Holy shit, Dunn can survive!!?

I did a completionist run on my first PT and had all of the pathfinders, including Sarissa (did not expose her), so Dunn survived. I figured she probably could die due to her dialogue and the fact that the last second biotic barrier seemed like an optional scenario. I don't know if her ability to live will actually affect anything going forward. That being said, it was nice that some of our choices did impact certain characters.

If you expose Sarisa, she's gonna be salty towards you. You need to get on her good side by talking to her after the fact and picking the correct option.

Not me though, I didn't think she did anything wrong so no need to expose.

Sarissa, Avitus and Hayjer were a pretty cool trio. Wish they had been squadmates.

Exposed Sarissa and she still created the bubble and Dunn lived. I had Raeka plus the turian pathfinder.

This.  I think this is the main issue people are running into:  If you expose Sarissa's... treachery?  You have to speak to her afterward before the main mission to save Dunn from what I can tell.

She's in the same room as Tann.

From what I've seen and heard talking with people who played the game (all medical personnel, fwiw), the basic reason is- they don't want to force Avitus to become a Pathfinder when he says he doesn't want to.

I agree the choice results are skewed- and I can see a lot to be said about making the choices more balanced overall, but the issue with Avitus is the question of forcing a hurting person to do something they don't want to. Some people find purpose with a kick in the ass- others just break more, when a break would help them instead.

But other than Avitus, yeah it's a completion check then. You're guaranteed a Salarian pathfinder by core plot, and otherwise just need to do Cora's loyalty mission.

I do think the choice could have been balanced better if the survival factored in the other two choices somehow. Say you needed at least two 'experienced' pathfinders to save Dunn, of which Avitus could be one- in which case you'd either need a motivated Sarissa (which could require not disgracing her), or Raeka (which means leaving Draak's scouts to die).

If you didn't talk with her and Dunn still survived then based on what i heard so far i guess it is safe to say as long as you have 3 pathfinders regardless of the combo, she will survive. or maybe there is a bug that can randomly change the outcome and we are getting trolled.

I think the Asari Pathfinder shields her biotic style, son!