Player houses don't reset - your stuff will just lie around forever. Other cells, like shops, or taverns should reset fairly frequently.

It might be best to lay off the housecarls, and stick to the followers you pick up in bars or guilds.

While there is no normal way to level up other than hiring them at later levels, I use console commands ( PC ).
To do so
1. Take all items from the follower
2. Part ways
3. While the follower is still in front of you press ~
4. After pressing ~ use your mouse to click on your follower. The number that indicates the actor id should appear
5. Now type the following in order and press ENTER after each command
disable
enable
6. Exit from console and rehire the follower and follow step 4.
7. Enter the following commands and press ENTER after each
removeallitems
disable
enable

To check the stats of your follower use the getav command. To use it
1. After pressing ~ use your mouse to click on your follower. The number that indicates the actor id should appear
2. Type "getav " withoput quotes where is to be replaced by health,stamina,onehanded,twohanded etc.

Check stats before and after. You will see the difference

will removing all items get rid of their crappy weapons and force them to use what we give them?

Dunno didn't try
If you don't use disable and enable in Step 7. The followers will be withour default armour and weapons. You can try and see.
The removeallitems command is used in this context because there is a bug which duplicates the default armour and weapons everytime you rehire and dismiss a follower effectively lowering thier carry capacity

You want to use the "GetAVInfo " command, as it not only shows what the current stat is, but also what it should be.

That way, you can easily verify if they level up as they should.

Please, what's the point of Step 7? Wouldn't she just still be wearing her steal armor or does everything upgrade to something better?

Every NPC I've had as a follower has been affected by this to some degree or another.
So I'd go on the line and say it is actually a widespread thing, it effects them all. But the degree it only noticed on a few.
Lydia was the most noticiable since we met so early on in the game.
So with her being gimped stat wise, by the time you are level 15-20, to that of when we first met(1-5), she very quickly became weak in comparision.
But my favourite follower and wife, MJoll also had a sudden rise in health when I did this to her too.
I did it on a few others all atleast changed their health, none stayed the same after doing a disable, then enable on them.
I'm going to start checking other followers whom I've not used irregularily to see if I can boost there health.

No, if you disable them while they have their swag, then you lose those items when you re-enable them.

Now, as a variation on the above post about giving them a vacation. I had told Lydia to wait somewhere then I forgot about her and when I remembered her, I forgot where I told her to wait. Anyway, the game told me this morning that she got tired of waiting and left. Don't know where as she is not at Breezehome. I will wait a few game days and see if she shows up and if her stats improved.

Problem is, I did the disable/enable thing yesterday, so she may already be buffed up. I will try to level up a couple of times before I go and fetch her.

Check my above post.

If you don't use disable and enable in Step 7. The followers will be withour default armour and weapons. You can try and see.
The removeallitems command is used in this context because there is a bug which duplicates the default armour and weapons everytime you rehire and dismiss a follower effectively lowering thier carry capacity


Adding to it.
I used Disable and enable in Step 7. because I didn't have an armour set ready and also didn't know whether Lydia will equip it or not. If after "removeallitems" Lydia equips the armour you give her. Please PM me or post here. I will be really thankful since I don't want to waste time hunting to buying armour for her just so that she can stand naked there.

I dont know for sure, but I've seen my Lydia, who i got like level 4 do a sneak roll so.........

theres something going on there.

In theory all permanent followers will always match your current level. i.e. When you are level 10 they will be level 10, when you leveled to level 11 they'll become level 11 as well.
Their stats should also increase proportionally.

But there's a bug currently that makes the followers unable to gain the stats properly when they level up. That's why UESP says their skills will be fixed when you first meet them. Because their character templates are created the moment you first meet them.

The only way to solve this is like what OP said, by using "disable" and "enable".

Companions will never die unless it's you who gave them the final blow. They'll always fall to their knees when their HP is low enough. It's doesn't matter if they are level 1 or level 50.

So is there anyway for console players to have their followers level up?

Or can PC players only get them fixed through commands?

Holy cow! I just did those seven steps and Lydia's Health went from 170 to 356. Afterward I gave her upgraded Plate Steel armor and a glass sword. Wicked! What a difference.

It doesn't look like it, tbh I had Eola return home while I waited for 30+ days (which is meant to be the cell-reset interval for 'cleared' areas), before collecting her again, and there didn't seem to be any improvement Either Bethesda fixes the bug, or we're stuck with it

Thanks all for this thread.

When I tried Nashnir's method, after telling Illia to go home, then disable and enable her, she can't start a dialog. She just says "need something?". So I tried to bring her back to the Darklite Tower, try this method. She does the same thing, can't enter dialog. I tried zoning, Waiting an Hour with no luck.

Is there a way to Force Dialog?


Thanks for any tips.

I wonder if it reset her disposition to you also. She may not know you did her quest now. You'll have to use the console to set her disposition again. Housecarl followers don't need this as their dispositions does not govern if they are a follower or not.

Thanks LeBurns, I'll try getdisposition before and after.

I know about showinventory but is there a command to see your Follower's spell list and possible how to add a spell?



Thanks.

Ah, :/

Thanks for answering though!

I've only had Lydia as a follower so far. And by checking the here level with the console she does appear to be increasing her level with my character.

To check the level you can open the console (tilde "~") click on the character (Lydia in this case) then enter the command "getlevel".

As mentioned above getav will show health (getav health) and will also show skill level (eg "getav block").

I've checked stats on Lydia between levels 9 and 10 and she increased stats with my character.

Is there any work around for those of us playing on the xbox 360 ? and yes I know I know pc is superior blah blah blah but I have to work with what I got and can afford.

Lydia had become noticeably more fragile after a few levels as a follower. Once I disabled and enabled her by using the console not only did she become stronger but she also started leveling up properly this time.

Is this even a bug? Are you sure this system isn't in place to encourage using more than 1 follower on your journey?

PC users can check their followers level with console commands and mine has been leveling up every time I do. I'm not sure if leveling increases their hp or damage in any significant way, they likely don't scale even half as well as you do, but they do seem to level up.

Did you read my post above?

Lydia increased level and health with my character.