Between 30 levels worth of skill points, perks, bobbleheads, skill books, and quest perks, it's too easy to become a overpowered in Fallout 3. This is especially problematic for role-players, because our characters are defined as much by their weaknesses as their strengths. In the long-run, differences in how attribute and skill points are allocated tend to wash out, and every character ends up more or less the same.

GROUND RULES

• No attributes greater than 9.
  
• No bobbleheads.
  
• No perks that permanently increase attributes.
  
• Skill books can be read only once.
  
• The Educated perk cannot be taken before level 20.

Attributes should never be maxed-out without additional boosters from food, chems, apparel, or quest perks (e.g. Ant Might).

Prohibiting bobbleheads is a no-brainer, both for narrative and balancing. In the first case, it makes no sense, both in the real world and Fallout's, that picking up the Small Guns bobblehead should make anyone a better marksman. In the second case, all the bobbleheads add up to 7 attribute points and 144 skill points--comparable to about 10 extra levels with 5 Intelligence. If our goal is to develop characters in a way more consonant with fundamental strengths and weaknesses, these are skill points we can do without.

Attributes should be as fixed as possible; they should reflect innate talents and dispositions. Our choice of attributes should have lasting consequences for character development and potential. Consequently, perks that permanently increase attributes (i.e. Intense Training, No Weaknesses, and Almost Perfect) are prohibited, but not perks which temporarily increase attributes (i.e. Night Person).

Together, all skill books are worth about 325 skill points--comparable to over 20 extra levels with 5 Intelligence. This can be doubled by taking the Comprehension perk early, and that's assuming you don't exploit bugs to get even more. Instead, simply limit yourself to one of each skill book, worth a total of 14 extra skill points (or 28 with the Comprehension perk). If you have difficulty remembering which skill books you have read, then you have a bad memory (so make a note!).

LEVELING UP RULES

Besides determining the initial value of related skills, attributes normally impose no limits on skill development or potential. For example, a character with 1 Intelligence has just as much potential in the Science skill as another with 10 Intelligence. Let's fix that. As already noted, each skill is related to an attribute which determines its initial value. However, we can also use the attribute as a convenient way to derive a cap on skill potential.

In this case, we can determine the maximum potential that a skill can achieve by the value of its related attribute. The table below shows how this could be worked. On the left is the attribute value, and on the right is the maximum potential of the related skill.

• 1 --- 82
  
• 2 --- 84
  
• 3 --- 86
  
• 4 --- 88
  
• 5 --- 90
  
• 6 --- 92
  
• 7 --- 94
  
• 8 --- 96
  
• 9 --- 98

For example, with 7 Intelligence, the Science, Repair, and Medicine skills are capped at 94. The skill caps are designed so that anything which temporarily increases an attribute to 10 will also push its related skills to 100.

Our next rule directly ties the speed that a skill can develop to its related attribute. That is, the maximum number that a skill can be increased when ascending a level is equal to the value of its related attribute (skill points earned from skill books and perks are not included). For example, if you have 3 Strength, then you cannot add more than 3 points to the Melee Weapons skill when leveling up.

In most role-playing games, as in real life, skill progression slows as it approaches its maximum potential. The amount of work an Olympic athlete must do to shave a tenth of a second off his best time is many times greater than a beginner at the sport--the law of diminishing returns. This is not true in Fallout 3. Let's fix that.

The following rule will prevent you from quickly maxing out any skill, and force you to develop skills more evenly. The table below shows how the rule restricts skill progression. On the left are the skill value ranges, and on the right are the maximum skill points that can be added upon leveling up.

• 10 to 19 --- 9
  
• 20 to 29 --- 8
  
• 30 to 39 --- 7
  
• 40 to 49 --- 6
  
• 50 to 59 --- 5
  
• 60 to 69 --- 4
  
• 70 to 79 --- 3
  
• 80 to 89 --- 2
  
• 90 to 99 --- 1

For example, if Science has a value of 53 at level 10, then a maximum of 5 points can be added to Science when ascending to level 11. This limit only restricts skill points distributed at level up. Skill points earned from skill books and perks are not included.

This limitation works in tandem with the previous limitation. For example, with 5 endurance, you may increase Big Guns by up to 5 points when ascending a level but only until the Big Guns skill reaches 60, at which point the law of diminishing returns kicks in.

TAG!

Skills which are tagged follow the same leveling-up rules as above, except the restrictions are halved and the maximums are doubled. For example, with 7 Charisma, Speech can increased by a maximum of 7 points when ascending levels until it reaches 40, at which point the law of diminishing returns kicks in, and its maximum potential would be capped at 94.

However, when tagged, the maximum skill potential table looks like this.

• 1 --- 81
  
• 2 --- 82
  
• 3 --- 83
  
• 4 --- 84
  
• 5 --- 95
  
• 6 --- 96
  
• 7 --- 97
  
• 8 --- 98
  
• 9 --- 99

Moreover, a tagged skill can be increased by double the value of its related attribute, and the law of diminishing returns now looks like this:

• 1 to 9 --- 20
  
• 10 to 19 --- 18
  
• 20 to 29 --- 16
  
• 30 to 39 --- 14
  
• 40 to 49 --- 12
  
• 50 to 59 --- 10
  
• 60 to 69 --- 8
  
• 70 to 79 --- 6
  
• 80 to 89 --- 4
  
• 90 to 99 --- 2

These rules are really not quite as complicated as they seem, and they have several happy consequences.

1. Skill potential is capped by the value of related attribute.
2. Skill progression speed is capped by the value of related attribute.
3. Skill progression speed slows as it approaches its maximum potential.
4. Tagged skills have increased potential and progression speeds.
5. Attributes cannot be increased or maxed without temporary boosters or quest perks.
6. Skills cannot be maxed without temporary boosters or quest perks
7. It's probably impossible to max-out all skills.