What I'm looking forward to most on my first character is doing how I've been playing the first 2 games recently, and that is by not making a character who will have the highest stats, most effective fighting skills, will fight 15 deathclaws terrorising a settlement for no reward just because his a good person like that, but rather a character who is based on me. With as close to as possible SPECIAL equivalents, making decisions that I would more likely choose morally e.g in Shady Sands in Fallout 1, when asked to help kill the radscorpions I stopped and thought "Would I fight a gigantic scorpion for no reward, or would I want some sort of reward for my efforts?" I choose the later and asked for a reward for my help, because in real life that's how I would act. In real life I would much prefer to have a rifle and snipe my enemies from a distance than charge in with any kind of melee weapon, no matter how skilled I may be.

That's how I plan to play my firt runthrough, a falloutised version of me, but how do you plan to play? Do something similar? Mess around? Become the most overpowed wastelander in Boston?

Who do you plan to play as?

Sneaky sniper

Scientist or Sniper

Ex spec ops and hobby mechanic, good common sense morals with a streak of pragmatism, played as a mid to short range stealth character, with the occasional use of PA, not so charismatic and maybe only taking the dog along at most.

I never roleplay in my first run-through in any Bethesda game. My first character is always a "test character." I use this character to get a feel for new gameplay features, to gawk at the game world like a tourist and to get acquainted with the new NPCs and new stories. My second character is a "quest character." I do the main quest with this character. I usually do many side quests with this character as well.

Once I am thoroughly familiar with the game, when I feel I know the game inside and out, then I make a roleplay character and roleplay for the first time.

I usually play a high agility character that's good at stealth, but with the new system I may try something completely different. I may try a charismatic character with great speech & barter skills with moderate gun skills. Like a heavily armed merchant. With the community building in the game I think this might be a fun way to play.

I'm the same way. My first character is a 'do everything' character where I explore all the stuff the game has to offer, do all the quests possible without caring for karma just to see what to expect and avoid for my roleplaying characters.

I'm going to play an old grumpy dude who uses whatever weapons he can find. I'm going to try to be neutral karma but I'll probably end up becoming good karma inadvertently

My first character is always the do everything in the game character. Every side quest, every little nook and cranny, and complete the main quest character. As a result, I tend to role play that character as morally ambiguous, though enterprising in that even doing a job for free might have long term benefits in regards to social standing. I dialog, he would be fairly pragmatic in his responses and learn the world through his conversations with other people. SPECIAL stats/Perks would be balanced towards conversation and gunplay.

My second character is always a homage to my favorite Oblivion character. She was psychotically evil, but not wantonly destructive. Insults or rude behavior on the part of an NPC almost always guaranteed that NPC a silent death. She will do all of the dark morality missions with abandon, but still thinks she is basically a good person. She will try to help out those that treat her nicely. It's a fine balance thing. SPECIAL stats/Perks would be balanced towards the sneak sniper with infiltration.

After that, I have no plans. I do know that I will run through the game so many times that I will have somewhat duplicate characters. I will probably have the super paladin type good guy. SPECIAL: Probably overall combat and conversation. I will probably have the ninja guy (assuming there are reasonably good blades); SPECIAL/Perks towards melee stealth. Mad Scientist (Science perks and Intelligence). So many mix 'n' match characters from there. As I really don't know how unique each character is going to feel, it is hard to come up with a definitive answer as to how many different characters one can build.

I don't have a personality in mind, but on the first play through I mean to be

liable to distraction.

So if I see something I'll check it out over focusing on a quest line.

I'll end up with many open quests...

Up and coming mayoral candidate, who from the sweat of his brow, literally made the settlement he reigns over.... Unafraid to take up arms, and in his spare time like to tinker with weapons to make them better.

My first character I mostly just do the main quest line, dabble in a few side quests here and there. I mostly play it where if the quests seem urgant I do them right away. Like lost kid trying to find her father in the big bad wasteland. I'll do Side quests like there's someone in danger and needs help.

Bit of a Tangent
This actually caused me to skip over a large part of FO3 the first time I played it through. One of the side quests were to save a boy from fireants, and the end of the quest was to find him a home. He mentions family in Rivit City, and I already had that on my map from speaking with someone else. So I made my way there, and ran into the science team, which directed me to where my father had gone. So in my first play through of FO3, I skipped over the entire DC area section /w three dog !! Wasn't until my 2nd or 3rd playthrough that I went to see him.

By primarily playing the main story line, my second character still has a lot of new content to explore. And I have a much better understanding of what's important in the game (min/max stats, what/where good gear is, perks I should get earlier, etc..)

or Scientist Sniper !

My character was abused in high school by her history teacher.

So every time Bethesda slaps me in the face with some kind of American history reference or reenactment, the red mist will descend and someone's going to get it.

That's works to.

Probably just play a good character...who happens to steal anything not nailed down. I'll probably try and max out guns my first time through (and energy weapons in the late game) I also think i'll max out speech/charisma/whatever because i love passing every speech check. Other than that i just want to enjoy the story, and experience all the scenery

I usually just try to play as myself. What would I do in this situation? Then i do the thing. So I usually end up being a good guy who occasionally gets into mischief. If a non-violent path is available I'll try for it but I'm not afraid to make a more permanent solution.

Guns and Energy weapons skills aren't in the game. They done away with skills.

My thoughts exactly. It's hard to roleplay for the first run because no one could ever know what's viable, the culture of the game, mechanics, etc.

indeed, current theory is gunslinger and commando covers all your ranged weapon needs.

Mister Normal

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LOL. I have notes scribbled on my desk blotter for my first character build, high perception, higher than average agility, low charisma and strength. I usually play any game as "me" and what I would do in the world I am given, and therefore set stats as I perceive myself. Usually after a play through I adjust settings for subsequent plays based on how things turned out the first time.

I am hoping that I can morph my PC into MOAT over a long long period of time and just keep discovering new things even after many hours playing, and then DLC will keep that first character going.

Anyone else going through FO3 again to get ready? I rebooted from scratch and plan to play all the way until November 9 on this character.

My first playthrough is going to encompass that "Fish out of water" mentality. Fresh from a vault, I know nothing, I have no allies, I may very well be the last man on earth (until otherwise encountered)...So those first couple of hours, just...adjusting and fumbling, and getting shot at.

I imagine that there will be perks to improve select weapon types...hopefully. But yeah i kinda had a brain fart when i typed that. I"ll probably just use whatever looks the coolest

as I mention above theory is gunslinger and commando will be the go to perks for live action and VATS accuracy with ranged weapons.

It's funny, but I find the opposite.

My character doesn't know what's coming, so neither do I. Arguably, it's even better if it leads me to support the "wrong" people. And I think we can take an educated guess about what sort of thing the mechanics will allow, even if the details are different from last time.

I can make a character for the first time with various likes and dislikes and see how that affects how I handle situations I come across, but subsequent play throughs just feels like trying the thing I didn't do last time.