Raul ended up with the Old Vaquero perk. He said he used to be good with pistols. Just wondering what guns and equipment other couriers have given him?

Thanks.

I have a tendency to say "screw this" and just give him a Minigun & 5mm surplus.

But to actually take advantage of Old Vaquero, think lever-action firearms - the perk gives a rate of fire bonus. A .44 revolver is a good choice, as is a Brush Gun.

I gave him the Brush Gun last time but I quickly swapped it for the Trail Carbine after he shot up all my 45-70 on varmints. This time I gave him Paciencia, which seems fitting.

For most of the play through I Ieave him with his 44 Magnum. That's a high-powered default weapon with infinite reloads. Later, when I have more money and bullets than I can count, I give him a Brush Gun or a 12.7 mm pistol. I don't give followers unique weapons any more. Learned the hard way.

Mysterious magnum. As im writing this i decided for a new character. A slave master. Will use the all humanoid companion glitch as my slaves. Low strength, cause who needs to carry things when you have pack mules. And i will bump charisma past 1 for the first time. Cause ill be damned if something kills my companion. I paid good money on them fools.

You all have given some good suggestions. Thank you for the input.

He's most effective with the Medicine Stick or a brush gun. I tend to keep the Medicine Stick to myself though, so brush gun is the next best thing.

After Boone lost my Gobi rifle and Lily lost Oh Baby!, I'm leery of giving uniques to my companions.

If you're not using the Medicine Stick, give it to him. Raul with a 10 charisma character while wielding a Medicine Stick and using hand-loader ammo? Everything is screwed.

By the way, I just read that Raul's Vaquero Perk only affects lever action guns and revolvers. With that being said, I would toss out my earlier suggestion about using a 12.7 mm pistol. If a Brush Gun isn't to your liking and you really wanted him to carry a revolver, I would think A Ranger Sequoia or fully modded Hunting Revolver.

Question. If Raul lost Medicine Stick, would it be available for repurchase at Gun Runners?

So far, I have given special weapons to my followers with no problems, but I won't say you all didn't tell me so.

Boone has Gobi Campaign Scout, Veronica has Paladin Toaster, Lily has Oh Baby. I don't know if I can part with Medicine Stick...maybe. Perhaps I will give him a Brush gun, Paciencia, or Dinner Bell? Caps are no problems

I think my Charisma is 8 but I play on Normal difficulty.

Sadly, no. If you are on PC you gift yourself a new one with "player.additem xx0080e 1"

Also on the note of the Medicine Stick, iirc my character achieves 122 damage per shot with the damned thing by utilizing Cowboy and Hand loader rounds.

I BELIEVE that with 10 charisma, Raul would basically be hitting the exact same damage, if not more. 78 * 1.5 (10 charisma) = 117, 117 * 1.2 (SWC rounds) = 140

Pretty impressive when you realize that Raul can actually potentially outperform the player character's own capabilities, AKA for however badass you may feel when using the Medicine Stick, Raul is on your level.

it would seem that raul would be a better sidekick than boone. but need 10 charisma to make that happen?

Well of course any companion with a 10 charisma (or high charisma) character would be badass, but it becomes a matter of preference. For example, Lily could surely compete simply because she's fast as hell, has tons of health and with Oh Baby!, she also hits for truckloads of damage. Obviously though, some people might prefer a ranged companion. There's also nothing stopping you from giving Boone the Gobi Sniper and watching him work. It's just that the Medicine Stick is one of the most well-rounded and powerful guns in the game, and yes, Raul does use it better than anyone else (maybe even the player character). But for example, the Medicine Stick reloads slower, so Boone with a Gobi sniper might be a nice alternative just because for those fights where the battle ISN'T over in 8 shots, Raul needs a break to reload, whereas Boone will reload a Gobi or whatever quite quickly, for obvious reasons.

But yeah, I actually pimped out my companions with good gear on a character once, and tbh? Boone and Raul were both tough as nails when given those guns, and both were able to drop enemies quickly; don't really recall a fight Raul needed to reload for, tbh, and I do recall Boone popping off quite a bit of heads at long range; I would SUSPECT his range is slightly longer.

I did it ... I gave Medicine Stick to Raul ... omgosh you are right ... he obliterates everything!

To be honest, while I don't exactly think Charisma is amazing, I do think it's a little underrated. Something about companions when you have 8+ Charisma just makes their AI and damage rival that of the Courier himself, which yeah, is obviously very useful in a dangerous scenario with multiple enemies, since it gives you a reliable teammate to fall back on and take cover behind, when neccesary.