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Message: <blockquote data-quote="KidSnide" data-source="post: 4127442" data-attributes="member: 54710">I think rules for summoned/companion creatures needs to consider what the creature is used for.  In general, we don't want fully autonomous creatures that are always around like most current animal companions.  Because they are in every fight (because they are always there), they need to be weak enough that their masters can keep their full actions without breaking game balance.  This is the worst of both worlds: not only do they take up an action every turn, but they are also either mostly irrelevant or totally dominating.I'm not sure I have a problem with a Warlock summoning an independent and worthwhile demon, but I want that to be a daily ability or a ritual with significant cost.  Similarly, I'm not sure I have a problem with a druid with a guard wolf, but I want that wolf to be a creature that always sticks by the druid and only gets involved in the fight when someone tries to melee the druid.Traditional cohorts are more of a challenge, since they tend to have capabilities that are close to a full PC.  It seems to me that the right solution there is to eliminate the Leadership ability that gives a PC the "right" to have one of those characters around and simply let the GM decide whether or not such a character is disruptive.  Based on that decision, a GM can decide when such an NPC would be willing to join the party (or ask for treasure).  (Certainly, many of my D&D games have included a party NPC that rounds out the party's abilities and serves as an extra character when a guest wants to join the game for a night.)The last type of NPCs are hirelings or other mercenaries that the PCs hire.  I ran a game where the PCs went around with about 200 troops (for about a year or two of real-time and at least a dozen fights), and I found that these worked pretty well if you treat them as a "unit" where each figure moves independently, but you don't bother really keeping track of which soldier gets hit and you let the PCs roll the attacks when necessary.  It seems like treating these characters as allied minions would be quite effective.  From a combat perspective, allied soldiers essentially serve as friendly terrain, because a wall of soldiers provides valuable cover for vulnerable members of the party while the fighters engage the real threats.</blockquote>

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