Very cleverly thought out! I like the sound of this very much. I love the fact that we could potentially keep leveling. In Fallout 3 I would always run out of levels before I was done with my character and have to wait for a new dlc to raise the level cap. This solves that problem.

Glad you like it so far, and it certainly sounds like a much better system.

Just to let you all know, I'm close to figuring out ALL of the remaining perks on the chart. Full update coming soon

I have some new ideas on things like how the settlements work. Will post all of this up as one big update.

And I'm up to 68 out of the 70 perks! Just ironing out a few details and racking my brains to figure out the last 2. Just to let you know, I have found some truly awesome perks on the chart, just by looking very closely at the icons, and doing lots of research involving previous games, historical references, and even pop culture, such as V.A.N.S. being inspired by 'The Abyss.' I've actually found a few of these. The time I've spend looking at the chart, I can practically memorize the whole thing. But it's all worth it if it means we get a better understanding of how things work.

Will be back soon with the mother of all updates

Good work Liam. I hope they bring you back for some voiceacting in f4 dlc

I'm not quite sold on your interpretation of V.A.N.S. I think it could be fun to have underwater exploration but I don't see that being a huge factor in a Boston setting. certainly not big enough to need a major perk tied to it. I still feel this is either an improved quest marker/navigation perk or the perk that gives you more details on your enemies level and armor ratings in V.A.T.S..

My theory has V.A.N.S. possibly standing for Vault-Tec Awareness Notation System or Vault-Tec Advanced Notation System as a nod to the Awareness perk from FO1. You can see in http://i.imgur.com/X4QNM6p.png the standard V.A.T.S. look we're all used to. But later in http://i0.wp.com/aperturegaming.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/fallout4_vats.png There is more detail about the enemy level and armor status, you can see he's got a 16 DR to physical and 23 DR to energy as well as him being level 4. If I'm right this would likely make V.A.N.S. a Perception perk instead of Agility.

This is just my theory. I have the utmost respect for the time and energy you put into your theory crafting and I look forward to comparing the official Perk Chart with yours when they release it.

That makes alot of sense.

Awareness was a pretty cool perk in f2 etc

After reading this, I can say with absolute certainty that one of us is definitely right! I will have to look into and consider both options, as there are alternatives for the underwater exploration perk at 5 Endurance (Submariner) as well as the one that you describe above, which would be listed at 10 Perception (part of the Precognition perk).

I may even include both V.A.N.S. interpretations in the update, if I can figure out 4 possible ranks for each. Even if I can't, I'll probably include yours anyway just for the sheer inventiveness and creativity. You would of course get a mention in the update if I include your idea

Also keep in mind that not all perks have multiple ranks. It could be one of the handful of 1 rank perks.

The total number of ranks in all perks is 275, as confirmed by Todd at QuakeCon. Note that he says "around 275 of those" due to the fact that 7 of the perks are actually the SPECIAL icons at the top of the chart, which can be selected as many times as required in order to increase our base stats as we level up. And so each of these counts as 1 perk. This leaves 268 ranks split between the remaining 70 perks, which equates to 66 perks with 4 ranks each, and 4 perks with only 1 rank. After many hours of researching the list, I have identified all 4 single use perks, which are Black Widow/Lady Killer at 2 Charisma, Mister Sandman at 4 Agility, and then Bloody Mess and Mysterious Stranger at 3 and 4 Luck respectively. Note that none of these perks would make sense having more than 1 rank.

Black Widow or Lady Killer (depending on our choice of protagonist) both open up unique dialogue choices when speaking with members of the opposite six, and so additional ranks would not work in this context. Mister Sandman allows us to silently kill any sleeping human or ghoul, which would be a guaranteed kill, and so further ranks would not be justified just for a minor boost in XP. Bloody Mess gives us a small boost to damage, but it's main feature is the 'violent deaths' and so again, additional ranks would not be justified. And finally, Mysterious Stranger gives a chance for said stranger to appear during V.A.T.S. to assist us, and this is already tied to our Luck score to increase the chance of him appearing as our Luck increases.

This means that all other perks, including V.A.N.S., will have 4 ranks.

All 70 perks identified!!

Lots to type up, including suggestions for the various ranks, so it should be up on here in around 24 hours

Still working on the update, but I hope to have at the very least the completed list with basic descriptions for each perk by this time tomorrow. And so you will all have time to read it before Gamescom.

Believe me when I say that the full list of perks is incredible, and the system is so flexible you can build just about any character you can imagine! I will be playing this game right the way through about a hundred times just to try everything out with both playable characters. And the good news is that you will all be able to start putting character builds together as soon as I've posted up all the details.

Just one example, anyone who likes to play either Unarmed or Melee is in for a real treat. Think bare knuckle boxing and Conan the Barbarian!

The final update will have full descriptions for every perk, including ranks, and there will also be a section explaining how settlements work in conjunction with the new perks.

Oh, and I will also be adding my thoughts on a possible 'hardcoe' mode.

Good job

Ranks could work for black widow/lady killer. This perk does give bonus damage vs members of opposite or same six, and that could be ranked, and I don't see why dialogue options couldn't be ranked either.

Because this perk is listed under Charisma, it's unlikely that it would add bonus damage. Especially in light of all the other perks (even if it did, the old perk only had one rank). And the dialogue options would work exactly the same as those found in the Child at Heart perk. If this was any more than 1 rank, then it would throw the dialogue system out of balance. Whereas with a single rank, we get a few unique options here and there that could be useful for finding out information, or getting others to help us achieve an objective. It may even assist in the romance options, but this would likely be minimal due to the open choice we are given with regards to romancing both genders.

Fixed the emoji for you.

Lots of work you passionate vault-boy/vault-girl your love it overwhelming

Hi guys, news update. I have now worked out details for all of the ranks for each perk, in order to more fully determine exactly what each perk does. For example, one perk may increase damage resistance with each subsequent rank, and so I have detailed this in the update, but have not suggested the amount of each increase at this stage. Note that in the case of perks with 4 unique ranks, I have listed all 4 effects. If my hunches are correct, these will end up being some of the best perks in the game!

I will be working through the night to ensure that the update is on here before Gamescom.

Oh, and hi to everyone reading this on reddit!

Me too.

Questions: If there's no level cap and no skills, does that mean we can keep increasing our 'skills' once they reach a certain point or no? Or do you think it will be something like legendary in Skyrim?

Also: Nice job

It looks like each skill perk can be increased 4 times, which would then be the same as if we had 100 in the old skills. Out of the other perks, 53 of them have 4 ranks, and 4 have 1. If you add all of this in to the levelling system, you would not max everything out until you reached level 291! And that's with all 20 bobbleheads.

Alright then! Got to hand it to you for your 'very particular set of skills'.

Looks like he's dressed in protective gear for dog training. He has a http://www.schutzhund-bite-sleeves-k9-store.com/images/dog-training-equipment/bite-sleeve-like-Schweikert-5983-Protection-Sleeve.jpg, goggles, http://www.fordogtrainers-canada.com/images/dog-training-equipment-categories-pictures/Head-protection-for-dog-trainers-strong-PBS12-big.jpg, etc. etc.

Great work gkk7z!

Fallout 3 had 13 skills.

In Fallout 4 that would be 42 perks if 4 perks per skill.

FONV had about 90 perks,

Combining them gives about 130 perks ranks available.

So Fallout 4 even with the skill perks counted in has about 275 perk ranks available.

That is doubling the total number of perks available to chose from so I expect that Fallout 4 Player Characters will be able to get much more detailed and specialized.

The icon definitely shows either a bite suit or a flight jacket, or possibly even a combination of both...

I will post up full details of exactly what it is and why in the full update.

Thank you! And yes, this will mean we are all going to be playing as far more individual and totally hand-crafted characters.

One thing I wanted to say. I have stayed up pretty much through the night to get this all done, and I will make sure at least some of it is posted before Gamescom. The information I have found from the chart has absolutely blown my mind. Some of the perks, which can be easily identified once you understand the icons, are pure genius. And one of them is even called Genius! I have so much respect for Todd and the rest of his team for the sheer amount of effort that must have gone into designing all of the perks. And now that I also understand how the ranks work, I can say hand on heart that you're all going to love them

You should at least finish strength, if my hunch turns out to be true.

Trust me, I've already got that covered! Just waiting to catch up with the rest of the perk trees