Fallout 3 Companions

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The Lone Wanderer accompanied by Dogmeat

There are 8 different companions in Fallout 3 who can follow you on your journey through the Capital Wasteland. 6 of those followers will require a certain level of Karma in order to join you. Unlike previous games these companions don't require their own Experience Points, they will level up as you do.

Most of these companions come equipped with their own Weapons and Armor (except Dogmeat), but you can still assign most of them to new armor and weapons, the only exceptions are Dogmeat and Sergeant RL-3. Fawkes can't be assigned new armor because he's a Super Mutant, but you can still change his weapons.

Permanent Companions

Companion	Karma Requirement	Default Armor	Default Ranged Weapon	Default Melee Weapon	Carries
Butch DeLoria	Neutral	Tunnel Snake Outfit	10mm Pistol	Butch's Toothpick	193.5
Charon	None	Leather Armor	Combat Shotgun	Combat Knife	183.5
Clover	Evil	Pre-war Spring Outfit	Sawed-Off Shotgun	Chinese Officer's Sword	194.5
Dogmeat	None	n/a	Bite	n/a	n/a
Fawkes	Good	Vault 87 Jumpsuit	Gatling Laser	Fawkes' Super Sledge	229.5
Jericho	Evil	Leather Armor	Chinese Assault Rifle	Nail Board	183.5
Sergeant RL-3	Neutral	n/a	Plasma Rifle	Flamer	197.5
Star Paladin Cross	Good	Power Armor	Laser Pistol	Super Sledge	168.5

Temporary Followers

Aswell as the Permanant followers, there's also certain NPC's that will have to follow you as part of a quest. While doing the quest these followers can be re-assigned new armor and weapons. Many of them can be turned into permanent followers by refusing to finish the quest, they will continue to follow you until the quest is complete or they are killed in action.

The following can all be used as temporary followers: