You can get Dogmeat in a random encounter.You can get K-9 in Navarro, he is a robot dog who belongs to Doctor Schreber (he is the man who is keeping the deathclaw imprisoned).
There's Lenny the doctor ghoul who you can get in Gecko. He's handy.
There's more, but I could go on forever...
EDIT: Here, use this absolutely brilliant walkthrough -
http://user.tninet.se/~jyg699a/fallout2.html#temple
Extract from the Walkthrough
The various NPCs are:
Sulik: Found in Klamath. Your first NPC, and he should be with you all the way. Sulik can "consult the spirits" and sometimes provide you with extremely vague clues depending on location, but nothing I would pore over for too long.
Main skill: Melee Weapons.
Other notable skills: Small Guns, Unarmed, Throwing.
Animation frames: Knife, sledgehammer, spear, SMG.
Hit Point progression by level: 85, 93, 103, 113, 123, 134.
Suggested weapon progression: Take his Sledgehammer away and replace it with a Sharpened Spear or Combat Knife at first (this is because he seems to prefer the slow Sledgehammer attack and so only gets one attack per round, as opposed to two with a spear or three with a knife). Upgrade to 10mm SMG by the Den or Vault City, upgrade to HK P90c or (Mega) Power Fist in NCR/Vault 15, give him a H&K G11E once you have enough Caseless ammo (i.e. once you reach San Francisco). If you want a safer gun-toting Sulik, give him a .223 Pistol. Of course he can also use the Super Sledge if you want him to bash people away so you can shoot them.
Will attack you if you become a Slaver, or "cause trouble in Klamath" as he puts it (but only if he is in Klamath). Will leave you if you become a Childkiller or Berserker or your karma becomes -101 or lower. Won't rejoin you if you have a really bad town reputation in Klamath.
Vic: Found in the Den. He's not as fun as Sulik or Cassidy, but well worth keeping. He's quite useful with a Gauss Rifle later on. After you've had him in your party for a while, you get a special dialogue option to tell him not to call you "Boss". Note that there's no typo in the HP list below; he really does have 78 HP for two levels.
Main skill: Repair.
Other notable skills: Small Guns, Energy Weapons (high levels).
Animation frames: Throw, knife, pistol, rifle.
Hit Point progression by level: 70, 78, 78, 102, 111, 117.
Suggested weapon progression: 10mm Pistol or Hunting Rifle at first, then Combat Shotgun by Vault City, Sniper Rifle or Pancor Jackhammer when you find them, eventually Gauss Rifle (once you reach SF). At the two highest levels he can also use a Pulse Pistol or Alien Blaster well if you want him to.
Will attack you if you attack his daughter Valerie in Vault City while he's in your party (but not if he's currently out of it, even if you kill her before his very eyes).
Vic may end up in a state known as "apathetic Vic" where he refuses to communicate other than saying "I've had it up to here". This will happen if you inflict damage on him while he's not in your party, but in rare cases it can happen when you hit him with friendly fire even if he is. In v1.0 this was apparently much more likely, but it can happen even with the patch (the patch notes state NPCs will not turn hostile "under most circumstances"). Once he's gone bitter there's no cure for it, so you'll probably have to put him to sleep to get your stuff (or load). It can also happen that he keeps tagging along as an NPC only you can't talk to him.
Miria: From Modoc. You really shouldn't touch her. Note that Miria and Davin don't have any skills, they just default to Unarmed since that skill has the highest base value.
Skill: Unarmed.
Animation frames: Knife, SMG.
Hit Point progression by level: 35 (does not level up).
Suggested weapon progression: Sucks with anything. You can give her a 10mm SMG or even a Power Fist, but that's basically a waste of ammo.
Will attack you if you fight anyone in Modoc. Cannot be dropped off.
Davin: See Miria.
Skill: Unarmed.
Animation frames: Throw, knife, club, pistol.
Hit Point progression by level: 35 (does not level up).
Suggested weapon progression: Same as for Miria, although he sucks with slightly different weapons.
Will attack you if you fight anyone in Modoc. Cannot be dropped off.
Laddie: Jonny's dog in Modoc.
Skill: Unarmed.
Hit Point progression by level: 20 (does not level up).
Suggested weapon progression: None.
Will join you over the party limit at any time unless Jonny has been rescued, and unless Laddie has gone into woofing mode (see Modoc quest 4). Will attack you, but not actually stop following you, if you fight anyone in Modoc. Will leave you if you find Jonny or have him returned to Modoc.
Joshua Jansen points out that dog NPCs cannot open doors. I don't think there are any deeper applications for this in Fallout 2, but there you have it.
Cassidy: Found in Vault City. Quite possibly your best choice. Very good with a rifle, but a good HtH fighter as well.
Main skill: Small Guns.
Other notable skills: Energy Weapons, Unarmed, Melee Weapons, Throwing.
Animation frames: Spear, pistol, rifle.
Hit Point progression by level: 80, 92, 104, 116, 128.
Suggested weapon progression: Same as for Vic: his Sawed-Off Shotgun at first, then Combat Shotgun, Sniper Rifle or better shotguns when you find them, eventually the Gauss Rifle (once you reach SF). Spiked Knuckles and then Mega Power Fist in an HtH party.
Don't give him Psycho, Buffout or Jet, because of his heart condition (he'll die on you). All other drugs are fine including Super Stimpaks. Contrary to what Internet rumours say, the Heart Pills have nothing to do with Cassidy.
Cassidy will not join you if you are a Slaver or Childkiller or have a karma of -101 or lower, but he doesn't leave if he's already in your party when you acquire these traits.
Two bugs regarding Cassidy have been reported. One makes his combat settings reset regularly, which is actually pretty annoying. Another is that his skill switches to Melee Weapons if you equip him with Power Armor, only to switch back after he gains a level. The latter is not a bug, as explained by Geoffrey Bateman: "For the first two levels, Cassidy's Small Guns skill is less than 6 points higher than his Unarmed and Melee skills, which means that the ST +3 bonus from Power Armor would boost those skills past Small Guns and make one of them his speciality. That's why it disappears as he gains levels."
Cassidy has some of the coolest combat taunts in the game... for he will sometimes recite combat messages from Wasteland ("ground round", "thin red paste", "undertaker's nightmare").
Lenny: Found in Gecko. Lenny is perhaps useful for a pack rat but not much more. Take him only if you favour large parties.
Main skill: Doctor.
Other notable skills: Small Guns.
Animation frames: Knife, pistol, SMG.
Hit Point progression by level: 129, 154, 181, 206.
Suggested weapon progression: Some kind of pistol. Try to get him a .223 Pistol, that's the weapon I got him to make the most of. Maybe a H&K G11E or HK P90c if you're not worried about him spraying you.
Lenny will leave if you acquire the Childkiller or Slaver reputations, have a karma of -101 or lower, or have CH 1. Will attack you if you are in Gecko and have disabled the plant or turned the ghouls hostile. Won't rejoin you if you have a really bad town reputation in Gecko (e.g. if you blew up the plant or killed several ghouls, but killing only one or two is OK).
Marcus: Found in Broken Hills, Marcus is a mixed blessing. On the one hand he's big, carries a lot, and makes things go boom in the night... On the other hand, he's slow, he can't wear armour and favours weaponry that kills party members.
Skill: Big Guns.
Other notable skills: Energy Weapons, Unarmed.
Animation frames: Throw, large rifle, minigun, rocket launcher.
AC/DT/DR: 20/4/30 (1), 10/4/30 (2-4), 20/5/40 (5-6).
Hit Point progression by level: 130, 145, 165, 175, 190, 205.
Suggested weapon progression: Minigun at first, perhaps Bozar if you find it and like to scrape other party members off walls, Turbo Plasma Rifle as soon as possible. Pulse Rifle even later on. Mega Power Fist works well.
Initially won't join you if your karma is below 0. Won't rejoin if your karma is -101 or lower or you're a Slaver or Childkiller. Will attack you if you're an enemy of Broken Hills and Marcus is not in your party (and unlike Sulik and Lenny you don't have to be in Broken Hills for him to attack).
Myron: You should pick up Myron to initiate the Jet quest, then leave him somewhere. His primary use is to make chems. Let him do this for all of the ingredients you happen to be carrying (he checks both his own and your inventory) before you dump him somewhere accessible (e.g. outside some shop you'll be visiting regularly anyway), revisit when you've picked up new ones. The only reason to actually bring Myron along is to hear other characters pick on him, and see his level up comments.
Main skill: Science.
Other notable skills: Energy Weapons.
Animation frames: Throw, knife, pistol.
Hit Point progression by level: 70, 77, 92, 107, 122.
Suggested weapon progression: You can let him use the Needler Pistol until you run out of ammo for it. Get him a Plasma Pistol or if possible a Pulse Pistol. Expect him to miss a lot. If you can be bothered to chase after the Alien Blaster, you should do so.
Give Myron a Scorpion Tail and he'll make some Antidote. Give him a Broc Flower, a Xander Root and an Empty Hypodermic and he'll make a Stimpak. If you have IN 8 and Science 76% and ask him to make Stimpaks, you can enable the option to make Super Stimpaks; for this he needs a Fruit, a Nuka-Cola and a Stimpak. In practice the number of Stimpaks you can make will be limited by the number of Empty Hypodermics in the game, since you can get unlimited roots and flowers. Theoretically you could make any number of Super Stimpaks, though, since the ingredients for those replenish in shops, random encounters and working Nuka-Cola machines.
Whenever you try to ditch Myron, you can get him to promise to show you the location of a Mordino stash in Golgotha (which appears on your world map if it wasn't there before) in exchange for not doing so. He doesn't actually actively show you to it, but the stash exists; see the Golgotha section for the details. Once you dig it up, he'll promise to carry more stuff instead (apparently this was supposed to raise his Carry Weight by 10, but it doesn't work).
Brain Bot: A.k.a. Skynet, which refers to the best incarnation of this NPC and the only one that can earn levels. This robot is found in the Sierra Army Depot and must be assembled before it can get on the road. Whether it's useful or not depends on which brain you put into the bot: the cybernetic or human brain will produce a sniperbot, while any lesser brain produces a stupid donkeybot. Since it's possible you won't be able to get Skynet until late in the game, you might already have Gauss Rifles on Vic and Cassidy, and if so you won't need another sniper. Is always painfully slow. You can use Repair to heal the Brain Bot, but not use tools.
Main skill: Unarmed (2 worst brains), Small Guns (2 best brains).
Other notable skills (best brain only): Energy Weapons.
Animation frames: SMG, rifle.
AC/DT/DR: 20/8/40 (1), 20/5/40 (2-6, 3 worst brains).
Hit Point progression by level (best brain only): 115, 143, 155, 179, 197, 210
Suggested weapon progression (2 best brains only): Sniper Rifle, Pancor Jackhammer or HK P90c then Gauss Rifle, or H&K G11E if you want it spraying expensive ammo.
The Brain Bot is the only NPC that can't be healed using First Aid, Doctor or chems. However, Skynet can repair itself to full HP using its internal repair systems if you tell it to. What if they shoot up its internal repair systems? Well, that's what backup internal repair systems are for.
Robodog: A.k.a. Cyberdog. Found in New California Republic. Don't pick him up. Although Robodog is primarily organic and can be healed using First Aid and Doctor, you can also use a Tool or a Super Tool Kit on him about once per hour, which will heal 10-40 HP if you pass a Repair check. You will also be able to heal him more efficiently if you have good Speech - don't ask. Robodog is another of those "same HP for two levels" critters.
Skill: Unarmed (of course - he doesn't have arms. Ha ha ha! Sorry).
AC/DT/DR: 10/4/30.
Hit Point progression by level: 97, 107, 107, 127, 137.
Suggested weapon progression: None.
Goris: Found in Vault 13. If he's with you at the time of the Vault 13 massacre, he'll leave to return there. Once you go there you can pick him up again. But would you want to? He can't use armour, and the animation where he removes and wears his robe is annoying as hell.
Skill: Unarmed
AC/DT/DR: 20/5/40 (1-4), 25/6/40 (5-6).
Hit Point progression by level: 125, 134, 145, 155, 166, 175.
Suggested weapon progression: His Claw.
Will leave you if your karma falls below 0 or you become a Berserker or Childkiller. Won't join you if you have a bad town reputation in Vault 13 (say, after slaughtering the deathclaws). If you haven't recruited him yet, Goris will attack you if you fight the Vault 13 deathclaws and approach him in combat mode. He will not help if he's with you when you attack, but neither does he leave your party.
I've also encountered a bug where, if you try to pick Goris up after the Vault 13 massacre, he'll join you but every time immediately leaves your party again (because a variable is never reset). This seems to happen if you never had him in your party prior to this.
Starseeker adds in defense of Goris: "I actually consider Goris to be a better character than most because of his high percentage of critical hits. He can usually take out a floater in one or two turns for me, and he carries more stuff." In my own experience, however, Goris doesn't compare to Sulik and Cassidy equipped with Mega Power Fists and Power Armor even at his highest level, and his relative lack of combat options tends to leave him extremely vulnerable. Also, unless you take a shortcut to pick Goris up early, you'll have to wander the wastes a lot to get him to that level.
K-9: Found in Navarro. Another useless robodog (albeit the best dog NPC, for what it's worth). Actually the game calls it "Cybernetic Dog". K-9 counts as an organic creature for healing purposes.
Skill: Unarmed (ahem).
AC/DT/DR: 25/10/30 (1), 0/10/30 (2-5).
Hit Point progression by level: 127, 129, 131, 133, 137.
Suggested weapon progression: RoboteethTM.
Will leave if you become a Childkiller or have a karma of -101 or lower, and once he's left in this manner you can't pick him up again (even if your karma goes up).
Note that K-9's armour definition seems to be bugged so that it actually loses its innate AC bonus after it levels up.
Dogmeat: Found in the Cafe of Broken Dreams special encounter. Pick him up if it's early in the game, or for the nostalgia value, or to attack him and kill Mel.
Skill: Unarmed.
AC/DT/DR: 10/4/30 (1-4), 15/4/35 (5-6).
Hit Point progression by level: 98, 108, 118, 128, 141, 151.
Suggested weapon progression: None.
If you ever hurt Dogmeat while he's not in your party, Mel [Gibson] shows up packing a H&K G11E and they both attack you. Early in the game that could be very dangerous. If you kill Dogmeat in a single round Mel won't appear.
Pariah dog: Found in a special encounter and described in that section. Someone somewhere obviously likes the idea of dog NPCs. This one will join over the party limit and follow you indefinitely, but you can't give it instructions, tell it to stay or anything.
Skill: Unarmed (will not fight).
AC/DT/DR: 20/5/40.
Hit Point progression by level: 750 (does not level up).
Suggested weapon progression: None.
Extract from the Walkthrough
[ November 07, 2003: Message edited by: rad-x ]
[ November 08, 2003: Message edited by: rad-x ]
--------------------
As I gaze up at the night sky in my own fair time, I look back down and see the devastation. This post-nuclear world. It's terrible. But at least we got Nuka-Cola, warm and flat, the drink of the post-apocalyptic civiliztion. Generation Next!
posted November 07, 2003 09:38
posted November 08, 2003 11:42
posted November 09, 2003 04:24
(Also because of his great AC)!
posted November 18, 2003 04:08
