It's a d20 system. With maxed stats or not the die will always rule the outcome, and I like it. I'm not worried about failing checks.
The issue is that I feel like there is not much reason to bring a person around other than for their fighting skills. As soon as the fight is over the companions will cease to exists, other than the occasional utility spell thrown around.
As you said, having an expert around. My grumpy monk should be smart enough to say "wyll, talk with these guards or I'm going to talk with my fists". If I'm in a magical dungeon with magical writings and magical stuff around, I'd like to bring gale to be helped to understand what's happening.
About main character and others, I actually like it. I think that the protagonist should be the party, not a single person. Which is one more reason to act as a party during dialogues.
