Follower (Skyrim)



Followers are companions who will fight for the player after the player earns their trust. They will travel with, battle for, and carry items for the Dragonborn.

A subclass of followers is non-humanoid followers, such as dogs. These followers can neither carry nor equip items. The interaction with these followers is also limited to the wait/follow commands and dismissal.

It is only possible to have one humanoid follower with the player at a time, but in most cases there is no penalty for dismissing a follower and then re-recruiting them later. In addition, one non-humanoid follower may accompany the player at the same time.

Certain followers can also train skills for a certain amount of gold. Also, many Followers can be married if you have the Amulet of Mara equipped. A select few also can join the Blades after relocating to Sky Haven Temple.

Follower Leveling
Followers will match the current level of the player, up to a certain level cap that varies from follower to follower. Most followers cap at level 50, while some such as Eola, Brelyna Maryon, and Aranea Ienith cap at level 30. J'zargo uniquely caps at level 81, the same level as the player character.

However, currently in Skyrim Followers are locked at the level in which they first encounter the player, and will not continue to level up as the player does. The only way to fix this is to use console commands on the PC ("disable" then "enable" the character while they are not in your party), or use Wabbajack to turn them into a mudcrab/goat/etc, then rehire them when they change back. This resets their stats to the current player level, and also does not appear to reset their inventory or quest scripting (although you will need to take an item from their inventory and put it back to get them to re-equip any non-default equipment you've given them). However, it has no effect if they are currently in your party.

There are a couple very specific occasions in which certain Followers will level up due to scripted events in quests; for example, Farkas will level up to the player's current level in the quest Proving Honor after his scripted transformation, likewise Aela will level up after her transformation in The Silver Hand (this is because the game de-spawns Farkas/Aela and replaces them with a transformed version, then re-spawns them later; the same process that occurs when manually using the console to "disable" then "enable" an NPC).

Follower Death
Fortunately for the followers, enemy combatants will tend to ignore them once their health is depleted. This condition is easily spotted as the follower will drop to one knee and stay in that position for a short period of time.

Once they have regenerated a sufficient amount of health, they will stand and rejoin the fight. This does not mean that they cannot die by physical attacks from NPC's. In some cases, especially when left no other target, NPC's will continue to attack a follower until death. In addition, in that near-death state, a follower is in danger of dying by being hit with an area-of-effect spell or attack.

To avoid follower death in this scenario, the best course of action to take is to lead attackers away from the area where the follower is trying to recover. Followers may also be given several healing potions to carry in their inventory. If the need arises, they will use them.

Other ways followers can die include:
 * Being killed by the player(including shouting)
 * Falling
 * Poison
 * Traps
 * Being hit by an enemy while the player is speaking with them
 * Attacked by turrets

Follows can be revived using the console command "player.placeatme " without quotes, the base ID in this case is just the base ID of your fallen follower. Confirmed to work April 1st, 2012 on 1.5 (this is not an april fools joke).

Follower Commands


Permanent followers can be given several commands.

Initiate conversation (outside of combat), and tell them I have something I want you to do. They can:

''Please note in some of the above commands, the companion will refuse to do it. (Steal, Attack, Etc.)''
 * Attack another NPC or creature (disposition allowing)
 * Wait at a given location (or just simply wait)
 * Use an object.
 * Open a locked door or container.
 * Pick up individual items or take everything from containers.
 * Sleep in a bed.
 * Sit on chairs and benches.
 * Activate a Shrine to receive its blessing.
 * Perform jobs such as wood chopping or mining ore.
 * Leave the Dragonborn's service.
 * Pickpocketing ( Dovakhiin must remain undetected )

There are some additional benefits from using certain commands. These are:
 * Followers can pick up skill books that the player may not want to read just yet. These can be safely taken from their inventory and read at a later date.
 * Followers can fill soul gems on the player's behalf - provided they have soul gems in their inventory and a weapon with the Soul Trap enchantment.
 * Followers will illuminate dark areas with a torch, provided there is one in their inventory.
 * Followers do not require lockpicks to pick locks.
 * As a vampire, ordering a follower to sleep will allow the player to feed off them.

If told to wait, a follower will wait for about 3 days before they get tired and leave the player. They will then return to their home, or the location where they were originally found.

Follower Morality
Every follower has their own level of morality. Certain followers, such as Farkas, are lawfull citizens and will report the player to the guards if they witness a crime. Other followers, such as Jenassa, will readily commit any crime they are ordered to do and will ignore any criminal behaviour by the player.

If a follower is asked to perform an illegal activity, the player will be held responsible - only if they are not hidden.

Inventory and Equipment


Followers can be commanded to pick up items even when they are at their carry limit and their movement rate will not be reduced.

Although the player can command a follower to pick up any piece of equipment, giving them the same piece of equipment (trading in conversation menu) has a different result, since followers might use it if it has higher stats.

Followers always equip the best possible weapons or apparel given to them. More specifically, the weapon with the highest damage value and the pieces of apparel with the highest armor value are equipped. Followers will not use equipment that is the same as their starting equipment unless it has been improved using smithing or enchantments.

Therefore, sometimes followers refuse to equip an item the player gave them (like in the above example: Mjoll the Lioness prefers two-handed weapons over one-handed, but the player can give her a sword and a shield). The player can start trade, take an old item from his follower (to prevent him using that piece of equipment) and then drop it, in order to exchange it with a newer/better piece of equipment, thus forcing the follower to equip the desired item.

Followers will retain their inventories after the player dismisses them. In this way, it is possible to use them for limited storage, as long as the player does not lose access to them somehow by turning them against the player. If they are killed the player can loot the stored items off the body.

Effect dismissing has on equipment
If the player sends their follower away (dismiss) and later the player decides to recruit him again, the player might find him using old equipment... The player can fix this by either leaving the area, or by simply taking away any piece of equipment from them, which will in turn "reset" them, causing them to equip their best available equipment. If the player chooses to “reset” their follower, he will use new/better equipment again.

Placing just a single arrow in a follower's inventory will give them an infinite supply of that type of arrow (assuming the follower has a bow), so it's a good idea to keep them equipped with one of the best arrows the player has. It can backfire against stronger enemies that use bows, as this can immediately cause the enemy to equip the one high-end arrow that landed on their body and shoot it back with an infinite supply.

Multiple Followers
Read the main article Multiple Followers.

Followers are said to be limited to one at a time but there are several ways to exploit this limit. Quest characters triggered to follow the Dragonborn, the Dark Brotherhood Initiate, summoning more than one Atronach, and mods on the make it possible to build a small army.

Housecarls
Housecarls are essentially bodyguards who protect nobility and important people from threats. Becoming the Thane of a Hold will grant the player a personal housecarl. All available housecarls are Nord warriors.

Faction Followers
Completing certain quests for a faction will grant the player access to followers from that faction.

Mercenaries
Mercenaries are typically found in taverns across Skyrim. They cost 500 to hire for any length of time. Dismissing a mercenary will send them back to the tavern they were hired from and to re-hire them will cost another 500.

Quest Reward Followers
These followers typically have a quest attached to them and it must be completed in order to gain them as a follower.

Misc Followers
These followers have no specific quest attached to them. Gaining them as a follower is a trivial affair.

Animals
Animal followers can be used alongside any humanoid follower, this means that the player can have one human and one dog follower simultaneously and Barbas for a total of 2 animals.

Barbas does not count as a true follower since he is tied to his quest but unlike other quest forced companions ( e.g. Farkas) the player's current animal follower will not be dismissed. Animal followers cannot be given items and thus cannot use equipment. As animal followers die with any killing stroke, they are not recommended late-game nor for use with powerful melee players, as a single attack from a high-level well-equipped player will result in the immediate death of the animal follower.

Followers who are Trainers
Some potential followers are also Trainers, who can train the player in particular combat skills, allowing him or her to increase the skill level for those skills. The training is not free, but once these trainers become the player's followers, he or she may may receive training without any permanent cost this way: If the player asks a follower to train him or her in a particular skill, after receiving the training, he or she may access the trainer's inventory and recover the spent gold. The following followers are also trainers. (Note: All but Faendal are Companions who require the player to significantly advanced the Companions quest-line before they become recruitable as followers.)
 * Aela the Huntress, Archery expert trainer (trains to level 75)
 * Athis, One-Handed expert trainer (trains to level 75)
 * Faendal, Archery adept trainer (trains to level 50)
 * Farkas, Heavy Armor master trainer (trains to level 90)
 * Njada Stonearm, Block expert trainer (trains to level 75)
 * Vilkas, Two-Handed master trainer (trains to level 90)

Bugs

 * Some Companions are glitched in such a way that they will not use any bow other than their default bow, regardless of the quality of any bow the player might provide them with. Some Companions will only use a "Heavy" bow i.e. dwarven, ebony, daedric. Others wll only use a "Light" bow i.e. glass, or elven. Armor type seems to dictate bow type.
 * Followers can be commanded to pick up items off the ground or from unlocked container that would otherwise exceed their carry capacity and continue to move normally. In this way, followers can carry an "infinite" amount of loot. All items picked up this way will be marked as stolen item however.
 * Followers can get stuck on terrain. In some cases it is possible to free them by using any knockback effect.
 * It may be impossible to get to where the Follower is stuck. In this case the console command TCL can be used to turn off collision and position the player. Press the tilde (~) key to open the console, type TCL, press the tilde key to close the console. Reverse the process to turn collision back on.
 * In some areas, when the player goes through a door, his follower will spawn from a different door in the same area. Meaning, if there is more than one door to enter somewhere, the follower may enter from a different door than the player. This can cause serious problems, especially due to the fact they can get into a fight.
 * If most followers are given Blades armor before asking Delphine to make the follower (if applicable) a member of the Blades, they will not receive any of the free Blades armor that usually replace their natural armors.
 * When trespassing in an area, followers will act like the owners of the trespassing area, meaning that no dialog can be opened with them (they instead use a generic "You're not supposed to be in here" line for their gender and race), rendering the player unable to perform any actions with them.
 * If selecting them from a distance so the dialogue menu won't show up, the Dragonborn will be able to command them to take, steal, etc., but still will not be able to trade with them since this requires bringing up the dialogue menu.
 * At some point after the quest A Blade In The Dark, potential followers might comment on the player having someone with him if asked to follow him, despite having no followers, no matter where he go or how often a recent save is reloaded.
 * Dismissing and rehiring Followers can result in their default starting equipment being added again every time they are rehired. Much of this equipment may not be displayed in their invetory. As a result, followers' carry capacity will diminish every time they are rehired since this default equipment has weight. The speed at which Followers will ultimately reach an effective zero carry capacity is effected by the weight of their starting equipment and the number of times they've been rehired.
 * It is possible to have a wolf as a follower, but this is a very rare occurrence. When faced with a wolf it will most likely attack the player, but it would sometimes run up to the player without attacking. One reason this glitch is hard to find is because most people attack the wolf not knowing it is friendly. Even though the wolf is friendly guards and allies will attack it as if it were hostile.
 * If a bounty is placed on the Dragonborn's head in every region of Skyrim, followers will keep coming up and talking to him over and over and over as if they were guards pulling him over. During this time, if they are asked to follow just before killing them, the player will never be able to have another follower as the game thinks the dead follower is still following the player. There are no known fixes.
 * Followers of any kind can be often killed by Falmer power attacks and magic, so it might be a good idea to order them to wait before an intense fight. (Sure this isn't an accidental kill? Never had a follower die when that was not the case, even letting a large mob Draugr beat on them while Dovakhiin is hidden.)
 * (Xbox) If the "activate" key has been remapped to a button other than A, followers will not listen to the player's commands, they will just stand there. The way to fix this is by changing the "activate" key back to default