Forums » Elder Scrolls

Who gives gear to his/her followers?

    • 59 posts
    May 27, 2013 12:00 PM EDT

    Seeing one of Nelaf's discussions about followers, I wondered who went trou the effort and get the best gear for his husband/wife/companion/partner in crime/pack mule. And if so, wat do you give?

    For me:

    I just give the stuff I stop using (or dont use! Example being 1 handed for a 2 hander) until max crafting.

    The first time I did that was for Lydia (warrior) at high level. But now I look back at least half the enchants wont work for followers...

    The second time was a mage companion I fully maximized to wat would work. Tons of magic, a bit of health and quite resistant.

    How about you?

    (please name the class of the follower as well when you delve deep into enchants.)

    PS: sugestions are also welcome, I might make a how to equip companion's out of it.

    • 253 posts
    May 27, 2013 12:04 PM EDT

    For me it depends on my character and RP. If it is a build where I am supposed to have my follower and I be identical and fight the same, sure I will give them gear.

    Or if the are supposed to absorb a ton of damage for my I will give them an absorb health weapon and heavy armor with health regen.

    If I am just using the follower for a few runs through dwemer ruins as a pack mule I do not even bother with gear.

    • 59 posts
    May 27, 2013 12:11 PM EDT

    This was the mage follower set up:

    Vamp armor+circlet

    Enchants: 

    Head: Fort magica+waterbreating

    Body: Forth health and resist poison

    Gauntlets: Fort magica+carry weight (Still dont know if it works)

    Boots: Resist Schock and Frost

    Jewelry: Fort magica+resist magic (SOL variant)

    Back up weapons 

    To keep it mage like, staves and:

    Stahlrim dagger of Chaos + Absorb health

    Talk about an op follower lol 

    • 59 posts
    May 27, 2013 12:13 PM EDT

    I can understand that 

    May I note that fortify health regen does not work acording to uespwiki?

    • 291 posts
    May 27, 2013 1:45 PM EDT

    Depends on the follower and what I want to do with them.  Generally, I don't give them be best equipment in terms of stats.  Instead, I give them the best equipment in terms of appearance, class, and roleplaying.  This usually results in some lower quality weapons and armor, which is also intentional.  When you increase the difficulty of the game, you also increase the power of your followers.  Thus, if you intend to play on higher difficulties, then it becomes necessary to strategically "gimp" your follower's damage so they remain on the same level as the player.

    I gave Derkeethus modded armor equivalent to a set of leather armor as well as a better bow.  Derk is one of the few ranger-classed followers in the game, so outfitting him reflecting that seemed fairly important.  It also was more suitable in terms of roleplay as he was the companion of my character who was also a ranger.

    For Valindor, I gave him a chainmail shirt barely better than elven armor and armed him with a plain hunting bow...and a stick.  He was never meant to be anyone adept at combat, so I purposefully made him as weak as was realistic for a fledgling, idealistic, Bosmer bard.

    For Golldir, I'm not sure what I'll have him use.  I think I'd like for him to use an axe and shield, as he is a warrior class and axes are excellent weapons. (It also contrasts him with Arnau, who uses two-handed and Hoth, who also uses two-handed.)  His armor will probably be the Viking Chainmail Armor heavy variant from Immersive Armors.  That's the equivalent of ebony armor in terms of stats, which should offer some decent protection.  That armor I think also looks the best since he's very much a squire and not a full fledged knight.  If I were to translate that appearance into Vanilla terms, he would wear Dawnguard heavy armor with a hide armor helmet.

    Of course, there's always the chance that I may forego him using an axe and shield and make him use a crossbow.  This is mainly for gameplay purposes as it's a little hard to use a two-handed weapon when you have not one, but two followers standing in the way.  Plus, as a squire, he's really not supposed to do any fighting unless I, his knight, am in dire trouble.  Which is unlikely.  Therefore, his primary goal will be minor support.

    • 59 posts
    May 27, 2013 3:59 PM EDT

    Wel thats in depth 

    I like how you dont give them the best of the best, but go deep into role. It does have added value.

    • 106 posts
    May 27, 2013 4:12 PM EDT

    Giants club....

    • 59 posts
    May 27, 2013 4:16 PM EDT

    Cool!

    Personaly, I would add some stamina gear for some extra swings 

    • 25 posts
    May 27, 2013 6:23 PM EDT

    I only give gear to people if I find something I want to enchant,but can't carry it.

    • 59 posts
    May 28, 2013 12:46 PM EDT

    Thats a pack mule then 

    But I was wondering who properly eqeuped his/her followers. Seems like I am one of only few for now... Real shame

    • 856 posts
    May 28, 2013 1:14 PM EDT

    When I take on followers (rare), I try to give them nice equipment (usually I get the best, and they get second best).  I also will leave equipment around for other NPC's to pick up and use in case of a dragon (et. al.) attack.

    • 59 posts
    May 28, 2013 3:39 PM EDT

    Thats how I treat my followers aswell 

    "I also will leave equipment around for other NPC's to pick up and use in case of a dragon (et. al.) attack"

    Wut??? How u mean? Sounds.. Intriging

  • May 28, 2013 3:52 PM EDT

    I do :) only if they have crappy stuff or if I can't hold anymore lol

    • 856 posts
    May 28, 2013 3:58 PM EDT

    I was testing and dropped a very nice two-hander during a dragon attack in Riverwood.   Alvor picked it up and used it.  I now leave weapons near my character's friends, usually they use them during an attack, but sometimes not.  (I also tried leaving armor around, but never could get them to pick them up and wear them.)

    • 59 posts
    May 30, 2013 2:37 AM EDT

    Wow, thats nice 

    • 59 posts
    May 30, 2013 2:40 AM EDT

    Serana in forsworn armor? Now that's just rude! I like it.

    Do you enchant it aswel? Or just leave it at wel armored?

    It was fun to have lydia resist al elementals when I was a mage 

    • 59 posts
    May 30, 2013 2:40 AM EDT

    Like most of us here. Sad story, but I do it aswel 

    • 26 posts
    May 30, 2013 7:02 PM EDT

    When I do take followers I tend to put them in what I think looks aesthetically pleasing, I once enchanted some armour but I don’t usually go to those lengths, I will enchant weapons, usually soultrap or fear.

     

    Most of the time I can’t stand followers, some times they are necessary depending on builds and difficulty levels but once a character is established enough to no longer need then and in some cases right from the get go I don’t use them. I think they are too buggy. One example of a long list happened last night I had a stealth character that doesn’t wear any armor and has little health doing the companion’s trial (I want the rag pants found on dead werewolves) and I had too let some numpty companion werewolf follow along.

     

    He wouldn’t take commands, constantly broke my stealth and whilst in stealth mode he wouldn’t attack the enemy even when they were attacking him. I didn’t (sadly, and not through lack of trying) have the option to kill him so it was a case of going slow to accommodate his gimped AI.

     

    Additionally this character I was playing collects hold guard helms and with this numpty in tow I seemed to attract bounty’s for each guard that had a accident, that was annoying as well. The only time I really think the follower shines is in the Boethiah's calling quest line, cant really do without them in that one. I usually dress them up for that quest.

     

    Aside from that I usually kill my follower as soon as they disappoint me.

    • 25 posts
    May 30, 2013 8:00 PM EDT

    Well,I did give Lydia my bonemold armor,and she started wearing it;if that counts.

    • 62 posts
    May 30, 2013 11:21 PM EDT

    It does work, just not in combat. It kicks in when they drop to their knees.

    • 59 posts
    June 2, 2013 4:16 AM EDT

    Enchant weapons? that wat I mostly not do, I hate the hassle of recharging it.

    You might want to know that the companion you talk about is Farkas, and he wrongly got a gaurd faction in his stats. Meaning hes police in tow... Just complete the qeust and be done with him 

    • 485 posts
    June 2, 2013 2:38 PM EDT
    I gave Lydia a legendary crafted sword with enchanted armor to compliment it. She still insists on using her crappy wooden bow instead.
    • 59 posts
    June 2, 2013 2:51 PM EDT

    If it was intended, it does 

    • 59 posts
    June 2, 2013 2:53 PM EDT

    Yea... thats someting I would like fixed. Stil in close quarters she should wield the sword 

    AND: Finaly someone who gives some decent gear  Cheers!

    • 59 posts
    June 3, 2013 9:15 AM EDT

    Haha LOL. Now that is just great