Deacon

Deacon is a synth sympathizer and agent for the The Railroad living in the Commonwealth in 2287. He is a potential companion in Fallout 4.

Background
Deacon is a spy for the secretive pro-synth liberation organization, The Railroad. When the Sole Survivor first approaches the group, they discover Deacon has been covertly keeping tabs on their activities in the Commonwealth. He will vouch for the Survivor's character to Desdemona, citing their accomplishments in the wasteland and their potential usefulness. Should the Sole Survivor join the Railroad, Deacon will become a companion.

At first glance Deacon is a laid back, lighthearted individual with a penchant for toying with people by lying. In reality he proves to be a cautious loner who is slow to trust. As they travel together, Deacon falsely informs the Survivor that he is a synth and shares his recall code: a verbal command that will provide information on the Institute at the cost of wiping his entire personality. As his approval rises Deacon will claim that he was one of the original founders of the Railroad some 70 years before, and Desdemona is merely the figurehead for his shadowy leadership. Passing speech checks will cause him to confess to lying in both cases. He then warns the Sole Survivor to be wary of malicious people who will deceive them to achieve their own ends.

Once Deacon has reached maximum approval he will confide in the Survivor that he feels out of place in the Railroad, claiming that he is finally ready to tell the truth about himself. He says that as a youth he was a member of the University Point Deathclaws, a gang who harassed people accused of being synths. Their antagonism escalated to a lynching which was carried out on unreliable information. Shaken by the killing, Deacon left the gang to become a farmer. He fell deeply in love and married a woman named Barbara, but the Deathclaws returned and murdered his wife. It was not in retaliation for Deacon's departure, but because they had learned - to both Deacon's and her surprise - that Barbara was a synth.

Distraught and enraged by the loss of his wife, he proceeded to butcher most of the remaining Deathclaws in a bloodthirsty haze. In the aftermath of the slaughter, the Railroad contacted Deacon, seeing the benefits of someone both sympathetic to their cause and adept at dealing with bigots. Despite believing himself to embody everything wrong with the Commonwealth and being undeserving of joining The Railroad, Deacon nevertheless swore himself to the cause of synthetic freedom and equality. He then thanks the Sole Survivor for putting up with his games and expresses appreciation for them being a friend he can trust.

Quests

 * Tradecraft: Deacon accompanies the Sole Survivor to the Railroad's previous headquarters to retrieve a lost prototype.
 * Precipice of War: The Sole Survivor and Deacon escort Tinker Tom to Cambridge Police Station to steal a Brotherhood vertibird.
 * Rockets' Red Glare: Using the stolen vertibird, the Sole Survivor and Deacon infiltrate and sabotage the The Prydwen.
 * The Nuclear Option: Deacon and the other members of the Railroad assault the Institute, freeing the synths within before blowing up the facility's nuclear reactor.

Effects of player's actions

 * Deacon dislikes it when the Sole Survivor uses any sort of mind-altering drugs (e.g. Jet, Psycho, Buffout, Med-X, Calmex, Overdrive, Daytripper, etc.)
 * He does not mind Stimpacks, Rad-X, Rad-Away, or the X11 Compound.
 * At maximum approval Deacon awards the Cloak & Dagger perk, which gives +40% duration for Stealth Boys and +20% damage from sneak attacks.
 * Deacon will become instantly hostile if the player character kills a settler or anyone involved in the Railroad.
 * Siding with the Brotherhood of Steel or the Institute in the end game sequence will flag the player character an enemy of the Railroad, resulting in the loss of Deacon as a companion and turning him hostile.
 * After siding with the Minutemen and finishing the end game sequence without completing the optional quest, the Railroad and Deacon will turn hostile when the player character next speaks to Desdemona. You may still speak to other Railroad characters and complete quests for them.

Other interactions
Deacon cannot be asked to pick locks or hack terminals. He does however have a much higher Sneak rating than most characters, and rarely alerts enemies to his presence as other followers do.

Notable quotes

 * "The big three for predicting people: caps, beliefs, and ego. Get a handle on what's driving someone, and you know where you stand."
 * "And here I was wanting to spend the day reading Proust. And then you have to ruin it."
 * "I really want to know how the Big One started. What idiot fired first? Why? What the hell did they think they'd gain?"
 * "Back before I met you I'd go whole days without massacring a bunch of things. Honest."
 * "But I had a point here. A lesson, if you will. There're other organizations out there. And, in time, I'm sure they're going to spoon-feed you their own patented form of bullshit. Ignore the verbage and look at what they're doing. What they're asking you to do. What sort of world they'd have you build and how they're going to pay for it."
 * (When the Sole Survivor takes drugs that he doesn't like) "Now isn't that just fun to watch...feeling peppy now?"
 * (When told to stay) "Absolutely. And my eagerness is totally unrelated to wanting a smoke break."
 * "I never really much cared for the Minutemen. The idea sounds great. But you give small men big power and sometimes you'll pay for it."
 * "One time, I got a face change and was a girl for a few months. You should've seen the looks back at HQ."
 * (To enemy) "You know, running away is always an option! I won't shoot you. Promise."
 * (When looting body) "Whenever you're done corpse-squatting, I'm good to go."
 * (When you decide to keep Buddy) "This robot is a national treasure!"
 * "Insert something Shakespearean involving death and your inevitable doom here."
 * "We sure do a whole lot of that. Winning, that is!"
 * "We live to see another day. And night. And day. Etcetera."
 * (After reaching top of Trinity Tower) "Alright. You got me up here... let's go down. Now?"
 * "I'm convincing the next raw recruit I'm actually President Eden. Think I can pull it off?"
 * (When seeing the Alien ship crashland) "We got to get to that crash site, even if it means Tinker gets to say "I told you so!"."
 * (Upon successful lockpicking) "Take that! ... lock."

Appearances
Deacon appears only in Fallout 4.

Bugs

 * Deacon goes into a loop if one select 'Talk' after he has given his recall code, denying exiting of power armor. *FIX* Read him the code (Part of story progression)
 * Reading the note then talking to him will allow to read the note aloud, triggering a conversation and ending the loop.
 * Deacon possibly with other companions, can get stuck in a death loop were they keep taking damage when not in combat.
 * Can kill them permanently, if not sent to a settlement or kept as a follower.
 * When in power armor, Deacon's outfit changes affect the armor too, and he will unequip whatever armor pieces are equipped.
 * A rare glitch may occur where Deacon will keep his rifle out, except the trigger will be floating above his hand; he will not move and keep aiming with his rifle, while remaining on the spot.
 * The only way to fix this is to fire him and come back for him later.
 * While near or aboard the USS Constitution, he will constantly point it out to the player character.
 * If equipped with a full outfit, armor or piece of clothing given by the player character, he will wear it but his disguising cycle will stop. Also the clothing/outfit item will 'disappear' from his inventory, making it impossible to unequip. There are two possible solutions to this:
 * 'Legitimate way' (not using the console): If the outfit/clothing item doesn't allow armor parts on it, then just equip Deacon with any body armor part, such as raider left leg. This should make the outfit visible in Deacon's inventory and therefore retrievable. However, in order to retrieve clothing or outfits that can be worn underneath body armor parts (i.e. Road leathers), the player character must first equip Deacon with an item that doesn't allow armor on it, like the Drifter outfit, and then proceed to do the process mentioned above.
 * Using the console: While traveling with Deacon, open the console and click on him or type and then  to see a list of the outfits in his hidden inventory. The outfit should be in the end of the list along with its object ID. Then type, replacing ******** with the item's object ID that one wants to remove. Note that Deacon's body will disappear now and his head will be floating around until the player decides to fast travel to another location, which should fix it.
 * Deacon sometimes can be seen in a weird standing stance, with his shoulders in a weird position.

Gallery
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