Schematics allow one to craft homemade weapons at a Workbench if they have the proper components in Fallout 3.
About
Acquiring multiple copies of the same schematic allows the player character to make multiple copies of a weapon from one set of components (Bottlecap Mine, Nuka-Grenade) or weapons with higher initial condition at the time of construction (all other weapons).
Multiple copies
| Number of schematics | Condition |
|---|---|
| 1 | 75% of your repair skill |
| 2 | 100% of your repair skill |
| 3 | 125% of your repair skill |
Obtaining more than one copy of a schematic upgrades the plans. Additional schematics cease to yield benefits after three of each kind have been located; they will simply appear as items in your inventory.
For non-explosives, two plans increase the initial condition of the weapon at construction to 100% of the player character's repair skill (from 75% of your repair skill with just one blueprint). Three plans net a condition of 125% of one's repair skill at construction; however, a weapon cannot be built with a higher starting condition than 100%.
For the bottlecap mine and Nuka-grenade, additional schematics allows more items to be crafted from a single set of components instead - one additional item per set of schematics, for each set of components.
Repair skill
Higher repair allows one to make homemade weapons that have higher starting condition and damage. As the player character makes multiple copies of the same weapon they can combine them with the repair skill for higher condition and damage. Alternatively a non-player character can repair them. The bottlecap mine and Nuka-grenade are always at maximum condition.
List of schematics
Notes
- In the Operation: Anchorage add-on, schematics for the Trench Knife can be found in the game files. They are not functional though and cannot be used to build Trench Knives, even if obtained via console commands.
- With the Broken Steel add-on, one can receive the Warmonger perk, which unlocks all three schematics of every custom weapon. It only works if one's game is patched up to the latest version.
- If the player character has less than a 100 repair skill and use version 3 schematics to make a weapon above their repair skill to give to a companion, it will decrease to the player character's maximum repair skill while in their inventory. (Witnessed on Xbox 360 with Jericho and the Shishkebab, 80 repair skill and version 3 schematic, weapon deteriorated overtime from its maxed capacity.)
Behind the scenes
- The in-game picture on the blueprint for each device is based on a telegraph machine.