Seems so many people want to cater to their play style with a min max view (which I understand - I do it frequently too). But, have you ever thought about starting the game with stats that are even Steven?

Man, to me that would be more true to the fallout 50s vibe, so I'm going to take that extreme and attempt to be.... Captain average.... /nod (at least try to be more so than I usually am).

So, when you are playing fallout 4, i want you to remember this thread: After you blow up some group of unfortunate denizens in the wasteland, and you find that terminal, hard character to reason with, or that thing thats locked, you might just kick the dirt.... whrn you realize you are just a bit away in skill from attempting it.

Meanwhile, after I dispatch the bad guys - with a tad less zeal, I'll be able to solve that thing.

Average is special too.

3417571 starting build says, NYAH NYAH I'll be sneak killing them by the dozen while also talking, hacking and lockpicking my way out of trouble and into piles of loot!

For me it would actually be nice if there was a hard cap. It's weird isn't it. Skyrim called out for an uncapper to allow people to level to their hearts content and I'm sure I'm not alone in wanting a hard capper so it forces me into variety.

what I'll probably do is just get to level 40-50 or so and then complete the main story. Start a new character with different characteristics.

I expect a: 4,4,4,4,4,4,4 build

will actually be the most popular individual build used by people who play this game.

Just think how many people still use the password, 'password'...

My experience is that with characters that have average stats across the board you'll actually be unable to do any of those. You won't dominate the enemies with ease, your skill will be too low to hack the hard terminal, your speech will be too low to convince a hard NPC, and your lockpick will be too low to open that hard safe.

If you instead specialize in just lockpick and speech you'll at least be able to do those things. Of course I'm not entirely sure yet how it all works since there are no more skills but I'd still prefer mastering a few things and being terrible at others rather than being a jack of all trades but a master of none.

Well, in this kind of game min/maxing can be kind of fun as you are seriously limiting yourself. You're building a character and sticking only to it's strengths.. allowing for the possibility that you won't be able to deal with situations how you would like. Most min/maxing has to do with trying to build the perfect character to reap the most rewards and be the most powerful. This game doesn't really allow for that sort of min/maxing.

That being said.. I tend to stick to a more well rounded character. I have trouble putting ones into any stat. I want to experience as much as possible and have as many options available to me as there are. This new system has even made that tough for me. ..As it is, 24 of my levels will be dedicated to raising stats. It's going to be really hard to decide when to raise a stat or when to take a perk.

My hope is to think more asymmetrically to compensate. If something is too hard to kill, ok, I'll run away or just skirt around. If something is too hard to pick/hack - shucks. I figure focus on cross training would offer the best challenge/sacrifice/expereince.

Now, I may not be dumping systematically skill/perk points broadly even per level, but Im thinking for each level, trying a new category.

Funny thing is, I say this, and I'll probably really favor a few perks to invest in within that common tree. /shrug

I hate being locked out of chests/computers based off the perk.. I just despise that mechanic. I don't have the ability to just say "oh, well." I have a need to get into everything.... So every single thing I'm locked out of means I'll have to mark down on a map and backtrack too. At least those perks aren't level locked at too high a level. 18 for master lockpick, 21 for master hacking. . If I had to wait until level 50 to open a master lock I'd be pissed. .

EWWW GROSS AVERAGE THIS IS NOT WHAT AMERICAN TELEVISION TAUGHT ME TO BE

Yes!!! how unamerican of him... OP you bring shame to murica!!!

No thanks. I started my RPG career with "average" chars because I knew no better back then, ended up resulting failing horribly towards the end and having to restart. I plan my characters since then and that never resulted in failing and having to restart.

I remember selecting a pre-made CH-heavy PC back in Fallout Tactics first and I had to restart when robots appeared. Days of gameplay down the drain. Never again.

I just think it's more fun to start off specialised and have a greater sense of immersion by having a specialised character. I'm going with my ordinary run and having my character be a more sneaky, one blow kind of guy, so Perception and Agility are my focus points. Average joe is fine, I just don't do it often. I kind of did it for my Oblivion 100% playthrough.

I'm not sure I see the connection between a strategy of minimizing weaknesses with using weak passwords ...

No average for me. Moat all the way

I think having fours across all stats would work out just fine. You could lockpick, sneak, hack, craft guns and armor, and have some of the toughness boosting perks in endurance. The only thing you couldn't do reasonably well is a critical strike build. I don't think it's surprising most of the "essential" abilities are rank four or lower.

I think it is most likly due to many folk, including myself, believe it's taking the "easy" way out. Sure I also agree that there is absolutly nothing wrong with starting 4's down the line, and like someone before me once stated "All 4's to celebrate the release of Fallout 4" it makes more sense to do this more than just wanting to be average. Basically to me, it takes away from the process of putting thought into the character you may end up spending 100+ hours playing with.

I'll probably pump up charisma a few points, as i think that it is the stand in for speech now

The great thing about these games, is that it's single player, and you can make any build you want and there ain't nothing nobody can do to stop you.

But... we're all special... isn't that what they teach the kids in school nowadays?