All eight permanent companions in Fallout: New Vegas. It is possible to have up to two legitimately acquired companions in the party one humanoid and one non-humanoid. All permanent companions have a unique quest line that can be followed in order to "upgrade" them, usually giving them new armor or new perks. These companions are only available while playing the Dead Money add-on , they are only temporary and will not follow the Courier around as standard companions do:.
These companions are only available while playing the Honest Hearts add-on , they are only temporary and will not follow the Courier around as standard companions do:. Temporary followers are NPCs that can accompany the player character during quests, or they might even offer their support only for a limited time or within a certain area.
Unlike permanent companions, temporary companions do not use the companion wheel, do not heal automatically, and with the exception of Deputy Beagle, do not have an option to exchange equipment. Each companion also has a special attribute referred to in the game as Nerve. In regards to weapons, each companion has their own Strength limitations, they will suffer accuracy penalties just like the Courier if trying to use a weapon that has a higher strength requirement than they possess.
Furthermore, depending on a companion's preferred weapon type, damage can be increased even further by buying improved ammunition, or crafting it with Hand Loader or Vigilant Recycler. Giving an energy weapons-user certain optimized ammunition types added with Gun Runners' Arsenal can influence their overall carry weight in Hardcore mode due to the ammunition's reduced weight.
Finally, weapons given to companions do not lose durability unless hit directly by enemies, therefore high-damage and high-degradation ammunition types are usually preferable unless said ammunition grants the enemy x damage threshold multiplier. However, as Nerve is currently implemented, only the damage boost is ever applied to companions, limiting the usefulness of a high charisma build significantly. All permanent companions' default weapons have unlimited ammunition.
