Since we saw in character creation all special stats start at 1. And we are given 21(if memory serves) points to distribute.

So, how are you guys planning on building your character? Intelligence appears to be the new charisma, in other words a dump stat. (Could be wrong if they tie perks into int.)

I wouldn′t rule out Int, since perks are much more important now to access things like better crafting, having a high exp rate might be useful still

S 3

P 3

E 5

C 3

I 6

A 4

L 4

While I like the idea that there are no "dump stats" any more, the flip side is that if ALL stats are important, it really really hurts to specialize. In my case, I usually ignore STR and END since I rarely melee and as a sneaky sniper who carefully plans fights, I rarely take much damage. But STR affects carrying capacity so having a low STR means more trips to the base to store stuff, or a merchant to sell them, or simply NOT looting as much stuff. And both stats may influence some perks. So I may end up raising them above 1- 2 for that reason.

Intelligence, Luck and Charisma have pretty ill-defined roles / effects at this point. If Intelligence is purely for xp gain, I know a lot of people (like me) are in no rush to level and would lower it. Charisma deals with conversations ~in some way~ and since I play FOR the story and dialog and such, I would want to have as many options as possible. But if the only real difference between a 1 and a 7 CHA is one more dialog every now and again, I have to weigh that against practical concerns. A low Luck would mean not as much rare stuff being looted, less criticals, etc. Things that you might not notice. In Fallout-3 I'm playing a 2 Luck character, and I've had my gun jam like three times so far (level 10ish ) which is irksome but hasn't got me killed yet. So Luck might be a dump stat for me (it sure is in real life, heh heh).

S - 1

P - 6

E- 1

C- 6

I- 6

A- 7

L- 1

Unfortunately, I imagine I'll get frustrated that my raised stats are not showing a LOT of improvement and my lowered stats are hampering me too much, and I may end up with 4's across the board, or three at 2 and three at 4 and two at 5. Only SLIGHTLY above average in a few and only SLIGHTLY below average in a few. For some experimental runs, though, I'd like to try a build with two 10s (assuming that's the max) and one 4 with the rest stuck at 1. Like, one build with the 10/10 pair being STR/END (melee monster), and another one being PER/AGI (Super VATS use), and another one being INT/CHA (Smooth Genius) and MAYBE one with 10 LUCK just to see what that really does for you.

EDIT: Spelling.

If there's a level cap, it'll be the first time I ever have a character with INT below 5.

Considering something like that build. However, I am really hesitant to lower Str that low. I like to be able to lug around a couple weapons and wear armor. It also depends on if I can wear power armor 24/7 to beef up that stat.

Why is exp rate a bonus, just means you lvl faster, adds no real bonus to the game, maybe make intelligence act like a buffer stat.

for example: To gain a perk such as better criticals you need 6 perception and 6 luck, how ever you only have 5 perception and 4 luck. But your intelligence is 3, allowing you to distribute buffer points to gain the perk.

Not great I know and has some flaws, but it seems int will either be really weak or in past games op'ed, need a good middle ground.

Maybe there will be a good amount of perks that require int to counter balance this.

I think people underestimate how important gaining perks are now with skills being gone, so levelling up faster so you can gain them faster is actually quite useful (plus with a higher level you can more quickly explore more areas of the game)

In Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, I would also max Intelligence to 10 for the bonus skill points but Fallout 4 seems a whole lot different so I need to change it up! I'm thinking:

S - 3

P- 6

E - 7

C - 3

I - 2

A - 1

L - 6

But I'm not too sure yet.

But it doesn't matter, you still have the same amount of points and levels, just takes more or less exp.

It's useless, I want my game to be long. You'll just have to grind more. I just hope there's plenty of Int dialogue choices to help this.

There shouldn't be more than 10, with ranks for each.

That's why I don't want a high intelligence in Fallout 4 as well. Though I hate the idea of having a "stupid" character.