Do companions go unconscious like in New Vegas or just die? I just started playing F3 and want to find Dogmeat but I'm not sure I want to see him likely get killed for good at some point so is it like New Vegas where companions just go unconscious or do they permanently die?

They die. If you have Broken Steel it's almost impossible for Dogmeat to die, so I wouldn't worry about it in his case.

Well I don't have that. Do you have any advice as to help prevent Dogmeat form dying besides stimpaks?

Not really, Fawkes is pretty much indestructible even without Broken steel though.

All I can suggest is that you save the game frequently, so you can reload in the event the companion dies. ....I'm sure thats common sense though

Huh my dogmeat level 30 gets mauled of raiders 9 times out of 10 he's rancid.

Yes they companions do die but Fawkes is invincible (takes about 2000 damage to die) and Dogmeat can't die with Broken Steel, other than those two just make sure you save frequently and you check to give stimpacks on all other companions.

Not really, aside from you taking on the big guys. Just make sure Dogmeat doesn't bite bite off more than he can chew. No pun intended.





That's...strange. With Broken Steel Dogmeat's HP increases by 500 per player level, which by level 30 should be plenty for most things. In my current playthough, I usually leave Dogmeat to the raiders while I loot. That said, I'm on normal.

I can't believe that the New Vegas companions don't die, that's pretty lame. You can just run off and let them deal with any enemies once they revive again. So much for "hardcoe". There should be consequences if you don't do your best in a battle.

They die if you have hardcoe on.

I see. That would make sense then.

That`s a relief.

Also, I didn`t know Broken steel made Dogmeat almost invincible. I like my companions to live, but I also like it that they don`t become a cheat which then blows the idea of trying to survive. Ain`t no fun in watching your companions waste everything without the feeling that they need YOUR help.

Yeh, its somewhat ridiculous at times
I'll be checking out a storeroom then there'll be some growling and gunshots and by the time I get there Dogmeats killed everyone

Really even before Broken Steel Dogmeat never died he rarely got hurt. So don't worry just don't let him go head on with a Deathclaw

You have to get Dogmeat for the first time before you load Broken Steel or he has normal HP. If you want the indestructible Dogmeat (15,000 HP) and you already had him before you loaded Broken Steel, the only way to get it is get the Puppies perk and kill the original Dogmeat, when his puppy shows up (takes 2 days - 2 weeks game time) it will have the 15,000 HP. Either way, you can let Dogmeat (or his puppy) kill EVERYTHING IN SIGHT for you while you just stand back. He'll even help you grab all the loot afterwards too lulz.

They die in nv too. I never saw a man go unconscious in fo nv. What are you talking about??


Fo3 you followers besides dogmeat and Fawlks will get destroyed. Fo3 Enclave and Talon company are out for blood if you have Broken Steal. Followes drop like flies in fo3.

Just trying to kill the FNV companions is a feat in itself. I actually stood back and watched to see how far Veronica would last with Recon armor and a power fist against a horde of legion. I didn't need to fire a shot, and I don't think she touched a single stimpack. There were pseudo-roman chunks everywhere.

And don't get me started on Boone. Zone in from fast travel and it's *Headshot, double kill, multikill, ultra kill, M-M-M-MONSTER KILL" With me simply sitting there going "Jesus Boone, save some for me."

Well, you can always just set as essential or not (former causes unconscious, latter allows death).

However, I disagree with people claiming Dogmeat or other followers don't die. As one response pointed out, assuming you load all your mods/DLC right from the start, Dogmeat won't have large HP. In addition, all NPCs have really poor HP. I don't care for the companions that Beth offered, but I use some mods so I can play with companions I actually care about. Aside from my Shojo Companions who start with very elevated HP calculated from the PC's HP, the other companions (e.g., Maggie, Bittercup, Rachael, Mary, Flower, etc) all have VERY low HP and die very easily even on Normal mode. They start with perhaps 25 health, so you know that one hit pretty much takes them out even from low levels enemies. Mods allow them to level with you if you choose to do so (and you really need to do so for them to be able to be of any use at all), but even then they have far, far less health because they only go up about 5 per level.

As a comparison, my Shojo Companions start with about 100 more health and automatically level with the PC without being set to do so. This makes them much more realistic in the gameworld, but they still die pretty easily at higher levels.

Part of the problem in either case is lack of good AI. The AI is passable, but still does really stupid things that causes characters to die. This is especially true on Hard or Very Hard difficulty, of course.

Setting them as essential simply makes up for the lack of good AI. It's not ideal, but it's certainly more fun than having them die for silly reasons (i.e., reasons that are the fault of the poor AI, not the fault of poor choices by the PC).

I make up for the issue to some extent by having several companions in my group. Again, this simply helps counter the poor AI choices. They still "die" (i.e., get knocked unconscious) very regularly by mid to high levels, but it least the game is enjoyable.