Creating a Grand, Great All-Round Character

Fallout 3 Guide - Statistics Explained

Creating a Grand, Great All-Round Character

No character is truly perfect, and choices must always be made, but this build is one of the better ones you can have.

Keep in mind, there is NO definitive way of creating a character.  This is merely advice, and perhaps you can use it as a starting plan.  Feel free to deviate from it.

Get the best result from ‘The Wasteland Survival Guide' Quest by doing all optional requests, and never answer with the smart or sneaky answers.  Instead go for the standard answer, act tough, or sarcastic.  You'll have to choose, though:

Standard: 15 Health
Tough: 6 DR
Sarcastic: 3% Critical Chance

SPECIAL

o Starting Stats:

STR: 8, PER: 5, END: 7, CHR: 1, INT: 5, AGL: 7, LCK: 7.
Boosts:  2       2       2       1       1       2       3

Optional:
You can also put INT at 3, but this will require you to swim to Rivet City early on, getting the INT Bobblehead.  In the end, the extra points in CHR are not worth much.  PER & AGL can use the extra points, but it'll be a little bit more tricky.

The Lucky 8 Ball can increase your Luck by 1, as can a Bobblehead.  Ranger Armor gives 1 Luck as well.  o The quest ‘Those!' can give you either 1 STR or 1 PER (choose PER).  o 3x Intense Training: 1 STR, 1 AGL, 1 END.

o Ending Stats:

STR: 10, PER: 7, END: 9, CHR: 2, INT: 6, AGL: 9, LCK: 10.

Skills

o As for Skills, with help from Dwovar: o There are 13 skills, and 100 pts/skill gives you 1300 total skill points necessary.

o There are 25 skill books per skill (maybe 24 for Barter), and Comprehension gives you double points. 2*13*25=650 (648 if there's only 24 for Barter). That leaves 652 to reach.

o The bobbleheads for skills give you 130 points. The SPECIA bobbleheads give you a 26 points (2 per skill, increased as their respective attribute is increased). That's a total of 156 from bobbleheads, leaving 496 to reach.

o Luck gives you ½ the luck score to ‘all skills'. So if you raise luck to 8, get the bobblehead, AND the lucky 8-Ball, you'll get 5 to all skills. So 5*13 is 65. That leaves 431 to reach.

o With the initial SPECIA statistics above, you'll gain 16, 30, 28, 4, 30, 32 = 140 Skill Points.  Leaves 291 to reach.

o With 5 INT = 15 Skill Points to Level 6 (5 Levels) = 15*5 = 75 Points.
With 6 INT = 16 Skill Points at Level 6-20 (15 Levels) = 16*15 = 240 Points.
Total = 315
(Note: You can swim to Rivet City when you leave the Vault, when you are LVL 3.
This grants you only 2 points extra over getting it at, say, LVL 5)
With the total of 315, we are already successful! We now have 24 points extra.
Besides, there are other small bonuses as well:

o You can tag 3 Skills from the GOAT test: 45 Points.  Total points left:
45 24 = 69.

o Cyborg Perk gives 10 Energy Weapons, Silent Running 10 Sneak.  That's 20 free points. 69 20 = 90 Points.

o You don't need to boost any skills into Big Guns when levelling up because it's possible to get infinite skill books for it from the respawning raider with the flamethrower in Bethesda East Office, upstairs.  This saves roughly 30 extra points again.  90 30 = 120.

o Keep in mind you don't want to boost any skill too high after levelling up.  You can use the 120 spare points to boost Lockpick and Science so you can easily get treasures during your quest - because playability matters too.

Closing Advice:
o Don't level Skill Boosting Perks.
o At LVL 4, go for Comprehension.
o Get the INT Bobblehead ASAP
o Get 6 PER before Level 12 or so.
 
o Don't be too hard on yourself with Lockpick and Science.  You have a margin
of points you can ‘waste', so raising these to 70 - 75 should do no harm.

o Never take the ‘Here and Now' and ‘Tag' Perks.  That's a waste.

Perk Levelling Advice:
Level 2:  Intense Training -> STR 1
Level 3:  Intense Training -> END 1
Level 4:  Comprehension (You can now read any Skill Book safely; 2 Points)
Level 5:  Intense Training -> AGL 1
Level 6:  Toughness
Level 7:  Bloody Mess
Level 8:  Strong Back
Level 9:  Commando
Level 10: Finesse
Level 11: Demolition Expert
Level 12: Sniper
Level 13: Silent Running
Level 14: Cyborg
Level 15: Pyromaniac
Level 16: Action Boy
Level 17: Better Criticals
Level 18: Paralyzing Palm
Level 19: [choice]
Level 20: Grim Reaper's Sprint

Level 2 & 3

At Level 2 you can choose from Intense Training, Black Widow/Lady Killer, Daddy's Boy/Girl, Gun Nut, Little Leager, Swift Learner and Thief.  The latter five give a skill boost which is essentially worthless because you can max your skills out later.  With the exception of Swift Learner, which gives an EXP bonus.  However, we're going to make it to LVL 20 without it, and time is not an issue. Lady Killer is bad because there simply aren't many female opponents in the game, and Black Widow is so-so.  Therefore, it's best to go with the Intense Training Perk.

Level 4 & 5

This needs little clarification. Comprehension doubles the effects of skill books, and if you follow the character building plan in this guide, you won't need Educated.  Another Intense Training session to boost your stats.

Level 6 & 7

The competition gets tougher.  From Level 4 we left a few skills behind, so let us go over them: Child at Heart makes you good with kids, but there are only a few places this will really benefit you, and you can almost always do Speech Challenges and reset. We already took Comprehension.  Entomologist is actually a pretty decent Perk, but it's main use will be when you're fighting the bigger bugs such as Giant Radscorpion. The 50% damage can come in handy then.  The Scoundrel Perk raises Skill Points, so we can ignore it.  Iron Fist is for Unarmed users and can be useful if you're in love with that, but only then.

That means we ‘keep' one Perk in mind from Level 4, which is Entomologist.

Let's go over LVL 6 & 7.  Bloody Mess isn't just all visuals, it actually causes an extra 5% damage - ALWAYS.  Demolition Expert boosts Mines, Grenades and the Missile Launcher damages by 20%.  Fortune Finder allows you to find more Caps whenever you do find caps.  This isn't very useful later on, when you can sell loot from bodies for a lot of caps (this includes ammo). Gunslinger increases VATS accuracy by 25% when firing single-handed weapons - needless to say very nice.  Lead Belly allows you to drink from radiated sinks, use toilets, etc..  with a 50% decrease in radiation poisoning.  Absolutely useless.  Toughness will increase your Defense Rating by a permanent 10.  Absolutely Great.

So Toughness is one we'll pick regardless.  Leaves one, the choice between:

• Entomologist
• Bloody Mess <--
• Demolition Expert
• Gunslinger

Level 8 & 9

Commando increases VATS accuracy by 25% for rifles.  Quite useful, actually.  Impartial Mediation is worthless - you can reset Speech Challenges if you really want the benefits, and besides, you need to have neutral Karma for this to work.  Rad Resistance isn't very useful as you can always use Rad-X and RadAway.  The Scrounger Perk can be very useful, but only if you're an Ammo waster.  Of course it can also bring in extra caps..  Size Matters is about skill points, so we can ignore it.  The Strong Back is a unique Perk which gives 50 weight allowance.  Then again, you can also use your weight sparingly and store things in your house.

Leaves the choice between:

- (Any 3 Unpicked Perks from LVL 6 & 7)
• Commando <--
• Strong Back <--

Level 10 & 11

Ah, Animal Friend. The thing is, it's actually quite decent if you put two ranks in this (because they will help you in fights against non-animals), but that's asking a bit much, and only one rank in it causes animals to simply not attack.  Therefore it's not worth it.  Finesse increases your Critical Chance by 5%.  Very, very useful.  Here and Now increase a level automatically - which is a worthless effort since we'll make it to LVL 20 either way.  Mister Sandman allows you to instantly, and here it comes, kill any ADULT HUMAN, while they are SLEEPING.  That's a lot of factors..Let's see, Human check, Adult check, Sleeping check.  You won't find this useful very often.  The Mysterious Stranger Perk allows for the Mysterious Stranger to finish off an opponent when they have less than 150 HP, with a 10% chance.  It will interfere with The Grim Reapers Sprint at LVL 20, so that's a reason to not pick it.  Nerd Rage would be good if it was only activated a little higher than 20% or less than your Max Health.  STR to 10 and Damage Resistance 50.  Sounds attractive, but when you see your Health Bar blinking at 15%, what are you going to do?  Exactly, use a Stimpak.  Night Person is quite useless; It grants 2 INT and 2 PER at night.

We will pick Finesse from this list, and leave the rest alone.  Now we can choose a Perk from one of the previous levels:

If you picked Bloody Mess, Commando and Scrounger, pick a choice from these:

• Entomologist
• Demolition Expert <--
• Gunslinger

Level 12 & 13

Cannibal allows you to eat corpses for 25 Health and -1 Karma. Eh, yeah.  There are better ways to heal or stack up negative karma.  Fast Metabolism gives a 20% boost to a Stimpak.  Handy, but not more than that.  You'll come across plenty of Stimpaks and with your Medicine Skill maxed in the end you won't need this at all.  Life Giver gives, well, 30 Life.  Can't argue that it's not useful, because it is.  Pyromaniac gives 50% damage to Flamethrower, Firelance Alien Blaster, Zhu-Rong v418 Chinese Pistol, Nuka-Grenade and Shiskebab.  Its usefulness is fair to good.  Robotics Expert allows for a 25% to robots which is never bad.  Silent Running is the ultimate sneak perk - it allows you to sneak at full speed without making any sound.  Sniper gives 25% chance to hit your enemy's head in VATS - very useful as well.

This is a tough round with choices to be made from:

- (Any 2 Unpicked Perks from before)

• Life Giver
• Pyromaniac
• Robotics Expert
• Silent Running <--
• Sniper <--

Level 14 & 15

With Adamantium Skeleton, limbs receive 50% less damage.  Sounds very useful, isn't very useful.  If your limbs get crippled, you'll often reload anyway.  Chemist doubles the duration of Chems.  Handy?  Yes.  Contract Killer and Lawbringer allow you to loot ears or fingers and sell them for 5 Caps.  Compared to the other Perks around, not very shiny.  Cyborg is no contest, really.  It gives 10 Damage Resistance, Poison Resistance, Rad Resistance and even Energy Weapons Skill.  Light Step makes it so you never set off any traps or mines.  Handy, but you can also be more careful.  Master Trader gives you a discount of 25% at all traders.  Handy, but not all that useful later on.
Cyborg is a surefire pick. Leaves us with:

- (Any 5 Unpicked Perks from before): Pyromaniac <--
• Chemist

Level 16 & 17

Action Boy/Girl is great, really.  An additional 25 VATS AP!  Better Criticals is also great: 50% Damage for Critical Hits, that slaughters enemies!  Chem Resistant is useful in combination with Chemist only, but can be a very powerful combi.  It reduces the chance to get addicted by 50%.  Tag grants 15 Skill Points to any skill, and is the most worthless Perk in the whole higher level range.

Thus you'll want to choose Action Boy/Girl and Better Criticals. Leaves:

- (Any 5 Unpicked Perks from before)

Level 18 & 19

Computer Whiz is decent when hacking, but .. not worth passing up other great Perks.  Concentrated Fire isn't bad, but Sniper is much better.  Infiltrator is like a Computer Whiz but with Lockpicks.  Its usefulness can be questioned.  Paralyzing Palm freezes an enemy for 30 seconds, but you have to be unarmed.

That doesn't have to be a problem however, just unequip/equip your weapons! Leaves us with the following:

- (Any 5 Unpicked Perks from before)
• Paralyzing Palm <--

You must leave 4 fairly useful perks behind, which is a shame, but it has to be done.  This choice is mainly up to you - I can only tell you what I would do, and why:

Choose From

Entomologist:  You'll squash those bugs without the extra damage.

Gunslinger:  Aside from the .44 Magnum and Dart Gun .. will you really be using Pistols on enemies later on?  You can live with the few less Acc%.

Life Giver: Health is nice, but 30 points on 300 HP is only 10%, and you can literally live without the bonus.  Besides, the other Perks y'know.. Robotics Expert: 25% extra damage to robots is nice, but there are Perks that have a much wider bonus that can help with all enemies.

Chemist:  The Chemist Boosts are temporary, can get you addicted, and they are great on their own already.  This also needs the Chem Resistant perk. You can also pick another Intense Training session, to make things even more difficult.

Level 20

Grim Reaper's Sprint.  Seriously.