Skyrim talk:Followers/Archive 9

This is an archive of past Skyrim talk:Followers discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page, except for maintenance such as updating links.

Increasing Followers Carrying Capacity With Enchanted Items

I have tested this several times with Roggi Knot-Beard, Jenassa, Farkas (these I can confirm) and successfully used these items with others; it works for all of them. Give them the Boots of Strength, Lifting, The Ox, whatever, and they can carry up to whatever the specified allowance is in addition to what their base was before giving them the item. I tested this by filling their inventory with smallish items until the last thing I traded to them and what greyed every item in MY list out while in the trade screen was .1. Then took out whatever the weight of the enchanted item was, say the Elven Boots which weigh 1, giving the boots, they equip them, and there is immediately available room in their inventory to carry the weight specified by the enchanted item. I suspect that those who thought they didn't work had either not checked to be sure the item was equipped, or there may be followers for whom these items do NOT work. I haven't encountered this yet, and i have played several hundreds of hours with a large assortment of followers. (Xbox 360, with all three add-ons - but this worked fine before any DLC too) --Crayolamanic (talk) 08:22, 26 February 2013 (GMT)

Thanks for the detailed contribution. I've changed the article, since you have confirmed it and with numerous followers. I also think that patches have made a number of changes to the ways that CarryWeight works with followers, so that's another possible reason to suppose that past reports of it not working may not be correct now, even if they may have been in the past. --JR (talk) 20:00, 27 February 2013 (GMT)

Ah, good point :) --Crayolamanic (talk) 09:52, 28 February 2013 (GMT)

This still seems to need more verification, as a user recently added a tag for it on the page, and past talk page posts were what originally led to that enchantment being listed as one that doesn't work. Rather than moving it from one list to the other repeatedly, it's probably best to leave the VN tag for now and wait for more users to give input and describe testing they've done, with previous discussions in mind (the one linked to includes links to other related posts as well). — ABCface^◥ 21:49, 3 March 2013 (GMT)

I have tested a little again with some CUSTOM enchanted gear to fortify carry weight and it looks like the regular stuff works but custom enchants do not, similar to the way player-made potions will not be used, but game-generated potions will. --Crayolamanic (talk) 08:10, 8 March 2013 (GMT)

(←) Tested with Lydia, custom enchantments, no extra weight was given.— Unsigned comment by 98.217.72.62 (talk) at 06:57 on 23 March 2013

Tested Iona and Beleval with version 1.9.32 and there was no effect from Fortify Carry Weight enchanted items, premade or custom. — Unsigned comment by 68.127.152.113 (talk) at 00:28 on 5 May 2013‎

I readded the listing with the vn tag. Please wait until consensus is reached before removing this. There still seems to be some detail missing. --Xyzzy ^Talk 07:26, 5 May 2013 (GMT)

Detail such as? I was unaware that anyone was trying to reach consensus, with so little testing being done. It's understandable, though, having put in the effort only to have it thrown out. 68.127.153.185 19:47, 5 May 2013 (GMT)

I've done more testing (again with 1.9.32) and I was wrong, the effect does seem to work in an extremely limited fashion. After a follower equips Fortify Carry Weight enchanted gear, the trading screen must be exited for it to take effect. However, the increased weight limit seems to last for only one trade in either direction (a single item or stack of items), then the default limit returns unless the process begins again (re-equip item, exit trading screen, etc.) for one more trade. 68.127.153.185 20:55, 5 May 2013 (GMT)

I found the exact same results (with custom item). --108.173.140.175 07:29, 18 August 2013 (GMT)

(←) The follower's weight limit returning to default may be related to the faulty way followers select which armor and weapons to equip. Did either of you check to see if your follower still had the custom armor equipped? --Xyzzy ^Talk 18:06, 18 August 2013 (GMT)

Yes. --108.173.140.175 08:06, 24 August 2013 (GMT)

Just tested with Lydia. If you fill up her inventory so that she only has 0.5 pounds of free space, then give her the "charmed necklace", all of your items will be greyed out, indicating that she has no more space; however, if you exit out of her inventory, then reopen her inventory, your items won't be greyed out anymore. So the enchantment is applied, but only on refresh. (I haven't tested this on any other followers, though.) Elen Sila (talk) 17:30, 6 April 2014 (GMT)

I tested with Lydia, Faendal, Uthgerd the Unbroken, Jordis the Sword-Maiden. They all have the same bug. Even if they have equipped gears with "carry weight enchantment", they will just either: (1) Still only 300 carry weight is available. OR (2) The "carry weight enchantment" does have effect but every time you have given the follower an item, you need to reopen his/her inventory to refresh. This is annoying. And I have tried for so long that it appears whether (1) or (2) comes up are all random. For example, my follower is (1) now. And then after some time, though I really haven't done anything special, it switches to (2) for no reason.82.132.232.222 17:26, 19 May 2014 (GMT)

I don't think this has to do with the enchantment item. If you fill up your follower, exit their dialog screen completely, then re-enter their dialog and inventory screen, you can give them a few more items, no enchantments necessary. You can also ask them to pick up items when their inventory is full but not if you have already "overloaded" them or its a stack that exceeds their "overload" limit. I've used this trick since 11/11/11 with no change as patches were released. Adding a enchanted fortified carry gear (game or self) does not increase the amount of load or overload amount. At least that's been my experience and I tried everything I could think of early on to increase their carry weight. Too bad the Steed Stone does nothing for them either. btw, I did check early on to make sure Lydia had equipped the enchanted item (game enchanted boots if I remember right.) Philbert (talk) 08:34, 27 February 2015 (GMT)

Followers that can mine

Which followers can mine ore? Is there a list on the internet? Or how do you see which one can mine / chop wood, does it depend on there stats? (If so, which ones)

WeeziMonkey (talk) 14:04, 28 February 2013 (GMT)

Late answer, but I have yet to find a permanent follower who will NOT mine. Dunno about temporary followers, though. --Xyzzy ^Talk 07:31, 5 May 2013 (GMT)

But even if they do the mining animation, that does not mean they actually mine. They do not gain ore and they do not deplete the vein. —MortenOSlash (talk) 08:19, 5 May 2013 (GMT)

Faendal will not mine; he refuses, whether or not he has a pickaxe. He will chop wood, however (without a woodcutter's axe). DpwnShift (talk) 22:12, 6 June 2013 (GMT)

I discovered that Frea will not mine, whether or not she has a pickaxe, and will also not say anything when you tell her to. Aela also will not mine, even if she has an ancient Nordic pickaxe equipped, but will say "No. Not possible." Evidently, further testing is warranted. --Xyzzy ^Talk 17:35, 18 August 2013 (GMT)

Derkeethus doesn't mine despite it being his profession and regardless of whether he has a pickaxe or ancient nord pickaxe.--82.46.168.98 06:56, 16 September 2013 (GMT)

(←) Serana's the only follower I've seen do the mining animation, and she only does it spontaneously. She will use the ANP if she has one in her inventory. Every single follower I've tried to order to mine ore has refused, including her. --Morrolan (talk) 13:31, 16 September 2013 (GMT)

Follower stopped using ranged weapons completly

Okay so I gave my follower derkeethus a dragonbone bow and a crossbow, I gave him every type of bolt and nearly every type of arrow and figured I would just let his A.I decide which is better for him to use. He decided that the dragonbone bow was better so I thought cool but I left him with the crossbow and bolts anyway, I then realised that he has started to use arrows up (like the player does) instead of having unlimited amount. I thought that this was okay as I thought that eventually he would just keep using all the arrows that I had given him or switch to his crossbow until I give him more daedric arrows but now that he has run out of daedric arrows he does not switch to any ranged weapon and instead just stands there with his sword and axe equipped until the enemy gets close to him. I tried removing his sword and axe and he just switches to his staff that conjures a storm atronach and again just stands there, if I remove his staff then he switchs to his crossbow but only after I have removed all other weapons.--82.46.168.98 21:46, 29 April 2013 (GMT)

Same here (only he did not have a crossbow, but when his arrows were used up he did not switch to other arrows but to standing around with his melee weapon and a shield). Apart from Derkeethus, this also happened with Lydia, Jordis, Iona, Argis, Aela, Mjoll and Njada. Probably safe to assume that there is no need to try all the others as well. --Ulkomaalainen (talk) 01:48, 3 June 2013 (GMT)

Stats: External link

The Google doc in the external links section was added by Perko, who may or may not use the wiki anymore. Could we recreate it in wiki format so that anyone may edit it to add in Dragonborn, etc. followers and edit any changed stats? The doc is currently outdated and unalterable. Should we remove it? Vely^►t►e 03:48, 22 May 2013 (GMT)

I will start working on converting this document now. :D --written by Nocte ^{Chat with me?}_{Look at what I did!} 04:03, 22 May 2013 (GMT)

The table is done, and the link is updated! --written by Nocte ^{Chat with me?}_{Look at what I did!} 06:09, 22 May 2013 (GMT)

That table has some inaccuracies and has too much duplication just to be copied whole to the wiki. I know it's already been copied, so I just added some tags to it to let people know. As part of the recent discussion on the Community Portal I had started work on my own version, which I will continue to work on either as a replacement, or just to get the stats correct. Silence is Golden^{Break the Silence} 21:54, 23 May 2013 (GMT)

Follower using bond bow glitch

While using a bond bow I attempted several times to put it in a weapon rack, this did not work. After a couple of minutes attempting it surprisingly did. I could not pick it up and it did not show up if i put my curser over it. However I asked Alea the hunteress to use weapon rack, and it worked! The bow is permanent and last forever, she can't switch weapons at all, it becomes her only means off attack. Has anyone else found this? or managed to repeat it? as i havnt managed to reapt it yet. it was on PS3. Thanks — Unsigned comment by WillLeyland (talk • contribs) at 20:45 on 13 June 2013

I tried this on PC with Aela, using the 5 slot rack in the cellar of Lakeview manor, and couldn't get the bow to appear in the rack. I also tried it with a bound dagger and bound battleaxe and couldn't get them to appear in the rack either. --Xyzzy ^Talk 18:02, 18 August 2013 (GMT)

Re: Follower Recuperation Issues

I have an issue with a follower having entered a permanent state of recuperation. She seems to occasionally snap out of it when I switch zones, but will soon go down again. She will also go down immediately if I catch her after a zone change and trade with her. Using a spell from a mod, I noticed that both her current and maximum health was in the -16.000's (possibly 16.384 (2^14), I'll check again next time I play), which might mean that she's somehow got buffed beyond the same amount of health in the positive, causing an integer overflow. 14 bits signed is an add number though. Anyway, I'll try with some of the listed solutions (e.g., using `kill`) and see if any of those work. --Freso (talk) 19:32, 15 June 2013 (GMT)

Seems like the number is -16.691, so not 2^14. Using `kill` did get her up and about again, but it didn't fix her health. I'll try and figure out a way to reset her health values, since that seems to be the issue. --Freso (talk) 19:40, 15 June 2013 (GMT)

Can you clarify about the "spell from a mod" you used? Is this spell boosting her health? If so, then you're probably right about her health overflowing to a negative value. --Xyzzy ^Talk 18:09, 18 August 2013 (GMT)

Followers and difficulty level

Followers do not follow the difficulty level of the game. they do not lower their damage and strengthen the damage income at expert, master and legendary as much as the character or at all. I would like to know the exact values here. — Unsigned comment by 84.59.231.131 (talk) at 08:54 on 6 July 2013 (GMT)

As far as I can tell, followers and NPCs in general are not affected by difficulty level in any way. That is also true of conjured creatures, which makes the Conjuration skill much more useful at higher difficulty levels. --Morrolan (talk) 00:50, 8 July 2013 (GMT)

The reduced/increased damage levels only apply to the incoming/outgoing player-side damage. Means the player does more/less damage, and receives more/less damage depending on difficulty, but NPC vs NPC scale damage depending on personal level. Since many if not most NPC's don't scale according to PCLevel, many NPC's will in fact be level 1 or 5 or 10 forever, that explains why you will see villagers having trouble fighting level 50 vampire masters (in town ambush encounters) - they just don't do any damage but receive a lot of damage coz of low health and protection.MarukiTheFaceHater (talk) 04:13, 4 November 2014 (GMT)

Followers - keeping the distance

Following the archived thread.

Gosh I'm looking for anything that would help it, currently my follower is Serana and she just loves to walk into me whenever she wants to. I do not recall having such problem with Lydia tough. Like the posters in the thread linked above implied, that kind of behavior applies to certain followers, not to all of them, so one would assume the relevant setting is set per follower, not in the game core.
Has anybody found a fix to that or any kind of useful information about it? -- HellRider (talk) 10:12, 7 July 2013 (GMT)

Serana's crazy. She gets stuck in stealth mode, gets way behind you, and bumps into you, in whatever order she feels like. I've never found any other follower that misbehaves when following as much as she does; sometimes even fast travelling isn't enough to get her unstuck. --Morrolan (talk) 00:52, 8 July 2013 (GMT)

Follower Lost (Serana) Rediscovered

I lost Serana on my travels she got stuck in a wall I thought at the time but I couldn't figure out how to get her out. I tried going back but didn't have a save option so was forced to continue on and spents hell of a long time by myself tryin to recruit people only to have them say you already have someone with you. When I went to visit Neloth in Tel Mithryn on Solstheim the float up caused her to reappear. — Unsigned comment by 184.146.155.112 (talk) at 23:52 on 17 July 2013

Did you fast travel anywhere along the way? Usually when you fast travel she reappears. If you did, that's kinda freaky. Where did you lose her? --Morrolan (talk) 23:21, 17 July 2013 (GMT)

Curiously, yesterday I had an incident in my game which seems very similar to what happened to you. I noticed when I was leaving Tel Mithryn that Serana, instead of floating down, appeared to have fallen off the ledge, and was in her kneeling state because of the falling damage. Then when I left Tel Mithryn, she didn't follow me; I wandered around for a while before I realized she hadn't come with me, and went back to fetch her. When I got back to Tel Mithryn she was kneeling at the top of the float area, and when I floated up and healed her she was back to her old self and came with me properly. Is this possibly what happened in your game? --Morrolan (talk) 02:31, 19 July 2013 (GMT)

Max Quest Followers?

Is there supposed to be a limit to how many quest followers you can have at once? --Rope Dog (talk) 21:26, 24 July 2013 (GMT)

I don't think so. Well, other than the common-sense limit of being able to walk through doors. :) --Morrolan (talk) 02:58, 25 July 2013 (GMT)

Seems like a good topic for play-testing. Acquiring a quest follower often results in regular followers leaving your service, but I don't know about other quest followers. --Xyzzy ^Talk 04:01, 25 July 2013 (GMT)

So far I've been able to have 4 followers at once (1 permanent and 3 quest followers): Lydia, Serana, Delphine and Esbern. Wonder how many more I can get. --Rope Dog (talk) 09:40, 25 July 2013 (GMT)

As far as I know it's only Companions quest followers that replace your permanent followers. All other quest followers seem to just tack on with permanent followers (and occasionally start fights with them, sigh). --Morrolan (talk) 15:11, 25 July 2013 (GMT)

No I have a character completely made to test such things and he has 14 followers right now ( 1 permanent, 1 pet, 12 quest followers): Mjoll, Riekling warrior, Barbas, Cicero, both Dark Brotherhood Initiates, Thonnir, Esbern and Delphine, Vilkas, Mercer Frey, 2 summons(using dead thralls), and Eola. — Unsigned comment by 74.167.156.146 (talk) at 00:42 on 3 January 2014‎

(←) Looks like a pretty definitive "No, there is no limit" to me. --Xyzzy ^Talk 03:06, 3 January 2014 (GMT)

Currently I have 16 followers (5 Permanent , 1 Creature , 6 Quest, 3 Summoned Creatures and a Horse); Serana, Cicero, 2x Dark brotherhood Initiates, Ingjard, Hadvar, Karliah, Brynjolf, Esbern, his Flame Atronach, Delphine, Lucien Lachance (Spectral Assassin), My Summon, Barbas, Bran (Husky) and Shadowmere. I presume there is no limit. Xbox99 (talk) 21:11, 11 February 2014 (GMT)

(←) There is no apparent limit. I'll add something to the article. --Xyzzy ^Talk 23:00, 11 February 2014 (GMT)

Morality

One part of the page says that followers with level 3 morality won't report you, but it also says they will report you. Do only specific followers report you if you commit a crime in front of them while in your service, or is there something I'm not exactly understanding here? Sorry if I'm making an obvious mistake, I just need clarification. Daniel Steel-Frost (talk) 18:18, 25 July 2013 (GMT)

Hmmm. I'm not sure what the truth of the matter is. I've never had a follower report any crimes, but I usually use morality 0 followers. Still, I have used Annekke, Talvas, Faendal, Serana, and most of the Companions followers. One part of the page says that morality 3 followers only report crimes against themselves while they're following you, which jives with my experience. --Morrolan (talk) 19:16, 25 July 2013 (GMT)

Exactly, which is why we need confirmation on the whole reports-your-crimes thing. I would assume they do so when they aren't in your service of course, but while they follow you? I think it deserves a little [verification needed] haha Daniel Steel-Frost (talk) 19:58, 25 July 2013 (GMT)

I had an incident where, with a morality 3 follower, I got caught assaulting someone and after the bounty kicked in, the follower left my service and attacked me the other day. I'm not sure if I was reported by my follower or by the victim of the assault. --Morrolan (talk) 16:18, 21 August 2013 (GMT)

Followers Won't Follow

If i ask anyone (followers) they says i already have follower but i don't. What i have to do to fix it ? — Unsigned comment by 89.203.220.170 (talk) at 12:37 on 26 July 2013

Usually this happens when you're on a Companions quest which gives a quest follower. Complete the quest and leave your follower at Jorrvaskr. If that's not it, then something happened which made the game think you have a follower, and without more details about what's happened recently in your game it's going to just be a matter of guesswork by us trying to figure out what caused this. --Morrolan (talk) 13:23, 26 July 2013 (GMT)

Sadly, I cannot get Sceolang or Bran to follow me at this time. I have never had a follower pet, except for the quest to help Barbas, which I am now reading may carry this bug for animal/creature followers. =( 1NUY4SH4 (talk) 05:45, 30 March 2014 (GMT)

Missing Dead Follower

It's been months in game since my follower, Marcurio, died fighting a dragon priest. I had accidentally killed him while fighting. I got a new follower within a few days, J'zargo, and we walked back to Marcurio's body to reclaim his items. His body was still there when we got there and we took everything we wanted. Well, now i realized that I forgot some items on his body and need to go get them. But his body still isn't in the Riften hall of the dead. Does his body show up in another hall of the dead for some reason, or will I find his body where he died? --Yumixfan (talk) 01:29, 5 August 2013 (GMT)

More than likely, his body was simply "disabled". Effectively, the game reset the cell where his dead body was, and he no longer exists in your world. He, and those items, are gone. --Nocte|Chat|Look 01:33, 5 August 2013 (GMT)

Well that sucks. I'm pretty sure he was holding my dragon priest masks. --Yumixfan (talk) 01:39, 5 August 2013 (GMT)

Followers benefit from fortify skill worn on PC?

As written on the main page, followers don't seem to benefit from many fortify skills on their own armor. They do, however, seem to benefit from fortify destruction when worn by the player.

With the PC wearing -100% destruction apparel (Archmage's robes; circlet, amulet and ring each with -29%), Lydia's weapon (enchanted with absorb health) uses no charges. Switch away from that and Lydia's sword now begins to deplete. With her own equipment not changing at all it seems it's entirely dependent on PC equipment. Destruction magic is quite easy to test here, other skills like fortify one-handed won't be.

Only mods are unofficial skyrim and DLC patches. Qesa (talk) 13:08, 7 August 2013 (GMT)

I don't think so. The followers don't benefit from fortify skill enchantment because they lack a specific perk which, by default, given only to the PC. If you give followers that perk, they will start to benefit from those enchantments. If you remove that perk from the PC, the PC will stop benefiting from those enchantments just like the followers currently are. So, under normal circumstance, no fortify skill enchantment would have any effect on followers.117.4.10.227 10:53, 24 August 2013 (GMT)

Does anyone know what this perk's ID is, or what its side effects (if any) are? 18:09, 18 December 2013 (GMT) — Unsigned comment by 209.210.226.114 (talk)

(←) I added the following text, why was it deleted?

The reason that other enchantments do not work on followers is because they are missing a hidden perk called PerkSkillBoosts, which is apparently only given to the player. This perk is required for skill boosts on equipment to actually be factored into the effect calculation. The exceptions are heavy armor, light armor, enchanting, and speechcraft. Followers have no use for speechcraft but Fortify Enchanting should allow them to get more uses out of charged equipment. A corresponding perk, AlchemySkillBoosts, allows the actor to benefit from skill-boosting potions, and by default, only the player has this perk as well.

Some users have reported that manually adding PerkSkillBoosts using the console allows followers to benefit from these enchants normally. Also, some mod-added followers (e.g. Vilja) have these perks and can benefit from other types of enchantments normally, and S.T.E.P. has some mods that add these perks to vanilla NPCs. — Unsigned comment by 74.71.130.241 (talk) at 02:52 on 4 March 2014‎

It was removed because we try to maintain an encyclopedic-style tone on the wiki, and as the edit summary that went along its removal stated, it was speculative and contained 3rd-party mod info, which we generally do not document in our articles. The sort of input you are giving is valuable, but more appropriate here on the talk page. If others can verify your findings, we can then use it to improve the article. --Xyzzy ^Talk 05:04, 4 March 2014 (GMT)

Testing this ingame (PC, all add-ons, no mods) I can confirm this. I used the console command "getav HeavyArmor" to check Serana's value. Giving her a Daedric Armor of the Peerless Knight (which she equipped) did change her value from 15 to 40. --Alfwyn (talk) 14:02, 4 March 2014 (GMT)

Make archer followers use upgraded and/or enchanted Bows that you give them

I don't see this mentioned anywhere, and Im not so good with wording it, so I figured I would put it here first and if someone else will confirm it maybe it can be added to the main page somewhere. This is tested with xbox btw, Im sure there is probably a workaround using the console or mod or something for PC users but this is a useful trick for us xbox or ps3 users. Anyway as your probably aware followers tend to only use their crappy starting bow (which is usually just a regular hunting bow) and if you give them upgraded bows to use they usually ignore them as soon as combat breaks out. It is possible to get them to actually use almost any bow that you give them though (except for Daedric for some strange reason). You just give them a good bow and ALSO give them a large stack of Iron arrows to use (must be just regular iron arrows for it to work, and you will need to keep them stocked up with a good quantity of them less they run out). If they have any other type of arrow in their inventory they switch back to the crappy hunting bow, so you need to trade with them every once in a while and remove any stray arrows that end up in their inventory from enemies shooting them. 71.181.100.41 10:49, 19 August 2013 (GMT)

Yeah, there was some research done earlier. Apparently followers have a damage cap on bows. If the bow+arrow damage is too high, then they switch back to the hidden hunting bow and just equip the best arrow that they have in their inventory.

I always do this. When they're using the hidden hunting bow, they don't use up arrows. This means that you can give them one daedric arrow and forget about it, and they're pretty effective. The only reason I'd want to give them an enchanted bow would be if I wanted them to soul trap targets. --Morrolan (talk) 00:37, 20 August 2013 (GMT)

So what damage is too high? Using this method I've got Aela consistently using a legendary smithed dragonbone bow right now that I created using 100 smithing, 100 alchemy, 100 enchanting, all relevant perks, ahzidal's armor, seeker of sorcery, and stacking fortify alchemy enchants with fortify enchanting potions to create a +142% smithing potion and 4 pieces of gear with +34% smithing enchants. She can one or two shot most enemies on master difficulty with it, I have to assume thats much more damage than she gets with the crappy hunting bow and daedric arrows. Also works with ebony, glass, orcish, dwarven, elven, nordic, and stahlrim bows, just as long as she has a large stack of iron arrows and NO other arrows in her inventory. As far as I can tell from testing daedric is the only bow she wont use. Also all damage enchants seem to work fine (at least as far as the animation is concerned, I have no way to know if its actually doing the extra damage but they do light on fire etc.. and paralyze and soul trap works fine too)71.181.103.194 21:27, 21 August 2013 (GMT)

The damage cap appears to ignore smithing enhancements. It's based strictly on the base damage of the bow+arrow. So you can smith and enchant the bejeezus out of bows, and your followers will still use them. That's the advantage. However, you should probably know that a level 50 Aela with a hunting bow and daedric arrows oneshots most enemies on any difficulty. Remember that all NPCs, including followers, are not affected by game difficulty, so those modifiers that hit your Dragonborn don't affect them at all. --Morrolan (talk) 21:59, 21 August 2013 (GMT)

That can't be entirely correct though, If I give her an Orcish bow (base dmg 10) with steel arrows (base dmg 10) she switches back to the hunting bow, but If I give her a dragonbone bow (base dmg 20) with iron arrows (base dmg 8) she uses the dragonbone bow. 71.181.103.194 22:09, 21 August 2013 (GMT)

Interesting. I thought the max cap was found to be around 24. Looks like it's buggy. What do you know. :) Odds are Bethesda tried to fix it, and made things worse. This is partly why I go for the simple approach of just having Aela or whoever being a mobile daedric-arrow-manufacturing bazooka. (I don't really like having Aela as a follower anymore. She's pretty, but her constant Nord supremacy battlecries are sort of annoying, and a high-level Aela with daedric arrows takes nearly all of the challenge out of combat because she just rips her difficulty-level-unmodified arrows through the air, never misses, and everything dies.) --Morrolan (talk) 22:18, 21 August 2013 (GMT)

That is true... I mostly only take her with me because I unwittingly married her a while back and she makes a really awkward housewife :) — Unsigned comment by 71.181.103.194 (talk) at 22:32 on 21 August 2013

Wait but my follower can use an enchanted dragonbone bow with daedric arrows, so why is that?--82.46.168.98 22:47, 21 August 2013 (GMT)

(←) There have been unconfirmed reports of people using dragonbone bows with daedric arrows since Dragonborn was released. It's probably a side-effect of a mod. Nobody's been able to figure out why some people seem to be able to do it but most people can't. --Morrolan (talk) 23:10, 21 August 2013 (GMT)

I'm on ps3, he definitely is using a dragonbone bow with daedric arrows no mods so that can be confirmed and actually I've noticed that my follower will refuse to use any archery weapon once he runs out of daedric arrows, do you think the followers skill in archery could dictate whether or not they use a dragonbone bow with daedric arrows, I've got Derkeethus so either I got the badass version or its skill related or random.--82.46.168.98 00:53, 22 August 2013 (GMT)

Derkeethus is an archer follower. Interesting. Have you tried giving any other followers dragonbone/daedric and seeing if they'll equip them as well? --Morrolan (talk) 01:21, 23 August 2013 (GMT)

I usually just give them the more powerful/enchanted bow since they already have an unlimited not-shown iron arrow and they start to use it right away. if they ever hit by more powerful arrow and switch to low quality bow to use it, they will shoot out all of them in no time and switch back to the powerful bow I give them. And followers (and NPCs) are affected by difficulties: they take less damage and do less damage to other NPCs (just more damage to the player).117.4.10.227 11:13, 24 August 2013 (GMT)

No, they really don't, except when being attacked by the PC. Go find some NPCs fighting each other on Legendary difficulty; say, some bandits and soldiers/guards fighting. Save, then time how long it takes for the battle to end. Load the savegame, then drop the difficulty to Novice. The battle will be over in roughly the same amount of time. --Morrolan (talk) 13:15, 24 August 2013 (GMT)

In fact, I did. The result is exactly as I expected. At level 50 and holding a steel sword, on Novice, Lydia needs 6 hits (about 15 seconds) to kill a bear. On Legendary, she needs about 40-50 hits and kill the bear in about 3-4 minutes (since she blocked a lot).117.4.10.227 16:37, 24 August 2013 (GMT)

Are you playing with mods? I've never seen a level 50 Lydia take more than one shot to kill a base-level bear (not a cave bear or snow bear). --Morrolan (talk) 00:28, 25 August 2013 (GMT)

(←) To sum up, from what I have read and tested, there are global limitations and restrictions set upon followers. These take into account only what is built into the base game. Modifications done to equipment will only effect the player character when various calculations are made. One extremely obvious reason for this is the potential for unbalancing the game play, endless loops and the possibility of crashing the game. This is based upon simple math: variables working on other variables will eventually produce formulas that cannot be resolved.

Taking individual examples of oddities only serves to demonstrate these limitations exist. An NPC has certain base values, usually unique, that do not vary and the game will always use in it's calculations, be it weapons or armor. Sniffles (talk) 00:28, 2 October 2013 (GMT)

Followers and scrolls

Do you think a table or a page can be set up to see what scrolls followers are actually able to use, I'm trying to find a few scrolls for my follower to use and I want to know if its worth my time, I'm thinking of finding a scroll of paralysis, scroll of grand healing and a scroll of muffle.--82.46.168.98 22:51, 21 August 2013 (GMT)

I have never seen a follower use a scroll. Frequently I get them to carry them around for me. I have seen them use Destruction staffs, even followers who you normally wouldn't expect to want to use magic attacks like Lydia. --Morrolan (talk) 23:12, 21 August 2013 (GMT)

I give Aela scrolls whenever I pick them up and I see her use candlelight, fast healing, summon atronach, and stoneflesh scrolls quite a bit. Not sure about the rest. 71.181.103.194 23:24, 21 August 2013 (GMT)

Thanks, didn't know followers would use candlelight, going to try that out, trying to get my follower to become a mage without them becoming a mage on ps3, I plan to duplicate all the scrolls to around 1000 so they may as well of learn't the spell.--82.46.168.98 00:48, 22 August 2013 (GMT)

The follower will soon become overencumbered with such an amount of scrolls in their inventory. —MortenOSlash (talk) 05:01, 23 August 2013 (GMT)

Drop them and hold the cursor over the follower then tell them to pick up the scroll, they will then pick them up regardless of encumbrance.--82.46.168.98 10:05, 23 August 2013 (GMT)--82.46.168.98 10:05, 23 August 2013 (GMT)

Turns out followers can use master level conjuration scrolls, my follower just used dead thrall on a random bandit, they can also use grand healing. I have heard that they can use Blizzard but I have not been able to get my follower to use it yet, its possible that only certain types of followers will use master level scrolls, I'll try using a mage follower.--82.46.168.98 10:42, 25 August 2013 (GMT)

(←) I have a hunch that followers will only use defensive master scrolls (which is limited to conjuration and dragonhide scrolls) although I still need to test dragonhide, does anyone know where to find a scroll of dragonhide?--82.46.168.98 14:46, 14 September 2013 (GMT)

It can't be found in the game. It's only found in a test container which can't be accessed without the use of console on the PC. — ABCface^◥ 17:00, 14 September 2013 (GMT)

Damn okay, should details like that be included on the scrolls page? and also do the scrolls for fire/frost/shock rune/cloak exist in gaem and can they be found in loot?--82.46.168.98 18:16, 14 September 2013 (GMT)

I assumed that info was already there. If it's not, I'll go ahead and add it now. The fire/frost/shock rune and cloak spells are all used in a few leveled lists in the game, so they can be found. A few examples would be loot from certain Forsworn members and civil war soldiers. There's no guaranteed locations, however. — ABCface^◥ 18:27, 14 September 2013 (GMT)

Follower/Werewolf Glitch

Follower glitch at random transforms character followers into a "body suit" of a werewolf. Werewolf is non-functional, follower will continue to wear armor and equip items as normal. In addition, dialouge remains the same along with follower commands. PS3 confirmed on follower- Dark Brotherhood Initiate (female).166.147.123.39 09:27, 23 August 2013 (GMT)

Enchants on follower weapons

So let me get this straight: The Absorb Health enchant on my follower's battle axe does not actually do anything for her even though I can see the red spell graphics draining the enemy when she hits it? The follower page supposedly lists the enchants that work with followers, but the soul trap enchant isn't listed there. Are we sure that is a complete list? Thanks! 71.131.133.121 06:24, 9 September 2013 (GMT)

I'm personally certain that absorb health works for followers. It really helps keep them standing. Honestly I don't think that list is accurate. --Morrolan (talk) 16:22, 9 September 2013 (GMT)

Which list are you referring to? If your referring to the list called Enchanted follower equipment then that list only lists effects that followers benefit from on their armor, not weapons. Enchantments on weapons work normally for followers so absorb health will work for them and soul trap will work etc.--82.46.168.98 21:04, 12 September 2013 (GMT)

Ah. Thank you very much for that clarification. 71.131.130.9 03:36, 13 September 2013 (GMT)

VoiceType in NPC tables

You talk to your follower a lot. Would it be a good idea to list the voicetypes of the various NPCs in the sortable tables, so people can try and find a follower who they think sounds nice? --Morrolan (talk) 14:28, 12 September 2013 (GMT)

They're categorized by voice, but voicetype in the NPC box may clutter the box. Vely^►t►e 21:05, 12 September 2013 (GMT)

How about adding it to the end of the Description box? --Morrolan (talk) 23:12, 12 September 2013 (GMT)

There's already enough info about followers to make a base judgement on them. Voicetypes are a minor inconsequential detail, and you still need to talk to that person to find out if you like their voice. Silence is Golden^{Break the Silence} 01:14, 13 September 2013 (GMT)

Other than the unique voicetypes (of which there are very few followers), there are only about half a dozen voicetypes for all the followers. There's a lot of repetition in them. --Morrolan (talk) 03:52, 13 September 2013 (GMT)

Follower leveling

The question has been raised whether followers level up all the time, or just when they are actively following you. I tested this with J'zargo by loading my level 80 save, followed by my level 99 save, and traveling to the College and using getlevel on him both times. Both times, his level matched mine, and he hasn't been my follower since I was probably level 40 over a year ago. I believe the game sets an NPC's level when you enter their cell and they are spawned. I'll clarify it in the article and remove the vn tag. --Xyzzy ^Talk 04:21, 2 October 2013 (GMT)

Actually, I'm not sure how to word this so that it's relevant to this article. If an NPC is not your follower, that makes them just another NPC, and not relevant to this article. If someone else can note this in a relevant manner, feel free. --Xyzzy ^Talk 04:29, 2 October 2013 (GMT)

I made an edit, hopefully this should help answer all those "do I have to take my steward/housecarl/Blades/etc. adventuring to level up?" type questions that float around the wiki. --Morrolan (talk) 04:55, 2 October 2013 (GMT)

Follower Blessings

Is it really true that some followers can receive blessings from a shrine? I've tried a couple times with different followers at the shrines built in my Windstad Manor Cellar, and they all refuse to activate it. Under what circumstances have people been successful in having their followers receive a blessing? --DpwnShift (talk) 07:16, 9 November 2013 (GMT)

EDIT: It seems that the regular shrines found throughout Skyrim WILL confer their blessings on followers, but not the ones built in houses from the Hearthfire DLC. — Unsigned comment by DpwnShift (talk • contribs) at 07:39 on 9 November 2013 (GMT)

The shrines in the cellar of Hearthfire houses work fine for followers. You may have encountered a pathing problem when you told them to use a particular shrine and they refused. In this case you have to use trial and error to find a spot for them to stand where they can find a path to your desired shrine. 71.182.229.208 12:45, 19 September 2015 (UTC)

J'zargo can't be married

In fact, no Khajiit in the game can be married (more's the pity). Sorry, have no idea how to edit a table myself.Ninepaw (talk) 22:57, 17 November 2013 (GMT)

Thanks for the pointer. Silence is Golden^{Break the Silence} 23:08, 17 November 2013 (GMT)

Number of Permanent Followers

The wiki states "You can have at most one permanent NPC follower and one creature follower at any time." Permanent followers from mods is an exception. For example Companion Vilja, a permanent "mod" follower, can accompany another permanent "vanilla" follower. The wiki obviously refers to vanillas, but for most of us out there in mod_land, hopefully this clears the air. Lmstearn (talk) 09:26, 22 November 2013 (GMT)

Mods can change absolutely everything. Or not. The mod you're using has an NPC who doesn't use the standard Skyrim follower AI; if the mod NPC did use the same AI as regular Skyrim followers, then the same rules would apply.

The problem is essentially that since mods can change absolutely everything we can't document them except by putting a disclaimer on every page saying "Everything on this page might be not true if you're using a mod." Which probably wouldn't be all that useful. --Morrolan (talk) 00:31, 24 November 2013 (GMT)

Yes, regarding follower protocol, and pathing as described in the notes, it would be worthwhile including a good reason for the restriction on (vanilla) followers, and quoting from Joel Burgess's Blogsite-

"It's also worth figuring out the most narrow traversable space in the game. We usually stick to a minimum of two character widths. This allows us to avoid pathing problems by ensuring there's at least enough space for two AI characters to path around each other in any given space."--Lmstearn (talk) 08:29, 25 November 2013 (GMT)

Followers equipment if temp dismissed?

Okay, I made Rayya follow me soI could upgrade her gear. Then sent her back to Lakeview Manor. I come back,and her default clothes are there, but she's carrying the weapons I gave her. Do followers reset gear? Or do they just not wear the good stuff until needed? Need to know, so I don't lose the equipment investment. FMPhoenixHawk (talk) 08:54, 3 December 2013 (GMT)

They seem to revert back to their default outfit after you dismiss them, though it takes a zone change for them to actually change clothes. Any equipment you give them will remain in their inventory, and they will put it back on after you ask them to follow you again (once again after a zone change). I've seen this behavior many times with Aela. --Xyzzy ^Talk 01:46, 4 December 2013 (GMT)

Good. I want my huscarls to have the best armor I can get them. Thanks. FMPhoenixHawk (talk) 03:06, 4 December 2013 (GMT)

Potion use by followers?

Okay, I know they might use healing potions, but will followers use any other potion/poison I give me, such as resist cold? I haven't found anything on it yet. FMPhoenixHawk (talk) 04:54, 6 December 2013 (GMT)

I'm not sure what makes followers decide to use other potions, but I've seen Lydia turn invisible after I gave her some potions of invisibility, while we were fighting blind Falmer, of all things. — Unsigned comment by 71.77.229.13 (talk) at 22:54 on 12 December 2013

Poisons apparently cannot be used by any NPC and is exclusive to falmer, Spiders and Charus.--82.46.168.98 17:30, 16 January 2014 (GMT)

Poisons they will not use, and potions depend on their magnitude; you can give self-brewed healing potions to them, but they will only use them if they are weaker.

Lets explain: Your follower has 300 health. A potion given to the follower which heals 280 points will rarely be used if at all, as followers have some weird understanding of potion magnitudes - if you give them a potion worth 300 health points, they won't use it although it would heal them fully. Give them 3x 100 hp potions and they will be using them. Just give them good but not to strong potions and see how they use them.MarukiTheFaceHater (talk) 04:05, 4 November 2014 (GMT)

Followers using higher quality bows with Dawnguard

Does not work with XBOX360 Dawnguard add-on. — Unsigned comment by 99.172.37.27 (talk) at 05:11 on 4 February 2014‎

Can we get confirmation that followers will not use higher quality bows and/or crossbows with Dawnguard installed, specifically on Xbox, before adding it to the article? --Xyzzy ^Talk 07:14, 4 February 2014 (GMT)

From playing with a few different followers, it appears to vary. I am on PC, but when I had Farendil as a follower, he would use whatever bow I gave him. Jordis, however, would only use a better bow when she had better arrows. When I gave her all my ebony arrows, she used them and the ebony bow until she got some steel arrows. Then she went back to a hunters bow. Teldryn and Serana would use whatever bow I gave them. Khjaro only used a bow when he had no melee weapon, but he used whatever I gave him. FMPhoenixHawk (talk) 20:48, 5 February 2014 (EST)

Followers Equipping Archmage's Robes

Giving a mage follower who starts with apprentice robes a new set of master robes has no effect because it's not seen as an improvement on the class of armor (exception: the Archmage's Robes)

This has also been added to the Archmage's Robes page. Can anyone verify it? --AN|L (talk) 20:57, 18 June 2014 (GMT)

Yes, I can. It's part of a broader effect though. It's because the Archmage's Robes are hooded. Followers will always prefer wearing something on their head to nothing. So, any hooded robes will take precedence over any outfit that does not include a helmet or hood, even if they take precedence over armor - eg if you give Aela Hooded Black Mage Robes and she doesn't have a helmet on, she takes off her Ancient Nord Armor to put them on. --Morrolan (talk) 22:18, 9 November 2014 (GMT)

Bug solutions confusion

This one has an editor's question mark and states: "A follower may not leave the recovery state even when their health is fully replenished but instead continue crawling around on the floor."

Then it offers five solutions numbered here with bracketed clarifications: "This can be fixed by 1. entering combat again with a new enemy, 2. attacking them [the follower?], 3. fast-traveling to a new area, 4. reloading a save, or 5. healing them [the follower] with a Restoration spell."

For 2. do you really want to attack a follower who is displaying the recovery state without some assurance of full replenishment?

For 4. might that not undo the battle you just won, or do you save and then immediately reload that save?

For 5. if this actually works, it implies less than "full replenishment" is the cause. So why offer the other more cumbersome fixes?

My speculation (assuming health is a real number) is that 2 different tests are operating:

if round(health) = full health then do not display the red bar.

if health < full health then do not exit cowering state.

My suggestion, just go with 5. Kalevala (talk) 00:25, 20 June 2014 (GMT)

Added Maurice Jondrelle to the Question Followers table

I added him in there, since I just did that quest and noticed he wasn't on there, but I play on a console and don't have access to the CS to check if he can be married or if he's essential (the fact that his page warns about him dying implies he's not, but I didn't want to assume). Anyway, I left those cells blank, hopefully someone will notice and check for me (big thanks to anyone who does!) I hope this was an ok way to go about it, I'm new to this editing thing... Obax (talk) 05:50, 24 December 2014 (GMT)

It was all right. Although it would be best when you add incomplete information, especially in a table like this one, where a blank field means "no", to place a {{huh}}-tag so it is marked as missing information :-) -- SarthesArai ^Talk 10:29, 24 December 2014 (GMT)

Oh, ok, thanks for the info on that. I had a feeling there was probably a procedure for that, but I didn't even know where to look to try to find out what it is. I'll definitely do that next time! Obax (talk) 14:10, 24 December 2014 (GMT)

Avulstein Gray-Mane, Beirlund and Vidrald

These three are all listed as usable in other quests, but after trying this, I cant use them in other quests. — Unsigned comment by 86.186.213.228 (talk) at 21:42 on 28 January 2015 (GMT)

Not sure what you are referring to now. If you meant that you try to hire them after their quest is finished, you can not. What you can is taking them with you on other quests as long as their quest is not finished. Not all quest followers will follow you on other quests like that.

(Also, you might want to add signatures to your contributions by typing four tildes (~~~~) at the end of your contributions at the talk pages. It saves other editors the job of marking it as unsigned.) —MortenOSlash (talk) 06:03, 29 January 2015 (GMT)

Oh, sorry, I tried that and the three men are not usable in other quests even before the completion of their quest. 81.141.97.25 14:42, 31 January 2015 (GMT)

In other words, they left you when you diverted from the quest they are followers? Did they leave temporarily and came back at some point where you went back to the qust? —MortenOSlash (talk) 20:28, 31 January 2015 (GMT)

They left when I tried to do anything else, but when i returned to Northwatch Keep they resumed following. 81.141.97.25 16:06, 1 February 2015 (GMT)

Assuming you meant Geirlund, not Beirlund, I removed the check on the three in the "Usable in Other Quests" column. I can perfectly understand why you did not start editing the page yourself. I am not good with advanced wiki syntax myself, so I had to think a bit before I got on with it. (And I accidentally marked it as a minor edit, but I think it should not.) —MortenOSlash (talk) 19:23, 1 February 2015 (GMT)

No interaction dialogue with followers

So this is a very frequent bug I've noticed on the nexus forums and I believe the community should share about it as well. So, I have just finished Waking Nightmare and have attempted to acquire Erandur as a follower. However, for the first time since ever, Erandur's dialogue vanishes and is replaced by the generic greetings of dark elf NPCs. For example, his original dialogue (when spoken to) was "Yes my son? What is it I can help you with?", followed with the standard options to recruit him as a companion and etc.; However, his "new" dialogue switched to: "Azura's wisdom to you friend" and no interactive menu appeared when interacted with. Does anyone have a solution to this problem? I have tried using BOSS mod manager, the savetool, and console commands (placeatme, resetai, disable/enable) and nothing has remedied the issue. I have even tried to load a older file but Erandur continues to have problems talking.

Edit: this did not just happen to Erandur, it has happened to Lydia as well, so I believe the issue is a follower related issue, not just Erandur. --172.248.13.189 11:10, 23 February 2015 (GMT)

I have had the same issue with Illia. Is there a way to dismiss them as a follower if there is no fix? Whoman69 (talk) 00:26, 11 August 2015 (GMT)

Illia is famously buggy, her dialogue often vanishes. If you have Hearthfire and your follower can't be dismissed, you can try turning them into a seneschal (assuming you own at least one house that doesn't have one). Otherwise, there are a few quests that automatically dismiss your current follower (usually to make way for a quest follower); you can try joining the Companions and working through their quest line, they have a few of them. Chasing Echoes from Dawnguard I believe also dismisses followers. --Morrolan (talk) 15:50, 15 June 2016 (UTC)

No follower will follow

Having just started, I did the misc quest in Riverwood for Faendal's favor, and afterwords asked him to follow me. He said "lead the way", but didn't follow me and when I asked again, he told me that i have somebody else following me. I cant get any followers now, as all of them say I have somebody following me, but I don't. (I didn't start the companion quest so it isn't that).73.12.108.151 21:33, 18 August 2015 (UTC)

It could seem like a bug that is not documented here yet, but before we continue, what platform are you playing? If you are playing pc, do you have any mods installed that might interfere with NPC or follower behaviour?—MortenOSlash (talk) 22:01, 18 August 2015 (UTC)

Some non-DB followers enter Sanctuary

In all of my playthroughs where I go pro-DB, I have noticed some followers will go into the Sanctuary. Serana for certain, Teldryn in one play, Illia and Aranea in others. Not sure if glitch, but needs more testing. Anyone else run into this one? FMPhoenixHawk (talk) 12:46, 20 August 2015 (UTC)

Jail

I just noticed that my follower (Ralis Sedarys) was missing, and he didn't show up after fast travelling or waiting, nor was he anywhere I would've expected. Not wanting to search throughout all of Skyrim, I used the console to teleport to him...only to find him in Whiterun's jail! He still behaved as though he was following me, though, and after I picked the lock on his cell, he ran out of it towards me as normal. The only thing I can think of is that I just did Season Unending, which has a temporary effect on followers, but I've never before seen a follower land in jail. I don't really use followers much, though. Has anyone else experienced this before? Is this normal? – Robin Hood  ^(talk) 04:25, 14 May 2016 (UTC)

Which followers can follow you if you are a vampire?

So I found this for Ingjard on the elderscrolls.wikia: She is the only member of the Dawnguard who will enter into dialogue with (and be recruited as a follower by) the Dragonborn if they are a vampire.

Is this true? Are there any other Followers out there that can be recruited if you're a vampire? — Unsigned comment by 84.181.217.194 (talk) at 18:28 on 31 May 2016 (UTC)

You can recruit other followers just fine. When it comes to those who are part of the Dawnguard, however, Ingjard is the only possible follower in the faction who will not attack vampire lords on sight, as she is marked Unaggressive. I suppose this means it's possible to recruit her as a vampire lord.

I don't know how this applies to players who are vampires, only those who are vampire lords, but I know vampire players can speak with the Dawkguard and can recruit average followers. Vely^►t►e 01:09, 3 June 2016 (UTC)

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