Edit: Hmmm. Quoting appears fine in preview, but not in actual post. I don’t seem to be able to enable UBBCode.
It's not immediately active for new accounts.
Re: Companion numbers. You need 3 or 4 ( depending on whether you generate a unique character ), so 5 does not give you a great deal of leeway. If your character would refuse to co-operate with evil/dark characters, you say goodbye to most of them, leaving you rather short-handed.
Obviously the idea is that you are all in the same dire situation and are forced to co-operate. And, clearly, the depth of the characters and their interactions can make it difficult to justify the acting/voicing costs of too many companions.
To me, a selection of 3 from 7 would probably be enough to ensure class/alignment balance; it depends how picky you are.
