Oh My Papa is a side quest in Fallout: New Vegas.
Quick walkthrough
Side Quest: Oh My Papa | |||||||||||||||||||||
Learn about the Great Khans' alliance with Caesar's Legion from Col. Moore during For the Republic, Part 2 or Yes Man during Wild Card: Side Bets or Karl at Red Rock Canyon. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Reach Red Rock Canyon and speak with Papa Khan in the longhouse about breaking the Legion alliance. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Exit the longhouse and talk to Regis. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Obtain the support of Papa Khan's four advisors, Regis, Melissa, Jack, and Diane in convincing Papa to break the Legion alliance. | (Optional) Disgrace Karl to Papa Khan by passing a series of 35/55/75 Speech skill checks or giving Karl's journal to Papa. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Speak with Jack and Diane in the Red Rock drug lab and pass a 60 Speech check with Jack or progress Aba Daba Honeymoon for Diane as far as rescuing Anders. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Reach the Great Khan encampment near Quarry Junction and speak with Melissa about the Legion's treatment of women. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Gain Regis' support by obtaining the Legion slave ledger from the Fort or giving Karl's journal to Papa to disgrace Karl. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Return to Papa Khan to have him break the Legion alliance. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Acquire the history textbook from Ezekiel and bring it to Papa Khan. | Pass one of two 75 Speech checks to convince Papa Khan. | Forge an alliance between the NCR and Great Khans by assassinating Papa Khan and installing Regis as Khan chief. | |||||||||||||||||||
The Great Khans will support the NCR during the Second Battle of Hoover Dam. | |||||||||||||||||||||
Convince Papa Khan to remove the Great Khans from the Mojave and "seek their own glory." | Convince Papa Khan to lead the Great Khans to a glorious death in battle. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The Great Khans will not appear during the Second Battle of Hoover Dam. | The Great Khans will attack the NCR and Legion during the Second Battle of Hoover Dam. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Reward: 700 XP, 500 caps OR 5 10mm SMGs OR 2 super stimpaks | |||||||||||||||||||||
Detailed walkthrough
The leadup to the quest is started by first learning about the Great Khans raider tribe and their alliance with Caesar's Legion as support for the upcoming Second Battle of Hoover Dam against the NCR, a longtime enemy of both the Khans and the Legion. This can be accomplished during the faction quests For the Republic, Part 2 by talking to Col. Moore or Wild Card: Side Bets by talking to Yes Man, or it can be done independently by traveling to the Great Khans' homebase in Red Rock Canyon and speaking to the Legion frumentarius, Karl who serves as liaison between the Great Khans and Caesar.
The one to talk to is Papa Khan, leader of the tribe who typically resides in the longhouse, situated on a hill just after coming to the end of the pass into the canyon, Papa typically comes out of his locked room to sit on his throne at the opposite end of the longhouse around noon. If one knows about the alliance, requesting that Papa break away from the Legion will always garner a negative response, as Papa is too stubborn and too determined to satisfy his thirst for revenge against the NCR for their actions during the Bitter Springs Massacre, to consider any path other than one leading to the shedding of republic blood.
After receiving Papa's rebuke, exit the longhouse, where one will be met by Regis, Papa's second-in-command. He heard the player character's request to cut ties with the Legion, and actually agrees that the Great Khans' future is not with the Legion but that Papa would never directly accept any alternative. Instead, he suggests that the player character go below Papa and try to obtain the support of his four most trusted advisors, including Regis himself, the Khans' best chem-cooks Jack and Diane, and one of their best scouts, Melissa. Regis also advises finding a way to discredit Karl in Papa's eyes and prove that the Legion's intentions for the Great Khans are not as clean as he says.
NCR Allies
If one came to Red Rock Canyon on the orders of Col. Moore to deal with the Great Khans during For the Republic, Part 2, after being rebuked by Papa Khan and meeting Regis, one can return to her at Hoover Dam and inform her that the Great Khans refuse to break their alliance with Caesar's Legion. Though the colonel will then demand they be eradicated, one has the option to suggest taking out Papa Khan alone and installing Regis as the new chief followed by forging an alliance with the NCR instead; Moore will decry it, but the option still becomes available.
If one kills Papa Khan while remaining undetected by the other Khans, Regis will become the new leader after 24 in-game hours, and one can then ask him to agree to an alliance with the NCR against the Legion in the upcoming battle.
- Papa Khan can be killed in his room by pickpocketing his room key, picking the hard lock and waiting for him to enter, or waiting until midnight, when he goes to bed. Follow him in and wait until around 2 am while sneaking with a silenced weapon (or melee), reverse pickpocket an explosive, or use the Mister Sandman perk.
- Another option is to wait until the afternoon, Papa Khan can be found in the outhouse behind the longhouse. One can sneak up on him there and use an explosive or silenced weapon, and the rest of the camp will not become alarmed.
Note: If one is siding with either Mr. House or Yes Man, it is advisable not to choose this path; otherwise, the Khans will still fight on Caesar's side in the final battle.
Another path
To carry out Regis' plan to turn Papa against the idea of the Legion alliance, one must find and convince the chieftain's four advisors that the promises of life in the Legion are not what they're cracked up to be. Their respective locations and sub-quest objectives are as follows:
- Jack and Diane are located slightly northwest of the longhouse, through a narrow chasm going north into the Red Rock drug lab. To gain their support, one can either pass a 60 Speech skill check with Jack, or speak with Diane and trigger the side quest Aba Daba Honeymoon, then progress that quest as far as rescuing the Khan runner Anders from his crucifixion at Cottonwood Cove to show them proof that the Legion will not appreciate their chem-cooking skills.
- It is also possible to fail Aba Daba Honeymoon because of several bugs and quest conflicts with related quests Bounty Killer and I Love Bananas, yet one can still earn enough trust by simply teaching Jack all of the chems recipes.
- Melissa resides at the Great Khan encampment, situated on the northwest cliffs adjacent to Quarry Junction. One only has to progress through a short dialogue chain to convince her that Karl's promises of her being a female legionnaire are empty and the likelihood is that she'd be made a slave.
- Both routes to the encampment location are infested with deathclaws, so it is advisable for underpowered characters to bring a supply of Stealth Boys.
- Though talking to her offers an opportunity to start the side quest Don't Make a Beggar of Me, it is not required to fulfill her objective for this quest.
- Though Regis already is skeptical of the Legion, he requests finding solid proof of their ill intentions to enslave their allies after the battle. This requires obtaining one of two documents: Karl's journal from his footlocker in the longhouse, or a Legion slave ledger on a table in Caesar's tent at Fortification Hill and showing them to Regis.
- If Karl's journal is shown to Papa Khan directly, he will become furious and order the Great Khans to attack Karl, fulfilling both objectives to get Regis' support and discredit Karl.
- While both documents can also be brought to Papa Khan directly, he will reject the player character's accusation if they bring up the slave ledger with him.
- The optional objective to find a way to disgrace Karl in front of Papa Khan can be accomplished by telling Papa Khan about Karl's journal, as above. Alternatively, passing a series of Speech checks (35/55/75), Karl can be provoked into revealing his true, derisive feelings about the Great Khans. One must do this while inside the Great Khan longhouse, with Papa Khan also present, likely while all three are seated at the main table, and leading to the Great Khans killing Karl.
- Stealing Karl's journal from his footlocker and then killing him will disable one from using it as evidence against the Legion for Regis, making the slave ledger in Caesar's tent the only usable proof for this quest. This is problematic if one has not been anywhere near Caesar's camp yet, as there will be no quest pointer once all other objectives for this quest are complete. One can use a console command to manually display the objective to talk to Papa Khan at this point if one wishes to bypass getting the ledger: setobjectivedisplayed 140c3a 55 1
Upon speaking to Papa Khan after gaining his advisors' support and potentially discrediting Karl as a liaison, the chieftain will declare their alliance with the Legion severed. He then makes the question of what kind of future the Great Khans have to look forward to if not the glory of death in battle against their enemies. One will have two choices, affecting the Great Khans' ending, and both of which can be given in one of two ways:
- Passing one of two 75 Speech checks that complete the quest immediately:
- Telling Papa to "claim your own glory" will have the Khans evacuating Red Rock Canyon and leaving the Mojave during the Second Battle of Hoover Dam. Choosing this one garners Great Khans fame.
- Telling Papa his tribe is little more than "ghosts and martyrs" will prompt them to perform a suicide attack during the battle, attacking both NCR and Legion.
If one cannot pass the Speech checks, a third dialogue choice allows for suggesting the player character can find a source of past knowledge to inspire Papa. This requires traveling to Freeside and speaking with Julie Farkas in the Old Mormon Fort. While she wants nothing to do with helping the Great Khans, she will redirect them to another Follower named Ezekiel, who is located at the 188 Trading Post. As Ezekiel has made a study of the Khans' history, it includes research into their original inspiration and he gives a history textbook, Pretty Pretty Horsies: A History of the Mongol Empire to the player character. If one then delivers this book to Papa Khan, the same two choices above become available along with their respective influences on the ending.
Quest stages
Notes
- If one assassinates Papa Khan and has not yet completed Why Can't We Be Friends?, that quest will instantly fail.
- If, at the end of the quest, one asks Papa Khan to ally with the NCR and then tells him to stick around, the quest will remain open for the player character to solve via talking to Regis/Colonel Moore and assassinating Papa Khan.
- If all the commanders in Camp Forlorn Hope are assassinated for the corresponding Caesar quest, Papa Khan will inform the player character that upon his death they will become the new chief. Simply stealth kill Papa when he goes to bed, report to Regis and tell him who the Khans are to ally with (i.e. NCR, Legion or independent). This will result in Great Khans fame and Papa Khan's unique armor to loot.
- Halfway through the quest, one may be randomly attacked several times by two recruit legionaries who say "Karl sends his regards" if one fast travels to and from the Red Rock location. They hide behind rocks at the bottom of the hill to the longhouse.
- It is still possible, albeit difficult, to get the Legion slave ledger if they are hostile to the player character. Legion armor can be used without problem up until one enters the drawbridge to the inner camp. At that point getting caught by a Legion guard or mongrel on the way to the tent, turning the entire camp hostile, is nearly inevitable. One solution is to use Turbo, though one will need several to make it all the way in and out. A Stealth Boy or the stealth suit Mk II are also viable and will even help one sneak through the tent, in front of Caesar, Vulpes Inculta and the guards.
- One can turn in the journal and if they quickly go talk to Karl before the Great Khans kill him, one can still do the Speech checks.
- A neutral reputation can enable one to do this quest even if they are Vilified by the Great Khans.
- If the player character has completed Don't Make a Beggar of Me and cannot find Melissa, they can still complete the quest by assassinating Papa Khan and having Regis side with the NCR. (One may first need to speak with Col. Moore about the possible allegiance to activate this branch of the quest).
- If one's infamy with the Great Khans is too high, then one will not get the dialogue option from Colonel Moore to assassinate Papa Khan, and assassinating him anyway will not advance the quest.
- This quest is still available for if one has or is planning to join the Legion; however, while the quest does not grant Infamy for Caesar's Legion, there are still consequences for completion, such as not receiving support during Veni, Vidi, Vici. In addition, completing the quest while working on Legion affiliated quests, especially during Render Unto Caesar, Caesar, when spoken to next time, will react with anger and berate the player character for forcing the Khans to break up their alliance with Caesar.
- When asking Papa Khan to break his alliance with the Legion, one might have to select the second option (Caesar will enslave the Khans) in order to start the quest.
Behind the scenes
- The quest name is a reference to the nostalgic German song O mein Papa originally written in 1939 for the musical The Black Pike. It was later recorded in English as "Oh! My Papa" and performed as an instrumental by trumpeter Eddie Calvert in the UK in 1953 and as a vocal by Eddie Fisher in the US in 1954. A well-known cover was performed on television by Jim Nabors as his character Gomer Pyle from The Andy Griffith Show.
- This quest was designed by Travis Stout, who also wrote much of the content and dialogue for the Great Khans.[Non-game 1]
Bugs
- Sometimes after talking to Papa and Regis about the NCR, upon going outside to talk to Regis, he just looks at the player character and will not initiate the conversation that starts the quest. [verified]
- If the player character convinces Papa Khan to break the Great Khan's allegiance to the Legion, random non-player character chatter after completing the quest will still talk about how the Great Khans were "destroyed" and "massacred," even though a peaceful solution was found. [verified]
- If Julie Farkas somehow ends up dead, the quest will be impossible to complete via the book, even if one heads to Trading Post 188 and kills Ezekiel for the book. The only way around this is to convince Papa via the Speech option. [verified]
- setobjectivedisplayed 140c3a 55 1 [verified] Stealing Karl's journal from his footlocker and then killing him will disable one from using it as evidence against the Legion for Regis, making the slave ledger in Caesar's tent the only usable proof that can be used. You can use a console command to manually display the objective to talk to Papa Khan at this point if you wish to bypass getting the ledger and have completed all other objectives:
- Don't Make a Beggar of Me has a chance of causing Melissa to disappear from the Great Khan encampment. This will make it impossible to complete Oh My Papa via the diplomatic route if one has not convinced her beforehand. The player can use the console to make Melissa reappear by using e5e51.moveto player.[verified] Finishing the quest
- resetquest 00140c3a will bring back all of the dialogue options needed to trigger Regis although some of them may still be "grayed out." Cycling through all of them normally will allow the encounter with Regis outside of the longhouse. For the Xbox 360, one can still get Regis to trigger his dialogue, but Papa Khan's question will still never show up again. Solution: If one goes at night and/or when Regis is not sitting at the table and talks to Papa, Regis will not give the player character the dialogue necessary to start this quest. [verified] If one triggers the dialogue where Papa refuses to break the alliance with the Legion before this quest is started, the option will not come back, as it seems to be a one time dialogue option, and so the quest gets locked and is unable to be completed because one cannot trigger Regis coming up to the player character and making a proposal after they leave the Long House. Using the console command
- For the Republic, Part 2" will update to inform the player character that they have killed the Khans even though none are dead. This will likewise happen if one convinces Papa Khan not to side with the Legion while Karl is still in their good graces, as they will again kill him. To avoid this bug, steal Karl's journal and show it to Papa Khan. Karl will die, but the quest will proceed as normal. [verified] If one uses Speech checks to get Karl to reveal his true feelings about the Khans, resulting in his death, "
- For the Republic, Part 2 may not advance after completing 'Oh My Papa' via the "ghosts and martyrs" Speech option. [verified]
- Legion slave ledger, which can be found inside Caesar's tent at the Fort). There is a marker for the journal, however no new dialogue appears. No marker is present for Caesar's tent and it appears the quest cannot be finished (this is NOT true. Although the marker is missing, going to Caesar's tent and picking up the Legion slave ledger will update the quest as intended). However, on the 360, Karl's journal is inside the room next door to Papa Khan's in a footlocker, and can easily be stolen. [verified] A marker is not placed at Caesar's tent to get evidence for Regis, nor does Karl's journal complete objective. Karl's journal is not the proper evidence to complete this quest on Xbox 360 (works on some 360 consoles) and the PS3 (correct one is looking for the
- If the player character does not get the Speech option to assassinate Papa Khan from Colonel Moore even if they have the Journal entry: "Talk to Colonel Moore about a Great Khans/NCR alliance," go into Papa Khan room's while he is sleeping around 1:00am and kill him, then find Regis and he will show the player character a Speech option about the alliance, then go to Colonel Moore an let her know about it. This way one will get the Great Khans' support in the final battle. This may end the quest as failed and will make Regis become hostile. [verified]
- Boone is a companion at the time as he does remark after killing them "Guess he fought at Bitter Springs" (possibly triggered by Oscar Velasco, if the quest Climb Ev'ry Mountain is completed with him leaving to Red Rock Canyon. Confirmed Boone will shoot him on sight if spotted in the wasteland.) [verified] After talking to Regis and obtaining the 'Oh my Papa' quest one may be attacked by some Great Khans who are hostile. Killing them fails the quest. This may be because
- Talk to Colonel Moore about a Great Khans/NCR alliance. When one heads to Hoover Dam, Colonel Moore is in the Offices area. The marker will tell the player character to go to her office but she is not there, and does not spawn even if one sleeps for a few hours or leaves for a while. [verified]
- Cottonwood Cove unnecessary. [verified] Offering to find proof of female enslavement for Diane will override Regis' quest target, so completing it will also meet his requirement. Convincing Jack through Speech afterward will get all three characters' support, making the trip to
- One may get the dialogue option to show Regis Karl's journal as evidence without actually finding it first. [verified]
- In some cases, the location of Hoover Dam may disappear as a location on the map after completing the quest, in For the Republic, Part 2. [verified]
References
Non-game