Ok. So i'v pretty much nailed how I want my character to be. However, I am also looking for some more.. immersive ways to play. I'm not looking for mods, other than the few small ones I got (Grave Digger, EW Defnerf, etc. Nothing that changes//adds//removes stuff) and I am just wondering what some good ways to play the game are. I can't really explain what i'm looking for, but this far my setup is going to be::

Guns // Repair // Science
||Guns since my character is young and never experiences EW before || Repair for some more immersion. I want her to be like... mechanical and all. || Science for when she becomes a higher level and uses EW. As well as immersion, reading computers and just checking stuff out. ||

I am somewhat at a loss for what to do for SPECIAL(s). I want to have dialogue choices.. but I don't want to sacrifice alot later on for survivability. I plan on raising Agility, Perception, Endurance and Charima at first. But any suggestions for a funner roleplay experience are welcome .

Basically just a girl with no memory or anything going out into a world she doesn't remember. Whom will later end up with skill in energy weapons.

This also leads into my next question::

Is their a point in raising Endurance (Asides for implants), if I don't plan on using Power Armor? I remember in FO3, later in game it wasn't really useful unless you planned to be, basically, a tank of a character.

Thanks for input guys!

If you are planning in ultimately specializing in energy weapons, I suggest having a high perception (around 8 or 9) as it is directly linked to your energy weapons skill. Also, if you want dialog choices, I suggest having your charisma at at least 4, and raising your speech skill from there. To be honest, I never raise mine past 65, as most challenges require 85 speech tops (assuming you have the perk that allows skill magazines to increase your speech by 20 rather than 10 for a period). Sorry, I forgot what that perk is called, its similar to retention, but isn't retention. Also, intelligence is important if you plan to hack (as it influences your science and medicine skills). I would suggest putting as many points into intelligence as you can afford. The higher your intelligence, the more skill points you can doll out, which ends up making a big difference by the time you reach max level. I would suggest going no lower than 6 for intelligence.

In terms of immersion, I recommend doing "The Thorn" quest. It would provide a basic way for your character to gain caps for EW and XP to level up. Though, the last few parts are tough, so I wouldn't do it all at once. Maybe start once you are level 8 and finish it by the time you are level 18. Also, I suggest searching for the unique EW. Each weapon has a unique, one of a kind, version of it somewhere in the wastes. Why not have your character search far and wide across the wastes for a special plasma or laser rifle. I would also suggest finding ED-E and recruiting him. Completing "ED-E my Love" could also help drive your characters wanderings.

EDIT: I think the Thorn quest might be called "Bleed my Heart Dry" or somethign similar to that

So having 8 Charisma isn't worth it? (Had that before... heh... lol).
And what about Endurance?

I will definitely end up grabbing more into EW as I happen across more useful EW stuff I can use. I plan on maybe specializing in two weapons, Guns and EW. Should I throw alot into speech early on and try to get it to about 50, and slowly level my TAG skills?

I got the ED-E quest but didn't get far enough before quitting, but I will definitely do it. Kind of why I picked repair as a tag, heh.

Thanks for the reply also

I wouldnt suggest putting that much into charisma. I go for around 4 to 5, as there arent really that many checks in the game where they measure your charisma (vs. them measuring your speech ro barter). Other S.P.E.C.I.A.L. such as intelligence are often skill-checked. Endurance gets skill-checked occationally, but more or less it is similar to charism. Ultimately, its benefits are directly related to your health, so if you have a high intelligence, you will likely have a higher medicine skill, which will allow you to treat yourself more effectively. If you choose to go with a high endurance instead, you will just have to rely on food and water,etc. to heal you via having a higher survival skill. Personally, I would go with an endurance of about 3 then use an implant to raise it to 4. I would take those removed points and put it into intelligence or perception. Essentially, this strategy works best if you can not get hit often. If you get the jump on the enemy, your EW will finish them off quickly, before you can take too much damage. This often involves sneaking (but doesnt have to). So if that isnt how you play, I'd reccomend having a higher endurance at the sacrifice of intelligence. That way, you can rely on both stimpacks and water, etc to heal you.

As for the multi-classing, I would tend to recommend that if you are going to split your offensive strategy into two, you select both a proximity and ranged type of attack strategy (i.e. guns and melee or unarmed and EW). This way, you are not completely reliant on ammo, and can deal with enemies who are up close. You can do both, but areas that are inclosed such as inside buildings will become a lot harder, as you will have to rely on shotguns and magnums more or less to stop the enemy before they can get to you, If you do decide to specialize in melee or unarmed, I would suggest taking a higher indurance at the cost of intelligence, as brawler types tend to get roughed up a little more. You dont need to have your intelligence super high for this strategy, it just helps you hack and heal.

Try to get about 40 into your speech by the time you reach the strip, from there, just fill this catagory with leftover skill points. For the most points, level up your tag skills, they are your strengths and you will need them to get through the game. Play off of them to help improve your weaknesses. But if you are going for high intelligence and perception, science, EW and repair should be where you are focusing your strengths. Take sneak as your 4th tag if you can. If you are going for perception and endurance, focus on EW, melee or unarmed, and repair. Then take science as your 4th tag (this is if you choose the Tag! perk).

Well, I wasn't planning on using EW early on for, a few reasons. I planned on Tagging Guns, Repair and Science, and then leveling EW now and then and using it later in the game. But I was slightly interested in going Melee for awhile for close area's, but I find I get shot ALOT when I try to beat the crap out of someone. However, i'd still try it if it's useful.

Is there any special//tag//off-skills you can suggest I level for a build that incorperates melee and still have the immersion I want? (Like speechcraft). I'm awful at making builds unless it's for a game i'v studied in an out.

Thanks again ^^

For your character, I'd suggest the following S.P.E.C.I.A.L.:
Strength 6
Perception 8 (plus implant for a total of 9)
Endurance 6 (plus implant for a total of 7)
Charisma 3
Intelligence 8 (plus implant for a total of 9)
Agility 5
Luck 4

Tag EW, repair and melee or unarmed.

Take the "Rapid Reload" perk (needs ALG of 5) once you reach level 2 (this will compensate for you low agility).
You're melee and unarmed are determined by your strength and should therefore be better than average, which will then be raised by tagging them. Until you reach level 25 with guns skill, rely on melee unarmed or energy weapons (if you can find them) to get through combat. If you are looking for energy weapons early on, I suggest visiting the "Bright Followers," their courpses have tons of energy weapons. Though I wouldnt suggest doing the associated quest "Come Fly With Me" until you are level 8 due to some of the enemies which are tough (though you will get some good melee weapns here as well).

Your guns and speech will be below the levels you want them, so I suggest immediately starting to fill those skills. Once your guns reaches 35 I would focus on your tag skills. Same with you speech once its at about 45. From here, just put three or four points into one of these skills every level (with an intelligence of 8, you should be getting 14 skill points every level). Stop your guns once you hit 55, that is a good enough score for someone focusing on EW, guns and melee or unarmed. Keep contributing your speech till about 65 or 75, and use skill magazines to help you beat those upper level skill checks.

As soon as you can, start putting points into science, though, with such a high perception you will be just as well off picking locks to gain entrance ot those restricted areas. Don't put to many into these catagories tough, your tags should remain your focus.

Here are the following perks I suggest you get:
Jurryrigging (allows you to repair weapons with similar type parts, meaning that maintaining you guns will be cost effective).
Comprehension (makes skill books and mags more useful)
Nerd Rage
Plasma Spaz (required for all EW specialists)
Life Giver (if you find yourself needing more HP)
Robotics Expert
Meltdown (also essential for all EW specialists)
Tag!
Laser Commander (once again essential for all EW specialists)

Finally, I would suggest having ED-E and Raul as your companions.

What would you suggest more, Melee or unarmed? I'm not sure how different they are.

Since you are specializing in EW but are also using guns, it doesnt really matter. I personally prefer melee because there is a more diverse range of weaponary available, and because it gives you a larger range (useful when fighting radscorpions,etc.), but unarmed weapons have their appeal...namely "pushy" one of the best unique weapons in the game in my opinion

Maybe I will just go Melee ontop of Guns then. I'll forget EW and use them in another playthrough with mods and such. I'll just play a titanic guy with explosives, EW, and a bad temper.

Will my skills change alot if i'm going Guns, Melee and Repair?
(btw, I still want the roleplay aspect. Will it be bad to get Science up, or still worth it?)

If you change EW to guns just switch your Agility to 8 and your Perception to 5, then everythign will more or less remain the same. Explosives, repair and speech will need to be leveled, but its manageable. Getting science up is only really worth it if you dont have good speech and lockpick, other than that, the other two options will get you past most situations.

Alright, thanks alot

No problem, now I'm off to go burn some deathclaws :flamethrower:

Must give thanks for the build idea. I'm still running around early on but, it's enjoyable since I found a Machette and when something get's close, I don't find myself running the eff backwords, frantically trying to shoot stuff. I just pull it out, aim for arms for cripples and BAM. Dead .

Thanks again.

Also, on a side note:: Should I opt for intense training at all? I mean, extra SPECIAL is awesome but. Some of those perks look like they would offer more than what one point into special might.

Intense Training is really only useful if you need to meet S.P.E.C.I.A.L. related skill checks, but are a point shy. They do increase your skills, but adding a single S.P.E.C.I.A.L. point will only increase a skill by 3 or 4 points, so although its slightly helpful, its not really worth the slot. Ultimately, by the time you reach the higher levels, getting additional skill points will be less important (you will have enought points to cover your skill strengths, as well as a few others). Having perks which do different things is more important. Say you take an extrat S.P.E.C.I.A.L. point and put it into Agility via "Intense training". This will raise your guns by about 3 or 4, which ultimately will give you an extra +2 DMG for say the 9mm. Taking the "Bloody Mess" perk does the same thing (extra 5% DMG done by all weapons), but it does not count towards your guns skill directly. This means that if you level your guns skill to 100 and have the "Bloody Mess" perk, your guns will do the most possible damage (rather than just having a high guns skill). NOTE: Do not take the "Bloody Mess" perk before completing "Three Card Bounty" if you are siding with the NCR. Another example: one of my favourite perks, "Shotgun Surgeon" give -10 DT when using shotguns. This allows you to shoot through lightly and unarmored enemies. While filling your skills with points is important, having unique perks such as these are far more useful. Perks such as "Scrounger" and "Fortune Finder" allow you to constantly have ammo for your weapons, and caps to purchase stimpacks, etc to compensate for your weaknesses. I strongly recommend that you take "Piercing Strike," and "Paralyzing Palm" are essential for unarmed fighters. The "Toughness" perk is amazing, it comes in two levels, each of which give you +3 DT. Combine this with an implant and you have DT of 10 (that is basically Light Armour). Then, combine this with any Light Armor and your DT will be about 19 or 20. This is the same as Legion Medium Armour, but without the penalty to movement speed. Most perks have these types of benefits, and by combing them together in interesting ways that complement your playing style, your character becomes that much stronger. There is one perk, however, that is essentially useless. "Here and Now" grants you a level up immediately. It basically takes up a perk slot and gives you skill points that you would have earned anyway had you leveled up the normal way.