Follower overview: Xelzaz - Omni-guides/Tuxborn GitHub Wiki

While Xelzaz is not the only Argonian follower available in Tuxborn (because Anum-La exists in Interesting NPCs), Xelzaz is definitely the most prominent. He's another follower highly recommended amongst the Tuxborn playerbase, and arguably in the Skyrim modding community in general. So if you ever say to yourself, "gosh, I wish Skyrim had more Argonian followers available," then Xelzaz is here to solve that problem for you!

Xelzaz can be found down in the very bottom right corner of the map, by the gate to Morrowind. (For values of "to Morrowind" meaning, purely in-character, as the gate in question doesn't actually go anywhere, it's right on the very edge of the Skyrim map). If you don't know how to get to that spot on your own, you can go into the Bee and Barb in Riften and look for the merchant note on the counter which mentions Xelzaz. That will give you a quest marker you can use to find him.

It is recommended to pick up Xel early in your playthrough if you want to run him, specifically because he does have so much available commentary on game events. And because of this, allow yourself a few extra seconds after notable game events to see if Xelzaz has something to say! You may miss out on commentary if you try to proceed too quickly, go through a door into another zone, etc.

Plus, he brings several useful support benefits to the player, right out of the gate. His ability to cook for you and give you custom potions could prove invaluable in your early game.

You won't be able to do so immediately; you will need to finish his initial quest, A Lawman's Ambition, first (more on this below). But once he's convinced to continue following you around Skyrim on your adventures, he will give you the gift of a small Dwemer hummingbird automaton, Roovi. Shortly thereafter, he'll also give you an item called a propylon. These two items together will let you talk to him from afar, and have him port to you if you need him to do so.

Xelzaz is confirmed by his creator to level with the player indefinitely.

Xelzaz is multi-talented, a strong mage and a master alchemist. So those will be the best uses for him initially. His magic focus is on Conjuration, and you'll see him summoning both skeleton minions and flame atronachs. And like Serana in Dawnguard, he will frequently resurrect dead enemies to fight on his behalf.

He is not trainable per se, but he has a wide variety of options to influence his behavior, and he can make certain valuable items for you.

In particular, Xelzaz can serve as a free source of Cure Disease potions to treat the nerf that hits you if you "die" as part of Shades of Mortality. He will notice if you're under the effect of the nerf, and he'll offer to make you a potion to help. His Cure Disease potions are confirmed to address the nerf, as well. This makes Xelzaz arguably a very important follower to have!

As noted above, Xel is highly reactive to many events in-game, and this includes directly reacting to you. He'll frequently give you alchemy advice, so if you have a history of forgetting what ingredients to use to make a particular kind of potion, be on the lookout for those lines of his.

If he's present when you're working at an alchemy table, and your Alchemy skill is still low, some of his suggestions may even cause you to gain a skill point in Alchemy. So be on the lookout for that, too.

If you are a Dunmer, upon first meeting him, Xel will be pleased to encounter a native of Morrowind, and will even ask you what House you belong to. You'll be given options for all known major Morrowind Houses, an unspecified minor House, or no House at all.

Xel is so far confirmed to be highly responsive to main quest events, but also to various stages of the quests for the College of Winterhold and the Thieves Guild. In particular, he will even take steps to insert himself into certain main quest events! Be on the lookout for that once you're ready to run Diplomatic Immunity.

Given his connection to House Telvanni in Morrowind, this may also make him interesting to fans of that part of Tamriel. Particularly if you take him to Solstheim while running Dragonborn. He'll interact a lot with Neloth in Tel Mithryn.

If you want to run the Thieves Guild and/or the Dark Brotherhood, Xel does not approve of either, but neither is he overtly hostile to them. He will not leave you if you choose to join either of those factions. He will, however, have some tart opinions about your relationship to Nocturnal once you get to that point of the Thieves Guild plot.

Meanwhile, he has been reported to be hostile to your siding with the vampires in Dawnguard. So if you want to run that plot path, expect him to likely leave you.

We don't yet have a confirmation on how Xelzaz deals with your being a werewolf, if you choose to join the Companions.

At this time he is not known to react to major mod content in our load order, but we'll update this page appropriately if we confirm otherwise.

Out of the followers available in Tuxborn, Xelzaz is best paired with Remiel. He has a great deal of conversation with her, and the two very quickly become fast friends. They have several conversations together that give excellent insight to both of their backstories. And Remiel's reaction to Xel giving you Roovi is not to be missed!

Additionally, Xel has a much smaller number of lines he can have with Auri and Lucien. However, if you're also running him with Remiel, it's possible those lines will get overshadowed. So plan your follower squad appropriately, for best results.

It is not recommended to finish his first personal quest, A Lawman's Ambition, immediately after recruiting him. The reason for this is a slight spoiler, so...

Why you shouldn't do the quest A Lawman's Ambition too quickly...

If you immediately take Xelzaz to the border of Hammerfell, and your Speech and/or rapport with him isn't yet high enough, he will permanently leave your game. So you need to take the time get your Speech leveled up, and/or work on your rapport with Xel. He has a relationship system, and may grow to like or dislike you based on your actions with him. So if you show some interest in his background, maybe give him a gift or two, that should help with rapport.

If you play things right, you may get the option to persuade him to stay with you rather than proceeding to Hammerfell--or even, ideally, change his mind about leaving you and ask to travel with you more instead.

In general, it's recommended to talk directly to Xelzaz frequently. Look for new dialogue options you haven't seen before, because taking these can trigger side quests with him.

If you're playing a character that's actively hostile to necromancy, Xel may be a bad fit for you. He is a necromancer. Take that into account when deciding if you want him as a follower!

Xelzaz has an issue in our load order where, if you do the side quest to let an old associate of his upgrade his armor for him, his overall outfit will not change to accommodate this. This does not appear to reproduce outside of Tuxborn, and we're investigating the cause.