am not a fan o' auto-resurrect. however...
am understanding that some folks 'round here have a very narrow and refined notion o' what is role-play. a character that cannot die (any such character) is antithetical to what is teh Role-play, no? fine. is nothing wrong with such an attitude, but there has gotta be an understanding that notions o' true freedom o' role-play & non-linear gameplay is largely mythical, and that when attempting to maximize such stuff you invariably diminish impact o' storytelling. is no true non-linear storytelling model that would work in modern crpgs... is 'bout as likely as the room full of monkeys banging on typewriters and ending up with Shakespeare. is possible in an infinete universe? maybe, but sure as heck is unlikely. do whatever you want, go in any direction, and end up with a coherent and engaging yarn? room full o' monkeys.
josh loves to point to those old choose-your-adventure books as models o' non-linear story telling... but they ain't. reduce 'em down and even those is not rpgcodex non-linear. diagram out the various plot lines and you has multiple paths, but not that many. is very easy to follow the tree o' bifurcation with the old choose path books... is not that many real choices. and reality is a beast that needs be fed even if you pretend it ain't real... and keeps in mind that it is still much cheaper to print pages that will never be read than it is to create characters and locations in a crpg that will never be encountered. ignore reality. ignore an angry dog as it attacks is an effective defense? the dog is gonna bite you no matter how much you pretend it ain't real.
character development and modern storytelling is almost synonymous. find modern authors that largely ignore character and focus on plot alone? is some... folks who write some historical fiction manage. tolkien & guy kay is a couple folks who did so too, but the prose in such works is invariably... tedious. and keeps in mind that those guys has integral plot points even if the characters is little more than a name.
...
if making story engrossing is a goal, then making all characters killable is gonna result in the crpg writer's job being very difficult. the characters, in most modern tales, IS the story. ability to kill any character at the player's whim makes such character's far less valuable as a story telling device.
is impossible to tell a non-linear story. a room full o' monkeys can do it. possibly a computer program o' as yet unattained sophistication and elegance may be able to do it. a human being trying to write a story that not have any integral characters or plot points and in which only the setting is a known quantity is likely gonna lead to what kinda story? have seen attempts, and they is pretty gosh darn awful.
*shrug*
the protagonist, btw, is a terrible focus for storytelling efforts in a crpg. the less concrete you makes, the more difficult it is to makes such a character intriguing. tno from ps:t were liked by some folks... but he were defined much more than most role-play purists would approve. specific look and gender and past... the ability to define the role o' your character makes writer's job more difficult.
it is simple practicality that results in some npcs being unkillable. the ultimate bad guy? is good to makes him/her unkillable, but the writer can makes him inaccessible. non-party npcs? joinable party members? protagonist interaction with party members offers the most obvious means o' developing compelling storylines, but as soon as you make such characters integral you is necessarily limiting role-play... can't really be integral and killable at whim. killable for a specific purpose and effect? sure, that is reasonable, but killable through accident or whim is making writer's job far more difficult.
a nwn2 expansion is only an expansion. is a sad fact that an expansion gets fewer resources than did the original game which spawned it. developers gotta do with... less. less man-hours to spend not necessarily mean that an expansion need be inferior, but it is yet another hurdle to good story telling. chances are you is gonna have fewer joinable npcs and less gameplay hours... less opportunity to build and develop story and characters. margin for error is reduced. likelihood that a nwn2 expansion joinable will be unkillable increases simply 'cause you is dealing with an expansion and there will be fewer non-essential elements anywheres in game.
you gonna have a romantic interest in the expansion? one reason why bio romances almost always seem so horrible to Gromnir is 'cause they is tangential and optional. lord knows we loathe crpg romance, but if you is gonna do, then does right... make integral to critical path plot. so, you got 2 potential integral joinable npcs right off bat, no? one male and one female... 'cause is unlikely that atari/wotc sudden go in-favor o' same gender romance. 'course you can simply makes 'em tangential... in which case you will again go through a half-dozen or more optional dialogue encounters to complete an entire romance arc. will seem rushed and improbable and juvenile outta necessity.
am not in favor o' auto-resurrect for all joinable npcs, but particularly with an expansion, and given the increasing focus 'pon storytelling in crpgs, it is understandable that obsidian would make at least some characters unkillable. joinable npcs is writer's best means o' developing story. makes such characters non-essential is making writer's job more difficult. deathlessness is a simple and obvious solution to an immediate and real problem. is maybe not the optimum solution for the hypothetical perfect crpg, but Reality is a hungry beast that needs be fed.
HA! Good Fun!
. Anyway, we were happy - we got money and I just reached level 7. And then we made a mistake. In our carefree wanderings we stumbled upon Necropolis. We were attacked by some ghouls and then I was stupid enough to insult some big mutant. Everything changed with that moment. Ian died. Me and my dog were taken into custody. At that moment I didn't realize the threat of the situation. I tried to keep it cool. Ian was boring anyway. I wondered if I could escape. I could and I found this pretty cool. At first I was careless, bursting into a room and killing everything in sight. That was until I realized that Dogmeat couldn't take it anymore. I ran ahead melting mutants in hopes of keeping the dog alive. "Come on boy, we're almost there. We're almost out of here. NO! Don't go there. Fuck you mutants, DIE! No one touches my dog! Are you okay boy?" We almost made it - with me trying to do everything I could. Stupid mutt. He never obeyed commands. As I said we almost made it. But then... he just died. There just was too many mutants. All those miniguns and lasers... and... shit. Dogs=Mature Storytelling! I killed those mutants. Every last one of them. You know someone's evil when he rips your dog into half. Unknown to me I just had saved the world . But the dog was dead. Then I went home, only to be exiled, abanonded, all alone in the Wasteland with no canine companion by my side. 
