Fallout 4 Companions

Companions are a gameplay mechanic in Fallout 4 that allow the player to recruit and travel with specific NPCs.

Overview
The base game offers 13 unique permanent companions, each with their own personalities and storylines. Automatron adds two new, fully-customizable robot companions. Both Far Harbor and Nuka-World introduce a single companion. The total number of companions is 17.

Characteristics
Companions will give different thoughts and relationship statuses depending on their relationship with the player character. They will also differ in attitude when dismissing them or asking them to join. These comments can be hateful, disdainful, neutral, admirable, generous, and for romantic companions, affectionate.

Raising or dropping a companion's affinity to a certain amount will trigger a unique dialogue with the player character. Positive affinity will reveal some of the companion's background and how they ended up here. When reaching idolization, the companion will admit to having the player character being their best friend. Negative affinity results in disappointed companions asking the Sole Survivor to change their ways.

When reaching hatred, the companion will threaten to leave for good. A moderate persuasion check can convince them to give the player character one more chance. If the persuasion was successful, but the affinity still goes down, the companion will eventually snap and leave for good. This applies to every companion except for Dogmeat, Ada, and an automatron.

Traveling with a companion bestows the player character with an inherent 5% bonus to all Experience gained. This bonus can be further increased by acquiring Live & Love Issue #8. These bonuses are multiplicative with other experience bonuses such as Intelligence and Gift of Gab.

Equipment and weapons
Humanoid companions can also be equipped with weapons and armor of choice. To do so, go to the trade dialogue option and place whatever items the player character wants them to use or wear in their inventory. Then, in their inventory, press the button to "equip" the item(s). Weapons equipped must also have an ammunition supply, so they must be provided with the ammo type the weapon requires. Even weapons that use the same ammunition as a companion's default weapon must have ammunition supplied.

Paladin Danse cannot wear anything other than headgear as long as he has his power armor, Codsworth can wear certain hats, Nick Valentine will only wear his trenchcoat or he can wear the High Confessor Tektus' robes from the Far Harbor add-on or power armor, Strong can wear super mutant armor, Dogmeat can wear dog armor, bandanas and eyewear.

Humanoid companions can be ordered to use power armor. Whether the armor is racked or not, they will walk up to it and enter it. To get a companion out of power armor, talk to them and there will be a dialogue option to make this request.

All companions have a carrying capacity of 150, except Strong with 200, and Danse with 210. Note that this is changed in Survival mode, which reduces their capacity. It is possible to make companions wear pocketed or deep pocketed armor to increase their carrying capacity by +30 or +60, respectively.

Essential status
Some companions lose their essential status when dismissed. They do, however, remain protected like other settlers and cannot be killed by NPC attacks. Some companions lose their essential status upon reaching the lowest level of affinity and leaving the player character.

Witness to crime
If the player character murders a non-hostile creature, their affinity with their current companion will drop by 10% and will trigger dialogue with the player character expressing anger and warning them to never do it again. They may also leave the player character instead of speaking to them. They will refuse to speak to the player character at first, but after a few days, the companion will be able to travel again. Should the player character ignore this warning and repeat a murder, companions will permanently leave. This applies to every companion except Strong. Dogmeat, Ada, and automatrons are neutral.

Depending on where a crime is committed, the companion may become hostile towards the player character. For example, Piper and Nick will turn hostile if a DC guard/civilian is assaulted/killed, or if you trespass or steal. Hancock and MacCready will do the same if the listed crimes are done in Goodneighbor.

Dismissing
When the companion is dismissed they will return to the designated "home" wearing equipped armor and apparel as well as retaining weapons. If wearing power armor, sometimes one may find the dismissed companion in the home settlement without their power armor, which is found nearby.

When choosing a location to send a dismissed companion, selecting 'Cancel' will not cancel the dismissal, but will instead send them back to the last location they were sent to when dismissed. If no settlement has ever been selected, the companion will be sent to their original location rather than a settlement. If one accidentally dismisses a companion, just walk up to them again and ask them to re-join. One must also confirm the companion's desire to re-join after asking.

Survival mode
Companions are marked as "essential" when acting as active companions, meaning they cannot be killed. If incapacitated, they will automatically heal after combat ends. If one is playing in Survival mode, the companion must be healed when incapacitated, even after combat. If they're not healed within a set period of time, or when the player travels beyond a certain distance, they will leave and return to their last used home base.

Temporary
The game has a number of temporary companions that will only be available during certain quests.

Affinity
Affinity is a companion gameplay mechanic. Companions can develop personal connections to the Sole Survivor and some may ask for help with quests of their own. Each companion has a distinct personality and values. Actions or dialogue that please one companion may displease another.

Companion comments
Companions make unique location-specific comments, which are compiled here.

Behind the scenes
Another companion was planned for the Nuka-World add-on, voiced by Orion Acaba, though he was cut from the final release.

Bugs

 * A companion may become stuck in a reference pose position, flying around unanimated about 1–2 feet off the ground following the player character. The companion can be spoken with and interacted with in a normal manner, however, the companion will not fight. Even loading a new area by going through a door will not fix this behavior.
 * One potential fix is to fast travel to another location.
 * Another fix is to dismiss the companion. The companion can be re-recruited back.
 * Certain sound effects can get "stuck" to companions and continue to play after said companion quit performing the respective action. Known examples include the sound of wielding a Ripper, firing a Gauss rifle, Dogmeat's bark and using the weapon bench's drill. When the bug occurs it follows the companion around, waxing and waning depending on their distance, and can neither be stopped by fast-traveling, reloading, or taking the weapon away from them. It can, however, be fixed by closing and restarting the game. It is currently unknown what exactly causes the bug.
 * Should the Ripper sound be playing over and over, having the companion use the weapon again may fix the bug.
 * If a companion has the drilling-sound glitch from an armor workbench or weapon workbenches, allowing them to re-use the corresponding workbench from where the glitched sound is and let them end its use by themselves without interruptions, the sound glitch should stop and be fixed.
 * Even after dismissing Dogmeat, he may continue barking. A possible fix for this is to turn on Classical Radio and then turn it off.
 * Ada may remain with you even though you have just selected dismiss in dialogue, as well as the option of the settlement won't pop up.
 * One solution is to restart the game.
 * Another solution is to acquire a different companion.
 * When sending a companion to another settlement using the workshop he/ she will not go there straight away, and bringing the settlement choices back up will show the place still has an option to where they can be sent.
 * A fix for this is to turn the game off, then reloading the save.
 * Another fix is to fast travel to a different place and sleep in a bed and return.
 * If a companion is down while changing zones, they may remain "downed" permanently, only changing areas along with the Sole Survivor. This can be fixed by damaging their HP until they go "down" and regenerate again while out of combat.