I think we will level up pretty fast at first.

Plus I bet we start the game with a couple of perks to represent our past experiences.

If nothing else, if you are level 1 then you should have at least 1 perk.

And we always had 3 tag skills in Fallout so I'm betting that we get 3 perks to chose at the start of the game.

I heard that in one of the demos, the Sole Survivor was level 2, but had a total of 31 points of Special stats but I'm not able to cite it.

As to Strength Requirements on weapons, I'm betting perks have replaced that too.

So if you have a high enough Strength you can get perks to help with the recoil of your sub machine gun or if you have a high enough Perception you can get perks that increase your zoom or allow you to hold your breath when you fire your sniper rifle.

So if you are a wimp, you can still fire an M60 if you are careful bracing it and use bursts of fire.

But if you want to Rambo it, you need arms like Rambo so you have Strength enough to get the perks that help offset the recoil.

So rather than give you the stick if you are too weak for a weapon, they give you a carrot if you are strong enough and get the perks.

I like how perks represent training and experience allowing you to do better than someone without the experience or basic ability (high enough stat).

Agility directly effects how sneaky you are.

Perception directly effect how accurate you are in Vats.

Charisma directly effects how well you do at persuasions and bartering.

Then you can take perks if your stats are high enough to allow you to get basic training in some thing (in game effects like being able to throw a grenade further or having less recoil when you fire a weapon).

So If you are not a total klutz (have an agility of 3 or higher) then you can take perks to allow you to sneak better.

The nice thing is you won't start the game with a 1 Charisma and then still have a Speech skill of 100% by the end of the game.

Unless you spend perk points to either raise the Special stat or take perks to that apply to the situation then, at the end of the game you will have about the same ability as when you started.

Looks like they won't be revealing the perks after all.

Well with the new system of perks and how upgrading the special stats works along with things like the bobble heads and such it would be best to only place your stats at a max of 8 so you can have a better spread and get more meaningful level ups with the points you earn.

Interesting topic. I'd also like to get a build ready for November-December.

I'm going for a gunslinger/Clint Eastwood "Man With No Name" type build. Anyone want to help me out?

Likely high PER and AGI with a very low CHA, possibly midling END (tough sum'b!tch) and perhaps a little STR (to whack bad guys around with a 2 x 4 you just got from the gen'ral store)..... INT? Meh, prolly not a whole lot (whut wuz mah name agin?)....

or you could go here and build your char http:// vault111.com /character/

Not sure yet but my first playthrough will be with intelligence of 1. I enjoy the "dumb" conversations and hopefully they put more of those in Fallout 4 than there was in 3.

to nom nom nom!

I am happy to find a fellow intelligence 1 player. Here have a virtual cookie and soda.

Worth mentioning, even if there are MacGuffins you can find to bump up each SPECIAL stat by 1, it's not a total loss to set an attribute at 10 from the start. It would be a "waste" of one level where you might have used the bobblehead/implant to bump a stat, but there's no cap on how many levels you get so, yeah. And since there's no level requirements on any of the perks, it might be worth it to "sacrifice" that level if you plan on starting the game with a perk that requires 10 in a stat. It's exactly what I plan on doing with EN and Solar Powered.

Depends on how hard it is to find the bobbleheads / implants to raise stats... there's one bobblehead in Fallout 3, for example, that's located in a cave at the ass-end of the map which happens to be populated by ~deathclaws~. Just GETTING there at a low level would be a challenge (not TOO much, if you are careful, but tedious all the same) and once there, getting TO the bobblehead would pretty much involve luck and timing deathclaw pathing, etc.

Even getting to the INT bobblehead ----- the most-sought-after level 1 bobblehead ----- required traveling a great distance, even though the bobblehead itself was in a safe location (if you could GET to it).

If the END bobblehead, for example, is located at the very bottom of a dangerous Vault then getting there may not be ~possible~ until you're higher level... if the perk were that important to you to have at an early level, I could justify "losing" that "free" stat point, I suppose. If the bobblehead were like the Strength bobblehead, though --- sitting on a table in the town RIGHT outside the starting vault in Fallout 3) then I'd say wait.... but that's the catch, for now : we don't know where any of these are located.

And worst case, you "waste" the "free" stat point ---- as many levels and perks as there are, in the grand scheme of things, not having to worry about finding a bobblehead / iplant, and instead starting with an uber stat-10 Perk may well be worth it. I'd like to know more about those stat first, though. Nerd Rage, for example ---- I find it hard to believe that a 10-INT perk is ~that~ one, unless it's been changed drastically.