Companions..

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raidersdie

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***Warning!! I know it is EA. This is just meant as feedback.***

I find most companion character backstories to be a bit samey and stale. I haven't found all of them yet, but as far as I can tell most of them are the same both backstory and skill wise. (they even look alike.)

They all have the same "I was wronged, something bad happened to me, I did something and now I need to leave" theme going on. Warband companions were unique in comparison. They all had their own backstories and their skills were based on that backstory. In Bannerlord, most backstories begin and end the same way, so majority of them are just fighters. This is something that needs to be corrected. I know you can train your companions and give them new skills, but finding a supposedly "well educated" companion that only has combat skills is a bit disappointing. All backstories boil down to "I am well educated, but I killed a man, so now I only know how to fight."
 
Companions are semi-randomly generated, as if from pre-defined class types. As you can see their last names, or rather nicknames, indicates what backstories they have.
In addition to old age, if you have Hero Death enabled, your companions can also die in battle, this is why they are all randomly generated from templates. It's not something TW will do to create unique pre-defined characters when they designed a time system that almost forces you to treat everyone as expandables.
There seems to be a good number of templates that are combat oriented. So far I've found "Willowbark" (or something) to be a mix of medic and scout, and the "Healer" being full healer. There's probably more but all others I've found seem to be mostly combat. I haven't managed to find one that's trade-oriented, for example.
Honestly, I'd be find if they just add more personalities into the game, and maybe tone down the number of combat-focused personalities a bit
 
Has anyone found a companion with engineering skill? And is rougery a party skill? There doesn't seem to be a clan role for rougery.
I thought Longknives or something has the Roguery skill, I've only seen women with that name though, I'm pretty sure the last names of males and females are different, so a male rogue might have a different name. And no I haven't seen anyone with engineering skills yet.
 
Companions are semi-randomly generated, as if from pre-defined class types. As you can see their last names, or rather nicknames, indicates what backstories they have.
In addition to old age, if you have Hero Death enabled, your companions can also die in battle, this is why they are all randomly generated from templates. It's not something TW will do to create unique pre-defined characters when they designed a time system that almost forces you to treat everyone as expandables.
There seems to be a good number of templates that are combat oriented. So far I've found "Willowbark" (or something) to be a mix of medic and scout, and the "Healer" being full healer. There's probably more but all others I've found seem to be mostly combat. I haven't managed to find one that's trade-oriented, for example.
Honestly, I'd be find if they just add more personalities into the game, and maybe tone down the number of combat-focused personalities a bit

Companion skills should be tied to their backstories, not just to their nicknames.

For example I have found a companion who was raised by raiders and she mentions she would steal stuff just to please them. (something along those lines) I thought she would have roguery skill, but as usual she was just a fighter. It hardly makes sense.

I agree with you, they should reduce the combat oriented templates and mix it up a bit.
 
I do like getting all the 'Bloodaxe" companions together, as they all used to be in this world equivalent to the Varangian guard. They for a nice bodyguard corps in town and are solid heavy infantry. Their combat stats are a bit lacking compared to the to the companions tho, especially considering their backstory.
 
I do like getting all the 'Bloodaxe" companions together, as they all sued to be in this world equivalent to the Varangian guard. They for a nice bodyguard corps in town and are solid heavy infantry. Their combat stats are a bit lacking compared to the to the companions tho, especially considering their backstory.

Yeah, it is silly how companions with combat oriented backstories usually weaker than companions with random backstories such as "I was wronged and I just killed someone so I need to escape". It makes not sense.
 
Yeah, it is silly how companions with combat oriented backstories usually weaker than companions with random backstories such as "I was wronged and I just killed someone so I need to escape". It makes not sense.

I got a companion with no skills at all, i recruted her for 2 reasons:
1. needed a goveror to see what it did
2. She was 18 and had escaped an arranged marriage with a drunkard.

Now i cant kick her out because she would end up dead inthe gutters within a day.
 
At last a thread on Companions! This is probably the main feature that has been left out the most, compared to others.

So, I have recruited 7 companions and have met about 15 of them. Almost all of them were Sturgians! Only 1 was an Imperial, and another seemed to be Vlandian. That is nonsense. Hell, I've found Sturgians companions all over the world, even in Aserai cities.
Most of them are combat oriented, which kind of makes sense for early game.
Has anyone found a companion with engineering skill? And is rougery a party skill? There doesn't seem to be a clan role for rougery.
Nope, I've only found Fighters, Rogues and Healers. Which is hard to understand, but as I said above, Taleworlds might have done this just to help in early game and they still have to add others yet.
Companion skills should be tied to their backstories, not just to their nicknames.

For example I have found a companion who was raised by raiders and she mentions she would steal stuff just to please them. (something along those lines) I thought she would have roguery skill, but as usual she was just a fighter. It hardly makes sense.

I agree with you, they should reduce the combat oriented templates and mix it up a bit.
Exactly! I have hired a few based on their backstory, and their skills did not really match, which was immersion breaking.

Some just don't have backstory text at all:


Anyway, I've worked on creating companions in Warband and it wasn't that time consuming. I hope they will vary their "nationality", make their skills match their background and make them more interesting.
 
I have a companion with medic skills and another with scouting skills, haven't found one with engineering tried looking everywhere for one. However, i don't need one now after doing a lot of sieges i have engineering skill of 90 now. lol
 
The companions feel way too generic. This was probably one of the most enjoyable features in Warband, the unique characters that you almost felt a true friendship with. Also, why do so many of them have to be scumbags? I understand they all need issues but in Warband I found half of their issues understandable. So far in Bannerlord, almost everyone is a murderer.

I miss Jeremus and Lezalit. I want at least a couple of characters of that calibur.

Finally, why is everyone so old?
 
Some just don't have backstory text at all:

I love the "this is a generic backstory" companions. Absolutely the most early access **** I've ever seen! Basically the devs saying "we cant be arsed to even flesh out 20ish different backstories for companions you will probably never use or keep as they are pretty much all identical". Love it!!!

But yeah, in general the companions do suck balls so far and mostly look like they have had a stroke or have down syndrome......
 
If the companions are randomly generated, why don't they have different names and stats. Why is there only one female who specializes in medicine? Random generator seems a moot point. We are essentially playing with the same companions each time.
 
There are some really lovely wanderer backgrounds in the game files that haven't been implemented yet. The vast majority of the ones that are implemented are Sturgian, and as far as I can tell, and Aserai and Khuzait companions haven't been invited to the party yet. I don't have the files in front of me right now, but I seem to remember seeing about ten different backgrounds per culture. In a game in which a certain amount of wanderers are generated at a time, that will offer a lot of variety with room to expand. I think what they're demonstrating/testing in the EA state is the minimum potential of the system.

That said, I would expect "unique" wanderer mods to pop up soon. One-time tailor-made heroes with special stories, maybe even quests. I'd put money down that we'll see a "Warband Companions" mod in the near future.

UPDATE: Yep, here's a start.
 
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If the companions are randomly generated, why don't they have different names and stats. Why is there only one female who specializes in medicine? Random generator seems a moot point. We are essentially playing with the same companions each time.

They're not completely randomly generated ex nihilo. Think of it like rolling a very simple character sheet with presets. Roll gender, roll culture, roll backstory. You are correct that we are playing with the same companions each time right now, but when all of the backstories are implemented, it will feel much more "random" because there will be a lot more options to roll from.
 
I've found two companions with rougery. I have no idea how they're supposed to level it though.

I also have the same issue, my companions don't seem to level up no matter what, I have no idea how to raise their skills and stat.

By the way, I noticed three things,

1. Companions roll with some stats at 0. I think this is not intentional because it should never be under 1. (A person with 0 intelligence simply can't exist. 0 intelligence means brains would have to be missing.) Also, this makes adding new skills to a character near impossible.

2. Companions can randomly die sometimes, even though they shouldn't be able to. Happened to me once and I had to go back to a previous save.

3. Unlike Warband, companions in this game don't have any flavor dialogue or quests at all. I am not sure if it will be implemented in the future though. (Lets hope so. They are awfully dull at the moment.)
 
I just think that for now, companions are far from being a priority for the devs... which is kind of sad, but I understand.
Yes, this is the impression I get as well. Almost all exclusively Sturgians and with samey *I was forced into being a mercenary* backstories, but they work.

One trick is to click on the name of the companion while interviewing them in the tavern before paying to recruit so you can see their skills from the encyclopedia, but I feel like their nicknames should give greater clarity as to their skills. I still have only found fighters, rogues, tacticians, scouts and healers though - no engineers, smiths or traders.
 
You are lucky, I looked many places but all I could find was fighters and a single token rogue. I am looking for a healer right now.

Most of them have generic, boring and samey backstories, but some of them don't even have that much. I really hope they will do something about it soon.
 
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