Fallout 3 companions

This page lists the available companions or joinable non-player characters in Fallout 3.

Unlike previous Fallout games, the followers don't gain experience independently but are scaled to the level of the player; the player receives a debatable amount of experience while dealing damage alongside a party member. In the Xbox360 version the player earns full xp if able to do the majority of the damage that kills an opponent (you get zero xp for a kill unless you manage to do at least 51% of the dmg).

Combat
Companions will come with some standard weapons and armor and will use these, depending on what role you ask them to play (melee vs. ranged), until you give them something better. For example, Star Paladin Cross comes standard with Brotherhood Power Armor, a Laser Pistol, and a Super Sledge. If you gave her a helmet, she'd put it on. If you gave her Tesla Armor, she'd replace the Brotherhood Power Armor for it. If she's set on 'ranged' and you give her a Combat Shotgun, she'll use that instead of her default Laser Pistol.

Companions have unlimited ammo for their standard weapon but you'll have to supply them the appropriate ammo for any upgraded ranged weapons.

Standard weapons never degrade but companions will wear out non-standard weapons and use up ammo just like you do. You'll have to take their weapons from them and get them repaired from time to time.

Companions do not wear out armor that you give them.

Some/all companions (except Dogmeat (Fallout 3)) will use grenades if you give them to them.

You can have them carry ranged weapons for you without fear of them using them by simply not giving them ammo for the weapons you don't want them to use, but it is possible the companion will find and pick up ammo for the weapon in containers/ground/bodies thus allowing him/her to use the weapon.

Companions have significantly more health than "normal" NPCs; i.e. even wearing their standard armor (i.e. Clover's pink dress or Butch's leather jacket) they can survive several high-power rifle headshots before dying.

Multiple Companion Glitches

 * Normally it is only possible to have Dogmeat and one other follower, but there are ways to get around this, as follows.

'The following are possible only in unpatched versions of the game. The following may not work for all platforms.'


 * It is possible to exploit a bug in the game by having a player with good Karma acquire Charon as a follower, then advance in the Main Quest to the point where Star Paladin Cross offers to join you. Furthermore, this exploit is somewhat of a game-breaker, since for all but the hardest enemies the player can simply sit back and allow his companions to do all of the fighting, provided they are well-supplied with Stimpaks.


 * A player who first buys Sergeant RL-3 while neutral can also have Star Paladin Cross join, giving a party of three.


 * It has been noted as well, that after acquiring Fawkes, you can add Charon as a companion as well in most scenarios.


 * It is also possible to acquire two followers if you are evil: first obtain Jericho then go buy Clover.


 * It is also possible to have four permanent followers (including Dogmeat) at the same time by getting one of any followers first (except Clover and Sergeant RL-3). Charon is a good choice as he has no karma requirements. After getting the first follower, bring him to Paradise Falls. Find Eulogy and fire the current follower. Talk to Eulogy and buy Clover. At this point, do not talk to Clover but ask the fired follower to join back before he walks away. Now you can have two permanent followers. After this, you can go to RobCo Factory. Fire one of your followers and talk to Tinker Joe and buy Sergeant RL-3. Again, do not talk to Sergeant RL-3 and ask the fired follower back. You can get Dogmeat any time you want as it won't affect the followers cap. By doing this, you can have four permanent followers at the same time. If you want to change any of your followers, just fire him/her and ask the new one to join. But do not fire two followers at the same time as this will decrease the followers cap back to one only. This does not work on the PS3.


 * It is possible to get Jericho then Clover and Dogmeat then kill Dogmeat and hire Charon giving you three humanoid followers.


 * Fawkes will join you even if you already have another follower, you just need to pick up another character before speaking to her (tested with Charon and Star Paladin Cross).


 * The general rule is that it you can get any (or almost any) character to bypass the companion limit of 1 (giving you 2) the first time they offer to join, at least on the unpatched PC version. You may first need to speak to their owners while keeping a free "slot". This seems to be related to an expanded limit for temporary quest-related followers.


 * It is possible to get 4 companions, not including Dogmeat, in this way:
 * Get Charon->Clover/Sergeant RL-3/Dogmeat.
 * After getting all these, get Dogmeat killed.
 * Get Jericho.
 * In this way, you can have 4 companions with guns, making nearly every fight a "wait till all the enemies are dead" kind of deal.
 * It SHOULD be possible to get 5, by getting Jericho first, then the other 4 and getting Dogmeat killed, and then getting Butch. (untested, but theoretically SHOULD be possible.)

''--Attention--

If you intend to use the multiple party member tricks, remember that near the end of your main quest line you are forced to drop all party members when you are kidnapped. At this point you will no longer be able to get 4 members back again.

If you wait till you are at the last step of the main quest line, you can get all 5 companions ((including Dogmeat)) if you wait until you exit from Raven Rock. The best order for achieving all 5 party members are as follows...

Upon exiting Raven Rock, Use your map to fast travel to the Museum of History and retrieve Charon, then get your second member Fawkes by traveling right back to Raven Rock. Once you have those two you need to do some faction work but its possible to go neutral by attacking Tenpenny Tower (if you haven't already done so), then grab your robo-buddy Sergeant RL-3 at the RobCo Facility. From there, head back to Tenpenny Tower and finish the job making sure to leave at least Chief Gustavo alive for later questing. Now you can pick up everyone's favorite sex slave/body guard Clover at Paradise Falls. You will now have 4 permanent followers. You can also pick up your dog to round the group up to 5 full members.

Temporary followers
Temporary followers are followers that will join you during a quest. You may have them follow you indefinitely by not completing the quest. Unlike permanent followers, they do not heal automatically at the end of a battle.


 * Red
 * Shorty
 * Sticky
 * Sydney
 * Initiate Pek and Hoss
 * Cherry
 * James