Dragon's Dogma Walkthrough Part 8: Pawn System and Mechanics

Having been recognized as Arisen, you have been granted a loyal pawn to be our constant companion in your journey. In addition to this main pawn, you may hire up to two other pawns to support you in your adventures. Different pawns have different strengths, so use support pawns to tailor your party to fit your current needs. In addition to minding level and available skills, a pawn's knowledge is another important part of creating an effective party. Pawns with appropriate knowledge of quests or foes can provide helpful advice and battle strategies.

You should receive the following trophy at this point:

A New Ally
Summoned your own pawn.

Interact with the Riftstone again. This is a rift... a space between realms from which any manner of pawns may be found. Touching the stone allows you to seek and summon pawns, or return to your realm. You may hire only two pawns (in addition to your primary pawn) to your party at any one time (so maximum party size is four). They can be discharged by speaking with them again. If you attempt to hire a pawn while your party is full, it will tell you:

"You cannot take on any more followers without releasing one of your current companions"
Switch in this pawn
Keep my party as-is

Explore the rift. There should be several pawns wandering about. Should one catch your eye, speak with the pawn to enlist it to your parties. You have the following options when speaking to a Pawn:
Enlist: Add the pawn to your party
View Details: See additional details about the pawn. This includes Level, HP, ST, vocation, Rank, appearance rating and battle rating.
Add to Favorites: In case you want to recruit that pawn later
Quit: Leave conversation without enlisting the pawn.

The way the pawn looks should tell you its vocation even without speaking to it. A pawn holding a sword and or a shield is a fighter. Pawns wielding bows are striders, and those carrying a staff are mages. The icons above their heads also reveal their vocations:
Blue Staff: Mage
Yellow Daggers: Strider
Red Sword: Fighter

You should make a well rounded party, having one of each vocation, and an extra fighter. Later, you can switch pawns as the situation requires. For example, if you are going into an area in which monsters are susceptible to ranged attacks, you can hire two Striders for both companion slots.

Note that these pawns are borrowed from other people's game (You are basically using other people's main pawns, and they use yours). You should go online so that you can access them, although if you want to play offline then there are some pre-made pawns you can choose from.

If you are online, when you talk to a pawn you should see the option:
Register to Friend List: It seems our pawns have met beyond the rifts. As they have joined the bonds of amity, mayhap we may as well. If you would, accept this friend request...

This lets you add to your friends list someone whom you have borrowed a pawn from.

It costs Rift Crystals to hire pawns. Some are free (0 RC) and some can be expensive. The main factor in the RC cost of a pawn is the equipment (such as weapons and armor) they are carrying. Pawns that carry rare equipment cost more RC then pawns carrying basic equipment. Your main pawn will earn rift crystals while online in other worlds. Encourage other players to enlist your minion.

When you enlist a pawn, it will ask you:
"You will enter a covenant with this pawn. Proceed? (Yes/No)".

A "Covenant" just means that you have hired that pawn. Consult the "History" in the Pause Menu to view a record of all the pawns you've employed.

When you hire your first pawn, you should get the following trophy/achievement:

Foreign Recruit
Enlisted a pawn to your party from beyond the Rift.

Interacting with the Riftstone gives you additional options through the Summon menu:
Search: Find pawns meeting certain conditions
Top Ranked: The top-ranked pawns worldwide
Special Pawns: Special pawns provided officially
Exit the Rift: Leave Rift and return to game.

When searching for a pawn, you can narrow by:
Gender: Male/Female
Vocation: Fighter,  Strider, Mage, Warrior, Ranger, Sorcerer
Weapon Skills: Close-range fighters, Long-range fighters, support personnel, can inflict debilitations, has elemental fire, has elemental ice, has elemental lightning, has elemental holy, has elemental darkness, has curative magick, has good defenses, has special actions.

When you are done choosing your pawns, go to the stone and select "Exit the Rift" to continue with the game.