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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cadfan" data-source="post: 4131286" data-attributes="member: 40961">Ok, there's actually... three different situations here, I think.1: Individual cohorts.  This is the Paladin with Leadership who brings along his acolyte shieldbearer Jort the Dullwitted.  This also includes single animal pets.2: Allied hordes.  This is when the party recruits 10, or 100, or 10,000 guardsmen to help them storm the enemy's stronghold.3: Summoned animals and monsters.I think each of these is a bit different from the others.For number 1, a quick fix is that players can only directly control the actions of their own character.  NPCs following the party may be given orders by the PCs, but are directly controlled by the DM.  If another character gives an order to your cohort, whether that bothers you and what you do about it are resolved in character.For number 2, Fenes' fix works really well.  Its also what Heroes of Battle recommends.  Just eyeball the likely outcome of the horde's involvement, and decree it so.  This works best when there is an enemy horde as well, though, so that the two hordes can do battle while the PCs take the spotlight.  It falls down a bit when your horde is fighting a single large enemy, though, and you can't shuffle the horde off to the side of the stage.For number 3, I think its fair that the PC control the creature directly.  As a player, I'd want to, and that seems to be the intent of 3e summoning spells.  One additional creature that is only present some of the time usually isn't a problem on its own.  The problems come in when the player summons multiple creatures, has to take time to pick which creature he wants out of many, has to look up their stats, and has to familiarize himself with their abilities.  One way 4e could deal with this is to restrict characters to only one summoned creature at a time, have each spell summon only one type of creature, and include the statblock in the spell description.  This would minimize the intrusion on the rest of the player's evening.Summon WolfDruid, DailyDuration- 5 minutes, until the end of the encounter, or until dismissed.Effect: Summons one wolf.  You control the wolf's actions.  At the end of the spell's duration, it vanishes.  Remember, you may only have one summoned creature at a time.Wolf[insert statblock here, with adjustments built in for druid level]</blockquote>

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