“Hey there. Need anything?”
Traveling merchants are present in Fallout: New Vegas and can be found wandering the Mojave Wasteland buying and selling goods.
Characteristics
They usually have a companion mercenary as a bodyguard, who is armed with decent firepower. There is also usually one brahmin per merchant to carry their baggage and inventory. Occasionally, two traveling merchants will travel together, each with his own merc and pack brahmin. Heavily trafficked areas for the merchants include the Mojave Outpost, Novac, Freeside's North Gate and near the Crimson Caravan Company.
Interactions with the player character
Interactions overview
Inventory
| Apparel | Weapon | Other items |
|---|---|---|
| Leather armor Stormchaser hat |
10mm pistol Cowboy repeater 9mm submachine gun knife |
Various aid and food items |
Locations
- Mojave Outpost has a merchant who never wanders far from the location; if he is not at the outpost, he is east of it at the bottom of the highway.
- A lone merchant with no mercenary guard will appear at Boulder City the first time that location is visited; he will travel south to Novac, where he will remain at a fixed position at the gate entrance to the gas station. His inventory does not replenish, which eventually makes him useless for trading purposes (see bugs, below).
- North-east of Wolfhorn ranch, two traveling merchants plus brahmin and mercenaries will spawn on the overpass bridge should the player approach it from the west. They will try to reach Novac, however, the Legion ambushes, Viper gunslingers, and wasteland creatures along their path ensures their demise unless the player gives them a helping hand. If the caravan reaches Novac, they will stop for a while, then continue on to REPCONN headquarters, Grub n' Gulp rest stop, and Crimson Caravan Company, though they cease to run into attacks.
- The Crimson Caravan Company will often have a merchant who remains near the location and never leaves.
- A Crimson Caravan merchant will periodically travel between the Crimson Caravan and Camp McCarran.
Notes
- Traveling merchants do not offer reputation discounts, a good Barter skill is necessary when dealing with them.
- Caesar's Legion members are hostile to traveling merchants, and will attack both them and their guards.
- For lower level characters, traveling with a merchant and their mercenary can provide protection from the dangers of the road.
- The player can find the static remains of a dead traveling merchant, their guard and a pack brahmin near the El Dorado dry lake, the brahmin is a normal corpse able to be looted, however the merchant and guard are static objects and appear as mauled corpses.
- The merchant who frequents the area around El Dorado dry lake may be killed by the giant ants or Viper gunslingers in the area, but will generally survive multiple encounters with them before disappearing from your game completely.
- Traveling merchants may carry items from the Gun Runners' Arsenal add-on.
- The merchant that stops in Novac will wear any better armor you sell him (including Legion armor).
- The traveling merchants do not enter the Strip.
Appearances
Traveling merchants appear in Fallout: New Vegas
Bugs
A merchant that has been killed by a plasma weapon turns into a goo pile that can be used to initiate a conversation once the merchant has respawned. The merchant can be quite a distance away but the conversation zooms in and initiates anyways. [verified]Category:Articles with verified bugs- A single traveling merchant can be initially encountered just outside Boulder City, armed with a cowboy repeater and lacking a mercenary escort. This merchant will buy and sell goods, but his stock consists only of what he is carrying and does not change periodically, as with a normal merchant. Furthermore he will travel from Boulder City to Novac only once, and will remain in Novac for the rest of the game. [verified]Category:Articles with verified bugs
- At least two traveling merchants' inventories are not set to change periodically (or "update") as they should be: the merchant found outside the Mojave Outpost, and a merchant located near the Strip. These merchants will still buy and sell goods, but aside from changes due to sales their inventories will remain the same over the course of the game. This is true even if they are killed and later respawn. [verified]Category:Articles with verified bugs
- One traveling merchant may stop near the Poseidon gas station in Novac and remain there for the whole game. [verified]Category:Articles with verified bugs
