Yes it is. In fallout 3 it was Initial = 90+(Endurance x 20)+(Level x 10) so if you ended up with 10 Endurance you achieved maximum HP. It was also retroactive in New Vegas. We have no idea whether it's retroactive now and won't until someone looks into the code.

Hmm looked it up on Wiki, that's odd doesn't seem right to me that it is retroactive.

I suppose that makes Buffout quite a valuable item then.

I'm confused over this "Endurance-HP-increase-retroactive" -thing. Retroactive as in how? Isn't it as simple as END 5 giving you 5x health bonus and then END 6 giving you 6x that bonus?

In all of the Elder Scrolls games except for Skyrim, Endurance was calculated towards the health you gained per level up; it wasn't part of defining max health at that level. So at, say, 100 END you'd get +5 HP per level in Daggerfall compared to +1 at only 60 END. But if you bumped up your Endurance later on, only at that point would it have added +5 health on level-up. In this situation it's best to max out your END as early as possible in order to get the maximum possible amount of health.

Whereas if the health gains are retroactive, it doesn't matter if your Endurance wasn't maxed out a few levels ago, your health is going to be at its highest based on what your current endurance and level are.

And what's important about this is that if HP calculates the effect of Endurance retroactively you can start with 1 and build it up later on without suffering any adverse effects. There are a heck of a lot better things you can do with SPECIAL in chargen than spend points on HP.

Unless you're insane like me, and want to build enough HP and damage resistance to shrug off the nuclear apocalypse. Who needs a vault?

Thanks for explaining that. Feels to me like that was somewhat needlessly complicated and having it retroactive is better.

Do you think early game survivability relies on anything but twitch skills and crits? I'm not worried about dying. Once I get things sorted out I can go pump END for a few levels.

Depends on a character, but if i had to pick one - probably endurance.

It won't be a dump stat for upfront melee and unarmed chars, and for heavy weapons chars like mini-gun and flamethrower, which deal damage per second, so you will have to stand in front of enemies and soaking damage.

Yeah, I mostly just want to start the game with Solar Powered.

But in the end, my ideal characters are usually tanky utilitarians. I always prefer playing on the defensive... I've even made a few stealthy tanks before. And since this game is more about character development than creation, that's the direction I'll set for myself from the start.

I never had a dump stat, honestly. I always wanted Agility and Perception to be high but still have decent Strenght, and after 30 seconds of numbers switching I already have everything done, no need for a dump stat, actually I always needed more points than they always gave me.

No, having DT is the thing that is pointless and totally unrealistic.

In real combat, there is no such thing as taking zero damage just because you happen to wear a particular outfit. That is totally stupid and undermines any type of roleplaying at all. The ONLY exception would be something like shooting at a tank with a 10mm pistol, but even then the tank WILL take some damage, not simply be impervious to any effect until a certain strength of weapon is used.

DR is much more anologous to actual combat and supports actual roleplaying. BGS games are marketed as RPGs (despite certain caveats I have posted about false marketing, of course). They are not marketing their games as FPSes. People who want an FPS can choose from many on the market.

For OP, Luck is and has always been the most powerful stat in BGS games. People can use it as a dump stat if they want but only if they want to voluntarily gimp their character for some reason.

For starting builds, Endurance is probably the stat that would be easiest to use as a dump stat. You don't need lots of health early on and you shouldn't need it once you have proper outfits and weapons.

Strength would be the other unneeded stat for most builds. You don't need high carry weight initially as you can always make multiple trips in your starting local neighborhood. Only characters who don't use ranged weapons would need it for the perks.

Just as an aside, there's a constant 20% bleedthrough on all damage in the DT system in New Vegas. You will never take 0 damage from any attack. Makes a lot of the low-damage automatics like the assault carbine a bit more useful, although the tables are still oriented towards higher damage per shot weapons like the all powerful brush gun.

A dog's bite can hurt you when you're encased in a steel-ceramic alloy mechanized human-sized tank. If that isn't unreasonable I don't know what is.

Feel the same.. I've never taken a high end to start with in past games. You get lots of hp in these games and become pretty invincible by end game. If there's one thing I've never struggled with it's having enough HP. I'm not going to use any stat as a total dump stat.. But starting with a ST and EN of 2 seems pretty good to me. Also, since there will probably be plenty of levels that don't grant me any perks I want I'll have plenty of time and points to build up any of the non vital stats.

Exactly. What else are you going to spend perk points on in between ranks of your core strengths? It's really a perfect system.

going for:

S: 3
P: 6

E: 4

C: 5
I: 4
A: 5
L: 1

Ussually play a well balanced build focusing on Guns, non power armor, lockpicking a bit of sneak and persuasion. With the bobbleheads and all i should be able to get a well rounded special stat.

Unless luck turns out to be incredibly important i'll be using it as dump stat.

Man, I don't give a Mole Rat's ass about DT vs. DR. They were both flawed in both games. I just want every piece of equipment to be useful, and have advantages or drawbacks to using like the games claim they have.