Fallout: New Vegas SPECIAL

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.

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

Unlike Fallout and Fallout 2, 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.

The following derived statistics are known to exist in Fallout: New Vegas:
 * Action points
 * Carry weight
 * Hit points
 * Melee damage
 * Companion Nerve
 * Unarmed damage
 * Weapon Damage

Skills
Skills in Fallout: New Vegas determine effectiveness in a variety of situations. As in the previous games, three Tag skills out of thirteen are selected as the character's specialties. Tagging a skill grants a 15 point bonus to that skill. S.P.E.C.I.A.L. attributes affect the starting level of each skill.

The skills in Fallout: New Vegas are:
 * Combat skills: Energy Weapons, Explosives, Guns, Melee Weapons, Unarmed.
 * Other skills: Barter, Lockpick, Medicine, Repair, Science, Sneak, Speech, Survival

Perks
Perks are special elements of the level up system which grant special effects and abilities. In Fallout: New Vegas, a perk is granted every two levels. Many perks have attribute and/or level requirement(s); for example, the Mysterious Stranger perk requires 6 Luck and can only be taken after reaching character level 10. Some perks also grant special bonuses; for example the Mysterious Stranger perk grants a non-player character from above that comes down to help in combat every once in a while.

For a list of perks, please see Fallout: New Vegas perks.

Traits
Traits modify different aspects of gameplay, including (but not limited to) primary statistics, derived statistics, and skills. Traits always have both positive and negative results. For example, the Small Frame trait grants a +1 to Agility but also makes limbs more easily crippled.

One can choose up to two traits when designing a character (or none at all).

For a list of traits, please see Fallout: New Vegas traits.

Changes from previous Fallout games
Much of the SPECIAL from Fallout 3 remains intact, with very few new features being added in the way of character creation or stats. Weapons now have a minimum Strength requirement to be used effectively, like in Fallout and Fallout 2. Also returning from the first two games are low Intelligence characters, which can be created by setting Intelligence to less than 3. The SPECIAL bobbleheads from Fallout 3 have been replaced by implants available from the New Vegas medical clinic.