Do NPCs respawn?

[Wolperger]

I want to feed my ebony blade but don't know if I kill an npc it dies for good, no respawn after a few days? no quest related, mostly merchants, but i don't want to lose their merch

[Docsprock]

Any 'named' npc that is killed is permanently removed from the game. 'Generic' npcs such as city guards will eventually respawn.

Some people claim the use of the 'resurrect' command will bring back dead npcs. This is false. It will only bring back a broken copy of the npc that will, with time, ruin your saved game.

[258789553873]

If you want to feed the ebony blade, go to the ritual stone near whiterun and use its power. You can kill and resurrect the npc with it as many times as you want, and each time will fill the ebony blade, despite the fact that the npc upon being resurrected is technically supposed to be a zombie. This way, you can fill the ebony blade while sacrificing only one npc.

If you don't want to lose interesting npcs, just go hire one of the mercenaries around Skyrim. Paying them will raise their disposition to you, allowing their death to feed the ebony blade. You can also sac them to boethia for her quest for the same reason.

[Altbert]

Originally posted by Docsprock:

Any 'named' npc that is killed is permanently removed from the game. 'Generic' npcs such as city guards will eventually respawn.

Not 'named' NPCs, but 'unique' NPCs, although most unique NPCs are named. There are also non-unique NPCs with names and unique NPCs without names. Unique NPCs have a fixed Reference ID in the game and can't respawn. Non-unique NPCs can respawn, if their reference in the game is marked to respawn (in general guards, bandits, warlocks, animals, creatures). Examples: Orini Dral and Sarthis Idren (Riften Warehouse) are named non-unique NPCs and the Dark Brotherhood Initiates in Dawnstar are unique NPCs without names.

Docsprock is right: unique NPCs will not return in the game after being killed.

[Docsprock]

Originally posted by Altbert:

Originally posted by Docsprock:

Any 'named' npc that is killed is permanently removed from the game. 'Generic' npcs such as city guards will eventually respawn.

Not 'named' NPCs, but 'unique' NPCs, although most unique NPCs are named. There are also non-unique NPCs with names and unique NPCs without names. Unique NPCs have a fixed Reference ID in the game and can't respawn. Non-unique NPCs can respawn, if their reference in the game is marked to respawn (in general guards, bandits, warlocks, animals, creatures). Examples: Orini Dral and Sarthis Idren (Riften Warehouse) are named non-unique NPCs and the Dark Brotherhood Initiates in Dawnstar are unique NPCs without names.

Docsprock is right: unique NPCs will not return in the game after being killed.

Oops, ya caught me. Old habits are hard to break. ;)

[Altbert]

Originally posted by Docsprock:

Oops, ya caught me. Old habits are hard to break. ;)

I know. No hard fealings. Happens to me also!

[258789553873]

Originally posted by Altbert:

Originally posted by Docsprock:

Any 'named' npc that is killed is permanently removed from the game. 'Generic' npcs such as city guards will eventually respawn.

Not 'named' NPCs, but 'unique' NPCs, although most unique NPCs are named. There are also non-unique NPCs with names and unique NPCs without names. Unique NPCs have a fixed Reference ID in the game and can't respawn. Non-unique NPCs can respawn, if their reference in the game is marked to respawn (in general guards, bandits, warlocks, animals, creatures). Examples: Orini Dral and Sarthis Idren (Riften Warehouse) are named non-unique NPCs and the Dark Brotherhood Initiates in Dawnstar are unique NPCs without names.

Docsprock is right: unique NPCs will not return in the game after being killed.

There are a few named npcs that do respawn funny enough, though this is normally seen as an over-sight on part of the developers. The Unofficial Patch fixes many of them. Of course, I don't know of any friendly npcs that respawn. The first named npc that respawns that comes to my mind is Krev the Skinner. I think all of them are named dungeon bosses tied to quests.

Oblivion, however, did have a respawning friendly npc named The Adoring Fan. Though it was possible to have some fun with this, it didn't serve much practical benefit in that game. I think there are mods that add him into Skyrim, however. Either way, as I stated its possible to feed the ebony blade using just one npc.

Though come to think of it, can you use illusion spells on npcs and feed the blade that way? I know if you use a calm spell on an npc that will temporarily flag that npc as your 'friend', and the game does treat them accordingly (such as having them send you a 'letter of inheritance' after you kill them). Perhaps you can use that to feed the ebony blade using generic, respawning npcs?