Companions

Companions are a special class of assets that have inherent abilities that characters can control such as trained animals, droids and drones, and other assistants.

Companions act as extensions of their character's ability's, aiding the player in various situations depending on their capabilities.

Defining Companions

For most types of companions, common sense and practical knowledge are used to guide how companions can be used during gameplay. A trained attack dog can be assumed to follow a collection of common verbal and hand gestures such as stay, heel, guard, or attack. For fictional types of companions, the abilities of the companion may need to be specifically defined.

When adding a new companion to a character, players should discuss the companion's abilities with the host. Tags can be added to the asset description to capture any details.

Using Companions

On their turn, players can use their action to command a companion. For example, a character with a trained security dog could use their action to order their companion to attack a nearby adversary. A character with an aerial surveillance drone could use a drone to recon a nearby location.

Companions are treated like any other character asset. When a player uses their companion as part of an action on their turn, the companion can be the target of any consequences. Like any other asset, companions can be linked to character conditions.

Improving Companions

During periods of character advancement players can increase the asset rating of their companions.

A higher asset rating is used to represent an increased reliability and chance of success when using a companion to perform actions. A higher asset rating might represent an increased level of training for an animal companion, an increase in the strength of a bond with a spirit, or an increase in quality for a mechanical device.

The utility of companions can also be improved by adding features to a character that are tied to the use of the asset representing a companion.

EXAMPLE FEATURE: JAWS OF STEEL

Your security dog has been augmented with a cybernetic jaw implant that increases their bite strength. Once per encounter, a bite attack by the guard dog can either a) add an automatic success to the action roll, or b) add the grappled bane to the performance conditions of an adversary.