In multiplayer, does each player control one Companion?
Most likely. That's the way it works with henchmen.
Will you actually be able to swap party members in combat?
Unlikely. I think that example was more if you were about to enter the Skeleton Cave of Doom and had an archer henchmen, you might want to swap out with one who was better with crushing damage, or if you started exploring an area with a lot of fire elementals, you could swap a fire specialized mage for water.
5) Can we find the Message in a Bottle and use the Kickstarter potion once each time we start a new game, or only once?
Wouldn't it have to be available each new game? Otherwise it would suck if someone got 10 minutes into the game and decided to start over with different character builds.
without enough Int, how can you know that it’s time to run from a fight?
If you can see the level of opponents at or below your level with the base intelligence, then you know any opponent who's level you can not see is a higher level.
