At the end a quest or during it, a companion can share with us their opinions before and after each choices we make. Their alignment can be randomly decided at character creation, giving different experiences each playthrough. I think it will add some depths to the game. It also makes "falling unconscious" respawn reasonable, by having someone carries us back.
The companion can also help us train some skills when reaching certain levels (maybe every 4 levels like us, or 8?). It won't have much effect on powerspikes, because most are level locked, while making reaching special skills like fracture/taunt/rejuvenation/concussion more easily. Let's face it, while those skills are indeed interesting, most players give up the idea of acquiring them because of their prerequisites.
The companion may lead a new quest line, and after the first part of the quest they join us on our journey. They will not influence any of our quest choices apart from speaking out their opinion, so that it doesn't affect past game developments.
There will be a new companion tab in player menu, in which you can give companions equipments. A snall percentage of companion's combat power may be added to the player's, and that percentage can increase or decrease depends on the player's choices and the companion's alignment. It may incentivize different choices for each playthrough.
Apart from implementation effort, what do you think of this?
