The forums have gotten stale, with my post, dtgreene's post, and ZyroMane's post jumped the shark. I want a new post, about NPC's, your favorites, and the best ones to keep alive, and the best ones to kill.

Burz: Obviously, don't whack him. He's the only vendor before Arnika, or the Umpani Base Camp (he's single-handedly keeping my party going in the Monastery). I don't think it angers anybody if you whack him, but he should get respect, because he took his inventory to the Monastery, to help the party.

LLorac: Though she is not techically a part of the Higardi (part of the Higardi Bank Faction), there is really no need to whack her, as you can get all the treasure chests, in both the personal and community chests, just by having one Bank Card (you can also get into the Bank's Main Vault via a passage from the Arnika Jail). Just leave her alone.

Arnika NPCs: Obviously, leave them alone, as you don't want the whole town hostile, and you benefit from four vendors.

Braffit/Anselm/Lay Brothers: Part of the Brotherhood of the Ascension faction, best to keep them alive, as Braffit is a good vendor.

Kunar: As bad as his attitude is, (he may be working for the T'Rang), just leave him alone, as you don't want to set the whole Umpani faction hostile against you (and he's a good vendor). This goes for the other Umpani NPCs as well: Private Panrack, Sergeant Rubble, Private Sparkle, Sergeant Balbrak, Saxx, Sergeant Bildublu, General Yamir.

Sadok: You have no reason to hate him, although he may be neutral towards you until you join the T'Rang Empire. Once you join, Z'Ant, Sadok, and Tantris (in the Mine Tunnels), are your friends, best not to anger them.

Once you get to Trynton, Chief Gari, Fuzzfas, and Madras are your friends (you have a vendor with Fuzzfas, and you don't want to anger the Trynnie with attacking any of these three).

Once you get far enough in the Umpani or T'Rang questlines, you may encounter a quest to either make friends with the Mook, or steal the Chaos Moliri from them. Either way, you can stay friends with the Mook by using a fake device dropped by the Dark Savant, in place of the device that you "inspect". You can keep your hands clean by swapping said devices, and remaining friendly with Screg and Urq. There is no need for bloodshed here.

Edit: Now, for the bad:

Crock: He is a kidnapper. You would be best making sure that you have everything that you need from him, before whacking him. The game encourages this, by making sure that nobody gets kidnapped, and you get access to his back room, which is an extra treasure chest. (sometimes giving end-game items). Also, nobody cares if you whack him, as he is considered a loner, part of no faction.

Rattus Rattus: Part of the Rattkin Razuka Faction, he sets you up for a bank robbery. He disappears after you talk to him for the first time. It may be best to whack him right then and there, as you get experience, skill ups, and items. Also, this will set Milano Calzone and Don Barlone to hostile (same faction), allowing you to whack them one at a time, gaining the Jazeraint Tunic (from Milano), and the Astral Dominae and Thieves' Dagger from the Don (80% Cane of Corpus drop). This has a "feel good" mechinic, as none of these two should be allowed to occupy the Sixth Bough.

Crock is too valuable as a merchant to just whack.

I prefer to use a glitch to prevent the kidnapping from occurring. It works as follows:
* Pick up the idol.
* While the screen is fading to black, quicksave. If done correctly, the quick save slot will have a save with the idol, but without the kidnapping.
* Quit Wizardry 8 entirely. (This is necessary because otherwise the display will have faded to black, but not un-faded due to the event not properly finishing.)
* Load your save, and you've now skipped the kidnapping. The catch is that you lose Don Barlone as a vendor. He doesn't sell much, but I think he has at least one unique (or nearly unique) item, and he sells Death Bombs, which are otherwise only sold by Ferro (who can't be reached as easily). Also, you lose the option to get the Astral Dominae via the piaceful route.

(They should have had a Rattkin RPC. After all, there's an Android and a Rapax, so why not a Rattkin?)

Just killing NPCs doesn't really feel good to me.

I've been busy with Grimrock II. I was also thinking about a discussion on character building in the Dark Savant Trilogy and Crusaders successors. I wrote a draft that is so bad I declined to fix and post it. However, I was messing around with a psi,alc,nin,sam,val,fig party—all dracons—the delay of x-ray and magic screen should matter less to such a party. If I was attempting to optimize:bishop,alc,four dracon fighters. Although a mook fighter or two might be more "fun," but so would a locks & traps character.

Fighting Burz can net a spirit staff, and Braffit a book of holy water. Plus, going scorched earth is some people's idea of fun. Of course, Burz does carry good alchemist crafting components, so, if one has a spare portal, he can be useful later on. But that does mean more missiles to fuss about with... but there is a convenient chest right there!

Crock sells impaling and medusa stones, which is enough reason for wanting to keep him alive. Not to mention the spellbooks, launchers, and amulets of healing.

A Rattkin RPC would have been nice, but it's understandable why there isn't one. Rattkin are scum. I really need to play Crusaders. Might go all felpurr, but the faerie thief/bard might be too ridiculous to pass up. Plus, CoC—if enough attribute increases.

I prefer doing the side quests the "legitimate" way, but that's just me. I find that "fun."

I don't like the exploits. Whack Crock, after getting everything that you need from him (you can get better ammo from Ferro, or just stockpile his ammo in a chest before killing him).

Whacking Rattus Rattus, Milano, and the Don, completely cleans out an evil faction (this is why there are no hireable Rattkin, as they are too shady to be trusted). This is truly the most satisfying part of W8, clearing out the Rattkin Tree. Anything the Don sells isn't important enough to keep him alive.

Once you've gotten all that you need from Crock (spellbooks, weapons, equippables), there is no reason to keep him alive.

Upon his death, he drops the gadgets that a Gadgeteer needs, and the Eau D Rapax perfume, so that you don't miss out on a quest item, or a Gadgeteer won't miss out on creating her gadgets.

On top of this, the path he blocked leads to a treasure chest (this is probably figuring that a party who had a member kidnapped, would kill Crock before or after the Brekek side-quest).

Regardless, the only reason for keeping Crock alive would be for ammo, which you can stockpile in a chest safely. Speaking of this, a MDP doesn't need ammo for the middle game, only for the end-game. By then, you have access to Ferro, who has better ammo for Ascension Peak.

Regarding the Rattkin, unlike the Rapax or Androids, there is no Rattkin RPC (they are untrustworthy). The only good Rattkin is a dead Rattkin, which is why whacking Rattus Rattus, then Milano and the Don, are in order. After that, whack the Rattkin Breeders, then any remaining Rattkin on the Sixth Bough. The most satisfying part of the game.

To me, this statement sounds racist.

The only immediate hostile factions are Rjnjin (hostile immediately, can't be reasoned with), and Rapax Common.

The Rynjin are not really a faction, nor can they be reasoned with, so just kill them quickly.

The Rapax Common are hostile until you do "a thing" for Al-Sedexus, so any Rapax you kill before you please her is forgiven.

Whereas, the Rattkin Common are the one faction that start out as Neutral, and you can't make friends with (only three Rattkin Razuka members start out friendly: Rattus Rattus, Milano Calzone, and Don Barlone). They're a mafia, if you aren't one of them, they don't like you.

At least, you get an Android RPC with RFS-81 (after being repaired).

At least, you get a Rapax RPC with Sexus (after doing the Al-Sedexus ceremony).

There is no way to make friends with the Rattkin, so the only good Rattkin is a dead Rattkin.

Rynjin dont belong to any faction at all,
like the other unaligned creatures their attitude depends entirely on the individually assigned attitude,
which can differ among the instances of the same monster that are placed on the same map.

Rattus, Milano and Don will stay friendly through the whole game unless player action changes that,
common rattkin stay neutral under same condition.

btw:
NPC script allows to change attitude of a whole faction or individual creatures.
NPCs can have different faction than the monster which inherits the NPC,
i.e. if you select "attack" during NPC interaction, the NPCs faction is affected,
if you kill the NPC-monster out of NPC interaction, the monsters faction attitude goes down.


"There is no way to make friends with the Rattkin, so the only good Rattkin is a dead Rattkin."
Transferred to real life that would justify to kill you or my neighbour etc,
just because i think there is no way we will make friends,
even though my neighbour may be a good guy and that we are not friends may be entirely my fault.

I have always played W8 as a Lawful Good party. I don't pickpocket NPCs, nor do I ever put points into that skill (especially with the patch that made Pickpocket skill almost useless).

That being said, there are six factions which show up on the faction screen, which start out friendly to the party, and are overall good: Brotherhood of the Ascension, Higardi, Mook, Trynnie, Umpani, and T'Rang. Note that there is a hidden "Bank" faction, which consists of Llorac and the Bank Guard, but they're overall good as well.

There are the four bad "R" factions: Robots, Rynjin, Rapax, and Rattkin.

Robots are Savant creations, and are not sentient beings (having no will of their own). They are always hostile to the party. Treat them as monsters, with the one exception of RFS-81 (hireable Android).

Rynjin are fierce, territorial, fish-men, not listed as a faction, are always hostile, and can't be reasoned with. Treat them as monsters.

Rapax Common start out as hostile. You may or may not encounter them first in Trynton (you WILL encounter them farther up the Trynnie Tree, as you have to help a group of Trynnie defend against them). They are, overall, a hostile, evil race, though doing a certain "deed" for Al-Sedexus fixes any problems with that faction. In short, they can be made into a loyal, "good" faction, as long as, when you kill Al-Sedexus, you do it quickly, before she can spawn reinforcements. Also, there are good Rapax, namely Rafe, the 3 Rapax prisoners in the Rapax Rift, the Rapax Queen, Al-Adryian, and Ferro, and you have a recruitable Rapax, Sexus.

This leaves me with the Rattkin faction. The Rattkin Common cannot, under any circumstances, be made friendly (They start out as Neutral; You're not part of the Rattkin Mafia). On top of that, they're not native to Dominus, are an invasive species, and have completely taken over the Sixth Bough. There are no Rattkin RPCs, because they're untrustworthy. There are only three Friendly Rattkin NPCs to talk to, and they're all part of the Rattkin Razuka faction (completely separate from the Rattkin Common faction). These are: Rattus Rattus, Milano Calzone, and Don Barlone. While starting out as Friendly, Rattus Rattus is a travelling scumbag (sets you up for a bank robbery). Don Barlone is a mafia boss, while his assistant is also part of the Rattkin Mafia (both start out Friendly, as long as their buddy, Rattus Rattus, isn't whacked). Why not whack all three, and reclaim the Sixth Bough for the Trynnie?

Neither are Mook.

Or, you could argue, the various other playable races, unless you consider PC humans to be the same race as the Higardi. Helazoid isn't native either, even if they might be descended from Higardi. (The Helazoid come from Lost Guardia, which I think might also be where Rattkin originated. I don't know if the relationship between Higardi and Helazoid is ever mentioned in Wizardry 8, but it's apparently a thing in Wizardry 7, though Vi Domina is the only Higardi you encounter in that game.)

Oh, and I'm pretty sure Umpani and T'Rang aren't either. They're interplanetary civilizations, so it's not clear where they originated from, as I'm pretty sure they've spread throughout the galaxy.

Are the Cosmic Lords and the Dark Savant native to Dominus? I'm thinking they might be.

The Rattkin Common faction has the distinction that, among the 10 listed factions, there is no way to be friendly with them. The game clearly wants you completely clean out the Sixth Bough, as whacking the Breeders, sets these to Hostile.

Also, whacking the Don and Milano gets you the Jazeraint Tunic, the Astral Dominae, the Thieves' Dagger, and an 80% chance of getting the Cane of Corpus.

It's quite clear to me that the Rattkin are not only a bad race, but the game may have intended for you to completely clear out the Sixth Bough of Rattkin.

All right, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. Let's assume that the Rattkin aren't any worse than the Rapax or Rynjin (I did so in past parties). I let Rattus Rattus live (he disappears forever).

I do the "Kill the Breeders" quest, wiping out all (now hostile) Rattkin Common, completely clearing out the Sixth Bough, as most players do.

Except for the Don and Milano, they stand there oblivious. I honorably pay for the Astral Dominae, and I have a (minor) vendor in the Don.

After a while, the Don sends his henchmen to harass me constantly for "protection money", even though I've paid for the AD honorably.

Eventually, my anger boils over, and I confront the Don about this, and push comes to shove, and I'm forced to kill the Don and Milano.

How is this any different from my original plan of whacking Rattus Rattus, Milano, and the Don separately? The Rattkin, just like the Rynjin, have no redeeming qualities.