Craig Boone

"You take out a debt, it's only a matter of time before someone comes collecting."

Craig Boone is a possible companion who resides in Novac in Fallout: New Vegas, located in the Mojave Wasteland. He specializes in rifles and carries his own Scoped Hunting Rifle.

Background
Born in 2255, Boone is a town guard and former NCR sharpshooter in the 1st Recon Sniper Battalion, a unit which has a reputation for being the best of the best. He is bitterly whiling away the hours until he can find out who's responsible for the death of his wife, Carla, and kill them. Hardened and psychologically troubled from his time in the NCR military, Boone vacillates between being a stone-cold killer and a decent human being. Venturing out from the relative safety of Novac brings Boone into close contact with his old life until he is forced to deal with the tragic events that caused him to leave the military.

After completing several quests with Boone as a follower, it is possible to gain more information about Boone's wife. When she was kidnapped, he tracked down the slaving party in hopes of rescuing her, only to find her being auctioned off with hundreds of other slaves to Legion soldiers. All he had was his rifle and the distance between them. Instead of subjecting her to the horrors of Legion slavery, he chose to take her life in a mercy killing. As a result of the psychological trauma of having to kill his own wife, he has become suicidal. He has no goal, purpose, or desire in life but to euthanize Legionnaires (preferably by assisting with cranial perforation) until the Legion finally catches up to and murders him. It is also revealed he was part of the NCR attack on Bitter Springs, where he and his squad were ordered to shoot members of the Great Khans, including women and children.

Quests

 * One for My Baby: Help Boone take care of the person responsible for his wife's kidnapping. The successful completion of this quest makes him available as a follower for the Courier.
 * I Forgot to Remember to Forget: Help Boone deal with the psychological trauma still haunting him. The successful completion of this quest upgrades his armor.

Endings

 * If the NCR holds the Dam and he does not find peace, Boone confirms what he had always suspected - that revenge would never quiet his troubled mind. Side arm in hand, he journeys back to California in search of the NCR officer who had led the attack on Bitter Springs. There, with only two bullets loaded, Boone does the only thing he believes will put an end to his suffering.
 * If the NCR holds the Dam and he finds peace, he looks for a place where he can be of some use, Boone finds himself re-enlisting with his old unit. Though his regrets remain in his thoughts, they coalesce into a purpose, and Boone embraces it. He spends his leave time hunting down slavers in the desert, his First Recon beret "the last thing they never see".
 * If NCR withdraws from the region and he manages to find peace, Boone remains in New Vegas, finding work as a security guard and caravan scout along the highways. While he might've preferred rejoining his old unit, Boone can't bring himself to abandon the city where he'd met his wife.
 * If the Legion takes the Dam and he manages to find peace, Boone refuses to take the Legion's victory lying down. Heading to the hills with his rifle, he begins a deadly campaign against high-ranking Legion officers. And though the price on his head rises to levels previously unheard of, few pursue it, fearing it would be the last thing they'd never see.
 * If NCR withdraws from the region and he is no longer held in check by his conscience, Boone finds lucrative work as a mercenary and assassin. No job is too violent, no target too innocent. As long as the caps are good, Boone will take the job.
 * If he is unable to escape his memories and Caesar achieves victory at Hoover Dam, Boone stages a suicide mission against the Legate. Fighting as he wished he had on the day of his wife's death, he brings down scores of Legionaries before being caught. Before his crucifixion, he is brought before the Legate, who expresses his admiration for Boone's reckless abandon. Boone spits tobacco in his eye, for all of Caesar's armies to see.

Inventory
Boone can only equip NCR or non-faction affiliated armor, and may use any melee weapons and firearms. He is very accurate and has a high critical hit head shot chance. Boone performs best when equipped with a powerful conventional rifle, though his default hunting rifle will still output immense firepower. After completing the quest I Forgot to Remember to Forget, his armor will be upgraded to either 1st Recon survival armor or 1st Recon assault armor, depending on the path that the conversation takes.

Appearances
Craig Boone appears only in Fallout: New Vegas.

Bugs

 * Due to an unspecified glitch, Boone's Guns skill level typically exceeds the built-in maximum of 100. At higher levels this results in Boone having 95% accuracy with any weapon, from any range.
 * After apply patch 1.2.0.31x Boone will no longer move his head to track nearby targets, and will holster his weapon while in combat, approximately every five seconds. This is caused by code added to his main dialogue script, which causes him to re-evaluate his current AI package every 5 seconds.
 * Due to a glitch regarding armor stats, every time Boone switches equipment, the PER bonus from his beret gets added again and again, which leads to Boone having over 10 perception. This can be reset by taking his beret away, and then giving it back to him.
 * If the player takes Boone's beret, then give it back to him, it may disappear from his inventory. If you give him the one remaining in your inventory, it will disappear upon transfer.
 * This can be done by giving to him a Radiation suit. He'll also take his sunglasses off.


 * Boone seems to occasionally switch to melee (or if unavailable, unarmed) without prompt. This can be done by changing his combat style to melee in the companion wheel, and then back to ranged.
 * If you fast travel after earning enough history points to unlock the quest I Forgot to Remember to Forget, but before Boone asks you to return to Bitter Springs with him, Boone will not fast travel with you. You may correct this by loading the auto-save file if you have not changed the game's default auto-save settings.
 * NPC's will still comment on him being 1st Recon sniper even if he does not have his beret on, even if that is the only identifying aspect of his outfit. Additionally, members of 1st Recon will occasionally state how they wish that they had a 1st Recon guy looking after them.
 * If Boone has NCR faction armor AND a better set of armor in his inventory, he will sometimes switch between them for seemingly no reason. (confirmed on 360, switches between full condition NCR Ranger combat armor and low condition Vault 34 security armor)