The 7th Saga/Characters

Characters in The 7th Saga run along a spectrum from predominantly physical to predominantly magical.

Companion
You are allowed one companion in your travels, and they become available in Borno or Zellis (after opening the Gate of Earth). To recruit a companion, you can speak with one of the six other apprentices. When you first encounter them, they may ask to join you, say nothing of consequence, or challenge you. If you engaged them in the past, they will automatically attack.

They will change their reaction after you collect a set amount of experience. If so, you are free to try checking with them again do see if they have a different.

Your selected companion will remain with you during the travel. Not all companion combinations are best, but you will want to have at least one magic specialist with a physical specialist.

If you want to exchange companions, wait for your ally to die, and speak with another apprentice.

Challenges
In some cases, you may encounter a challenge with a fellow apprentice. This is a one-on-one battle, and your companion will not assist. In addition, failing the challenge will cause the opposing apprentice to steal all of your runes, and requires you to hunt them down to get them back.

Challenges may occur if you accept it from an opponent, if you have a rune and they don't like you at that time, or in a rare case where your companion will turn against you.

In the US version, these opponents are much stronger than despite being scaled to the level of your chosen character. As such, you should avoid fighting them if possible.