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A question about killing random npcs


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Hi, I apologize if this has been asked before but I have a tendency to kill random npcs and loot their corpses and/or houses to make money. Civilians I mean, not just monsters. I rob from the rich and give to myself, I tend to kill the rich too, and the poor. Whomever really, I don't really have a system. I do keep the shopkeepers alive so I can buy and sell stuff, but I clear out every top floor of every inn I've come across and the coin/items in each have been great!

 

I did this in Divinity Original Sin too, with weird consequences. But I did finish that game with some weird bugs.

 

I have really been enjoying Pillars, and I love the Stronghold. I enjoy upgrading stuff, and the idea of bandits raiding my place if I don't get it properly defended makes me work hard to kill random npcs and loot their stuff. In Divinity, that affected the story in a few ways. Mainly in bugged side quest chains that auto completed, sometimes.

 

Does Pillars have unkillable quest npcs? Or if I kill a quest giver, even though I don't yet know they're a quest giver, is the quest lost? I expect that to be the case, I just want to know if I'm going to be unable to complete the game due to a river of dead npc corpses. I'll be honest I get bored of the constant back stories using the soul feature, or what have you. I just put the sword icon over their heads and push the button. And coins come flying out.

 

Granted, I do complete some quests. I listen to some npcs, but then my current Stronghold construction project gets completed and people need to die to pay for the next one. I'm only in Act II at the moment, and I killed some people in a temple to get a book for some elf lady. When I brought it back to her she commented on how she heard a lot of people died at the temple, and that was the first time my.. actions seemed to affect the story. Up to that point I figured the game didn't mind me killing every body.

 

So.. should I keep going and slow down on my npc killing? Continue on with my blood frenzy, or restart altogether?

 

In Divinity, I sort of felt bad about what I was doing. Not that it was wrong, but that the game didn't understand what I was doing. I rarely if ever got punished for it. In that game one faction would give me a quest to talk to or kill someone in another faction that I had already wiped out, which was awkward.

 

I know there are consequences for my actions and that I probably should listen to as many npcs as I can on my first playthrough, but I find the lure of easy coin too much sadly. And I'm curious if I can get from start to finish with a lot of dead civilians paying for my castle.

 

Sorry for rambling.

 

TLDR; killing lots of civilians and possibly quest npcs to build my castle and hoard shiny loot, what do you think my fate will be?

 

 

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Generically named civilians ('commoner', 'peasant' etc) and gold-plated backer NPCs can be killed without removing quests.

Named NPCs - talk to them first to see if they have a quest (they may be the object of a quest, rather than the giver - in such cases, killing them is normally one solution but not every time).

I think it's possible to kill plot-critical NPCs, and thus make it impossible to complete - such people are normally guarded and behind locked doors - but not always.

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*Casts Nature's Terror* :aiee: , *Casts Firebug* :fdevil: , *Casts Rot-Skulls* :skull: , *Casts Garden of Life* :luck: *Spirit-shifts to cat form* :cat:

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The NPCs with gold name labels are backer written stories and can be skipped instead of reading them.  Killing them does not affect the story but may turn the locals against you if you are seen doing it.  So, if you are really that bloodthirsty, leave no witnesses.  As noted above, unnamed NPCs are not plot critical but like the backer NPCs their deaths can turn locals against you.  Named NPCs fall into two categories generally quest related.  Either they are the giver/object of a quest or a merchant.  Money is not a problem in this game as selling off loot from quests and exploration provides more than you can spend by the end of the game unless you buy every unique item for sale even if it is useless to your party and style of playing.

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The NPCs with gold name labels are backer written stories and can be skipped instead of reading them.  Killing them does not affect the story but may turn the locals against you if you are seen doing it. 

 

The gold labels often times drop good loot. Not unique stuff but good enough to fetch a decent price. If you really hunger for cash, the upper floors of the inns seem to be free fire zones.

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No spoilers but a lot of places seemingly unimportant NPCS are actually tied to a quest.   I can think of at least 3 inns where the top floor had a quest that came about later.   I can think of a couple of houses where the NPC had a quest later. 

 

Also the junk in *most* of these areas is trivial amounts of money.   If it is not "enchanted" (including plain "fine" quality items) it is not worth the fuss.  Play how you like, and enjoy it, but your character is like a moron thug who robs the gas station to get $50.   The money from all the houses in many areas would not even get you a night in a rested-bonus room at the inn...  

 

There is only so much gear / money you can use, on top of that.  Ive beat the game a bunch of times and always had like 20K or more copper with nothing left to buy.  

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No spoilers but a lot of places seemingly unimportant NPCS are actually tied to a quest.   I can think of at least 3 inns where the top floor had a quest that came about later.   I can think of a couple of houses where the NPC had a quest later. 

 

 

Thath's why I was talking about the gold labels. Even if the upper floors are populated by white labels and gold labels, noone cares about the gold labels if you happen to engage them.

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I think it's possible to kill plot-critical NPCs, and thus make it impossible to complete - such people are normally guarded and behind locked doors - but not always.

 

Isn't there only really one plot critical NPC and the game ends abruptly if you kill them?

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No spoilers but a lot of places seemingly unimportant NPCS are actually tied to a quest.   I can think of at least 3 inns where the top floor had a quest that came about later.   I can think of a couple of houses where the NPC had a quest later. 

 

Also the junk in *most* of these areas is trivial amounts of money.   If it is not "enchanted" (including plain "fine" quality items) it is not worth the fuss.  Play how you like, and enjoy it, but your character is like a moron thug who robs the gas station to get $50.   The money from all the houses in many areas would not even get you a night in a rested-bonus room at the inn...  

 

There is only so much gear / money you can use, on top of that.  Ive beat the game a bunch of times and always had like 20K or more copper with nothing left to buy.  

 

Well that's good to know, among everything else mentioned by the others.

 

I wouldn't call it trivial though, as I usually gather around 1000g per inn top floor. That's not bad for 7 dead npcs, and looting the chests. I understand you can collect a lot of gold by doing quests and what have you. I was just curious if I was creating a game that I would not be able to complete. And someone else mentioned that may be just the case.

 

I suppose I should start over, as I've killed a lot of people. I don't think I've come across too many of the gold backer npcs. I killed two important noble families in a city; I actually found out I could have infilitrated one of the places by going in through a window with a grappling hook. I nearly went back and reloaded to do just that, but since I already looted the entire house I decided against it. Got to stick to a ruthless code. :)

 

Thanks for all of the replies. In Divinity I really felt like I was playing the game wrong; I was starting to get that feeling in this one too. I love doing quests sometimes, but admittingly my ADD doesn't give me the patience usually. I love RPG games more than any other genre, and I will finish this game one way or another. I will just have to silence that urge to silence others, some of them anyway. :)

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Actually, you cant kill two golden labels in the same room without losing reputation point.

 

If there is only one backer npc, fine, nothing happens. But two in the same room = losing reputation, even if you kill both of them and no one else see the kills.

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I must be doing it wrong-- the few times I whacked NPCs the entire floor, and sometimes the entire building, became hostile, even if no one "saw" me do it they all seem to "know".   I only did it a few times though, it was not worth it.

 

1k copper is just not much after the very low levels.  You probably can earn the better part of 100 - 150k without breaking a sweat.  And you might use 1/2 of that, unless you want to buy every single vendor item in the game --- most of your expense is just building costs.

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I haven't had anyone downstairs in an inn become hostile yet, I usually quick save right before I attack, just in case. But of each top floor I've wiped out, after I go downstairs no one is hostile.

 

Granted in the noble houses I mentioned earlier, once I killed a servant upstairs, everyone became hostile downstairs too.

 

You're probably right about the money, I haven't made it that far. I just play the game differently is all, and apparently the wrong way. I shall have to adjust. :)

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You're probably right about the money, I haven't made it that far. I just play the game differently is all, and apparently the wrong way. I shall have to adjust. :)

 

I tried it out because I wanted to know how reactive the NPC population is. That was after some fighting in the street where noone was even the least bit interested in the proceedings.

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[...] I usually gather around 1000g per inn top floor. That's not bad for 7 dead npcs, and looting the chests. I understand you can collect a lot of gold by doing quests and what have you.

 

And there's the rub. You make significantly more doing quests. Killing random NPC's just isn't worth the time or effort unless you find it entertaining or part of an rp.

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I think it's possible to kill plot-critical NPCs, and thus make it impossible to complete - such people are normally guarded and behind locked doors - but not always.

 

Isn't there only really one plot critical NPC and the game ends abruptly if you kill them?

 

Don't know for sure (guess I never killed them :lol: - haven't tried the murder everyone approach) - I'd thought there were at least 2 or 3 critical NPCs (that you can attack before resolving) because you need them to access other points.

Ether way, talking to people first to find out should make you safe from that.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

*Casts Nature's Terror* :aiee: , *Casts Firebug* :fdevil: , *Casts Rot-Skulls* :skull: , *Casts Garden of Life* :luck: *Spirit-shifts to cat form* :cat:

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Only kill the npc's if thats what you enjoy doing in the game. Other than that, its not worth the time.

That being said, I really hope we never cross paths while wearing anything valuable.

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Only kill the npc's if thats what you enjoy doing in the game. Other than that, its not worth the time.

That being said, I really hope we never cross paths while wearing anything valuable.

Oh, I'm reformed. A changed man now. I barely kill anyone who isn't hostile! Except for the people on the top floor of the first inn. For some reason I had to kill them again.

 

Beyond that I think I've handled myself pretty well. I'm nearly into Act 3, but I have to say, the money everyone else mentioned from doing quests really isn't all that high. I've done a lot of quests, including the main quests, and I've made less money than I had on my previous murdering playthrough. I loot everything, use stealth mode as much as I can, etc. That being said I noticed I had in fact killed some npcs that were part of the main questline, in my previous game.

 

I'm assuming the cash comes flowing in once I get further in. That is what I keep telling myself to keep from killing annoying npcs. But in the same amount of time to hit this particular point, the mass murders definitely brought in more coin and satisfaction, at the cost of being unable to do future quests. :)

 

On an unrelated note, did anyone else play for a long time and realize they hate their main character? I made a Druid this time around, instead of my traditional Warrior tank and while I love psycho bear mode, he seems pretty squishy.

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Only kill the npc's if thats what you enjoy doing in the game. Other than that, its not worth the time.

That being said, I really hope we never cross paths while wearing anything valuable.

 

Oh, I didn't kill anyone unprovoked. The only ones I did kill where some of the goldies taking issue with me looting their room. Hey, they attacked me first.

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Only kill the npc's if thats what you enjoy doing in the game. Other than that, its not worth the time.

That being said, I really hope we never cross paths while wearing anything valuable.

Oh, I'm reformed. A changed man now. I barely kill anyone who isn't hostile! Except for the people on the top floor of the first inn. For some reason I had to kill them again.

 

Beyond that I think I've handled myself pretty well. I'm nearly into Act 3, but I have to say, the money everyone else mentioned from doing quests really isn't all that high. I've done a lot of quests, including the main quests, and I've made less money than I had on my previous murdering playthrough. I loot everything, use stealth mode as much as I can, etc. That being said I noticed I had in fact killed some npcs that were part of the main questline, in my previous game.

 

I'm assuming the cash comes flowing in once I get further in. That is what I keep telling myself to keep from killing annoying npcs. But in the same amount of time to hit this particular point, the mass murders definitely brought in more coin and satisfaction, at the cost of being unable to do future quests. :)

 

On an unrelated note, did anyone else play for a long time and realize they hate their main character? I made a Druid this time around, instead of my traditional Warrior tank and while I love psycho bear mode, he seems pretty squishy.

 

It might be the difference is in play style - the part I emphasized in your quote above. I'm some way into Act III (first time through) and have an enormous amount of excess currency. But I did every quest that came along. And because of how I timed my stronghold (a fluke) I had a regular income before getting to Defiance Bay. Also, the Endless Paths is a loot-fest and the Warden's Lodge gives you bounties which are fun fights that pay hefty sums.

 

To tell you the truth, I bought a bunch of stuff while in Defiance Bay (before I'd done more than a few levels of the stronghold dungeon) and by the time I got to Act III felt rather silly - even having sold anything with +movement, +endurance, or summoning. (I'm playing on hard because while I'm not as dedicated as some I also like to think I'm not overly-lame.) I'm happy with how the approach to combat and item balance is turning out with the patches and think that abundant loot translates into difficulty / class / multiple play through flexibility.

 

About loot, though - I remember how rare and exciting it was to get a +1 item in BG-I and that when you finally got a +2 item, you felt you earned it. That was a great feeling, but that was the first rp game I ever played and nostalgia isn't repeatable. But what are great repeatable game elements are story, pacing, art, music, combat mechanics, item balance, etc. I suppose that's why we quibble so much about them. Which brings me to: I really wish crafting weren't so ridiculously easy. We have the option to turn off the portable stash, and, arguably, an abundance of loot gives us the choice to customize the level of our pc - on an as is basis (meaning loot is not customizable). But to be able to so easily make potions and completely customize weapons and armor anywhere, well, I guess it seems like there's no work involved, no earning it. I did read about how the system ended up this way and for people like me who feel this way I suspect it's c'est la vie. But I thought I'd at least say my piece. Whoops. I've digressed somewhat, which I'll stop now.

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It might be the difference is in play style - the part I emphasized in your quote above. I'm some way into Act III (first time through) and have an enormous amount of excess currency. But I did every quest that came along. And because of how I timed my stronghold (a fluke) I had a regular income before getting to Defiance Bay. Also, the Endless Paths is a loot-fest and the Warden's Lodge gives you bounties which are fun fights that pay hefty sums.

 

 

I'm starting to get there too, Rhaedic's Hold (sp?) has been a major cash increase. The further I go, the more cash I'm getting. The reactions to my initial mass-murder defense seemed to indicate if you do the quests you'll be Oprah rich in no time. I still find the quests don't really provide much for cash, mainly I get my monies from looting stuff while DOING the quests. :)

 

I have yet to do any bounties, I find I rush to my castle to defend it from bandits. I can't stand the idea of losing ANY gold to would be thieves (how DARE they!). Leaving the eight mercenaries I hired to take care of business turned out to be a wash, not to mention the upkeep I felt wasted on them. My gold... my precious gold...

 

But yeah, loot aside the crafting system isn't the greatest. I also have good memories of BG1/BG2 in regards to first getting decent gear (mainly plate-mail). And in all fairness it's hard to live up to such legendary games that set the bar so high. I imagine they'll improve on crafting for PoE 2.

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But to be able to so easily make potions and completely customize weapons and armor anywhere, well, I guess it seems like there's no work involved, no earning it. I did read about how the system ended up this way and for people like me who feel this way I suspect it's c'est la vie. But I thought I'd at least say my piece. Whoops. I've digressed somewhat, which I'll stop now.

 

It's not that easy as you make it out to be. I'm always running short or haven't seen a single ingredient for the good enchantments. A diamond? Where do you get that early in the game. It's needed to enchant +2 attributes. All the stones are rare and are sorely needed to enchant armor beyond fine.

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@taeves: Yes, much/most of the money you make from quests is from the loot you get during the quest. Sorry if I didn't make that clear. Loot is also where you'll find most of your wizard spells.

 

@abaris: I started getting diamonds before I was at a level to be able use them. I have an excess of everything, though, since I've really only been adding some enchantments here and there to items that already have a super-special-deluxe enchantment. Of course nearly all of the enchanting I did early on ended up being wrong (duplicate) after the first (of many) loot shuffle/reshuffles.

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