Baurus! It's good to see you again. What? The sewers? *I'd better use console. It's obvious that this idiot has been drinking*

So you two brothers have to fight goblins? Listen, it's not that I don't think you can manage, just let me watch. *console kills all goblins*

Here we are at the battle of Bruma. I know you guys would die for the empire, but this is for your own good. *console kills all foes and jumps in gate*



I just can't have actors killed of their own stupidity anymore. The more who are saved the happier the ending, imo. Look, everyone's here hooray!

I'm glad you have a solution that helps you enjoy things more!

I’ve never used the ‘kill’ type of commands, but I have certainly used the ‘set essential’ one. My problem is that I play the same game/character for a very long time. NPCs tend to gradually attrite themselves away by doing less than totally bright things and the longer the game goes, the more lonely Cyrodiil can become. This would be okay if there was some sort of natural ‘immigration’ of new NPCs to replace the ones who die (beyond guards/couriers who respawn), but alas, in vanilla, there is no such immigration. So, what I do is make most NPCs who have any chance of getting themselves killed essential via the command console. In my game, dear Mazoga will never get outgunned by some pesky marauder for example.

Or you could just type "Setstage MQ14 50" and hand the big stone to Martin.

No, I don't do that. I don't do a quest line unless I'm willing to face the risk of failure. Most of my characters are "dead-is-dead," so I'm as accustomed to losing my own character as my allies. My biggest worry in a multi-character fight is to make sure that my character isn't hitting his/her friends.

Edit: Acadian, I can fully understand your position. If I played long-term characters, I might do the same.

So im on computer, so what is all this console command stuff? what do you do? i have never used it does it affect gameplay ect... ?

It's just basically direct access to the same script commands that are used to control stuff in the game. http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Console_Command_Tutorial.

Over time, as Sarrah and I traveled together, I saw her as becoming more and more aware of my presence. When Sarrah found out I could resurrect fallen NPCs using a PC console command, she began to demand that I do so whenever she encountered a dead one on the road. She would refuse to move on until I did.

She once stood over a fallen NPC while a bear mauled her, refusing to move so that I would have a clear view of the NPC for using the console. I play dead-is-dead which means if my game character dies, I will never load them again. Sarrah knew that she could die right there and then but she stood her ground even when I, at first, resisted this coercion. I felt I had to play her as I saw her and yet the idea of being coerced like that made me resist. I finally gave in and resurrected the NPC who promptly attacked the bear and died again. This time, a rueful Sarrah, took care of the bear first before demanding that I play 'BobG-the-tenth-Divine'.

Cheers Bro !

Well, my own opinion is that happy endings are not necessarily good endings. I play roleplaying games not for the "challenge" of combat or to level up a character or to play a class but to tell myself stories. And not all stories have happy endings.

I don't play dead-is-dead, as glargg and Renee Gade do, but many of my characters have died when their stories were over. And if my character can die I see no reason why Baurus (or any other NPC) should not risk the same fate.

I think, PERSONALLY, that once you start using console commands to directly affect the outcome of events in the game then you might as well either stop playing or just turn on God Mode and have done with it.
I suppose if you can rationalise it but to be honest I would think it destroy the sense of immersion.

Yes, you can say I might as well turn on tgm if used for every difficulty. But I've played through several times already. Listen, I was at the Mythic Dawn temple and saw an Argonian there, name begins with a J but I can't remember it. After I rescued him he tore out of there like Sandra Bullock was driving him before I could give him a knife or some clothes. This guy ran and ran faster than my 90+ Athletics character, and he James T Kirked straight into the arms of death by infuriated Mythic Dawn. Eventually, I got so tired of his torpedo impression that I just used the console to clear the way for him.

The game is still enjoyable, and whatshisname lived to tell about it and I was happy.

Oh, and I never ever was able to get setessential to work. Gotta remember to download the staff of setessential.

I agree with Phon. I'm on 360, and sometimes I keep that guy alive, and sometimes not. It's part of the current play. I've made over 20 full characters, long-term characters. Some of their stories are great, some are tragic..... the possibility of having nothing go your way (in terms of the randomness factor) makes playing fun. If I knew what the outcome was every time, why play?
Baurus, Jauffre and company have only survived once, doing the MQ. I stll keep trying to keep them alive, if I do the MQ that is..... I KNOW what is going to happen during the final Oblivon crisis. I KNOW what the final outcome will be. What I DON'T KNOW is what the journey will be like. <<<----It's this, that I enjoy.

Thanks for reminding me. I'd managed to keep Baurus and Jauffre alive through the Battle of Bruma with my latest character, mainly by doing it early as possible so that their non-leveled equipment was still decent. After the equally heavy fighting in the City, I forgot to go look for them afterward. To me, keeping those two alive is part of the challenge of the MQ, so I always try to do it, but I don't use any cheats along the way.

Ditto for Mazoga. I haven't been back to the Lodge to see if she's doing OK. Going for a visit can be fatal for her if you're at the stage where will-o-the-wisps are spawning along the road, as she doesn't usually have a silver or daedric weapon. I may take a leaf from Acadian's book and go make her essential, now that I've kept her alive during her quests, even though I wouldn't do that while they were running.

Depends on the situation. If I am on a quest where the NPC and I are attacking something and they die that's it. Baurus & Jauffre usually don't last until the end.

If it's a NPC like the ones that visit from a different town then they get crowned. A level 4 NPC with an iron dagger has no chance against some spawns along the road. I even do this for a certain DB contract until that quest. I don't feel it is fair that they die to those spawns. The Master Trainers get crowned as well. Especially the Destruction who has an AI to attack everything in sight. By the time you are high enough in that skill to receive training ogres are in the spawn list. She can't handle them.

When I had Oblivion on the PC I remember discovering the "kill" command and started using it all the time. Eventually my interest in the game broke down because I was making it boring for myself- there was no challenge.

I never used the set essential command, mostly because I didn't know about it.

When I started playing Oblivion again, I didn't use the console to kill things anymore. I play on Xbox 360 now, so I can't any more.

The only time I involve the console regarding NPCs is when they just drop dead for no reason whatsoever, or for stealing something minor. Olfand owes is life to me as I resurrected him when he was laying dead right in front of the Talos statue in Bruma, apparently for stealing an apple.
I′ve tried the set essential command so many times it′s not funny anymore and I can′t get it to work no matter what I do. Even with great hints from Acadian it didn′t work, but at least I can bring them back to life so poor Lothran doesn′t have to run around all alone

Get OBSE and then SetEssentialActors mod. Makes crowning people as easy as casting a spell.

I try to never load a save for anything other than my own death. I just accept the consequences of whatever happens and deal with it, just like I would have to if it were real. So no, I don't use the console to save anyone, unless it happened because of a bug.

I've used the console to give NPCs better equipment before, but never actually made them essential or anything.

I can add that I have brought back a number of NPCs via the console, mainly in Imperial City. The three Courier Khajiits for example, and a few others. It adds so much more to the game with just a few more NPCs running around

I shouldn't have mentioned Mazoga above. I went looking for her, and found her dead at the bottom of the Niben, with a will-o-the-wisp waiting for me on the bank. Had to resurrect her as well as making her essential (or she'd poison the fish).

It may have more to do with how you view your character and your own role in the game. Giving in to Sarrahs demands to ressurect fallen NPCs did not result in some sort of wholesale console jiggery. It did not save her life, It did add to the immersion of a growing relationship between me and my game companion.

I have also used the console to give Angel a spell that would otherwise have never been accessible to her (it's only available to Orcs). Again, it did not lead to wolesale tampering. Angel is still Angel. Her comment was; "It's about time! After all, I am a Mage you know."

You did the right thing. Poor fish.

What do you mean poison the poor fish? Mazoga is not dirty or poisonous, she is just an orc and she is my homey and I would like to give her a big hug if I met her in real life. Yes, she is one of those you have to babysit because the developers made her wander into bald danger while not being essential. Bethesda really wants certain actors, Mazoga, Knights of the Thorn, Dar-Ma, the Odiil brothers, Olyn Seran, Jeelius, etc, to die with certainty.

No. But I have resurrected two Mage Guild characters who got killed by unrecruited CM Partners (companions) stationed there practicing their magic stuff.

I do use the console to turn off the grass when I want to do some long range archery kills. About the worst thing I’ve done with the console is create a Sigil Stone after trying for an hour to get a Shield 20% stone. Then I dumped the one I took. Oh, and I dial up Prison Wrist Irons that I give to each of my companions.

And now I remember recreating all the special equipment that my companion was wearing when it all disappeared from her inventory when an Oblivion Gate closed. I think that was fair.

Rather than using the set essential command, try this:

Setav health 999999999

That makes them essential for all practical purposes.