I guarantee will be on Xbox One as well. And quite frankly, Bethesda knows this. Why would appeal to the 5%ish that wan't killable companions when one of the first mods will address this and be available on ALL platforms (except PS4, which all evidence points towards bethesda not really caring too much about).

You will NOT kill the dog...

Todd says the Dog is immortal, and...I'm fine with that.

Whether or not it can die has no bearing on my ability to build relationship with companions, it's what they are, and who they are that cause that.

lol that's right I forgot about that. My mistake.

Eh...when I have companions that can die I end up intensely babysitting them for a while (which I find annoying and tedious) before finally deciding to leave them behind somewhere safe. I don't see a reason why someone couldn't mod this option in but I would never want it.

I know Todd Howard said companions are unkillable and I know Fallout: New Vegas has unkillable companions. I have no idea why people are telling me this. No matter in which way if NPC's will be unkillable if they are companions or if there are essential NPC's I still hate it when NPC's are unkillable in video games.

For Bethesda, essential protection came about during the development of Oblivion, when the Radiant AI was less shackled and more vibrant.

Turns out, the NPCs quickly started offing each other, and typical AI issues resulted in a lot of unintentional suicides.