Can't you just knock out NPCs that you don't want dead?

[Gronmor]

I don't mean that the option isn't there; I know it's in the passive. It's more; does it change anything? For example, I got to Nettie for the tadpole cure and it got to the bit where she asked me to take poison and make me swear to drink it if the tadpole thing got worst. Now, it didn't feel like something my character would agree to, so I refused it. So Nettie attacked me. But while my character wouldn't agree to the poison deal, it's not like she doesn't understand the situation or consider Nettie to be in the wrong in this situation.

So I didn't want to kill her, so I activated my Knock Out option. But when I won the fight, the Journal declared I had killed her; except she was clearly unconscious only. I even managed to do a Cure Wound on her, seeing if that would wake her up; it didn't.

So, yeah, is she dead, or just knocked out? Does it make a difference or not? Seems like the game is saying it doesn't, and she's considered dead, but I don't want to kill her. What's up with all that?

[BigJ]

Knocking out is ♥♥♥♥ and has 0 world interactivity outside of Oaths

[Korgz]

Originally posted by Gronmor:

So, yeah, is she dead, or just knocked out? Does it make a difference or not? Seems like the game is saying it doesn't, and she's considered dead, but I don't want to kill her. What's up with all that?[/spoiler]

She is knocked out as per what the game tells you. There are tons of bugs in the journal. Netty has nothing important related to her. I think she gives you a couple of worthless herbs once you rescue Halsin.

[Mizu]

The game is kind of erratic when it comes to how it treats characters that were knocked out instead of killed. I can think of a couple examples where I am pretty sure the knockout mechanic works, but largely the game seems to just act like you killed them when it comes to advancing the plot of quests. I guess you gave them such severe brain damage when you smacked them in the head so hard they lost consciousness that later on they died of cerebral edema or something.

[HTakara]

even if you knock someone out, everyone thinks they're dead, and as far as i know, they'll never wake up again anyway. Like this one captain, i knocked her out and the npc said "shame she died"... I'm like wut?

[Morgian]

A KO is treated like any other kill in the game. Forget about knocking out people, it won't help you in most cases. I think there was one instance where you are required to KO an enemy, but thats it.

[wyndhambarnhill]

Originally posted by HTakara:

even if you knock someone out, everyone thinks they're dead, and as far as i know, they'll never wake up again anyway. Like this one captain, i knocked her out and the npc said "shame she died"... I'm like wut?

Yep, noticed that particular instance as well.
The game is literally railroaded for what the "story teller" wanted to happen in their "interactive" game.
I say that with clear derision since there are multiple times when a nat 20, even against a DC 99 check, doesn't auto-succeed.
"Nope. Didn't happen. This happened instead."
Ah... awesome. Thanks for making me do that check 4x in a row and then just ignoring the dice rolls. Good times.
Like. if you're gonna have a function in a game, it should function.
If you make me do a storyline around a function, and then I do that function, and then you ignore the outcome anyway to just do the antithesis of the sidequest, then WHY put the function there in the first place?