Encounters for a 2 person party

[Kingreaper]

Don't quite agree, but to each their own. If DM'ing for 2 players who are not familiar with the system, if I decided to make a permanent companion NPC, I certainly would be the one creating and controlling the companion. I know the system better, I probably know the player's characters better than the players themselves. New players have enough on their plates.

They sure do, starting at 15.

If you started at level 5, and gave them each a companion character to control in combat [that was an NPC out of combat] that'd probably actually be less complicated for them.

So, I have to wonder, why are you starting at 15 with two new players?