Ok, so I was hurting for ideas for a new DiD playthrough when, suddenly, I had a brilliant idea. What about a playthrough using the stats of another character from the series? (now I know that idea isn't original or brilliant, but it gets better, don't worry) Then I couldn't decide which character's stats to use. I thought of all the toughest, most survivable characters from the series - Tycho, Joshua Graham, Frank Horrigan, et cetera - when I thought, why not try all of them? (well, not Horrigan cause his primary stats are all 10)

So that's where this challenge comes in. I provided a list below of some candidates for characters from the series and their main statistics. Anyone who wants to take on this challenge should pick one character from the list that they want to role-play and post that you want to take that character in this thread. First post, first serve. If someone takes Joshua Graham before you do, to bad. Pick someone else. The purpose of this is to see how well certain characters would far if they found themselves in the Courier's shoes. (shot in the head outside of Goodsprings) So basically, you take a certain character's stats and build a character from them, then you play the game and make decisions in a way that you think that character would make them. Then we see who lasts the longest before they die.

The Rules:

• This is Dead is Dead, so when you die, post it here and abandon that character.
  
• Everyone must play the game on Hard difficulty.
  
• hardcoe mode is also necessary for this challenge.
  
• Try, to the best of your abilities, to make decisions like the character you are playing as would make. If you are playing as Caesar you probably won't wear Power Armor and wield a Gatling Laser. Instead, try to wear Legion armor of any kind and use melee/unarmed/guns (his tag skills)
  
• The main challenge in this is that you don't get to pick your own custom stats, you have to work with the stats and character you pick here and figure out how to make it work for as long as possible without dying. So do that. If you have Joshua Graham and his tag skills are Barter, Guns, and Repair; don't tag them at the beginning and then put all your skill points into energy weapons and sneak after that, stick with the character's strengths.
  
• If you have any suggestions for other characters that you want me to add to the list, let me know, and if I can find their stats I'll add them. But you can only have one character at a time, and only two total, so choose wisely.
  
• This is first come, first serve. If someone picks a certain character before you do, you will have to pick a different character. Each character can only have one person playing as them, so if I pick Tycho then no one else can pick Tycho.
  
• Not every character has the same amount of stats given, for example, one character's Crit. Chance may be given while another's is not - the more stats given means the less stats you get to control/customize, and thus the more challenging that build will be.
  
• Some characters will have more SPECIAL points than are available at the beginning of the game, if that is the case then figure out how to make it work with implants later. If that still doesn't work than make it as close as possible to that characters actual SPECIAL.

The Characters:

Joshua Graham - Revenger R.I.P.

Tycho - Undead Fiend R.I.P.

Benny - Colonel Martyr R.I.P.

Vulpes Inculta - celtics21

Caesar - Tycho the wanderer

John Cassidy

Tandi - Meghan

Aaron Kimball

General Lee Oliver

Motor-Runner - Carney R.I.P.

Father Elijah - Muggy R.I.P.

Elder McNamara

Fantastic - Elanorea

Follows-Chalk

The King

Robert House - The Lobotomite R.I.P.

Dean Domino - Abyssal Daedra R.I.P.

Corporal Sterling

Jean-Baptiste Cutting - Securitron 1C 3C R34 M

Three Dog

Paladin Todd - Legend1221

Aurelius of Phoenix - Papafern

Christine Royce - Muggy

Sulik - Stealth_Sniper

No-Bark Noonan - slowbutterlol R.I.P.

Raul - Securitron 1C 3C R34 M R.I.P.

Lucius - Dinky-Dinosaur

Papa Khan - Carney

Cannibal Johnson - Abyssal Daedra

Desmond Lockheart - Revenger

Daniel (Honest Hearts)

Salt-Upon-Wounds

Two-Bears-High-Fiving

Lucas Simms - Thekettleison

Allistair Tenpenny

Mister Crowley

Albert Cole

Natalia Dubrovhsky

Chris Avellone (Fallout 1 bounty hunter)

Chris Avellone (Tactics) - Undead Fiend

Sunny Smiles

NCR Trooper

Recruit Legionary

NCR Ranger

Veteran Legionary

I'll add to this if anyone suggests other viable characters. Also, try to make the character you create look like whoever you are modeling it after. If possible, take screen shots and post them so we can see who makes the best lookalikes.

Gizmo!

My money's on House.

10 Endurance, 10 Luck is what The Courier had for my Dead-is-Dead playthrough, and something about that combo makes you unstoppable. Graham has the Endurance but lacking that luck could really matter.

So...does that mean you want to take House? And yes, I agree that the 10 Endurance and 10 Luck will make him strong for DiD, but his 1 Strength is going to be difficult to work with. You won't be able to use most weapons properly until you get the implant and the weapon handling perk, and even then you'll only be able to use weapons with a strength requirement of 4 and under.



That playthrough is easy. Just never get out of the hospital bed in Doc Mitchell's house.

Hmm I wonder what edens stats are.
Ohh I pick no bark if his starts r findable.

I demand a Three Dog character

Actually not THAT hard. First perk slot, take intense training, second maybe do the same, then the implant and weapon handling and ta-da, 6 STR, effectively. Until then the Cowboy Repeater is quite nice, once you get Weapon Handling, you can basically use any rifle. Then when you complete OWB, you effectively have 8 STR; enough for the AMR.
Again, my Courier had 3 STR initially, which of course was an issue with aim. I still dunno HOW the hell I survived everything with him (what with all my DID characters that've been dying to deathclaws on the way to raise the Boomer's Bomber lately), but I remember the swaying Hunting Rifle just demanding a little more skill from me. I'm GUESSING it has to do with the fact that the Hunting Rifle is so [censored] accurate, so even with the Fast Shot penalty and the penalty of the STR penalty, as long as I aimed well, it was gonna go exactly where I pointed the gun. I'd assume that'd go for anyone, no matter what their STR or Guns skill.

Second thing is, correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't ALL Courier's Stash weapons 0 STR? I didn't even have those for my Courier and I did fine, so basically with the Courier's Stash, you'd have optimal weapons up until you receive the Hunting Rifle, and as I said, I theorize the Hunting Rifle is just too damn accurate to be reasonably effected by any of the penalties at all, as long as you yourself are capable of pulling the trigger at the right moment, due to the sway.

You could play Horrigan just every perk you pick should be intense training or whatever it's called until all your special is all 10 with implants and such.

I added him to the list. He should be one of the funnier playthroughs along with Fantastic and General Oliver for whomever wants to take them.



I see how that's possible and all, but part of this challenge is to use the character's, lets say House's, stats and make them work for a DiD playthrough without modifying them too much. So if House's strong points are Luck, Endurance, and Intelligence and his weaknesses are Strength and Agility, keep it that way throughout the playthrough. That's the challenge of it, to make that specific character's stats and general personality work in a DiD playthrough for as long as possible without finding loopholes and modifying everything to make it easier. I know your kind of a veteran of Dead is Dead, (you kind of invented it iirc) but maybe this would still be a challenge for you, especially if you pick a weaker character.

@Eden - I couldn't find No-Bark's stats

@Stealth Sniper - It would still be impossible to get everything to 10, but if you really want me to add Horrigan I will.

......
The purpose of this thread: (in case I was too vague in the OP)

My hope was that people would be looking for something different to do with the game now that we've already played it so much and in so many different ways, and that this would be an interesting idea for DiD playthrough. So basically everybody who wants to participate picks a character from the list, uses the stats given to build that character, then starts a Dead is Dead playthrough with that character's stats. This thread can be used kind of like the Dead is Dead thread but for this challenge exclusively, so still post updates on your character's progress, close calls, et cetera. Then when we have a last man/woman standing, that character will be declared the best non-Courier Courier in the series and the person who controlled them will get bragging rights.

Intense Training only has 10 levels, even with implants it would be impossible to get your SPECIAL base score to all tens like Horrigan or Ulysses.

Either way....

1) I think the Hunting Rifle has enough accuracy that, despite any accuracy penalties, it's spread will remain pathetic, to the point where ANY character can use it, just low STR/Guns characters will have to adapt to the sway a bit. Hunting Rifle, a shotgun and SMG for close range and A Light Shining in the Darkness as your go-to gun, and anyone can be a viable option. Not to mention, Unarmed can be quite useful for anyone.
If anything, I think the Agility would be more limiting. STR means you don't want to use a minigun or the Survivalist's Rifle, sure, but Agility affects EVERY gun. Definitely no cowboy weaponry for House (dead before a single reload) and even with modern tech, reloading is a noticeable issue. The Nighstalkers in OWB in particular stand out as an opponent that demands quick reloading. I remember being chased by swarms of them with only .357 ammo to load into Lucky; one user once asked me why I prefer Lucky over That Gun when That Gun loads faster: that's why. The ability to interrupt the loading sequence (while I COULD load three bullets fast, just not six) and having that sixth shot to begin with turned out to be lifesavers.


2) I still think Luck is a very important factor, though I can't be 100% certain. Personally, I play on Very Hard mode, and you have to realize....my Legionnaire DID playthrough ended thanks to a....a critical (or a headshot critical) from an AMR. That's 220 damage (without DT calculated in, but no point bothering, DT won't protect you from this) x2 (headshot), x2 again (very hard) and then x2 again (crit). 1760 damage, still 660 without the headshot. You are NOT surviving that if it happens. I literally saw an NCR hit squad running at me in the distance, and out of nowhere, my Legionnaire's health went from one to 0. That's -the- death that comes to mind when I think of the phrase "nothing I could do, just bad luck."

So I dunno if luck prevents crits, but if it does, it's without a doubt worth having, as some of those guns CAN OHKO you, especially on Very Hard mode.
If not Luck? The Light Touch Perk. That may have been the difference between the Courier and my Legionnaire, if not the 10 Luck vs. 3 Luck. To my understanding, the way Light Touch works, it basically makes you crit immune, at least to any of the weaponry that puts you in danger of an immediate OHKO. That makes it the only perk that can make you crit immune prematurely, before the level 50 perks.


So I guess in retrospect, Luck isn't THAT important if you're willing to take Light Touch, though it's often the case that Luck is the best stat to bulk up if you wanna increase your DPS, and DPS is often the best way to clear the field of deadly enemies quickly.

Anyways, I might participate. Not sure, I might not have time to play much within the next month or so. I'll think on it.

No-bark.

He's the only one who can detect commie ghosts and chupacabras.

I'm taking Joshua Graham, unless someone already took him and I overlooked it, I'm not starting right this instant anyways, if someone did take him tell me know.

What about Paladin Todd?

Possible Spoiler< so kids don't cry.
But is it still impossible, even with those 3 special things from OWB?

So you'd play a derptard playthrough? He only has an Int of 3 >_>

Yo colonel, whilst you're here.
Gotta ask, why haven't you assumed the role of RH?

Oh n' what ever happened to your NCR fan fic?

He is very underused!
Give him a chance and it will work out fine.

What if you kept charisma at 1 for Horrigan? Would that work? By the time you got all stats to 10 there'd be no reason to have completed the necessary quest(s) to obtain the Enclave Power Armor.

A. To lazy to do DiD.
B. Fell through do to no creative spark keeping up.

According to the wiki, with Lonesome Road, there are a total of 59 SPECIAL points that can be used to increase your base stats. This means that you can get 6 SPECIAL's up to ten and 1 up to 6. The traits from OWB don't raise or lower your base score.

You could get this up to all 10's by distributing your points and wearing clothing that adds SPECIAL, but this won't bring your base score up to all 10's.

I changed my mind, I'm taking Dean Domino, again assuming no body already took him, I just kind of skimmed the thread

Oh you bastard.

But no, no one has taken Dean yet.

I thought you would want House?

Being House wouldn't be fun from a gameplay perspective. I'd be stuck in a life support chamber the whole game

On the other hand, having an army of Mk ll Securitrons at your disposal WOULD be fun.