Followers

[dib]

Hello!

Was wondering a little about follower level. Tried to search on google but most of posts are a couple of years old, talk about pre and post v1.6 and some wobajjokie exploit. Now the game has probably been patched 100 times and there is also this new special edition.

Which of the following is true?

1. Followers have a fixed level depending on when you first met them and stay at that level until they join you and then gain xp/level doing ♥♥♥♥ together with you.

2. Followers automatically adjust and get the same level as you when they start following you and then earn exp together with you?

I mean i want Aela but I'm lvl 35 and have been playing without followers so far. Will she start at the level when I met her the first time? Which was early..... Or will she be lvl 35?

I also have another question.
Do they gain xp doing their specific skills, i.e they level archery when they shoot bows etc. What about if I do some new gear by smithing, will they gain smithing? Or do they earn general xp towards the next level and then have some predefined distribution of stats/skill points dispersion depending on their lvl? I.e i do ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of smithing and gain 2 levels, they also gain 2 levels but they gain some points in sneak, archery, etc.

Thanks for any clarification.

Cheers,
dib

[John]

Follower level: No they fixed that a long time ago, their level depends on your level and they level with you. They do have max levels though, and they vary quite a lot, so you can take Aela all you want, she caps at 50.

No, they gain more powerful depending on your level, hp calculation is something like (x + (x * level & something else)), same for magicka and stamina, best to check uesp for them. For other skills?, well they just up their primary abilities when you level up independent of your skills, only your level matters. For Aela that is, Archery, Light armor, Sneak, One handed and speech, why speech i have no idea but she levels it.

Edit:
Smithing, you can smith everything they have. However, it's a little more tricky with their personal equiped armor, as you can't just take it away from them unless you have that pickpocket perk. Then you can upgrade it and just give it back and they should equip it. However, you can just give them whatever you want, if it's better they will usually equip it.

Enchantments: You can enchant their gear, best to check this link to see what works for them:
https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Followers_(Skyrim)

Follower hunting bow, for some reason bows are incredibly buggy and they blatantly refuse to use most bows except their hunting bow, which again, you can only get with a pickpocket perk. The easiest way to give them a different bow, is to just give them a forsworn bow, in the famous words of God Howard, It just works.

[HazakTheMad]

UESP will help you out there,
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Followers
1.6 did NOT touch followers at all.

[dib]

Originally posted by John:

Follower level: No they fixed that a long time ago, their level depends on your level and they level with you. They do have max levels though, and they vary quite a lot, so you can take Aela all you want, she caps at 50.

No, they gain more powerful depending on your level, hp calculation is something like (x + (x * level & something else)), same for magicka and stamina, best to check uesp for them. For other skills?, well they just up their primary abilities when you level up independent of your skills, only your level matters. For Aela that is, Archery, Light armor, Sneak, One handed and speech, why speech i have no idea but she levels it.

Originally posted by John:

Follower level: No they fixed that a long time ago, their level depends on your level and they level with you. They do have max levels though, and they vary quite a lot, so you can take Aela all you want, she caps at 50.

No, they gain more powerful depending on your level, hp calculation is something like (x + (x * level & something else)), same for magicka and stamina, best to check uesp for them. For other skills?, well they just up their primary abilities when you level up independent of your skills, only your level matters. For Aela that is, Archery, Light armor, Sneak, One handed and speech, why speech i have no idea but she levels it.

Thanks for the reply.

So if im understanding it correctly she will also be lvl 35 if i pick her up now?

[HazakTheMad]

According to UESP, she will level up to 50, with her being level 35 now.

[John]

Originally posted by dib:

Thanks for the reply.

So if im understanding it correctly she will also be lvl 35 if i pick her up now?

From UESP: Level PC×1 (range=8-50)
So yeah.

[Vlad 254]

Looks like the answers from both Hazak and John are spot on from what I see. I probably would have added the same links they added.

[jerrypocalypse]

Originally posted by HazakTheMad:

UESP will help you out there,
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Followers
1.6 did NOT touch followers at all.

Definitely use the link above for follower levels and skills. UESP also has some helpful info at the bottom of each follower page if the unofficial patch altered their skills, since some had a different "class" than what their starting gear would suggest.

[dib]

Thanks all! Im new to skyrim so didn't really understand it but now I do, so I can keep soloing a while longer and pick her up later.

[John]

Originally posted by HazakTheMad:

UESP will help you out there,
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Followers
1.6 did NOT touch followers at all.

Ah, uesp also has the follower enchantments, even less reason to use fandom these days :P

[HazakTheMad]

Originally posted by John:

Originally posted by HazakTheMad:

UESP will help you out there,
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Followers
1.6 did NOT touch followers at all.

Ah, uesp also has the follower enchantments, even less reason to use fandom these days :P

Did you know that the Fandom ES wiki was made by EX UESP members?
Some kerfuffle back long long ago, something about different points of views on etiquette and speed of administrative tasks.

[matt]

Followers will always be at your level, up to their level cap. For most followers, that's 20, 30, or 50. Each time they gain a level, they get a set number of health, stamina, and magicka, and their skills go up a little. I think level 20 is too low and avoid these followers. Each follower has preferences for their favorite skills, and they'll gain more per level in certain skills than others. An archer, for example, will level up their one-handed skill slowly.

Several followers have no level cap. For example, Durak, an archer from Dawnguard, and Frea, a spellsword from Dragonborn. The benefit is somewhat limited because followers are capped at skill level 100, but they'll continue gaining health, stamina, and magicka.