Fallout 3 SPECIAL

This article describes the features of the Fallout 3 version of the SPECIAL character system, as well as its differences from SPECIAL's implementation in previous games.

Character Development
At birth the player chooses the player character's name, gender and appearance. Later as a child in Vault 101, the PC receives a book titled "You're S.P.E.C.I.A.L.!," whereupon the player can set the PC's seven primary character points. Later in life during the teen years the PC's performance on the G.O.A.T. determines which skills of the PC are tagged (tagged means raised by fifteen points); the player can also choose which skills to tag manually via choosing particular dialog options.

Every aspect of the PC chosen during early life can be changed when the PC exits Vault 101.

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. The maximum level the player can achieve in Fallout 3 is 20, and the maximum rank any S.P.E.C.I.A.L. statistic can be raised to is 10, so plan your perks accordingly.

Main statistics
The S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system should be familiar to Fallout veterans, though there are significant differences from past games. 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

Changes from Previous Fallout Games
Players who are accustomed to the rigid attribute and skill mechanics of the previous games may be happy to know that the new systems in Fallout 3 are much more flexible and allow for more changes during a character's development. For instance, tagging a skill no longer increases the rate of a skill's development, but skills gain their maximum effectiveness (and cap out) at 100. Additionally, while the Gifted trait (along with all traits) has disappeared, primary attributes are simultaneously less important and easier to acquire as your character grows.

Players who played the previous two games should also keep in mind that the the SPECIAL system in Fallout 3 is much more forgiving when compared to the first two games: Low ability scores penalize the player less, while high ability scores do not grant as much of a benefit. Where in the first two games lowering a SPECIAL stat to 3 or lower could be a risky move regardless of your character type, characters in Fallout 3 can get away with SPECIAL scores of 1 in particular stats. For example, a character with 1 intelligence will find most character interaction in the first two games impossible, while in the 3rd you simply sacrifice a few Intelligence dependent conversation options and some skill points.

Increasing Attributes
There are multiple ways to permanently increase your attributes after character creation. Taking the Intense Training perk at level-up will grant you an additional attribute point (it can be taken up to 10 times, at any level). The Those! quest will grant you the option to increase your Strength or Perception by one point. Additionally, you can find bobbleheads to increase your attributes as you explore the world.

Because of the way the attribute, perk, and skill systems work in Fallout 3, you may find it wasteful to raise an attribute to 10 during character creation. A high starting Intelligence offers the most obvious benefit because of the bonus to skill points, but min-maxers can acquire the Intelligence-related bobblehead at level 2.


 * Table showing items' influence on SPECIAL stats points.

Should I raise an attribute to 10?
In most cases, no. There will be multiple ways to increase all attributes, such as wearing equipment, acquiring items, using chems, or completing quests. The exceptions might be Intelligence for early skill advancement, and Luck for extra critical chance and special encounters. Some rules of thumb to keep in mind are: There is a bobblehead for each stat that will raise it by one, there is a quest-related perk available for strength or perception that raises the chosen ability score by 1, and there is slotless (i.e. you are not required to wear a certain headpiece or armor piece) item that raises luck by 1. It is also worth remembering that various pieces of armor and headgear affect certain ability scores: it may be worth taking a look at available pieces of armor and headwear to decide what you will wear.

Keeping in mind that ability scores cannot go above 10; you should never start with a 10 in any ability score because you will always be able to raise a stat at least one point with a bobblehead. Strength OR Perception can be raised an additional point through a quest related perk, so these ability scores should not be placed higher than 8, keeping in mind that you can only raise one of the two with this perk. You should also keep in mind that many versions of Power Armor also raise your Strength by varying degrees, so you may want to factor in the Strength bonus from the armor of your choice. Since Luck can be raised both with a bobblehead and a 1 pound miscellaneous item, it should never be raised above 8 at the start.

However, if you want to play a super-strong, super-charming, or super-whatever character, don't let our commentary dissuade you! Remember that you can always take the Intense Training perk if you feel that you're missing out on a particular attribute. Playing the character you WANT to play should take precedence over other considerations, so if you feel like starting a particular score at 10 or do not wish to hunt down various stat increasing items, you should do so.

Skills
Your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. points affect your skill points.

List of Skills and corresponding S.P.E.C.I.A.L. attribute: Gambling and Outdoorsman skills were completely removed.

See Fallout 3 Skills for more information specific to Fallout 3 skills.

Strength
Strength is important to the character that uses melee weapons and mostly useless to the gunslinger with the minor exception of carrying weight. See the specifics of how Strength affects your character at this page.

Perception
Perception determines how far away you can detect enemies on your compass (enemies show as red bars). Be aware that only enemies in front of you will be shown on the compass (but not just directly in front of you - close to 180 degrees). Perception is most useful in areas where visibility is poor, such as building interiors with many walls, darkened areas (inside or out), water, etc., but even out on the Wastelands, trees, brush, rocks, and hills can obscure visibility and having high perception will let you see foes before they see you.

Perception complements sneaking and sniping an enemy from a distance. Enemies that have not detected you are typically stationary or move at a reduced rate; this can be seen by watching the red marks on the compass. Knowing where your enemies are gives you a tactical advantage in combat, as you can set traps or ambush them for additional damage.

Perception also influences the starting skill levels of Explosives, Lockpick, and Energy Weapons.

Endurance
Endurance determines the number of hitpoints you have, as well as providing bonuses to radiation and poison resistance.

You can pause at any time during combat and use healing items, so you may find that Endurance is not the most useful attribute. However, having a larger pool of hit points means you can restore health by resting and save stimpaks for more urgent situations. Extra hit points will also provide a buffer for players or characters who are unfamiliar with shoot-em-up games.

Endurance also affects the starting skill levels of Big Guns and Unarmed.

Charisma
Charisma influences the starting level of your barter and speech skills. This may also influence a character's disposition towards you, though it is unlikely. This is pretty much a useless special skill, as Barter is very insignificant, and Speech can be raised by putting points into it much faster than by putting points into this stat. All in all, you should keep this low, even for a diplomatic character; just increase Speech and Barter separately.

Intelligence
Intelligence determines the number of skill points you receive each time you level up. Later increases in Intelligence do not retroactively assign skill points. (The Educated perk provides three bonus skill points per level, also not retroactive.) A high starting Intelligence can provide a significant bonus to skills early in the game, but it is possible to raise all skill to maximum levels with average Intelligence. Intelligence also influences the starting skill levels of Medicine, Repair, and Science.

Agility
Agility determines the number of action points available for use in V.A.T.S.. (The Action Boy/Girl Perk provides bonus action points.) Expert FPS players may wish to forgo the use of V.A.T.S., but you should be familiar with V.A.T.S. mechanics before you decide to do this. Agility also influences the starting skill levels of Small Guns and Sneak.

Luck
Each point of Luck raises your chance to critically hit an opponent by one percent. Additionally, Luck has a small effect on the starting skill level of all skills. It ups the chance of random encounters as well, such as having the Mysterious Stranger appear in V.A.T.S. and the chance of the alien craft with the Firelance appearing and crashing.

Commentary
The attributes you select are arguably more relevant to your playstyle than your character. If you enjoy using V.A.T.S., for instance, you'll want a high Agility, since Agility provides action points for V.A.T.S. If you like melee, you'll want high Strength to increase your melee damage. If you want to play a stealthy character, you'll probably want a high perception. Also your SPECIAL stats determine which Perks you can choose, so if you want Mysterious Stranger then you must have a high Luck.

It may seem unintuitive based on conventions established in prior Fallout games and other RPGs, but the primary function of attributes (aside from determining perk eligibility) is controlling specific aspects of the game that are not really related to your character, such as the user-interface (V.A.T.S. and compass detection, for instance). To approach the issue from another angle, to improve one's ability to persuade NPCs or avoid detection, one will be much better off improving the relevant skill directly (Speech and Sneak respectively), rather than an the associated attribute.

Considering this, you may find these attributes appropriate (or not) for varying styles of play:

First-Person Shooter Playstyle
If you're a seasoned FPS gamer and you don't use V.A.T.S., you obviously won't want many points in Agility, though you should note that Light Step and Silent Running (which you may find useful for running and gunning) require six Agility. Luck will be the most useful attribute in combat, as it raises your critical effect chance with all weapons. You may want extra points in Strength so you can worry less about inventory management, and more points in Intelligence to raise your skills. You'll want to make sure to pick up Fortune Finder and Scrounger.

Sniper Playstyle
The traditional Fallout sniper will want to make extensive use of V.A.T.S., and should have an appropriately high Agility attribute. However, with the sniper rifles, the percentage to hit is oddly low, so most will make use of manual-aiming coupled with sneak attacks. With the focus on V.A.T.S., you'll want to plan for the following perks: Action Boy/Girl, Mysterious Stranger, Sniper, Concentrated Fire, Commando and/or Gunslinger, and Grim Reaper's Sprint. Make sure to pick up repair to take care of your weapon (see the special notes about V.A.T.S. regarding condition loss).

Stealth / Thief Playstyle
Sneaking around new areas can be a usefull tactic.

A stealthy character will want a high Perception score to get the drop on his/her enemies. Relevant skills include Sneak, Lockpick, and Explosives. You can use that explosives skill to disable traps and use them against your enemies! Be sure to look at the Silent Running, Demolition Expert, and Infiltrator and/or Computer Whiz.

Brawler Playstyle
The brawler will want high strength and endurance to prevail in melee combat. Tasty perks include Ninja, Iron Fist, and Toughness, to name a few. In addition to high Unarmed and Melee Weapons skills, you'll want a high Medicine skill to get the most benefit from various chems (particularly stimpaks). Really, anything that increases your healing or smashing abilities will be useful.You may also find the Paralyzing Palm perk useful.

Diplomat Playstyle
A diplomatic character will want high Intelligence to give him/her access to extra special dialogue options. You'll want at least 6 points in Charisma to make sure you get access to the Animal Friend and Master Trader perks. And of course you'll want to dump lots of skill points into Speech to make sure your attempts at diplomacy are mostly successful. Be sure to grab Child at Heart and Lady Killer (for the gents) or Black Widow (for the gals) as soon as you can. You can also use Impartial Mediation to raise your speech by 30 if your karma is neutral, which, if you are a diplomat, it should be. Right?

Mix-and-Match Playstyle
Of course, you can combine any of the elements above to create your own unique style of play. You might want to explore some of the more esoteric perks like Cyborg or Cannibal for inspiration. A well-rounded style of play will probably want to focus more on skills, but a highly-specialized style of play (such as a Ninja) will probably want to focus on perk synergies that grant extra abilities. Feel free to explore!

Character Editor (Excel 2007)
A 3rd party character editor is available:  http://rapidshare.com/files/170421859/Fallout_3_Character_Creator_v1.0.rar 

Edited 5th December 2008, created by Oggy1985 (version change: Final version -if no new errors or suggestions appear)
 * Note: please note that Character Creator will work best with MS Office 2007 (version 2003 will have limited functionality in some formulas)

Class Editor (Excel 2007)
A 3rd party Class editor is available:  http://rapidshare.com/files/170421860/Fallout_3_Class_Editor_v1.1.2.rar 

Author: Macilnar

Version 1.1.2 Released on 12/05/2008

The editor allows you to chose between one of 3 primary classes (Stealth, Close Combat, and Ranged Combat) and a main weapon focus (Melee, Small Gun, Energy Weapons, Explosives, Unarmed, and Big Gun). The editor then gives recommended values to skills, S.P.E.C.I.A.L, and what perks to take.

Author Notes:
 * Only the Stealth class and its weapon focuses are complete. Close and Ranged Combat will be done in the next update
 * Only works with Excel 2007 or newer (sorry for those who don't have it but it just doesn't work in the older versions. If someone wants to try to convert it go right ahead and do it just let me know.)

Character Planner (Google Docs)
Another character creator is available at: fallout 3 character calculator xls ods

Character Builder (online)
The Fallout 3 Character Builder is available at http://vault106.com/fallout-3-character-builder. The builder imitates green Pip-Boy 3000 interface and it allows to create and level up characters. Characters are stored on the server and are given unique URLs for reference. Each character has its history so others can check how it was developed.