In addition to the rules cited above, special rules have been assigned to several NPCs (but not all) according to their personalities and their social rank.

Friendly NPCs added by other plugins (3DNPC, Inconsequential NPCs, etc) will also use Survival Instinct.

NPCs will use Survival Instinct against the player character (PC).

NPCs will use Survival Instinct against aggressors added by other plugins (Skyrim Immersive Creatures, Elemental Dragons, etc.).

Survival Instinct will only be used by friendly and unique NPCs.

NPC(s) WILL NOT use Survival Instinct when they are currently enlisted as followers.

the NPC's current resistance to physical damage (armor & armor spells).

So, four parameters determine whether or not an NPC has a chance of winning: For example, an NPC wearing a cloth outfit will flee once his health goes under 50%, while an NPC wearing full heavy armor and a shield will only flee once his health dips below 25%. These thresholds are assigned according to the NPC's resistance to physical damages. At the moment, there are four percentage thresholds: 50, 40, 30 and 25.

If the attacked NPC's health is lower than a threshold percentage of that NPC's maximum health, that NPC will flee from the aggressor.

If an NPC is attacked by an aggressor who is 10 levels or more above them, the NPC will flee.

A more complete explanation is available below.

This Video will show this feature in action and will explain how it works. Hideouts can be an NPC's home, the local temple, the Jarl's stronghold, a mine, the local barrack, etc. The hideout is chosen randomly, and the number of hideouts NPCs can access depends on the size of the city in which they live. In short, if an NPC is attacked and has no chance of winning against an aggressor, that NPC will run away from the aggressor and attempt to find a safe place (a hideout). Survival Instinct is a feature which gives nearly all the friendly and unique NPCs of Skyrim the ability to properly evaluate danger from an aggressor and respond to it more realistically while under attack. Specifically, this mod adds a new 'Survival Instinct' feature to the NPC AI. This plugin greatly improves the root AI used by NPCs when they are in combat.

Skyrim special edition npc