More specifically, are companions affected by buffs to S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats, such as a +1 STR from equipped gear? Are there any stats more useful to buff than others, for certain characters?
2 Answers
Do companions have S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats?
Yes, they do have S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats.
You can work out a companion's stats on PC by opening the console, clicking on the companion or other entity (Bethesda refers to them as 'actors') and utilising the console command getav <stat>
For example:
I also performed player.getav Strength
so I could compare the stats and ensure that I was in fact getting Cait's stat, not my own.
As you can see, my own personal Strength stat is 7, whilst Cait's is 5.
Companion Carry Weight is a calculated value that can also be checked. Cait again as our test example, has 150, whilst I currently have 350:
Do companions benefit from S.P.E.C.I.A.L. increases?
Let's find out! We can use setav <stat> <value>
to set the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats to whatever we want:
By setting Cait's Strength to 10, we can see that this also raises her Carry Weight to 200.
Do companions benefit from S.P.E.C.I.A.L. bonuses from equipped items?
Yes!, take Army Fatigues for example, which provide +1 Strength when equipped:
I've removed everything else from Cait's inventory for this test to avoid any other equipment messing with the stats. I ran the getav
command for Strength and Carry Weight before and after equipping the Fatigues:
As you can see, Cait's Stats raise from 5 Strength, 150 CarryWeight to 6 Strength, 160 CarryWeight:
Are there any stats more useful to buff than others, for certain characters?
- Strength for Carry Weight is probably the biggest one.
- Endurance does not seem to have an effect on health (I ran
resethealth
in case it had set the maximum but not the current health):
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4BAM, I knew it. Awesome answer by the way. You have my upvote. Dec 8, 2015 at 12:48
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@YUNOWORK Thanks! - I'm still mulling over how to test other stats - I have a feeling that Agility affects their Sneak and Perception affects their ability to sense/spot enemies, but that will require a lot of testing :)– Robotnik ♦Dec 8, 2015 at 12:52
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2@YUNOWORK Ooh, they do, I just tested it out. I gave Cait a Pipe Pistol with the Incendiary mod vs a Bloodbug. Lit it up like a Christmas tree haha :)– Robotnik ♦Dec 8, 2015 at 13:27
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2The END boost on shirts doesn't even affect the player character's HP. I boost my END via a hat and that increased my HP, but not the END from my shirt or other legendary END boosting armor... it's kind of weird.– NelsonAug 22, 2016 at 13:52
I don't think they have SPECIAL attributes simply because they would not matter (except strength and endurance).
STR = plus in carry weight and melee damage (yes that works)
PER = accuracy in VATS (I don't think companions use VATS)
END = health increase (seems to work as well)
CHR = persuasion in dialogues (companions don't need it)
INT = experience point gain (companions don't need it)
AGI = action points (companions don't use AP)
LCK = criticals in VATS (again, no VATS for companions)
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This is a good point about most of these stats not mattering, but that doesn't mean they don't have them. They do. Dec 8, 2015 at 21:00