Found an npc in the middle of a city at full health, talked to him, said he was short of breath, needed an inhaler, I said I’ll get him one, he said thanks, then he died.
The long and the short of it, the game gave me a deadline for the quest that was 17 days prior to the day I was on. Spring day 64, I was on 81. Mission auto-failed due to deadline being missed. Unless it is intended for every asthmatic npc from day 64 on out to insta-die the moment you accept their quest, I don’t think this should be happening.
Turned out it was a mission timer set to run from the moment of npc’s existence, at which point they got their mission set. Once the time is past its limit they’ll die the moment you accept the mission even if you’ve never talked with them. I’ve posted the issue on the git, although I’m still uncertain if it was something worth reporting, as it is a realistic outcome, but not right after accept it.
They were doomed from the start. You expect me to go into the middle of a city as a beginning character? Fat chance.
So what you’re saying is they should have died as soon as they entered your reality bubble after the time limit expired? Similar to how food will rot, crops will grow, and solar panels will backdate their charge?
Sounds reasonable to me. IRL if someone is having an asthma attack you normally don’t have several days to find them an inhaler! (j/k)
If I didn’t know it was a bug and I had to conjecture; I’d assume that the time allotted for the quest is randomly generated on a bell curve and you got the one in ten thousand chance that the deadline was within minutes of getting the quest.
Ooo…maybe you come upon them mid-asthma attack and they have a decent chance of gasping to death right in front of you…IF they survive, THEN you get the dialogue begging for an inhaler, with no set time limit. Introduce a little RNGesus, with the option to attempt to save them right off the bat if you happen to have an inhaler on hand. No guarantee they’ll still be alive if you return later with an inhaler. This doesn’t have to be a bug, we can make it a feature, bethesda-style.