Fallout 76 SPECIAL

General
In Fallout 76, player characters start with 1 point in every attribute. Each time a player character levels up until level 50, they can choose 1 S.P.E.C.I.A.L. attribute to increase. The maximum point for each attribute was raised to 15 in Fallout 76. After level 50, player characters will continue to level in order to redistribute S.P.E.C.I.A.L. attributes one point per level, but cannot gain any additional points, staying with the total of 56 S.P.E.C.I.A.L. points.¹

A player character's S.P.E.C.I.A.L. statistics cannot be reduced below 1, even if they are affected by sufficient debuffs to mathematically lower them below this threshold.

With the release of the Wastelanders DLC and interaction with human NPCs again, S.P.E.C.I.A.L. is more important now as a player character's replies include options that are affected by their SPECIAL stats, which can affect later events depending on choices they make when talking with NPCs, and when dealing with problems that require certain S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats to bypass.

With the release of the One Wasteland For All DLC and legendary perks, S.P.E.C.I.A.L. can be increased by a maximum of +30 points by equipping legendary S.P.E.C.I.A.L. perks in all 6 slots.


 * ¹ Legendary S.P.E.C.I.A.L. does add more assignable points and increase your stats by the same number, however it counts as a buff rather than an increase to the base. For this reason, Legendary Charisma will not allow you to share higher tier perk cards.

Primary statistics
In Fallout 76, the primary statistics from which in game values such as Hit Points or Carry Weight are derived uses the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system. The main article on S.P.E.C.I.A.L. describes its meaning and importance to the Fallout series, whereas the main article for primary statistics gives more detail specifically for Fallout 76.

S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stands for:
 * Strength
 * Perception
 * Endurance
 * Charisma
 * Intelligence
 * Agility
 * Luck

Derived statistics
Unlike the primary statistics, derived statistics are not explicitly stated in game and are instead calculated based on the primary S.P.E.C.I.A.L. values. For example, Carry Weight is determined by a combination of the player character's Strength statistic and further affected by the perks that are equipped.

Perks
Perks in Fallout 76 are now available in perk cards that player characters collect. Each perk card costs 1 or more points in a S.P.E.C.I.A.L. attribute to equip. Player characters can equip multiple cards per attribute when the total card point cost is equal to or less than the points of the attribute.

Certain perk cards can be upgraded to further improve their benefits. One can upgrade, or rank up a perk card when in possession of two or more of the same card. Ranking up a Perk card also increases the amount of S.P.E.C.I.A.L. points required to equip that Perk card. For example, ranking up the Gladiator perk card to Expert Gladiator would increase the Strength requirement from 1 to 2, in order to equip it. Perk cards do not need to be the same rank in order to rank them up; the card ranks are simply added together.

The number of perks which can be equipped are capped by the maximum 56 S.P.E.C.I.A.L. points which the player character can accrue.