Explosives

Explosives is a Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas skill, replacing the Traps and Throwing skills from previous games. Its governing primary statistic is Perception.

Fallout 3
$$\text{Initial level}=2+(2\times\text{Perception})+\left\lceil\frac{\text{Luck}}{2}\right\rceil$$

Example: A starting Perception of 5 and Luck of 5.

$$2+(2\times5)+\left\lceil\frac{5}{2}\right\rceil=15$$

The Explosives skill governs the ability to use all mines, grenades and Explosives skill based weapons (excluding missiles and mini nukes - see Big Guns).

The higher your skill, the higher the damage you inflict. The Explosives skill also affects the distance and accuracy of a thrown bomb (e.g. frag grenade, pulse grenade etc.)

The players Explosives skill determines how close you can get to mines before it detects you, as well as how long the mine will take before it explodes. There does not appear to be a minimum Explosives skill necessary to disarm a mine, so long as you can run up and activate it fast enough.

Ways to increase Explosives

 * Permanent
 * Leveling up (up to +20 or 23 with Educated)
 * Bobblehead - Explosives (+10)
 * Little Leaguer (+5 for each rank)
 * Duck and Cover! (+1 or 2 with Comprehension)
 * Tag! (+15)
 * Temporary
 * Mentats (+2-10 depending on current Perception, a perfect Perception of 10 will see no benefit)
 * Raider blastmaster helmet (+5)
 * Takoma Park little leaguer cap (+5)
 * Torcher's mask (+5)
 * Bombshell armor (+10) (The Pitt)

Affected weapons
Fallout 3 Explosives skill weapons, 2

Interactions that require Explosives skill
Specific levels of Explosives are required to disarm certain explosive-based traps.
 * 25 is required to disarm or detonate Megaton's atom bomb.
 * 30 is required to disarm hanging Grenade Bouquets
 * 45 is required to disarm rigged computer terminals
 * 50 Explosives is required to train the residents of Big Town in placing a minefield during Big Trouble in Big Town.
 * 60 is required to disarm Rigged Baby Carriages
 * High explosives can cause Reilly to reveal that her rangers left mines to slow down the mutants during the Reilly's Rangers quest.
 * 65 is required with 65 Science to have a statistically good chance of disarming a slave collar.
 * Note: The Repair skill is used to disarm any trip wires or pressure plates associated with traps.

Fallout: New Vegas
$$\text{Initial level}=2+(2\times\text{Perception})+\left\lceil\frac{\text{Luck}}{2}\right\rceil$$

Example: A starting Perception of 5 and Luck of 5.

$$2+(2\times5)+\left\lceil\frac{5}{2}\right\rceil=15$$

In Fallout: New Vegas, many more types of weapons fall into the Explosives category. Any weapon that was originally a big gun in Fallout 3 and used explosion type ammunition (such as the Fat Man), was moved to this category when Big Guns was removed.

Ways to increase Explosives

 * Permanent
 * Leveling up (up to +15 or 17 with Educated)
 * Duck and Cover! (+3 or 4 with the Comprehension)
 * Optics Enhancer (+2 depending on current Perception, a perfect Perception of 10 will see no benefit.)
 * Tag! (+15)
 * Skilled (+5)
 * Temporary
 * Patriot's Cookbook (+10 or 20 with Comprehension.)
 * Absinthe (+6 with 100 Survival, Perception of 10 will see no benefit, 8-9 will see reduced benefit.)
 * Raider blastmaster helmet (+5)
 * Advanced riot gear (+10)
 * Dr. Mobius' glasses (+10)

Affected weapons
Note: most explosive weapons have damage listed as "1 (or 2) + some number." The 1 (or 2) is the damage that the projectile (like a thrown grenade) or placed explosive (like a mine) does upon a direct hit, pretty much just from physics. As such, that number can generally be ignored for most intents and purposes (and damage calculations for grenades and mines in the Pip-Boy 3000 appear to do so).

Fallout: New Vegas Explosives skill weapons, 2

Interactions that require Explosives skill

 * 25 Explosives to convince Easy Pete that you need a donation of dynamite in Ghost Town Gunfight.
 * 35 Explosives to disarm the bomb in the monorail train at Camp McCarran.
 * 35 To kill the Weathers' in Left My Heart.
 * 40 Explosives to tell Pete, a child Boomer, something that will get you boomer fame.
 * 45 Explosives to completely train the Misfits in the use of grenades (25 or 35 to give an incomplete instruction).
 * 50 Explosives to free the Weathers in Left My Heart without the key.
 * 50 Explosives to blow up both the sulphur deposits under Vault 19 and the entire vault.
 * 50 Explosives to rig President Kimball's vertibird to explode in Arizona Killer.
 * 50 Explosives to defuse the bomb onboard the President's Vertibird in You'll Know It When It Happens.
 * 50 Explosives to help Caesar's Legion learn to disarm NCR mines.
 * 60 Explosives to blow up the sulphur deposit under Vault 19 without blowing up the vault.
 * 65 Explosives to teach ED-E how to make Satchell charges. (Lonesome Road)
 * 75 Explosives to threaten Father Elijah without blowing up the Sierra Madre Vault. (''Dead Money)