A good companion setup

[Wira]

ok, so here's my problem

I've made my own kingdom and therefore Alayen is gone, he was my first minister and my first castle was taken.

Lezalit is a lord.

I looked around at the different threads about companion compatibility, but missing Alayen and Lezalit kind of ruins it . . .

My big issue is that Artimenner just left my party no way in gonna do engineering myself!

My current medic is Jeremus (he doesn't go with Artimenner, I guess that's the problem), but i guess i could change that to Ymira.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated!

EDIT. And Bathestur is my current minister . . .

 

[Loiro]

IMO you should use TweakMB, which allows you to use all companions. And you really shouldnt use a companion as minister, atleast not one whos good at fighting. Wife as minister always works, or choose a ***** like Marnid or Katrin.
They make lousy Lords aswell, best keep em by your side slaying dragons.

 

[Wira]

I dont care if im missing Bathestur really . . .

I dont have a wife as you can't get one without being a vassal for a nation (which i've never been)

Thx for the info, i'll check out tweakMB

 

[Loiro]

You cant get a wife without being vassal? This was news to me.

 

[Hughes]

IMO you should use TweakMB, which allows you to use all companions.

Not sure cheating is an ideal solution to the problem

There's a bunch of different ways to go as far as companions, I'll just tell you how I roll, maybe it gives you some ideas.
I use the Alayen/Firentis/Baheshtur/Bunduk/Klethi/Deshavi/Ymira/Jeremus combo, since all the guys in the alternate group (Rolf, Lezalit, Artimenner etc.) are kind of assholes. Lezalit, for example, likes to whip recruits who don't obey, Borcha's a horse thief, Rolf is a liar, Artimenner is a pompous jerk, and so on. Matheld and Marnid seem okay, and Nizar is funny but a bit sleazy, isn't he?

The strategy I use is to focus each companion on a different skill.
Alayen, Firentis and Baheshtur don't get skilled, they're purely combat.
Bunduk, Klethi, Deshavi, Ymira and Jeremus get party skills.

When starting out, I try to give them all basic combat skills - max weapon master so that they can easily raise their weapons skills; a point or two in power draw and horse archery if they use bows; get Riding high enough to give the knights warhorses and the others hunters (except I think Bunduk and Jeremus, who still are at Riding 2 for me). I also try to give them all 1 point in Trainer (except Bunduk, who specializes in trainer).

Once they've got passable fighting skills - usually by level 10 -  from then on I pick a single stat and skill set and just focus on those until they hit 30 (and 10 skill points in their chosen profession).


Alayen: A knight. I level him equally in STR and AGI; by level 25 or so he's at around 21 for both.
Melee Combat skills only: Ironflesh, Power Strike, Weapon Master, Athletics, Shield, Riding.

Firentis: My bruiser.  I level him in STR only at first, and now (around level 25 I think) I'm starting on his AGI. Melee Combat skills only: Ironflesh and Power Strike. Hate getting hit by him in a tournament though

Baheshtur: Horse archer, but super dangerous on foot and in melee too. Might be my most dangerous companion actually when armed with bow and elite scimitar. Increase STR only until he hits 30, then AGI. Ironflesh, Power Strike, Power Draw (to max of 10; using a superfast Masterwork Khergit bow he's a killer). He's just now hit 30 in STR, so from now on I'm leveling AGI and his Horse Archery - I bet he gets even more deadly once he can nail people with the bow from horseback better.

Bunduk: My military expert. I raise ONLY his INT to 30. Since it takes 3 levels to raise a skill, and you get two points per level when raising INT, my INT-based companions can become experts in 3 separate int-based skills by the time they hit 30 INT. For Bunduk it's the three martial int-based skills: Tactics, Trainer and Engineering. He started at a higher level than the others so it's taking a little longer, but he's got 27 INT now with 8 points in each.

Klethi: My thief. Raise only her AGI until I can get Looting to 10. Give her a Balanced Short Arming Sword and she turns into a Cuisinart. She can't take many hits but sometimes she really goes to town, and I'll see 4 or 5 kills inside of 2 seconds. I also give her fast throwing weapons (spears and daggers), and now that she's got to 10 Looting, I'm raising her STR, but that 30 Agility is going to give her mad combat skills one day. And we get great loot.

Deshavi: My tracker. Again, INT only and able to level in the three tracker skills: Tracking, Pathfinding and Spotting to 10 each. I also try whenever there's an extra skill point or two to raise her sword and bow skills, and she can almost keep up with the knights.

Ymira: My trader. She's a bit tougher to keep alive, but given decent armor (her strength only allows things like brigandine or haubergeon, but they're not bad), easy to use weapons (sword and shield and master hunting bow) and she does okay. Level CHA to max so you can get 10 in Trade.... money becomes VERY easy to make with this skill in your party.

Jeremus: The doctor. INT only and able to level to 10 in Surgery, First Aid and Wound Treatment. Not much use in a fight, so I keep him at the bottom of my party list and if he shows up in battle, stick him somewhere safe.

So there you go, some suggestions. Haven't started my own kingdom yet so haven't faced the issue of making them into lords or ministers. I'm at day 900 or so.

 

[Loiro]

IMO you should use TweakMB, which allows you to use all companions.

Not sure cheating is an ideal solution to the problem

There's a bunch of different ways to go as far as companions, I'll just tell you how I roll, maybe it gives you some ideas.
I use the Alayen/Firentis/Baheshtur/Bunduk/Klethi/Deshavi/Ymira/Jeremus combo, since all the guys in the alternate group (Rolf, Lezalit, Artimenner etc.) are kind of assholes. Lezalit, for example, likes to whip recruits who don't obey, Borcha's a horse thief, Rolf is a liar, Artimenner is a pompous jerk, and so on. Matheld and Marnid seem okay, and Nizar is funny but a bit sleazy, isn't he?

The strategy I use is to focus each companion on a different skill.
Alayen, Firentis and Baheshtur don't get skilled, they're purely combat.
Bunduk, Klethi, Deshavi, Ymira and Jeremus get party skills.

When starting out, I try to give them all basic combat skills - max weapon master so that they can easily raise their weapons skills; a point or two in power draw and horse archery if they use bows; get Riding high enough to give the knights warhorses and the others hunters (except I think Bunduk and Jeremus, who still are at Riding 2 for me). I also try to give them all 1 point in Trainer (except Bunduk, who specializes in trainer).

Once they've got passable fighting skills - usually by level 10 -  from then on I pick a single stat and skill set and just focus on those until they hit 30 (and 10 skill points in their chosen profession).


Alayen: A knight. I level him equally in STR and AGI; by level 25 or so he's at around 21 for both.
Melee Combat skills only: Ironflesh, Power Strike, Weapon Master, Athletics, Shield, Riding.

Firentis: My bruiser.  I level him in STR only at first, and now (around level 25 I think) I'm starting on his AGI. Melee Combat skills only: Ironflesh and Power Strike. Hate getting hit by him in a tournament though

Baheshtur: Horse archer, but super dangerous on foot and in melee too. Might be my most dangerous companion actually when armed with bow and elite scimitar. Increase STR only until he hits 30, then AGI. Ironflesh, Power Strike, Power Draw (to max of 10; using a superfast Masterwork Khergit bow he's a killer). He's just now hit 30 in STR, so from now on I'm leveling AGI and his Horse Archery - I bet he gets even more deadly once he can nail people with the bow from horseback better.

Bunduk: My military expert. I raise ONLY his INT to 30. Since it takes 3 levels to raise a skill, and you get two points per level when raising INT, my INT-based companions can become experts in 3 separate int-based skills by the time they hit 30 INT. For Bunduk it's the three martial int-based skills: Tactics, Trainer and Engineering. He started at a higher level than the others so it's taking a little longer, but he's got 27 INT now with 8 points in each.

Klethi: My thief. Raise only her AGI until I can get Looting to 10. Give her a Balanced Short Arming Sword and she turns into a Cuisinart. She can't take many hits but sometimes she really goes to town, and I'll see 4 or 5 kills inside of 2 seconds. I also give her fast throwing weapons (spears and daggers), and now that she's got to 10 Looting, I'm raising her STR, but that 30 Agility is going to give her mad combat skills one day. And we get great loot.

Deshavi: My tracker. Again, INT only and able to level in the three tracker skills: Tracking, Pathfinding and Spotting to 10 each. I also try whenever there's an extra skill point or two to raise her sword and bow skills, and she can almost keep up with the knights.

Ymira: My trader. She's a bit tougher to keep alive, but given decent armor (her strength only allows things like brigandine or haubergeon, but they're not bad), easy to use weapons (sword and shield and master hunting bow) and she does okay. Level CHA to max so you can get 10 in Trade.... money becomes VERY easy to make with this skill in your party.

Jeremus: The doctor. INT only and able to level to 10 in Surgery, First Aid and Wound Treatment. Not much use in a fight, so I keep him at the bottom of my party list and if he shows up in battle, stick him somewhere safe.

So there you go, some suggestions. Haven't started my own kingdom yet so haven't faced the issue of making them into lords or ministers. I'm at day 900 or so.

Besides wrongfully calling TweakMB cheating, I like what youre saying.

 

[Cro]

All my companions tend to end up a lot alike, since I level Strength, Power Strike, and Iron Flesh on all of them.  They all get riding 4 so they can have warhorses or chagers.  They are most valuable as unkillable heavies.  I do tend to have 1-2 specialists like Jeramus, but mostly they hit things.  "EVERYONE FIGHTS, NO ONE QUITS."  Jeramus cannot use his surgery skill if you first disable his hand... so he needs to be tough like everyone else.

A companion with Power Strike and Iron flesh at 10, 85 HP, and a 300 weapon skill is very, very useful.  Eight or more such companions, available every battle, are almost unstoppable.  In close quarters, like a siege, it's invaluable.

My character, since I tend to be a much higher level than any NPC, picks up a lot of party skills.  I don't need the same combat abilities to be as effective as an NPC with higher stats.  When I took over the world I didn't raise my Strength over 15 until the very end.  I got by with a two handed sword, very heavy armor, and a warbow.  I found that having Leadership and Training at high levels made conquest much easier than just doing more damage, since the frustrating thing is having enough high quality troops to do all the things that need doing.

If you have a companion past level 20, their starting differences don't matter as much as what you do with them.  I don't necessarily go the direction they seem to be pointed.  Bahestur doesn't do horse archery, I don't give Deshavi a bow, and Klethi does not throw things.  That's because NPCs can't aim and are better off with melee weapons.  That's a limitation of the game, one which I've tested thoroughly and decided that it's not worth fighting with suboptimal setups.

 

[Wira]

im only at about day 260

not sure cheating is an ideal solution to the problem

There's a bunch of different ways to go as far as companions, I'll just tell you how I roll, maybe it gives you some ideas.
I use the Alayen/Firentis/Baheshtur/Bunduk/Klethi/Deshavi/Ymira/Jeremus combo, since all the guys in the alternate group (Rolf, Lezalit, Artimenner etc.) are kind of assholes. Lezalit, for example, likes to whip recruits who don't obey, Borcha's a horse thief, Rolf is a liar, Artimenner is a pompous jerk, and so on. Matheld and Marnid seem okay, and Nizar is funny but a bit sleazy, isn't he?

The strategy I use is to focus each companion on a different skill.
Alayen, Firentis and Baheshtur don't get skilled, they're purely combat.
Bunduk, Klethi, Deshavi, Ymira and Jeremus get party skills.

When starting out, I try to give them all basic combat skills - max weapon master so that they can easily raise their weapons skills; a point or two in power draw and horse archery if they use bows; get Riding high enough to give the knights warhorses and the others hunters (except I think Bunduk and Jeremus, who still are at Riding 2 for me). I also try to give them all 1 point in Trainer (except Bunduk, who specializes in trainer).

Once they've got passable fighting skills - usually by level 10 -  from then on I pick a single stat and skill set and just focus on those until they hit 30 (and 10 skill points in their chosen profession).


Alayen: A knight. I level him equally in STR and AGI; by level 25 or so he's at around 21 for both.
Melee Combat skills only: Ironflesh, Power Strike, Weapon Master, Athletics, Shield, Riding.

Firentis: My bruiser.  I level him in STR only at first, and now (around level 25 I think) I'm starting on his AGI. Melee Combat skills only: Ironflesh and Power Strike. Hate getting hit by him in a tournament though

Baheshtur: Horse archer, but super dangerous on foot and in melee too. Might be my most dangerous companion actually when armed with bow and elite scimitar. Increase STR only until he hits 30, then AGI. Ironflesh, Power Strike, Power Draw (to max of 10; using a superfast Masterwork Khergit bow he's a killer). He's just now hit 30 in STR, so from now on I'm leveling AGI and his Horse Archery - I bet he gets even more deadly once he can nail people with the bow from horseback better.

Bunduk: My military expert. I raise ONLY his INT to 30. Since it takes 3 levels to raise a skill, and you get two points per level when raising INT, my INT-based companions can become experts in 3 separate int-based skills by the time they hit 30 INT. For Bunduk it's the three martial int-based skills: Tactics, Trainer and Engineering. He started at a higher level than the others so it's taking a little longer, but he's got 27 INT now with 8 points in each.

Klethi: My thief. Raise only her AGI until I can get Looting to 10. Give her a Balanced Short Arming Sword and she turns into a Cuisinart. She can't take many hits but sometimes she really goes to town, and I'll see 4 or 5 kills inside of 2 seconds. I also give her fast throwing weapons (spears and daggers), and now that she's got to 10 Looting, I'm raising her STR, but that 30 Agility is going to give her mad combat skills one day. And we get great loot.

Deshavi: My tracker. Again, INT only and able to level in the three tracker skills: Tracking, Pathfinding and Spotting to 10 each. I also try whenever there's an extra skill point or two to raise her sword and bow skills, and she can almost keep up with the knights.

Ymira: My trader. She's a bit tougher to keep alive, but given decent armor (her strength only allows things like brigandine or haubergeon, but they're not bad), easy to use weapons (sword and shield and master hunting bow) and she does okay. Level CHA to max so you can get 10 in Trade.... money becomes VERY easy to make with this skill in your party.

Jeremus: The doctor. INT only and able to level to 10 in Surgery, First Aid and Wound Treatment. Not much use in a fight, so I keep him at the bottom of my party list and if he shows up in battle, stick him somewhere safe.

So there you go, some suggestions. Haven't started my own kingdom yet so haven't faced the issue of making them into lords or ministers. I'm at day 900 or so.

well, I might have messed this option up a bit already, i've got 7 surgery myself (with a book) and 7 training (book too), Jermus has got 6 or  7 surgery and ~21 int

I got Rolf, he's my killing machine (well he's like lvl 15)

The i got Firentis as antoher warrior and, I dont remember right now, 2 other guys i think. But most of them are quite random O_O

 

[Hughes]

Besides wrongfully calling TweakMB cheating, I like what youre saying.

You're right, to call TweakMB cheating is a little strong. It's more like modding. Personally I try not to use any of that stuff because I'm afraid I might throw off some balance that the designers put in the game and that I don't even know about.

Bahestur doesn't do horse archery, I don't give Deshavi a bow, and Klethi does not throw things.  That's because NPCs can't aim and are better off with melee weapons.  That's a limitation of the game, one which I've tested thoroughly and decided that it's not worth fighting with suboptimal setups.

I agree with you too Cro, there's a lot of different ways you can go, and that's one of the main things I like about WB. These are all good suggestions for the OP. I wouldn't say, though, that NPCs can't aim... honestly, Baheshtur is wreaking havoc with his bow, and Deshavi and Ymira too. Klethi is a bit substandard with her thrown weapons but as I said, I've focused on looting with her; given enough Power Throw/Weapon Master/Horse Archery I'm sure she'll do fine with a javelin or throwing daggers. Furthermore, what's suboptimal for combat (focusing on party skills) has had big advantages in the rest of the game - speed on the overland map, trading, surgery, you name it. But I can definitely see that if I improved my own party skills (and became more of a commander than warrior), I'd be able to devote companion skills/stats entirely to combat. So the OP might want to go more in your direction than mine since he's already sunk 7 points into surgery.

 

[Wira]

So the OP might want to go more in your direction than mine since he's already sunk 7 points into surgery.

I guess that's an important part

I play as a leader, not a warrior, in an ordinary battle i will usually get a few good kills but most it will be directing troops and making sure i help my cavalry out if they get bogged down, and picking of the few that get to far away from the mob.

as a warrior I've got okay powerstrike, and powerdraw for horse archery, but most of my points are as you say "sunk" into surgery training, pathfinding etc. . . Though I haven't thought about looting and trading, and then there's the important tactics. Well, you've gotta choose.

One thing i still don't understand about this game is how my party skills add up, that's an important part of my companions.
I figured out that only the highest companion skill lvl and your own (yes, I did do my homework and read the thread on it) skill lvl add up in some weird way, so there's no reason for giving every companion a bit of etc. Trade, they need to specialize as you mention.

though according to what i read in that thread about how your party skills add up there's no point if you haven't got the skills yourself? (I can't find the exact topic again, there's 100s of them. . .)

Oh, and as a side note. Can anyone confirm that you can't marry if you're not a vassal in the same faction as their father?
I remember trying to marry a Swadian, but i was told that i would only be considered if was a vassal of the faction.

EDIT.

I found that having Leadership and Training at high levels made conquest much easier than just doing more damage, since the frustrating thing is having enough high quality troops to do all the things that need doing.

so are you saying that it's good having high training and leadership to have you troops do the hard work?
Or are you saying that it's frustrating having your high lvl troops do the hard work?
or both . . .

 

[Cro]

You can elope.  I did that my first game.  You don't ever have to be a vassal to get married.  Some women will go for this, others will not.

 

[Cro]

Besides wrongfully calling TweakMB cheating, I like what youre saying.

You're right, to call TweakMB cheating is a little strong. It's more like modding. Personally I try not to use any of that stuff because I'm afraid I might throw off some balance that the designers put in the game and that I don't even know about.

Bahestur doesn't do horse archery, I don't give Deshavi a bow, and Klethi does not throw things.  That's because NPCs can't aim and are better off with melee weapons.  That's a limitation of the game, one which I've tested thoroughly and decided that it's not worth fighting with suboptimal setups.

I agree with you too Cro, there's a lot of different ways you can go, and that's one of the main things I like about WB. These are all good suggestions for the OP. I wouldn't say, though, that NPCs can't aim... honestly, Baheshtur is wreaking havoc with his bow, and Deshavi and Ymira too. Klethi is a bit substandard with her thrown weapons but as I said, I've focused on looting with her; given enough Power Throw/Weapon Master/Horse Archery I'm sure she'll do fine with a javelin or throwing daggers. Furthermore, what's suboptimal for combat (focusing on party skills) has had big advantages in the rest of the game - speed on the overland map, trading, surgery, you name it. But I can definitely see that if I improved my own party skills (and became more of a commander than warrior), I'd be able to devote companion skills/stats entirely to combat. So the OP might want to go more in your direction than mine since he's already sunk 7 points into surgery.

Tweak MB is a wonderful gift from the gods.

I'll check NPC throwing and archery accuracy again; most of my experience is with the original M&B.

 

[Lance Tankmen]

im trying for something hard, im making my own kingdom but only useing companions as lords, so im going to get every one

 

[Hughes]

So the OP might want to go more in your direction than mine since he's already sunk 7 points into surgery.

One thing i still don't understand about this game is how my party skills add up, that's an important part of my companions.
I figured out that only the highest companion skill lvl and your own (yes, I did do my homework and read the thread on it) skill lvl add up in some weird way, so there's no reason for giving every companion a bit of etc. Trade, they need to specialize as you mention.

though according to what i read in that thread about how your party skills add up there's no point if you haven't got the skills yourself? (I can't find the exact topic again, there's 100s of them. . .)

I found that having Leadership and Training at high levels made conquest much easier than just doing more damage, since the frustrating thing is having enough high quality troops to do all the things that need doing.

so are you saying that it's good having high training and leadership to have you troops do the hard work?
Or are you saying that it's frustrating having your high lvl troops do the hard work?
or both . . .

Yeah the way they did skills in this game is acutally quite nice, but you almost need a PhD to figure it out.

From what I understand, this is how the party skills work:

It uses the highest in your party. So if you have 1 in Tracking, but Deshavi has 4, your party has 4 in Tracking.

Furthermore, YOU can provide a small bonus to your companions' skills by having points in them yourself; however, it's not a 1-to-1 relationship; rather, it's according to the following chart:

2 points: +1
5 points: +2
8 points: +3
10 points: +4

So in the above example, if you add one more point to Tracking, you'd give Deshavi a +1 bonus (total of 5).

Personally, I give my own character 1 point in a bunch of skills, then read a book (or carry one around) to get it to 2 points and gain the +1 bonus. So if Ymira has 10 in trade, I'll put 1 point into Trade (or already have it there, if I was a merchant's son) and then read the book on trading (can't remember the title) to get the extra point and get the +1 bonus. Total trade skill for my party is therefore 11.

Does that make any sense?

Regarding having high Leadership and Training, I think the person you're quoting likes having those skills so that they can siege castles with big garrisons without having to be a Marshal and rely on other lords for help.

 

[Loiro]

I share the opinion that if leveled in throwing, horsearchery and other ranged skills, the companion will get kills utilizing these skills.

As of TweakMB might change balance, that is true, but the thing is that it is you who choose what to change and what to let be. So, you can use TweakMB and just arrange for having all companions, I dont see that this for example can destroy balance. I fiddled myself with fief incomes, and destroyed balance, and it took me some time before I could find a more profitable balance than what is default  As said, TweakMB is a gift from the makers and will make your gaming experience better, cus its modding made easy, and you get to choose.

How I roll (companionwise) and groupings:

Offensive companions:
Rolf - Awesome warrior (usually using a huge blunt weapon, getting me som prisoners)
Nizar - Mameluke type warrior
Matheld - Kickass amazone Huscarl style (only mounted, as are all my companions)
Lezalit - Main trainer (all companions have some trainerskill, this might be a bad move of me) and kickasswarrior
Firentis - Killing machine
Alayen - Noble killing machine

Bodyguards (follows me, especially at sieges, using their range (xbows and bows) to pick off targets aswell as watching my back):
Bahestur - Horsearcher and killing machine
Bunduk: 2nd trainer and killingmachine
Artimenner - engineer (ofc) and somehwat of a killingmachine
Borcha - Main scout and horsearcher
Deshavi - backup scout and horsearcher
Klethi - Looter and killing machine
Ymira - backupmedic and horsearcher
Jeremus - Main medic and using a crossbow

Backup group (both ranged, xbows)
Katrin - Whiny ***** and backup healer
Marnid - Flaccid *****, trader and backuphealer

All companions are dressed and equipped to look like their faction, for the most part. Also, most companions have throwing (not the archers and xbow'ers) this might have been another bad move of me.

 

[Wira]

I don't see why you NEED all the companions though 

I just enabled the option to tell them to stay no matter what in TweakMB, the disable companion interaction requires a new game.

From what I understand, this is how the party skills work:

It uses the highest in your party. So if you have 1 in Tracking, but Deshavi has 4, your party has 4 in Tracking.

Furthermore, YOU can provide a small bonus to your companions' skills by having points in them yourself; however, it's not a 1-to-1 relationship; rather, it's according to the following chart:

2 points: +1
5 points: +2
8 points: +3
10 points: +4

So in the above example, if you add one more point to Tracking, you'd give Deshavi a +1 bonus (total of 5).

do you think this works the other way too??? e.g if I'm the guy with the highest skill then they just add tiny bits?

I think the Tweak will fix it for me, now I just need to find Artimenner and get him the F*** back, and maybe have a 1 man vote and change bahestur as minister. As I said, i don't have 'access' to Alayen, he seems to have genuinely disappeared due to some kind of bug with you first castle being captured by another faction.

 

[Hughes]

It definitely doesn't work the other way around. If my Tracking is 6 and Deshavi has 2, I only get the bonus for 6 (not +1 to 7 for Deshavi's 2 points). The player can add to his or her companions' skills but not the other way around.

Regarding Alayen, have you tried asking travelers in the taverns as to his whereabouts, or ask Ransom Brokers if he can be ransomed?

 

[Wira]

It definitely doesn't work the other way around. If my Tracking is 6 and Deshavi has 2, I only get the bonus for 6 (not +1 to 7 for Deshavi's 2 points). The player can add to his or her companions' skills but not the other way around.

so I guess you should go for specializing your companions and "generalizing" you own char.

Regarding Alayen, have you tried asking travelers in the taverns as to his whereabouts, or ask Ransom Brokers if he can be ransomed?

Of course I did that, and yes, he is gone.
I think it's a known major bug that if your first castle is captured with your first minister in it, then he/she disappears.

 

[aadio]

I'm with Cro. I've found that range weapons are not worth the trouble on a companion. Not that it doesn't work but I routinely see Balestur chasing around one guy for half a minute while my log has Alayen or someone else kill 3 people in the same time frame. Good, but not optimal is what I would say.

I normally only dedicate 2-3 companions to party skills. Most of the time that's only so I can get a bonus to my skills. I keep Sugery and PathFinding maxxed on myself.

Most my companions have 3-4 in Training and then the rest in combat skills. Power Strike/Iron flesh/Riding. I find they are much better as fighters than anything else.

The only ones that get party skills for me would be:

Borcha - I put points into Path-Finding and Sugery for a bonus to my own skills. Some points left over I put into Tactics.
Artimenner - Sole Engineer since it's a waste of points for me or anyone else to get. Since he has high INT I also put points into First Aid and Wound Recovery.
Ymira - Trade and Persuasion, she's usually who I send out for embissaries.

Really that's all the party skills you need. I'm not sure if loot is really worth it. By the time I'm level 20ish I stopped picking stuff up.

 

[aadio]

It definitely doesn't work the other way around. If my Tracking is 6 and Deshavi has 2, I only get the bonus for 6 (not +1 to 7 for Deshavi's 2 points). The player can add to his or her companions' skills but not the other way around.

Was your Dechavi wounded?

Maybe I need to check it again, I thought companion skills could add to yours to a degree (whoever was higher).