Character Build - S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Start Stats

Post » Sat Nov 28, 2015 2:14 am

They changed how the system works. I'll give a basic rundown.
S: Melee damage and carry weight.
P: Your chances of hitting in VATS
E: Your overall health and how long you can sprint
C: Barter prices and persuasion dialogue
I: Experience Points
A: Number of action points and your ability to sneak
L: Recharge rate of crits and your ability to find items

That said, I feel like perception and agility are the two most important stats, agility moreso because it affects things like jetpacks and sprinting as well. The next most important are likely luck, endurance, and strength, and finally intelligence and charisma dead last.

Charisma has always been my min stat, and will likely continue to be so. Intelligence is a weird one for me, however. I've always valued it, but if it only affects the rate at which you get skill points, then it's not really necessary. Somehow, I don't think the description is giving me the full story behind that, however. With all the things in this game, intelligence may end up being extremely strong.
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Michelle Serenity Boss
 
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Post » Fri Nov 27, 2015 5:24 pm

Yeah the descriptions are mis-leading as supposedly each point in those attributes also opens up new perks in the PerkChart. For example, higher Int is required for the better crafting perks.

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lydia nekongo
 
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Post » Sat Nov 28, 2015 2:02 am


I knew it. Not only that, but I bet int will be important at the Institute. Ugh...these decisions are gonna get rough.
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Samantha Jane Adams
 
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Post » Fri Nov 27, 2015 10:32 pm

Yeah, doing a build in this one is going to be tough without more info as to how things will be affected, and if you can add to your stats later through a perk. The new system could make replays more interesting depending on how much it affects what the PC is capable of doing, and how early in the game you can do it. If it turns out you can build a jack of all trades by mid way through the game, then the initial build may not be quite so important.

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Marcia Renton
 
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Post » Fri Nov 27, 2015 9:56 pm

Playing Fallout 3 again, now (modded to hell and back of course) and I find myself starting over, and starting over, and starting over.... as I realize, Oh, Crap, I need a 7 PER for this perk!

In general, I favor sneaky sniper builds where VATS is not useful --- VATS either won't activate as far out as I like to be, or if it does it lists the percentage as like 3% when I can visually get a headshot without VATS. Since I'm sneaking ~all~ the time, and not using VATs for sniper-accuracy, I figure I can lower PER. I don't mind spending extra time shuttling loot around, and do not melee at all, so STR only needs to be as high as it -needs- to be, bare minimum. Since I prefer to start fights from sneaking and END them quick at extreme range, I rarely have to worry about END, since foes drop before they can hit me. Since I sneak, I also won't be sprinting, so again END only needs to be as high as it needs to be to unlock perks I may want.

Since I sneak a lot, AGI is a prime candidate for high-score, for me. And if I do get surprised, and have to enter VATs, even with a low PER/accuracy, I should have enough action points to spray-and-pray. ;)

Intelligence and Luck are the big mysteries for me. I mean, if Intelligence only determines how fast you level, like many, I don't care. But often Intelligence will not only determine how fast you advance, but also what dialog options you might have available (same for any stat, really) so I am reluctant to totally dump INT. Luck affects crit chance as it always does, but not sure how it would interact with sneaking-criticals (if at all); thing that's still up in the air (for me) is the hint that Luck will determine what kind of loot you may get. If I end up crafting my own gear, it's largely irrelevant. And a lot of the "special loot" is likely to be stuff I'd just sell off anyway and never use (a special sledgehammer or something).

Charisma is the big sticking point for me. Everyone considers it a dump stat, which it would be if this were a pure FPS game. But it's a roleplaying game, and I want to have as many options as possible. Given a chance, my character would rather smooth-talk someone out of a fight than pull a gun. Catch is, in Fallout 3, I set my CHA at 1 and with various pieces of clothing and gear, it's already up to averge or so (and Speechcraft also determines a lot of dialog options, although that skill may be gone, making Charisma even MORE important).

In any event, I know I'm going to be making several characters before I settle on The One. Trying to see how the early interactions (combat, dialog, crafting, looting) are affected by the various high and low stats.

Certainly does seem like it'll be a lot harder to make decisions than in past games, though. Unless having a low starting total-points is because there are a LOT of ways to "fine tune" your stats, increasing the ones you feel need increasing, through leveling (other than Intense Training, which always seemed a waste of a perk).

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Mike Plumley
 
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Post » Fri Nov 27, 2015 5:56 pm

Well crud. I do love me some crafting, but I hate leveling fast. Looks like I'll have to change to the following:

S=4 - Maybe I'll break down and use a companion as a mule or something. Maybe if I'm very lucky they'll give us a mule for a companion!

P=1 - Still a dump stat. My T.V. is big and the image is clear enough that things far off will be easy to see.

E=7 - Same plan as L, but now buffout will be something I'll have to keep an eye out for.

C=1 - Dump stat. Only ever good for animal friend and you already get a dog so who cares?

I=7--- Crafting. If I can get away with less then I will!

A=1 - Dump stat for me. I don't vats.

L=7 - I'd still like to get this as high as I can. Will have to sprint for any luck boosting items right from the start.

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lucile
 
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Post » Sat Nov 28, 2015 2:42 am


Actually perception and agility aren't quite the dump stats anymore. Perception modifies how likely you are to hit in VATS, and agility is used to determine how many action points you have. Action points are now used by things like running and jetpacks, so agility has the potential to be extremely useful.
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Lewis Morel
 
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Post » Fri Nov 27, 2015 1:04 pm

I don't vats so those are still dump stats for me, and a high Endurance will stretch the few AP I'll have far enough.

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Damian Parsons
 
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Post » Sat Nov 28, 2015 12:00 am

I don't know where the perks are so it's kinda hard to give a build right now. If we assume it's like Fallout 3/New Vegas which I hope it isn't but if it is then, I would probably go with something like this

Str 3

Per 3

End 4

Cha 5

Int 5

Agil 4

Luck 4

Something balanced but also something that could be easily tweaked if I see a perk I like. Normally I would put Charisma at one but with Voiced Protagonist being a thing I think Dialoge will be more important and speech checks will have bigger focus. I could gamble and lower End but every Fallout file I've done in Fallout 3 and New Vegas I've always done 5 End because of how important Health is. That probably won't change In FO4.

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Mark Hepworth
 
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Post » Sat Nov 28, 2015 3:23 am

If the perks are good enough, there might be no real dump stat anymore.

Maybe charisma will help that settlement stuff quite a bit.

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Jonny
 
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Post » Fri Nov 27, 2015 3:46 pm


Perception, yes. Agility, no. As I said before, action points now have uses in relation to player movement outside of VATS.
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Bonnie Clyde
 
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Post » Fri Nov 27, 2015 5:58 pm

I suspect that http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Local_Leader may require a high Charisma for the higher Perk Ranks. So, as booheads said, there may not be any real "dump stat" in Fallout 4. I course, be wrong.

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[Bounty][Ben]
 
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Post » Sat Nov 28, 2015 12:20 am

I think I'll go with all even ones this time around, since it seems that there isn't a dump stat. I may take one from Intelligence and put it in Agility since I like VATs and Sneaking and I don't really care about leveling fast, but I definitely don't want to play as a "Caveman" so I don't want to go too low on int.

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Kirsty Wood
 
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