Something I've thought about, mainly in Oblivion while in the Arena, is why do we have to reload every time we die? Don't get me wrong, if you're in a dungeon fighting a lich and you die, you can bet your sorry ass you're dead, but what if you lose the fight against a wolf or maybe a highwayman. You pass out, but luckily there was a guard or traveler nearby who could save your life before you took your last breath. You were brought to a healer and got mended. So it's not actually a "respawn", just a second chance.

Like I said, it depends on where you are at the moment. If you're travelling in the open world, near civlisation there's a high chance of being spotted and possibly saved. If it's further away from a city, maybe in the wilderness but still somewhat near a smaller town or such, there's a smaller chance to be rescued by a villager who's out to hunt deer or chop wood etc. If it's in the woods, just a very slim chance to survive, if there happens to be a pilgrim or traveler or whatever is out there that's friendly enough to care about your life.

If however you're located in the middle of effing nowhere, or in a dungeon surrounded by spiders, goblins or crazy nords you could just go ahead and press that quick-load button right ahead.
I think this feature would be a nice thing to have around, it could also mean that Bethesda may have more option to play around with the difficulty of the game, and it tells you that it's okay to lose once in a while. As it is right now, die and you svck, game over man, reload and do better or don't do it at all.

Edit: To make a more detailed list of what I have in mind:
*If you die nearby a capital city, the odds of being saved are not high, but still a possibility.
*If you die near a smaller village, the odds of being saved is slim. Don't rely on it.
*If you die in the wilderness, wish you had brought potions.
*If you die in a dungeon, reload your game.
*If you die versus a dragon, daedra, or had several sharp objects pierced through your gut along with alot of broken bones, you're dead. Period.
*Let's say you just got out of a tough fight, you're back to full fatigue but still got 1 HP left and something weak decides to pray on you near a safe spot. You fall to the ground, you collapse, pass out. But since your fatigue is still full you have still have the power left to hold out for a moment, possibly long enough for someone to save your life. Nothing major.
*If your fatigue is zero when your HP reaches zero, well, you're dead. There's not much strength left in you at all.
The odds for survival are very low regardless of area. Death is still to be avoided.

That's a very interesting idea. I wouldn't like to see it implemented though. Being rescued by a guard or someone surely doesn't feel very dragonborn-y. Just my opinion.

Hmm... kinda interresting... I kinda like the idea of being wounded and saved, perhaps you can do the same to others? If someone is being attack by a bandit in the woods, he is lucky enough to have you there and you kill the bandit and saves his life. Perhaps he will give you a reward, give you a favor or something...

Do you mean, kind of like in GTA where you appear outside of a hospital once you've "Died"?

I guess it could work, although like you said,... in the wilderness, or a dungeon, there aren't going to be many people just strolling about to come and rescue you, infact, the most likely person who would be out there rescuing people is "you", the PC.

I like this idea....kind of like the

I made a mod for Oblivion for personal use that does something like this.

When I die I get transported to a random Inn (couldn't get it to work on closest cities Inn available, which would of been better).

I wake up in the rentable room after 3 days have passed for respawns and a message saying I was found almost dead by a passing guard who dragged me to safety.

I also added a random chance to either lose loot or money or both or even everything on my person and a message saying my body was ransacked by bandits who thought I was dead.

It makes it much more fun than reloading.

The idea to rescue others in need does sound like a good idea as well! Reward or not, maybe a noble might reward you with coin, while the poor can but give you their thanks. You might even get the option to demand more of a reward. Either more coin from the noble, or perhaps rob the poor from their clothes, or give them a quick death.

Regarding it being weird for a guard saving the dragonborn, why is that? Isn't that even more reason for him to give a helping hand when in need?
I don't really think it will be implemented, and in that case, there's always the construction set. I would prefer if it was integrated from vanilla however.

If you lose to a wolf you deserve to die...

...because you died?


(I've always found contrived "player respawn" in games where everyone else talks about death like it's a real issue, to be very strange. It's especially dumb in games where death is amazingly cheap - like MMOs, where you have respawn on death & resurrection spells or items - but then try to have dramatic scenes where "OMG! They killed Prince Bob!". Um, right. And why didn't any of the 14 paladins in the room raise him?)


Respawn is for action games, like dungeon-beat-em-up grinders (Diablo) or PvP FPS games.

Haha, yes, I meant it got me thinking outside of the Arena. My bad.
Like previous comment mentioned, to lose items if you die would indeed be a reasonable punishment in a single player game especially if you ask me. Whether is coin or equipment I can't say, but as far as I know, it's never been an issue collecting money or items in Elder Scrolls, therefore it would be reasonable?

Aye, it shouldn't be without punishment, nor should you always be guaranteed to be saved, regardless of location. Only have some odds to get a second chance. If you're guaranteed to respawn every time you're free to run around crazy without anybody caring, that would just ruin the experience of it all. It should be a quite rare event, and when or if it happens you should feel greatful(well, assuming you roleplay at least alittle bit). ...feel free to bash the face in of your savior if that's the case, but that should probably lower your reputation quite abit. A word is spread, you killed your savior. Yeah...
Regarding losing to wolves, I agree. If you lose against a wolf, you deserve to die. Actually, you deserve worse. But that's not the point, haha.

All in all, I think the idea could turn out nicely, as long as it's executed in the right way and polished.

Edit: I'd like to add something here.
When I say you might be saved I'm not speaking of numbers above 20% at a capital city. It should be low, very low. Otherwise it won't really matter. If someone knocks you down on the street in the middle of daylight, in the capital city, people SHOULD try and save you. No? It's not guaranteed, but at least they should attempt to save your life. Not always successful, but if you've got the gods on your side, you get a second chance. Do note that this is only an example.

It's different from a spawn-point. It's a chance to survive, to be saved, by a doctor/healer/whatever you want to call them.

Blegh no. Death = Death, maybe if you die in a city a guard saves you but not in the woods.

Aye. If you're in the wilderness it should be, well, don't rely on it. I'm talking about like...a very, almost pointlessly slim chance to be saved in the wilderness, that's not close to any civilisation. And not when you're lying with face down in your own blood by a dragon.

Nah I kinda like the idea of Dead=Dead. I do have to say though it's an interesting idea.

I dunno. I wouldn't say it's a bad idea, I think i would rather take the punishment of dying if I'm careless enough to get killed by a wolf or highwayman. It isn't a bad concept by any means, I just personally don't think the game should be as forgiving. If you die in TES, you lose your unsaved progress. While 90% of players save repeatedly and obsessively, some don't. I think dying should have some kind of consequence, no matter how trivial the foe. So getting 'saved' by a random civilian or guard isn't really my thing.

Yeah, this is at least one hundred percent true. I like the more "streamlined" way Fallout 3 and New Vegas dealt with you getting pwnt. It just loaded your most recent save. If you wanted something else loaded, you just pause in your death sequence and pick the other save.

I guess it makes up for a good mod for the wanting then. Too bad I svck at that, maybe it's time to learn? Hm.

I don't mind reloading. If I've f'ed up, I like the chance to retry an area with a different strategy or story. Its a clean slate and a better run through gives me a sense of accomplishment. As someone else mentioned, it wouldn't feel very heroic being rescued at every failure.

Also, if they improve companions and group melee/AI significantly, perhaps the Dragonborn won't have to roll solo. Rescue by companions could be cool.

Removing death worked so well for Fable II.


1.Remove all threat from an encounter.
2.Get Lazy with combat balance
3.Focus on life-simulator aspect
4.???
5.Profit.


Death in a game, communicates more effectively than anything else done so far, that timeless phrase "You're doing it wrong". It's not so much the load screen, or whatever, it's just the powerful image burned into every human's mind, of what death means, and I don't think any other "Workaround" is going to capture that primal understanding of "woops".

It would be a nice thing. I would probably reload anyway, but nice thought.

Do not want.

I don't like the idea of my character being a hero who never dies from day one.

I'd like the feeling of being a little welp in a big scary world who has to build himself up to being the hero, like most fantasy stories do. A tale of a weak boy thrown into the deep end and proves himself in the end, it's a classic adventure story.

Anyone who played with mods for Oblivion, like OOO, where you are weak and pathetic at the start, but you get to avenge yourself later on when you are strong enough to kill all those that chased you away previously.

Seems like most people who post in this thread didnt read the whole thread

Haha, was just about to say the same.

but if you are 'knocked out' by a highwayman and then robbed blind, aren't you just going the reload the game as you would if you died?

I wouldn't actually, since that adds to the immersion to me. I used to do similar stuff, like try and rob someone, fails, reload, try again. It svcks. Same goes for this case in my opinion. ...I sound like a masochist, but I like to suffer the consequences. Before you point at me and tell me the consequence is death and I just have to reload, not really the same thing. You get my point.