So we've seen pics of skill books around and theres on one the pc's coffee table in the reveal trailer, how will they work now?

My thoughts are that they will be used to give a time limited boost to set perks, e.g..

Guns and Bullets could give a boost to next perk level for X minutes. So with 1 rank in that perk, reading a book will boost it to 2 for a short period of time.

Think that sounds reasonable?

That's how I imagined skill books would work out but I'm not sure what they're gonna do regarding the skill books(?) like Duck and Cover! that permanently raised one of your skills by a couple points, but I imagine they'll just get rid of it.

That's what magazines were for. Magazines gave the temporary boosts. So unless they've removed magazines and downgraded books, I doubt it.

Books were about giving you permanent increases. They probably still will. They'll probably give you a permanent perk in the appropriate category. Just like with skills in the past games, it'll mean you can spend your points at level up somewhere else.

thats the part that worys me, finding out that now we have 70 diferent skill books somewhere in the game. . . Granted there were 82 skill books in new Vegas + 13 more you could make plus more from the crates, so basically up to 95 or about 400 points worth of skills.

Hopefully there randomized with each new game.

I doupt they will have 70 different skill books... I mean... this would mean you can get EVERY perk for free. This wouldn't make your character very individual... right? It would be annoying and stupid if you can get rank 1 at every perk.

Depend on how stupid or usefull a given perk rank is

for example they may have a book that gives you the skill you need to make a basic settlement, but to make anything larger you need to be able to "Turn on" that skill Via Skill points.(I suspect the size, level of "Buildings" and number of Settlements is based on the skill rank)

It wqould still be annoying if every skill is at least rank 1... That wouldn't look very special anymore.

Since we can now read the actual books they might have less books/magazines in total but each one is unique and so gives a unique minor perk. Grognak The Barbarian could be 3 issues and each issue gives you a melee/unarmed oriented perk. One could be a slight +5% chance to knock down a target with a heavy strike, one could be the ability attack +10% faster after you've blocked an enemy attack and so on.

Basically, perks would be perks, a relatively significant increase to your abilities whereas books and magazines give you smaller perks that are more along the lines of quest or challenge perks.

Eh for all re know their collectables now. Note we can buld the spinning comic book tack thingy


And befor the forum explodes into screaming rage, yes I know proper storage of comic books involve useing proper baggin and the use of acid free cardboard backing in light tight acid free boxes...

My theory is that they will raise SPECIAL by a point. Like Grognak the Barbarian would probably increase Strength. Of course, this would mean that the books become much less common.

I would like this idea. A random spawn set of 7 books that increase one of your stats by a point, super hard to find but super rewarding, and random so as to not be uselessly exploited via the wiki for a quick boost.

Thought it seems a bit silly that reading a comic would make you stronger, but there's weirder things in the Fallout universe

maybe they just give an exp boost? Or you need to collect each one and it gives progress towards a set perk you can't get by leveling up?

Oh there's been some news from quakecon that they've improved the covers of the books and magazines, would guess it means their still playing some sort of role.

You would still need to meet the SPECIAL requirement to be able to take the perk, I would expect. Otherwise, the book would be beyond your comprehension and unreadable. Plus, there are 275 perks counting the ranks, so giving a free rank through limited-supply books wouldn't be game-breaking. It would be more powerful than skill books in FO3, since you would get the equivalent of a level-up from a book instead of 1 or 2 skill points. I would expect the books to be a little more rare to compensate. Magazines, if they are in FO4, would give a temporary rank bump.

It may be that we need to get the whole collection of Grognak books before getting a perk. Having the rack for collecting would make sense if this were the case as in previous titles the book or magazine would disappear from inventory once you read it.

They'll probably just give a small x% boost directly to the associated action. Like 10% damage to X weapon.

Pretty simple replacement.

I'm thinking they provide a buff, rather than a permanent increase.

Effectively becoming the "Potion of Thunder Resistance" of the game

It would seem some folks that tend to be dismissive have forgotten the part where Todd Howard said EVERYTHING has significance in the game; all the clutter, all the junk, every scrap of paper, book, magazine, or random item.

There's nothing in the wasteland that can't be used for something.

We may not have Skills, but, the magazines are there, and so are books. How they impact game play we've yet to see.

I think that skills are actually still in the game. I have even outlined (on another thread) which ones I think are in, and at what levels they become available. And so I agree with you whole heartedly that books and magazines will most certainly have a very specific use

I was thinking something along the same lines. However I hope its a collect x amount of Lying Congressional Style that gets you a point in Charisma. Sort of like you are restoring the book by finding other copies or something.

I'm liking the idea that got dropped from a review of QuakeCon that we can actually read some of the books, like the "Various issues" of Grognak.

This!

Yay morrowind book return.

Three cheers


Hip hip...eh



(If The Lusty Argonian Maid act Iturns up in fallout 4 I will be Quite irate )