In fallout 3, I went without followers. I do that in a lot of games, because I find followers to be a burden. The one time I took a follower in fallout 3, it was star paladin cross and she was instantly killed by a deathclaw in the first combat she saw at my side. Seriously, start of the fight. I shoot the deathclaw with a dart, cross charges and as she goes to swing her hammer, the deathclaw takes a swipe and her head goes flying off her body. Useless. absolutely useless. They almost always are. In new vegas, I tried them all to see what the big deal was. Boone? Dead as shit in the first legion ambush we encountered together. Cass? Dead as shit to ants before taking a single shot. Raul? Stayed at the lucky 38 because risking one of the more useful NPC's is a retarded idea. Rex survived, I didn't have the heart to take him from King. The only exception was Veronica and ED-E. V was awesome and ED-E's perk increased his survivability by ensuring that anything which could harm him ended up dead as shit before it could serve as a threat to him and Veronica. Veronica was a tank though. No idea why she was so resilient, but whenever someone tried to throw down she would go apeshit, soak up a ton of bullets, and punch peoples heads off their bodies. Gannon was killed by super mutants and Lily was killed by night stalkers. Which was a shame because lily, like veronica and ED-E, was a genuinely likable character. I swear, you give these NPC's stimpacks and they never use them.