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.

Overview
His long history of adventuring have left him in a less than perfect state, including a metal plate in his head, tens of old wounds, lack of one eye and memory of severe wounds, including a knifing in 2203 and gun 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 expect to have.

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 sizeable catalogue 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.

Cassidy does not like Slavers, Childkillers, or those with a karma of -101 or below, Cassidy will not join him. He won't leave if Chosen One gain these perks or lower his karma after Cassidy 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."

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 experesses some doubts when Chosen One treats him with other drugs and consumables (stimpaks, alcohol, Nuka-Cola etc.) but they are perfectly safe.("*Hic* Heh-heh. Nothing like some good ol' firewater to get the blood pumping").

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).

Talking about his skills
He declares that he is skilled with shotguns and rifles mostly (personal preference, he is equipped with 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 sound like 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 and presumably other energy weapons.

Behind the scenes

 * Cassidy's name may have originally been MacRae, as he is refered to in dialogue with Metzger.


 * Cassidy was originally supposed to have a Talking Head but this was cut halfway during production. In the Fallout 2 Restoration Project mod his talking head is returned but has no voice as production on it was cut before the voice actor could be cast.


 * Cassidy claims his father named him after his favorite comic book character; this may refer to Cassidy the vampire from 'Preacher' published by DC Comics under the imprint Vertigo. 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 the quotes "one foot in the grave and the other in hell" is a reference to Planescape Torment, another game made by Black Isle

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.