I just wanted to run this idea with people to see what they thought. The idea was to remove level requirements for perk upgrades and replace them with additional SPECIAL requirements. The interesting part of this is that the requirements would not always need to be within the original SPECIAL category.

For example Sneak requires 3 Agility to unlock and has 5 ranks. what if the higher ranks required points in perception instead of a level to unlock? You could even increase the required level of both Agility and perception for higher levels of sneak.

Some perks could simply require higher levels of the same SPECIAL, like Toughness just requiring more Endurance.

If done right I think it could make an interesting alternative to the existing system. I'm guessing it would make it a little harder to max one or two SPECIALs and ignore the rest. This would also open up the ability for players to access higher level perks early in the game in a way that requires some sacrifice. Unlike mods that simply eliminate the level requirements.

In theory it sounds nice. In practice? It'd be somewhat annoying to have to invest heavily into a stat that has no other use. More to the point, one of the main problems with the current perk system is a lack of interesting perks. If, the current perks were more interesting I'd be totally into this. As it stands, right after I get the dps perks, the rest of them are only fun non-gamechanging mechanics. Like pickpocket or intimidation. Fun to use, but probably won't change the way you play.

Sadly, the old system where perks tied into dialogue options are gone. I miss new vegas's black-widow/medic/etc responses. As it stands, personally speaking, perks no longer excite me at all.

*shrugs* Sorry to be debby downer, but since nobody else chimed in I figured I'd give my two cents, just to give you some input.

edit: Oh and I forgot to mention, mod compatibility. If any overhauls come out, how badly would something like this conflict? A mod like talkie toaster robot defenders would probably work. But a mod that overhauls the function of some of these lackluster perks? Probably would break it.

It's very likely that overhaul mods which alter the perk effects will also alter the perk requirements. Much like SkyRe wasn't just a re-write of perk effects but also a re-write of perk requirements, amongst many other things.

His idea proposes an overhaul of perk requirements and as such it can be integrated into an overhaul mod. I'm quite sure it's not going to be unlikely for mod authors interested in making an overhaul for FO4 to look into "cross-special" perk requirements. It is an interesting idea for a number of possible perks.

Pretty imbalanced; by lvl 3 you could be unstoppable ninja.