So companions at first seemed like a bit of a joke to me. Heck, Lydia lasted all of two quests and then was stomped royally by a troll. Since then I've been solo.

But now I've found someone I think it'd be fun to tag around with for a bit...but I'd hate to see him die as quickly as Lydia did.

Any suggestions?

Also, does anyone know if, that by activating a certain companion, that it changes the enviroment/situation around them? The guy I'm lookin at is Kharjo, the Khajiiti guarding the roaming band of Khajiiti. I'd hate to take him away and have them raided or destoryed.

Thanks for the help...please do keep any story spoilers void here by simply saying yes or no that itll change the world.

They never die unless YOU kill them accidentally, the game is designed that way.

They always 'crouch' when they almost die, then the mob will focus on something else and leave him/her alone.

My companion once even got launched into the air (glitch) by a giant, landed, crouched, and was still alive.


So just make sure you dont hit them (think of fireball attacks)

I was with Ungtherd/Untherd and she was on a floor trap that spat out fire. She was crouching and there was nothing I could do, because as long as she was on it, it was spitting out fire. I guess I could have shouted her off, but she didn't die, just tied her shoe for a long time.

"Seldom": they're still vulnerable and many players have found to their cost that they still end up being killed.

The only way to avoid this is if you're on the PC, in which case you can lookup their base ID on http://www.uesp.net and use the console command "setessential id 1", which will make them invulnerable.

Get Heal Other and use it. You can stand behind your tank companion and just heal them up over and over. Couple the Heal Other with a Wall of .... spell and you'll have no problems at all.

Not true I've one die to a trap in a tomb right in front of me, it was a sad moment.... I had to carry all that crap myself

If Shadowmere can die, anyone can.

I don't get this,
My friend asked me how many companions I had gone through, he said he had already killed 3. I haven't had any die, they always get back up.

I have never used it but it's probably easier to just drop console, type resurrect, click on hit enter and, presto change-o. all better now.

Poor Lydia...

Get Mjoll the Lioness as your buddy. If you can stand her constant babble and refusal to do anything but stay back and shoot worthless arrows, you will have an essential npc, which means she can't die.

When one of mine goes into a trap, even those rotating blades, they get hit 10 times and don't die, they crouch, and get hit 5 times more, and still dont die, but if i accidently hit them.. they die.

Not entirely true, I was treking through the swamps near Marthal with Cosnach, we got ambushed and swarmed by spiders, I make short work of the ones attacking me then I see another group of them in a circle surrounding something, then they concentrate on me, it was easy killing them but I looked around for Cosnach for a few minutes and I found him dead lying face down in some dirt. nowhere near me or the groups I killed.

You could do that, but in previous games that use nasty variables like "getdeadcount", it can cause certain problems if they've died at all, even if they've been resurrected. Besides, once they're essential, they stay that way (well, in theory) so you don't need to keep doing it: now if only there was an automatic way of doing "moveto player" if they fall too far behind... I guess that'll be one of my first projects once the CK is released!

Edit: redundand redundancy is redundant.

Give them a load of health potions to carry around.

The few times Ive had a companion die it was from friendly fire.

Same here. Poor Lyds have taken some serious beatings, but she stands right back up.

She frequently gets hit when we're not at home too...

Which is why I reload every time they die. Its obvious they are meant to stick around. If they were supposed to die, then they would DIE instead of tie their shoes. It is so lame when they crouch and I accidentally scratch them with my hangnail and they die but they can sit there and be burned to crisp by a dragon non-stop.

im constantly healing mine if i think their hurt too bad..plus it makes your restoration go up so you got a win win..

Using the "resurrect" console command seems to have the nasty side effect of "resetting" the Companion. IE: anything that they had on their person will be GONE.

i had one of them attack me after i used a healing spell realy odd.

Your companions can actually be finished off while crouching, even by enemies. Enemies will turn their attention off her when she crouches but if you're still fighting around her one of them might accidentally hit her or she might get aoe to death.

Anyways, you can equip your companions with better armor and weapons to give them more of a fighting chance. There are restoration spells that let you heal companions and I'm not sure about this but they "might" use potions if you give to them. Also, when you see your companion take a knee try to lead all the fighting as far away from them as possible.

i hired a random guy from an inn and he acts as if he is essential all the time as long as "i don't do the killing blow" he gets back up again with a trickle of health and starts fighting again 15 secs later.

Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Handy for replacing missing items they're supposed to have, not so handy for stuff you don't want them to lose.


It's funny how persistent these rumours become once they start! A bit like "placeatme" being a good idea which still persists years after people were repeatedly warned not to use it (and to be clear, do not use that command for summoning NPCs!) Anyway, if there's any doubt, most if not all companions are completely vulnerable however lucky people have been so far.

Oh yeah, one thing I forgot is that there's a bug that stops companions' stats being recalculated on level-up: disable/enable is reported to calculate them (use with caution: although it seems to be trouble-free, you can never tell, so make a permanent save first) and dismissing and rehiring them is reported to also work, though I suspect they may need to make a transition to another cell first.

i used the storm shout after i got it just to what it was like..my follower stood in the middle of the road getting repeatedly struck by lightning. he looked like a giant lightning rod and he kept saying HEY!! STOP THAT!!! IM NOT GONNA TELL YOU AGAIN!!! it was hilarious..i laughed till i cried like a baby.. :biggrin:

it says in the players guide they can only be killed by your killing blow..maybe that where the rumor started.. :whistling: