Fallout: New Vegas SPECIAL

Character creation
Upon waking up, the player chooses the player character's name, gender, age, stats, and appearance.

The maximum level the player can achieve in Fallout: New Vegas is 30.

Primary statistics
The S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system should be familiar to Fallout veterans. The player's S.P.E.C.I.A.L. attributes default at 5 points per attribute, with an additional 5 points for distribution for a total of 40 points. Individual attributes cannot score lower than 1 or higher than 10, regardless of equipment, chems, or ailments.

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

Derived statistics
Derived statistics are attributes of a character which are based off (or derived from) the character's primary statistics or attributes which the player cannot influence directly.

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

Skills
Skills in Fallout: New Vegas determine the player's effectiveness in a variety of situations. As in the previous games, the player chooses three tag skills out of thirteen to be the character's specialties. Tagging a skill only grants the player a 15 point bonus to that skill. Your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. points affect your skill points.

The only confirmed skills in Fallout: New Vegas are:
 * Combat skills: Melee, Unarmed, Firearms, Explosives, Energy Weapons
 * Other skills: Survival

Perks
Perks are special elements of the level up system which grant special effects and abilities. In Fallout: New Vegas, you gain perks every two levels. However, Josh Sawyer has said this isn't set in stone. Many perks have an attribute requirement, for example the Mysterious Stranger perk requires a luck of 6 to become an option. Other perks have attribute and skill requirements. A perk's S.P.E.C.I.A.L. requirements cannot be met by equipping items or using drugs.

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

Changes from previous Fallout games
Much of the original SPECIAL from Fallout 3 remains intact, with very few new features being added in the way of character creation or stats. Melee weapons has been renamed melee, and weapons now have a minimum strength requirement to be used, like in Fallout and Fallout 2.