*** Note that this is an Alpha build, meant to showcase the concept and for bug-testing. Please feel free to leave me feedback as I continue development! ***
If you're feeling like a real cool dude, you can help my development process by reporting bugs in the posts, or via this google doc.

Companion NPC's allows you to recruit any of the Bachelors or Bachelorettes to be your traveling companion! To recruit them, a farmer must have at least 6 (2 in this version) friendship hearts with them and then exhaust their daily dialogue. To dismiss them, exhaust their dialogue (and kisses if they're your spouse!) and then speak to them once more to access a dismissal dialogue. Companions will also be automatically dismissed at 10pm or when you go to bed. In addition to following you throughout the map, companions also:

• Have unique location-specific dialogue in many parts of the map.
• Fight alongside you against enemies
• Grant buffs and (sometimes) perks according to the table below:
  

Companion BuffsPerk
Abigail +1 Speed. +1 Luck. +10% Attack    *
Alex      +20% Attack    * 100% Warrior Ring effect.
Elliott   +3 FishingOccasionally fishes while idle
Emily    +2 Mining* 100% Yoba Ring effect after damage. Heals you rapidly when <40% health.
Haley    +2 Luck    +5% exp per gain (minimum +1)
Harvey  Defense += Combat * 1.5      Heals you slowly when <80% health.
Leah     +2 Foraging     Occasionally shares forage.
Maru    +1 Any Stat      Buffed stat is interchangeable
Penny   +3 Farming      
Sam     +2 Speed  Let's you listen to his mp3 player if you ask nicely
Sebastian     Same as Abigail      *
Shane   +3 Farming      

* Indicates that this companion's combat effectiveness progresses with the player's combat level.

For the sake of realism, every NPC is only allowed to hang out on certain days be default. These dates can be changed via the config.json file in this version for testing purposes though. By default, the days are:

Mon   |Tue|Wed|Thu|Fri|Sat|Sun
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PennySamAbi   Leah       Alex      Elliott      Emily
           Seb Maru      Haley     Harvey   Shane

For testing purposes, I've set companions to always be available. The final release version will restrict their schedules, but feel free to adventure with them at your leisure in the Alpha version!

Installing & Usage:

• Make sure the latest version of SMAPI is installed
• Download this mod from the files tab and unzip it into your Stardew Valley/Mods folder
• Run the game using SMAPI
  

Compatability:

• Works on Windows 10, SDV version 1.3.32. I haven't tested it on Mac, Linux, or Ubuntu so let me know if it isn't working for you on one of those OS' and I'll mess around with the build settings.
• This mod is not currently Multiplayer compatible. It will mess shit up in strange ways.
• Mods that increase player speed have been known to have issues. Teleportation around the map is also highly discouraged as this will likely confuse your companion
  

Suggestion Credits:

• HoundSkald suggested the idea for Haley's experience gain perk. Thanks amigo!
  

Source Code:
On Github. Message me if you're curious about anything in the code. I'm happy to help out!