Takhethis on Jul 25, 2019 wrote:

Your entire problem is your notion that you ought to be training up your companions to your character level as you play which is not only foolish to do but also keeps you quite gold broke.

Every four levels, divisible by four, is when companions get their next bonus so there is really no real difference between a companion that is level 24 to level 27 but at level 28 there is a difference, so don't train companions unless it gets them to their next bonus.

The lower your companion is below your character level the more a training tome levels up the companion. This means if you are only using three or four companions it is best to not train the rest, or at least to wait to train then until when they jump up four levels per training tome.

I am also in Port Regal. I have over 100 unused training tomes. When I first make a character I level it to level 2 transfer items for them to sell through the shared bank and then add a friend and port to them once they go through the locked gate so that I can get to the tavern to buy tomes up to the maximum on hand of 10 (they only cost 100 gold per tome at level 2 which is a real buy). I then wait until my character level is at six to raise the companions I'll be using up to level 4, then I wait until I'm level 10 to raise them up to 8, and so on, so that they always fall at maximum six levels below my character level and are then raised to two under. When I max out my character level is when I train everything up to full. This uses up all my tomes, but then I buy up to the max of 10 and finish whatever side quests still give me training tomes, this tends to takes me up to around 40 tomes on hand with all companions trained to max.

Playing this way gives you tons of gold for ships and equipment, but pet hatching and training still requires a lot of gold to which I try to get max level pirates on my friends list so that that I can port into kane runs. You can port into the end level 70 Kane fight when you are level 1, this gets you about 100,000 to 150,000 gold. Let your companions be slaughtered at low levels, for that much gold its well worth the 15 seconds it takes them to revive.

anecorbie on Jul 25, 2019 wrote:

It is best to have as many companions as possible at least two levels behind. The more leveled your companions are, the more effective they are in battle. Making a gap of five levels will hold a player back in the higher, more difficult worlds after Cool Ranch.
My advice: take a break from game play and set companions to Brawlin' for their own experience. This is especially useful when a single tome doesn't quite level them up, avoiding the "waste" of a tome to complete a level.
You can also place companions on the Scavengin' task ( sell the gear ), or Pet Wranglin' ( sell the gear & snacks you don't need ).
If you don't wish to break off game play entirely, then go back and farm gold heavy dungeons. See my post: "How to be Rich at any level" for farming locations.
It is a terrible idea to suggest that an under-leveled player should join in a max level dungeon to profit from other's efforts.