Goris

Goris, son of Gruthar, is an intelligent dark gray deathclaw, and a possible companion who resides in Vault 13 in 2241.

Background
Goris is a humanoid figure wearing a long-sleeved, hooded robe. He is a scholar and was very curious about the rest of the world. He had learned how to crudely disguise himself among humans by wearing a loose robe (because "humans have a habit of shooting deathclaws on sight") and claiming that he was really a human but had some deformity he wished to hide and traveled in the wasteland among them learning as much as he could about their cultures.

In 2241, he studied the culture his pack formed and compared it to human development along similar lines. When the Chosen One met Goris for the first time, he said that he had only been at Vault 13 for a few months and has acquired all the information he needs there, and wants to go again for his research. He does not like to travel alone, so he offers to be a companion of the Chosen One to help him in his research and wants to show that deathclaws can work with humans as friends, not enemies.

Depending on the actions of the Chosen One, the Enclave will invade Vault 13 and kill everyone in it. No matter if accompanying the Chosen One or not, he was thus spared of the massacre (because he was on one of his scholarly trips if not accompanying the player character). After that, he can accompany the Chosen One to further study the world around him and to avenge his kin.

One of his particular characteristics is that he's affected by albinism, due to a different mutation with FEV. His hide is completely dark grey instead of earth-tone colors like other deathclaws, and his eyes are red. He also has a sensitive hide due to his albinism, because even when he is among his pack, he always wears his robe and only removes it during combat. He also possesses a telepathic sense connecting him with his brothers, as seen when the Enclave attack Vault 13 if Goris accompanies the Chosen One: he feels his brothers are in danger and leaves the group to return to Vault 13.

Quests

 * Talk to Goris: A simple task, just talk to the alpha male deathclaw.

Other interactions

 * Goris may join the Chosen One's party in search of new experiences and knowledge. His absence from Vault 13 meant that he was the only survivor of Frank Horrigan's massacre of the "rebellious" deathclaws. He, possibly along with Xarn (depending on the Chosen's actions), are the only two surviving intelligent deathclaws but they can produce intelligent deathclaws since the gene was made male-specific and any intelligent male that mated with a non-intelligent female deathclaw would (most likely) produce intelligent deathclaws.
 * Normally, Goris wears his brown robe everywhere he goes. However, when combat begins, he dramatically tosses them off, revealing his deathclaw form. The animation of Goris taking his robes off takes around five seconds, as does the animation of him putting his robes back on. As a companion, Goris is tough, quick, and skilled in unarmed combat. However, his inability to use other weapons than his claws reduces his utility as an NPC somewhat, though his tough hide is equivalent of combat armor.
 * Goris can communicate with low-Intelligence player characters fully, which is fitting since he lived with deathclaws of various IQ levels. Oddly, Goris does not mention that he is a deathclaw when first recruited. This means the Chosen One only finds out when they enter combat for the first time.
 * Thanks to the combination of his extremely high Strength and lack of weapons or armor, Goris can be used to carry heavy equipment much easier than most other companions.

Fallout: The Board Game - New California
Goris can be found randomly when taking a card from the loot deck. While in a fight with Goris is the active companion, the player character can exhaust him to negate all damage taken.

When the player character performs the camp action, he will become unexhausted. However, if the player character has more than two SPECIAL tokens at this time, he must be discarded.

Appearances
Goris appears in Fallout 2 and the Fallout: The Board Game expansion Fallout: New California, and is mentioned in the Fallout Bible.

Behind the scenes
"Goris was Gruthar's son, and he was one of the intelligent deathclaws. He was also very curious about the rest of the world. He did a lot of traveling to try and learn as much as he could about humans and their culture. To do this he disguised himself by wearing a rather large hooded robe. If questioned by anyone, he would claim that he was disfigured and needed to wear the robe.

Anyway, when Goris meets the Chosen One, he says that he has only been at the vault for a couple months. This is because he just returned from one of his scholarly trips. He does not come right out and say this, but it is implied in the conversation through some dialog nodes.

(...)

When you talk to Goris he says that he is a traveling scholar. He is trying to learn as much as he can about the surviving cultures in the wasteland. Quite simply, he was on one of his many trips when Franky arrived to kick deathclaw ass. Of course, he could also have survived by becoming a member of the player's party and actually making it to the end game.

If memory serves me right, Goris is not the only intelligent deathclaw to survive. In the Navarro base the player finds another deathclaw that is slated for execution by Dr. Schreber. The player has the opportunity to free this deathclaw from captivity. Unfortunately, I can't remember this deathclaw's name.

In any case, there is a chance that two intelligent deathclaws survived to continue on the species. I realize that they are both males, but that is fine. When they were engineered by the Enclave, the intelligence gene was made male specific and dominant. What this means is: Any intelligent male that mated with a non-intelligent female would (most likely) produce intelligent offspring."

- John Deiley, Fallout Bible 5


 * Goris was designed by John Deiley, as was the entirety of Vault 13 in Fallout 2.
 * Goris' motivations are caused by his fascinations of empires and civilizations that formed only to fall and was trying to discover the one common element among civilizations that eventually led to their downfall so he could devise a sort of 'cure'. But he was incapable of ever doing so, for he was trying (in vain) to understand humanity from the standpoint of a total non-human.

Bugs
Under some circumstances, after the deathclaw inhabitants of Vault 13 are killed, a bug will deny recruiting Goris. After recruiting him he will instantly try to return to the Vault, setting up an infinite loop of asking him to join you and him returning. This can be worked around by pressing 0 right after clicking on the conversation option to recruit him. This instantly cancels the script that returns him to the Vault.
 * Another way of fixing the glitch is to ask to recruit him then leave the vault and go somewhere else (NCR as it is the closest) and wait a day or two, then come back to the vault and recruit Goris and this time it should work.