How to Make a Well-Rounded Character in Fallout 3

There are a few tricks to making a character in Fallout 3 that aren't immediately obvious. While playing Fallout and Fallout 2 helps, there are a few more things you might want to know.

Instructions

1. Allocate SPECIAL stats appropriately. When you first look at the "You are SPECIAL!" book when you are a year old, you can subtract points as well as add them. This allows you to bring stats below five in order to raise others. Note that you needn't raise any stat to 10; there are Bobbleheads out in the wastes that increase each of your stats by one. Also note that raising Strength above six is ill-advised. Strength can be augmented by the Bobblehead (+1), Brotherhood Power Armor (+2) and a gene mutation in Greyditch (+1 Strength or +1 Perception.) Perception, Intelligence and Charisma are arguably the most important stats. Perception allows you to shoot better, Intelligence gives you more skill points per level and dialog options while Charisma lets you talk your way out of tight spots.

2. Allocate Skills according to your play style. While some styles are more difficult than others to play (for instance, playing a melee-only character will be very difficult), there are some skills which are universally more useful than others. Lockpick, Science, Repair, Speech and Small Guns should be at the top of your list. Lockpick and Science allow you to open locks and computers you can't otherwise. Repair saves you a bunch of caps by allowing you to combine items to vastly increase Item Condition and value (eg: one well-maintained pistol weighs less than and is worth more than a whole bag of poorly-maintained pistols.) Speech opens new dialog options for you and Small Guns are by far the most common throughout the game.

3. Choose your Perks wisely. The best perks are those that give benefits other than skill points. With suitably high Intelligence, books and Bobbleheads, most skills can be maxed or nearly maxed with relative ease. Unless you are aiming for something specific that is not easily enhanced with books such as Melee Weapons, try not to take Perks that just give skill points. Remember, while you can always pick up skill points, you have a finite amount of Perks.

4. Be on the lookout for Books and Bobbleheads. Bobbleheads are small figurines that can be found in vaults, towns and high-level danger zones. There is a Bobblehead for each skill and each SPECIAL stat. Stat Bobbleheads increase the given stat by one point (hence the reason you don't want to give yourself 10 points in any stat) and skill Bobbleheads increase the given skill by 10 points. Books are used to increase skills by one point (or two if you take the Comprehension Perk.) Skill Books always have unique names such as "Pugilism Illustrated", "Guns and Bullets", "Nicola Tesla and You", "Lying Congressional Style", etc.

5. Choose a weapon specialty early on. While using several types of weapons allows you to be flexible when needed, there are distinct advantages to using only a certain type of weapon (eg: small guns, big guns, energy weapons, etc.) You only need to buy certain types of ammunition, you can dump all your weapon skill points into a single category and it also allows you to focus your Perks. We recommend first-time players specialize in Small Guns.

Tips & Warnings

• The Educated Perk gives you an extra three skill points per level. In addition to a high Intelligence stat, this gives you a better skill boost than other Perks.

• Small Guns is the easiest type of weapon to specialize in. They are varied, flexible and are readily available throughout the entire game.

• While you can specialize in Big Guns, Melee Weapons, Unarmed or Energy Weapons, Big and Energy Weapons do not appear in great quantity until later in the game, leaving you vulnerable early on. Melee and Unarmed styles are very challenging styles that should not be attempted by a new player.

• Do not boost any of your skills past 90 until you find that skill's Bobblehead.