Companions

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Introduction

Companions in Ilisara include any person or creature who travels with the main characters, but who is not a main character themselves. They come in two varieties: Character and Storyteller companions.

Character companions are summoned creatures, pets, or beasts that a character always has by their side. The player typically controls these in addition to their primary character, but the Storyteller may do so if both agree to it.

Storyteller companions are characters that accompany the main cast. Known in other game systems as DMPCs, these are characters played by the Storyteller.

Whether they're forging unbreakable bonds of friendship or facing dire trials together, companions enhance the Ilisara experience, offering opportunities for adventure, storytelling, and camaraderie. For parties of just one or two characters, having companions can enable larger scale combat encounters and more roleplaying.

Character Companions

For players who want to summon or conjure things, visit the Summoning rules section. If it doesn't cover your players' vision for their summoned creatures, use these Companion rules.

Players’ ideas about companions can typically be summed up in three ways:

Temporary Mounts

Rent a horse, burro, or camel to cross a great distance. Most large establishments in Ilisara have an Equine Express for this purpose, which will allow characters to rent a horse and then drop it off at their destination. These mounts are usually level 1 with 10 hit points, 2 Defense, and a basic attack that deals 1 damage.

Lots of Companions
The player wants a lot of companions. This could mean five floating fire-whisps, an army of rats, duplicate illusory copies of themself, a swarm of bees, a dozen undead ghouls, or even an entire zoo of animals that follow them around.

In general, if a cantrip or background allows characters to summon companions, they should only be able to summon a number of companions up to half their level. A level 10 character can conjure 5 companions while a level 5 can summon 2. Always round down.

Storytellers should work with players to determine if the companions can either…

1. Follow simple instructions from the character, but can't be convinced to cause themselves harm and thus do not participate in combat. Companions that don’t participate in combat are not valid targets for abilities. They will not die unless placed into extreme situations or against particularly violent foes whose reign of destruction, for instance, immolates an entire area.

2. Participate in combat with one hit point, Defense 2, and a Basic attack that deals 1 + half the character level in damage (always round down).

Just a Few Companions
The player wants one or two companions. This could mean a trusty warhorse, a devoted dog, their character’s sister, a dragon whelp or drake, a conjured water elemental that is always present, and any number of fantastical creatures or exceptional people.

To accomplish this, players should reflavor the Beastmaster Background to gain the Passive: Have a loyal companion of half your level. The companion takes its actions on your turn during combat. If your companion dies, you can spend a month training a new one.

Storytellers may also grant additional weaker companions at their discretion, and modify or flex these rules to meet the needs of their party.

Storyteller Companions

Storyteller Companions are played by the Storyteller, and they accompany the characters on their adventures. There are a few best practices for creating companions:

Never allow companions to steal the spotlight from player characters
Companions should roleplay with other characters
If companions are nefarious, characters should have several opportunities to determine so with skill checks
Use companions to further the story, give suggestions, but never make decisions for the characters
Companions should almost always be followers but never leaders
Companions should never be “cooler” in combat than player characters (ie min-maxed)

The goal of Ilisara is to allow characters to enjoy a heroic fantasy, and these suggestions will allow Storytellers to play in support of that goal. Be very thoughtful and cautious when creating companions that subvert one of these best practices. It can lead to players being frustrated, jealous, or unhappy about the companion out-of-game.

Storytellers can utilize the guidelines in the Character Companions to create companions that are weaker than player characters, or create their own characters using the rules for Character Creation. Typically, this is done to round out a small party. For instance, adding a healer companion can enable a party that otherwise did not have a healer to embark on more dangerous adventures. Use good judgement to determine if adding a companion will allow you and your players to tell a more compelling collaborative story.

Examples of good companion Characters include:

A guide who is a few levels above the rest of the party, but suffers a permanent Lingering Injury that grants -5 to all attack rolls; the -5 will prevent them from outperforming anyone in combat.
A quiet protector who is the same level as the characters. She uses a shield to defend her allies in combat.
A field medic or combat healer who is the same level as the characters. He restores his allies as best he can.
A civilian artificer who likes to build things, and sometimes crafts items that are useful in combat (bombs, caltrops, other items from the Item Compendium); but otherwise fills the role of the “smart” person in a party of characters who did not prioritize Knowledge or Arcana.
A shy, high-level arcanist whose skills are legendary, but who flees from every fight or must be cajoled and convinced in life-or-death situations to actually use their Tier abilities.