John Cassidy

"A little frontier justice never hurt anyone...well, at least not me."

- John Cassidy

John Cassidy is an old man with deep wrinkles along his face and scars all over his body, running a bar on the Vault City outskirts in Fallout 2.

Background
His long history of adventuring has left him in a less than perfect state, including a metal plate in his head, many old wounds, lack of one eye and memory of severe wounds, including a knifing in 2203 and gun shot wounds from 2201, 2195 and 2199. Yet, despite his state, his skill with a rifle is nothing short of excellent - he is the best marksman the Chosen One can have as a companion.

Despite his life of violence, he is a very kind and polite person, at least to people he respects. Anyone who gets on his bad side can expect to be treated no better than dirt, usually accompanied by a number of curses from Cassidy's sizable catalog of insults. Myron is the usual victim of Cassidy's picking, as the adolescent genius, apart from creating the pharmaceutical scourge of the wastes, is perceived by the old man as a piece of human trash.

Fallout: New Vegas confirms that he joined the Chosen One at some point on his travels, with his daughter Rose of Sharon Cassidy subsequently choosing to assist the Courier.

After the events of Fallout 2 he married a tribal and had a child with her named Rose of Sharon, who says that "lucky for [her], he was a horny bastard," and how he just upped and left one day, journeying east to the Divide, never to come back. She thinks that he probably died, explaining why he never returned.

Cassidy and his chronic heart disease
Cassidy suffers from rhythm and conduction disorder - some kind of block; he explains to the Chosen One that he needs "cardio booster shots to keep [his] heart beating"; he needs a cardiostimulator in fact. When treated with psycho, buffout or jet, Cassidy suffers a heart attack and dies instantly, so it would appear that steroids and amphetamine derivatives are particularly harmful for him (it is unknown what psycho consists of).

Cassidy needs real medical care and Vault City is the only place to get it. Unfortunately, as with any other outworlder, he is not allowed to receive it. Of course, like everybody he can pay for ancient and partially damaged Auto-Doc services at Courtyard clinic, but basic treatment (healing wounds) is not enough, and more advanced procedures are prohibitively expensive.

If the Chosen One can convince Cassidy to leave Vault City, then the only problem is Cassidy's drug intolerance. He expresses some doubts when the Chosen One treats him with other drugs and consumables (stimpaks, alcohol, Nuka Cola etc.) but they are perfectly safe.

The "heart pills" found in the Westin's Ranch in NCR have no effect on Cassidy and are unrelated (though he claims that he 'feels' better immediately after taking one, he still regularly complains of problems).

In Fallout: New Vegas, Cass mentions that she inherited her father's heart condition when the Courier is under the effect of chems as she shows her disgust for them.

Talking about his skills
He declares that he is skilled with shotguns and rifles mostly (personal preference; he begins equipped with a sawed-off shotgun), and is a pretty good shot with pistols, too. He can also use brass knuckles and spears - he claims that he used to hunt with a spear, but is a little ashamed that it makes him seem like a tribal - at which point the Chosen One can remind him that s/he is a tribal. He's an excellent shot, especially if you equip him with the M72 Gauss rifle later on. He can also be equipped with the Solar Scorcher, which he can use with about the same accuracy as small guns. It must be noted that he lacks the animations for large energy weapons, preventing him from using the plasma rifle, laser rifle or pulse rifle.

Other Interactions
Talking to Cassidy in his bar in the Vault City courtyard will reveal his dissatisfaction with life there, and how Citizen Sergeant Stark busted up his establishment. You may then convince him to join your party, provided that you are not a Slaver, Childkiller, or have karma of -101 or below. He won't leave if the Chosen One gains these perks or lowers their karma after he has joined, though. Quote: "Naw, I don't travel with slavers. They have a nasty habit o' selling you when they get low on cash. No offense."

Effects of player's Actions
Cassidy will not join the Chosen One if the player's Intelligence is less than 4, either, remarking that he "doesn't speak imbecile," and demanding that you get out of his bar.

Once the player attains Captain of the Guard status within Vault City, you may choose to return to Stark and demand that he pay Cassidy compensation for damages, earning you $500 and 500 XP.

Behind the scenes

 * Cassidy's name was originally MacRae. This can be observed if you sell him to Metzger.
 * Cassidy claims his father named him after his favorite comic book character; this may refer to Cassidy the vampire, a Vertigo character from their series, "Preacher". Cassidy says that he was a "mean sonuvabitch".
 * Cassidy's dialogue makes a reference to Final Fantasy VII, via one of his floating dialogues which says "Wish I had a Limit Break!"
 * One of his quotes, "...one foot in the grave and the other in hell.", is a reference to Planescape Torment, another game made by Black Isle.
 * Cassidy has an unused talking head in the game files of Fallout 2. This was latter added to the game with the Fallout Restoration Patch however there is no voiced dialogue because the idea was scraped before the voice over was recorded. This can be seen in the gallery section.

Statistics
Note: Unarmed will be tagged when Cassidy is equipped with Power Armor, as the strength bonus it confers causes his unarmed skill to be boosted above his small guns.

Appearances
John Cassidy appears in Fallout 2.