I'm looking to make a sniper character and i'm new to the game and I love rifles. I've done a few runs up to about level 4 to figure out the game but now i'm ready to focus on my main.

Any input such as where to put my points or what may be a waste would be a great help so I don't have to keep starting over. Should I focus on stealth and guns or go with something else.

Thanks.

For a sniper I'd do Sneak, Guns, and Lockpick. Without 100 Lockpick you can't get a very unique sniper rifle, not to mention some other uniques. You'll have access to buying some awesome (and expensive) rifles later on that you can mod with scopes and suppressors/silencers. Snipers are ALWAYS fun.

Agility give you points in guns and sneak, and it gives you more action points. Luck gives you a better chance of getting crits. Perception is decent, but you can easily make up for not taking points in it in game so 4 is about right. Charisma is completely useless don't put more than 3 points here. Intelligence gets you more skill points, so I'd recommend getting it to at least 6. Endurance and Strength aren't going to help you much, but they'll occasionally be useful.

First off is your strength stat. The anti-materiel rifle is an absolute god but does have a strength requirement of 8 (if you don't meet a weapons str req then it will be less accurate). Then there is the sniper rifle and it's unique variants which have a str req of 6, the hunting rifle also has a str req of 6 and becomes very good once you get a scope mod for it. The trail carbine has a str req of 5 and also requires that you find a scope for it.

At lvl 16 you can take the perk weapon handling that lowers all weapons str req by 2.

Perception isn't as important as you might think for a sniper. It does determine when you can detect enemies on your radar but a companion you can aquire very early essentially maxes your perception stat whilst you are with them.

Endurance is always good to put points into as it effects how many HP you have and your resistances to poison. Always useful for new player.

Charisma is useless for a sniper build.

Intelligence determines how many skill points you get when you level up but I manage just fine with medium intelligence.

Agility determines reload speed and how many action points you can spend in VATS. For a sniper build it is quite useful but at long range vats is quite useless so you will probably be getting most of your kills through manual aiming.

Luck determines to critical hit chance. You can never have enough luck.

Good skills to focus on are guns, sneak and repair. Lockpick will get you a very good unique sniper rifle though.

Trigger discipline is an excellent trait for a sniper.