Followers vs. Non-Companion NPCs

Parent page Follower Actions

Followers are NPCs who are designed to be balanced with other companion options, such as animal companions, and to maintain their own necessary gear without cost to the PCs. As such, they have the minion trait, and they can only use the actions listed under follower actions and in their stat block.

Since followers are intelligent people, these abstractions can potentially lead to unusual circumstances at the table. For example, some groups might find it odd that followers can’t Activate an Item to use magic item abilities or feed potions to PCs. However, activated items are balanced around the idea that a PC is spending their own actions to use them. For example, magic items with a 2-action activation are balanced around the idea that they can’t be used on the same turn as any other 2-action spell or activity.