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There have been a few discussions I've seen centered around Animal Companions and how they act in battle. I had an idea that I thought could be a good medium between losing an action every turn and the Companion not acting.

Basically, have stances or tactics to issue during a command action.

When issuing a command the player controls the companion as the rules already dictate, and states a tactic for the companion to use until another command action is given.

Examples of tactics:

Guard: The companion stays close to the player (or the target such as an ally/item/etc) and attacks anything that comes within a certain distance. Prioritize keeping enemies out of melee range of target.

Heel: Companion stays within 5 feet of player and awaits another command.

Hide: Companion attempts to find shelter nearby and avoid combat.

Hunt: Companion attacks and harries a specific target.

If the player is knocked unconscious the tactic defaults to guard unless told otherwise beforehand.

A Ranger using a Hunt Target action can issue a Companion tactic as part of the action.

This would need a subsystem to automate all the specific decisions of the companion such as if it would avoid rough terrain and which enemy to single out within range. This frees up the player to use all three of their actions but does not let them directly control the Companion which could be risky as the Companion will only follow its own set of rules which may not be optimal in the current situation.

Any thoughts and opinions are welcome.