Using Companion Rules from DMG2

[jbear]

I'm very new to FG so I'm learning to find my way around the program bit by bit. I've 'joined' a game of other learners, new to FG and 4e as well. So far there is the DM and 3 players including myself.

I was wondering if the program has the possibility for each of the players to run a companion character (say something simple like a wolf that basically moves and has a bite attack). How would that work?

Is there a tutorial or a guide, even a relevant thread on that subject anyone can direct me to?

I haven't ever played but I imagine with conjurations, familiars and beastmaster rangers it must be possible for each player to manage two tokens on their turn. But what about keeping track of hps, defenses, surges, conditions, buffs, debuffs and actions? Would it require making a seperate character sheet for the companion? Can one player run two characters?

If anyone could point me in the right direction or spell it out for me the best way to do this without getting into anything overly complicated that a group of newbies might drown in, that would be great.

Thanks!

[zapoqx]

one player can run two characters. The only problem is talking and how it shows dice rolls unless it was fixed when 4e_jpg got built into FG2.
Say you have 2 characters out:
1 is the main active character player named Jon
1 is the companion character for Jon named Jacob

Jon's character is active.
Jon goes to his companion character sheet and uses an attack power.
When the dice comes up on the screen, it shows that "Jon" made the roll but it shows the name of the power from Jacob's sheet.

One way I have done it in a few side quests:
The DM had me look at the stuff on my computer, he controlled the personality, I controlled the token and just typed in the /die command for the attack since I didn't have alot of quests to use an extra character.

One of the other players in the same game group has had to use a companion character. What the DM did was simple. He had the person make a new character in FG2, put the companion character's stats in that new sheet as well as the powers and the stats for attack and damage in the powers area.

Hope this helps.