Fallout 3 companions

This page lists the available followers 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 30% 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. Thankfully non-default weapons used by companions degrade very slow compared to normal usage by Player.

If a companion is given several weapons and the appropriate ammo, they will choose them first based on the range of the projectile, then on either damage per round (DPR) or damage per second (DPS) but not by the in-game interface's DMG stat.
 * For example, if you equip Star Paladin Cross with a Flamer, she will first attack with her default Laser Pistol becaues her target is out of the Flamer's range. She will move towards the target to get into the Flamer's range and then switch to it.
 * When choosing between weapons whose projectiles have similar range, a companion may choose to use a sniper rifle instead of a minigun, even though the minigun has a higher DMG stat, because the sniper rifle has a higher DPR stat.
 * To be clear, it's not yet known what calc the companion uses to choose weapons, but it's clear it's not the DMG stat.

Companions will wear any armor they are given that is superior to their standard armor. All humanoid companions (Star Paladin Cross, Butch DeLoria, Charon, Clover, and Jericho) are capable of wearing Power Armor. Armor worn by companions never degrades with use.

Some/all companions (except Dogmeat) 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. Even wearing their standard armor (like Clover's pink dress or Butch's leather jacket), they can survive several high-power rifle headshots before dying. Give them Power Armor, and they can withstand a LOT of punishment in combat.

Companions are restored to full health at the end of combat, after all nearby enemies are dead. However, if you zone out during a fight and they follow while injured, or if they are injured outside of combat (e.g. a booby-trap), they do not heal (until after the next combat). They can also use stimpacks in their inventory in the middle of battle, if you gave some to them earlier. Dogmeat can't carry stimpacks, but you can speak to him in the middle of combat to heal him manually. Note that Dogmeat will be injured when you first acquire him (the injury is carried over from before you enlist him). You can check companions' health by viewing them in VATS mode.

Selecting a companion should be given some thought. Charon is the most versatile of followers, and you can hire him early on. Charon equipped is essentially as effective as Fawkes with her Gatling Laser (who'd have thought?).

Selection

 * For a detailed list of the followers' equipment, see Fallout 3 follower equipment.
 * Carrying capacity will be, e.g., 30 pounds less if given Power Armor (25 for armor, 5 for helmet). Capacity is determined by: ( Base of 150 ) + ( 10 * Strength ) - ( Weight of inherent gear ) - ( Weight of anything else, including replacement armor or weapons )

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

It is important to note that some of the temporary followers can be given weapons and armor. In addition, these same followers can be utilized as "pack mules," with a weight capacity in the vicinity of 250lbs. Unfortunately, temporary followers are just that: temporary. Should you ever complete the quest the follower is tagging along for, everything the follower has in his possession becomes his. An example would be if escorting Sticky across the waste (under the pretense of taking him to Big Town), and you accidentally enter Big Town, Sticky and everything he has on him become his, and you'll have to kill him to retrieve your belongings.

Multiple Permanent Companion Glitches

 * Normally it is only possible to have Dogmeat, temporary followers, and one permanent follower, but there are ways to get around this, as follows.
 * Including Dogmeat and a permanent follower, it is possible to have a maximum of ten people following you without running into massive errors. Red, Shorty, Sticky, Sydney Moonbeam, Cherry, Initiate Pek, Paladin Hoss, and Paladin Hoss's anonymous co-paladin can all follow you around Falls Church area after rescuing Initiate Pek.  However, after five game days, Cherry will return to Dukov's Place, and it's best to directly or indirectly kill Paladin Hoss, Initiate Pek, and their tag-along Brotherhood Paladin before leaving Falls Church, or you'll encounter some interesting game issues (360, unpatched).  Because of this, the easiest sustainable number of followers is actually 6: Dogmeat, the permanent follower, Sydney, and the 3 Big Towners.  This is the largest known following attainable resorting to game exploits, not glitches or coding errors.
 * When you first meet Star Paladin Cross, she will join you (as long as you have good karma) even if you already have Dogmeat and one other permenant follower. This occurs even in the latest patched version of the game.

'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 if your Karma is Evil you can 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. If you've managed to move your Karma from the Evil rating you need to acquire Clover into the Neutral range you'll need to acquire Sergeant RL-3, fire one of your followers, 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 also possible to have five followers.(Jericho,Charon,Clover,Butch and Star Paladin Cross) Firts, with low karma, get Jericho(1000 caps) from Megaton. Find Dogmeat and kill him. Then go to Underworld and get Charon (no karma requirement). Then go to Paradise Falls and find Eulogy. Fire Charon or Jericho and get Clover(low karma) using the exploit.Next, go to the Robco Facility next to Tenpenny Tower and buy Seargeeant RL-3(neutral karma) with the exploit when you bought Clover(fire Charon because you can hire him back with no karma requirements). Then after opening the vault on the Trouble on the Homefront quest in Vault 101, go to the Muddy Rudder in Rivet City and find Butch(neutral karma).[You can either keep Butch or Seargeant RL-3] Then once you have four followers, go to the Citadel(after Waters of Life quest. and find Star Paladin Cross(high karma). During the conversation, say "I don't suppose I can stop you." Then you will have five followers, before the Finding the Garden of Eden quest.


 * For PS3 owners, you can have at least three followers - Charon (no Karma requirement), Clover (must have Evil or lower Karma) and Dogmeat (no Karma requirement). Sequence, speed and proximity are apparently crucial; get Charon first, then go to Paradise Falls. Fire Charon while standing next to Eulogy Jones, talk to Eulogy and buy Clover, then before talking to Clover (and if she's close enough she will initiate conversation, which negates the exploit), quickly re-hire Charon before he walks away. Then with both of them go to the Scrapyard and get Dogmeat.


 * 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.)
 * Using console you are able to hire ALL posible companion, which meets your karma requirements, only what you need to do this is Dogmeat, because while you first time meet Dogmeat there isn't chech for free companion slot but after killing Dogmeat there is free slot, which can be used for another companion. Using console you have to resurrect Dogmeat, resetquest 943ed which reset Dogmeat dialogue like you met him for first time, hire Dogmeat, kill Dogmeat, and now you have another free companion slot. You can do this as many times as you need.
 * open the console by hitting tilde key "~"
 * Kill Dogmeat: click on Dogmeat or type "prid 6a775", hit enter, then type "kill" exit console and hire desired humanoid companion or RL-3
 * Resurrect Dogmeat: type "prid 6a775", hit enter, then type "resurrect" hit enter, type "resetquest 943ed" and hit enter, exit console and hire Dogmeat
 * also you can edit your karma by typing "Player.getav karma", then using "RewardKarma #" for increase by # units or "RewardKarma -#" for decrease and hire realy everybody and enjoy your crowded band ;)

After Raven Rock
''--Attention XBOX 360 Users--

'''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...

1) Get to the last step of the main quest line ((so you don't lose all your members when you get kidnapped by the Enclave))

2) As soon as you exit the Raven Rock facility use your fast travel to pop over to the Museum of history and grab Charon

3) Fast travel back to Raven Rock and let Fawkes talk to you, he will join you even with Charon in the group

4) Head to Tenpenny tower and wreck havoc until you are neutral ((Don't kill Herbert Dashwood, or Chief Gustavo because they are needed for a quest))

5) Go to the RobCo Facility and find Tinker Joe.

6) While standing next to Tinker Joe, Fire Charon.

7) Talk to Tinker Joe, and purchase RL-3.

8) Re-hire Charon before RL-3 starts his dialogue with you

9) Head back to Tenpenny tower and get your karma to evil

10) Head to Paradise falls, go to Eulogy's Pad

11) While standing next to Eulogy Jones, fire Charon again.

12) Talk to Eulogy, purchase Clover from him.

Once you have done the above steps you can mix and match your party at will. NEVER remove more then one member from your party at a time because you will lose that extra party member slot.

Once you set Liberty Prime loose, you will no longer be able to recruit Star Paladin Cross, so be mindful if you want her in your party to save before you hail the Lyons lady the 2nd time. Also, once you set Liberty Prime loose all functions in The Citadel seem to cease. You can no longer shop there, or have any other real dialogue. All they say is "The Purifier is as good as ours!"
 * Note