Floater (Fallout)

Floaters are hostile mutant creatures that likely originated from the FEV-infected flatworms mentioned in the FEV experiment disk. Later, they were further enhanced by the Master's experiments.

Biology
Floaters hover through the air by manufacturing and storing noxious gases in their flotation bladders. The gasses that allow them to float are also highly flammable, which makes incredibly vulnerable to fire, but the insulative properties of the gas prevents electrical attacks from harming them. While they are not very intelligent, they move fast and can be difficult to kill, especially if a group of them manages to surround an unwary player character.

Gameplay attributes
They are often found in groups with centaurs. Through producing and storing noxious gases in their floatation bladders, floaters are able to hover above the ground.

Floater
Floaters are durable creatures, and move very quickly due to their unique ability to hover. They often travel in groups with super mutants and centaurs, and can pose a very real threat to any player character not prepared for combat.

Nasty floater
If normal floaters are bad, then the nasty floaters are far worse. Even more durable and tenacious than their counterparts, they are indeed capable foes. Just like the common floater, they are very susceptible to fire, due to their flammable gasses.

Appearances
Floaters appear in Fallout and Fallout 2.

The Art of Fallout 3 book available with the collector's edition of the game includes many versions of floaters but the basic version was not provided in Fallout 3. The floater versions that would have appeared are:
 * Lamprey floater
 * Manowar tendril floater
 * Needle tooth floater

Profiles for floaters, budding floaters (listed as "floater budding") and evolved floaters (listed as "floater evolved") appear in the data files for Fallout: New Vegas, although they do not appear in game, and use the centaur model when viewed in the GECK.

Behind the scenes
The floaters were created by Jason D. Anderson. During development of Fallout, this creature was known as the "Sphincter Monster" after Anderson had used a pornographic image for its mouth.