Sorry if this has been answered, but I couldn't find it here or anywhere else. I have been playing since Christmas, now on Level 21. I have pretty much equally spread all my level ups across SPECIAL. Only last week did I realise that you do not need to fill the "Top Row" before actually assigning perks. (I thought that once the top row filled with stars, the next ones would go into row 2)

I chose my first perk yesterday V.A.N.S. At the moment I have no idea what that does, apart from a green line in VATS, but I'll suss that out.

My problem is.... I have lots of Perks showing (not silhouetted, or grayed out). I wanted to get the ? Local Leader perk to start supply routes, but I don't know how. I am not home, but i think I have 8stars at the top column, but every perk is not selectable - I'm playing on XBox One, and the only options are LB prev perk, RB next perk, or exit. I don't know if there was another option when I selected VANS - I'm not sure how I selected it.

I know this is probably really simple, but I am completely befuddled, I have tried every button (I think), and cannot select/assign any other perk. I am sure i am missing something so obvious, so please don't flame me, but I am stuck! Unless I don't have enough points, but nothing on the top row? Or is it that the "star" has to be placed into the box when levelling up?? Have I wasted all my stars so far? I did vans as I leveled up to 21.

Many thanks, sorry

Each time you level up, you get one point to put into a stat or perk. Sounds like you don't have a point to put into a perk yet.

Perks have two qualifications, a certain value for the stat, and your level. Gotta have both to select the perk. (if you don't, the game should tell you "you aren't high enough level", or whatnot, if you don't the the stat for it, the perk will be just a silhouette, and not colored at all.)

The green line in vats (from the VANS perk) is the path to your current quest target.

So by placing my "Perk Stars" in the top row of the chart, really i have just wasted them all, or is there a way to remove stars from SPECIAL and allocated them to perks?

Maybe I will just have to level up again and start that way - that seems really confusing to me, wish the game came with a manual.

I realise that SPECIAL is not a complete waste, but I wish I had worked out how to do this sooner - I have been trying to get Science for weeks to power the transmitter at the castle!

Thanks for the replies

I did post a reply, but it disappeared. So, thanks, yes i have been putting my points into stats, rather than perks, and I am very annoyed about it, but I guess that there is nothing I can do about that now. Wish the game came with a manual - I have been confused about this for ages. Guess I have wasted all my points so far, but still, I read about people getting perks by using their initial points straight from Vault101? Is there a way to reassign Stat Stars to Perks??

And now after posting this one, the previous one turned up!

You haven't "wasted" them, per se. Each one you put on the top row gives you access to more of the ones below it.

If on PC there should be mods to respec.

If on console, your best bet is a simple re-roll.

Don't spend any more points until you've looked at the Perk chart a little more. I don't have the VANS perk but it seems like a waste.

when looking at the perks chart, you will also see the little golden stars? 1 for each level of perk. if you notice, you will see a flashing golden star next to some of the perks. this means that you have sufficient level and stat to get that perk.

peace

Thanks for all the replies folks, will be more careful spending my next level ups!

You've not really wasted the points you've put into SPECIAL. As above the higher your SPECIAL the better perks are available once you hit the required level. It just means you have to play a bit longer. Oh no!

However, you have, in my opinion, wasted the point you put into VANS. When I first heard about that perk I thought it was pointless and after seeing it in action on t'internet I am assured of my initial dismissal. Similar to the Clairvoyance spell in Skyrim.

On X1 you select the required perk with 'A' and it will ask you to confirm your selection with another press of 'A'.

Oh, and there's no level cap, so don't worry too much about "wasted" perks.

One note on the manual thing...it seems like a lot of people don't realize or forget that it does actually exist. If you go into the menu (not the pip-boy, but the one where you can save from) and go to options and help...there is a whole minefield of 'how to'. The game is pretty bad about letting you know this exists, or how to do most things in the game, but I like it that way, adds to the exploration and discovery feel.

You need 6 Charisma points to get Local Leader.

In case you're not aware, aiming at the very bottom of the screen scrolls you to the bottom of the Perk Chart. Each Perk before it's unlocked will say in faint letters how many points of it's SPECIAL attribute you need. It's kinda hard to see, but it's there.

Visually however, any Perk that shows color has enough SPECIAL points to unlock it. The ones that show blanked out white Pip Boy characters don't have enough SPECIAL points.

Yeah, this was the first Bethesda game where I actually spent some time in the Help menu. It's actually pretty handy. I know some people hated it, but I think they should have stuck with Skyrim's tutorial pop-ups the first time a new character ever does things - putting them in the upper-left messages makes them easy to miss.

(random thought - it would be kinda nice if the game logged the upper-left corner messages and you could scroll through the last ten or so)

Also be careful building Special around perks as a lot of the best abilities for perks don't unlock until you get to level 25-50. An example would be choosing solar powered at level 1 because you really like the sound of health regenerating over time though that ability doesn't unlock until you are level 50 do you are stuck with it until then.