Build Advice: SPECIAL

Build Advice
Forget the builds you used in Fallout 2. The builds in this game are different.
Season	3
Status	Build template added
Completion	95%
Authors	Henry
This Chapter	SPECIAL Points
More Chapters	Build Advice: Title Page Build Advice: SPECIAL Build Advice: Traits Build Advice: Perks Build Advice: Skills Build Advice: Conclusion
Notes	Builds: Strong Explorer Builds: Universal Soldier Builds: Turbo Miner Builds: A Leveling Build Builds: Fire Leader

S	P	E	C	I	A	L
Strength	Perception	Endurance	Charisma	Intelligence	Agility	Luck

STRENGTH

This is often very important for a physical fighter, who uses Close Combat, especially for pugilists who punch with Mega Power Fists. The knockdown affect from Heavy Handed is optimal with ST 10.

Except to qualify for certain Perks, the Strength requirement for ranged weapons can mostly be ignored in this game. That's because the penalty is easily offset by a higher gun skill, and any Character can eventually get their weapon skill to 300 since there is no level cap. A sniper might intend to use a Laser Rifle, which has a ST requirement of 5. But experienced players will usually choose ST 1, even though they will suffer an 80-point penalty to Hit Chance. They simply keep leveling, and raise their Energy Weapons skill 100 points higher to get the equivalent of 5 additional ST points. Those points are needed in Luck anyway, for all snipers. Extreme snipers will get maximum gun skill, and benefit from a ST implant. Most use Buffout, and others even use Psycho.

Main Points About Strength:

• ST 5 for tanks and PvE explorers to allow the Adrenaline Rush perk.
• ST 6 if you want to get the Stonewall perk.
• Low ST does have Hit Chance penalty but this is offset by higher weapon skill (no level cap).
• ST 1 for true snipers is not uncommon.
• ST 10 is considered overkill even for HtH since Drugs are easily obtainable.
• ST 7 is for HtH characters, who then get ST 10 from using both Buffout and Psycho.
• ST 9 for anyone who wants ST 10, but plans to use Jet for more speed, plus Buffout and Psycho.

PERCEPTION

High Perception is mandatory on a sniper, or a PvP forward scout and most sneakers, as it determines Sight. Each point of Perception equates to 3 hexes of Sight. The maximum Sight without the Sharpshooter perk is 50, which is the maximum weapon range of a Sniper Rifle. It is advisable to plan a sniper build carefully to see at least as far as your weapon range. For most PvE explorers, however, any lower PE works fine. Even PE 1 is okay on a non-sniper PvE explorer.

• PE 1 suffers no PE penalty from using Psycho and/or beer.
• PE 1 starts you in random encounters very close to NPCs, which is convenient for leveling.
• PE 1 suffers no PE penalty from using Weak Healing Powders which can be crafted on-the-fly while leveling.

ENDURANCE

Endurance is always 10 for all tanky fighters, but might be lower for a sniper. The competition between players forces a high priority on Hit Points, so any characters with lower than 10 are often targeted first.

NOTE: If you register EN 9 planning to get an EN implant, you'll be disappointed to know it won't give you those missing Hit Points.

CHARISMA

Charisma is generally always 1 in this game. Exceptions include:

• A taxi character whose intention is to travel with unusually large parties on the map.
• Enough CH to meet some quest or dialogue requirement, of which there are few.
• CH 9 might be the only way to become a Vault City citizen.
• CH 4 in order to get a total of 4 extra Hit Points from Alcohol Raised HP.
• CH 3 in order to get a total of 2 extra Hit Points from Alcohol Raised HP.
• CH 3 in order to get 4 Companion followers, which is the maximum.
• CH 3 to get Way of the Fruit, a Support Perk which allows you to eat rad-apples for +16 HP with no radiation penalty.
• CH 2 to get 4 Companion followers later, in a case where you plan to get a Charisma implant.

Even with CH 1, most characters can get 2 companion followers, or 3 with Good Natured. If you do want to recruit and lead companion followers though, avoid the Loner trait.

INTELLIGENCE

A high Intelligence is rarely needed in this game, mainly since there is no level cap. IN 4 allows you to get most PvE quests and enables some dialogue options, but Mentats can fix that if your IN is 3 or even 2. When choosing a character's Intelligence, it's common to choose all of the other SPECIALs first, and see what's left over. Exceptions include:

• Avoid IN 1 because it often prevents you from getting certain perks, even by Level 30 unless you know what you're doing.
• IN 2 is bare minimum for non-SG snipers who need to get Even More Criticals by level 29.
• IN 2 is bare minimum for non-SG bursters who need to get More Ranged Damage by level 29.
• IN 3 to get Sharpshooter
• IN 6 to get Swift Learner on a leveling character.
• IN 7 to get Rad Resistance for routinely diving into highly radiated places like Glow
• IN 10 combined with the Dismantler perk on a leveling build, might yield back the most resources.

AGILITY

A high Agility is important for all characters. As you likely know, AG directly effects how many AP you have. Now consider this: however many AP you have, it recharges to full from zero in the exact same time (supposed to always be 4 seconds) as everyone else's AP recharges to full from zero. Let that sink in. That means if you have 6 AP and your opponent has 12 AP, and you both burst each other using 6 AP each, then the following applies:

• First, he can burst you again immediately.
• Second, while you recharged 6 AP to burst again, he recharged 12 AP and can burst you twice again!

Thus AP is effectively your character's speed. For this reason, the veteran players here rarely register AG below 8. Here are a few hints about that:

• AG 8 usually means it's planned for an AG implant and forever use of Nuka-Cola for AG 10 (but avoid Buffout).
• AG 9 might mean it's planned for an AG implant, and to use both Buffout and Nuka-Cola (or neither).
• AG 9 might also mean it's planned for no AG implant, but to use only Nuka-Cola and skip Buffout.
• AG 10 means it's not planned for an AG implant at all, but maybe Buffout and Nuka-Cola.

The target base AG is always 10. If you're just starting out as an all-round explorer, it is advised to register AG 10. Implants are tough to get, and their extremely high value likely means you will want to only implant extreme combat characters later anyway. Your lead-in character will usually not need them.

LUCK

The effects of Luck are meant to be somewhat of a mystery. The easy part: max Luck 10 is very important for snipers. When deciding what Luck your characters will have, consider which perks he will have. Some are crit-related, so high Luck is usually important. The harder part: there may be some situations when the engine rolls against Luck more than once related to a single action. Your aimed-shot specialist sniper, for example, will only be optimal with Luck 10. Depending on his role though, your Luck 1 character might seem to function just fine for a whole season. However, be advised that the lower your Luck, the worse and more frequent will be your critical weapons malfunctions. Your guns can explode (or be dropped), and that's a lot more likely to happen with very low Luck (and is based also on weapon condition). Your success and failure with First Aid is also tied to your Luck; you will suffer far more critical failures with First Aid with low Luck, and see far fewer critical successes.

It also seems that with Luck 1, you're much more likely to slip and fall down when running over Brahmin Dung.

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