Cass

Rose of Sharon Cassidy, also known as Cass or Whiskey Rose, is the owner of Cassidy Caravans in the Mojave Wasteland in 2281. She is a possible companion.

Background
Cass mentions that her father left to once more wander the wastes while she was still young, and she was raised by her mother, a former tribal from east of the Colorado River. She mentions that her father only left her a name and a pendant. She also mentions that she has heart problems, passed down from her father.

When first encountered by the Courier, Cass is drowning her sorrows at the Mojave Outpost bar. NCR Ranger reports have reached her that her caravan has been attacked and "burned to ash," placing an even greater burden on her shoulders. However, threats along the road into New Vegas and problems with NCR paperwork have so far prevented her from leaving the outpost to investigate the attack. She is very outspoken on the NCR and Caesar's Legion, mostly pointing out the bureaucratic messes of the NCR and the Legion's treatment of women, but does concede that Legion supply lines are "safe as houses", unlike NCR supply lines.

Quests

 * Birds of a Feather: The Courier is sent by Jean-Baptiste Cutting to either kill Cass or lure her to the Silver Rush to be killed. Completing Heartache by the Number first makes the Van Graff faction hostile, disabling the option to talk to Jean-Baptiste Cutting to complete this mission.
 * Heartache by the Number: The Courier recruits Cass as a companion, then investigates her sacked caravan and helps exact revenge on the perpetrators. Successfully completing Cass' companion quest will give her one of two perks (Cass will not initiate this quest while the Courier has Evil Karma):
 * Calm Heart, which raises her health by 50.
 * Hand of Vengeance, which grants a 15% bonus to the damage Cass inflicts with Guns-skill weapons.
 * You Can Depend on Me: The Courier is sent by Alice McLafferty to convince Cass to sell her caravan.

Companion

 * To recruit Cassidy, the player must make a Speech or Barter check of 50. Alternatively, Cass's Whiskey Challenge can be done with 75 barter by gathering 12 bottles of whiskey, of which 3 will be consumed.
 * When asked about her combat skills, Cass says she is skilled in explosives and unarmed combat, but unskilled with melee weapons. She has melee weapons as a tagged skill but is unskilled in explosives and unarmed combat. However, when it comes to her talking about her explosives skill, she only talks about using dynamite, an item with no skill requirements.
 * Cass is capable of wearing non-faction power armor.
 * If any amount of whiskey is put Cass' inventory, she will drink it leaving only Empty whiskey bottles.
 * Once she joins the Courier as a companion, Rose of Sharon Cassidy will give them the recipe for Cass' moonshine, craftable at campfires or electric hot plates. If the Courier has all of the ingredients on hand, she can also craft moonshine for them without needing a campfire.
 * Already having the max amount of companions and asking Cass to join may make her respond with not being "in the mood for a threesome. Today."

Other interactions

 * When asked about the monuments outside the Mojave Outpost, after her response, there will be an option to tell her what the statues actually depict with at least an accepted reputation by the NCR.
 * If the player has at least 6 Endurance, challenging Cass to a drinking contest will result in her complimenting them on their endurance, though they will still lose. If the Endurance stat is 8 or more, then Cass will lose and end in a drunken stupor, dismissing all three (or four) of the Couriers at once.
 * If labeled as a Terrorist by the NCR, Cass will always be hostile to the Courier even when disguised but not while she's currently an active companion. She may also ambush the Courier after fast traveling to a location.
 * Cass will make periodic random comments about almost every location she visits with the Courier. She also makes comments about the changes caused by the Courier's intervention. As of patch 1.4.0.525, Cass became far less vocal; she still has unique dialogue concerning many of the major locations in the game, but will only make a random comment once every 24 hours instead of every single time a location is visited. Comments include:

Low Karma

 * With Cass as a companion, opening a conversation with her with a negative Karma (-100) will make her complain about the Courier's behavior. With a Speech check of 65, she can be convinced about trying to improve one's demeanor or simply acknowledging her discontent and continuing the conversation. Speaking to her again with even less Karma (-150) brings a second confrontation. She can again be promised improvement with a Speech check of 65.
 * After the second confrontation, Cass stops complaining as long as the Courier stays Neutral (Karma -249 or higher). Talking to her again with Evil Karma (-250 or less) will make her automatically disband, with no way of convincing her to stay.
 * Telling Cass to go back to her family and saying they are dead will turn her hostile (she must first be asked about her family).
 * Talking to Cass repeatedly, regardless of topic, with Evil Karma (-250 or below) will make her disband.
 * Cass will never launch the Heartache by the Number quest while the Courier has Evil Karma, but it can be continued if already active.

Non-player character comments

 * Nightkin: Head voices say they knew flower girl's father.
 * NCR civilians: Your merchant friend would make a fine NCR woman.
 * Boomers: Whatever you're selling, we have plenty.
 * Fiends: I wouldn't mind hitting that. She put out?
 * Powder Gangers: Tough-looking woman. Something tells me she aims for the crotch.
 * Followers: Isn't that Cass? I heard she'd gotten out of the caravan business.
 * Freesiders: Check out the Wrangler if she needs booze.
 * The Kings: Hellooo, cowgirl! You mind if talk to your lady friend a bit instead of you?
 * Omertas: Let me know if the pretty lady with you is looking for some work.
 * Outer Vegas inhabitants: Your merchant friend is always welcome among us.

Appearances
Rose of Sharon Cassidy appears only in Fallout: New Vegas.

Behind the scenes
Cass was featured in the Meet the Companions Playstation Blog, written by Jason Bergman. The transcript appears below.


 * Rose of Sharon is the name of several different flowering plants.
 * She has the same name as a character in John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath.
 * Chris Avellone designed Cass' companion arc and wrote all of her dialogue.
 * Prior to release, Cass was the second character with the most lines of dialogue, the first being Ulysses. However, because Ulysses had so many lines, he could not actually be shipped with the game as the voice-over (approximately 1500~ lines) did not fit on the game disc. With his removal, Cass became the character with the most lines of dialogue.
 * Josh Sawyer commented on her father's past interaction with the Chosen One.
 * Cass is the Three of Hearts in the deck of Vault playing cards included with the Collector's Edition of Fallout: New Vegas.
 * During the development process of Cass, there were some ideas to have the player character wake up next to her drunk and be wed with her. The marriage would take place with The King doing the proceedings with an Elvis song.
 * The original idea for Cass's Whiskey Rose perk was to allow carrying more water items, along with receiving a healing bonus from its consumption. This was later changed to become more valuable as a companion perk and to also reinforce her hard-drinking personality.
 * In the "PlayStation Meet the Companions blog," her age is listed as 37.