I ran into a wall this past weekend and I thought I'd ask for opinions before I choose an approach to resolve it. So the question is: should I go with Solution A, B, C, D, or E?
Problem: I tried to use the Familiar slot for the second pet so that you can visually pick your second pet and get to name them uniquely. This failed because the AI of the familiar is such that it runs from combat/tries to stay out of the way. In addition, the Beastmaster ONLY companions are visible to Wizards/Sorcerers because the engine isn't respecting the feat column in the familiars table.
I think I found a way around the AI but I can't resolve the engine ignoring the damn feat column of the 2DA file.
Solution A: Let the player pick the second pet visually using the familiar slot. Sorcerers who pick a Beastmaster pet (clearly marked as such with the description) will instead summon the beetle. Dung for the lack of reading comprehension! If you pick a non-beastmaster familiar you get a boar. Truffles for you!
Solution B: The player's second companion is identical to the first and it's name is "X's twin" where X is whatever you named your first pet. Simple, to the point, and no reading required. The player does not get a familiar at all.
Solution C: The player's second companion is identical to the first and it's name is "X's twin" where X is whatever you named your first pet. Simple, to the point, and no reading required. The player does get a familiar so they can have a non-combat cute fuzzy to go with the pair of non-cute fuzzies.
Solution D: The player picks the second companion type from a bonus feat list while leveling up (probably at level 1). The familiar GUI is available and it is only used to let them name their second pet. No familiar is available to the player.
Solution E: The player picks the second companion type from a bonus feat list while leveling up (probably at level 1). The second pet's name is "X's twin" where X is whatever you named your first pet. They get a familiar as well for the cute-fuzzy aspect.
Edit:
Ok, a different way to look at this and a much simpler question:
Do you want a familiar?
If so, your second pet will not have a unique name.
If not, your second pet will have a unique name.
Regardless, you will be able to pick whatever type you want for each companion (such a spider and lizard, or wolf and cat).
