New Vegas: Character Building Guide, Part 2

Welcome to part 2 of my Fallout: New Vegas Character Building Guide. Click here for part 1 which covers S.P.E.C.I.A.L. points allocation and Traits.

WARNING! – while I am not providing specific plot spoilers I will be hinting at future events in the game that you may not have come across yet. Think of this guide as a good parental figure who gives you some valuable worldly advice before sending you on your way.

SKILLS
These choices should be made based on how you want to role play your character. There are certain level requirements to crafting some useful items in the game. A Medical skill of 40 for a Medical Bag. A Repair skill of 50 is needed to make Weapon Repair Kits, the only thing that will repair That Gun, a gun modeled on Rick Deckard’s PKD Blaster. You’ll need a Science skill of 70 to craft Stimpaks. You’ll need to consider these things while leveling up.

It’s probably a good idea to get your primary weapon skill up to about 50 right quick, especially if you intend to blast your way out of difficult situations. Speech will be just as important if you’re planning on being a little more diplomatic on your adventures. Sneak can remain low for most gunslingers. With a rifle and a fairly safe distance you can get the sneak attack critical hit more often than not and if a task requires you to be really stealthy there are always Stealthboys. There are a lot of mines being planted in the apocalypse so boosting Explosives a bit ain’t such a bad idea. Barter will get you better deals but getting bottle caps has not been much of an issue for me. The other skills are more important. Lockpick can be raised casually so long as you don’t mind leaving behind an unopened safe or two. It’s been my experience that most of the safes I have opened weren’t worth the use of a skill magazine.

All this is arbitrary, raise the skills that best resemble the type of character you are role playing. Stealth was not an issue for me but if you’re playing a Ninja or an Assassin it will be important to you. As for what 3 skills you should tag at creation, I would suggest following conventional wisdom a little. Your primary weapon skill should always be tagged (there’s a lot of hostility in the wasteland). Survival is good to tag if you plan on going hardcore. Speech is another good consideration as is Lockpick if you just can’t stand to leave an unopened safe behind.

Remember that magazines will raise the skill temporarily by 10 (20 if you take the Comprehension perk). What skills you choose to work on will reflect the type of apocalyptic wanderer you are role playing. Immerse yourself in the character and you’ll have much more fun.

PERKS
I won’t go into all the Perks, that would make this guide excessively long. As with skills you want to pick Perks that reflect the type of character you’re role playing. That being said there are some must have Perks and others that are not worth the Perk slot. Selecting Perks that compensate for character creation shortcomings is a good idea, like Rapid Reload to compensate a low Agility or Strong Back to make up for having low Strength.

Getting Comprehension and–more importantly–Educated early in the game will give you a skill point edge while leveling, especially important if you chose to not stack your Intelligence at character creation. Getting the Lady Killer and or Confirmed Bachelor (or their female counterparts) Perks early will make sure you have access to all possible dialog options right from the beginning of the game.

I found the Hand Loader perk to be a waste of a slot ( I actually got to level 11 with a character and reloaded to my level 10 save and selected Gunslinger instead). Ammunition is pretty common in the wasteland and I’m making decent enough ammo without it. Vigilant Recycler would probably be a good perk for an Energy Weapon user, I’ve equipped one of my companions with a couple of laser guns and she’s going through ammo like mad. Retention is a waste as well, if you need a skill magazine raise to last longer then it’s probably prudent to raise it with skill points faster. If you spend all your time in VATS like I do, Run ‘n Gun is useless as well. Unless you’re in a rush to get nowhere I don’t see the point in Here and Now.

• New Vegas: Character Building Guide, Part 3: Covers crafting and closing arguments.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
The following sites offer more extensive help for the game.

• FALLOUT WIKI
• Fallout New Vegas Comprehensive Guide by Hayste
• Fallout Character Creation FAQ by Nathan Garvin

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