If your node is not being instanced (default behavior), DO NOT change any properties of object within those functions! Template nodes are shared across all behavior tree components using the same tree asset and must store their runtime properties in provided NodeMemory block (allocation size determined by GetInstanceMemorySize() ) The ConversationTaskNode is the basis of any task in the conversation graph, that task may be as simple as saying some text to the user, and providing some choices. However more complex tasks can fire off quests, can spawn actors, pretty much any arbitrary thing you want.