This is NOT my work. Copied straight from the amazing people at Bethsoft Forums: Complete Character Design Freedom (Damage Resist Caps and Ridiculous Damage) Thread 10 - Bethesda Softworks Forums
Followers
It can get lonely being the Dragonborn, sometimes. Luckily, Skyrim has a multitude of followers you can gain by doing various quests, or hiring from taverns in the cities throughout the land. Each follower has a certain skillset and stats that make them unique, and the best choice of who to take along with you on your adventures is often dependent upon what kind of character you are playing. It is wise to choose followers to either augment your playstyle with similar aptitudes, or to choose a follower that can fulfill a certain role that your character lacks. Regardless of who you decide to have tag along with you, all followers share certain features, and some of them may surprise you:
- Will use health potions that you give them, although many followers are "immortal" in that they only permanently die if you accidentally kill them yourself
- Still have an Armor Cap of 567 (like the player), but don't have a Magic Resist cap
- Do not benefit from some enchants on armor/clothing
- DO benefit fully from weapon enchants
Followers will equip gear that you enchant for them, as long as the stats of the gear are better than what they are currently using. This means that the crafting template's effectiveness can be duplicated upon others, and you can "create" very powerful helpers by using crafting. This is especially true with regards to enchanted weapons, as your followers gain full effectiveness from weapon enchants, and can really dish out amazing damage as a result. An excellent choice of a weapon enchant for a follower is Absorb Stamina, as this will allow him/her to very frequently power attack and do double damage per hit. Give your follower two enchanted weapons to dual-wield, and their combat efficiency skyrockets! It has been noted by testers that a shield-using follower is actually less efficient, due to the fact that they will frequently block when it is unnecessary and counterproductive.