Strength/Fallout: New Vegas

Strength is one of the seven primary statistics in the SPECIAL system.

Background
Strength affects the Melee Weapons skill, Melee Damage, and Carry Weight. For each one point in Strength, the melee weapons skill increases by 2, the melee damage bonus by 0.5, and the carry weight by 10.

The melee damage bonus is applied after a weapon's base damage has been adjusted by the Melee Weapons skill and weapon condition, and having a high Strength value can still amount to a 10% or higher increase in a weapon's damage. Multipliers from perks like Entomologist also affect the bonus damage.

With the changed use of Damage Threshold instead of Damage Resistance as an armor mechanic, the bonus damage from Strength can significantly increase the DPS of low-damage, high-attack-rate weapons (such as the Katana) against unarmored targets.

Not meeting the Strength requirement of a weapon results in decreased accuracy for ranged weapons, and slower swings for melee/unarmed weapons. The Strength requirement of weapons can be lowered by taking the Weapon Handling perk.

Strength in quests and exploration
Dialogue checks involving Strength are tied to "intimidating" lines and all increment the Speech Successes stat in the Pip-Boy.


 * 6 to threaten No-bark Noonan into talking upon meeting him.
 * 7 to be directed to Max and Euclid's C-Finder in Freeside by the Vagrant.
 * 7 to convince Tyrone to hand over the Drug chemicals without paying more caps.
 * 7 to obtain Private Edwards dogtag during We Will All Go Together, without killing him or completing the additional unmarked quest Arachnophobia.
 * 7 to subdue Carlyle St. Clair and substitute him for Ted Gunderson in Beyond the Beef.
 * 7 to tough talk Carlitos upon meeting him at in the Vault 21 diner.
 * 8 or 9 to intimidate most or all of the Omerta thugs at the conclusion of Bye Bye Love.