Companions in Beth games have been getting better and better over the years but they still aren't perfect. They're close!

I tend to use my companion to draw aggro and take hits; this is true of just about every Beth game where companions have been an option (although in Oblivion more often than not they resigned to 'torch carrier' due to poor AI). To this end, Skyrim's new companion command system has been quite allowing; I can tell my companion to run in and attack something with a few button presses.

Unfortunately, it's still not as streamlined as it COULD be. I'd like the ability to be able to map a companion command to a hotkey, so that all I have to do is look in the direction I want them to go and press a button for them to be off. I realize this is likely a job for SKSE but I thought I'd put the idea out there for anyone crafty enough to make it work in the eventuality that it becomes possible.

Nothin', BGSF?

The best idea to do this is make a new power that every player gets from the start. Once you activate the power, it automatically goes into "order giving" mode.

One problem I've found is that companions stop following your orders once you leave this mode, which I find pretty weird. For example, you can order your companion to move to a spot, but when you continue doing what you did before that, they suddenly stop moving to the spot, and follow you again. What's that all about?

Also a nice addition would be ordering your companion into a fighting stance. For example, when in the order giving mode, 3 buttons on the d-pad (left, down right) could be mapped to making your companion aggressive melee, ranged, and defensive melee.