*** Edit: After doing some experiments with the console, it seems that at least some of the follower do not get updated stats when the player's characters levels up. I can confirm this for the Khajiit follower; have not tested it with others. Enabling and disabling him gave him updated stats and skill levels. ***


Over the past few weeks, whenever the topic came up, most people seemed to agree that followers level up when the player character does. My experience with my Khajiit follower hasn't really matched that, though it's hard to verify. Subjectively, he's gotten weaker in the past ten levels of having played with him as a companion. So now I read http://www.uesp.net/wiki/skyrim:followers at the UESP:


UESP is a good source, though wikis are what they are, so information may not always be correct. It clashes with what many people seem to believe is the case (that followers level up). Have there been any definite statements on the topic? Or any first hand experiences?

They also propose a solution, and if this is true, this will be the first time I use the console for a "real" change to the game:


Thoughts?

I read they dont but my follower seems pretty uber.

They do. I used the console to check their levels/stats and for the most part, it seems to level up with you.

Except that doesnt help the XBOX/PS3 games. I do notice that followers there don't seem to increase in stats.... my Lydia hits like a wet noodle, even with her legendary ebony waraxe...and gets taken out within 3-4 shots, even in fully legendary dragonplate.

Needs to be looked at~ I for one stopped using companions because of this... Having them be 1shotted all the time is just... Urgh, also they dont keep up with you and you have to stop most of the time for them to catch up which is annoying.

Hmm, so we have one definite-sounding report that they do level up, and a definite-sounding first hand experience that they don't. I wonder if there is a difference between consoles and the PC version?

What's the console command to check their stats?

Thankfully, this is easy to solve on the PC, by using the 'Enable' and 'Disable' solution quoted in the first post.

I'm level 35 (about 5th restart), I take Lydia everywhwere I go, she's only ever fallen to her knees & got back up. If she never leveled up or gained massive HP's she would die all the time. but most peoples game will be different. I tend to keep the companions as they are, not change their styles.

Followers are supposed to level up, but wheather they do or do not one thing they certainly do NOT do is get updated stats. However you found them when you first entered a cell with them is how they will be.

You can verify this by opening the console with the NPC in your view, click the NPC and type "getav health" you will notice the health is very low even if you are very high level

Now, make sure they are not currently following you (send Lydia home etc.) and after click them again as above enter "disable" hit enter followed by "enable".

Now "getav health" again and you will notice a jump if you are much higher level than when you first encountered them. You can also check all the other stats "getav xxxxx"

It's an obvious bug, I would sure expect it to be fixed in next patch, but who knows.

show av health didnt work, do i need to send my companion home than check or its ok if he is folowing me?

im wondering if you tell them to go home and dont see them for a few days that maybe they reset to your current level when you hire them again. ive seemed to experience both sides of the coin. companions that get weaker and also companions that hit hard not matter when i got them. ill have to try this theory out on my next new character.

With the console open, click the NPC. You should see a code display at the top of the console something like #000134XBV or some variation

This is when you type

"getav health" no quotation, and no space between get and av...


It should work

yes they do they said this before

"showav health" didn't work for me either, but "getav health" did.

They level up but they do not get updated stats. So being "Level 10" or "Level 20" is all pointless when their health, magicka, stamina, and skills are all the same as the first time you met them!

Yeah... oops GETAV health I'm downstairs watching TV

Yes i did, the companion code is in quotations, do i need to send him home first, also the command doesn't work on any npc it just says error and stuff like that

Yeah my fault it is getav not showav

They level, but leveling doesn't update their stats, so they stay weak. As for them not dying but rather just submitting and kneeling down, this is not a good power indicator. All companions do this when their health gets below a certain thresold. However, if you ever hire a companion you first met at a higher level and go adventure with him or her, you'll notice they can take way more punishment before kneeling down than your previous follower could. This is because they do have more health to spare. I realized the same thing with my own transition from Lydia (met around level 5-6) to Borgakh Steel-Heart (met around level 27-28). Towards the end, Lydia would always go down in the first few seconds of any fight. Borgakh, on the other hand, proved extremely durable initially and a breath of fresh air, but is now starting to trail behind, too.

Okay, thanks to Dragon Toothpick's tip with the console command to check an NPCs health and skills, I can confirm that my Khajiit follower's stats haven't been updated. I loaded an old save game from when my character was 20 and a new one (ten levels higher), and the stats of my companion have been identical in both files. I then disabled and enabled the follower, and the stats updated correctly.

As I understand it, only Lydia is affected by this bug. Every other companion levels up properly.

This actually makes a lot of sense to me. I haven't experimented with this, but I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't turn out to be true.

Kharjo, the Khajiit, is affected by the same bug. I tested it with him (ditched Lydia early on).

I'll have to try this out myself, because I desperately want to hold on to my current companion.

My suspicions were aroused when Lydia, who was the veritable bulwark for my ricepaper-like caster, started to become more and more fragile as I levelled up -- eventually I started tanking for her! After I made the switch to Eola, I started to figure that perhaps since you can pick Lydia up so early, she's mean to be somewhat weaker as companions go. Lately though, Eola has started to fall behind as well, and I also thought it very suspicious that she hasn't started using any Expert-level spells (she and I were both up to Adept when I recruited her), whereas Illia (whom I only recruited recently) most definitely is.

On the other hand, I also became kinda suspicious about the 'stat raising while away' phenomena when I dropped in on Brylana (sp) of the College (whom I recruited not too long after I first recruited Lydia), and had her join the you-know-whos. After she became a member, I observed her going a few rounds with 'D,' and was surprised that she could... well, go a few rounds with 'D,' when by all rights she should have been eviscerated in short order.

As for Lydia, she has been putting the 'house' back in 'housecarl' at Breezehome for many game days now, so I'll check in on her and see if she's regained any of her former glory. Fingers crossed, because barring a fix in 1.2 or some future patch, this would be the only potential fix for console users who, ironically, don't have access to the console to fix such things. I'll report back here with the results, and would encourage others to do the same. It would be especially helpful if it turns out to be true at all, if the span of days necessary to reset the companion was recorded.


EDIT: Ok, well I tried it out and I'd have to rule it as 'inconclusive.' Lydia definitely hadn't improved: she could barely take out a Restless Draugr (and I'm @ level 38, for reference), and a Snow Troll ends her in 1-2 hits. I tried waiting 8+ days before collecting my other follower, Eola, and there did seem to be some improvement there... but finding a place to test before-and-after Eola so that she'd be up against exactly the same odds was very difficult.

I think that this is something for the PC guys to try, as they can actually access the stats themselves instead of having to infer them.

According to new information on the wiki, it seems that the followers do level up with you, however, the game just fails to actually update the stats when they level up because of a bug.

Potentially, if they are in a cell that will reset, the resetting of a cell should let them update their stats to reflect their proper level. That means letting Lydia take a few vacation days off to "train" a little.

You might also try using console commands to "disable" then "enable" them again.

Also, keep in mind that followers can use potions and staves. They seem to only really use things like direct health potions, though, Lydia doesn't seem to appreciate the maximum health raising potions much. It should probably still work if you make a health + something else potion. If you use alchemy and have an OCD-like need to harvest EVERY ingredient you find, even knowing you can't possibly use them all, giving Lydia 200 player-made healing potions is as good a use of the Alchemy skill as any.

Excellent points Do you know how long the cell-reset interval is for Skyrim? According to http://www.reddit.com/r/skyrim/comments/mnmwm/psa_follower_leveling/ on Reddit, it looks like it could be from between 10-30 days. Also, are there some cells that don't reset?

Another thing mentioned in that discussion is that the Dark Brotherhood Initiates scale correctly... so that might be of some help to my fellow unfortunates on the consoles.