General Character Guide
Posted: Sun May 20, 2018 1:10 am
Since I don't see anything like this, I guess I will go ahead and start one, for anyone who is less familiar with the mod (assuming all you guys didn't already beat the game like 10 times )
Keep in mind that there is no "best" build. This is meant more as a general guideline than anything.
Here is what I like to go with:
Stats:
Strength 7 - Enough to handle all weapons. You can set this to 5 and be just fine, since 5 is enough for most weapons (Kriss), and Power Armor will let you handle any weapon anyway. I mostly like the extra Carry weight.
Perception 9 - Getting out-sequenced, and thus double-turned is the cause of roughly 75% of my deaths in combat. This helps prevent it, and lets you fight effectively at night, at long range. You can reduce as desired, this is just my personal preference. I wouldn't go below 6 though.
Endurance 8 - For Hit Points. Early on, you are kind of vulnerable, and a high END gets you out of trouble faster. More HP gives you a better chance to survive a turn of being shot. Given that I had spare points, this is a good stat to put them in. 6 is fine, but I wouldn't go lower.
Charisma 4 - Enough for two party members (or 3, if you take Mentats). Mostly a dump stat otherwise. Alternatively, go for 6 and pick Leader Perk
Intelligence 8 - For skill points. Granted, skill points are not that important actually, and the Tag Perk lets you gets tons of skills anyways. I am not sure as to what kind of INT checks there are in the game, but I tend to follow Per Jorner's general Fallout advice "Good INT, good Speech, and a way to deal damage efficiently".
Agility 9 - or 10, if I don't intend to undergo the operation in Dead Quarter. Action Points are extremely useful in combat, and 10 is the magic number, letting you take two 5-action point shots, for example.
Luck 2 - Dump stat. The only use is for the Sniper perk, but that is hardly needed. Rebirth is the only place where it might even matter, but mopping up everyone without it, with good weapons and companions should not be at all a problem. It does make the Savior fight extremely easy though (if you don't just Speech him to death).
Traits:
Gifted - The best trait, no doubt. Skills are not that important, and seven extra stat points are very nice.
Fast shot - Burst > Aimed, this is just a cold hard truth in Fallout. This is part due to how the numbers break down. A regular shot costs 5 ap, so an aimed one costs 6. That means one aimed shot per turn, unless you are using a "fast" weapon (one that costs 4ap to fire). With Fast Shot, you can burst twice per turn if you have 10AP.
Tags:
Small Guns - You need this early on for fightning. The earliest you can get a decent energy weapon is Sedit (raider encounter), and for a big gun, maybe a Light Grenade Launcher (but ammo is limited). Small guns is available early, and can serve you all the way to the end.
Speech - In the world of Fallout, this is the most universally useful skill, giving you more ways to solve quests, and get information out of people.
Big Guns/Lockpick/Unarmed - The third tag if flexible. I usually go with Big Guns for the fun of it, but Lockpick is convenient too. Though, a Crowbar and good Strength gets you past most locks anyways, so it is less good than in Fallout 2. Unarmed is handy for your Prizefighting adventures, but not recommended for taking on enemies with Assault Rifles.
Other skills you might want:
First Aid/Outdoorsman/Repair/Science - these can be raised with books. The only use for Repair and Science beyond that is Progema, but all that nets you is a Ray Gun (which isn't even that powerful)
Energy Weapons - You could tag this if you want, or use the Tag Trick (discussed below).
Perks:
Lvl 3 : Awareness - Really useful to be able to know what gun you are being shot with, and who is low oh HP so you can kill them.
Lvl 6: Bonus Move - For a Burst enthusiast like myself, being able to run around faster is good. Also good in unarmed. Also good for running from Deathclaws. Pretty much good always.
Lvl 9: Bonus move (2) - What's better than one bonus move? Two of them. OR, Leader if you are going for 6CH.
Lvl 12: Tag (for the Tag Trick)/Action Boy - More action points are always welcome, and getting to 12 means even more attacks per turn. Tag is useful if you want to accumulate obscene amounts of skill points.
Lvl 15: Bonus Rate of Fire - Lets you shot more often. That means more damage. That is very, very good.
Lvl 18: Action Boy (2) - If I picked the first Action Boy, I will want the second too. If I go with Tag, then this is a flex spot.
What is the Tag Trick?
When you take the Tag perk, than you get a bonus to the skill you pick, equal to the number of points you already spent on it. Example, if you start out at 40 Unarmed, and you raise it to 100, then Tagging it will bump that up another 60 (plus the 20 you normally get). Why does this matter? Because you can the remove these excess points. If a skill ends up at 180 points, removing one point will give you 5 back. The bottom line is that, for a skill that started at 13 points, after I raised it to 101, tagging it (and taking off the extra points) netted me something like 130 extra skill points.
This is also useful even if you don't want to take off the points. If you want to use Energy Weapons or Big guns, don't tag them, and just raise them normally, then Tag at lvl 12 to catapult them to 180 or something.
Companions and Leader Perk
The Leader Perk, which requires 6CH, offers +1AP to your companions (and some Armor Class). This mostly matters for companions who would gain an extra attack thanks to this. Keri does not, but Gabriel and Lystra do. This would be a fair alternative to my 4CH, if you don't mind giving up Bonus Move.
Keri - Give her a Desert Eagle, then the Magnum Revoler, which gives her two shots per turn.
Gabriel - Evil Characters only. Either Annihilator, or the .223 Pistol. If you are not taking Leader, then Anti-material Rifle. Sometimes asks for caps, but its not so much that it matters.
Lystra - Good Characters only. Her starting Plasma Pistol is decent. Give her a Light Plasma Rifle when you find it, then a Plasma Rifle at Rebirth. If you are not using Leader, then Plasma Cannon actually works better (since you get one shot anyways).
Mutt - He dies sooner or later when you start going up against automatic weapons and flamethrowers. Nice to start with, but don't feel sand when he dies.
Floater - Tougher than Mutt, but otherwise has the same issues. Dumb Characters only.
Most veterans will probably not find this helpful, but maybe someone starting out will be able to benefit. Cheers.
Keep in mind that there is no "best" build. This is meant more as a general guideline than anything.
Here is what I like to go with:
Stats:
Strength 7 - Enough to handle all weapons. You can set this to 5 and be just fine, since 5 is enough for most weapons (Kriss), and Power Armor will let you handle any weapon anyway. I mostly like the extra Carry weight.
Perception 9 - Getting out-sequenced, and thus double-turned is the cause of roughly 75% of my deaths in combat. This helps prevent it, and lets you fight effectively at night, at long range. You can reduce as desired, this is just my personal preference. I wouldn't go below 6 though.
Endurance 8 - For Hit Points. Early on, you are kind of vulnerable, and a high END gets you out of trouble faster. More HP gives you a better chance to survive a turn of being shot. Given that I had spare points, this is a good stat to put them in. 6 is fine, but I wouldn't go lower.
Charisma 4 - Enough for two party members (or 3, if you take Mentats). Mostly a dump stat otherwise. Alternatively, go for 6 and pick Leader Perk
Intelligence 8 - For skill points. Granted, skill points are not that important actually, and the Tag Perk lets you gets tons of skills anyways. I am not sure as to what kind of INT checks there are in the game, but I tend to follow Per Jorner's general Fallout advice "Good INT, good Speech, and a way to deal damage efficiently".
Agility 9 - or 10, if I don't intend to undergo the operation in Dead Quarter. Action Points are extremely useful in combat, and 10 is the magic number, letting you take two 5-action point shots, for example.
Luck 2 - Dump stat. The only use is for the Sniper perk, but that is hardly needed. Rebirth is the only place where it might even matter, but mopping up everyone without it, with good weapons and companions should not be at all a problem. It does make the Savior fight extremely easy though (if you don't just Speech him to death).
Traits:
Gifted - The best trait, no doubt. Skills are not that important, and seven extra stat points are very nice.
Fast shot - Burst > Aimed, this is just a cold hard truth in Fallout. This is part due to how the numbers break down. A regular shot costs 5 ap, so an aimed one costs 6. That means one aimed shot per turn, unless you are using a "fast" weapon (one that costs 4ap to fire). With Fast Shot, you can burst twice per turn if you have 10AP.
Tags:
Small Guns - You need this early on for fightning. The earliest you can get a decent energy weapon is Sedit (raider encounter), and for a big gun, maybe a Light Grenade Launcher (but ammo is limited). Small guns is available early, and can serve you all the way to the end.
Speech - In the world of Fallout, this is the most universally useful skill, giving you more ways to solve quests, and get information out of people.
Big Guns/Lockpick/Unarmed - The third tag if flexible. I usually go with Big Guns for the fun of it, but Lockpick is convenient too. Though, a Crowbar and good Strength gets you past most locks anyways, so it is less good than in Fallout 2. Unarmed is handy for your Prizefighting adventures, but not recommended for taking on enemies with Assault Rifles.
Other skills you might want:
First Aid/Outdoorsman/Repair/Science - these can be raised with books. The only use for Repair and Science beyond that is Progema, but all that nets you is a Ray Gun (which isn't even that powerful)
Energy Weapons - You could tag this if you want, or use the Tag Trick (discussed below).
Perks:
Lvl 3 : Awareness - Really useful to be able to know what gun you are being shot with, and who is low oh HP so you can kill them.
Lvl 6: Bonus Move - For a Burst enthusiast like myself, being able to run around faster is good. Also good in unarmed. Also good for running from Deathclaws. Pretty much good always.
Lvl 9: Bonus move (2) - What's better than one bonus move? Two of them. OR, Leader if you are going for 6CH.
Lvl 12: Tag (for the Tag Trick)/Action Boy - More action points are always welcome, and getting to 12 means even more attacks per turn. Tag is useful if you want to accumulate obscene amounts of skill points.
Lvl 15: Bonus Rate of Fire - Lets you shot more often. That means more damage. That is very, very good.
Lvl 18: Action Boy (2) - If I picked the first Action Boy, I will want the second too. If I go with Tag, then this is a flex spot.
What is the Tag Trick?
When you take the Tag perk, than you get a bonus to the skill you pick, equal to the number of points you already spent on it. Example, if you start out at 40 Unarmed, and you raise it to 100, then Tagging it will bump that up another 60 (plus the 20 you normally get). Why does this matter? Because you can the remove these excess points. If a skill ends up at 180 points, removing one point will give you 5 back. The bottom line is that, for a skill that started at 13 points, after I raised it to 101, tagging it (and taking off the extra points) netted me something like 130 extra skill points.
This is also useful even if you don't want to take off the points. If you want to use Energy Weapons or Big guns, don't tag them, and just raise them normally, then Tag at lvl 12 to catapult them to 180 or something.
Companions and Leader Perk
The Leader Perk, which requires 6CH, offers +1AP to your companions (and some Armor Class). This mostly matters for companions who would gain an extra attack thanks to this. Keri does not, but Gabriel and Lystra do. This would be a fair alternative to my 4CH, if you don't mind giving up Bonus Move.
Keri - Give her a Desert Eagle, then the Magnum Revoler, which gives her two shots per turn.
Gabriel - Evil Characters only. Either Annihilator, or the .223 Pistol. If you are not taking Leader, then Anti-material Rifle. Sometimes asks for caps, but its not so much that it matters.
Lystra - Good Characters only. Her starting Plasma Pistol is decent. Give her a Light Plasma Rifle when you find it, then a Plasma Rifle at Rebirth. If you are not using Leader, then Plasma Cannon actually works better (since you get one shot anyways).
Mutt - He dies sooner or later when you start going up against automatic weapons and flamethrowers. Nice to start with, but don't feel sand when he dies.
Floater - Tougher than Mutt, but otherwise has the same issues. Dumb Characters only.
Most veterans will probably not find this helpful, but maybe someone starting out will be able to benefit. Cheers.