Where do i get them and what are they?

They are NPCs (non playable characters) that follow you and help you. They fight alongside of you, can carry stuff for you, etc. I've only seen one so far in this game, I found him at Novac. His name is Boone.

how good are they? do they fight well or just svck?

I have found them to be an odd mix of overpowered and incredibly wimpy. So while they can wipe out the opposition with their mad skillz they get knocked out frequently. I'm finding it kind of annoying. I want them to be less dominating and remain upright. I think it will take practice to get them working just right. I've tried out Veronica and Cass and am travelling around with Arcade right now.

They are great, well the girl I have with me is, and she sometimes flirts with me, ish! well trys to then stops! lol She has one mean punch, and i wouldnt change her for the world, oh no im getting a "Lara Croft" moment in Fallout lol

Well the sniper at the top of the T-rex is amazing. I dont know how many times he pops an enemies head before i even see them. Not to mention their armor doesnt even seem to matter to him.

Arcade Israel Gannon - This Follower of the Apocalypse with a dark secret can easily be found at the Old Mormon Fort in New Vegas.
Veronica Santangelo - A Brotherhood of Steel scribe hanging around 188 Trading Post.
Raul - A ghoul mechanic/adventurer imprisoned on Black Mountain.

The above two can easily be swayed to join you, though Raul is trapped in a Super Mutant fortress surrounded by Deathclaws... so good luck with that! :goodjob:

Craig Boone - A former NCR sniper in Novac. You will need to complete a quest, so do what he asks you first.
Rose of Sharon Cassidy - A caravan owner stuck at the Mojave Outpost. You will need to join the Crimson Caravan first and negotiate with Cass before she'll join you.
Lily Bowen - A 75 year old grandmother turned Nightkin with schizophrenia currently residing in Jacobstown. Talk to the human doctor in the main building who will suggest you team up with her.

ED-E - An Enclave Eyebot lying about at the Mojave Express in Primm. You'll have to repair him first.
Rex - He belongs to the King, so you'll have to show a little less talk, a little more action if you want this hounddog to follow you into the ghetto-uhm, wasteland... :disco:

Anyone know how to get lily to join you when she just says three's a crowd? I already have the quest, and I dismissed rex. The only other companion that could be following me is Veronica, I don't remember dismissing her but she seemed to have vanished.

I had Cass follow me. I took her to the energy weapons place outside the strip and the owner guy vaporized her with a laser rifle.

lol.

You can only have one humanoidcompanion, one non-humanoid companion at a time. Just Wait a few times and she'll be there.

Boone and Ed-E are great. I gave boone a rebar club in his inventory and he automatically switches to melee in close quarters combat. Kills them with one hit.

The only time I hate having Boone around is CQB. 2 snipers going against melee doesn't usually end well. Maybe I should hand him that bumper sword in REPCONN...

Other than that, he regularly steals my kill... when I'm on Caution mode, and that's rare.

I gave Boone the rebar club as well, he is quite efficient with that thing. Fun to watch.

Boone ftw.. Im a sniper player anyways.. so between me and him.. nothing usually gets close in the wild wasteland.. dude is badass..

I gave him a fully repaired supersledge.. and man.. he butchers with that thing..