Multi companion "party" system inspired by turn based RPGs.

[yh30]

One thing that always bugged me about Bethesda games and most modern open world RPGs in general is that you are rarely allowed more than one companion, and Fallout 4 is no exeption. I am aware that there are a couple of mods that allow unlimited companions, but they tend to be unbalanced and not feel like part of the game. As an alternative, here's an idea I've had:

You will be allowed a maximum of 4 companions, and will need to unlock companion slots to get up to that number. There are several ways I've had in mind for how they could be unlocked (maybe adjustable with MCM):

-3 Perk magazines, granting a new companion slots each.

-A perk that either replaces or is gained along with "Lone Wanderer". Since it has 4 levels, the first level will be required for the first companion slot, but since it only requires 3 charisma and level 1, it shouldn't be too much of a probblem. The perk would retain the charisma and level requirements of "Lone Wanderer".

-Same as above, but with the "Insperational" perk. Since it only has 3 levels, you'd start with one companion slot.

-Start with one slot, and gain another for every 3 base charisma.

-Start with one slot, and gain another for every 15-20 levels.

In order to balance out the fact that you are traveling with extra companions, the game will treat you as if you are a few levels higher than you are, based on the combined levels of your companions.

To prevent multiple companions from constantly getting in your way, each additional companion will slightly increase the distance your companoins follow you at.

If you try to add a companion when you are already at the maximum, your will get a dialouge box asking what active companion you'd like to replace.

Finally, a feature that would be nice, but probably hard to implement: Dialogue between companions. This would be done using existing voice lines, and could range from a one line response to something another companion says, to longer conversations while idle/traveling.

If anyone has any more ideas, feel free to post them.