John Cassidy

John Cassidy is a veteran wastelander, bartender, and a potential companion who resides in Vault City in Fallout 2.

Background
An old man with deep wrinkles, John Cassidy is a veteran of the worst places of the wastelands and has the scars to show for it. These memories of an adventurer's life include scars from a 2203 knifing and old wounds from shootings in 2195, 2199, and 2201. He also has a metal plate in his skull and a fake eye. Given his background, it would come as no surprise that he was a bitter, burnt out shell of a man. Surprisingly, this is not the case: John Cassidy is a pleasant man to talk to, provided the man doing the talking doesn't get on his bad side. He can be direct at times and he has a few issues with tribal prejudice, but overall he is a great companion.

Cassidy settled down in Vault City after a life of adventure, when his heart started to fail him. He requires regular cardiac booster shots to keep his heart working properly. So for better or worse, he's stuck in Vault City. He runs a bar, the Spittoon, in the Courtyard, paying a hefty fee for a license to sell real alcohol on the premises. He manages to get by well enough, able to pay his rent, license fee, and afford booster shots from Doc Andrew. His business took a hit recently, as Sergeant Stark led a raid on his bar, confiscating his alcohol and detaining several customers. Already disgusted with the city, it's practically the final straw for him.

Later life
Cassidy joined the Chosen One in his journey, leaving Vault City behind. The two eventually parted ways, with Cassidy settling down again with a tribal wife. At his ripe old age, John became a father of a daughter who took after her father. A few years later, he left the two and journeyed east of California, never heard from again. He went on to search for Texas, breaking south through NCR and past Dayglow.

Companion

 * As Cassidy explains, he is handy in unarmed combat and can use spears. However, he truly shines with pistols and rifles. His beginning sawed-off shotgun is a decent weapon, but he should upgrade to a hunting rifle or full size shotgun as soon as possible. His skills truly shine with a high end weapon such as Pancor Jackhammer or M72 Gauss rifle.
 * Cassidy only has animation frames for unarmed weapons, spears, throwing weapons, pistols, and rifles. He cannot use weapons that use other animations, such as the plasma rifle or pulse rifle.
 * Giving Cassidy power armor of any kind will boost his Unarmed skill above Small Guns.
 * The player cannot recruit Cassidy if their character has less than 4 Intelligence, karma below -101, or the Slaver or Childkiller reputations.
 * Cassidy will have a fatal heart attack if given Psycho, Buffout, or Jet. Stimpaks, alcohol, Nuka-Cola, and healing powder are fine.

Other interactions

 * The player can confront Sergeant Stark once they become the Captain of the Guard in Vault City and pull rank, so that he pays Cassidy reparations and wipes his record in Vault City. The player receives $500 and 500 XP in return.
 * Cassidy has a fair few interactions with other members of the player's party.
 * He will harass Myron every step of the way as long as the two are in the party together. Can't blame him.
 * Cassidy will repeatedly tell Lenny to keep his distance, due to stink.
 * K-9 will also prompt a number of reactions from Cassidy, mostly related to his ferocity.

Behind the scenes
"He was mostly there because we wanted to do another companion in this location, and I was like, well I don't want to really do another talking head, I already did a lot with Myron, how about I do a much more simpler, just fun combat character, Cassidy, the gun-toting bartender, sure."

- Chris Avellone


 * See: GameRanx Interview.
 * Heart pills can be found in Doc Jubilee's house, though they have no effect on Cassidy. They are likely a remnant of planned additional Cassidy features.
 * Cassidy was named after a pre-War comic book character by his father. This may refer to Cassidy from "Preacher." Cassidy says that he was a "mean sonuvabitch".
 * Cassidy's name was originally MacRae and it occassionally appears in the game, such as wehn the player sells him into slavery.
 * Cassidy references Final Fantasy VII when he says "Wish I had a Limit Break!"
 * Cassidy references Planescape Torment when he rebuffs an evil player character, mentioning that they are "...one foot in the grave and the other in hell."

Appearances
John Cassidy appears in Fallout 2 and is mentioned in Fallout: New Vegas.