Yeah I based my char off not tagging/raising speech...but grabbed good natured so I can have 1 companion. Like I said, I read a post from someone claiming they saw companion at SF train station with Combat Armor...said he couldn't recruit him because his speech was too low. Wanted to make sure a speech skill check was necessary on top of having the necessary PP.
To be honest i dont believe that any companion is coming with combat armor. The only one i can think of is someone placed his already claimed companion with a CA there to prank people or he just mistaken a guard to be a companion.