Raul (Fallout: New Vegas)

Raul Alfonso Tejada, born 2047, is a 234 year old ghoul mechanic living in the Mojave Desert in 2281. He can join the Courier as a follower. He will be imprisoned at Black Mountain, in the prison building behind a door only unlocked by a non existent key. The computer by the entrance has the password to unlock the door.

Background
Raul is a 234 year old Hispanic ghoul who has had a long and storied history. Before the war, Raul was a delinquent living in Mexico. He got in trouble with the law for carrying and discharging a pistol. After the war, he survived on his ranch in Mexico until his family ran out of space for refugees and the refugees got violent, Raul and his dad had to chase off around 2 dozen people, they later came and burnt his house down. His Mother, Father, 2 sisters and 3 brothers all died in the fire. He was able to save one sister, Rafaela, but she was killed while she was out alone because Raul was sick.

Contrary to popular belief, he was not captured by Tabitha whilst walking across the desert. He enjoyed listening to her programs, and when it went off the air he turned up at Black Mountain to offer repair services. Tabitha then captured him. After being freed from captivity, he will join the player out of gratitude. A new taste of adventure reminds Raul of his tumultuous past, prompting him to consider if he should embrace his old gunslinging ways.

Interactions with the player character
To unlock the prison door, check the computer to the left. Entry number six. Raul can grant repair services like some NPC's but unlike your typical NPC repair, Raul's are to 100%. He charges caps for this and it can only be done if he is told to return to his shack near Nellis Airforce Base, not the Lucky 38. He will not repair equipment if he's currently following The Courier, only if he is idle.

Raul is a mechanic and can become a follower for you, should you wipe out the State and their delusional master. In addition, he can carry 250 pounds worth of equipment. By completing a side quest for Raul, he will upgrade his armor to the Vaquero outfit. He's a gunslinger by nature, so he's best with Guns of the Revolver or Lever-Action firearms. Using these weapons after getting the Vaquero outfit and Old Vaquero perk gives him 33% higher rate of fire.

To get the Vaquero outfit the player has to talk to three people. Those people are Ranger Andy in Novac, Corporal Sterling at Camp McCarran or Camp Forlorn Hope depending on quest progress, and Loyal at Nellis Air Force Base.

Instead of taking the Old Vaquero perk (0015d2be), you can pass a 66 Speech check to focus on repairs instead. He will use a armored version of his normal clothes and upgrade his Regular Maintenance perk to Full Maintenance perk, your armor and weapons will degrade 75% slower while Raul is in the party.

(Patch 1.01) Full Maintenance perk (0015d2bc) seems to do nothing at all, this is a empty perk now. Even more, Vaquero outfit is impossible to get due to remove trigger, see Vaquero outfit bug section.

Aftermath

 * After the game is completed, if Raul was used as a companion, but you didn't do any quests for him, the aftermath cutscene may say he left the Mojave and assumed a new name, as he had so many times before.

Appearances
Raul appears only in Fallout: New Vegas.

Notable quotes

 * "This crouch-walking is hell on my back Boss."
 * "Keeping quiet... unless my creaking knees give us away."
 * "Hey I'm one of you, don't eat me; eat the smoothskin!!"
 * "Sorry boss, must be my glaucoma acting up again."
 * "Don't worry boss, with my cataracts, you only sort of look like the bad guys."
 * "Hey boss! I may be ugly, But I'am on your side."
 * "I wouldn't mind this so much, if it weren't for the maniacal gleam in your eye."

Bugs

 * The key is not "non-existent". If you kill Tabitha, she will have the key. Unfortunately, when you do this Raul will not be in the room.


 * Likewise with all companions that use weapons in New Vegas, sometimes via script such as entering casinos will remove their "companion only" weapon. Upon leaving you will receive it in your inventory and can even use it, but if you happen to drop it on the ground, you cannot pick it back up when you click it -- it will only say "steal" with no weapon name shown.


 * In order to complete his side quest and get his vaquero outfit you have to recruit him as a companion before you meet Ranger Andy for the first time or you will never be able to complete his side quest, or get the new outfit, or bonus perk. Speaking to Loyal in the Nellis Air Force Base hangar may trigger Raul to talk. This may have been an isolated incident. (Unconfirmed PS3 & Xbox360)


 * Raul will sometimes "vanish" during certain quests. You'll still be able to hear his voice upon doing stuff like crouching, but will not be able to see him, the only way to fix this is to use the moveto console commands. This also may happen during the vaquero side quest, upon which Raul would normally speak with you (such as after talking to the corporal) he will randomly be wandering the wastelands, in which once again; you will have to use the console command. Upon doing so, he will speak to you and you will be able to complete the quest.


 * When you try to get Raul to repair your equipment at his shack, he keeps saying that he has to be at his shack to repair your stuff, despite already being there. (If sent back to his shack and is no longer following the Courier Raul will repair items but still charges for caps.)


 * On the 360 and PC versions, the recent patch seems to have removed the side quest trigger from Ranger Andy, making it impossible to complete, thus the armor is currently unavailable.(This is confirmed on xbox 360)(confirmed on PC with patch 2 installed)


 * Raul's free quest is tied to a Speech check with Ranger Andy that grants the perk Ranger Takedown. If you have already completed the speech check with Ranger Andy prior to acquiring Raul as a companion the free quest will not register you as having talked to Ranger Andy and Raul's free quest will not be able to be completed.

Workarounds
Entering and making a transition to an outside environment will produce the dialog you'd get after speaking to Ranger Andy.

Similarly, allows you to get the dialog from meeting Corporal Sterling if he will no longer talk to you at Camp Forlorn Hope.

E61A5 is an unknown variable (for me) with patch 1.01. Possibly related to the removal (Bug?) of the Ranger Andy trigger.