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Simply put:

1. How do I view companion stats (e.g strength, dex, etc...). There appears to be no menu that gives this info so I have no clue what I can equip them with.

2. How do I view weapon requirements before purchasing them - e.g. I was looking at a sword and purchased it, but once I attempted to equip it on an Virgil I was greeted with a message within the equipment menu stating "MSR 18" which I interpreted as minimum strength requirement of 18 - how the heck do I know what the weapon requirements are before I purchase them?

3. Someone care to explain why Virgil (and any other companion) refuses to equip certain armor? I am assuming it has to do with class or something, but there are no listed classes within the item/buying menus! Again how am I to determine what to buy when I have no idea whether I can use it or not!
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spank_thru101: 1. How do I view companion stats (e.g strength, dex, etc...). There appears to be no menu that gives this info so I have no clue what I can equip them with.
Talk to them, one of the conversation options should be something like "I'd like to know a little about your skills". This will take you to their character screen. You may have to go through a few conversation options first to get to it.
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spank_thru101: 2. How do I view weapon requirements before purchasing them - e.g. I was looking at a sword and purchased it, but once I attempted to equip it on an Virgil I was greeted with a message within the equipment menu stating "MSR 18" which I interpreted as minimum strength requirement of 18 - how the heck do I know what the weapon requirements are before I purchase them?
I'm pretty sure that if you mouse over an item in a shop, its stats will appear in the window at the bottom of the screen. Here you can see damage, weight, etc., and you should also see any restrictions (and you are right that MSR means Minimum Strength Required, you should also note that certain two-handed weapons have a very high MSR to be used one-handed, but with both hands you often don't need that high Strength). There will be other confusing abbreviations as well, and there's a handy page in the manual that lists them all and what they mean.

EDIT: apparently you can't see MSR this way, see posts below.
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spank_thru101: 3. Someone care to explain why Virgil (and any other companion) refuses to equip certain armor? I am assuming it has to do with class or something, but there are no listed classes within the item/buying menus! Again how am I to determine what to buy when I have no idea whether I can use it or not!
There's no classes, instead NPCs simply do what they want. Unfortunately they can't be ordered to use equipment, but usually you can "trick" them by trading with them, taking their old armor, and then giving them the armor you want them to use instead. If they're only carrying one suite of armor they'll usually wear it. But if you wanted them to carry both sets of armor, they'll pick which one they want to wear and you can't order them to do otherwise.
Post edited May 03, 2013 by Waltorious
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spank_thru101: Simply put:

1. How do I view companion stats (e.g strength, dex, etc...). There appears to be no menu that gives this info so I have no clue what I can equip them with.

2. How do I view weapon requirements before purchasing them - e.g. I was looking at a sword and purchased it, but once I attempted to equip it on an Virgil I was greeted with a message within the equipment menu stating "MSR 18" which I interpreted as minimum strength requirement of 18 - how the heck do I know what the weapon requirements are before I purchase them?

3. Someone care to explain why Virgil (and any other companion) refuses to equip certain armor? I am assuming it has to do with class or something, but there are no listed classes within the item/buying menus! Again how am I to determine what to buy when I have no idea whether I can use it or not!
1. As a shortcut to what Waltorious said, you can right-click on their avatar to open a menu which includes Inventory and Character Sheet.

2. In-game, there's no way to know a weapon's MSR without equipping it. That being said, there are printed and online guides which list each weapon's strength requirements: google "Arcanum weapon stats". Some general rules of thumb: the larger and heavier it is, the higher the MSR; and weapons which can be wielded either one- or two-handed generally lower their MSR by 2 if you choose not to equip a shield or lantern in the other hand.

2a. Another factor to consider is the item's weight (especially for armor). Encumbrance can slow you or your followers down, resulting in fewer attacks per turn, or a slower attack rate when playing in real-time.

3. From what I can tell, your NPCs use the weapon or armor's value (which they can tell, even while the item remains unidentified to you) as the basis for which items to equip. Which can sometimes lead to counter-intuitive results such as equipping a valuable cursed item over a cheaper but more beneficial one.
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TwoHandedSword: 2. In-game, there's no way to know a weapon's MSR without equipping it.
Really? I could have sworn I could see the MSR before buying things. Maybe it's something that was added in the unofficial patch? Or am I just not remembering correctly?
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Waltorious: Really? I could have sworn I could see the MSR before buying things. Maybe it's something that was added in the unofficial patch? Or am I just not remembering correctly?
I have my version of Arcanum patched to high heaven, and I checked this using a half-elven female with a ST of 7, mousing over a selection of weapons available for sale. Even those which I know would be too heavy for her didn't reveal their MSR before purchase.

You can still wield a weapon that's too heavy for you; it just causes your critical misses (and the resultant self-inflicted injuries) to skyrocket.
I guess I remembered incorrectly, then. Thanks for clarifying!