I got this thing bugging me.

So basically if you have a follower, who will often kill enemies when you barely swung 2 times at them, doesn't that slow your leveling down by quite a lot ? Since you only level when your skills level, if you don't get to hit/block/get hit that much, it's logical to assume you won't be leveling too fast.

For example. Playing a stealth archer and using Jenassa (the assassin dunmer from whiterun). She will automatically charge in if the enemy is in aggro range or if you get attacked. I went with her to kill some bandits at a tower bridge around whiterun (valtheim something). I snuck in, killed one npc and then the tower detected her and she went Rambo style and killed them all. I even took away her melee weapon so she just shoots and never goes melee, but she picked up an axe from a dead mob ( haha, nice AND bad AI). I barely killed a npc before she slaughtered the entire gang. I got zilch skill progression from all that.

Also, assuming I play a 1hander and shield warrior, while I block, my follower kills them. The most skillpoints a melee guy gets is from swinging the weapon. Since sword and board warriors spend a lot of time blocking, some guy killing your target is not gonna help your leveling one bit.

I'm guessing playing a mage who relies on summons and followers is going to get 1 level per year played.

Is this correct ?

Take their weapons from them....

Yeah, followers obviously would slow down your leveling, since they help you in fights and then obviously take hits and deal damage for you, thus reducing the skills that you level. I don't see whats wrong with this, since it is so perfectly logical. Don't like it, don't bring a companion.

And you said she has bad AI because she picked up an axe when she had no weapon? So being in a fight with people with swords, without a sword, you think it is dumb to pick up a nearby weapon?

Well, yes, I would think. But, you have to account for the times that they save your life by fighting for you or by drawing enemy fire.

I have slain each of my house carls. Or whatever they are called. I hid in another room and used arrows to add holes in thier heads where holes don't belong.

Yeah, my follower is there to carry stuff for me.

i think followers were implemented as a ways to 'help' if the game was too hard for some people. start out with one to help while you get the hang of the game and then dismiss them or tell them to wait. if you ever get to a point where the help is needed, they are there. if you can handle it fine on your own, don't use them. simple.

i play a mage and they get in the way of my spells. i've had like 5 followers so far and killed them all myself via aoe damage. so i just stopped bringing them with me, they just get in my way plus if i need an extra hand ill just summon a minion, conjuration ftw ^_^ screw followers (and horses)

She had a bow but instead of using that, she picked up an axe. The AI is good that it does that but also bad because it's not always the best thing to do.

Well it's partly correct. But I think it's more complex (and worse) because of the level scaling.

Your companion is going to help you use your offensive and defensive combat skills less. But you will use the non-combat skills just as much (lock picking, selling loot, etc.). This will cause you to level up, and the scaled enemies will magically level up with you. Rely too much on your companion and you may indeed fall below the power curve...


Isn't level scaling great?

Get a tankier follower that does less damage instead of an assassin. You should get a follower that does the opposite of what you do

I love followers, but playing on the PC means I can fix them with console commands when they get lost and do stupid things.

Sure it slows down your leveling, and they are not needed for the vanilla game but think of the modding potential? Increase the spawn sizes big enough so that you need 3-4 followers just to win the fight. Would be a blast.

That is why I don't use them, I need no help from you!

I think leveling is too fast anyway...

Yes followers do ruin your leveling and that's something you have to think about. But then you have to think about how helpful followers can be.

It's your decision.

I've become quite torn on followers. They do slow down leveling which is sort-of good and sort-of bad depending on your playstyle/familiarity with TES, etc.

However, I kinda like a few of them as characters: Jenassa, Aranea, Lydia, Annekke...

In my second playthrough I determined that by utilizing followers I was not examining the situations before me as thoroughly. Basically, without a follower I play more patiently, assessing the terrain, traps to use, enemies in the area, etc. With a follower, you can kinda get caught up in "charge in and hack" mode.

Then again, I'm running around currently for the time-being with Uthgerd simply because I needed a follower to adorn in . Quite badass! As a light armor redguard I had no use it for it but it felt wrong to not utilize it after getting my hands on it.

But on the other hand, now that I have Sanguine's Rose, I think I will utilize its ability to augment my playstyle when necessary rather than a follower.

Mine died, I done 1 to 25 without but wanted to try one so I took the archer from riverwood then went off to hit the nearest dungeon (one with the golden claw) but before I even got close to it he died.. or should I say I killed him :ermm:


I'm playing as a wood elf sneak thief archer, So I took the archer, went up the mountain and got near to the bandit tower I told my follower where to go and when he got there I started the attack, next thing I know is he goes running in and takes a arrow in the back of the head, he went down with one shot, I was then left to face the bandits solo hmy:

I had the exact same gripe with taking a follower with me early on. I'm very impatient when it comes to getting the combat skills I want; hell I would draw out fights with manageable opponents just to get my armor and blocking skills up. At the same time followers are kinda necessary for a lot of the early stuff on master since you'll often be fighting 2-3 things at a time that can 2-shot you.

Yeah, they kill steal my Blocks. But that's the price you pay for a loot carrying mule