Devil Dog

Dog companions have always been popular with Fallout players. Dogs would have played a big part in Van Buren anyway, but the designers decided not to revive Dogmeat another time. Instead there would have been another dog NPC.

It was a Rottweiler which was exposed to "something" that made it a little bigger, a little tougher, and a little meaner than the average Rottweilers, a dog companion that would be a great fighting ally as well. You had to do a few things before the dog would befriend you, but what exactly it was is not known. With normal dogs was mainly a check on some of your traits. This NPC was referred to as the Devil Dog by the Hangdog people, but you could name him whatever if you got him.

The Hangdogs see him more as an evil spirit than an actual living dog. He's a loner, never hanging out with the other dogs (a very unnatural thing in Hangdog eyes), he survives fights with creatures that would kill all other dogs, and every Hangdog who has attempted to tame him has nothing but scars and missing body parts to show for his efforts. Showing up at the village with the Devil Dog at his side would have brought the player instant respect… and a great deal of fear. I believe "Walks With the Devil" was the proposed reputation title you could get with that tribe if you had the Devil Dog as a companion. Had you brought back a normal dog or a puppy, the Hangdogs would have greeted you as a brother. With the Devil Dog, you become more of a shaman, one they're very, very careful not to upset.

There were things that you could get from the Hangdogs for "owning" the Devil Dog. You could get training for your dog, or medical supplies, or use your increased influence to affect the outcome of certain quests, you could challenge the leader of the Hangdogs to a dogfight over leadership of the tribe (and the Devil Dog was just about the only dog that could beat his dog), and so on.

Of course, the Devil Dog wasn't exactly healthy, and that made him unstable and dangerous…