I've been playing Oblivion off and on since release but I've never used any of the many companion mods available before. I see people talk about them and upload things for them all the time and it seems like most people seem to enjoy them but I've never tried them before. As far as I can tell it seems like there are two mods that can give you companions, the CM Partners mod and the Companion Share & Recruit mod. I'm wondering if these two work together, or if one is recommended over the other. Also, do the custom companions that people release work with either one of them?

Some general questions as well, I pretty much exclusively play an assassin/thief character so I've always thought that having someone following me would be counter-productive when I'm being sneaky, so I'm wondering if the companions will also sneak around when you start sneaking. Also, I play with Elys Uncapper and I have a very high speed and I've never met an NPC in the game that could keep up with me (I can out run some horses), how practical would it be for me to actually have a companion if I run this fast, would they always be left in the dust? (I had to stop and wait for Mazoga soooo much on that quest ).

Finally, if anyone has any suggestions for good male companions who can sneak well (if they can at all to begin with as per my question above)?

I'm sure I could look up all this information if I took the time but I was hoping I could just get some easy answers here so thanks if you can help.

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1103108-relz-companion-vilja-ver-21-thread-no-3/

Most companions will try and sneak with you, if they will be as successful is another matter. Vilja is great because she has so much dialogue, she is like a a typical bioware companion, she has a life of her own and her own reasons for being with you and will comment on quests you are doing and just do a ton of small talk. And she can also be told not to fight at all which i like, because i don't want companions to do the fighting for me.

I am not much for companions just for the sake of it, the mods you listed are mainly just mods that will give you combat pets. Basically permanent conjuration pets, they don't have unique dialogue and are basically just there for you to play dress up with and help you fight. Don't get me wrong they are great mods, but they don't really give me much. I prefer to do my fighting myself and what i want in a companion is just someone to interact with.

So yeah i recommend vilja if you miss having someone to talk to when exploring. If what you want is combat pets and miss being a pet class then there are plenty of those types out there too. Then again i play a conjurer if i want pets. Then you just use aoe spell and matching elementals that are immune to you magic lol.

Also you can always tell your companions to wait or send them to your house when you want to be sneaky or just want to do stuff alone, so try them and see if you like it.

Thanks for the information, I might try out the Vilja one. Are there any detailed ones like that but with a male companion instead of female? I found one but the guy's name is "Stoker Wolff" and I'm having a hard time getting over such a goofy name (No offense to the creator). Anyways, thanks again for the information.

You might want to try out http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=9926. He has a storyline and is one of the more detailed companions around.

Why not try both him and Vilja? I have added in special dialog between the two of them (I've made Vilja, together with CDCooley), and they can be quite amusing together.

(Stoker Wolf and Vilja also has special dialog between them, although Stoker Wolf doesn't talk that much. but he has a storyline, and he has romance).

There is also http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=10266 who hasn't got any story or such but who is still quite nice to have around. He uses generic Oblivion dialog.

As for Vilja, she isn't a romance companion - she's your friend, and buddy.

Well vilja isn't really a romance mod, its just a really good friend, if you want it to be a romance it can be but yeah there is no real flirting or anything. So gender shouldn't matter. If you do want romance though, stoker is probably your best , he is only male romance that comes to mind. Outright turning down a guy because of his name is kind of harsh

Companion Share & Recruit if you are interested in companion NPCs not scripted (so less conflicts and complications) and configured the way you like (i.e. Class/Spell/Race, A.I. and level fixed or offset).
They do not suffer at all from Shivering Isles or Oblivion World as I have tested.
They even follows you without problems in some special mods mods like "Adash City of Magic".
If enemy flee too far they not follow him like foolishes...

Thank you again for the recommendations, I think I'll learn best if I start trying some of them out now I teased the Stoker Wolff one for the name (again no offense to the creator) but I do think his armor looks very appropriate to fit my sneaky character so I'll try that one and probably some others.

I didn't mean to imply that I wanted a male companion specifically for romance though, I just would prefer to have a male companion with me. Though Vilja does look interesting enough to try out anyways

Thanks again for the information.


Edit: Does anyone know if it would cause problems if you use the "setactorfullname" console command to change a companion's name? I mean apart from the fact that if they ever refer to themselves they'll still use their default name, like would it screw up any of their scripts etc? I guess it might differ from companion to companion. Thanks again.