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• 1Permanent companions
• 2Temporary companions

Permanent companions

Viewed 6k times 18 It's not hard to gain Good Karma in Fallout 3, actions that award positive karma are all around you, and offer significant boosts to your karma level. Providing water to beggars outside of Megaton, Rivet City and Tenpenny Tower is an easy, repeatable way to gain Good Karma. The karma system is messed up in fallout 3 example the pit DLC the player can't defend him/herself if siding with either side without losing karma this makes game-play unfair and thus proving the fallout karma system is messed up but Bethesda is the one to blame for this, if there was a mod to at-least stop bad karma if the player attacks first thus allowing the player to defend him/herself. I think the whole broken Karma system only really begins with Fallout 3 (and sadly, get carried to New Vegas). In Fallout 1&2, there is no Karma statistic on NPCs. Just go and check Joanna Lynette's or even Gizmo's page in the wiki.

1. Karma on fallout is basically just like a good and evil system (similar to Fable I and II: Awesome games) If you have bad karma people will more or less hate you and vice versa for good karma. Another interesting factor is that people with bad karma are hunted by bounty hunters and people with good karma are attacked by evil assassins.
2. Depending on your Karma, you'll now either go on a rampage (start with pickpocketing and stealing things from all the villages), kill good people - simply do really bad stuff. Or you will now play the saint and give Purified waters to the beggars (you can get Purified waters from your butler robot as well - use the wait function to replenish).

There are 8 permanent companions available to the player in Fallout 3. Most have a Karma requirement that must be met if the player wishes to enlist that companion (listed here in parentheses).

Pictured, left to right:

• Star Paladin Cross: Brotherhood Paladin (good)
• Butch DeLoria: Tunnel Snake (neutral)
• Clover: Paradise Falls slave (evil)
• Sergeant RL-3: Mister Gutsy robot (neutral)
• Jericho: Retired raider (evil)
• Fawkes: Super mutant (good)
• Dogmeat/Dogmeat's Pup: Dog (no karma requirement)
• Charon: Ghoul bodyguard (no karma requirement)

If you ever tell a companion to wait, and do not remember where they were left, Travel to The Pitt. This will send your companion home. (Does not work with Point Lookout, unknown for other addons.)

The player can have up to two companions in their party which consists of Dogmeat plus any one other companion, barring certain companion exploits.

XP

Unlike previous Fallout games, companions don't gain experience and notoriety independently but are scaled to the level of the player.

The player earns full XP if able to do the majority of the damage that kills the opponent (you get zero XP for a kill unless you manage to do at least 30% of the damage). A killing blow is not necessary to get XP but you will not be given XP if too little damage has been done.

Combat

Companions come with their default weapons and armor and will use these, depending on what role you ask them to play (melee or ranged). They will also wear any weapons or armor they are given that is superior to their standard equipment. All human or ghoul non-player characters are capable of wearing power armor (i.e. all but Dogmeat, Fawkes & Sergeant RL-3). Armor and weapons worn by companions never degrade with use.

Companions have unlimited ammunition for their standard weapon (With the exception of Butch), but you'll have to supply them with the appropriate ammunition for any other non-default ranged weapon.

If a companion is given several weapons and the appropriate ammunition, they will generally choose a weapon based on the range of the projectile, then on either damage per round (DPR) or damage per second (DPS) but not by the in-game interface's DMG stat. For example, if you equip Star Paladin Cross with a flamer, she will first attack with her default laser pistol because her target is out of the flamer's range. She will move towards the target to get into the flamer's range and then switch to it. There are exceptions, however. For example, Charon will always use Protectron's Gaze (a unique laser pistol) over the laser rifle, despite its reduced range AND damage per round rating.

Some companions will use any weapon if you give it to them (provided they have appropriate ammunition for it). There are some exceptions however, for example companions cannot use the Gauss rifle rewarded upon completion of the Operation: Anchorage add-on, but can utilize the sim-only version obtainable through glitching or console.

Companions have significantly more health than other non-player characters.

Enemies are able to shoot your companions weapons out of his hand (except default weapon), so take care if you give him any unique weapon.

Companions are restored to full health at the end of combat, after all nearby enemies are dead. However, if you zone out during a fight and they follow while injured, or if they are injured outside of combat (e.g. a booby-trap), they do not heal (until after the next combat). They can also use stimpaks in their inventory in the middle of battle, if you gave some to them earlier. Dogmeat can't carry stimpaks, but you can speak to him in the middle of combat to heal him manually. You can check companions' health by viewing them in V.A.T.S. mode, or moving far enough from them to see their HP bar. Companions are not considered 'vital' non-player characters, so they will die if their health is fully depleted, there is no way of reviving them, unless using the 'resurrect' command via console targeted on their corpse.

Some companions will enter sneak mode when you enter sneak mode, and end it when you do. They may also randomly enter sneak mode during combat, presumably to avoid enemy fire or to gain better aiming.

Statistics

• Dogmeat and RL-3 are non-humanoid and thus cannot use armor, regular weapons or equipment in general. Fawkes is partial humanoid; he can use most items and weapons but not armor.
• For a detailed list of the companions' equipment, see Fallout 3 companion equipment.
• Carrying capacity will be, e.g., 50 pounds less if given power armor (45 for armor, 5 for helmet). Capacity is determined by: (Base of 150) + (10 * Strength) - (Weight of inherent gear) - (Weight of anything else, including replacement armor or weapons)

Firing permanent companions

In most cases, companions can be dismissed/fired, and can later be found and rehired. In most cases, when fired they always travel to a specific spot, usually not the same spot they were hired. In some cases, they can always be rehired by simply finding them and asking them to rejoin you. In some cases, there will be Karma or other requirements. For example:

• Fawkes: If fired, Fawkes will travel to the Museum of History where he will wait for you just inside the front door. You can rehire him any time so long as your Karma is good. No charge or other requirements to rehire him.
• Sgt. RL-3: If fired, will travel to the entrance to Canterbury Commons (at the traveling merchants' stop near the trees), where he can be rehired so long as your Karma is neutral. No charge to rehire him.
• Star Paladin Cross: If fired, returns to The Citadel. Can be rehired any time, but only if Karma is Good.
• Butch: If fired, returns to The Muddy Rudder in Rivet City. Can be rehired any time, but only if Karma is neutral.
• Dogmeat: Isn't really 'fired,' he waits by Vault 101 as ordered.
• Jericho: If fired, returns to Megaton, he is found inside Moriarty's saloon, unless you have blown up Megaton, then he just waits at the ruins. You must have evil Karma to re-hire him.
• Charon: If fired, he will return to The Ninth Circle. He can be re-hired anytime regardless of karma.
• Clover: If fired, she will return to Eulogy's Pad in Paradise Falls (even if the player has killed Eulogy Jones and abolished slavery by wiping out everyone in Paradise Falls). She can be rehired regardless of Karma.

Temporary companions

Temporary companions are companions that will join you during a quest. Most of them will follow you indefinitely until you complete their related quest, but not all. Unlike permanent companions, they do not heal automatically at the end of a battle but must be given stimpaks through reverse pickpocketing or healed through dialog (still requiring a stimpak from your inventory). Most of them can use weapons and armors. And because they are non-player character, they can use weapons forever with only one bullet. There are some hostile non-player characters which could become not hostile to player and Permanent Companions, but they still attack Temporary companions.(like Arkansas, protectrons in RobCo Facility). And traps of allies like Mines in Big Town still hostile to Temporary Companions. So you should take care of that non-player characters and traps first, then you can travel with Temporary Companions more safety.

• Cherry (can become permanent so long as she is not taken to Rivet City, though she is unrecommended due to her low stats).
• Doctor Li (only during The Waters of Life) and her companions (Garza, Daniel Agincourt, and Alex Dargon) (Note that only Li technically follows the Lone Wanderer; the other three simply follow her).
• Red (can become permanent so long as she is not returned to Big Town).
• Rory Maclaren (Because of a bug, he could be a Permanent companion)
• Sarah Lyons (only during Take it Back!)
• Shorty (can become permanent so long as he is not returned to Big Town).
• Sticky (can become permanent so long as he is not returned to Big Town).

Of the listed temporary companions, only Red, Shorty, and Sticky have dialogue options which allow the player to give them weapons or other inventory items.

James is scripted as though he were a permanent companion; for example, he uses up ammunition on playable weapons, something only permanent companions do. However, his package is 'escort' instead of 'follow', so he can't be taken places like a normal companion can be.

Operation: Anchorage only

• Sgt. Montgomery.
  • Strike Team Grenadier.
  • Strike Team Infantryman.
  • Strike Team missile Unit.
  • Strike Team Mister Gutsy.
  • Strike Team sentry bot.
  • Strike Team Sniper.

Mothership Zeta only

• Elliot Tercorien

Notes

• To have your companion heal themselves, simply give them a few stimpaks. Companions only heal when they are behind cover. The only companion that will not use stimpaks is RL-3 as he repairs himself after combat. The player must apply stimpaks to Dogmeat since he's a dog and has no way of doing it himself.
• Most companions will turn hostile if you have inflicted damage 4 times in a row, but if you wait a while the process will restart. Once turned hostile, you can talk to them for some last words (most of the time it will be their own last words) for example, Star Paladin Cross says 'I'm sorry it had to come to this friend'.
• Companions cannot jump.
• It is possible to obtain all 8 followers at the same time (you require Puppies! to get all 8). First of all you have to get Charon (preferably before being captured and taken to Raven Rock) and if you don't already have good karma get it before going into Vault 87. Once you get out of Raven Rock you will see Fawkes shooting at some Enclave, wait until they're all dead so you can then fast travel to the Museum of History to pick up Charon before Fawkes talks to you. Now that you have Charon, fast travel back to Raven Rock and Fawkes will join you despite you already having Charon as a companion. Next up is Star Paladin Cross. Fast travel to The Citadel, she can be usually found in the laboratory. Unfortunately you require Broken Steel to get her to join you after completing Take it Back!. Now drop your karma to neutral and fast travel to the RobCo Facility right next to Tenpenny Tower. Find Tinker Joe and fire Charon and quickly buy Sergeant RL-3 from him, then rehire Charon. To get Butch DeLoria you must have completed Trouble on the Homefront with any ending that leaves Vault 101 open. Once you have done that go to the Scrapyard and get Dogmeat. Kill Dogmeat and go get Butch from The Muddy Rudder in Rivet City. Butch will join you because killing Dogmeat opened up a companion space. Now drop your karma to bad and fast travel to Paradise Falls and find Eulogy Jones. Fire Charon then buy Clover off of Eulogy then rehire him. Get Dogmeat from outside of Vault 101 and kill him again. After killing Dogmeat go get Jericho in Megaton as a companion. Finally, go yet again to pick up Dogmeat from outside Vault 101. Now you have all 8 companions at once.
• The Contract Killer (ear on corpse) perk and the Lawbringer (finger on corpse) perk are not in effect for your companions. When your companion kills a human enemy, there will not be an ear or finger on the corpse. However, when your companion fights super mutants, they do drop super mutant blood samples after completing the Broken Steel add-on.
• Regardless of hiring Dogmeat as a companion anyway, at the end of Fallout 3's storyline (Excluding DLC) Dogmeat will still appear as the Wanderer's companion.

Karma is the reflection of all good and evil choices you make during the game and how they are perceived by the inhabitants of the wasteland.

• 4Ways to change karma

Karma levels

You begin the game with a value of zero, which increases or decreases based on the players actions. There are 5 levels of karma:

Overviews

Karma doesn't have as much of effect on gameplay as in Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout 3, since reputation has a more important place.

However, it does still exist and if someone catches you performing an action that causes negative Karma against their faction you will often lose reputation with that faction; for example, stealing something from The Silver Rush where a Van Graff can see you. They may also become openly hostile despite your reputation with them not being lowered enough for you to be considered hated where they will attack you.

Karma's basic mechanics work similarly to the way they do in Fallout 3 (a 2001 point linear scale with -1000 being the most evil and +1000 the most good). Unlike reputation, where one can only gain fame or gain infamy, karma can be gained and lost.

Karma also no longer determines which companions you can recruit. However, when opening a conversation with Cass after she has joined you and when you have substantially negative karma (-100) she will complain about your behavior. You will get a second warning when your karma is even lower (-150). After that, she won't complain anymore, as long as the player stays neutral. When you continue on your path to 'the dark side' and talk to her again while having evil karma (-250) she will leave for good. Note that Cass does not actually grant the player any grace period to improve their karma, so a player who doesn't know better can alienate her in the space of minutes by making three attempts in a row to converse with her. Even though she will agree to accompany an evil character, the first attempt to talk with her (which you will need to do in order to tell her to travel with you) will result in her telling the player that they 'can be a real asshole sometimes' and the first of three strikes will be used up on the spot.

The values for karma gain may be bugged; currently killing Very Evil NPCs (such as Vulpes Inculta) gives only 2 karma, yet killing some Fiends and Feral Ghouls grants 100 karma.

Some ending narration in the game's epilogue will also depend upon the player's karma. (See Fallout: New Vegas endings for details.)

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Karma titles

Your karma status is defined by a 'karma title', depending of your karma points and on your level. Though each of the add-ons raise the level cap by five, titles do not change past level 30.

Ways to change karma

To increase karma to Good or Very Good

• Go inside Vault 3 and kill some Fiends or go inside the NCR Correctional Facility and kill some Powder Gangers.
• Give Med-X to Boxcars, the injured Powder Ganger, inside Nipton general store. Note, you can only do this once.

Maintain Neutral karma

Fallout: New Vegas Karma - The Vault Fallout Wiki ...

• Kill Fiends or Powder Gangers if your karma is too low.
• Steal items if your karma is too high.

To decrease karma to Evil or Very Evil

• Steal items. (This can subtract Karma as many times as the player wishes by stealing from an owned container, replacing the item, exiting, and stealing it again.)
• Go on a killing spree in a faction.
• Access an owned computer terminal (which can subtract Karma as many times as the player wishes).

Fallout 3 Karma Meter