Again, I go for my wanting of having a permanent companion no matter your charisma is.
For one, it would add more flavour to the game, and you can't really expect for people who want to live in peace to live alone, even in the "new" old west, you need a companion.
So, what I propose is having a location very much like the cafe of broken dreams, but having aspiring "heroes" in it, these "aspiring heroes" defend the pub and there are some posted outside, to ensure that the people looking for a sidekick will be quite safe.
It could be added as a special encounter, or even better, achieved through a quest which anybody can do (even 1 charisma characters without mentats)
The sidekick never really dies, instead, when he/she gets "killed" one can pick him/her up at a specific bar (the town where the bar is varies, therefore making you go that extra mile, pardon the pun, to get em back, you might be unlucky and have him appear in a frequented unguarded own, or you might be lucky and get him in a "deserted" guarded town) through a dialogue with the barman, where the barman points out that a guy/chick called "name of sidekick" trudged in with deadly wounds and that you have to pay a certain price to let them join you again (costs of rehabilitation and wound treatment), until you decide to pay up the costs they will be "working" their debt off, it could range from 100-4000 caps depending on how gruesome the death was.
The Sidekick doesn't cost any companion slots, and is "free" when he/she joins you. You can choose which kind of sidekick you want (DefaultDude, LonghairDude, DefaultBabe) and you may choose one of several "builds", however, to prevent use of them as a "clone" only small arms will be able to used by them, in other words: Energy Pistols, Pistols, SMGs and Rifles, no heavy weapons at all.
You can "customise" the sidekick with armour and weapons, he/she will change their appearance accordingly depending on what armour they are wearing, much like a player character, they start out with a 10mm /Laser Pistol with 4 mags worth of ammo and a leather jacket, this can then be changed, note that if you tell them to unequip the armour they will wear the vault suit, just like you.
They can't be looted, therefore, they are a cheapish way of keeping your items safe from thieves and pissed off Player Killers.
Just got your first combat armour? Don't worry, your trusty sidekick will keep it completely safe, in fact, they will be better off wearing it since the armour won't deteriorate while they wear it, so give em the most powerful defense equipment you have, it will be worth it.
If they get lost in an encounter, or you have the luck of a dead weasel, they will "reappear" in your party 10 minutes later.
They level up with you, but stick 1 level lower than you do, unless your charisma is high. lv. cap for sidekick: 17+(Charisma/2)
Therefore, a 10 charisma character, upon hitting level 21, your sidekick will magically level up from lvl 19 to lvl 22, making a charismatic character advantageous in terms of having a powerful sidekick, making up for your shitty combat abilities, whereas a 1 charisma character will have his sidekick level up to lvl 18, all because you decided to maximise your combat efficiency, making a 3 charisma character able to get his/her sidekick level up throughout his/her misadventure and ending at lvl 20, instead of 18.
As a side note, each sidekick could have a random backstory, all from being a farmer's son, to a brotherhood of steel/enclave outcast.
Weapons should deteriorate when being used by your dear sidekick.
There is a maximum carry weight (maybe 46 kg?) of course, just to stop em from being mules.
The companions simply leave you with all your valuable stuff if you decide to shoot someone first, once combat is initiated, and not by you, you are free to shoot, maim, or destroy the fucker, stealing stuff in the presence of your companion will also make em leave you, they are not villains, or henchmen, they are sidekicks, some wannabe heroes, not villains, anything disreputable done by you to other players in their presence will make em leave you, call it a divorce, bitch. The sidekick does not loot our corpse however, and he does not shoot thieves, however, you shooting a person tagged as thief, dangerous, or blocker do not count as being disreputable actions.
Plus, you could control how the sidekick reacts in a fight, what enemy he targets, when he would use a stimpack, first aid skill and such (to make it balanced the sidekick only ought to be able to FA im/her-self every 10 minutes. You might also be able to control the frequency of the bursts of the weapon, Ranging from: Always to Never as well as sometimes, sometimes being the curent bursting ratee of the NPCs. Then their tactical ability, choosing from : Snipe The Enemy, Attack Point Blank, Stay Close (5 hexes away).
Plus, a scatter command, he runs 15 hexes away from you, but staying the same distance in terms of hexes to his chosen target. (could be hotkeyed to X as well as being the first action of your sidekick when meeting a hostile party)
I've wanted something like this since the start of the last season, and now, during this season, where I'm a seasoned veteran of warfare in FOnline I would very much like to have something like this implemented, having a companion who is as tenacious as your ingame character, determined not to die and to become more powerful as time goes by.
