To bother, or not to bother, with Faendal

[Captain Keen]

And let me be clear: It's not really about Faendal. He's just one of many followers whose primary function seem to be to die, random, while carrying piles of your loot.

Generally, I notice hours later, because they do so little of anything meaningful.

They block doorways and corridors - and they die, giving you a choice of not reloading, costing you a pile of treasure .. or doing the reload, and having to wait for them to ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ move the next time they're in a doorway.

Moronic bloody things.

However, the journey just seems too long and lonely to not have some sort of follower tagging along.

Is any of them worth it?

[Mathelgar]

Inigo, wait we're talking about vanilla, are we including dlc? Anyway, Serana would be a good choice because she can raise the dead, Teldryn Sero is a nice follower, Jizz-argo is good too, Lydia because she is sworn to carry you burdens, Todd is also good because you can buy the Skyrim NES port, and so many others

[Captain Keen]

Yes, but .. I mean, no matter who you chose, they're going to stand in doorways like morons, and do precious little in combat (or anywhere else). Right?

[Mathelgar]

Originally posted by Captain Keen:

Yes, but .. I mean, no matter who you chose, they're going to stand in doorways like morons, and do precious little in combat (or anywhere else). Right?

You can just Fus Ro Dah them, or maybe find a mod that does what you're looking for

[Captain Keen]

Originally posted by ravencap0807:

You can just Fus Ro Dah them, or maybe find a mod that does what you're looking for

But that's hardly the point, is it? Yes, I can manually compensate for their idiocy - but I cannot really make them relevant.

They don't contribute much of anything. I can move them from doorways, and maybe I can manage to keep them alive most of the time.

That removes the annoyance. But it certainly doesn't make them relevant.

[♥ Barney ♥]

I find them very useful. They are a walking backpack for the extra loot you can't carry, and a good shield to have between you and the enemy, so you can hit them from a distance or run away if they are too tough. I use a mod called 'move it dammit' to stop the blocking doorways thing, and a mod called 'Relationship dialogue overhaul' so they don't keep saying the same thing every few minutes.

Faendal is pretty rubbish though as he's an archer and will stand back in combat, you need a good 1-handed or 2-handed warrior tank to get between you and the enemy - Lydia, Uthgerd maybe.

[jreese46]

If you're going only vanilla, no mods, get Mjoll. She is a beast in combat, and is also essential, so you don't have to worry about her dying. She will, of course, still block you in doors and push you off cliffs. When she does that, back up a tiny bit and sprint into her.

If you are using mods, then the sky is the limit. AFT will give you a "get behind me" dialog, and will also automatically move them out of the way when you draw your weapon. There is also a "stay back" setting, to keep them from bunching up on you so badly, and there are settings to determine whether you want them to initiate combat or wait for you.

[Captain Keen]

The backpack thing is true. Sorta slipped my mind. Useful.

Having them run in front of me to die when they get hit by my spells is less useful. I've picked Faendal on purpose, because he's an archer - he dies less.

I could use a tank, I guess. But I had what's-his-name along - Farengar? - and he tried to kill me because he couldn't keep out of my spell effects. Stupid guy.

But yes. They do carry a lot of extra loot.

Oh, and the Move, Dammit! mod is so very appropriately named =)

[Rez Elwin]

You just haven't had the benefit of a good follower yet. Frea for example is one of the best Followers in the game and can hold her own in a fight, she also has no level cap so she is always useful(granted she is part of the dragonborn dlc). It helps if you have smiting and actually outfit your people. Lydia in full daedric isn't too bad.

They might get in your way from time to time but when you have another good fighter it's worth it. Modded followers are far better though, some of them anyway, Inigo as mentioned is one of the best, competent in a fight but more importantly he is interesting.

[Captain Keen]

Yea .. I don't have any dlc. I do outfit, but not obsessively so. I cannot grind, hence I can only attain the levels of smithing, enchanting and so forth that sort of happen naturally during play. Daedric seems unlikely =)

[Rez Elwin]

Well that is just an example of course, as long as they have equivalent gear to you they should be able to help in combat.

Also if you do intend to use Lydia, or any other heavy armor character it might be a good idea to take their bow, they sometimes like to get in an enemies face with it instead of their melee weapon, while pretty funny it is woefully ineffective.

[slayor3000]

Never, well rarely use followers, last time I did I made my own.

As far as Faendal goes, can be good at start for mule when wanting to make money.
Although best use for him is if you want to raise archery quickly at the start of the game.

[Luca NK]

Originally posted by slayor3000:

Never, well rarely use followers, last time I did I made my own.

As far as Faendal goes, can be good at start for mule when wanting to make money.
Although best use for him is if you want to raise archery quickly at the start of the game.

Yeah, Faendal is useful to skill archery up to 50 for free, after that he just charged my Ebony Blade.

I currently use the orc lady you can recruit in one of the strongholds, kitted her up with some enchanted armor and weapons, never disappointed so far.

Any Housecarl is a good follower to be fair, I also noticed that if blocking a door and facing them up close long enough they will just step back.

Now, they still trigger every single trap I come across...

[TumbleWeed]

'move it dammit' 'Relationship dialogue overhaul' "AFT(what)" will give you a "get behind me" dialog.
Being a newbie where do I find these..
Thanks
I use the magi form Riften Marco something like that he works well for me.. I keep learning more about what to do with followers from this forum.

[ZanyScum]

Whatever follower I tried, it would be a short time until I removed them. Men, woman, dogs, cats... I tried them all. They all suck.

Then I tried Sofia. I changed my way to fight just for her :-)
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/54527?tab=description

[John]

Vanilla followers?, most are pretty meh and are pretty much copy pastes of each other in every way or are just not worth it. The good ones?

Celann, no level cap, fairly good combat AI, has the extra damage 1.5 perk, he's like an improved housecarl.
Ralis, lvl 60 max, good combat AI, dual flurry perk, extra damage 2.0, his damage potential is ridiculous
Frea, no level cap, good combat AI, dual flurry perk, unlike Ralis and Celann no extra damage perk, but she can reach a higher level than Ralis.

These are pretty much the top 3, lots of people swear with Marcurio, but his max level is 40 and on higher difficulties he is rather lacking.