Fallout: New Vegas skills

Background
Fallout: New Vegas shares a similar skill set to its predecessor, Fallout 3, but with several differences. The primary weapons skills have been revamped, with Small Guns and Big Guns having been combined into the Guns skill, which now covers all conventional firearms. Weapons using explosive ordinance (missiles and grenades, for instance) are now covered by Explosives. New throwing weapons, such as the throwing spear, have been added, and are categorized as Melee Weapons. The Survival skill has also been added to the roster. It allows for crafting of various items, such as food, stimpaks, and poisons to augment the effectiveness of weapons.

Unlike Fallout 3, the base game will not give the player enough points to max out every skill, even accounting for every perk and skill book. It is possible to achieve a functional maximum in roughly ten skills by using skill magazines and the Comprehension perk for a temporary boost to 100 from a base level of 80. However, with two or more DLCs installed, 10 Intellingence, the Educated perk, and having consumed roughly 20 skill books, it is entirely possible to max out skill points by level 40.

To offset the necessity of a minimum value for a certain skill, New Vegas introduces skill magazines, which provide a large but temporary boost to their associated skill (+10 or 20 with Comprehension). By using one prior to conversation, a check can be passed that might otherwise be failed. They can also be used to boost skill with weapons temporarily or gain access to crafting recipes beyond the player's current skill. Like skill books, magazines are consumed once used, and more need to be collected to maintain the effect.

Effect of skills
Skills can be largely thought of as either "combat" or "non-combat": "combat" meaning skills that influence the effectiveness of weapons (also which skills Good Natured penalizes). Combat skills would be Energy Weapons, Explosives, Guns, Melee Weapons, and Unarmed. Having a higher score in any of these skills primarily allows for two things:
 * 1) Meet minimum weapon requirements. Not meeting one results in drastically reduced V.A.T.S accuracy and increased weapon wobble for range weapons. For melee/unarmed, this results instead in a slower rate of attack for melee/unarmed (as they have a 95% chance to hit in V.A.T.S. regardless).
 * 2) Increase the damage done by a weapon. A score of 100 does 100% of the listed base damage on individual weapon pages, whereas a hypothetical score of 0 (impossible by normal game rules) does a baseline of 50% weapon damage. The scaling from 0 to 100 is linear, so a score of 50 would do 75% of base weapon damage.

Non-combat skills have varying specific uses. See individual skill pages for more details. However, certain non-combat skills, specifically ones that tend to have more limited application on their own, tend to be used more frequently as skill checks during dialogue (the main purpose of Speech in fact). Of note, Barter tends to be used as a back-up to Speech skill checks in some conversations. Combat skills do occasionally get used in dialogue skill checks, though not nearly as frequently. Moreover, unlike past Fallout games, New Vegas uses the idea of uncontested rolls; that is, instead of a probability of success based on your skill score and the difficulty of the check, there is a minimum threshold to meet, which results in either an uncontestable success or failure.

For example, in order to convince Easy Pete to provide some dynamite to protect Goodsprings during the quest Ghost Town Gunfight, the player must have a minimum Explosives skill of 25 (an example of a less-frequent combat skill check in dialogue). In the case where a player's associated skill level is too low, a dialogue option (highlighted in red) is presented that will fail the skill check, and will not grant a speech success. Unlike Fallout 3, where the same dialogue option is presented regardless of your success or failure, a check that will fail uses a humorously unconvincing response, while a passable check uses a well-thought out argument, thus reflecting the nature of the check. XP is awarded in proportion to the difficulty of the check; checks against SPECIAL attributes will not reward XP.

Formula
The initial value of each skill is a base value of two, plus an amount depending on a character's value in the relevant attribute, plus a bonus determined by their Luck attribute, rounded up.
 * $$2 + (2 \times \mbox{Stat}) + \left\lceil\frac{\mbox{Luck}}{2}\right\rceil$$

Example: A starting Endurance of five and a starting Luck of five will give you an initial Unarmed skill of 15.
 * $$2 + (2 \times 5) + \left\lceil\frac{5}{2}\right\rceil = 15$$

Later changes to the SPECIAL stat have a similar influence on the respective skill.

During character creation, the player will tag three skills, instantly adding 15 points to each one. When leveling up, the character will distribute ten skill points plus a number equal to half their Intelligence, totaling 15 at maximum IN. The Educated perk grants two additional skill points per level if chosen. Assuming the player has an Intelligence of ten from level 1 and takes the Educated perk at level 4, a maximum of 487 skill points can be distributed without any DLC. Each DLC raises the level cap by 5, thus adding a possible maximum of 5 x 15 = 75 points (or 5 x 17 = 85 points with Educated) to the total available.

Skill Points available with a starting INT of 10 and with / without Educated:

Base game: 487 / 435

One DLC: 572 / 510

Two DLC: 657 / 585

Three DLC: 742 / 660

Four DLC: 827 / 735

It can be seen from the above figures that the Educated perk confers an advantage relative to the number of DLCs / levels, so that a player with three DLCs and Educated actually has more skill points to distribute than a player with four DLCs but without Educated.

Maxed skills
Since the release of the second DLC Honest Hearts it is possible to create a character that has all skills permanently at 100, however this does require using lots of perks and a specific SPECIAL build, so a player may want to use the perk doubling exploit or wait until further DLCs raise the level cap and thus the skill points available from levelling up. With the release of Old World Blues maxing all skills is much easier with 16 extra skill books (including recipes), the increased level cap and new traits that can enhance your SPECIAL. Even with only Old World Blues installed one could max out their skills.

Note that actually achieving fully maxed out skills with only Dead Money and Honest Hearts requires very careful planning and point assignment, and even using exploits can easily take over fifty hours.

Permanent skill points can come from four different sources:

Leveling: (2 DLC / 40 level cap) 409 - 657

40 levels with an INT of 1 provides 409 skill points, while an INT of 10 and the Educated perk gives the player 657 skill points.

15 at levels 2, 3 and 4, 17 at levels 5 to 40 = (3 x 15) + (36 x 17) = 45 + 612 = 657

Skill Books: 159 - 292

Skill books provide three skill points each, or four with the Comprehension perk.

The base game contains 53 books (5 x Science, 4 x everything else) which gives 159 - 212 points.

Dead Money includes 12 books (1 for each skill except Survival) that add 36 - 48 points.

Honest Hearts contains 4 Workbench crates with (realistically) between zero and two books each that add 0 - 32 points.

212 + 48 + 32 = 292

Tagging: 45 - 60

Tagging three skills adds 15 points per skill, while using the Tag! perk adds a further 15 skill points.

4 x 15 = 60

Sub-Total

657 + 292 + 60 = 1009

1300 points are required to have all 13 skills at 100, so at least (1300 - 1009) = 291 points need to come from the player's SPECIAL if two skills books can be found in each Workbench crate.

SPECIAL: 291 - 321

In order to maximise the skill points derived from a player's SPECIAL the points should be allocated to those attributes that contribute to the most skills (e.g. Intelligence, Perception and Luck), however this may not create the character that the player wants, or may not have the correct points allocation to qualify for desired perks. The 40 points initially available can be assigned in 504,315 ways, and can yield between 175 and 253 skill points. With 10 Intense Training, 6 implants* and Small Frame a total of 57 points can be assigned to SPECIAL, yielding between 269 and 321 skill points. As only 291 points are required to max all skills (based on getting the above skill books etc.) a player has the choice of how to allocate up to 30 'spare' points; e.g. one skill book in Dead Money is effectively inaccessible, one in the base game requires completing a quest in a certain manner, and it can take multiple reloads to get even one skill book from each Workbench crate, or you could max all skills without using Tag! or so many Intense Training.

There are 65,561 combinations of SPECIAL using between 50 and 57 points that can yield 291 skill points or more, and 1,768 of these using 54 - 57 points have all SPECIAL at 7 or more, so there are a large number of ways to create a balanced maxxed character. Using less SPECIAL points to achieve the desired skill point total may seem like a good idea as it uses less Intense Training (thus saving perks) or less implants (thus saving caps), however it will also result in a less well balanced character (and a lower SPECIAL). Whether or not that is important will depend on each player.

Character Builds for Maxxing Skills

Balanced Builds (with INT of 10 to maximise levelling points):

There are 27 ways of assigning 57 SPECIAL points to generate 313 skill points while not having any attribute below 5.

There are 27 ways of assigning 56 SPECIAL points to generate 309 skill points while not having any attribute below 5.

There are 15 ways of assigning 57 SPECIAL points to generate 311 skill points while not having any attribute below 6.

There are 10 ways of assigning 56 SPECIAL points to generate 307 skill points while not having any attribute below 6.

There is 1 way of assigning 57 SPECIAL points to generate 309 skill points while not having any attribute below 7.

7 10 7 7 10 7 9

There is 1 way of assigning 56 SPECIAL points to generate 303 skill points while not having any attribute below 7.

7 9 7 7 10 7 9

These 81 builds provide the greatest return of skill points for SPECIAL points invested while meeting basic character build and perk restriction requirements. They all provide sufficient skill points so that a player can avoid having to get the stuck Duck and Cover! in Dead Money, can avoid having to get two skill books from every Workbench crate, and can complete That Lucky Old Sun any way they please, while still having enough points to max every skill.

Maxxed Builds

There are 63 ways of assigning 50 SPECIAL points to generate 293 skill points.

There are 10 ways of assigning 57 SPECIAL points to generate 321 skill points.

1	10	9	10	10	8	9

1	10	10	9	10	8	9

1	10	10	10	10	7	9

1	10	7	10	10	10	9

1	10	8	9	10	10	9

1	10	9	8	10	10	9

1	10	10	7	10	10	9

1	10	8	10	10	9	9

1	10	9	9	10	9	9

1	10	10	8	10	9	9

These 73 builds either provide just enough skill points to max all skills while using the least SPECIAL or provide the maximum possible skill points from the SPECIAL points available. They may not however produce a character that is particularly playable due to the extremely low Strength.

Another possible build - however somewhat restrictive in gear - for making a nearly perfect character would be: Starting SPECIALS:

5 4 7 4 9 4 7

Starting traits: - Four Eyes/Small Frame

This gives you +3 PER/+1 LCK with "lucky shades", found in the Legion Safehouse. And +1 AGI:

5 7 7 4 9 5 8

Add Implants:

6 8 8 5 10 6 9

Add Intensive Training:

8 (+2) 8 9 (+1) 9 (+4) 10 9 (+3) 9

Recommended gear:

Boones Beret, Stealth Suit Mk II

Or:

Atomic-valence tri-radii-oscillator, T-45d power armor

Final SPECIALS:

STR: 8/10

PER: 10/8

END: 9/10

CHA: 9

INT: 10

AGI: 10/9

LCK: 9

The nature of above setup allows for a well-rounded character, with 100 in all skills (if you take care to not max skills out before you have taken a good deal of available skillbooks). At the same time, the equipment as well as Intensive Training can also be switched around for personal preference, as to easily make the character either Melee/Unarmed focused, or Explosives/Energy/Guns focused.

Useful hints as to getting around the trickiest parts of creating this setup:

1. Get the Int implant before you reach level 3 (Read the note below the segment below)

2. Pickpocket all NCR soldiers to acquire at least 50 dog tags, turn them in at Cottonwood cove in order to reach "Liked" status with the Legion, and when you go to Caesar, get access to the Legion Safehouse.

Complete this after having obtained Boone, but having parted ways with him before you start turning in dog tags. Having him as an active companion turns all legion hostile on sight. Doing it in the following manner allows you to obtain Boone, without having to waste quests to increase your standing with NCR/lower your standing with Legion, potentially baring you from completing Boones companion quest. Instead you are merely warned to "not let it get any further" when you return to Boone, having obtained the lucky shades... How lucky indeed.

The best way to achieve a character with maxxed skills may be to work out in advance what apparel your character will be wearing, as certain equipment can boost SPECIAL stats e.g. if your character will always be wearing +1 PER headgear then one Intense Training could be saved while still generating the same skill point total. When you have worked out the final SPECIAL you can then calculate the skill points it will provide, from where you can work out how many skill books are required. A player should also remember that as the skill books in Honest Hearts are randomly generated these should be collected before all levelling points have been assigned or the player will be left trying to get specific skill books from the random loot, which can take many, many reloads - and not every skill book has a chance of appearing.

Note on implants: *Although 7 SPECIAL implants are available, in order to get the maximum skill points from levelling up a player needs to have an INT of 10 before level 2. To get this while using all 7 implants would require the player to get to New Vegas Medical Clinic with 4000 caps while still at level 2 and with an INT of 9 so they could buy the Intelligence implant before leveling up, which is probably possible but also probably not how most players would want to play. It also rules out using the perk doubling exploit.

It is possible to get the Intelligence implant before reaching level 2. It requires the player to be very careful not to kill anything, complete any quests, or complete any challenges. To get the 4,000 caps required for the implant is quite difficult, but can be done by collecting the either the Goodsprings or Nuclear Test Site snow globe, running to Freeside through the normal path whilst not killing anything, winning 2,000 playing 9 or less hands of blackjack at the Atomic Wrangler (to avoid completing the Double Down challenge) going into the Lucky 38, collecting the Nuclear Test Site snow globe, giving both snow globes to Jane, then buying the implant. Be careful not to discover too many locations, as they give 10 exp per location. This is made easier with the Skilled trait, as it decreases exp gained

Note: You can safely reach level 2, as you will receive 15 skillpoints the first level. It is only if you reach level 3 that you will receive 14 points. Also, collecting 4,000 caps can easily be done by gambling with No-Bark to first get a reasonable amount of caps, and subsequently using the slots at the Atomic Wrangler. All in all, as difficult a venture.

Videos

 * This Video will show how to set your SPECIALS to get Max Skills and double set of perks at level 30, 35, 40, and 45.