Hello, everyone! I'm planning out a mod that involves adding dialogue and quests to existing companions, allowing them to interact with each other and actually become a sort of dynamic entourage for the Nerevarine. That's the goal, anyway.

So, I would really appreciate it if you all let me know what your most used/ favorite companion mods are. Even if a companion is super well-known or someone has already mentioned it, that's fine. I'm just sort of wanting to get an idea of the popular consensus, so that I know what companions to prioritize writing for. Thanks so much!

(Bonus points if you tell me whether the mod uses global/ local variables that would allow for an outside mod to easily interact with it)

I think you'll find most of them over at http://emmates.proboards.com/, as the majority are based on her and Grumpy's work. And a significant number of those already interact.

I usually run my game with Julan, Jasmine, Constance, and the companions in Uvirith's Legacy, though I also toss in Morte, Rincewind's Luggage, and the companions from Morrowind Comes Alive at times.

Yeah, Emma's mods are obviously at the top of the food chain I guess. I'm knee-deep in testing companions rn, and realizing how many are embedded in quest mods makes this all the more daunting lol. I'm planning on playing Uvirith's Legacy on my current save, so I'll keep those companions in mind. Unfortunately, my dinky laptop can't handle mods like The Underworld, so I likely won't be able to investigate the companions from that.

My game has become companion happy. I've run with companions from the fairly simple Slave Warrior Jessica to more complex companions like Constance. My favorite companion is Constance. To me she breathes life into the game, especially when drinking at the taverns. She has a nice little quest, has some comical comments and is decent to look at, which is a real plus for my guy. I've also spent a lot of time with Emma's witchgirl, Morgana le Hex.

There are two companions in Uvirith's Legacy that I like to travel with from time to time, Sara N'tashra and Ash-Kosh Virash. One of these days I'm going to have to try Julan and Jasmine, I've read so many good things about them.

Right now though, I'm playing around with Grumpy's Companion v3.1 to make my own companions using winged twilights or custom races like Westly's Sidhe and Darkling races. They're simple companions but they've been a lot of fun to create and play with. I think it's knowing that they're your own creation adds to the enjoyment.

How is Witchgirl? I've been nervous to try it because of the mod's age, and although I know she has a companion ring, I'm not sure whether there are safeguards in place to prevent her from losing her stats entirely after 72 hours. Most modern companions have a script that restores what their stats are supposed to be when you rest (Jasmine), or have globals that keep track of them so they're not lost (Julan).

All three of my companion mods (Jasmine, Morte, and the snow bear cub) use a global variable to keep track of if the companion is following you or not. It's been a long time since I've delved into their scripts, but I can get those variables for you if you want, just give me a few days.

That would be really nice! I actually have Morte on my current save as well. XD

This is going to be a real learning exercise for me, honestly. I'm still pretty much a novice when it comes to scripting, but i'm willing to learn lol

One companion mod to rule them all -

http://mw.modhistory.com/download-24-10887

Allows you to recruit anyone as a follower, from Fargoth to a crew of High Ordinators.

I would imagine that creates some weird dialog problems though no? Like NPCs commenting on people, places, or services outside of where they live? unless the NPCs you decide to command have been "nolored".

It's more a need a generic guard to help me take down bandit cave companion mod rather than a fleshed out singular companion. Depends which kind you go for.

I've played with a universal companion mod before. It's very entertaining lol

I admit, I only travel with Julan. I keep meaning to give Jasmine a try, but I can't say I really relish the idea of becoming the Fellowship of the Nerevarine, and under no circumstances will I be parted from Julan.

FELLOWSHIP OF THE NEREVARINE

I LIKE IT

I never had any issues with Morgana other than she likes to conjure up storm atronachs during combat right from the start. My low level characters often died as a result. I think she kept up fairly well but I didn't leave her alone for 72-hours at a time. Thing is I never paid much attention to companion stats. Always looked at it as my job to ensure their safety not theirs to be my equal or to be a super pack horse. All I can say is that she didn't need much help for as long as I kept her around.

I have the Morgana mod loaded currently but haven't met her yet. But as soon as I heard that she summons atronachs, i immediately went into the CS and removed the spell from her. Hopefully it's not scripted back on at some point lol. The way atronachs and daedroths work in this game is a pretty bad design choice imo. I never summon them bc they'll hit me, and even if i stay back, I'm always outnumbered, so the atronach will always die before it takes out a group. Which is what it's seemingly designed to do. >_>

I don't get it. Actually, I think I do, but I'd rather err on the side of caution. Anyway, Jasmine only has dialog for various quests, she isn't tied to any of them like Julan is. She does have her own questline, but it's completely optional.

@Superduple: create a global called JasFollowing, but leave it at zero. When it's 1, it means Jasmine is following and you can use that as a dialog filter. You can also create empty journal entries if you want, but I'll have to go back through the mod and look at what I did. As for Morte, it should be Jac_MorteFollowing.

I once tried Witchgirl without having a single issue and from what I recall it is a good mod.