Fallout 3 Companions suggestion (Companion Perks for DC Followers)

[JaxFirehart]

Ooh I like that one! Probably gonna use it

[dmcgee627]

Wasn't the thing about Cross being a cyborg only mentioned in the Prima guide?

[Majkelozo]

Have someone thought making all companions killable. We can for example give them weapons, armor, ammo, stimpaks to improve them. Right now they just become unconscious. And iff one dies i can hire other, or reload save and be faster. I dont wanna go hardcore mode because off eating etc.

[Risewild]

There might be a mod for that somewhere, will search for it later once I get back home, and let you know if I find anything out.

[yukichigai]

I actually took Dogmeat's "find" ability to be his companion perk, similar to how Veronica's companion perk is just that you have a dialog option to use her as a workbench.  You have to admit, it is massively, massively useful, especially since he can loot things from locked containers.

Not sure on the rest, mostly because I'm torn about adding any sort of game-altering new abilities to the companions.  Still, there's a strong argument to be made for adding them, since otherwise the CW companions are pretty weak by comparison (not counting millions-of-health-glitch Dogmeat, Fawkes, and RL-3).

I have a few possible ideas though that seem to fit:

Jericho

One idea would be to simply allow him to function as a mobile Campfire via dialog, justified by him being able to survive for years in the harsh wastes of the Capital Wasteland.  This would be particularly useful since Campfires are a bit hard to come by in the CW currently, though I know dozens of solutions for this have been discussed.

A second idea would be something tying into the way he smokes cigarettes; if you didn't know, Jericho will smoke if he has any kind of cigarette on his person. My idea is some boost you get so long as Jericho has cigarettes of any form (or Coyote Tobacco Chew) on his person, with the modification that he would gradually use up cigarettes as time passes, say one cigarette every 1.5 hours in-game (there would be an automatic conversion of Packs/Cartons of Cigarettes to individual smokes as needed).  I'm not sure what the boost would be, but the mechanism would be an augmentation of a little random bit of flavor the devs already put into the game. It would feel a bit more fitting, I think.

Cross

The idea I had with Cross ties in to her default weapon, namely her Laser Pistol.  In Fallout 3 the Laser Pistol was a pretty damn powerful gun, but in Fallout: New Vegas it's really kind of... blegh, I think is the best word.  The big problem is that the damage just simply hasn't been improved at all, so it hits like a nerf bat and is literally the weakest default companion weapon out there.  The obvious solution, which I think we kept, was to just up the damage on Cross' Laser Pistol by about 50% so if she runs out of ammo she's not totally useless.  That, however, got me thinking about a possible perk.

The basic idea for the perk would be that it would up the damage done with any weapons used by the East Coast Brotherhood, which is almost exclusively Laser weapons (depending on what weapon distribution we're going with).  To save time we could even just have it boost the same weapons covered by the Laser Commander perk.  The perk would ideally apply to both the player and Cross.  To differentiate better from Laser Commander itself, we could try slightly different effects, like having all perk-covered weapons be given a huge DT reduction on hit for example, or increase the damage from Critical Hits, etc. etc., things which Laser Commander doesn't do being the point.

RL-3

I noticed you forgot RL-3, which is okay because honestly I forget him most of the time.  The dude is hard to pick up as a companion more often than not.  Anyway, I didn't have any brilliant new idea here, I just figured that if the "mobile Campfire" idea doesn't fit Jericho it could be put on RL-3.  After all, a good soldier is prepared to survive in even the harshest of environments, is he not?

[alphaidiot]

I got this idea from recent Gribble's project. All companions including DLC and famous Willow and Niner provide their own unique perks in New Vegas. Since fo3 got integrated, I think it's necessary to develop it for DC followers. Here's my initial list I thought for a while, but whole thing can be discussed from the start I guess.

Butch [Tunnel Snakes Rule]

Because Tunnel Snakes rule. Tunnel Snake jacket give you and Butch better protection plus 5% damage bonus. In addition, Butch can produce Tunnel Snake Jacket for every three days if you ask (using the voice acting in Vault 101).

Charon [Just A Contract]

Charon is your errand boy of deathmark. You give him order, he gets the thing done without thinking. Not A Big Deal. He deals 15% increased damage against human and non-feral ghoul, but only for himself.

Clover [Love Triangle]

Clover has her own special feeling toward her masters, which sometimes turns out to be synergy in combats. She deals 5% more damage against all female characters while Player deals 5% more to male characters except Eulogy Jones.

Dogmeat [Dogmeat]

No matter what, there will be always Dogmeat. This is a degraded version of Broken Steel perk 'Puppies!'. Basically another Dogmeat will happen outside Vault 101 after he dies; but without HP bonus the perk originally gave (so the actual 'Puppies!' perk can be counted as upgrade).

Fawkes [Old World Technician]

Fawkes' indirect experience has turned out to be most useful in real conditions. He can be used as a workbench, plus he gives 10% damage resistance to you against high technology weapons.

Jericho [Experienced]

Jericho is an experienced old man who knows every in-and-out of raider business. This increase 10% damage for you and Jericho against all kind of raiders(including FNV branches).

Star Paladin Cross [Protector's Oath]

Cross is a noble paladin whose loyalty goes to you to protect you and guide you during the followed journey. She neglects 20% melee damage toward Player.

[alphaidiot]

@ Jericho

Hey,I like that smoking idea! The most visible things about Jericho are always negging and coughing, "damn, ran out of smoke again". I use Usable Cigarette mod which provide an option to pack off cigar box. But in vanilla games supply can be more difficult I guess, should be in consideration. I think the effect of it can be split, like Jericho receive damage bonus while Player get AP bonus. 

I don't know about Campfire idea. Companion mod Willow actually use it as a basic perk and it is appeared to be 'cooking'. I can't think Jericho actually cooks a meal for you, or a man of survival specialist. I stand for that smoking idea. It makes characteristic.

@ Cross  

I already made energy weapons overpowered in my game with scarce ammo supply + requires reload more often. It really boost energy weapon play better, which was originally supposed to be. Anyway, I symbolize Cross as a knight embodiment and always have been regarded her as melee combatant(with that damnable super sledge).I think her laser pistol can be set to more powerful without specializing own perk. Since Cross and RL-3 are only guardian-like followers in the game, I prefer at least one follower boost defense.

@RL-3

Oops! Yeah I never use that guy.  The dude is too strong steals most fun of combat and I hate that sarge attitude. I think that drilling attitude has something to do with his perk. Another idea is to adopt upgrade system like in Robco Certified mod. We lock up Rl-3's level, can salvage parts around the waste and upgrade that thingy.

@Dogmeat

I use Dogmeat mod which enhances his searching ability thus that was not in my concern. But yes, it can be turned to be more useful I guess.

[thermador]

Merged in duplicate threads.  I am all in favor of companion perks for Fallout 3 companions, btw. 

[JaxFirehart]

Believe me its on my to-do list and I am watching this thread.

[alegendv1]

I may be missing something, but did you guys forget Charon?