That's right, no armor. Need help.

Have no problem wearing outfits that give protection. In fact I'm depending on them. Note still low level so I don't some some of the unique outfits that offer good protection. Just not wearing any Raider, Leather, Metal, Combat or Synth armor on top of anything.

I am also looking at Perks that help with deflection of damage and such. Never used any before so would like some feedback on those that have.

Yeah I know about Ballistic Weave. On the fence as to weather I'll use it or not. If I do it will be a lower level version. Stuff is way OP IMO. Trying to make a role-play that makes the game more challenging, not challengless. Note I always play on Normal difficulty as I don't like how the game changes for higher difficulties, so I add role-play restrictions to add more challenge.

Thanks.

Toughness. Functionally, it IS armor.

This.

Each rank gives +10 DR, with a maximum of +50 DR at rank 5.

You may also want to think about upping Endurance ASAP, too. You'll need more health to offset your lack of armor. Lifegiver would help there, too.

Rooted is good, too. Stand still, and you get a boost to your DR (+50 at rank 2). Combine this with Moving Target (which grants you DR if you're sprinting) and you're only vulnerable at normal walking/running speed. Granted, that's most useful if you're doing a melee build, but it will protect you if you sprint for better ranged vantage points during a firefight.

Reflector is good for Energy Resistance. Rad Resistant gives Radiation resistance... which is situationally good.

Lone Wanderer's good if you go solo, since it knocks off a percentage of damage than just simply adds to your DR.

Also:

Codsworth's perk and depending on your faction choice, X6-88's perk.

Every little bit helps...

Don't forget adamantium skeleton! Keep all those limbs intact.

Also, coming from the other side of the equation, get perks that increase your damage output. The faster your enemies die, the less time they have to hurt you. VATS might factor in heavily as well.

Toughness, Refractor and Rad Resistant. It will take a long while to get those built up I suppose. Just have to survive in the mean time.

VATS definitely. Course main idea is to not get hit at all. Might have to get a meat shield.

I always take Toughness as my very first Perk, but haven't yet increased it beyond lvl 1. As powerful as it is in the beginning, it is quickly outpaced by wearable armor. In your case, obviously, you'd want to continue with it. Also, I'd probably pick Lifegiver second for a no-armor playthrough.

I almost always wear the Sea Captain's Hat for the +2 END and added hit points as well.

Ricochet might be a one off since it comes at high SPECIAL cost (10 luck) But making enemies hit themselves instead of you, must be the ultimate "armour", altho I wouldn't count on it in tough situations

The Generals uniform at the Castle has great armor.


Generals Uniform: http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Minutemen_general%27s_uniform

what about the submariner outfit?

I wear it on my latest character and whilst it doesn't give any DR (although you can ballistic weave it) your endurance is boosted by 2 making you harder to take down it also looks somewhat decent with the airship captain hat if you want replace the sub hat since it doesn't have any stat boosts.

Pretty much everything in Endurance besides ghoulish and get Lone Wanderer. The General and Sliver Shroud outfits are great and Kellogg's is decent but look cool.

I used Silver Shroud costume all the time. Didn't have any problems surviving and Kent upgrades its stats as you level up.

Some Endurace Perks are a must-have, and Lone Wanderer perk is also very useful as it gives you extra protection (of course, you can't use any companions other than Dogmeat so you have to choose)

Lifegiver is pretty low in the Endurance catagory and helpful enough. Chem resistent can also be useful when you need a last minute chem.

Like most have said the endurance perks are what you need, but especially toughness. Though don't forget to take drugs they are the best!!! I ran no armor on my melee/unarmed high strength and endurance build and all i had to do was take a bunch of drugs and I was set even on survival. also the running perk in the agility tree is great, but I found it was pretty much all about the drugs...and toughness of course..(didn't really use energy resistance though eventually got some points in it, rad resistance didn't seem that great, but probably was during the time I wasn't one shotting ghouls, also I thought lone wanderer was good since it worked with dogmeat last I played)

go stealth build an you won't need to rely on it.

Oh, I forgot about the Lone Wanderer damage reduction. That's presumably applied after the damage resistance calculation as well, so it will have its greatest effect when your regular damage resistance has been "overwhelmed" by very powerful weapons. So for example if you get hit with a grenade with just the 10 Toughness bonus, it would do 149 points of damage and probably kill almost anyone of low level. However, with the 15% damage reduction from Lone Wanderer that turns into about 122 points (depending on how things are rounded) which is theoretically survivable by anybody with an adjusted endurance above 8.