Fallout 3: Henchmen
From Play It Hardcore
Contents |
Overview
Like previous Fallout titles, you can recruit followers to help you in your exploration of the Capitol Wasteland. However, barring exploits, you can only ever have one of them following you at any given time plus the dog you can get from the Scrapyard.
All of the henchmen are wonderful additions to your survivability. Simply being another body for enemies to aim at will help lesser HP builds stay alive significantly longer, and all of the NPCs are pretty deadly in their own right. All NPCs come with standard equipment that never runs out of ammo, but you can outfit them with new stuff by talking to them, going to the trade equipment option, and dropping stuff in their inventory. If it's better than what they have equipped, they'll use it. You will need to supply ammo for any weapon you want them to use other than their default gear, however.
Additionally, their equipment doesn't lose durability, so awesome armor will stay awesome for them, and it's great for weapons that quickly deteriorate like Combat Shotguns. Plus, they don't need the Power Armor perk to use Power Armor, a great way to make use of the ones you find before you can actually wear them yourself.
Non-Karma NPCs
Dogmeat is a must-get NPC simply because there's no reason NOT to have the pooch at your side. Charon is handy in that he's relatively easy to obtain, a crack shot, and is the only guy that doesn't care what your karma is.
Dogmeat
- Location: Scrapyard.
- Default Equipment: It's a dog, so just it's teeth. Dogmeat has the utility of searching for stuff, however.
The scrapyard is about as far north-east in the game's Central zone. Save it from the raiders and it'll be your faithful hound for the rest of the game. Having the dog at your side doesn't interfere with the recruiting of any other NPC, plus he can be made to search for ammo, food and chems. Dismissing it will place it near Vault 101 for you to re-recruit at any time you want.
POTENTIAL GLITCH: You can have two humanoid NPCs in your party rather than having Dogmeat if you kill the dog after it counts as being in your party. This basically allows you to get Charon in addition to the two karma-related NPCs you can get already without killing your dog, so it's not necessarily worth it. (You can revive Dogmeat int he console, but then you'd be a cheater. We don't condone that behavior here.)
Charon
- Location: Underworld
- Default Equipment: His ranged weapon is a Combat Shotgun. His melee weapon is a combat knife. His armor is simple leather armor.
Charon is the recruitable ghoul henchmen for this game. (Ghouls in previous titles have absurd perception scores and Charon is no exception.) To get him, simply obtain his contract off Ahzrukal, located in the Ninth Circle in Underworld. This will set you back 2000 caps unless you make a successful speech check. Alternatively, you can get Charon for free if you complete a quest for Ahzrukal. Once I know more about this, I'll update it for you readers.
Tactically, Charon pretty much does all you'll need him to do right away. Unlimited Combat Shotgun shells? That is a very yes. Upgrade his armor ASAP, though, as basic leather armor is pretty terrible.
Positive Karma NPCs
The two good Karma NPCs are likely to be played, as the game, overall, is easiest to pull off as a good karma player. The fact they both kick major amounts of ass helps.
Fawkes
- Location: Vault 87
- Default Equipment: Ranged, she fires her laser gatling. Up close, she pounds people with the unique super sledge. She cannot use armor.
From what I understand, Fawkes is amazing. Unlimited rounds with a laser gatling is utterly amazing, plus she's wielding arguably the best melee weapon in the game. Plus, Fawkes is a super mutant! To get her, first travel through Vault 87. She'll offer her help if you have positive karma when you try to escape Raven Rock.
She can take a huge amount of damage with relative ease. Whether you decide to have her crush faces or sit back to obliterate people with her laser gatling is largely a matter of how you're playing. If you rely on super long range weapons, it's not a bad idea to have her distract in melee while you snipe.
Star Paladin Cross
- Location: The Citadel
- Default Equipment: Ranged, she fires a laser pistol. Melee, she wields a super sledge. She's also equipped with Brotherhood Power Armor.
Star Paladin Cross knows your daddy, so if you have positive karma, she'll undertake a quest with you. I'm not sure what the details of the quest are, but after completing it, she'll be your loyal follower unless your karma drops. If you hit neutral karma, she bolts. Too bad you have to have progressed far enough in the plotline to access the Citadel, eh?
The only issue with Cross' beginning equipment is that her ranged weapon is pretty piddly. She's trained in laser weaponry, though, so slap her with a plasma rifle and dump all your microfusion ammo on her. She'll become an utter bad-ass. There's no need to change her melee weapon or armor (although you might want to consider giving her a helmet.)
POTENTIAL GLITCH: You can actually recruit Star Paladin Cross without booting your other teammate to the curb. Pick these dialogue options:
- "You knew my father?"
- "I loved him very much…"
- "I guess I couldn't stop you."
- "I'd be honored to have you join me"
Because of this, it's suggested you recruit Fawkes before you head to the Citadel. That's fairly likely as the game is very, very easy to get side-tracked in.
Neutral Karma NPCs
The nice thing about the neutral karma NPCs is that, while you need neutral karma to pick them up initially, they will stick around in case your karma increases or decreases, positive or negative.
Butch
- Location: Rivet City - The Muddy Rudder
- Default Equipment: At range, he's stuck with a piddly 10mm pistol. Fortunately, his default melee weapon is his personal switchblade, as in the unique one so it does quite a bit of damage. He's also equipped with a Tunnel Snake Jacket.
Your childhood bully can be recruited after the quest, "Trouble at the Homefront" if either Amata becomes the overseer or you help Butch escape. He'll show up at the Rivet City bar and if you have neutral karma, you can recruit him.
Butch is best in melee. You don't really need to give him an alternate weapon as his switchblade is actually pretty good, but it doesn't hurt to outfit him with other, better unique items as you come across them, or maybe a well-maintained Shishkebab. At range, he's not really trained in anything but his best skills are in small guns, so you might want to toss him something that doesn't require much aiming, like an assault rifle or 10mm Submachine gun. Keep in mind his Tunnel Snake Outfit doesn't offer much protection but does give him +5 Melee. He's mostly a Roleplaying NPC; most others severely outperform him in combat.
Sergeant RL-3
- Location: RobCo Facility - Nearby trader
- Default Equipment: As a military "Mr. Gutsy" type droid, he's equipped with a plasma gun and a flamer. He can't equip armor (obviously). I'm not sure if you can equip him with different weapon types, not that he'd really need it.
You'll encounter a robot trader that patrols the area between the RobCo Facility and Tenpenny Tower. He's usually closer to the RobCo Facility. If you have neutral karma and 1000 caps, you can buy yourself your own robot. Sergeant RL-3 requires you have neutral karma ONLY for purchasing purposes. He sticks around if your alignment shifts.
Tactically, he takes care of things without you needing to micromanage. He'll sit back and blast with his plasma rifle, then when guys get in close, he'll set them on fire. Pretty handy.
POTENTIAL GLITCH: It's possible to keep your current NPC (probably Charon or Butch) and still get Sergeant RL-3. Before buying the rust bucket, fire your previous NPC. Buy the droid, and immediately talk to your former NPC to have them rejoin you. The droid will then come talk to you, and he joins without kicking your other guy out of the group.
Negative Karma NPCs
The negative karma NPCs are rather aggressive, pretty handy to have around when raiders decide they want you dead in the overland map. Definitely worth the pick up.
Jericho
- Location: Megaton
- Default Equipment: Ranged, he uses a Chinese Assault Rifle. In melee, he wields a Nail Board. His armor is basic leather.
Jericho is an ex-raider, and probably the first potential recruit you'll meet. The thing is, you need negative karma before you can convince the old coot to return to the glory days of looting and pillaging, and even then, you need 1000 caps to give him for "supplies." Still, he's an excellent NPC and as he is found so early in the game, it's a good investment of your first 1000 caps should you be playing as an evil character.
Jericho is pretty accurate with his Chinese A.R. You might want to give him a combat shotgun for when you enter more confined spaces. He's also proficient in heavy weapons, so if you've got the spare ammo, you can have him whop out a missle launcher or mini-gun for massive havoc. If for some reason you want him to melee people, make sure to give him something better than his Nail Board because Nail Boards, while more powerful than some other types of melee weapons, cannot crit and are therefore pretty gimped. You also might want to give him better armor when you get a chance, but still, having well-maintained leather armor at the game's outset is not a bad thing.
Clover
- Location: Paradise Falls
- Default Equipment: At range, she carries a sawed-off shotgun. Melee, she has a Chinese Officer's Sword. Her default apparel is a simple Pre-War Spring Outfit.
Clover is one of Eulogy Jones' bodyguards and prostitutes. You have to buy her from him for 1000 caps, although a successful Speech check will lower it to 500.
Like Butch, Clover is somewhat lacking in the combat department. Sawed-Off shotguns plain suck, and defensively, she's completely at a loss because she's in basic civilian clothing. If it wasn't for the fact you can recruit her despite already having a partner, she wouldn't be worth the time.
POTENTIAL GLITCH: Clover is still recruitable regardless of having a guy in your group if you follow the same trick listed for Sergeant RL-3. Basically, kick your other guy out of the group (probably Jericho), buy Clover from Eulogy Jones, then re-hire your other partner before the game has Clover auto-talk to you.
Back to Fallout 3.
