I totally agree with you, it's a shame to miss cool NPC lines and certain scenes requiring the NPC to be in your party when you are multiplaying or even during your solo playthrough.
A solution that comes to mind with as much roleplay and immersion to remain intact and avoid magic disappearances would be this:
- Your fighting crew is alway composed of 1 to 4 controlled characters
- Your camp can have infinite characters within, no restriction there
- You can be followed by up to 3 non controlled characters
Non controlled characters act on their own as regular allies in battle with some differences from the normal AI:
- They can't turn hostile on you because of AOE spells and the like but remains affected by confusion or other ally shifting effects
- They act dumb using only regular attacks or cantrips and avoid melee as long as they have a range option
- They never use any consumable, limited number of use abilities or spell slots as long as they are not controlled by the ennemy
- They always provide aid prior to attacking
This way, they have limited impact in the good way but could end up being a trouble to compensate the advantage of sheer number.
With this you can RP while multiplaying AND solo playthrough
