Fallout: New Vegas SPECIAL

This page describes the SPECIAL implementation $$

Character creation
The maximum level obtainable in Fallout: New Vegas is 30; however, each add-on installed adds an additional 5 levels to the maximum. With all four add-ons, the level is increased to a final level maximum of 50.

Primary statistics
The S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system has remained mostly consistent throughout the Fallout series. As has been the case since Fallout, the character's S.P.E.C.I.A.L. attributes default to 5 points per attribute, with an additional 5 points to be distributed during character creation, for a total of 40 points. As in previous games, individual attributes can be adjusted upward and downward so long as the total equals exactly 40. Also as in previous games, individual attributes cannot go lower than 1 or higher than 10; any bonuses or penalties beyond those are simply ignored.

The game internally keeps track of "base stats," which are the SPECIAL scores without any temporary adjustments (such as from chems or certain equipment). These base stats are used both for checking against the prerequisites for a perk and for determining the number of skill points allocated on a level up. The only ways to modify these "base stats" are through:
 * New Vegas medical clinic implants.
 * Taking the Intense Training perk.
 * Completing Lonesome Road.
 * Taking the Four Eyes trait, which deducts 1 permanently from Perception while granting a temporary +2 to Perception when wearing glasses, or +3 when wearing lucky shades.
 * Taking the Small Frame trait.

Starting Old World Blues automatically grants the Spineless perk (+1 Strength) and completing it gives the option to replace Spineless with Reinforced Spine (+2 Strength). However, these bonuses do not count for perk requirements.

There is a special Endurance calculation used just for the New Vegas medical clinic implant limit, which is base Endurance minus any Endurance implant. This is to prevent an Endurance implant from being "free" (as otherwise it would be possible to install an Endurance implant and still have the same number of available implants as before). Taking all these stat buffs will yield 23 SPECIAL points, the maximum possible without the use of cheats.

Derived statistics
Derived statistics are attributes of a character that cannot be set directly, but are instead based on (or derived from) the character's primary statistics or attributes.