In Myths and Legends, as in real life, sometimes one character on their own, or even a group of characters on its own will find itself over its head when facing foes or other challenges beyond the current ability to succeed without great sacrifice. In some cases, such sacrifice is needed not only for character development, but as part of the mechanics of the game in order to boost another aspect. A character that spends every moment of their life studying books to expand their knowledge sacrifices time spent socializing and gaining new contacts and potential friendships. A character that spends a little bit of time doing everything they can learn to refine may slowly become a master of many trades, but at a much slower rate than one that devotes themselves to one, or two, or a handful instead. This is not to say that a character cannot learn every scrap of knowledge and skill they are seeking if they apply themselves, but merely that without balance to some degree they will find themselves better suited to particular tasks in the game rather than a larger broad pallet of experiences. Sometimes a caster may find they know nothing of animal taming and therefore waste focus incapacitating or slaying a foe's guardian pets and making a noise loud enough to signal their approach, whereas one that learns sleeping spells or a spell to create a bubble of noise dampening may cast other spells without worry. A psion that slots completely toward telekinesis may find themselves capable of moving anything, but a sudden attack from their blind-spot without some manner of empathy, telepathy or defensive aura would mean that they would be still highly vulnerable to strategic attacks. The caster may ally with the psion and find themselves both able to tear apart a fortress to get to a foe, but having along burdener as a meat-shield or a tinkerer to send forth an army of small machines to carry their bounty, or a rogue to slip in an assassinate their foe or get them inside quietly fast is of great benefit. Perhaps if the foe is killed quickly then the treasure room could be secured quickly, having all of it ferried out via a multitude of different ways that leaves the terrors unaware their master is dead still guarding it to prevent other groups from trying to steal it while they aren't yet done transferring all of it. Having all of them is of even greater strategic power, as well as other possible combinations. But what to do if playing either version of the game, but not enough players are at the table to fill all the roles? Therein lies a large system mechanic of MaL.
Allies are other characters that will team up with an individual or group for only certain goals, such as recovering a lost treasure to get a small portion including a lost family heirloom, or to slay a monster that devastated their crops during an already miserable year. In the paper version they may be either other characters controlled by the players that are pregenerated by the GM for such circumstances, pregenerated and run by the GM, run by the players as part of an independent gaming session within the same setting by the same GM, or ones given as examples from the books and other MaL sources of core and expanded roleplay guides. Allies in the PC version could also be multiplayer players seeking aid for just one line of quest, or other players not on frequently enough in coincidence with the rest of a group, or even computer-generated NPCs. Either way, their gameplay would be the same as any normal player, save that they join with an individual or a group for a limited time for mutual benefit.
Mercenaries are very similar to allies, being alike in all but two aspects: 1) Mercenaries are usually in it solely for the money or other reward offered for their services. 2) Mercenaries are also a potential danger to have along if they are massively more powerful than a character as they can sometimes claim more reward or payment with intimidation and get it due to having the power to back up their demands. Some mercenaries are parts of organizations that limit this second problem in general, but the vast majority are either freelancers or part of an organization that doesn't care as long as it gets its money and any potential naysayers are silenced out of the public eye. There are many different types of mercenaries for different purposes, and characters may themselves become mercenaries for jobs if they so wish. Assassins, thieves, henchmen, stooges, laboratory assistants, understudies and paid apprentices can all be mercenaries if they are in it for the money and improving their skills more than anything else.
Companions are almost allies in some regards, but yet on a different level of interaction. A companion is an individual character, machine, pet, or other follower that aids a character on its journeys over a prolonged period of time, mostly basking in the adoration of the character they are a companion to. An unpaid or lowly apprentice can be a companion if they are in it more to learn than being paid, and very loyal to the one they are learning under. Spouses can also be companions, as can family pets or familiars. Machinery of all manner of mobile assistance possibility can be companions if they are viewed with affection like a pet. Companions may stay at home and guard it, or invest funds, or go along on journeys and potentially serve as both an offensive and defensive aid.
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