My first playthrough, I fought Benny in the arena. So in my second playthrough, I wanted to help him escape. As soon as I give him a stealth boy, though, he's pounded to death, and then so am I, no matter what I do. Staying to fight just means I get my [censored] handed to me. Running away just means I get chased and then my [censored] is handed to me elsewhere. Putting on a stealth boy of my own just means it takes a little longer for the Praetorian Guard to find me before they hand my [censored] to me.

Mind you, this character is no pushover. I cleaned out crowds of deathclaws without a problem using Pushy, but at the moment all he's got is Love and Hate. He's got a total DT of 16, and he's constantly regenerating health thanks to Rad Child.

I know I could don a stealth boy and snipe Caesar if I had a sniper rifle, as many here have posted about doing, but that's not what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to help Benny escape with a stealth boy, with both of us surviving. Has anybody had any luck with this?

Why don't you try fleeing since you have a stealth boy? Is there no exit or something?

He said that only postpones his death.

I don't know what to tell you. You could kill every person in the camp and then let Benny go.

Yes, these are doable, but not what I'm asking about. On another character, I have survived by using a stealth boy and a Gobi rifle to clean out the entire camp, subsequently releasing Benny, but didn't keep playing off that save because it felt "out of character" for my PC. What felt "in character" for that PC was fighting Benny in the arena. Now, what feels "in character" with the new PC is untying Benny right there on the spot, and taking on the consequences.

Unfortunately, I'm finding that to be an instant-death scenario, even with the character I built that has proven nigh-invincible in other contexts. What I'm asking is whether anybody has survived (and gotten Benny to survive) slipping him a Stealth Boy, and if so, how on earth you pulled it off.

No it can't be done without "god mode" and even if you had god mode benny would still die instantly.

Actually, you just put god mode on then select benny in the console and enter "setav health 999999". But that's a little blatantly cheaty for an honest player.

You can sneak C4 into Caesar's tent. They just stand there looking at you while you drop it at their feet. Also drop a few sticks of dynamite nearby to make sure you cover everybody then KABLOOM. All dead. Yes, I've done this to save Benny. Something about the guy - you just can't stay mad at him for shooting you in the head and burying you in a shallow grave to die.

Huh. So, basically, the only way to get this to work is to cheat or exploit the game rules by preparing to kill everyone ahead of time? I am a little bummed to find out that an "open-ended" game includes an instant-death option in the dialog. It was one thing to be warned not to go near Vault 87 due to radiation, but this just seems like an option that shouldn't have been offered at all...

On my hardcoe normal playthrough, I left my followers at Boulder City so they wouldn't get in the way. I set Benny free and ran straight for the exit as soon as I could. I ran straight through the camp and through the door. In the last area, I hid in the trench until my status went to 'caution'. I ran for the final door and when I arrived at Cotton Wood cove I jumped in the lake and swam to the eastern side. Fast travel back to Boulder City and I was done.

So, did you meet him afterwards?

If I recall correctly there's no instant-death option, you still have to manually kill him after telling him you are.

Don't listen to anyone who tells you it can't be done without cheating or exploiting. A high enough sneak (50 I think?) will allow you to carry holdout weapons into Caesar's camp, including C4 and the detonator. I did this the first time I went in. No cheats there, you're supposed to be able to do this.

A few things that would help you:

1. Stealth boys or extremely high sneak to allow you to plant C4 on everyone. (I had this first time I went in too.)
2. Good companions to assist you in breaking out of the camp in the inevitable firefight that ensues.
3. A silenced sniper rifle for stealth-killing praetorians without getting detected, helping you thin down the camp before engaging Caesar. Note: Nobody will suspect you until either Lucius (head of the praetorians behind Caesar) or Caesar are killed, in which case everyone in the camp will start targeting you.

Here's how I did it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM7hQuWrOC4

After clearing out the entire camp you're free to release Benny and he'll walk out unhindered.

*Note: In the first playthrough trying to kill Caesar, you can see that I managed to sneak in a Brush gun. This is done by stealth-killing the gatekeeper of the camp, travelling out of the fort then back in. Because the gatekeeper isn't there to relieve you of your weapons, you and your companions are all allowed to bring their full payloads in.

My method of killing Caesar and his praetorian guards does not require any preparation or cheats although being a stealth character with some C4 in your inventory helps a lot. It just so happened that I was stockpiling C4 and stealthy tactics from the beginning of the game just for situations like these, without knowing exactly what I was going to have to do.

Thanks for the input, Teamape, but as we discuss in the earlier posts, we know it's totally doable to clear out the camp. My complaint was that there does not seem to be a way to survive the "bobby pin and stealth boy" dialog option. Thicketford seems to suggest that it's possible to just run away and hide after doing this, which I guess is better than the situation being automatic instant death, though it'd be nice to know if Benny actually survives that scenario.

I Guess you can return once all inhabitants "cool down" and forget about what you just done and look if you find his body.
If they do not, you can try to use disguise/stealth.

And do not forget to come back and tell us...

Sorry I must have misread the earlier posts.

If you consider preparing by killing people ahead of time an exploit, perhaps you could meet somewhere in the middle by mining key chokepoints and rigging everyone with C4, then detonating them BEFORE they get close enough to kill Benny? Perhaps not a well-thought out quest option to let him sneak out, but he does mention that he'll probably get killed anyway, so there

If you get some good perks like Grim Reapers Sprint, Nerves of Steel, Better Crits, Action Boy, it is possible to be powerful enough to cover Benny's escape.

An interesting quandary, fo' sho'...

I thought the slipping Benny a Stealthboy and a bobby pin option was so he would

I didn't get to see if he lived, but it was a very funny way to get myself killed. Beeeennnneeee! You filthy rat!!

Make sure you pickpocket his gun from him before you let him go, pretty sure he just disappears from the game afterwards...so I don't see much point in letting him go.

Maybe try beanbagging the entire area with a riot shotgun? I have to admit it would take a lot of ballz and skills but it might work.

Cant you just go in guns-a-blazing?

I took out the whole camp no problem, but I had already shot Benny after I forgave him. (hey, his stooges tried to jump me)

Thanks again for the responses.

Just to clarify: If you clear the camp and then talk to Benny, Benny recognizes that everyone is dead and you get some other dialog, losing the "give me a stealth boy and bobby pin" dialog route. Now I'm mostly wondering whether the "stealth boy" dialog is an instant-death situation that looks like a valid option, which I'd consider poor game design normally ... but I do appreciate the above interpretation that this is intentionally Benny trying to screw you over one last time.

I've tried this once with an Unarmed build, high DT, and high health regen, with no luck. I eventually gave up. Next playthrough will be with a VATS build with high AP and high crit chance. Will let you know if that works any better. If anybody else feels like replaying this scene with beanbags or other methods and chiming in to say how well it works, please do!

I don't think it's poor game design, just disappointing if you're of the opinion that anything you're allowed to choose should allow for a realistic (if slim) chance of success. But there's nothing wrong with them giving you an option that tests your ability to look around and say, "This would a terrible, terrible idea," like simply untying him is, or, "Aren't they going to notice him disappear? And won't I then be in a small tent with a batch of the Wasteland's most vicious hand-to-hand fighters wanting to kill me?"

I know you said you're doing this how your character would, but if your character is melee and thinks that's a winnable fight, even with power armor, s/he isn't very smart. That doesn't mean exploiting; setting a package of C4 outside the tent for the troops who chase you outside is a perfectly viable trap. And if Benny gets caught in it, that's his fault.

Just kill him. I like to kill him with the gun he shot me with. >:3

I can certainly see your reasoning. I guess I need to consider further whether it's necessarily "poor game design" to give an option for something in an RPG that represents automatic, game-ending failure. Chatting with another gamer about this recently, he noted that there's a scene in a Monkey Island game in which you're given multiple dialog options while kidnapped by pirates, and if you try to choose the snarky comment that would certainly encourage the pirates to gut you, the protagonist simply refuses to say the line you're feeding him. It's a funny, fourth-wall-breaking moment, but it's also a kind of recognition that dialog is not typically considered a place where dying can happen in games. Maybe it should be, I guess. I suppose there is one dialog choice in Mass Effect 2 that can lead to instant death, but it can only take place after you actually beat the game...

I guess I like that most games nowadays treat dialog as a system in which you live with (rather than die by) the consequences of your actions, but perhaps it's not necessarily inherently bad to introduce an oldschool instant-death scenario. I suppose I just find it frustrating because I find it kind of lazy to allow characters to die at all in a game that's supposed to be a story, and a death in an uncommon context feels more out-of-the-blue and annoying if you haven't saved in a while. (I had to turn off autosaves on travel because the files kept getting corrupted.)

Anyway, thanks for the food for thought.

good points, Coinop.

I just really got a kick out of it because heeeey, baby, he's Benny --of course he betrays your good faith in about one second and gets you killed; it's a perfect diversion for his escape, and one that much better people than him would try in those desperate circumstances. Heck, I'd try it if I was looking at being crucified!

So it really does fit the story, and it's even funnier that my character is such a svcker I gave a mook like him a third chance to kill me. Hey, whadaya gonna do?

I thought it had to be an error in the design. Makes no sense for Benny to use the Stealth Boy instantly upon receiving it; any way you look at it, it's a bad play with all the guards watching. Much smarter to wait for a reasonable opportunity, and Benny isn't stupid.

Mostly though the triggering of the guard hostility is very weird. If you put on a Stealth Boy and pickpocket the whole place, nobody bats an eye; but if you slip something into Benny's pocket, suddenly they're all omniscient, instantly identifying where you are and what you're up to.

Also, I don't think Obsidian actually intended to put in a dialogue option that triggers you getting slaughtered 3 seconds later no matter what.

Somebody screwed up somewhere when putting this bit together.

^ ^ ^ ^ hmm. true dat.
I never did try the stealthboy/pickpocket thing, so yeah, that hostility trigger's kind of poorly thought out. It does look like they intended to start a very difficult fight indeed if they meant you to duke it out with C and his guards with nothing but Benny's help and the Knuckles/.22 pistol you snuck in.

Ah well, it gave me a good chuckle when it happened, anyway. I thought Benny would do the smart thing and wait til I walked back to Cesaer too, but I could see his cloaked self scuttling away from the beatdown while all the guards were focused on me. :lmao: