Kingmaker 2e Companion NPCs
I have been going through the AP and I am curious how to integrate the NPCs in with the main party during play. I have four players but I can see that as they gather more companion NPCs throughout the AP that they will want some to accompany them as the need arises for more difficult missions or for NPC personal quests. I see there are only a few of the NPCs were created as creatures in the Bestiary that is part of the Companion Guide.
My question here is, am I going to need to create all the companions as Characters so they can be added to the party? if not, how should I handle this?
If I do create characters for the NPCs, I can see needing to level them all up as the game goes on as well since I will never know when they might be called upon to help out.