Survivors in Dishonored

Is there any reason not to put Survivors asleep in Dishonored? Any sort of reward or motivation? Also, do they count against you for the Ghost trophy and/or having someone alerted to your presence?

Thanks!

Solution 1:

It depends if a detection meter is shown above a Survivor's head upon them detecting your presence.

If you get a Survivor's detection meter up until it turns red, that will count as them detecting your presence, and will cause you not to get the 'Ghost' achievement. This may be a "motivation" to put Survivors asleep. This is the same for other NPCs, not just Survivors.

If a Survivor or any NPC is friendly to you or does not mind your presence, a detection meter won't appear and that will not count as 'detected'.

I noticed that on a high chaos playthrough, Survivors will have a detection meter and might alert hostile, armed NPCs. While on a low chaos playthrough, they won't mind your presence (no detection meter).

Solution 2:

no there are no penalties for killing or knocking out survivors but some of them like the ones found in the dunwall distillery can give you upgrades for helping the. like for example i once got a free pistol upgrade for helping a survivor. also you can gain bone charms and various other upgrades. so i would recommend not doing anything to the survivor because i can assure you they will definitely help you on your quest.