I love this idea. Maybe you could test it on useless NPCs first... Now I wonder if there is going to be a Guide in StarBound...
Sounds cool but i think the percentage should be based on what the creature is and what "scientist NPCs" are working on it.
"I cant give you my lisense officer" John Freeman said "Why not?" said headcrab officer back to John Freeman. "BECAUSE YOU ARE HEADCRAB ZOMBIE" I do expect a crowbar if this is implemented.
If there is no crowbar in a headcrab scenerio I believe we should just jump ship, There will be no hope to defeat them otherwise.
Eh... Not sure if I like the idea... I'd probably have some kind of safety system built into my equipment that kills anything that would be a danger
Failure? hmm maybe if a NPC dies it will respawn 10 minutes later (or whatever time). Just a inconvenience of having to wait till they respawn before you can use their services Eg: Scientist dies you cannot use your lab, Doctor dies no healing etc. Or Maybe you have to recruit another one or simply find the zombified/infected NPC and cure them before you can reuse them.