I have started playing that with Berath's Blessings and I have noticed that my companions just stand there when I am attacked and do not respond even when hit. They will only fight when I pick a target for them. How do I get them back to fighting automatically? I would rather not have to micro manage them all the time.

You have to turn on the AI for them.

 

There's a button in your ability bar (a grey head). You have to toggle that so that it's highlighted.

They are set for automatic, aggressive action but they ignore it. If I lower the difficulty to normal it happens correctly.

Do they have cogwheels over their heads or three periods (...)?

 

Three periods = Outright being passive

Cogwheels = Spending some time figuring out what to do for some reason

 

If they have cogwheels, you can use the Cancel action. It has a circled cross icon, to the right of your portraits with standard layout. This will interrupt whatever they're doing and make them act according to their AI.

 

Frankly, the cogwheels are par for the course for me. They make no sense.

Thanks, that helps.