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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?

Dpeif
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2 Answers2

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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:

Cait in Fallout 4

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.

Cropped to just show the stats

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:

Cait's vs My carry weight

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:

Cait's Strength modified to be 10

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:

Cait with Army Fatigues

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:

getav Strength/CarryWeight

As you can see, Cait's Stats raise from 5 Strength, 150 CarryWeight to 6 Strength, 160 CarryWeight:

getav Strength/CarryWeight zoomed in

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):

Endurance tests

Robotnik
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    BAM, I knew it. Awesome answer by the way. You have my upvote. – Realitätsverlust Dec 08 '15 at 12:48
  • @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 08 '15 at 12:52
  • I'm curious if the effects of legendary equipment affect them. When i gave cait the sword which deals 50% bonus dmg to robots, she was completely melthing through those synths in arc-jet. But a lot of people say this is not true, which leaves me thinking. Also no idea how to directly test that. – Realitätsverlust Dec 08 '15 at 13:03
  • @YUNOWORK - Hmm interesting point. We could probably spawn a particular Legendary Weapon for testing, and the same weapon without the Legendary bonus to compare the two. Firing speed buffs is probably the easiest to test (here's hoping there's a legendary effect that affects that :) – Robotnik Dec 08 '15 at 13:11
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    @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 08 '15 at 13:27
  • Great, so I'm not mistaken. I was so sure, the dmg cait dealt was just dumb. And i play on survival. But thanks for proofing my theory :P – Realitätsverlust Dec 08 '15 at 13:29
  • @YUNOWORK - anytime :) – Robotnik Dec 08 '15 at 13:30
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    Thanks for the enthusiastic comments and answer guys, great testing – Dpeif Dec 08 '15 at 18:10
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    The 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. – Nelson Aug 22 '16 at 13:52
  • you can also use setav to SET the companions value and 10 isn't the limit! you can' set them all to 999 and your companion will 1 hit kill anything – David Dutton Nov 10 '16 at 20:45
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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)

vanao veneri
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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. – DCShannon Dec 08 '15 at 21:00