Talk:Fallout 3 companions/Archive 1

Topics on this page have been reorganized according to chapter headings; refer to the Table of Contents. Please add all new comments under the appropriate sections.

To do - include all information from http://www.nma-fallout.com/content.php?page=fo3-npc Ausir 18:10, 15 November 2008 (UTC)

Non-Standard Equipment
Servius 21:18, 23 November 2008 (UTC)

Do companions require ammo for the weapons you give them?
 * I believe they do. I gave Star Paladin Cross a Minigun but no ammo and she kept her Laser Pistol equipped. I gave her 1 round of 5mm Round ammo and she automatically equipped the Minigun. I've given her 1,500 rounds now. After a bit of fighting I'll check her inventory and see if that number's dropped. Servius 21:18, 23 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Yes, they do. They will consume the ammo they have just like you would, and once depleted, I expect they will revert to their standard weapons with infinite ammo. For example, if/when Star Paladin Cross runs out of 5mm Round, she'll probably stop using the Minigun and switch to her standard Laser Pistol, which has infinite ammo. Servius 22:50, 23 November 2008 (UTC)
 * You can give a follower another's weapon with the console (PC version, I've dropped a few item codes here and there), and they will have unlimited ammo for it. This means that any (humanoid) one of them can use Fawkes' crippled gatling (0001A333), or any other follower's weapon, as long as it's stronger than their own. YOU don't get infinite ammo, and can't use the standard - they're unique. (btw, if you want them to do some evocation magic, give them 0007c10c - RL-3's plasma gun). --Kaay 08:39, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

Could somebody please let me know if they require ammo in a situation, for example such as if I gave Star Paladin Cross a Plasma Pistol which uses the same ammo as her default Laser Pistol, which has infinite ammo?

Do their non-standard weapons wear out?
 * I've given Star Paladin Cross a Minigun at 100%. I'll take her out for a spin, let her tear loose with that gun, and see if the quality drops. Servius 21:18, 23 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Yes the non-standard weapons that you give them will wear out as your companion uses them. I presume this is true of the armor you give them, though I haven't confirmed that yet. Servius 22:50, 23 November 2008 (UTC)
 * I strongly think companions non-standard weapons only degrade if they are damaged from enemies. Jericho spent over five thousand ECP rounds and his Vengeance didn't degrade, but one time, he spent only 500 and the condition went down a lot(probably the weapon was shot by an enemy.)BSMaker 06:27, 14 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Weapons used by companions will not degrade with use. However, it will lose condition when shot. This is only the case with, of course, a non-standard weapon.71.70.80.147 02:04, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

Does their non-standard armor wear out?
 * I've fought with Cross for several days now. She's even been attacked in melee by Deathclaws, yet that helmet I gave her hasn't degraded at all. Servius 02:04, 26 November 2008 (UTC)
 * I have tested the T-51b power armor on charon as my companion. The armor has not degraded at all, and I've had Charon as my companion from level 8-20. He has fought everything with me, from deathclaws to enclave soldiers to packs of Mirelurks and Yao Guai. I believe that all armor stays in perfect condition when it is being worn by a companion.
 * Armor worn by a companion will never degrade with use.71.70.80.147 02:04, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

Grenades
Star Paladin Cross will use any grenades you give her. She does not seem to use mines. I don't know if other companions will also use grenades of their own free will. According to the No Mutants Allowed article, Explosives is one of her "Other Skills" and is only 18, so that does not seem to affect whether or not the companion will use them. Servius 02:04, 26 November 2008 (UTC)

Yes, other companions use grenades too. Charon has the explosive skill and will use them efficiently, It is a good idea to give him some but it is unadvised to give grenades to Clover, precisely because she will use them a lot instead of a weapon she is trained with, sometimes throwing them just at her feet. Croquignol 02:18, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

Fawkes is another follower that will use grenades, though he only uses frag grenades, and will not use simulation grenades (from operation anchorage) confirmed on 360

I gave Charon 5 frag grenades and he used them a lot more than five times, he must never run out if you give him any.
 * He does run out, you're either lying, he picked some up or it was a glitch, none of the followers have unlimited grenades. Setimir92 21:32, November 18, 2009 (UTC)

i advise you dont cause when you are in a fire fight you dont want random grenades flying everywhere. it has happened with me at takoma with charon and fawkes(they did a lot more harm then good).

I have given Fawkes 20 Plasma grenades in the past and he threw all of them in seconds. i ended up hitting the invisible roof to the game!

I did give Sticky a few plasma and frag grenades, and despite his low skill in explosives, he always his his target. I have had him for awhile though. Can someone explain this?
 * The targets must've been really close or he just got lucky.Setimir92 21:30, November 18, 2009 (UTC)

Stimpacks
Dogmeat and Sydney use them if I give them in dialog, but I've never seen any companion use stims or any heals from their inventory. I'm playing PC version, and I can see their health reset only after a combat, but doesn't regen any other time. --97.81.77.13 16:44, 25 November 2008 (UTC)
 * I gave Charon 20 stims, and after he and Dogmeat ran off somewhere and a whole lot of noise, he had 18 left and Dogmeat was dead (luckily, I'm on the PC and he's Essential for me). So yeah, they use stims during combat. 74.14.118.127 17:49, 2 December 2008 (UTC)


 * This is what I've found out through experimentation with Charon on the 360, and after reading other discussion pages, I think it applies to all permanent companions: 
 * 1)All permanent followers heal automatically before and after combat regardless of what's in their inventory. They do not heal after being hit by traps, no matter what's in their inventory. If the follower is injured outside of combat, try initiating combat with a weak enemy, and they'll be healed after combat. If they were crippled, equip them with a Stimpack first. 
 * 2)If a follower has Stimpacks, they'll use it, but only during combat, and only if they're crippled or near death. They can still be killed in combat if they have Stimpacks in their inventory, but it's less likely. 
 * 3)Resting in a bed doesn't affect companions, they only heal after combat. 
 * 5)Dogmeat, obviously, has no inventory, and can't self-apply stimpacks because he has no thumbs. 
 * 6)Temporary companions, like Sydney, don't have accessible inventory and don't heal after combat, thus you have to give them stims on a case-to-case basis. 
 * 7)If you're wondering if a companion is injured, target them with a weapon. They limp when crippled, but VATS can tell you what's going on with individual limbs. (Don't shoot them by accident!) 
 * If anyone knows different, put it here. Otherwise, should we copy this to the main article? Durty Willy 04:32, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Just to add to this, I noticed Sticky and Sydney have animations for healing themselves. They stab themselves in the hip with the stimpack. You can sort of see Sydney's animation, but because she uses them immediately as the dialogue ends, you can't quite see it because it is just off screen. I've seen Sticky give himself a jab, but not during fighting. Also, their crippled limbs don't seem to heal - ever. I left Sticky and Sydney behind some time ago, and poor Stick's legs are both crippled, and he hobbles everywhere. I gave him a merc cruiser outfit to cheer him up. I went and checked on Sydney at Underworld, and she is the same, well almost crippled, she has a little bit left on all her limbs. I'm assuming this affects their performance. Anyway of knowing if apparel attributes improve their skills, +10 small guns armour for example, or even +1 luck items etc.?


 * So far, from what I've tested (on the Xbox 360), the only drugs/meds Companions will use are: stimpacks and Buffout. Oh, how I wish we could Use items on them! Pump them up with MedX and Psycho!--206.72.84.130 15:14, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

I gave Red 100 Stinpacks while she had crippled legs and she stayed crippled but had full health!?!

Armor and Equipment
Is there only specific armor/clothing/weapons that each companion will use? I tried equipping Clover with a plasma rifle and she stuck with her shot gun. (Patched Xbox version) 207.61.149.175 12:10, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

Lies my friend! I gave her a fully repaired plasma rifle with plenty of microfusion cells and the bitch don't bother me.


 * They will usually use any weapon better than their own, provided you give them the ammo for it too.Sipli 00:02, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

She prefers her shotgun because she is trained in light weapons and not in energy weapons, so she does more damage with a shotgun than with a plama rifle. For CLover, she'll use a fatman if you give her one because it does more damage but as she is not trained to use it she'll usually kill herself while using it (and likely kill the player too). Sometimes they don't switch to a more powerful weapon becuase the weapon you give them is in bad condition. If you really want them to use the weapon you give them be sure they are almost in perfect condition and is far superor to their default one. It is sometimes difficult to find a better weapon for some characters like Charon or Fawkes, so they'll stick to their default one . All followers use ammunitions too with the weapon you give them but less than the player using the same weapon. If they don't have ammos left they'll switch back to their default weaponCroquignol 02:30, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

Follower Equipment
When your follower equips gear that you give em, does anybody know if the stats on the gear changes their stats? Like if something that you had them equip has a +2 to strength, would they get the +2 to their strength? Another example would be the lucky 8 ball, do they get the luck bonus if you give it to em? I play on the xbox 360 so no real way for me to find out. --Thq95 04:50, 16 January 2009 (UTC)

Yes it does. I gave Charon Armored Vault suit thing and his accuracy went up by a huge amount with sniper rifles and other small guns.

I gave charon full tesla armor and about some hour of gameplay when i talk with chaon the dialogue box appears empty and i cant do anything.

Accuracy
Does the accuracy of a followers weapon depend on their skill with the eqipped weapon?

Console commands: adding Companions on PC

 * type prid  (clicking is also possible) (the actor you want to make you companion)
 * type sv
 * there should besomething like hired
 * type setsv(hired thing) to 1
 * set hired to 1 ; this is better, i think


 * oh and dont forget enter

p.s needs testing< 62.194.26.118 20:00, 12 May 2009 (UTC) This is a horrible description, was are you 10 years old? if you are takling about ShowVars (SV) there is no such command as setsv

This one was working for me with "Star Paladin Cross":
 * If I talked to her, she just told me to talk to "Lyons".
 * opened console, clicked onto her, her ID appaers on top of the screen.
 * (By typing "sv" you can now list the possible varaibles )
 * type "set HasBeenHired to 1" and "set Waiting to 1"
 * If you now talk to her, she behaves as if you told her to wait and can now be hired.

Followers and getting them to follow
Here's my most run script batch file:

     
 * ''prid 6a775
 * ''moveto player
 * ''prid 2b8e1
 * ''moveto player
 * ''prid 62735
 * ''moveto player

It moves Dogmeat, Charon and Cross to my current position. I can't live without it, maybe you find it useful.

Giving partners unique equipment
If I give my partner(s) the unique version of what they are using, will they have infinite ammo with it? ex. giving Clover The Kneecapper.


 * edit: found out you have to give them ammo for the unique versions

Missing Primary Weapon (Charon)
Somewhere along the way Charon somehow lost his special shotgun and has subsequently lost about 5 or 6 other weapons I've given him. I'm pretty sure they're being shot out of his hands and I dont notice until he's trying to stab a rad scorpion with his combat knife. Is there anyway to restore his default gun with its wonderful unlimited ammo?Argongas 19:25, 14 May 2009 (UTC)argongas
 * This should work on PC:
 * open console (press tilde key (~) ) then type:
 * prid 2B8E1 ; select Charon, you can also click on him, with console open (don t shoot him)
 * additem 372b8 1 ; Charons Combat Shotgun 
 * additem 4c5f9 1 ; Shotgun Shell - Charons unlimited ammo 
 * No clue how to do it on non-PC.
 * I am pretty sure you can just tell him to switch to ranged while he holds no other weapons, and it respawns. It is what I always do.

The Puppies! Perk

 * It has been confirmed by one user (me on Xbox 360) that this perk can be used to gain multiple followers. If you have a follower, kill Dogmeat, and recruit another follower before Dogmeat's puppy spawns, you can use it as another multiple follower glitch. This is especially useful for people that lost their companion glitch due to The Pitt. For me, I found it best to go to the area where my new follower was, tel dogmeat to go to vault 101, then pickpocket him and put a frag grenade on him. Fastest way to kill him.
 * I Second that. I got Charon in the way stated above.
 * Personally, this is one of the best perks you can get if you want to build an army. You really can get ALL of the followers from Fawkes to Clover.
 * I'll fourth it, so to speak. Also reverse pickpocketing Live Grenades onto Dogmeat (confirm Dogmeat's puppy?) prevents Charon from becoming hostile. There have been at least 2 glitch reports concerning a spawned puppy not being able to join the party from the front of Vault 101. Still looking into that. I edited this to the top of Multiple Companion sub topic as it seems WAY easier than all this mess down below (7 follower etc.). V.A.T.S. addict 04:45, 7 June 2009 (UTC)
 * I'll fifth this uh... yeah I guess that sounds right. The glitch indeed works. I find it more effective to kill Dogmeat via live grenade placed in the rectum in the area where the desired follower is, as described above.--Bubba787 04:30, 12 June 2009 (UTC)
 * I can confirm Dogmeat's Puppy works the same. Did it in front of SPC. Now I have 3 followers and when I get to it I'll go get that pup back I guess...Best Perk in the Game? V.A.T.S. addict 04:59, 12 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Confirmed once again on 360 with a goody-goody character, by "firing" Dogmeat in the same room as Charon, then Cross (already had Fawkes), and then "sneakily" reverse pickpocketed a frag grenade onto Dogmeat, before hiring the new follower. Then I went back and picked up my new (new new) Dogmeat's Puppy.. again. 84.13.9.109 01:40, 4 July 2009 (UTC)
 * For me the Puppies perk had the opposite effect, for some reason dogmeats puppy seemed to take up all companion spaces so when i killed the puppy, other companions said I still had a follower so I could not ever get a follower except the puppy.
 * I'll second that, when I took the Puppies! perk I thought that I would be able to get many companions but Dogmeat's puppy took up all the companion spots and I couldn't rehire Fawkes or Star Paladin Cross, who I had as followers before going to Point Lookout.
 * You DID kill the puppy in the same room as the follower you were trying to recruit, right? Jdw 17:03, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

I cant reverse pickpocket Dogmeat.....anyone shed any light on the situation. Also do Bethesda know about this glitch and ignore it because its awesome or are they oblivious to it.--King Cog 13:58, 12 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Send him home, then crouch. "Talk to Dogmeat" will allow for the reverse pickpocket. And I'm sure Bethesda designed this to allow for multi follower exploit. V.A.T.S. addict 17:32, June 30, 2010 (UTC)

"Being Evil"
Related to the statement, "It is also possible to acquire two followers if you are evil: first obtain Jericho then go buy Clover." I'm not so sure this is true. My character is evil, I have Jeri as a follower and I just tried to buy Clover but I wasn't able to. When I offered to buy her from the guy in the red outfit, there was a message at the top-left that suggested I couldn't have another follower. I don't recall the exact message but I can try again and let you all know, if needed. Unless there's some kind of trick to get this to work? Modul8r 04:58, 3 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Haven't tried, but maybe you need to: fire Jericho, buy (not talk to) Clover, rehire Jericho, talk to Clover? --Kaay 08:21, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
 * I tried that but it didn't help. After I bought Clover, Jericho told me that I had to ditch her before he'd join, and I saw text at the top-left suggesting I couldn't have any more followers. I can only surmise that this has been fixed in a patch. I'm running the latest patch as of 12-11-2008 and, FWIW, I'm running the PC version. Modul8r 15:51, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

You would have to load from a save before ever talking to Clover..

Walk into Eulogy's pad, Walk up to Eulogy, Fire follower, talk to Eulogy, Re-hire Follower, let Clover talk to you.. Her dialouge is what lets you have both of them.. its a scripting bug but its fun.


 * Thanks for the detailed instructions. I'll try this tonight. If it works then I suggest we re-word that section so it's clear to other readers. Modul8r 17:16, 12 December 2008 (UTC)


 * OK I got it figured out. I now have both Jeri and Clover as followers. The way I understand it, the trick is to quickly re-hire Jeri immediately after you buy Clover from Eulogy. When I did this from an old save (before going to Paradise Falls), I had to talk to Jeri before Clover ran up to me and automatically started the conversation. But I was also able to do this in my current save (apparently after I'd already talked to Clover) - the only difference here is that Clover did not automatically run up to me and talk to me. After I re-hired Jeri, I then talked to Clover and she was a follower - I was able to give her instructions like Follow me, let's go, etc. So, in summary I don't think it matters if you've already talked to her or Eulogy, as long as you didn't already buy her. Is this the way you all understand how it works too? Modul8r 16:32, 15 December 2008 (UTC)
 * There is a cheat you can use to get multiple dogmeats, on pc, press the " ` " button and then type in player.placeatme 6a772. Then press "enter" and there sould be a extra dogmeat there.
 * There is a cheat you can use to get multiple dogmeats, on pc, press the " ` " button and then type in player.placeatme 6a772. Then press "enter" and there sould be a extra dogmeat there.

I tried it and it worked. now i have to see if i can get Dogmeat while having Clover and Jericho

My character got Charon's contract early on, got his karma to the lowest possible level, and while exploring the rest of the map before finishing the last quest of the game went to Paradise Falls for the first time. Was able to purchase Clover without even having to fire Charon or have him wait outside the room. Don't know what happened there, but have two followers now. Didn't even realize you weren't allowed to have more than one follower until I read the article here.

Is ot possible to obtain charon dogmeat and fawkes after raven rock i got fawkes before that i had already had charon and when i went to go get him he said he couldnt join is there any way to fix this

Yeah there is make sure you have neutral karma and charon go to robo co fire charon buy rl3 quickly rehire charon before the wannabe army tincan talks to ya there ya go Riley Heligo 20:33 14 may 09

Will this work...?
First of all, I play on the Xbox 360. Now, what I want to do is get Jericho, Clover, Charon and Dogmeat into my party. Would this work if I got Charon first, went to Paradise falls and used the glitch to get Clover, then went to RobCo and use the glitch to get Sgt. RL-3, then destroy Sgt. RL-3 and go hire Jericho and finally rescue Dogmeat and have him join?

Thanks for the help. Of course, keeping some saves is always reccomended.BSMaker 22:45, 20 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Yes, this will most probably work. I've done something similar(firing Clover to hire Star Paladin Cross), so i'm pretty positive. But no need to kill Sgt. RL-3, just fire him.


 * No. You can't have both Jericho and Charon on your team unless Dogmeat is dead.
 * This is not true. There is a well known fire/rehire glitch allowing Charon and Jericho simultaneously. After both of those are in the party you should be able to go find and hire Dogmeat with no problem. V.A.T.S. addict 18:07, 10 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Use puppies perk kill dogmeat get your followers and dogmeats puppy which is twice as strong as the original "Should" be waiting outside vault 101 (rinse repeat for all followers)
 * See Puppies! Perk section of this Talk page. V.A.T.S. addict 18:07, 10 June 2009 (UTC)

Stealth and companions
I actually think having companions that can't sneak is actually more beneficial for your sneak attack critical. Sometimes, enemies detect your companion, but not you. When this happens, it seems they get completely blinded for anything other than the companion. Fawkes get detected, super mutant goes to his direction, pushes me, and doesn't notice me.BSMaker 17:27, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

this is true, and very funny! i have 6 companions and it happens all the time. ill be sneaking up to an enemy and they'll detect him and im able to do whatever i want after that. it works with the others as well.

You Guys .. I have two "Fawkes" who are following me right now.

before u get to the mission in Raven Rock, type FAWKES ID 0003d34e in console, then moveto player, he will not join you this time,

but after you've finished the raven rock "Enclave mission" the 1st fawkes will talk to you outside Raven rock, then the one youve summoned before

will find you and just follow you.

Using RL-3 to hire multiple companions
The best way I found out how to do it, is to hire RL-3 and tell him to wait here first. Then tell him you want to talk about something and then fire him. Wait for about 8 days indoors and when the robot reachs Canterbury Commons. This I heard opens up a slot for a follower. So you can get all of them that way. Just be sure to get RL-3 again and repeat that step every time you want a follower.

I find the easiest way to get 14 followers is this:

1) become evil (Make sure you finish operation anchorage, the pitt and the raven rock quest and leave before falkes talks to you) and hire Jericho.

2) go to Eulogy at paradise falls, fire Jericho, hire Clover then quickly rehire Jericho before Clover gets a chance to talk to you. Then when he is rehired talk to Clover.

3) go to get dogmeat and kill him.

4) go and get charon and since you opened up a slot by killing dogmeat, he will join you.

5) become neutral (Finish "Trouble on the homefront") go to Tinker Joe but fire Charon, hire RL-3, rehire Charon before RL-3 talks to you and then when that is done talk to RL-3.

6) Fire RL-3 and hire Butch

7) go to get good karma, then talk to Star paladin cross, and make sure you pick the second dialogue option when it says either "I want you to come with me" or "I don't suppose i could stop you" Choose the latter

8) Now go to Raven Rock and Falkes should be killing troops there. Talk to him and he will join you.

9) Become neutral again, fire Butch and hire RL-3 then tell RL-3 to wait and choose the second dialogue option then fire him from there.

10) Hire Butch agin then wait 7-8 days in game time and it should say "RL-3 has returned to canterbury commons) Go there and he should hire you

11) Do the "big trouble in big town quest" but instead of taking the two villagers back to Big town keep them with you, that is nine. Then go and get sticky which is ten

12) go to Sydney but be sure to reverse-pickpocket her and give her power armor and heavy weapons.

13) now go to Dukov's place and convince Cherry to come with you (Dont go to Rivet city) and make sure you reverse-pickpocket her power armor before you set off.

14) Now go to enslave Bumble the child and she will follow you. But don't take her to the slaver outside Lil lamplight

15) now after broken steel has been released you can recruit dogmeat again as a puppy so i am looking forward to that.

You can also get the 3 brotherhood of steel paladins to follow you in falls church.

But from doing that exploit here is my "army": Jericho and Charon stay back with snipers and snipe anthing within 20 yards of me. Clover and Butch mow them down with her flamer and his minigun (Burnmaster and eugene) Star paladin cross uses a missile launcher which she is very effective with on my game. Fawkes mows them down with Vengeance and takes out the Behemoths RL-3 is my storage unit and i give him all my weapons i don't need. Red, Shorty and Sticky are all using grenades (Red: Frag, Sticky: plasma and Shorty: Pulse) Sydney and Cherry use shotguns and when they find mini nukes around, use fat mans, or they just alert me by switching to their fat mans so i can see they have picked up ammo i can take. Bumble is my distraction (I send her in and draw all the enemy fire to her while the rest of the squad take em out and seeing as she never dies, she is fullproof.

Hope this helped


 * Cherry only follows you for 5 days, and I can't seem to reverse pick pocket Sydney after she starts following me, I always get the dialogue option whether she is waiting or following, so you must have to give her the armor first.

This is awesome but can you please explain numbers 9 and 10, it seems kind of confusing. And the wikia on Butch says he can still be recruited even if you already have followers.

"You have too many followers" (both permanent and temporary)
I got this message outside Paradise Falls just as Crow spawned in front of me. I had been running around with Sticky, Charon, Cross, Shorty, Red, and Dogmeat in tow for quite a while in game time (ever tried to complete the game without firing a shot?). Does anyone know what triggers this, and what effects there might be from such a message? Jdw 17:15, 25 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Wow, I'm kinda late. Just received this message after starting Take it Back!(Which supposedly gives you Sarah Lyons as a temporary follower). I have Butch, Clover, Charon, Sticky, Star Paladin Cross, Fawkes and Jericho on my team. Nothing happened to me.

Number of followers based on Karma?
Not sure about this, perhaps someone can advise?

I've got the game on PS3, when I played it through the first time as a good character, I managed to get Fawkes and Star Paladin Cross both following me (and I got SPC after getting Fawkes outside Raven Rock, I didn't even know about her til just before I began Take It Back!). Both these companions count as 'good'.

When I played it through again as an Evil character I got Clover from Paradise Falls, then killed Greta to get Charons contract. When I tried to get Charon to follow me, he wouldn't because I already had a companion. Same applied for Clover when I fired her and hired Charon.

Has anyone else noticed any karma-specific behaviour like this? I would postulate that because each follower falls into one of four 'groups' (Evil, Neutral, Good and Unaligned) you can have any number of companions from each 'group', as long as all your companions match (so in theory you could have Sergeant RL-3 and Butch, or Fawkes and SPC, or Clover and Jericho). Unaligned might be an 'in addition' group - I havent tried getting Charon as my Lawful Stupid character yet, but I did manage to have Fawkes, SPC and Dogmeat all at once (and Dogmeat is, obviously, unaligned).

Anyone got any thoughts/proof on this? It's hard for me to test properly on PS3 as it doesn't have console commands. --Dwfuji 11:41, 26 May 2009 (UTC)


 * The only reason you were able to get Fawkes and Star Paladin Cross at the same time is because of a scripting bug. When ever you meet SPC or Fawkes for the first time(well Fawkes outside of Raven Rock) they will automatically join you on two conditions: 1)If you accept, of course and 2)if you have good karma, due to their alignment. These conditions overlook the fact that you might have another follower already. Since the first time you met SPC was after you got Fawkes, it was possible for you to acquire two followers(excluding Dogmeat of course) due to the scripting bug.

In my games, I love acquiring Charon and Fawkes due to Charon's reliability and versatility and Fawkes' sheer power and large storage space. According to the game's rules I should only be able to have Dogmeat and one other follower without Dogmeat dieing. But with probably the easiest companion glitch, I can acquire Fawkes and Charon, if I fast travel to and re-hire Charon before talking to Fawkes outside Raven Rock. I could even hire SPC if i wanted as long as I had good karma and accepted her help the first time I met her, but I strongly dislike her and her weak-ass laser pistol. I generally don't like lending guns to followers also. Charon and Fawkes have extremely effective default weapons.

Anyways, bottom line is, no, karma alignment has nothing to do with companion count. It is a bug, and if you want more followers there are also other ways to get them such as the Dogmeat's Puppies and fire/re-hire glitch. Read up on them on this page. Also, I strongly recommend having Charon, Fawkes, and Dogmeat in your party as it is a kick-ass combination and allows you to have a large storage capacity for loot to minimize the time you spend storing loot in you home/hotel room. I usually don't acquire any others, even though I can, as it makes the game too easy(even on very hard a good bit of the time).--Bubba787 02:51, 11 June 2009 (UTC)


 * your can easily get Fawkes, Charon, Dogmeat, Clover, RL3 and SPC all together. so, Basically, the karma once you have acquired the character doesn't matter. Also, for those wondering, the way to get all 6 if below.--W00ty32 04:35, 4 July 2009 (UTC)

Getting A Reasonable, Varied, and Amusing Squadron
Having carefully looked over the followers available, I've decided I want to acquire Butch, Charon, Clover, and Jericho, and for various reasons I do not want the other four (if you're interested: Dogmeat because of her eventually becoming a hindrance in my playstyle ; Fawkes because of his inability to sneak and frankly being overpowered ; SPC because her personality seriously tempts me to see if I can jam a knife through power armor ; RL-3 because it becomes vastly outclassed, and has to be kept way back to be protected from combat, and that it has a number of problematic attitudes (like setting gas leaks on fire))

However, I'm not entirely certain how to go about getting my dream team, so I've decided to outline my plan below (post Raven Rock) and see if you guys think it will work (also, I'm an Xbox player): 1) Hire Jericho 2) Fire Jericho, Hire Clover, Rehire Jericho, Clover Joins 3) Acquire Dogmeat 4) Brutally murder Dogmeat in a non-self-incriminating fashion 5) Acquire neutral karma 6) Hire Charon/Butch to fill Dogmeats freshly opened spot 7) Hire RL-3 and perform the Canterbury Commons Slot Opener (assuming he doesn't become hostile) 8) Acquire the remainder of Charon or Butch

I don't think you can complain about overpowered followers when you're already trying to get a gigantic mob of them. 75.181.168.70 23:20, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Hahah very valid point stated. I stick with a very mixed assortment of "backup", to be precise. I use Fawkes, Cross and Charon. And now i'm recently running around with the pup looking for the "Gaylance". Nonetheless, They're the best i've seen for a multitude of fights, Charon's Sniper shotgun is just "Lolz", thats overpowered.--Nosferus 03:39, October 20, 2009 (UTC)

Equipment Effect Stacking Exploit
''EDIT: I wrote up a description on how to use this exploit on the Fallout 3 followers article. Hopefully it's clear. Dcruze 20:26, 8 February 2009 (UTC)''

More information here

I've tried this with Charon and Star Paladin Cross. Mostly with equipment that increase Luck, but also a few other items. I think it'll work with any piece of equipment, but haven't tested it. Would be cool if someone else could confirm that it works. Dcruze 15:13, 4 February 2009 (UTC)

could someone describe how to do this in more detail? do they need to equip the stuff? can i take the equipment back?does the effect wear off at some time? would like to get Clover's strength up w/ power armor but don't want for her to permanently loose Agility--Mookeylama 08:02, 6 February 2009 (UTC)

i would like to know this aswell, mainly if the effects stay when equipment is removed and if you can stack 2 effects at the same time. such as equiping enclave power armor and poplars hood to counteract the negative agi.


 * Look at the article for this page for more detail. They need to equip the stuff. You can take it back later. Taking the equipment back removes the effect. Negative effects stack as well, unfortunately. Haven't tried those two items together (power armor, poplars hood). Dcruze 12:56, 8 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Just checked. Giving the follower Poplar's Hood and Enclave Power Armor will increase STR and Sneak and leave Agility untouched (+1 -1 = 0 no change). Could be useful for Clover maybe, since she's obsessed with using Melee weapons. Dcruze 13:33, 8 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Thanks for this information, this is really cool. I got the barkskin from the Oasis quest, so I forgot about the hood. I added it to the article. Dcruze 14:32, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

great, i was hopeing it would work as ive left the oasis quest untouched. only agility giving headwear in the entire game. originaly couldent choose between that and a nice increase to dr but i think the choice just made itself. i was actualy hopeing the stack would stay, on my game the followers eyes get a glitch and there eyes actualy glow after i remove the helmet. becouse of that i usualy dont equipe my followers with helmets but id say my followers maxing out a new set of skills would be well worth it.

The caveat here is that, with Power Armor, for instance, the negative (-2 AG) drawbacks will also stack each time. That means my Jericho in Power Armor gets clumsier every time I open up the trade window with him to have him carry shit for me! At a -2 per trade, it doesn't take long to mess him up! (But, yeah, I can have him remove the armor and reset his values. Gets to be a drag, though.)--71.105.97.14 14:47, 11 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Well, don't give them a power armor that decreases stats. The Tesla and T-51b are the only power armors without negative drawbacks. Personally, I give the T-51b to my follower in addition to the Lucky Shades and a Ranger Battle Helmet. No drawbacks, just increases to Luck (Critical Chance) and Radiation Resistance (which I don't believe affects followers). Dcruze 02:24, 14 March 2009 (UTC)

Moved Multiple Companion Exploits/Glitches here from the main article to clear clutter.
I moved it to Fallout 3 glitch exploits. Ausir(talk) 22:25, 23 July 2009 (UTC)

What about the 7 companions version? Unlimited companions for all platforms
Does it really work? I tried step 3 a lot of times before and it doesn't work. Only with clover and RL-3. Or did the patch do something
 * It doesn't work, for me either. It's the first thing I tried after learning about the re-hire glitch for Clover and RL-3.

Can the author give more details or any special methods required?

Also, does anyone have any objections with me cleaning up that entire section and leaving only the 6 follower version until the above author can give more details on any special methods required? yes it works perfectly fine, even moreso with dogmeats puppy version though its been most succesful with me, only problem i had was with RL-3 because he got pissed tht i killed the dog..lol so yeh, it works fine.Toolazytomakeaaccount 17:15, October 15, 2009 (UTC)
 * I really think it does not work at all. Even though you buy Charon's contract from Ahzrukhal(GOT IT FINALLY), Charon does not initiate conversation with you, and that ruins everything. The fire/rehire thing only works because Clover and Sergeant RL-3 talk to you automatically.
 * Wait. When Charon kills Ahzrukhal he DOES initiate conversation with you. Seems rather tricky, though. Firing Fawkes while he is doing the killing, and rehiring later, before he manages to leave the Ninth Circle. Never tried, but seeing that way, it might be possible.

Multiple Companions after Raven Rock
'''If you intend to use the multiple party member tricks, remember that near the end of your main quest line you are forced to drop all party members (even if left at your residence) when you are kidnapped. '''


 * After Raven Rock you can again obtain multiple followers using the Puppies! Perk. V.A.T.S. addict 17:59, 7 June 2009 (UTC)

More on Raven Rock
Just to be clear: when you're taken to raven rock from vault 87, all your companions are fired, regardless of whether you've told them to wait somewhere else before you head over there? Jdw 20:24, 11 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Probably,If there with you when you get taken then yes,and if you tell them to wait in vault 87,yes, but i think if you tell them to wait in your house,or somewere like that,and compleate it VERY fast, you can keep them.
 * I had SPC and Dogmeat when I went to Vault 87, and when I got out of Raven Rock and went back to megaton where I'd told them to wait in my house, they'd done the boost right out of there. Dogmeat went back to 101 and SPC to the Citadel. So if it is possible to leave them there, you must have to do 87 reaaaaally fast.

I think the reason for this is actually caused by a small glitch (and one of the more amusing ones at that). When I got knocked out by the Enclave, before I totally blacked out I could hear Dogmeat panting and SPC spouting one of her phrases out of sight. So maybe because they are technically with you when you dissapear, and spend so long apart, they return to 101/Citadel - but then you should really get the message saying so, but that might be a bug within the bug.

I've got the PS3 FO3 though, so this might not happen on 360/PC. --Dwfuji 15:53, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

RL-3 becomes hostile after escaping Raven Rock
Discovered by DRG6250, the same guy of the O:A inventory glitch. BSMaker 22:03, 27 March 2009 (UTC)
 * When I went to Canterbury Commons to rehire RL-3, he was hostile. I did the whole thing with neutral karma - anyone know what went wrong? Jdw 18:59, 18 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Did you kill Tinker Joe? that'll always make RL-3 hostile, no matter where he is.
 * RL-3 always becomes hostile when I fire him in my game (Xbox360). And yes, Tinker Joe is alive and well and travelling with his wares near the RobCo factory. Changing my Karma alignment to neutral does not seem to prevent him from going buggy red. --Theicla 04:18, 30 May 2009 (UTC)

(Xbox360) If anyone has a fix to prevent RL-3 from going hostile after Raven Rock, please post your advice in the Sergeant RL-3 article. --Theicla 04:18, 30 May 2009 (UTC)

Version information
What version are the "more than one follower" tricks from? I've got the latest (and only) patch, afaik, and even with 1000 Karma, Star Paladin tells me she won't join me because of my followers - namely, Charon is in my party, and I get a message in the top left telling me I have too many party members. --DarkJeff 10:15, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Unpatched, and I can get 2 the first time I/they offer to join. I've tried: Charon+Star Paladin Cross; Charon+Fawkes; Fawkes+Charon; Star Paladin Cross+Fawkes; Sergeant RL-3+Star Paladin Cross; Sergeant RL-3+Charon. Others have confirmed different combinations. --Kaay 08:16, 10 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Clearly, it's been fixed in the patch, then. --DarkJeff 07:06, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

Ok, we need to set precidence here. Do we consider all versions, or do we go with current versions with regards to glitches and bugs? If we go with all we'll end up with questions like the on I had initially, where they've been fixed. If we note only current versions, we'll need a prior versions section if the unpatched version has a glitch. This is compounded by unpatchable console-less console versions of the game. Many problems could end up being fixed by DLCs as well if they include the patches in there. --DarkJeff 01:42, 12 December 2008 (UTC)


 * How is this handled with other games here? Modul8r 17:16, 12 December 2008 (UTC)


 * My instincts go with using current versions as default, with brief notes on older versions at the bottom. The problem is that console players can't get patches, can they? --DarkJeff 17:51, 12 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Console players get "software updates" that are actually more of a hassle to avoid than having to go get a patch for PC games. It isn't presented as optional. Something along the lines of "The latest software update has been found. It will now be downloaded and installed." Your options are to hit "OK" and install or restart the console without an internet connection to play. 76.103.182.3 14:59, 2 January 2009 (UTC)




 * For the ps3 version, you can just press 'O' to avoid updating the software. Unfortunately you have to do this everytime you play with an internet connection enabled.  On ps3 without the software update, the multiple followers exploit via RL-3 seems to work just fine.


 * Are you sure you chose the right option? Asking her to join you will make the 'only one follower at a time' pop up. Saying 'i don't suppose i can stop you' will make her join you.BSMaker 20:05, 20 January 2009 (UTC)

Companion Parallel Leveling
I got the GOTY edition of Fallout 3 and I was wondering how exactly the leveling of your companions works. For example I aquired Dofmeat very early and he was just like he usually was, I sent him to Vault 101 directly after aquisition, now I'm about level 25 and went to check up on him and I told him to follow me and he has suddenly become super powerful. Also I got Sergeant RL-3 early and have been using him ever since and he has become very powerful too, does this apply for all followers or only them two, and I'm guessing Fawkes too, like I just hired Clover and she seems normal strength, if I level up while using her will she also level up to where I am and also become super strong, and can this be done with all companions? Mr Zurkon 06:31, January 26, 2010 (UTC)

I've played Fallout 3 a couple of times now and I was wondering how do you find out your companions' S.P.E.C.I.A.L., TAG skills, and how much can they carry. Also, can you find out the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. and TAG skills of other NPCs that are not your companions? Super Mario 126 22:06, 21 December 2008 (UTC)


 * It is not really their "tag" skills. People here just call them tag skills cause those skills level up as the NPC level up. You can check it on the PC version using console commands. Open the console using "~" key, click on the NPC, type "getav strength" or "getav smallguns". You can also find out using the G.E.C.K. (editor), but that's more complicated. --Voidvector 22:37, 21 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Thanks. I was just wondering. I have an Xbox 360 so I wanted to see if you could find it on there also. Super Mario 126 00:09, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

this link give their stats. http://www.nma-fallout.com/content.php?page=fo3-npc 74.215.45.254 04:15, 6 February 2009 74.215.45.254 04:18, 6 February 2009 (UTC)Mookeylama(UTC)

companion skill leveling
im on my second playthrough now and i was wondering, if you are level 20 when you pick up a companion are there skills the same as if you had gotten them at an earlyer level? i heard they level up according to your level, and heard elswhere that they level up through battle. im a little confused as to wich one that would be.


 * Companions are always the same level as you are (they level with you). In combat companions don't help you gain XP, in fact they often steal it. You'll only get XP if you do the majority (51%) of the damage that kills a creature.
 * Ignore the post above. It only requires 30% on your part. --TheREALBloodscar 12:13, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

Followers vs. Companions nomenclature
The GECK editor refers to them as "follower". Should we rename according? --Voidvector 14:05, 14 December 2008 (UTC)


 * I think so. "The game" also calls them followers, i.e. the message "You can only have one follower at a time". Modul8r 16:24, 15 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Everybody calls them Companions on the forum and wiki (when talking about FO3). I tried a search for "companions" on the wiki and there isn't a single page with that in its title. That's simply absurd. Can one of you please fix this and note for the historical record that they were called followers in past games? Or maybe some kind of redirect or disambiguation would work. Thanks! -RedKnight7 07:47, 19 December 2008 (UTC)


 * The searches on this wiki is unnecessarily strict. I think it only matches full article names, it does not seem to match redirect names. In fact, it is case sensitive for some odd reason. on most other wikis I have been to, if I search for something like "take it back" it will match "Take it Back!", but not here. Very annoying. --Voidvector 13:52, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
 * The case sensitive issue with the fallout wiki search engine is garbage. Redirects do work, but you have to guess all variations of the name and set the pages up beforehand. And who wants to do that? --AshRandom 14:52, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Searching on Followers or followers goes directly and only to Followers of the Apocalypse. There's simply something wrong there - why isn't there a disambiguation page on Followers? But it doesn't matter since everybody calls them Companions for FO3. Yet there's not a single page with Companions in its title. Most everybody new and old to Fallout is playing Fallout 3 right now, and for FO3 they're called companions.
 * I guess I'm asking if some wiki wizard can help here somehow? Nobody wants to rename the hundred pages linking here. Can some god-op rename this page and all the links to it? From what little I know, the practical answer is "no, unless you send me $10k", hehe. But maybe some disambiguation or redirect skills can help? I don't know, I've never been an op.
 * I will make a work-around - a page called Fallout 3 Companions which says "Please see Fallout 3 followers". Coming right up -RedKnight7 12:50, 26 December 2008 (UTC)


 * I redirected Fallout 3 Companions here, but created Followers and Companions as disambiguation pages. Ausir 13:51, 26 December 2008 (UTC)


 * THANKS Ausir! That pretty much solves the problem! We can probably delete this section in a few days (so others have time to read it) and (and Fallout 3 Companions already). -RedKnight7 15:08, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

Fawkes his/her pronouns
This issue has been resolved by Bethesda. Fawkes was and is male, Wes was mistaken. Check the Talk:Fawkes page. Bsdasym 20:23, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

Followers and the Patch
Can anyone confirm if the patch will break up a glitched party that was put together before installing the update? I ask because I'm going to have to install the update when the DLC comes out today and I don't want to lose any of my followers.

id like to know this aswell, im playing on the 360 and if the DLC breaks my team up that would realy suck. id probably still buy it though. --Albkan13 07:09, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

Ah - I miss the good old days
(Xbox 360) I miss the good old days of Fallout where you could use items (stimpacks; psycho; whatever) on NPCs! I've given my companion (Charon) a range of drugs, and he never uses any of them! At best, he'll use a stimpack or 2 if he's near death.

(I also wish we could do the old "OD" approach on NPCs. Never made sense it worked on bots/turrets, but on human/ghoul/mutant NPCs? That was fun!)--66.253.113.60 00:48, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

Reply: I can't hire any follower other than that stupid puppy! @#$!?<

more advice
killing dogmeat makes charon mad at u if he not your current follower so if u dont want a faceful of lead next time u visit underworld id advise u recruit charon as your current follower if u want to do da dogie killing glitch

Infinite Companions thing
Can anyone confirm that downloading O:A may cause companion slots to be infinite? It still is the same to after I download it.BSMaker 01:52, 1 February 2009 (UTC)

Can't even get 2 followers
Before I installed the Pitt, I always had Star Paladin Cross and Charon following me. After the Pitt, it seems to be impossible to get the both of them to follow me, even on a new game. Dogmeat's already dead, so I should be able to get 2 followers, right? Why won't they follow me anymore? the method described on SPC's page doesn't work. Still can't get both Charon and SPC. I wonder if the Pitt has anything to do with this, since I could get both of them before, but no more. Any help / suggestions? -- Sentinel 101 15:00, 15 April 2009 (UTC)


 * I had SPC, Charon and Dogmeat prior to the Pitt, recruited SPC thru 'i suppose i can t stop u' after 'Waters of Life', and after the Pitt i had to console kill Dogmeat, resurrect and reset his quest to get second human follower.
 * Same thing when going back to the Pitt after. Annoying, to say the least. 85.10.9.254 08:07, 6 May 2009 (UTC)ThorX

Glitch
I had Cross as a follower, and she died a good two months before the Pitt came out. Squashed by a behemoth. I moved on to Charon, and we had some good times. So, I beat the Pitt, head to Underworld, tell Charon to follow me again, and a message pops up: Star Paladin Cross has returned to the Citadel. Anybody else run into this? TunnelSnake 19:18, 18 April 2009 (UTC)

As a matter of fact yes this also has happened to me. I can't remember if it was from The Pitt but when I would recruit Charon Messages would appear Like "RL-3 has returned to Cannerbury Commons" even though Rl-3 had died a while ago.

Broken Steel and followers help
Okay, I'm trying to get every permanent follower except for Butch for Xbox 360 (Star Paladin Cross, Fawkes, Charon, RL-3, Dogmeat, Jericho) but I have no idea how because of the stupid followers limit. Any ideas on how to do this with companion glitches? BTW, I already hired fawkes and charon and found dogmeat, but I fired Fawkes and Charon because of the stupid Broken Steel thing :P 74.69.194.32 20:36, 22 May 2009 (UTC)Kentrei


 * I do. Simply get the Puppies perk, kill Dogmeat, and hire the follower. Another Dogmeat will spawn at Vault 101, which you can also kill and get the other follower required. Note that when doing this, the Dogmeat puppy has to be killed in the same room as the follower you are trying to acquire. Example, if you kill the puppy in the same room as Fawkes, he will follow you. If you kill the puppy outside, Fawkes won't follow you. And don't worry. You have an infinite amout of puppies on stand by, so kill that dog as many times as you like. I hope this has been helpful advice.
 * You're promoting the killing of cute, innocent puppies?!?! You bastard. (lol) --TheREALBloodscar 12:03, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

Is this possible? Companions under Broken Steel DLC
Is it possible to recruit Charon after you've recruited Fawkes?? --LosT-SouL 18:25, 16 May 2009 (UTC)LosT-SouL More clarity on this issue would be appreciated here or in the main article. --Theicla 04:18, 30 May 2009 (UTC)
 * See the section above entitled "Multiple Permanent Companion Glitches: 6 Companions (including Dogmeat), tested post-patch."
 * But what *I'd* like to know is whether multiple companions can be retained after Broken Steel has been installed. Yes or no? The description under "Seven followers if you're good" (above section) suggests that it's possible to retain at least 2 permanent companions and Dogmeat once Take it Back! is completed. Other players report some problems retaining Charon; he does not seem to show up consistently beside your bed in the Citadel, when you wake up two weeks later.
 * Regarding Charon, the reason he's not beside your bed is because he is on top of an inaccessible location at Project Purity, a few feet away from the gift shop door on the elevated ledge. There is no way to talk to him, DO NOT TRY. Leaving the area in the Citadel where the infirmary is and entering again should solve the problem. I tested this on Xbox 360 and also had Fawkes as a companion. Stangely he spawned next to me at the bed at the beginning of Broken Steel, unlike Charon. I didn't talk to Fawkes before leaving and re-entering. Not sure if that affects the outcome.--Bubba787 03:25, 11 June 2009 (UTC)
 * PS3 - I had Charon and Fawkes. Only Fawkes was in the Infirmary when I woke up. I spoke to Fawkes, but did not tell him to follow me yet. I took a right out of the Infirmary and went through the double-doors then went back through the double doors and back into the Infirmary. Charon was there. I spoke to Fawkes and asked him to follow me and then spoke to Charon and asked him to follow me and they both did..--Papi 11:33, 25 September 2009


 * this happened with me as well I had dogmeat and charon and when i woke in the infurmary i found dogmeat but no charon. I talked to dogmeat and got charons respones. I know weird but true its on youtube. I told Charon/dogmeat to get lost then i found charon in the 9th circle but the game had another glitch and charon had lost his shotgun. so i gaave him my assault rifle and everythimgs back to normal.

Lots Of Followers equals Lag?
Wait, wouldn't having a large number of companions make your game run at a poor framerate??

I have ten and doing last mission with Liberty Prime and a poor framerate is my issue. --EDITED (by a person who knows what they are on about)--

RESPONSE: What you need mate is a faster computer.

REPLY: I got the PS3 version but I also have the PC version.


 * Alternate Response: I can only comment on the PS3 Version. On my previous play through in the "Take it Back!" mission, I had Charon, Fawkes and Star Paladin Cross and there was no slowdown whatsoever (3 followers plus Liberty Prime and all the Lyons Pride Squad). But, I'll let you know how it is with more followers (With 7 possibly 8 of the Pernanent followers) once I get there on my current play through... --Derragorn 21:43, 19 June 2009 (UTC)

(360) The only lag I've ever experienced is opening up my self-designated weapons locker in my Megaton House, due to it containing approximately 5 to 50 of each of the easily obtainable weapons in the game. AR's, Plasma Rifles, etc. Oh, and the occasional freeze from a bad dialogue loading. 84.13.9.109 01:32, 4 July 2009 (UTC)

I spawned Albino Radscorpians for an hour or so in Zeta and it caused the whole level to lag. The Radscorps started "getting out" too... My followers don't seem to lag me though. (360)V.A.T.S. addict 17:36, June 30, 2010 (UTC)


 * Update: Does seem like it's lagging a bit. V.A.T.S. addict 00:56, July 4, 2010 (UTC)

Getting 12 + Followers {VERIFIED} for (PS3) Playstation 3.
The best way I found out how to do it, is to hire RL-3 and tell him to wait here first. Then tell him you want to talk about something and then fire him. Wait for about 8 days indoors and when the robot reachs Canterbury Commons.

This I heard opens up a slot for a follower. So you can get all of them that way. Just be sure to get RL-3 again and repeat that step every time you want a follower.

PLEASE NOTE - This trick with RL-3 "DOES WORK", on PS3, don't know if it will work on other platforms.

Side Note: For PS3 players, you will keep getting a "You have too many followers." Simply disregard this notice as the game will contiue and your followers will still follow.

Step-By-Step Instructions verified on PS3

1) First make sure that you complete following in Dad's Footstep and complete going to the Citadel.

Get your Power Armor Training.

2) Make sure that your Karma is "GOOD" before you do this. Then go get Fawkes. But at the end when you get inside the tunnel in Raven Rock move forward until the game tells you that you've found Raven Rock.

Then Fast Travel to Megaton just to get out of there. Make sure that you DO NOT talk to Fawkes or this won't work.

3) Now make your Karma to "Neutral"

4) Now go to Roboco Facility next to Tenpenny Tower. Find Tinker Joe and buy the Sgt RL-3, but DO NOT TALK to RL-3, just leave him hanging around Roboco Facility.

5) Now make your Karma "EVIL". Then recruit "Jericho" in Megaton. You'll usually see him just walking around.

6) Now go Paradise Falls, find Eulogy but make sure you inside his Pad. Then fire Jericho, (Make sure you do this inside Eulogy's Pad.)

You don't want Jericho to walk too far away from you. Then purchase "Clover" from Eulogy, Don't Talk to her, and then rehire Jericho before he walks away from you. Then go back and talk to Clover and get her to follow you.

7) Now change your Karma back to "Neutral", and then go back to Roboco Facility and get Sgt. RL-3 to follow you.

YOU NOW HAVE THREE FOLLOWERS.

8) Now go to the "Underworld" and go to the 9th Circle. Make sure that you don't leave the 9th Circle.

Now go talk to Sgt. RL-3 and make him wait. Then tell him you want to talk to him about something else. Then Fire Him. Now got purchase Charon and Karma doesn't matter, and get Charon to follow you.

DO NOT LEAVE THE 9TH CIRCLE. Now wait about 8 days, or until you see a notice that Sgt. RL-3 is now in Canterbury Commons.
 * Very Important***

9) Now go to Canterbury Commons and get RL-3 to follow you again.

8) Now raise your Karma to "Neutral".

NOW YOU HAVE FOUR FOLLOWERS.

10) Now make sure that you've completed "Trouble on the Homefront". Make sure you either make the Overseer step down or simply kill him.

This will release "Butch" from Vault 101 and you will now find him in Rivet City in "Mudders"

11) Now go to the "Rivet City" and go to Mudders. Find "Butch" but don't talk to him. Make sure that you don't leave Mudders.

Now go talk to Sgt. RL-3 and make him wait. Then tell him you want to talk to him about something else. Then Fire Him. Now get Butch to follow you.

DO NOT LEAVE MUDDERS. Now wait about 8 days, or until you see a notice that Sgt. RL-3 is now in Canterbury Commons.
 * Very Important***

12) Now go to Canterbury Commons and get RL-3 to follow you again.

You now have FIVE followers.

13) Now raise your Karma to "GOOD".

14) Now go to "The Citadel" and find "Star Paladin Cross". Make sure that your inside a building. Make sure that you don't talk to her yet.

Now go talk to Sgt. RL-3 and make him wait. Then tell him you want to talk to him about something else. Then Fire Him. Now get Star Paladin Cross to follow you.

DO NOT LEAVE The Citadel. Now wait about 8 days, or until you see a notice that Sgt. RL-3 is now in Canterbury Commons.
 * Very Important***

You now have Six followers.

15) Now jump to "Raven Rock" and find Fawkes and get her to follow you.

You now have Seven followers.

16) Now go to the Scrapyard and find Dogmeat and get him to follow you.

You now have Eight followers.

17) Now you can go to "Germantown" and rescue Red and Shorty and get them to follow you.

You now have Ten followers.

18) Now go back to Lil' Lamplight and find Sticky (He has the birthday hat on.) He wants to go to Bigtown. You can now get him to follow you.

You now have Eleven followers.

19) Now go to the "Independence" Quest and find Sydney. (Make sure before you talk to her that you "Reverse PickPocket her" with Tesla Armor or whatever else you want her to have.

Then talk to her and get her to follow you.

You now have Twelve followers.

if this will work yet. I’m in the process of seeing if it will work. So stay tuned.
 * Note: Now the next three set of followers, I don’t know

20) Bumble’s is my distraction (I send her in and draw all the enemy fire to her while the rest of the squad take’em out and seeing as she never dies, she is foolproof.)

21) Now after “Broken Steel” has been release you should be able to recruit one of Dogmeat’s puppies that you should find at the entrance of Vault 101.

22) You should be able to go to Fall Church and look for 3 Brotherhood of Steel Paladins.

If the above three set of followers work you should have 17 followers..

Here is my "Army" if all goes well:

1) Jericho and Charon stay back with snipers and snipe anything within 20 yards of me.

2) Clover and Butch mow them down with her flamer (Burnmaster) and his mini-gun (Eugene).

3) Star Paladin Cross uses a missile launcher, with which she is very effective.

4) RL-3 is my storage unit and I give him all my weapons I don't need.

5) Red: Frag grenades

6) Sticky: Plasma grenades

7) Shorty: Pulse grenades

8) Sydney: uses shotgun and when she find mini nukes around, use fat mans, or they just alert me by switching to their fat mans so i can see they have picked up ammo i can take.

9) Fawkes mows them down with Vengeance and takes out the Behemoths.

10) Bumble’s (should be #12) is my distraction (I send her in and draw all the enemy fire to her while the rest of the squad take’em out and seeing as she never dies, she is foolproof.)

11) Now after “Broken Steel” has been release you should be able to recruit one of Dogmeat’s puppies that you should find at the entrance of Vault 101.

12) You should be able to go to Fall Church and look for 3 Brotherhood of Steel Paladins. (These 3 guys should be #14, #15, and #16)

If you have a solution for PS3 Players please post your solution to have 16 followers here.

Obtain 5 Permanent Followers as Early as Level 2 and up to 8 Total Permanent Followers as you complete the Main Quest (Confirmed on the PS3)
''SPOILER ALERT! Needless to say there are spoilers to this guide, so it is recommended that you play through the entire game first before reading this guide if you don't want to spoil the game's storyline for yourself.''

SYNOPSIS

This guide is meant give your character the most followers possible for the early levels. This is most helpful for diplomatic, non-combat based character builds (Speech, Science, Medicine and/or Lockpick etc.) or Pacifist type role-playing character for a "no kill/minimal kill" run so your companions act as your "bodyguards". Using various fire/rehire glitches and the merchant glitch, The goal of this part of the guide is to get as many followers as possible, up to 5 permanent followers (including Dogmeat) at the earliest levels, starting as early as level 2 straight out of the vault before completing any of the quests, while more importantly still being able to recruit the final 3 permanent followers once they become available and perhaps even more temporary followers should you choose to go that route. --Derragorn 22:16, 9 July 2009 (UTC)

Guide to Obtaining 5 Early Followers

This has been tested up to the first 5 followers in the early parts of the game without the need to complete any quests. You can also optionally pick up Star Paladin Cross after the "Waters of Life" quest and Butch after the "Trouble on the Homefront" quest. Towards the end of "The American Dream" however all your followers get reset, but don't worry all 8 of the permanent followers can slowly, but surely be re-hired using the "RL-3 Glitch", which will be explained later in this guide. This has all been on tested the PS3 with the latest patch, and none of the DLC packs, because we (the PS3 owners) don't have any of them available to us yet. =p --Derragorn 22:16, 9 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Dogmeat can be picked up from Scrapyard (or Vault 101 if you picked him up previously) at any time and his addition is independent of the other followers.


 * This method uses Charon's, Clover's and RL-3's fire/rehire glitches. Save the game (just in case) and as soon as each follower is "purchased", fire your current follower (Jericho or Charon depending on the purchase) and quickly re-hire them before you talk to your newly acquired follower.


 * This method also uses RL-3's glitch, which is explained in more detail below.


 * Use Moriarty's terminal in Megaton for Negative Karma adjustments (average adjustment but free, easily repeatable and won't bring the town posse upon you).


 * Donate caps to the church in Megaton or Rivet City (average), give away scrap metal for free to Walter in Megaton (better) or donate purified water to the beggars outside of Megaton or Rivet City (best) for positive Karma adjustments.


 * The Weatherly Hotel in Rivet City can be used as an early base to stash your goods until you are ready to do the Power of the Atom quest in Megaton to get the Megaton Shack or the Tenpenny Suite. The Weatherly Hotel Room also makes a great secondary base since Vera Weatherly only seems to charge you for the room once and all the containers in that room at least in my experience does not reset.

Using the Merchant Item Glitch to get early level caps)


 * Optionally, you can use the Merchant glitch to get early caps to facilitate the buying some or all of the followers and gathering a head start on equipment. You will need at most 5000 caps which can be a challenge right out of the Vault.


 * For this glitch you will need two of the same equipment but in different states of repair, the greater the difference the better. You can use most weapons with this glitch, but I found that Laser Pistols are the easiest to work with because they can be found early on and because of their light weight relatively high value when repaired. An anonymous contributor suggested that 10mm SMGs and Railway Rifles also work well with this glitch. I haven't had a chance to confirm that myself but you are more than welcome to experiment.


 * Keep one Laser Pistol(LP) that is 100% or as close to 100% as possible and keep the other LP at 0% (broken).


 * Most Laser Pistols can be bought at low repair, just keep using it to kill stuff until it breaks and don't repair it. Any other Laser pistols you find or buy should be combined/repaired as high as you skill will allow it. Sometimes it helps to have the merchant repair 2 pistols first then combine/repair them after that. There is also a side effect to this glitch, that may convert one or more like weapons to 100%, this usually happens if you are trading 3 or more like items at different states of repair.


 * You can exploit this glitch by selling both your high repaired and your low repaired, Laser Pistols, then buying back the cheaper of the two Laser Pistols.


 * If the glitch worked properly you will have paid the low (or no) price for the Laser Pistol, but will get the more expensive LP switched to your inventory while the cheaper LP remains in the Merchant's inventory.


 * Sell back the higher priced LP. From here you can just "lather, rinse and repeat", keep buying the cheaper LP, allow the glitch to do its magic and keep selling it back the LP at the higher price.


 * Since you are exploiting a glitch my advise is to save often and try not to do too many things in one session, like use the glitch to clean out the merchant's caps and at the same time buying out all of the merchant's inventory and at the same time having the merchant repair all the repairable items. If you do this you increase the chances of your system crashing and if that happens you will need to do a hard shutdown, by hitting your power switch in the back of your unit (if you are on a PS3) since your screen will be frozen and you won't be able to shut down by normal means.


 * Although it's a bit flexible and you can use your discretion with the following method, to be ultimately safe, use one buying session to use the glitch to clean out caps, then go out of the merchant dialog, then save. Use another session to buy out as much merchandise as you can, save go back to clean out the caps then save, etc. Once you cleaned out the stock, you can use a session to have the merchant repair all the things you just bought, go out, save the game and then come back for one last session to glitch back the leftover caps.

Follower 1)


 * I usually start off by obtaining Jericho because he is right there in Megaton and thus is the easiest place to start. You will need 1000 caps to hire Jericho. If you don't have them (you probably won't right out of the vault), I suggest cleaning out Moira's and Flak and Shrapnel's supply of caps using the aforementioned glitch and waiting 3 days for their stock and caps to resupply until you have the needed caps. You also need to be of Evil Karma before you can have him as a follower, so use Moriarty's terminal in the back of his Saloon in Megaton and check your karma stat after every 5 times or so after you use the terminal. Your Karma should eventually shift from Neutral to Evil. It will take a little longer if you are staring out from Good Karma. Just keep using the terminal and checking your Karma stat from time to time once it hits "Evil" you are good to go.

Follower 2)


 * For the next follower, head to the Underworld to hire Charon, going north from Rivet City using the Anacosta Metro Tunnels. You will need 2000 caps for this (I'm assuming you can get away with 1000 if you pass either a barter or speech check, not sure which or you can agree to Assassinate his rival Carol if you choose to go the evil route) Once you have the needed caps (via glitch or legitimate means), go to the Ninth Circle in Underworld, save your game (in case Charon talks to you before you have a chance to re-hire Jericho). Then fire Jericho, talk to Charon's boss, buy the contract and quickly rehire Jericho before you talk to Charon. Since Charon does not have a Karma check you can hire him while you are still of Evil Karma.

Follower 3)


 * Maintaining your Evil Karma, make sure you have 1000 caps, then head over to Paradise Falls due North and slightly West of Vault 101 and East of Arefu. You will have a bit of a hard time from Grouse at the gate but being Evil, and with the right dialog options you should be able to make it through, with a Mesmetron to boot for the slaver quest. Find Eulogy then save the game (just in case), fire either Charon or Jericho, purchase Clover as a slave/bodyguard and then quickly hire back whomever you fired before talking to Clover.

Follower 4)


 * Sargent RL-3 will be your next follower. You will need to change your Karma back to neutral so donate the purified water (best positive karma boost) to the beggar or scrap metal (better positive karma boost) to Walter if you have any, if not you will need to donate caps (average positive karma boost) to the church in Megaton or Rivet City, checking your Karma after each donation.


 * You will also need to gather 1000 caps and then find Tinker Joe who roams around the RobCo facility located slightly Northeast of Tenpenny Tower. Since you are now of Neutral Karma (or if you aren't you should become Neutral) only Charon should be fire and rehired for this glitch, because you will fail the Karma check if you try to rehire Clover or Jericho.


 * So save your game, fire Charon, talk to Tinker Joe and buy RL-3 with your 1000 caps then quickly hire back Charon before speaking to RL-3 and you should now have Jericho, Charon, Clover and RL-3 for a total of 4 permanent followers.

Follower 5)


 * Consequently, you can pick up Dogmeat in the Scrapyard at any time without penalty, Although Dogmeat is the least flexible in terms of fighting, he is invaluable in acquiring difficult to get weapons like Smuggler's End and the Victory Rifle. This will bring your total to 5 permanent followers. This is the most followers you can get without doing any of the quests, and for the most part it is a very good start.


 * Just keep in mind that if your follower does the majority of the damage prior to a kill, you will not receive any experience points, so if you are planning to level up your character quickly it's best to keep just one of the followers to watch your back and to help carry stuff or you can simply travel solo by telling your followers to "Wait Here". I usually leave unused followers at my Megaton House.


 * If you are a role-playing a pacifist or trying to do a "no-kill" game, you will want as many followers from early on so they will the killing for you, while your character will be getting XP from the various quests and depending on your build, from speech challenges (Speech), successful lockpicking (Lockpock), computer terminal hacking (Science), disarming mines and explosive traps (Explosives), etc.

The Rest of the Permanent Followers


 * There are 3 more followers that you can pick up through the course of the Main Quest.


 * Star Paladin Cross is available after the "Waters of Life" quest, and before you activate Liberty Prime towards the end of the "Take it Back!" quest.


 * Butch Deloria, should be available after "Trouble on the Homefront", which is available after completing the "Waters of Life" quest.


 * Fawkes, who you will first meet in Vault 87, but won't be available as a follower until you escape Raven Rock near the end of "The American Dream" Quest.


 * Please note that once "The American Dream" quest is started (soon after you retrieve the GECK from Fawkes in Vault 87) any followers you may have accumulated thus far will automatically be reset.


 * You can optionally get Star Paladin Cross and Butch as your 6th and 7th followers, but just keep in mind that all your followers will reset towards the completion of "The American Dream" quest, or just hold off until after "The American Dream" to get all of the followers using the "RL-3" glitch.

Follower 6)


 * In the case of Butch, you will need to Free up a character slot by using the RL-3 firing glitch. First you need to be with RL-3 at an indoor location. This probably works best from inside your house in Megaton or Tenpenny Tower. First save the game (just in case), then tell RL-3 the to "Wait here". Then talk to RL-3, select the option to "Talk about something else" then choose the option to Fire RL-3. You will then need to wait for 8 days straight, if you are in your House you can get Purified waters from your butler and create chems from your Lab in between each of the 24 hour waiting/sleeping sessions.


 * You should get the message "RL-3 has reached Canterbury Commons", but if you don't, then don't worry. After 8 day mark, the message should finally come up once you get your next follower, which is presumably Butch who will be at the Muddy Rudder in Rivet City if you completed the quest "Trouble on the Homefront". You will need to be of Neutral Karma if you aren't already and have a free slot from the RL-3 glitch. You should be able to rehire RL-3 anytime after seeing the "RL-3 has reached Canterbury Commons" even after taking on a new follower.


 * You can also use the above "RL-3 glitch" method to to pick up any followers you nay have missed if you did not follow the order I suggested above. If you don not have RL-3 then you will need 1000 caps, become Neutral Karma, head ofer to Tinker Joe by the RobCo Facility and use the fire/rehire glitch with Charon or Butch (if you have them) to pick him up.


 * EDIT: The addition of Butch using the above method has been confirmed on the PS3. Your character's Karma must be brought to Neutral first of course. --Derragorn 15:26, 25 June 2009 (UTC)

Special notes for Followers 7 and 8)


 * Fawkes and Star Paladin Cross are special cases. If you choose to take them as followers you will need to not only have Good Karma to get them to initially follow you, but maintain Good Karma for the rest of the game or they will leave your company. Although the other followers may make negative comments if your Karma doesn't align with theirs, they will stay with you as long as you don't fire them. It is a good idea to have your Karma already at "Good" before starting the "Finding the Garden of Eden" quest, because that will lead you straight into "The American Dream" quest where you can acquire Fawkes after its completion.

Follower 7)


 * EDIT: The addition of Star Paladin Cross has been confirmed on the PS3. She is available as a follower after the "Waters of Life" Quest and right before you finish the last part of "Take it Back" before the Liberty Prime attack is activated. With the downloadable content "Broken Steel" (announced for the PS3 at a future date) she is available after "Take it Back!". You don't need to use the RL-3 glitch to add her on as a follower. You will need Good Karma of course. Then when you first initiate dialog with her, use the "I don't suppose I could stop you" option. If you used that dialog option when you first meet, then you can recruit her after even if you have other followers. It is advisable to tell your other companions to "Wait here" in another room (I left all of my other followers in Megaton) while before you acquire Star Paladin Cross. You can then go back to your companion and tell him to follow you again. --Derragorn 15:26, 25 June 2009 (UTC)

Follower 8) (Research for the PS3 version is pending for recovering all your followers and adding Follower 8, notes are given below...)


 * EDIT: --Derragorn 15:23, 2 July 2009 (UTC) It looks like the at the end of "The American Dream" right after you escape from Raven Rock, all of the followers you have acquired thus far will unfortunately reset. It seems that this is completely independent of whether or not you take on Fawkes as a follower. You can fast travel back to where you left your followers waiting before you run into Fawkes outside of Raven Rock and they will all be gone. This is probably independent of the RL-3 glitch as well, meaning that even if you free an extra slot using the RL-3 glitch, it will still reset all of your followers.


 * Your only choice from here is take Fawkes as your follower. You should get the messages of all your followers returning to their "Home" areas. Butch will return to the Muddy Rudder in Rivet City, RL-3 will return to Canterbury Commons, Jericho will return to Megaton, Clover will return to Paradise Falls, Star Paladin Cross will return to the Citadel and Dogmeat will return to Vault 101.

UPDATE 1 --Derragorn 19:40, 6 July 2009 (UTC)


 * I'm having a really hard time getting Fawkes, Star Paladin Cross and RL-3 to stay as the final followers using the aforementioned RL-3 Glitch. For some reason, BOTH RL-3 and Star Paladin Cross reset (if your are adding Fawkes) OR RL-3 and Fawkes reset (if you adding Cross). For now I kept Fawkes and re-hired Cross while RL-3 remains "unhired" due lack of extra follower slots. I'll try again using the RL-3 glitch with Charon instead to Fawkes or Cross when I get the chance...

UPDATE 2 --Derragorn 16:29, 7 July 2009 (UTC)


 * I was FINALLY able to get all 8 followers (Confirmed on the PS3). Please note that getting followers early is NOT the most efficient way of obtaining permanent followers. There are other guides above that show you how obtain followers starting with Cross, then Fawkes, then the fire-rehire glitches with Clover/Charon/RL-3, then using the RL-3 glitch to scoop up the rest.


 * I may re-do the exact detailed order of how to recover your followers after "The American Dream" at a future date, but here's a quick rundown, starting from the completion of "The American Dream" quest. I will use (F1),(F2),... to denote Follower 1, Follower 2, etc.:


 * After you escape Raven Rock, all your followers will be reset and they will NOT be waiting in the locations that you left them, even before you speak to Fawkes.


 * Once you speak to Fawkes(F1 and hire him (need Good Karma), a pop up message will appear for each of your followers, stating that they have returned to their default location(s).


 * Dogmeat(F2) can be "rehired" at anytime from Vault 101.


 * Aside from Dogmeat, you will have one extra slot to work with, so change Karma to Neutral and hire RL-3.


 * Use RL-3 Glitch, re-hire Charon then re-hire RL-3.


 * Use RL-3 Glitch, re-hire Star Paladin Cross(F3). Upon Hiring Cross, -BOTH- RL-3 -AND- Fawkes will reset and you can only hire back one.


 * Re-Hire Fawkes, fire Charon to free up a follower slot, then re-hire RL-3 so you can use him for the glitch.


 * You can now use the RL-3 Glitch to re-hire the rest of the permanent followers without incident. I suggest re-hiring in the following order:


 * Use the RL-3 Glitch, turn Evil, then re-hire Jericho(F4).


 * Turn Neutral, RL-3 Glitch again for Charon(F5), Clover(F6) and Butch(F7), in any order you prefer.


 * Finally, re-hire RL-3(F8) then turn your Karma to Good so that Star Paladin Cross and possible Fawkes do not leave you as followers.

Final Notes on Obtaining Followers


 * Please note that guide is NOT the most efficient way to obtain followers, since all your followers will reset near the completion of "The American Dream" when your character escapes Raven Rock. If you follow this guide, you will need to go back and "re-hire" mostly all of your followers using the "RL-3 glitch".


 * As mentioned in the synopsis, this guide is meant give your character the most followers possible for the early levels. This is most helpful for diplomatic, non-combat based character builds (Speech, Science, Medicine and/or Lockpick etc.) or Pacifist type role-playing character for a "no kill/minimal kill" run so your companions act as your "bodyguards". With that said, here is a quick rundown on the most efficient way to attain 8 permanent followers with more detail provided in the link after:


 * To attain all the followers in the most efficient way possible, you should only take either no followers at all or "hire" only Jericho and/or Dogmeat and no other followers all the way up to the point where you escape Raven Rock near the end of "The American Dream" quest.
 * Fast travel out of Raven Rock as soon as Fawkes clears out the enemies from the area, but right before he initiates conversation with you.
 * You can optionally get Dogmeat from the Scrapyard or Vault 101 if you previously picked him up at any time since he ignores the maximum follower limit.
 * You should then get good karma then "hire" Star Paladin Cross, and fast travel back to Raven Rock to pick up Fawkes.
 * Use the "Fire/Rehire Glitch" (easy to perform) on Charon, RL-3 and Clover, the "purchasable" followers, making the necessary Karma adjustments along the way.
 * Use the "RL-3 Glitch" (moderately tedious to perform) to hire Butch and Jericho.
 * For more specific details please refer to the following link:
 * Talk:Fallout_3_followers
 * --Derragorn 22:16, 9 July 2009 (UTC)

Additional Temporary Followers?)


 * Although I haven't personally tested this. Presumably you can attain temporary followers as well, if you get a "too many followers" error you can use the tell RL-3 to "Wait here" indoors, then use fire, wait or sleep for 8 days then rehire method to open up a slot. I don't think temp followers take up any slots, but the glitch is there for you just in case.


 * UPDATE 1 --Derragorn 15:23, 2 July 2009 (UTC)
 * I was able to pick up Sticky from Lamplight while having 7 permanent followers (all but Fawkes). It will probably work with 8 permanent followers. I'll confirm once I get to that point on my current play through.


 * UPDATE 2 --Derragorn 16:29, 7 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Along with the 8 Permanent Followers, I was able too keep Sticky, Red and Shorty as temporary followers (Confirmed on the PS3). Unfortunately, I've already completed the "Stealing Independence" Quest but I assume she can also be taken on as a temporary follower, bringing the total to 11 (8 permanent + 3 Temporary) These are probably the best choices as temporary followers because they can all be told to wait and aside from Sydney, the "Big Town" followers, Sticky, Red and Shorty also have an option so you can change their inventory so you can give them better gear and needed ammo. Unfortunately none of the temporary followers auto heal, or scale with your level. In the case of Sydney, you have to reverse-pickpocket any gear you want her to use BEFORE you start the "Stealing Independence" Quest and making her a follower.

Good Hunting... :)

--Derragorn 15:00, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

Addendum and Post-Comments


 * Sorry to mess up your lovely long and thorough explanation, but as far as that merchant trick goes, you might want to try using SMG's or if available, Railway Rifles, as they degrade quickly and quite obviously reach a minumum value of 1 cap. And to clear out a merchant more totally, buy out their ammo too, if present. 84.13.9.109 01:38, 4 July 2009 (UTC)


 * I'll probably wind up rewriting this guide anyway, but yeah, you can use any two weapons and you can actually use the weapon until it "breaks" giving it 0 value and the glitch will still work. I'll add your suggestions in my next cleanup. Thanks. :) --Derragorn 19:44, 6 July 2009 (UTC)

13 followers
It is possible to get 13 followers. All you have to do is get the Puppies perk (added perk on Broken Steel) and kill Dogmeat (Fallout 3). This will ensure an empty slot in your party to allow others to join. Once you hire them, another dogmeat will spawn at Vault 101. Then just do the same thing over and over until you have all the followers. So now you have 8. To get the other followers, all you need to do is acquire Red & Shorty (Germantown police HQ), Sticky (Little Lamplight), Sydney (National Archives), and Cherry (Dukov's Place). However, Cherry might get pissed and return to Dukov's place. If this happens, there is a man at Paradise Falls inside the box. Free him (by talking to Penny and agreeing to help) and tell him to follow you. There might be a glitch where he keeps following you even when all the Slavers are dead. And there you go. 13 followers. You can easily get another 14th follower by using the Deathclaw Control Scrambler and using an Enclave controller Deathclaw to your own advantage. Note that some of these followers will NOT wait somewhere and you must bring them with you EVERYWHERE!--FawkesGamer360 19:43, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

Can't recruit ANYONE!!!
Everytime I try to recruit one of the followers they tell me they can't/won't because my traveling companion wouldn't accept them (or some version of that)even though I've never even tried to recruit anyone beforehand! The only follower I have is dogmeat and i've tried exploiting the puppies thing but they still tell me no! Can somebody explain this to me please??? --Raymorn 19:46, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Followers are dead weight. :P Warped Mind 06:59, 30 July 2009 (UTC)


 * I say go for Charon first in Underworld, since he does not have a Karma check, all you need are the caps to recruit him and an empty slot. If you still get an error then your current game may be bugged. If that is the case, you may want to write down what the exact error is and include the type of platform you are using.
 * You also may want to start a new character/game altogether and see if you can recruit and character from there just to confirm whether it's a problem with your saved game or a system-wide issue.


 * Jericho is probably the easiest since he is right there in Megaton, you will need to get evil Karma first though, which can be easily done through repeated use of Moriarty's Terminal in the back of his Saloon.


 * If you are still having issues, you may want to report your issue to the following:


 * For technical and customer support, please call 410-568-3685, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm EST Monday through Friday, excluding holidays, visit http://support.bethsoft.com, or email support@bethsoft.com.

--Derragorn 20:43, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

The Infinity Machine
By using a couple of exploits, I'm now well on my way to having unlimited SMG-toting Hellfire uniformed followers. With glasses.

By utilising the beloved puppies of Dogmeat, and a few choice grenades, going round and picking up the followers is an almost easy task. But then the task of equipping all these increasingly squishy characters with top-notch armour and weaponry and still being able to see their faces...

My choice, thanks to Broken Steel DLC and Sydney being alive, well, and very generous with her Ultra SMG, is:


 * 100% repaired Enclave Hellfire Armor (or shiny Tesla, depending on my mood)
 * Enclave Officer Hats (so the NPC is nicely visible beneath the hunk of black metal)
 * Eyeglasses (there seem to be a few available)
 * 10mm "Ultra" SMG (unless they already have a superior weapon, such as Charon's Shotgun)
 * Infinite supply of 10mm Rounds, thanks to Sydney's generosity (and my own tenacity)
 * Deathclaw Gauntlets (not that they get used much, but it's nice to know that if surrounded by masses of armoured soldiers, I can always turn to them for aid, and armour-piercing technology)

So essentially, I've gotten myself a nice little pack of bullet and laser hoses which take a lot of killing.

You'd think Fawkes would be tough to kill, but he takes ages~ to turn hostile, sometimes i managed to blast away half his hp before he took out his gatling laser, it's annoying.
 * If you ever feel like a challenge, save and try killing Fawkes. Make sure you have ammo, stims and another set of armour though. Or don't, and see if you survive ^^. 84.13.9.109 02:05, 4 July 2009 (UTC)

BUTCH
does butch look african american to any of you guys in this pages pic Totemtrouser 07:59, 5 August 2009 (UTC)totemtrouserTotemtrouser
 * They all look kinda dark in this pic. Its just weird lighting.

Karma change
Does my follower (e.g. Fawkes) go away if my Karma changes from Good into Evil? --Hybridex 10:05, 16 August 2009 (UTC)

No but he will mention about it like randomly saying that "you have strayed from your path"

More Temporary Followers
There seem to be more temporary followers in the game than this page is showing - the following two have been very useful for me and they're not listed???

- Doctor Li: Will escort the player in Taft Tunnels. Items can be reverse pickpocketed on her and as soon as she reaches the Citadel the player can just pickpocket them back. This can make it easier to carry the loot that the player finds during the "Waters of Life" quest. - Rory Maclaren: Will make a run for it trying to escape from Paradise Falls. Once I managed to keep him alive and get him out of there. He didn't offer any special talk options and was just standing outside, but when I quick travelled to Ridgefield and was just wandering around, Rory suddenly appeared behind me and was following me, and when I equipped him with a minigun and one round of ammo (by reverse pickpocketing) he could use it to blast away at enemies indefinitely! --129.206.56.81 09:16, 1 September 2009 (UTC)

Pimp my Follower?
I Usually Run around with Charon or Star Paladin Cross... However they Both annoy me. I Want to Have Clover or Jerico but I swear i cant take my eyes off them for a second or they Die. Even with Hellfire armor or other Strong armor. Where as I give Charon Talon Company armor and he's fine. I Guess i'm just asking for a way to have Clover or Jerico or Butch for that matter not...suck? --IDespiseI 20:23, September 5, 2009 (UTC)

Charon and Cross are much better than Clover and Jericho, so no, sorry. Try giving them T-15b armor, makes any follower a tank.68.192.9.90 01:50, September 9, 2009 (UTC)ASDF

EDIT: Didn't see that "Even with Hellfire armor" part. In that case just stick with Charon or SPC. Why does Charon annoy you anyway? He's sweet! (SPC is always so righteous, so that can get annoying, but I don't mind)

Well, those three DO have the lowest health (unless I'm mistaken). However I have seen Butch take quite a bit of punishment while wearing the Hellfire armor, I've had him for a long time and have only seen him die twice. And he has the lowest health. Maybe its your play style, do you charge into battle or sneak into it? Trust me, your play style affects how good your followers are. Snakewyvern 03:34, January 19, 2010 (UTC)

Hey guys.. umm i dont know how to work Talk: Fallout so...sorry if i screw u all up D = Thats kinda 1 thing that annoys me with followers looks... like. i pefere playing as a good guy.. and theres a lack of human followers, the only human for good guys is Cross and she just... well she babbles on and on... hard to feel bonds with non human followers.. so i hope theres all different types in New Vegas.. to appeal to every1. just feels kewler to play with human followers.. like jericho and butch. - Ok now i somehow need to leave sum kind of user name... (gulp).. uurgh ok ima need to prctise with this thing... -

Fawkes and Charon
Pre Raven Rock, i had both Charon and SPC, and Dogmeat had died. I entered Raven Rock and Fawkes is now following me. Charon refuses to join me. What's the best way to get him back?

getting multiple followers-puppy style
i know most people know how this works but this is strictly informative, first thing you require is well, the puppies perk, then get dog meat unless hes already dead, then ull get a puppy.Now you need to get a couple of frag grenades since he has 1000 health...kinda a pain to kill slowly, then you go to any person you want to hire that you can (evil,neutral,or good)and hire whoever u want since u get 1 follower+the dog. then go to any other person you want to hire, say if your good karma get fawkes then go to citadel. here are the exact steps(1 fire dogmeat (2 go sneak and blow him up with a frag reverse pickpocket (3 now before it sais the pupy is waiting at vault 101 hire whomever u can hire or want to hire in that exact same room where u blew up the dog(4 go get a new puppy, and tada repeat over and over, only person this was a problem on was sergeant RL-3 since he got offended that i blew up the dog near him, and then continued to try to blow my brains out. for him just blow the dog up a decent distance away from him where he cant see then rush to him.and thts it, i posted this since the last one that explained this was removed, i only posted it again because i found this info useful.Toolazytomakeaaccount 17:30, October 15, 2009 (UTC)
 * Just as a side note, With Broken Steel, Dogmeat and Dogmeat's Puppy have approximentaly 15,000 and 30,000 respectively, making reverse-pickpocketing the best way to go.

Glitch?
When I did Mothership Zeta, I put my followers (Fawkes, Charon and Dogmeat's Puppy) in my house (I heard of a glitch that prevents them from leaving) and then went through the DLC and when I returned to Earth, I saw galting laser fire off in the distance. Not thinking of it I went back to Megaton and when the game loaded, I heard the sound of a a dog breathing. Looking around I realized that my followers had suddenly warped out of my house and started to follow me again. This is a glitch or were my followers returning to their locations when I came back down to Earth and the coding said for them to come to me. Then again that wouldn't make any sense as then why would they follow me to Megaton. Can anyone else make heads or tails out of this? Also, when I went back onto MZ to get my gear, they didn't leave but were waiting for me when I got back down. Is just for returning as when I went to Point Lookout, I got the messagethat they went back to their respective areas. So what's going on?KnightNapier 21:44, December 7, 2009 (UTC)

Followers refuse to move
Anybody had experience of this? I've had it happen both with Cross and Fawkes on separate occasions. The follower has been happily following and then all of a sudden they just stop dead and will not move no matter what dialogue options are chosen (even if you dump them they don't wander off).Tootricky 20:59, December 8, 2009 (UTC)

Lucky 8 Ball and followers
Does lucky 8 ball boost follower's luck when it's in his/her inventory? -- Turhake
 * theoretically yes, i don't have pc version so i cant check the geck but I'm pretty sure it does boost there luck, consult a moderator or someone who has a pc version and has thoroughly posted or at least posted some on the subject, gl.Toolazytomakeaaccount 09:28, December 16, 2009 (UTC)

Could we get a list of places Followers cannot or should not go?
I'm getting the distinct impression that all DLC areas automatically send followers back to their starting points, as does the whole Raven Rock part of the main storyline, which altogether makes using followers as a play-style not one that can be extensively utilised... I'm also vaguely aware that some areas or scenarios result in followers glitching either to death or complete vanishment. So... with that in mind, does anyone know of a full list of places that followers can't or shouldn't go that could be added to the main article? I'd also like to take this moment to strongly glare at Bethesda for not allowing followers to tag along to DLC areas. ~ SotiCoto 22:00, December 28, 2009 (UTC)
 * most of these places are posted under glitch's where its possible for in all dlc areas for them to glitch and die or disappear forever into the code(ripped off of borderlands where a robots down and said i see the code) anyway, they are posted in glitch's but i agree putting it in a separate section devoted to the info of these specific glitch's would make it easier to find them.Toolazytomakeaaccount 22:10, December 28, 2009 (UTC)


 * One location I've recently found is that I took both Charon and Dogmeat's Puppy back to the G.E.C.K. Vault (Already completed and now on Broken Steel etc) to just have another look around and when I entered the part of the level where you were knocked unconsious previously they were floating in mid-air dead - but not dead as they still had healthbars.


 * They've been like that for a while now and will spawn near myself at a doorway when I move around the wasteland etc. Below is an example where Charon has "followed" me to the citidel. Dogmeat is a few hundred metres in the ground.


 * http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/4/glitchg.png


 * I don't have a decent save point before the vault to properly test this out with other companions but maybe someone else can take the time to see if this is a persistent bug or a one time for me. --LoganDougall 18:45, July 3, 2010 (UTC)

Flying companions
If you take a compaion with you pretty much anywhere with a wooden box (this is what i used) you can make them fly anywere you want, just push them against the wall with the box, and then get it under them (looks more like inside to me) and you can make them float up to on top of a fridge or something, could be amusing if you wanna drop dogmeat off megaton lol...--Had24get 01:06, January 11, 2010 (UTC)

What happens
some how i got jericho killed in megaton, is there any way to get him back or is he dead for good?207.172.183.246 03:16, March 17, 2010 (UTC)bpfreek7

Well, if you have the PC version you can try ressurecting him. This page might help you Recovering missing NPC in Fallout 3, his ID and stuff should be on his page. If you have the 360 or PS3 version... well, he's gonna stay dead. Maybe load an earlier save. Just curious, did you blow up Megaton or did he die some other way? Snakewyvern 08:36, March 17, 2010 (UTC)

waiting?
what happens on xbox360 if you leave your follower waiting in one place for to long, is it any different if they wait in your house? 173.58.178.49 16:11, April 10, 2010 (UTC)a magic hippie

I never noticed how smart folllowers actually are
So I've been playing FO3 without followers since forever but I recently picked up Jericho. I noticed something about him when he was fighting: He hid behind cover and uses stims, he uses different weapons depending on range (Combat shotgun up close, Victory rifle from far away), etc. I never knew that followers actually had tactics. I used equipment effect stacking on him to make his medicine 100 among other stats, so he's pretty useful. This makes me pretty hyped for followers in Fallout New Vegas, because they give you perks too and you don't have to be next to them to give them commands.

More I CAN'T RECRUIT ANYONE
I also have the same problem but trying to recruit anyone doesn't work (((note: dogmeat recently died) all add-on packs)no mods)

this glitch still works?

I also cannot hire anyone, I have no followers except for dogmeat's puppy. When I attempted to hire Charon, he said he couldn't join until the party was less crowded, or whatever, and "You cannot have more than one follower" appeared in the top corner.71.72.172.73 12:14, July 22, 2010 (UTC)


 * Attempted traveling to Point Lookout to reset follower count, or whatever. Dogmeat returned to Vault 101, and nothing else appeared. Returned to to Capital Wasteland and attempted to hire Fawkes, who told me that my current traveling companion would not like it if he tagged along. Anybody else experience the same on 360 and was able to fix it?71.72.172.73 12:45, July 22, 2010 (UTC)

Followers photo looks shopped
We should upload a pic of all the followers that isn't shopped. V.A.T.S. addict 17:27, June 30, 2010 (UTC)

Cleanup
I deleted more than half the notes as it was a horribly written description of a multi companion exploit. There were about 1500 reasons to delete it, but having the link to exploits page as the first or second note is the first one that comes to mind.

I also removed a note reference to Fallout 3 exploits as it is mentioned MUCH earlier in the article.

IMO the main article should be "protected". V.A.T.S. addict 01:53, July 3, 2010 (UTC)

Companion's Using Weapons of the Same Type as Defualt Type
I have seen mention on several different pages on this website and others that when a companion such as say Clover, who uses a Special Sawed-Off Shotgun, uses another weapon which uses the same ammunition as it's default they will have infinite ammo for gun because it is of the same type. Can anyone clarify this? Because I'd love for Clover to stop using her cruddy short ranged Sawed-Off Shotgun.

RE: More I CAN'T RECRUIT ANYONE
exactly same problem w/ me on ps3 though

Smoking
It's not particularly useful but it's a nice feature.

If you give a follower (only tested this on Jericho on ps3) the item "Pack of Cigarettes" they will smoke them.

This doesn't use up the item as far as I know.