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Children are the young inhabitants of the wastes.

Background[]

Children may be killed in Fallout and Fallout 2, which earns the player the Childkiller reputation. In later titles, the Lone Wanderer is the only child with possible on-screen death, during a virtual reality simulation at Tranquility Lane in Fallout 3.

Children in Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout 4 are marked as essential, however, they are also coded so that they cannot be hurt by any kind of attack. They will react to the player character or another NPC assaulting them, always fleeing instead of retaliating against their assailant. In Fallout 76, children do not respond to combat in any way and cannot be damaged.

Fallout[]

Main article: Child (Fallout)

Killing a child earns the player the Childkiller reputation.

Children in Fallout
Billy Flower child Sandy

Fallout 2[]

Main article: Child (Fallout)

Killing a child earns the player the Childkiller reputation.

Children in Fallout 2
Carlson's kid Cody Curtis
Den orphan child Farmer's child Ghost Farm child
Jonny Klamath child Melchior Jr.
Shi squatter child Stable boy Wright child

Fallout 3[]

Children cannot be targeted in V.A.T.S. However, if they are accidentally injured, they can sustain crippled limbs. Since children cannot be harmed, they will generally not fight the player character, even if they are armed. Instead, if attacked, they will flee. The Mister Sandman perk cannot be used on children.

Children in Fallout 3
Arthur Maxson Biwwy Bryan Wilks
Bumble C.J. Young Eclair
Flower Harden Simms James Hargrave
Jenny Wilson Joseph Knick Knack
Knock Knock Lucy MacCready
Maggie Penny Princess
Rachael Ralph Sammy
Squirrel Timmy Neusbaum Zip
Kenny Point Lookout (add-on) Sally Mothership Zeta (add-on)

Fallout: New Vegas[]

Attacking children results in infamy with the faction they are associated with, even though they cannot be hurt. The Mister Sandman perk cannot be used on children.

Children in Fallout: New Vegas
Hector Lindsay Max
Melody Pete Stacey
The Forecaster Tommy Mentioned Lonesome Road (add-on)

Fallout 4[]

Children cannot be killed or targeted in V.A.T.S. The Mister Sandman perk cannot be used on children.

Children in Fallout 4
Alice Thompson Austin Engill Billy Peabody
Charlie Donny Kowalski Erin Combes
Erin Reische Gavin Everitts Kat
Julia Thompson Meg Nat Wright
Nina Rodriguez Pete Pembroke Phil Wallace
Quentin Filmore Shaun Sheng Kawolski
Wally Warwick Small Bertha Far Harbor (add-on) Tony Far Harbor (add-on)
Lucy Grandchester Nuka-World (add-on)

Fallout 76[]

Children are flagged as "ghosts" and are not part of the combat system.

Children in Fallout 76
Davie Taylor Hannah Maximo Leone
Maggie Stern Ra-Ra Child
Daphne

Behind the scenes[]

Bethesda Softworks also faced problems with child characters when making The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. They considered adding children to make the game more realistic, but this was a controversial choice: if the children could be killed, Bethesda likely would have been subject to serious controversy and legal problems that would arise from making it possible to murder juveniles in the game. Bethesda's response was to simply make the characters invincible. This once again raised issues, because the tactic would undermine the purpose of adding children in the first place, namely, realism. Eventually, Bethesda scrapped the idea for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion altogether, but in Fallout 3 they went the other way, allowing children for authenticity, but making them invincible. This is the same in Fallout: New Vegas. In Fallout 4, children remain invincible, but they, like in previous games, will react to being assaulted. They will always cower and flee instead of retaliating against their attacker.

Gallery[]

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