Playing the game of NV I've come across that luck seems really unbalanced in both ways pro and anti.

Issues with pro,
Can make your player insanely powerfull with the right perks in combat.
At luck 7 gambling is no gamble just a slogging match.
Boosts skills for some reason.

Anti.
Droping it below 5 is more negative than any other stat, unbalancing S.P.E.C.I.A.L selection when making a character.
The lower it is the less chance of defeating higher tier foes, especially with a non ranged or custom build.
At 5 gambling throws up some laughable patterns...
Example the dealer draws two face cards often the same suit and rank 40+ %, you draw 2 - 4 then a ten / face next card comes up ten face same amount of % as the two faces for the dealer.
You draw 5 cards you go over, the dealer does so chances are he'll get 21.
The dealer gets blackjack three times in a row, possible for you but not unless you boost luck.

So what I'm saying is the stat to my mind is only balanced due to extremes, and is there really a need for it to be so.
Would it be better just to play more of a minor role, a little tweak behind the scenes rather than influence things more than the other stats.
What are everyone elses views.

Luck = DUMP STAT DUMP STAT DUMP STAT DUMP STAT DUMP STAT DUMP STAT, and so on for eternity.
Absolutely useless unless you're a gambler or a Critical [censored].

Use LUCK as an example and make Charisma and everything else the same.

Below five, HORRIBLY NEGATIVE EFFECTS!

Above five, some GOOOOOOOD effects.

at 5 - A Balanced effect.

I like that some at least play without, do you drop it on all characters or just keep it at 5, I go for 5 myself.



Most do so to some effect, though strength is only really needed for loot / ammo unless a close combat build.
Perception effects dialogue, and is linked to shooting a fair bit, but not really needed.
Agility I play high or at 5, if you don't use V.A.T.s much again is less use, but still has some good uses linked to it.
Endurence at lower levels is the best example of this but later on if armoured less so.
Charisma however you're right I argued a while back that penalties are needed for droping it otherwise it will remain a dump stat, with people tagging speech.
Intelligence imo, is to much the focus of most peoples builds imo, I mostly play mid to low intelligence and like that I have to think about skills.
Having penalties in it though would just make even more go for it first to max out imo.

The effects at 6 or 4 are Subtle. Luck works exactly like it should in my mind. At 5, it is balanced and has no effect either way on my character, or the effects balance out. If you don't want it to effect your character, then leave it at 5. Sure, when you go to 7 or more or 3 or less on SPECIAL you really start to see a difference in the game. This is what I would expect from any Stat, otherwise why would I tweak it? .

You can do the same thing with Agility. Set it at 3 and watch how slowly you draw your gun or reload, set it at 7 or 8 or even higher and see what the difference is in that aspect.

Where does low luck have an actual negative effect other than gambling?

According to the Wiki, even a Luck of one increases all your skills and increases your critical chance, even if only by a tiny amount.

I always put my luck to 1, because it never really affected my gameplay :shrug:

I thought this thread was going to be about Andrew Luck.
I was excited....considering he's gonna be a Panther next year. :celebration:

I am glad to see the Stats are quote "unbalanced to extremes".
If you do not want any penalties - don't drop a stat below 5
If you don't want any bonuses - don't raise a stat above 5

This is a much better way to handle stats... in FO3 Luck & Charisma I would lower to 1, and invest them in other stats.
Now that there are huge penalties I am more inclined to play a more balanced character.

BTW - Charisma is not a dump stat in NV. It gives bonuses to companions DT and DAM. It also modifies Barter/Speech,
which are much more useful in NV.

Or maybe we should scrap the point investment all together and roll 3d6 for all our stats? lol

My EW character has them at 10, inscreasing crits (amazing for EWs) and with meltdown, it destroys everything. My other snipes, and luck crits and kills things if the initial shot dosent. I always put luck at 10, charisma is a dump stat imo.

Well that's your opinion but most people value of critical hits, as not everything can be a sneak attack.
A high luck character is more deadly in combat period, critical hits add up to a lot of damage especially after taking better criticals as the perk increases your damage 50% when you score a critical hit.

Hey I was not ranting, I keep all my stats close to normal in general unless roleplaying a specific build.
By unbalanced I was pointing at a imbalance towards luck having a greater impact on gameplay at even slightly higher levels in my personnal experience not everyones.
As said I do not consider Charisma a dump stat, I increase it often at the expense of strength, agility, intelligence endurance and perception, even on solo charcters.
However many do see it as so, many builds you see posted drop charisma, and many posts openly suggest doing so and just tagging speech.

If my OP inflames that I think it should be removed because I dislike it, or changed for everyone then I just put it poorly.
It was an opinion put across of personal thoughts to see what others thought about luck.
At no point would I deem to suggest that it was the right one or that I deserve special treatment, as that is a lothesome attitude to hold.

I just have not seen luck discused much apart from some builds putting it at max for criticals, and wondered also if anyone dropped it below 5.
If I sounded like a whiny [censored] I apologise, I tried not to.

Since Gambling was introduced in this game, that is what everyone focuses on for luck. However it is part of every equation that determines an outcome in this game. More Luck, more Criticals for example. More luck, you are less likely to be spotted while sneaking is another. I have not seen the formulas for this game, but it could add (or subtract) up to 12% (in some cases it was even more) to any equation in your favor (or against) in other games from Bethesda.

Not sure how it effected earlier Pre-Bethesda Fallouts.

I just used my last Perk choice at Level 30 for Intense Training and chose Luck raising it to 9 because it affects everything. With the Naughty Nightwear my Luck is 10. I can't lose! (Added: I only wear the nighty at the Casino unless I forget to put something else on and then I'm always surprised no one told me I was in my nighty.)

I think all the SPECIALs are important though. The more I learn, the harder it is to decide where to put the numbers.

Don't forget that having Luck at least at 6 is necessary for the 'Better Criticals' perk which is a FANTASTIC perk, especially if you sneak attack all the time. :ph34r:

That is why Replay of these games is so much fun. Depending on how you roll your character, the game play can be dramatically different forcing you (or allowing you) to do things differently each time you play.

True that. I'm on my third playthrough right now. I can't wait to roll my final fourth character who's gonna specialize in Med., Science, and Energy Weapons.

I love replaying these games and now with Oblivion, FO3, FNV, Morrowind (which I just got for my birthday) and with Skyrim on the horizon, I can rotate more freely and not get tired of any of them. I feel Lucky.

I like a Luck of at least 6, then 7 with the implant if I choose to get it. I definitely am a player who has a hard time making one or two stats swing wildly high while sacrificing a couple others. Typically I can't put any of them lower than 4 (usually END is 4). I don't mind a lower INT (I'm not that into a few extra skill points over time) of say 5 or so and I like STR to be at least 5 (6 with implant) so...yeah, I like balance I guess, lol.

I'm not into gambling so high Luck for that is useless for me, but I do like it at 6/7 for the crit - I don't always feel like wearing Boone's beret or running around in my undies.

See Below
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Granted, Luck does grant positives for CC and Skills even at 1, but as CCNA says, the major effect of Luck is hidden in all the computational formulae that make up every outcome in the game. it was well established in FO3 that values below 5 had a negative factor and above 5 a positive one. There is no reason to believe it is any different here.

This affects not only damage dealt but dialog trees and appearance of loot and enemies. As I understand it, nothing is untouched by Luck. Whether you get a skill-based decision in a dialog and how high the bar to meet is affected by Luck.

One of the compliments I have to give to Obsidian is how much of gameplay is hinged to SPECIALs. Stats that had minimal effect in FO3 (ie Charisma) are much more important. Even others that had a more direct and visible effect (ie Strength, Endurance and Agility) factor much more directly and effectively in this game.

Coupled with the new Trait system there is no such thing as a Dump Stat. As in the game itself, decisions have consequences. One player's Dump Stat is another's Vital Statistic.

HooRay for RPG! :foodndrink:

With luck of ten it makes getting the trophy for getting banned from all the casinos really easy,and it helps a lot with energy weapons I constantly get critical hits,using the laser rifle I can kill a lot of stuff with one hit,and almost everything turns to ash.Luck is over powered when you play black jack its always a 10,king,queen,or a jack with a 7 and 4 or a king,queen,or a jack with an ace.

Yes there are still things in dialogue that pop up after many playthroughs for me.
Both stat and skill related outside of skill checks, at least one point even having a high skill pass succede led to a failure due to either not having enough intelligence or a weapon drawn.
Other lesser examples are ghost at Mojave outpost and some general comments dotted around all behind the scenes checks that means you really have to change every stat between builds to see how much work has gone into NV.

Thank you for the detail towards the bethesda luck variables as well CCNA in your earlier post.

Playing as a 1 Luck character hasn't really affected me. I usually just use SPECIAL stats as a way to make sure I can get the perks I like. Of course, I did get Finesse to counteract my low chance of criticals.

Obviously, I can't gamble using this character, but I don't really need to, as money is plentiful. To me it seems like the stat is well-balanced.

Luck is essential in my opinion I always set it at 9. +5 Extra Skill Points for skills, 9 % Chance of Critical hit which goes up by 10% if you have Finesse and the 1st Recon Beret.

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Better_Criticals

More damage!