The Forecaster
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Oh, I don't know anything, mister. I just think it, and then I don't.
”— The ForecasterClay[2], but better known as The Forecaster, is a human child with psyker clairvoyance, found at the 188 trading post in Fallout: New Vegas.
Contents
Background
As a clairvoyant psyker, The Forecaster is capable of effortlessly seeing both the future and the past[2] and the occasional spirit communication with his parents.[3] Combined with his sharp senses, the Forecaster can make surprising insights into people and politics, though he suffers terrible migraines whenever his thoughts reach out. To deal with it, he wears "medicine". His medicine is actually a century-old psychic nullifier, which blocks incoming and outgoing thoughts, allowing him to enjoy peace of mind.[4] However, while it prevents the migraines, it also blanks his mind. The Forecaster deals with this uncomfortable state by surrounding himself with ancient artifacts: Books, cameras, flags, and such. The thoughts of the people who made them are "stuck" within, for a lack of a better word, and the Forecaster can safely fill the blank in using them.[5]
The Forecaster has lost both of his parents at an early age, forcing him to find work in order to survive in the harsh wastelands.[3] Thanks to a unique mutation, he didn't have to pick up the shovel or the pickax. Instead, he started picking people's brains. Some were rightly impressed (while otherwise creeped out) by this power of his and others are skeptical at best or dismissive at worst.[6] Either way, the Forecaster sells his services for a considerably costly amount, but understandably so since his thoughts cause him immense amounts of pain. And besides, he knows that everyone will come back to him eventually.[7]
Interactions with the player character
Interactions overview
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This character is essential. Essential characters cannot be killed. | |
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This character starts quests. | |
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This character provides miscellaneous services. |
Fortunes. The player may purchase three different kinds for 100 caps. He won't sell the nullifier under any conditions. |
Transcripts
The fortunes given by the Forecaster are summaries of the overarching themes and motifs of Fallout: New Vegas.
You
Your face does the thinking - two to the skull, yet one gets up. Odds are against you... but they're just numbers after the two-to-one. You're playing the hand you've been dealt, but you don't let it rest, you shuffle and stack, and a gamble... a gamble that may pay off? But how? Forecast: Rapidly changing conditions.
”Here
Local, local, the here and now... little of interest.. things to buy, false hopes, and regrets watered down, washed down in dirty glasses. With regret comes a girl... smiling sad, brown robe, name Veronica, half here. Wraps her and her heart up like a pack, in the pack, a key, some say. Forecast: Cloudy, with a chance of friendship.
”Everywhere
Bull and Bear over the Dam, at each other's throats... but a light from Vegas? Ball spinning on the wheel, more than two at the table. Placing bets. All lose in different ways. A dam of corpses, towns of corpses, scattered across the sand. But whose in what shares? Even the dealer doesn't know. Forecast: A rain of blood will flood the desert and not purify it.
”Inventory
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Psychic nullifier Wasteland scout uniform |
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empty |
Bugs
Mister Sandman combined with juvenile immortality allows the player to farm experience points by "killing" hum while he's asleep (the game prevents his death).
Appearances
The Forecaster appears only in Fallout: New Vegas.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 J.E. Sawyer
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 The Courier: "Do your thinking about "Everywhere.""
The Forecaster: "Bull and Bear over the Dam, at each other's throats... but a light from Vegas? Ball spinning on the wheel, more than two at the table, placing bets. All lose in different ways, a dam of corpses, towns of corpses, scattered across the sand. But whose, in what shares? Even the dealer doesn't know."
(The Forecaster's dialogue) Note: Developer note in the dialogue tree: "Spoken in an eerie whisper, prophetic, like Clay's telling a fortune. He's really not, he's just compiling a bunch of images." - ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Courier: "Where are your parents, kid? Are you here all alone?"
"I don't have a mama or papa anymore. I see them sometimes when I take off my medicine, but they can't stay. I'm pretty used to being on my own."
(The Forecaster's dialogue) - ↑ The Courier: "What is your "medicine" and how do you take it off?"
The Forecaster: "This thing on my head is headache medicine. It works real good, except I can't think when it's on. Really think, I mean."
(The Forecaster's dialogue) - ↑ The Courier: "You don't sell that junk behind you?"
The Forecaster: "That's not junk. That's other people's thoughts. People had to think to make them, and the thoughts got stuck inside. I need other people's thoughts to fill my head when I'm not thinking myself. Otherwise it's... kind of empty."
(The Forecaster's dialogue) - ↑ The Courier: "You sell *thoughts?*"
The Forecaster: "I can take off my medicine and do some thinking. People say it's real interesting. I don't know, because I never hear it. Some people say that it's a gift. Other people say that it's the kind of thinking anyone could do if they watched more than they talked. I don't know which is true. I see a lot, I think a lot. There's a lot to hear through the 188, too, that maybe accounts for the thinking."
(The Forecaster's dialogue) - ↑ The Courier: "Sounds interesting... I don't have 100 caps, though."
The Forecaster: "That's all right, mister/ma'am. You will someday."
(The Forecaster's dialogue)
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