Deathclaw Gauntlet (Fallout 3)



As its name suggests, the Deathclaw Gauntlet is a craftable unarmed weapon that is made out of a Deathclaw's forearm, fist, and claws, a medical brace for extra structure, a leather belt to render the hand rigid (and as a handle for the user's hand), and WonderGlue to hold it all together.

Strategy

 * With its extremely high critical percent multiplier (x5), high bonus damage from critical strikes (+30), as well as its armor piercing ability, it can be more devastating in the player's hands than when attached to a living Deathclaw!
 * With the Ninja perk (+15%), a player with 5 Luck will always score a critical strike (((15+5)*5)=100%).
 * Long before level twenty, players with 10 Luck, Finesse (+5%), and Survival Guru (+3%) will be able to critical almost as often (((10+5+3)*5)=90%).
 * Since VATS attacks add a flat +15% bonus it's possible to reach a 100% critical rate without the ninja perk.

Components
Once you have the schematics, you will need a workbench and one of each of the following items:

Locations
Probably the easiest way to obtain the weapon schematic is at the F.Scott Key Trail & Campground. Head to Tenpenny Tower, the location put on your map after talking to Mr. Burke in Megaton. Then keep heading west until you get to the Dunwich Building. F.Scott Key Trail & Compound is just to the north-northwest. If you come to the "end of the world" to the south or west, you've gone too far. The schematics are located in a trailer usually guarded by a Deathclaw. This makes it the perfect area to get this weapon early on. Not only do you get the schematics, but you get the Deathclaw Hand which is hard to get early. If you can lure the Deathclaw across a Bottlecap Mine, it will cripple it (slow, no leaping) and nearly kill it.

Another reliable way is to do the Council Seat Quest in favor of Bannon of Rivet City.

The PC G.E.C.K. lists only three schematics, with the third found on a "random" NPC. He has the name "Wasteland Settler" and wears a Roving Trader Outfit. This NPC has been reported in a number of places. The encounters documented below are probably just some of the many places that Random Encounters can occur (see "Corpse encounters" on that page). Also note that, possibly, there may be a game counter which makes you "due" for a random event - which is to say, if you have a random encounter and recently did a savegame, try loading the savegame... perhaps you can keep triggering it until you get the right one (but there are a lot of them!).

I walked outside of greener pastures and his upper body flew over the building and landed next to me

The encounter instantiates as a dead Settler and a wounded Deathclaw. So if you unexpectedly encounter a live Deathclaw, or a firefight with other randoms and a dead Deathclaw, search the area where the Deathclaw was first seen for the Settler. Also note that most of the encounters seem to be in named map locations, as opposed to wide-open wilderness (but not all of them?). Also see this page's Talk page.

Documented sightings: "The random occurence also happens outside Arlington Library if you fast travel.
 * There is a barn behind Vault 101, that you can save before you get to. Keep loading to get the random event you want, which is a wounded deathclaw and a wastelander. Kill the wastelander for the schematic.
 * This wastelander and deathclaw encounter can be also found in Meresti Trainyard with the schematics on the wastelander's corpse.
 * On a bridge, close to Girdershade.
 * Super Duper Mart (save before you approach it). Keep loading until you get the random event which is a dead Deathclaw and three or so raiders.  The hand is on the dead Deathclaw, the schematics are on one of the raiders, and there are two leather belts and wonder glue on the shelves in the locked closet in the back.  The medical brace is near the protectron terminal in the same closet.
 * Southwest of The Republic of Dave is the MDPL-16 Power Station, with another Deathclaw and an already-dead Wastelander encounter. The Deathclaw and Wastelander corpse were spotted behind the sub-station building opposite the door. The Deathclaw had around four bars of health, so this may be a good spot for low-level characters to obtain the blueprints.
 * At the MDPL-05 Power Station it can be found, therefore if you are lucky enough to find it here you can pick up two different schematics (the Dart Gun) in one location.
 * Outside, in front of the Robot Repair Center.
 * Save at the Citadel and take a left, then another left and save. There will be a random event.

Appearances



 * Deathclaw Gauntlet appears only in Fallout 3.

Trivia

 * This weapon is a key component to creating a Freddy Kruger outfit. Equipping the Deathclaw Gauntlet along with the Ghoul Mask, Pre-War Hat, Pre-war Spring Outfit (for male characters) and selecting the Mister Sandman perk will transform you into this Hollywood serial killer!

Console Commands
If you want to test whether the Wasteland Settler with the Schematics has appeared (but you somehow missed him), use this to check - but be sure to save your game before trying:

To cheat his schematic to you, type One of two things will happen when you exit the Console:
 * If the encounter has already fired, you will go to the NPC's location (where he will be at your feet, dead). Caution: The wounded Deathclaw may still be around.
 * If he has not yet appeared, there will be a blast of flesh as you materialize right where the NPC is (killing him), in a twilight-zone game area called the "Holding pen for free-form encounters". The NPC will be dead at your feet (with the schematic), and you can find other random encounter groups by walking around the vast plains. Reload old game to get back to reality.
 * The dead Wasteland Settler will appear at your feet, if he had already spawned (and been killed by the Deathclaw).
 * If he hasn't spawned, there will be a blast of flesh, a death groan, and he will be dead at your feet. (He was still alive before spawning, and spawned right on top of you.) The Deathclaw from this Random encounter will not appear. It might still appear sometime later in the game, though, if the random encounter fires.