Definitely have an NPC follow you a around. Not only do they make dungeon fights easier, you can dump 200 weight of inventory onto them when you become burdened with gear, effectively giving you 500 capacity.

How long does one usually live?

You have to be carefull.

Enemies won't kill them, as the NPC will kneel down when health gets too low and will get back up after a few seconds (or the fight ends)

HOWEVER

You can kill your NPC using your own attacks. If you accidentally kill your NPC, I recommend reloading. Since the game autosaves frequently, it hasn't been a huge problem reloading and re-doing a fight just to get the NPC back. I've accidentally killed my NPC maybe 3 times in 15 hours of playtime.

Err you positive - i swear i wasnt anywhere near my companion and she ded - i was too busy swimming around in some ruins and didnt notice there were any enemies - had to reload as i didnt want her to die as she was my characters wife.

I've had two of mine die and NOT get up. Course, in the heat of battle, it could've been me... I like upgrading their armor and giving them a sword and a staff

mine doesn't t die its awesome I've only used the the women who fallows me because im a Thane but i've seen several up for hire with complete different personalities/everything about them from mages to mercenaries to even former companion members and much more

Enemies and environment can sometimes kill followers. I've had to reload saves be ause mine died. Overall followers are great.

I have that woman in Whiterun who you can challenge to a fist fight following me at the moment.

many enemies, when your companion staggers and falls, will quickly stop attacking them and attack you. sometimes they do kill them with a powerblow. and some seem to not stop when companion is injured/down. not sure.

I think Aela was essential in the companion quest with her, because dang she was stuck in a room with 3 baddies while I fled like a tiny child for awhile (I did not know how to use a certain ability yet)


if they die, reload. unless you have been outside for a long time, you won't have too much to do. I tend to save when everything is safe, and if I hit a hard spot and triumph, save again. also save in dungeons if I have walked alot alot and don't want to go forward 10 feet, die, and then walk all that stuff again.

You wouldn't believe how many times I've accidentally nuked my follower with a Fire Rune. Oops.

I know they can die. Lydia almost died on me, she actually yielded to the enemy once and I was able to save her just in time before they finished her.

They can, and will, die from enemies, too if the enemy continues to attack them while your companion is yielding; which many enemies will do unless you're right there next to them to take the aggro off.

I've lost 5 companions in my current game already due to enemies killing them while I sat back and waited for them to kill my enemies for me.

My follower has died from dragon breath...since it does stop when they take a knee.

Giants...one hit and you are 500 ft straight up in the air.

and frost trolls

ohh almost forgot...crabs...Damn crabs killed her!

I've killed three companions- two by accident, one on purpose (for science! and because Lydia wouldn't stay out of my room) and it's always been at my hand. The woman in Dragonreach (the Unbroken or whatever) just kept standing in my fire and eating my mace blows, and Onmund dropped from a great height right in front of me when I was beating on someone. Lydia just got brained mercilessly. I've yet to lose any companion to outside accidents or fighting.

I'm 100% possitive. I specifically let my NPC fight alone and watch what happens. Because I'm playing some sort of battle mage, my fireballs are the only thing I've seen permanetly put the NPC down.

I even watched my NPC fight a dragon and fall in battle.

If you didn't kill them, they will come back.

I do however think there is an issue when dealing with hoards of enemies. When the NPC hits ~10% health, they yield and stop fighting, cowering on the ground. Enemies immediatly stop focusing the NPC and begin focusing you. The NPC remains behind with low health. However, if the NPC is tanking several enemies, and all the enemies take a swing at the same time, she can be killed, as the enemies didn't have enough time to stop fighting the NPC.

Either way, the game saves a lot, and can be corrected if you lose the NPC.

I use the elf guy you get in the first town. This might be because were both wood elfs but this posts note. My guy cant seem to die, he will drop to the ground but get back up minuits later or when I load to a different area he will reapear. I know this this for sure because i watch him die to mammoths and giants all the time. Beacuse I'm the cheap archer whos only lvl 8 and figured out that the big creatures in the world are reatarded when it comes to rocks and trees. Also, that my follower is reatarded and does'nt know how to run away, so he gets kocked down frequntly by them.

Does anyone know how many you can have follow you at one time. Right now I only have one, but I was just curious if anyone has more then one.

my followers tend to love to run in front of my sword....so im reloading/resurrecting frequently lol

From what I've read, you can only have one companion at a time, not counting a summoned/Dog pet. So you could have a companion, a dog and, perhaps, a summoned pet at the same time. I think.

EDIT: Also, another cool thing I discovered about companions is that some of them can pick locks for you!

IIRC You can have one human(oid) and one dog at the same time.

Other followers will tell you, you already have someone with you.

They are dump as a rock but useful nevertheless. The mage companion is a [censored] tank that destroys everything when given proper equipment.

Apparently they only actually properly die if you hit them but...

3 of my followers have died and for one of them i was on the other side of the room fighting than they were. I didnt accidently cast a spell or anything so I'm not really sure what happened.

I have also heard that peoples followers have respawned and been found somewhere random in about a months ingame time not confirming this though.

Plus a conjure... plus possibly a zombie from a staff or something...