No idea if this has been suggested already, so be gentle.
1) Surrender -
When certain monsters get close to dying, they may \'surrender\' if you have a high enough charisma/persuasion/etc. They turn neutral, let you loot them (as if they had died), and start to follow you. You can either attack them again and kill them, take them to a prison/war camp for a bounty, possibly a quest, possibly to gain a title in the area (ie, bring in enough monsters and you\'ve made the area safer, so you get the title \'Squire\' or some such). Alternately if your charisma/persuasion/etc is high enough (note: higher than what it would take to just get them to surrender), you could turn them into a hireling.
For those of you who have played MechWarrior 3, I would imagine a system somewhat similair to that (not identical, of course... just a simple set target/order attack/defense/move here/etc) would be perfect for interacting with any NPCs following you.
2) Training -
99.9% of all wild animals can NOT be tamed. They must be raised from birth - perhaps a spawn point for wolf pups or eggs. Guarded by parents who will fight significantly harder to protect their young than other animals would, of course. If you have a high enough Animal Training skill, you can tame the animal. This means it follows you, attacks what you attack, and attacks what attacks you. Depending on the monster it could attack certain other creatures as well (Ie, a wolf automatically chasing rabbits). At higher skill levels, you can add extra abilities. Expanding on the idea:
-Take animal to a \'Training Yard\' or similar facility. Animal Training window pops up on-screen, showing requirements and special training.
-Each part of special training (not automatically chasing rabbits, for example) \'costs\' more skill. The only restriction here being that the cost of training the animal does not exceed your skill in training animals.
(Ex)
Wolf
Basic Training (15 Skill): Follows your character, defends character, attacks with character, chases rabbits
Attack Training (+5 Skill): Can order Wolf to attack creatures
Guard Training (+10 Skill): Can order Wolf to stay in a certain area and defend it from hostile creatures. (+20 skill): Wolf is better at determining which creatures are hostile. (+30 skill): Wolf is able to detect magically hidden creatures.
Control Training (+5 Skill): No longer chases after rabbits automatically.
Domestication (+10 Skill): Combat abilities decrease, but value when sold as a pet increases
Hunt Training (+5 Skill): \'Hunt\' command makes the wolf search for, then chase the nearest \'prey\' animal and attack it, if it\'s within a certain distance. (+15 Skill): Increases the distance the \'Hunt\' command works through. (+25 Skill): Increases the speed with which the wolf can find a prey animal.
Combat Training (+10 Skill): Similar to \'Hunt\', but targets enemies rather than prey animals. (+20 Skill) Larger distance (+30 Skill) Faster finding
Seek Training (+10 Skill): Similar to \'Hunt\', but instead lets the animal seek out a type of resources (Plants, some Minerals if they have smell, fallen objects, items, etc). (+20 Skill): Increases item variety that can be found (more difficult to detect/rarer items) and distance they can be detected from.
Ex:
You find a wolf pup, and take it to a training yard. You have 40 Skill in animal training, so you decide aside from the required basic training (15 pts), you want it to be a hunting animal. Attack Training (5 pts), Control Training (5 pts), and Hunting (lv2, 15 pts). This adds up to 40 (15 + 5 + 5 + 15 = 40), you train it, and then head out with your Wolf following you to find some good hunting grounds.
3) Evolution/Promotion/Experience
After a hireling gains a certain number of kills/experience, they may level up. For enemy races that surrendered and then \'swore to serve you\', this could mean something like a different name (Ie, \'Bandit\' becomes \'Raider\'). Animals gain maturity (\'Wolf\' becomes \'Tough Wolf\' or \'Alpha Wolf\' or something like that), and so forth. Animals would have a life measured in months, while a good hireling/henchman would last for upwards of a year depending on the race.
Naturally, wild creatures would gain stats like this as well. Perhaps even from fighting each other (Ie, a wild Wolf becomes a Tough Wolf after killing a few deer).
NOTE: I saw an argument against this elsewhere on the boards stating that it could cause newbie-death in areas where monsters can actually win against newbies. This could be solved by having monsters \'migrate\' once they reach a certain level - for example, Bandits that turn into Raiders leave for a larger and more dangerous city, for bigger rewards on their own part.
4) Familiars -
Forgive me if you mean something else by this, but my thought on Familiars is that they are magically called/created/summoned beings. An idea would be a sort of \'evolution game\' - you call one of a handful of creatures. Example: Lesser Water Elemental, Small Clay Golem, and Lesser Imp. They gain experience like a henchman/trained animal, and evolve normally (Lesser Imp>Imp>Strong Imp>Great Imp), at which point they become \'upgraded\'. They change completely to one of a few choices (Greater Water Elemental can become Lesser Acid Spirit or Lesser Ice Elemental, maybe Large Clay Golem can become Small Stone Golem or Weak Clay Warrior, and Great Imp becomes either Minor Fiendling or Weak Malice Spirit, maybe even Minor Lawyer). This continues for a long time, and if a character keeps the same Familiar through their entire adventuring career, they could end up with something like a Massive Mithril Golem or Greater Doom Spirit (smartass comment: or Enron Executive) following them around.
Depending on the level of player/game interaction, if a character gets their Familiar to a certain point it might even qualify as a \'Unique\', get it\'s own name and a few special powers.
