Hey guys. I have only played a few hours of the game but now that I feel I know a decent amount and feel like I'm going to sped a few hundred hours here, I would like to start fresh and make sure I have a well thought out character. I looked for guides but I noticed most of them were outdated and didn't include all of the DLC that Ultimate Edition comes with. I don't know everything and did a lot of research on the Wiki, so I am hoping you guys could review my reasoning and provide constructive feedback.

5 Strength: This would go up to 6 once an implant becomes affordable. At 6 Strength I could afford all perks except Unstoppable Force (additional melee damage through blocks) as well as Heavyweight (half weapon weight if over 10lbs). I'm not too worried about this but If wanted, I could also use Intense Training perk to get this up to 7 to be able to afford all Strength perks. Also there is always Weapons Handling, Reinforced Spine, and/or some power armor I can easily get this all the way to 10 to use any weapon and/or carry more.

5 Perception: This would go up to 6 once an implant becomes affordable. This would make it so I could afford all perks except the one that gives me a second chance at failed lockpicks. I'm not too worried about that, but if I was I could Intense Training to get it up to 7. Six seems like plenty to me, though, especially with most head slot pieces giving Perception +1 or +2 bonuses. Plus with the companion bonuses that are available with ED-E and Boone, Who really needs more perception?

8 Endurance: I would use the Lonesome Road SPECIAL point to boost this up to 9 to be able to eventually get all implants. Then once an implant becomes affordable, I would have 10 Endurance. All perks are affordable and this would give me plenty of resistances and health to survive the wasteland.

3 Charisma: This would go up to 4 once an implant becomes affordable. You need six Charisma to get the two perks Animal Friend (certain animals do not attack) and Ferocious Loyalty (your HP &--#62;50%, companion DT goes up) which I am not worried about. Overall, Charisma seems unimportant to the game and merely unlocks non-combat or novelty conversation options in game. I am keeping this low, but still high enough to be able to give it a quick boost with consumables if something is desired.

9 Intelligence: I am keeping this high to be able to max out all of my character's skills. I would find a way to afford the implant to get this to 10 right away.

5 Agility: This would go up to 6 once an implant is affordable. At 6 Agility, you are missing out on Slayeer (melee/unarmed speed +30%) as well as Nerves of Steel (+ AP regen). If these are desired, you can use Intense Training to get Agility to 7. At 7 Agility, the only perk you would be missing out on is Tunnel Runner (+30% speed sneaking in light/no armor). I'm not too worried about that.

5 Luck: Trying to keep this at an odd number to start so I can maximize free skill points. I would implant to 6 Luck eventually to get an extra % of crit and be able to afford all Luck related perks.

There are a few things I think might be up for debate. The first is if I still need 10 Intelligence to max out all skills. The second is how many points Charisma should really have since the perks all seem out of reach and there doesn't seem like much reason to have it otherwise. Perhaps a point or two can be reallocated from Intelligence or Charisma to be able to afford missing top end Strength, Perception, or Agility perks (even though they seem unimpressive) or perhaps make it so you have to use less Intense Training. If 10 Intelligence is not needed to max out all of my skills, I could knock that down to 9 and take a point from Charisma to give myself 7 Luck. Or maybe take even more from Charisma to redistribute into Strength, Perception, or Agility. I could also use these spare points to put in spots I don't want to waste a perk on Intense Training.

Thoughts?

I personally usually go for a higher perception and agility. It depends on what character you're making though.

I'd drop Charisma to 1 since it's basically useless (except for starting points in Speech and Barter, and companion Nerve). Unless you want it for RP purposes.

I'd drop Strength by a point probably, unless you're planning on using very heavy weapons, or melee/unarmed. If not the latter there is a per you can get that makes weapon strength requirements 2 points lower. If it's due to how much stuff you can carry, there is also another perk that increases your carrying capacity by 50 points.

p.s remember you can buy implants in NV to increase your stats.

OK, first thing you need to know, by level 15 or 20, your slowing down everything you can to slow down your character progression because you can become very powerful in this game by Level 20, and there are like 50 levels with all the DLCs active.

In fact, a number of people take pains to make their characters weaker to provide more of a challenge with the later part of the game.

Now, there is nothing wrong with a powerful character, and if that's your goal, it can be very easily achieved in this game. Set Charisma to 1 and Intelligence to 10 and Endurance to 8 (if you want all the Implants that matter) and you are on the path to build a powerful character quite early on.

My main intention was to make a character that I could be able to dump 200 hours into and be able to achieve anything I want to without having to reroll just to be proficient at using a minigun, or suddenly wanting to be a stealthy assassination type.

So maybe I should redistribute Charisma for Agility and Perception? I was just trying to keep enough around to be able to pass any Charisma checks I wanted to without having to take too many consumables.

With 9 intelligence you'll max out almost all of your skills, particularly if you take the Skilled perk (hint: it glitches and can in fact be taken twice). So I doubt you'll have trouble with versatility.
To be honest though, it's more fun - I find, at least - to have a character devoted to a main weapon or two; at least at first. You want to bulk your skill points in the stuff you're interested in, not spread them thin otherwise you'll have a hard time. Plus, since there are 4 different main questlines I don't really see why you'd want to do everything everything in one character (particularly because it's not possible to do so). Have this character maybe specialised primarily in guns, and then the next one melee and the next explosives... etc. You can't play linearly in this game, and you won't experience every quest (even beyond the main quest), so I don't really understand why you're focused on having one playthrough. For now that's fine but...

Also, you don't need to worry about getting powerful, as CCNA said.

1. You can't do everything in one blow, that's impossible and silly.
2. Most weapons demand perks to fully make potential out of them, and seeing as you only have 25 perk points, isn't really possible as you'll end up as a Jack-of-All-Trades, Master-of-None, meaning you'll be decent at everything, but not beautifully.

I'll probably make alts. Just like I did in Skyrim to experience thieve's guild and mage's guild related stuff. On my main... my Warrior.... I spent almost 300 hours doing every quest, clearing every dungeon, setting up a house and decorating with collectibles and a fully stocked armory, etc. I end up making up my own stuff to do in these type of games, and want something that is as well rounded as possible. I'll specialist at first, but eventually I want to be a well rounded powerhouse.

I'll be playing through on hardcoe mode with Very Hard. I find the challenge to be a blast.

The first thing you need to know, is that there is no such thing as a 'perfect' SPECIAL build in the game. What works well for one player and playstyle and weapons/gear loadout (not to mention roleplaying choices), could range from suboptimal to pure svck for somebody else and their playthrough. The only hard and fast SPECIAL rules I play by, is to end up with PER at 6, so you can get the Better Criticals perk (one of the top 3 perks in NV), and LCK up to at least 8 including Lucky Shades and implant. Oh, and END at minimum of 7, so I can get all the implants I care about. Everything else is variable depending on the above mentioned factors in a given playthrough.

Is there anything that my build can't achieve?

Probably not. Personally, I'd put 1 in CHR and max of 7 in INT, as you will still be rolling in skill points you don't know what to do with, long before you reach 50. Put the extra points from those into LCK for more crit and the other good things it does, all of which I can't remember at the moment.

Yeah, a lot actually. Like I stated before, you become Jack-of-all-Trades, Master-of-None. You won't be able to maximize any of the skills potential at all with this kind of build, too much swings on "If I want to, I can just Intense Training it" which is a terrible idea unless you absolutely have to. You only have 25 Perk Slots. You're trying to maximize all skills. You. Will. Fail.

Winning consistently at the casino, getting lots of non-sneak crits and quick reloads are the first things that come to mind. You also made no mention of your skill layout.

As was said above there isn't a perfect build for this game. This isn't Skyrim, you can't focus on everything and if you try then you will miss things that you could have seen with a specialized character. This is a game that is meant to be played multiple times, those "novelty conversation options" are an integral part of the game that will decide on how you can deal with a situation.

I love Terrified Presence, just plain hilarity when facing enemies.

Even 9 is overkill for Intelligence. Keep in mind that there's 50 levels you can achieve in the game, provided you have all the DLCs, so it's not going to be difficult maxing everything out. In Fallout 3 I pretty much managed it by level 30, and New Vegas still has 20 more after that. Personally I'd leave Intelligence at 6 or 7 max. As for Agility, it affects a number of key things in the game like the number of your Action Points, the speed at holstering and switching weapons as well as reloading, and I believe it also has an effect on your movement speed. It also affects your Gun and Sneak skills. All those things makes it one of the most important attributes in the game, so you don't want to skimp on it.

I couldnt agree more.
To fully experience NV you have to play through it multiple times( as sick as it is I have yet to actually beat the game, never even played the ending battle once yet I have over 600 hrs invested in NV..... yea) and play different sides of the story.
One of the worst things about Skyrim is the fact that you could technically call yourself a Arch Mage/ Master Thief/ Master archer/ Vampire/ Nord war lord/ Master Assassin and many many more while actually being an expert in all the before mentioned classes was really troublesome.
This cannot be the case in NV. While you may be good at more than a few skills you will never be a master at all. You will also never complete every quest in one run through of the game, thankfully that is impossible.

Its nice to know you cant be the leader/ high ranking member of The Legion, BoS, NCR, and FoTA all at once.

Perception determines weapon accuracy, as well as you abilities to detect enemies. So, it's basically the sniper stat.

Essentially, this.