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Any Brotherhood of Steel loyalist will be able to tell you that working with the group is a mixed bag. It’s moral gray ground, even if you believe in the goals and ideals of whatever chapter is the topic of discussion. Veronica is a Fallout New Vegas companion that shares that sentiment.
As one of the few members of the Mojave Brotherhood of Steel permitted to leave the Hidden Valley bunker, she’s left to her own devices, pondering on whether or not isolation is the right course of action for the BoS’ future. This plays a massive part in Veronica’s companion New Vegas quest and serves as a core point of conflict for her character.
Despite being seemingly cheerful and whimsical, she has a massive and tragic backstory that spans as far as the Dead Money DLC, making her one of the most in-depth companions in the entire game.
She’s a fan favorite, even amongst the other incredibly popular Fallout New Vegas companions, so that should tell you everything you need to know about her. She’s also the only Brotherhood of Steel follower in the game. As a BoS man myself, that earns quite a few brownie points.
I’m going to highlight everything you need to know about my personal favorite follower in this Fallout New Vegas Veronica guide. I’ll run you through everything Veronica Santangelo, including where to find her and how to start her companion quest.
Bottom Line Up Front
Veronica is a whimsical character that is full of wit and charm. She is also the strongest companion in the game from a pure combat standpoint. She has access to multiple perks and has one of the easiest to complete follower quests in Fallout New Vegas.
Her quest is triggered by unlocking three pieces of unique dialogue in response to certain actions and conversations the Courier has.
Veronica is loyal to the Brotherhood and will leave the player if their reputation with the group drops too low. She is not immediately hostile to any faction.
Key Features
- Veronica’s loyalty is aligned to the Brotherhood of Steel, although it is possible to destroy the Brotherhood and keep her as a companion provided you don’t blow up the Bunker.
- She is an unarmed expert that is capable of wearing power armor, making her the strongest companion in the game.
- Despite being an expert engineer, Veronica holds the rank of Journeyman Scribe in the Brotherhood as opposed to the more suitable Knight position.
Description Overview
When you first stumble across Veronica, she’s going to be wearing a ragtag set of robes, albeit armored ones. She obviously can’t go waltzing around in power armor while in NCR territory, not that she would regardless, as she holds the rank of Scribe.
Like almost every Brotherhood of Steel member, Veronica was born into the group. Both of her parents were killed in a skirmish with the NCR prior to the FNV chapter heading towards Hover Dam.
She joined the new chapter on its expedition at the request of Father Elijah, who, at the time, was that division’s Elder. Elijah took on a father-figure role for Veronica in the absence of her parents, mentoring her until his defeat at Helios One during Operation: Sunburst.
Despite Brotherhood of Steel Scribes not wearing power armor, Veronica does have the training needed to use it. So, once you recruit her, you can give her a set to wear, which will massively increase her survivability in combat.
Veronica’s Key Moments/Quest Triggers
Veronica’s quest triggers don’t work off of a points system as Boone’s does. Instead, you simply need to trigger three different pieces of unique dialogue with her.
There are nine scenarios in the game that will trigger one of these bits of dialogue, with four of them being repeatable. So if you’ve played through the majority of New Vegas without Veronica, you should still be able to activate her companion quest.
Her quest is actually fairly short and straightforward. It ties directly into two other quests in the game, so it’s possible you’ll have most of it finished before you even start.
Just like with every other companion, you need to have Veronica in your party for any of these triggers to activate. If you speak to some of these characters without Veronica present, you’ll miss out on those triggers completely.
Veronica’s Quest Triggers
- Speak to Tom Anderson in the Casa Madrid Apartments. Asking Tom Anderson “What do you do here?” will trigger the dialogue from Veronica, as well as any lines he has at the conclusion of The White Wash quest.
- Visit Vault 3. Simply walking down the ramp to Vault 3 will trigger this piece of dialogue. This is one of the three triggers that isn’t missable.
- Visit Nelson, Cottonwood Cover, or the Fort. To get this trigger, you need to stay in these areas for around 30 seconds. Any of them will work. Veronica will comment on how the Legion is managing to defeat the NCR with nothing but bullets and knives, in contrast to the Brotherhood losing to them despite having superior technology (blame Elijah and McNamara).
- Go inside the Camp McCarran Terminal Building. This trigger is activated near the middle set of double doors in the Camp McCarran Terminal Building. This is also a non-missable trigger.
- Speak with Dr. Thomas inside Camp McCarran. Speaking with Dr. Thomas for the first time is the second Veronica trigger inside of Camp McCarran. The quest that he gives you can also tie into Veronica’s companion quest later on.
- Listen to Pete’s telling of the Boomer’s history in Nelis AFB. Provided that you are friends with the Boomers, this is the last repeatable trigger. Even if you’ve already heard the history tour, listening to it again will give you Veronica’s dialogue trigger.
- Speak with Julie Farkas for the first time inside the Old Mormon Fort in Freeside. There are reports of players getting this trigger despite having spoken with Julie Farkas before by speaking with the other Followers of the Apocalypse.
- Speak to Jason Bright in the Repconn Test Site. You need to ask Jason Bright about “The Great Journey.” The dialogue that serves as a trigger can only be heard once in response to that question.
- Speak with Gloria inside of the Silver Rush. Speak to Gloria and tell her that you’re just browsing to get this trigger. Technically, this is repeatable, but that depends on whether or not you have completed the Birds of a Feather questline or killed the Van Graffs.
Fallout New Vegas Veronica Quest Guide: I Could Make You Care
I Could Make You Care is Veronica’s Companion quest. It’s also one of the shortest and easiest in the game, with two routes directly tying into NCR-related quests. If you end up doing this quest later on in your playthrough, you may already have the final stage of it done, meaning all you have to do is trigger it.
Trigger the Quest
To trigger I Could Make You Care, you need to get three pieces of unique dialogue with Veronica. I’ve listed every single trigger in the section above this, four of which are unmissable, so don’t worry about not being able to get enough of them.
Travel to the Bunker in Hidden Valley with Veronica
Once you get your three pieces of dialogue, Veronica will ask you to go to Hidden Valley with her. Agree, and then travel to the Brotherhood of Steel Bunker.
Speak to the Elder of the Brotherhood of Steel
After arriving at the Bunker, you’ll need to speak with the Elder, either McNamara or Hardin, depending on how you dealt with the Still in the Dark quest.
Veronica will speak with the Elder about the direction the Brotherhood is taking, believing that isolation is killing the group and that the need to become active in the Mojave.
Investigate the Terminal in Gibson’s Shack
Frustrated after her conversation with the Elder, Veronica will ask you to travel with her to Gibson’s Shack. This was a run-down, abandoned shack that Father Elijah used to communicate with her remotely back when he was still Elder of the Mojave Brotherhood of Steel chapter.
In the shack, Veronica will activate a terminal. On the terminal, she finds mention of three different pieces of technology that she believes will convince the Elder that the Brotherhood needs to change its ways to survive. You then choose which of the three you wish to pursue.
- Investigate One of Three Technologies
- Euclid’s C-Finder and Archimedes II
Euclid’s C-Finder is a unique weapon and the reason that Father Elijah kept the Brotherhood sidetracked at Helios One rather than moving on to Hoover Dam. You can find the weapon in possession of a child called Max in Freeside. Max is typically running around the area outside of Mick and Ralph’s. You can buy Euclid’s C-Finder off him.
Once you have the weapon, you need to travel to Helios One and complete That Lucky Old Sun. Specifically, you need to complete it by reactivating the Archimedes II Orbital Satellite. Doing this will seriously harm your reputation with the NCR, but it does give you access to a once-per-day space laser that you aim with Euclid’s C-Finder.
With the Archimedes-charged C-Finder in hand, head back to the Elder in Hidden Valley.
- Pulse Gun
The Pulse Gun is the most complicated out of all three options, and it’s also the only one not tied to a marked quest. So, if you’re looking for the easiest and quickest way to get through this quest, avoid this option at all costs.
If you’re a masochist that enjoys overly complicated unmarked quests for disappointing loot, though, then be my guest.
First, you need to get a key from the lockers in Pearl’s Barricks in Nellis Air Force Base. This step is optional, but you’ll have to pick a level 100 lock without it.
Once you have the key, you need to run through Vault 34. The Pulse Gun is in a box at the end of the Vault.
That might not sound like a lot, but Vault 34 is one of the most complex and irritating Vaults in the game, especially without a guide. So, if you pursue this option, consider looking for a little bit of extra help. I didn’t, and it took me over an hour. It wasn’t fun.
- New Farming Technology
The farming technology is obtained at the end of the Here Stands the Grass quest that you get from Dr. Thomas in Camp McCarran. Yes, the same Dr. Thomas that you speak to for one of Veronica’s triggers.
To choose this option, you need to do a few things. First, complete the quest and do not allow Keely to delete the data. You also can’t bring the data back to Dr. Hildern. Both of these options will prevent you from bringing the data to the Brotherhood.
Bring the Technology Back to the Brotherhood
Once you have one of the three technologies in your inventory, return to the Elder in Hidden Valley.
Just like before, he will remain unimpressed despite you and Veronica’s best efforts, leading to Veronica feeling completely deflated, so deflated, in fact, that she will decide whether or not she wants to leave the Brotherhood.
You have three options here. Either convince her to stay, convince her to leave, or let her decide for herself. If you decide to let her make her own decision, which you really should, she will opt to stay with the Brotherhood.
Either way, you’ll encounter a group of pissed-off Paladins once you leave the Bunker. If you convince Veronica to leave the Brotherhood, you can pass this group up without a firefight.
If Veronica has remained a BoS member, you will either need to pass a Speech check or have the Terrifying Presence perk. Otherwise, you will need to kill the Paladins. Doing this does not result in a reputation or Karma loss.
Veronica’s Decision
If Veronica has remained a member of the Brotherhood, the quest will end, and she will get the Bonds of Steel perk. If you convince her to leave, she will ask you to help her join the Followers of the Apocalypse.
For the latter, there is a short epilogue that you need to complete. Afterward, Veronica will get the Causeless Rebel perk.
Just like with Fallout New Vegas’ other companions, your choice here directly impacts Veronica’s ending after the Battle of Hover Dam.
Veronica’s Perks
Scribe Assistant
Scribe Assistant operates similarly to ED-E’s perk post-Lonesome Road. It allows her to act as a mobile Workbench, giving the Courier the ability to craft items on the road without the need for a workstation.
This is deceptively useful, especially on Hardcore playthroughs or energy weapon playthroughs, as it allows you to recycle and change your ammunition. You still need the same skill requirements as you would with a regular Workbench, however.
For anyone that isn’t using energy weapons or playing on Hardcore mode, this perk is extremely underwhelming. That is made up for, in part, by the fact she can teach the Courier a unique unarmed perk and has the option of getting an extra perk after you finish the Dead Money DLC.
Scribe Counter
Scribe Counter is a reward for completing the You Make Me Feel Like a Woman unmarked side quest.
Most players won’t even know this quest exists, especially if you don’t bother listening to the random bits of dialogue your companions give you.
When you’re trading items with Veronica, she has a chance of excitedly asking if you’re giving her a dress. If you do actually give her a dress, being either the White Glove Society Attire or Formal Wear, she will be overjoyed and teach you this perk.
This is actually one of the better unarmed perks in the entire game. It allows you to perform a quick attack after blocking a melee or unarmed attack during combat, hence the “counter.” This counter is so quick that it allows players to effectively stay in a block for the entirety of any given fight, massively reducing the amount of damage you take.
Elijah’s Last Words or Elijah’s Ramblings
These perks depend on a choice you make after finishing the Dead Money DLC. One choice will give Veronica the ‘Elijah’s Last Words’ perk, and the other will give the player the Elijah’s Ramblings perk.
When you finish Dead Money and are back in the abandoned Brotherhood of Steel Bunker, turn into the right room and download a Holomessage from the terminal.
Then, head back to the Mojave and speak with Veronica. If you’ve exhausted all of her dialogue options about Father Elijah, you’ll be able to tell her that you found the old man. You can then ask her to unlock the message for you.
At this point, you can either give her the message (as you should, it’s for her, after all), and she’ll get the Elijah’s Last Words perk which will give her +150% Melee attack speed and a 25% chance to knock enemies down on hit.
If you decide to be cruel and deprive Veronica of hearing the last message her father figure ever left her, you’ll get Elijah’s Ramblings which gives you +50% Melee critical damage.
While it can be tempting to take the perk for yourself if you’re using a melee weapon, the increased attack speed turns Veronica into a demon in combat. So if you plan on using her as your main companion, it’s worth letting her have the perk even if you have a use for it.
Causeless Rebel or Bonds of Steel
Causeless Rebel and Bonds of Steel are Veronica’s final perks. One of the two will be rewarded depending on how you finished I Could Make You Care.
If you decide that Veronica should turn traitor leave the Brotherhood, she will get Causeless Rebel. This increases her attack rate by 30%.
If she remained a member of the Brotherhood (the right choice), she will get Bonds of Steel. This increases Veronica’s DT by 4.
For Hardcore playthroughs, the extra defense provided by Bonds of Steel is fantastic. Otherwise, Causeless Rebel is the better perk. However, this should be the last thing on your mind while making that choice. Ultimately, it doesn’t make that much of a difference in your gameplay, but it does have direct implications on Veronica’s ending.
How to Find Veronica in Fallout New Vegas
If you follow the intended route towards Vegas, you should encounter Veronica naturally. She’s at the 188 Trading Post, which is on the road from Boulder City to Freeside.
She’ll be pretty easy to spot, given that she’s wearing some seriously rag-tag clothes that do anything but help her blend in.
When you speak to her, she’ll mention that she had a run-in with the Brotherhood of Steel and ask you your opinion of them. Depending on your response, she will tell you that she’s a member of the group and ask you to take her along with you on your journeys, just like that. No quests, no requirements.
Hell, even if you do tell her that you hate the Brotherhood, you can reinitiate dialogue and simply give a different answer to get her to follow you.
You should go out of your way to grab Veronica on your way to Vegas, even if you have to dismiss Boone to do so. She has a lot of missable triggers involving first-time encounters in and around New Vegas, so have her tag along as you speak to different characters of interest.
Once you get the three triggers needed for her quest, you can dismiss her and get Boone back so that you can get his missable History Points from the Camp McCarran quests.
Veronica Santangelo’s Playstyle
Veronica is an unarmed character that uses a Power Fist as her main weapon. The Power Fist is naturally one of the best-unarmed weapons in the game, meaning Veronica is surprisingly effective in combat.
This is especially true once you give her a set of power armor to use. Even in Hardcore, wearing power armor will increase her survivability tenfold and allow her to make it through most tough encounters with ease.
If you decide to go all-in on Veronica and give her the Elijah’s Last Words perk, she becomes arguably the strongest companion in the entire game. The damage she outputs is unmatched, as is the damage she can take thanks to her power armor training.
Just make sure you’re not shooting her yourself or using explosives. Speaking from experience, that’s a recipe for disaster.
Key Relationships
Father Elijah
Veronica served under Father Elijah during the Mojave chapter’s expedition to Hoover Dam. After her parents’ deaths, Elijah became a father figure to Veronica right up until he was defeated at Helios One by the NCR.
Veronica is not aware that Elijah survived the battle and left for the Sierra Madre, although the Courier can discuss it with her after completing the Dead Money DLC and downloading Elijah’s Holotape from the terminal in the Abandoned Brotherhood of Steel Bunker.
Christine Royce
Christine is also a character encountered in Dead Money and is Veronica’s ex-girlfriend.
The two dated before the Mojave chapter journeyed towards Vegas. This was looked down upon by the group as members are expected to procreate to sustain BoS numbers. Ultimately, due to Elijah’s influence, the two broke up.
Unbeknownst to Veronica, Christine actually remained in the Brotherhood after their breakup, joining the secretive Circle of Steel internal affairs group.
FAQ
Question: Is Veronica Good in Fallout New Vegas?
Answer: Yes, Veronica Santangelo is insanely good in Fallout New Vegas. She is the strongest companion in the game for both dealing and taking damage, thanks to her ability to wear power armor.
Question: Why Won’t Veronica Wear Her Dress?
Answer: Veronica doesn’t have to put on the dress to get the Scribe Counter perk. Instead, she will thank the Courier and mention that she will try it on later. Presumably, this is because the stats of the dress are significantly lower than that of her robes.
Question: How Do I Get Veronica in Fallout New Vegas?
Answer: Veronica is found in the 188 Trading Post on the road to Vegas. To recruit her, talk to her about the Brotherhood of Steel and respond favorably. She will then be recruitable as a companion.
Conclusion
There you have it: the complete guide to Veronica in Fallout New Vegas. I’ve included everything you need to know about her while remaining as spoiler-free as possible, so if you feel like there’s missing information, that’s why.
Fallout New Vegas is an expertly written game. It would be an injustice to tell you all about the ins and outs of Veronica’s character rather than letting you experience them for yourself. She’s incredibly complex with a loveable personality that goes far beyond the level of detail and care typically given to followers.
Regardless of whether you’re a Brotherhood of Steel fan or not, you should try and complete her companion quest. Trust me; she’ll win even the loyalist of Enclave fans over.