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Houseguests are a good way to make your house appear more lively or even to offer services (such as banking) to those with access to the home.

You can place them, animate them, and even torture Bastian if you so wish. Simply place them inside your home as if you were placing a furnishing.

You are unable to change the outfits of any houseguest (companion, assistant, or otherwise) sitting inside your house.

There are six different categories of houseguest type at present. Looking for a specific houseguest? Check these out, and you will be certain to find it:

Assistant Houseguests: Armorers - The Armory Assistant is used to change out your saved armor sets. You can summon these in Nirn as long as you are not in Cyrodiil or Imperial City. Perfect for all of those trial runs where you may have to switch out gear on the fly, or those dungeon runs where you need to switch roles, the Armory Assistant is here for you. While you must have all armor you are swapping out in your inventory, the assistant allows you to swap out with the click of a button or two and prevents you from having to recall the names of your set pieces for a particular build. You cannot summon Assistants nor Companions while inside your house. You can, however, use the housing editor to place an owned assistant into your house for use.

Assistant Houseguests: Bankers - These can be summoned out in the world of Nirn to deposit items or gold into your bank.

Assistant Houseguests: Deconstructionists - These can be summoned out in the world of Nirn to deconstruct excess equipment in your inventory

Assistant Houseguests: Merchants - These can be summoned out in the world of Nirn to sell your goodies from your inventory.

Companion Houseguests. - These must be obtained via a quest, and are used as companions. You cannot summon Companions while inside your house. If you wish to change the outfit of a Companion, you can use a Dye Station inside your home. Before you enter your house, activate the companion you wish to change the outfit of. Then enter the house. While the companion will not show as following you, when you open the Dye Station you will have the ability to alter the Companion's appearance. This change will only be in effect out in Tamriel; houseguest companions have a different clothing set that cannot be changed.

Others Houseguests - These do not offer any types of services and cannot be used as companions.

It is very simple to place a houseguest into your home. The following steps will walk you through it using the default keybindings set up by Zenimax:

1. Press the "F5" key to enter the Housing Editor that will allow you to edit your home.
   
   
2. Press the "R" key to enter Browse mode.
   
   
3. A box titled 'Housing' appears on the right side of your screen.
   
   
4. Select the 'Services' category on the left side of that box.
   
   
5. Select the sub-category (Armory Assistants, Houseguests, etc.) on the left side of the box under which your houseguest may be found. Note: The houseguests found under the Houseguests sub-category are not assistants; they are only houseguests and nothing more.

A houseguest that you place in a home can speak with your visitors. Each houseguest is assigned at least five lines, one of which is randomly selected whenever your visitor speaks to the houseguest.

There is one exception to the speaking rule: Assistants. Unlike standard houseguests, Assistants are summonable anywhere in Tamriel except in Cyrodiil or Imperial City. Though they do not have randomly assigned lines, they do offer services -- banking, selling, deconstructing, or armory alteration -- to visitors in your home that have the correct permissions set to them by you.

How do you create a path for an individual houseguest so that it moves around and makes your house more lively? Just follow these steps. Default keybindings are used:

1. Press the "F5" key to open the Housing Editor.
   
   
2. Hover your mouse over the houseguest you wish to edit.
   
   
3. Press the "Q" key to Create a Path.
   
   
   • The first node for that houseguest will be created where the houseguest currently stands. The node icon will be colored, and that color will be assigned only to that houseguest in that particular house. Pathing nodes for other houseguests will have their own colors.
     
     
   • Keep in mind that houseguests will travel in a straight line from one node to another, and will walk through objects if they are in the way of its pathing.
     
     
   • When you hover your mouse over a node, it will tell you its number and which houseguest it is assigned to.
   
   
   
4. Left-click on the spot where you wish the houseguest to walk next; this places a second node.
   
   
   • The circle of each node has an arrow on it that points into the direction the houseguest will face when it gets to that point. The node arrow will automatically face whatever direction your character is facing when you place the node.
     
     
   • You can alter where that node faces once you have finished your node placements.
     
     
   • Alter it by simply picking it up and moving it (as you would furniture) or by pressing the "F" key (Precision Edit) while hovering over the node.
   
   
   
5. Continue to place your nodes until you are finished.
   
   
   • If your houseguest needs to move around a corner, make certain to place enough nodes to make it do so.
     
     
   • You will not need to place a final node where the houseguest begins its movement.
   
   
   
6. When you have placed your final node, press the "R" key for 'Finish Placement'.
   
   
7. If you forgot a node after you have finished placement, you can hover your mouse over the node it is supposed to precede and right-click to create a node to be placed that will come before it.
   
   
8. You can change the speed at which the houseguest moves while in path editing mode. Do not be in Precision Edit mode for that particular node. Pressing the U key while hovering the mouse over the node will cycle the Speed option between Walk, Jog, Run, or Sprint.
   
   
   • A speed change on a node causes the houseguest to leave the node at that speed.
     
     
   • A houseguest will not arrive to your edited node at the new speed unless you also set the previous node to that same speed.
     
     
   • For example, I set up three nodes and want the houseguest to move in a constant triangle. I change the movement speed of Node #1 to Run and the speed of Node #3 to Jog. Node #2 is still set to walk. Once I save my changes, my houseguest will Run from Node #1 to Node #2; it will Walk from Node #2 to Node #3; it will Jog from Node #3 to Node #1.
   
   
   
9. You can alter the amount of time a houseguest spends at a particular node using the Wait Time option. Press the "i" (eye) key to cycle through the wait times while hovering over the node you wish to edit.
   
   
   • Wait Time can be set to Zero seconds (0s), Three seconds (3s), Ten seconds (10s), Thirty seconds (30s), or One minute (1m).
     
     
   • For example, I set up three nodes and want the houseguest to wait at two of them. I leave the wait time of Node #1 at zero. I change the wait time of Node #2 to three seconds. I change the wait time of Node #3 to ten seconds. This means that the houseguest will not stop at all when it reaches Node #1; as the wait time is set to zero, it will simply pass through and keep going. When it reaches Node #2 it will pause there for three seconds before moving on. When it reaches Node #3 it will pause there for ten seconds before moving on.
   
   
   
10. While in Path Editing mode, there is one more important option to set up: Path Settings. Press the "R" key to access these after you have set your individual nodes. This will not work if you are still editing a single node.
    
    
    • At the top of the window it tells you the name of the houseguest object you are editing. Click the Change Object buttom to choose a different houseguest.
      
      
    • The Pathing option can be turned 'On' if the houseguest is going to move around. If you have already set nodes for the houseguest, this is automatically set to 'On'. If zero nodes have been set (including an initial one), 'Off' will be assigned.
      
      
    • The Conform to Ground option forces the NPC to walk across the ground whenever possible. If your houseguest is moving up stairs, along a dirt path, or even walking up a steep hill, you will wish to set this to 'On.' If you have your houseguest walking mid-air with nothing under its feet, set this option to 'Off'.
      
      
    • The Pathing Type option determines in what order your houesguest walks from one node to another. Ping-Pong walks your houseguest starting at Node #1 all the way through each node to the final node. At the final node it turns around and begins moving back through the nodes in the reverse order, returning to start. Loop has your houseguest move from Node #1 all the way through each node to the final node. Unlike the Ping-Pong mode, the houseguest will walk directly to Node #1 from the final node rather than moving back through them in reverse order. Random will set your houseguest to randomly selecting a node to walk to; there is no particular order whatsoever.
    
    
    
    • You do not need to click any buttons after changing Path Settings. These will automatically save.
    
    
    
11. Once all nodes have been placed and edited, press Q to Confirm the saving of everything. Failure to do so will not save your node edits.
    
    

* An Asterisk beside the price means that there are special circumstances to obtaining the houseguest. Click the name of the houseguest for full information.

* An Asterisk beside the price means that there are special circumstances to obtaining the houseguest. Click the name of the houseguest for full information.

* An Asterisk beside the price means that there are special circumstances to obtaining the houseguest. Click the name of the houseguest for full information.