Deathclaw (Fallout Tactics)

A hairy subspecies of deathclaws lives in the area of the former states of Illinois, Missouri and Kansas, having developed patches of fur to better cope with the colder climate. Furthermore, some of them are noted to be capable of speech as early as in 2197, which means that they probably developed speech through spontaneous mutation, or were experimented on by someone other than the Enclave. Another possibility that they were designed to have an intellect and ability to speak before the Great War.

The hairy deathclaws are more matriarchal than their Core Region and Capital Wasteland counterparts, with packs being led by Matriarch. While infant, these deathclaws are less hairy and seems to be absolutely unintelligent, behaving like an animal or simply following the adults. They presumably become self-aware when they grow up.

History
The Matriarch of one deathclaw pack was captured by the psychic tribe known as the Beastlords. While the tribals were able to use their psychic powers to control lesser animals, the deathclaws were intelligent enough to resist them. However, they cooperated with the Beastlords in order to protect their Mother. After the Matriarch was freed by the Midwestern Brotherhood of Steel, she led her pack to join the Brotherhood, and the Elders surprisingly agreed. She herself is recruitable as Mother.

Appearances
Hairy deathclaws appear only in Fallout Tactics.

Behind the scenes
The hairy deathclaws were inspired by early deathclaw concept art where the deathclaws were hairy mammals. Chris Taylor says:
 * I'm pretty sure the main reason that the Deathclaw lost its hair from concept to production was a technical limitation of the rendering software at the time. I can't remember if it was the amount of additional rendering time required, an animation issue getting all the hair to move properly, or something else, but it was something along those lines. The hairy Deathclaw in FOT was inspired by the original concept, plus we thought it was nifty to show that there variations and different mutations of the same stock "beast". We probably should have had both versions, but that's a decision based on hindsight.