Do followers have skill levels and level similar to the characters

the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim

I was helping Vilkas go to the temple and on our way I made a pitstop at a dungeon.
Inside the dungeon he would get hit only once and be down on the floor with barely any health…

So, I'm curious if followers have levels and if so how to do you check it and get them leveled?

Generally I don't take a follower because they ruin my sneak attack, don't do anything useful or end up getting killed because they stand right in front of me.

If there is a similar question on here please direct me..I've searched but haven't been able to find anything useful as of yet.

Best Answer

Followers have stats just like the player in skills and health. Those values are static and are set the first time you enter/load the zone that they are in. There are also maximum level caps for followers should your level be higher than that the first time you encounter them.

For example, most people meet Lydia very early on and she'll end up being locked in with 100 health and skills in the 20s, so she won't be as effective as Jordis (the housecarl you get in Solitude) whom you'll usually meet much later on since the house costs 25k gold to purchase.

If you are on the PC, there is a way to force an NPC to level up by resetting them:

  1. First, remove all the gear from the follower (at least the ones that you want to keep).
  2. Walk up to them, be as close as possible, open the console with the ~ key
  3. Click on your follower. When you do so, a string will appear at the top of your console that represents your follower's reference ID.
  4. On your console, type disable, then follow it up with enable

After this, your companion will be 'reset' to match what your current level is. Their health and skills should be improved.

Finally, keep in mind that all followers fall under a general category: warrior, thief, or mage. Lydia, for example, is a warrior and will never gain a sneak skill above 15 no matter what level you meet her at.

Related Topic