Well I just started playing this game as I had been waiting to get the Ultimate Edition before I started playing it and I am having trouble getting and idea of who my character should be.

What I have so far is that he is a hardened wastelander who does whatever he can to survive day after day. So he would join a gang to try and have a tight group of people that could help him survive. Although he sympathizes sometimes with other people as they are just trying to make it through just like him. Thats where things get fuzzy. I think that may be a good way to start. Have him side with the powder gangers in the beginning to hopefully try and keep them off his back while he deals with the other hardships of living in a post-apocalyptic world. I don't know what other personality traits he should have. I want him to be mostly a self serving sob who places his needs above others but I also want him to have a vulnerability. Something that makes him good at heart and this good part only comes out once in a while.

What do you think I should in terms of a vulnerablility? Also what reasons he may have for doing something? (ex: KIlling an innocent person) Lastly I need help in developing his motivation (besides survival, unless you believe thats sufficient) so suggestions as to what his motivation should be would be welcomed. Thanks in advance!

(Sorry I couldn't post earlier, wasn't able to get on last night)

Your character seems like one that is tied into a hardcoe play-through, but I definitely would not recommend it for a beginner.

Perhaps in his back-story, he lost someone he cares about very much, and seeing some peoples' traits and appearance make him remember that person and evoke vulnerability and sympathy.

I would not recommend siding with the Powder Gangers. An alliance with them is worthless.

As for stats, I normally stick with Guns, Repair, and Medicine. Survival (the skill, not the role-playing mindset) is not really necessary on the regular game mode, as meds will beat food nine-out-of-ten times except for on hardcoe.

Eh? Avoid them attacking you. Get free explosives and explosive materials. Get an assload more quests than what Goodsprings offer. To me it seems it's a pretty good choice to side with them, also, you get to be against NCR!

We are not talking about Perks here I guess, but character motivation? I guess only YOU can truly know your character. I would never assume I know someone else's character to give advice on their actions. My characters have their own motivations on why or how they do things.

NV leaves it wide open for you, which path to choose! So, just set your foot down, one after another and see where these paths might lead you!

Beginning stats, as a first time player, I would suggest Guns, Repair and Medicine (like Gingy said) as TAG skills. Remember that Science, Lockpick and Speech also play a huge role in this game. So make sure to put some points into those skills as well.

I have yet to side with the Powder Gangers. I might do that in my 3rd play-through lol

Most of all - have fun!

Yeah, but it isn't very good for the ending at all if you allow them to live.

When I first play a game like this my first character is always ME.

I play the way I would be like in that situation. Like my first PC was someone who would rather talk his way out of a situation than actually fight.

Well I would play as myself but the Fallout universe is to damaged for me to play as a completely "good" character which is what I would be if I choose to play as myself. In FO3 my character was primarily a mercenary who would do almost anything for money unless it was too immoral for him to overlook.

After a day or two of thinking I have finally decided who my character is. Of course like all my characters in any rpg or game I play I name my first character Ryan:

Name: Ryan
Age: 34
Birthplace: Unknown
Alignment: Neither moral or immoral. Amoral.
Story:

Ryan was born 34 years prior to the events of FNV. Ryan was raised by his parents till he was 18 years of age when one of the violent gangs spawned by the post-apocaplyse created by the war. To this day he doesn't know which faction killed them.(This becomes important later in his history) With that he struggles to survive in a post-apocalyptic world where even your best friend can become your worst enemy. When he was 20 years old he met a beautiful woman named Christina. They fell in love and married a year later. They had a child about six months after their marriage. Her name was Patricia. Than about 7 years later they were violently murdered by bandits. Ryan's was 28 years old at the time. This left him hardened to the harshness of the wasteland. He became hell bent on fighting the numerous factions in the waste. All he wants is to do is what his family couldn't, survive. He'll doesn't trust anyone and is believes he is out for himself. They way he sees it is that that every time someone dies that's not him his chances of survival increase. He is more or less a badass. Now with his near death experience he is even more of a hardened warrior. He has some sympathy for families but ultimately puts his own needs above others. He's not really evil he just doesn't have faith in turn doesn't have any of his own.

Tagged Skills:
Repair
Guns
Survival
Sneak

I figure hes a survivalist so he needs to be resourceful so I chose these skills to tag.

Other Skills:
Science
Lockpicking
Medicine(Only somewhat)

I like the idea of him being a survivalist as you can as I keep saying it. So I believe he needs to have a diverse skill set. He's also a Cannibal which is more for gameplay purposes to heal myself rather than story reasons but he'll do anything to stay alive.

So thats my character right now.

Not bad at all.

I like your tag skills, as well. My tag skills are almost identical to yours, except that I drop Survival if I decide to go the Medicine route (which I usually do).

Well I have been playing alot which has made my character a lot stronger. I really think this is a great game. At first I was a little overwhelmed but I really appreciate the effort that obsidian into this games. There are so many choices its truly great. I hope the next fallout on skyrims engine presents me with such morally mind boggling choices.

I started out with fallout and loved skyrim. Well your going to love fallout my friend. You got fo3 and NV to play. Hundreds of hours of fun. And it will give you a break from skyrim and makes it more fun to go back after not playing for awhile. But if You don't have another game to play while taking a break from skyrim, it's hard to take a break from skyrim! So that's what fallout it for.

Cheers

Well I actually have played Oblivion, FO3, and Skyrim, so I am no stranger to these types of games. I am enjoying it very much!

Also I decided that my NV character is gonna be a bit of an alcoholic too.

In that case, definitely pick up Cass (Rose of Sharon Cassidy).

Yeah well you see the thing about that is I killed her.....well I didnt, I did her mission than birds of a feather, than she died. Afterwards I did the other mission for the van graffs than killed them all and stole their guns and sold then all for a huge profit.

Oh, okay.

(Yeah, if you're a drinker, you just kind of shot yourself in the foot by doing that)

But hey! Things like this are one of the reasons New Vegas is a great game.

Yeah I pretty much betray everybody. I wanna make sure I get all the companions before I do something big (blow up brotherhood of steel LOL!) and nobody wants to interact with me because of how diabolical I am!