In Guild Wars the party-system is pretty good. You can hire henchmen, they have their own armor, spells, weapons... And their armor value depands on their level, how stronger they are, how better their armor. They only require a part of the gold you gain from slain enemies, any items you can keep yourself. You don't need to control them, they all know what to do.
It's a pretty good system and with a few tweaks it would be perfect.

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