ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

http://te4.org/games/addons/tome/hireable-companions

Adds 4 hireable companions to the game.

You can find, and hire, them in Last Hope. They cost 500 gold apiece.

You can give them equipment and infusions, and they will drop any give equipment upon death. (Though not inscriptions.)
They will spawn at your level, upon purchase, and will not gain levels.

They are:
Urist the Dwarf, a steadfast anti-magic Bulwark.
Cynwrig the Human, a durable Sun Paladin.
Cronan the Halfling, a quick and deadly Rampaging Beserker.
Aoibheann the Elf, a careful, yet potent Fire Mage.

this sounds really cool. Can we "fire" them to re-hire them at a higher level? Kinda sucks that they dont level up, that'd be cool if they did at like 50% of your exp gain so they dont become too powerful but still make a bit of a difference

You can hire an unlimited amount at the moment.

If enough people actually use this, I may add in a way to upgrade them at the Tavern.

Interesting.

How about an archer or slinger?
I always find super-nice arrows & bullets and regret that they're unusable.

Ooo, and it can showcase the addition of Cunning / Poisons to the Archer.

Wait till 1.0.5 for that, when archers will have Excellence. Or are you custom designing these classes (Or rather, cherry picking them from Infinite Farportal.)?