GameBanshee Forums

What should I go for? I´m partial to the whole sniper theme, like in the first Fallout games. How important is a stat like Charisma, in regards to bartering, npc´s and so on? Will it be like the other Fallout games, where you´ll be swinning in cash, or like Fallout 1, where it doesn´t affect the number of followers? Can I dump it completely?

And so on with other stats. What is the "perfect" sniper character? Example from Fallout Walkthrough:

ST 6
PE 7
EN 4
CH 1
IN 7
AG 9
LK 7

This example is based on the stat rises you get in Fallout 1, of course. But seeing that I don´t really know which stats I´ll get a chance to rise in Fallout 3, this is theoretical. So, where do I get a chance to raise stats in Fallout 3?

There will be a perk you can get 10 times that will raise your stats, and totally depends on which you pick as to which get increased. There is also a Bobblehead that will raise each stat(provided you find them). There's a thread regarding the bobbleheads you can look at, although there are a bunch spoilers as it were.

Low Chr will seriously hurt your trading and your conversations. You may not get as much accomplished if you retain the 1 chr.

Gunda wrote:Low Chr will seriously hurt your trading and your conversations. You may not get as much accomplished if you retain the 1 chr.

What happens if your chr is too low? Will people stop talking to you or something, or not offer you quests? From the description, chr looks like the attribute to dump.

SWC

I found dumping a little from strength worked pretty well for my character, and I use the sniper rifle a lot. I put it down to 3 at the start, but there's a

Spoiler

strength bobblehead in Megaton!

which helps as well.

I don't use big guns, and I get most of my money from selling drugs and ammo, since they weigh nothing and are plentiful (especially after getting the scrounger perk), so being able to carry more doesn't help me much.

Plus for the str you can drink beer wine whiskey or scotch to get an extra +1 on str. Then getting the power armor depending on the type you get dependso n what the plus(if any) to str you get.

As for the Chr question I have found that the biggest thing it handles is the barter and speach skills. Having a low chr seems to also effect how the NPC interact with you. Though Not too terribly much, used to change a lot more in the older games. But I am taking my information from my 6(7 with bobblehead) chr that drops to 5 with the enclave armor helmet on. reduced prices bother me but it can be delt with. 1chr would put a lot of trouble getting ammo for the weapons you will want when they get hard to find in the wastes Sniper rifle ammo being one of the hardest to find regularly. .44 ammo gets difficult too. Both of which cost me 3caps per shot with a 7chr I can only imagine it being closer to 9 or 10caps per shot with only 1 in chr. I would have to make a character and try out the 1 chr for further information regarding NPC interaction.

Gunda wrote:As for the Chr question I have found that the biggest thing it handles is the barter and speach skills.

Right, but it's only 2 points of the two skills for each point of charisma. For that little benefit I'd rather have more hit points or carrying capacity or action points. Heck, 1 point of intelligence gives me 20 skill points by the end of the game, and that's way better. So unless there really is some sort of hidden disposition stat that makes a difference (I never noticed such a thing when I played), charisma still seems to be the stat to drop.

SWC

Minalkali wrote: I don't use big guns, and I get most of my money from selling drugs and ammo

That statement is so morally corrupt on so many levels. No one in their right mind would forfeit the use of big guns. What´s wrong with you?:laugh:

No seriously, I´d have to agree to some of what swcarter says. Cha seems to be similar to what it was in Fallout 1, at least from what I can see.

Sigh. I guess we´ll have to wait for an in-depth walkthrough...

Darth Malignus wrote:That statement is so morally corrupt on so many levels. No one in their right mind would forfeit the use of big guns. What´s wrong with you?:laugh:.

Well I can't speak for SWC, but I don't use Big guns because energy weapons are better. It sounds morally corrupt but it's just a fact of the game. There are tons of Drugs in Fallout 3, hell there was in Fallout 1 & 2 as well. Seems the medical profession is winning the drug war in the future just like now a-days :laugh:.

Darth Malignus wrote:No seriously, I´d have to agree to some of what swcarter says. Cha seems to be similar to what it was in Fallout 1, at least from what I can see.

Fallout 1 the Charisma score earned you easier conversations with other NPC's. You could even talk people into joining you easier with a decent chr score. This newer installment seems less shackled to Charisma that previous installments. I need to explore it more.

I agree that increased Strength and Endurance are very useful. With Perks to raise any stat and so on I guess what ever you wanna spend your initial points on seems to be good for your game. Luck has always been my drain the stat for more Perception, endurance, and Strength. Intelligance only gives you 20 skill points at a stat level10. Its 2 skill points/point of INT, although there's the perk that nets you an extra 3 points/level.

Darth Malignus wrote:That statement is so morally corrupt on so many levels. No one in their right mind would forfeit the use of big guns. What´s wrong with you?:laugh:

No seriously, I´d have to agree to some of what swcarter says. Cha seems to be similar to what it was in Fallout 1, at least from what I can see.

Sigh. I guess we´ll have to wait for an in-depth walkthrough...

Big guns are fun, but you really don't need them at all. A chinese assault rifle will take out super mutants without much hassle, and they give you an almost limitless supply of ammo for it. It's seriously bizarre to me that in this game strength has proven to be the least worthwhile stat!

I think the main reason for that is that vendors have a limited number of caps, not just a buy limit like in Oblivion. Because of that, I found that using heavy things like armour and weapons for trade was more trouble than it was worth, because they're generally not worth that much, and you can get all of a whole bunch of vendor's caps by selling them low weight or weightless things you'll never use anyway. Also the melee damage bonus is so insignificant it really doesn't make that much of a difference.

But meh, that's just my experience with the game.

Gunda wrote:
Fallout 1 the Charisma score earned you easier conversations with other NPC's. You could even talk people into joining you easier with a decent chr score. This newer installment seems less shackled to Charisma that previous installments. I need to explore it more.

I guess it would be somewhat easier with a higher Charisma. I never had any problems with convincing anyone to join up in Fallout 1 with a Charisma of 1, though.

Gunda wrote:Its 2 skill points/point of INT, although there's the perk that nets you an extra 3 points/level.

It's actually 1 skill point per level per point of intelligence.

SWC

swcarter wrote:It's actually 1 skill point per level per point of intelligence.

SWC

Really? I'd never really thought about it, but just assumed it was three per point as, if I recall correctly (which I probably don't... ), my 5 Int character got 15 points per level, whereas my 6 Int character got 18 points per level. Again, not sure if this is right, although, now that I'm curious, I'll be sure to check it out later.

Heh, if that were true, though, a 1 Int character would only get three skill points per level, which would totally suck.

my 5 Int character got 15 points per level, whereas my 6 Int character got 18 points per level.

Are you sure? Because you need INT 8 to get 18 points.

Anyway, stats in F3 are less important than in F1/F2.

Nah, as I said, I'm not sure, and probably wrong.

It's 10 + your intelligence as far as I know.

It's 10+INT. My char. has 9INT and every time i leveled up I got 22 points (10 + 9INT +3point skill perk)

Yeah I see that now with the advent of my newest character I Went with 9 int so I could make use of the Int Bobblehead and not waste it like i did on the first one. I kinda was assuming it was 2/point but turned out I was wrong, no big deal. It has been corrected... over and over and over again :laugh:

I agree that for the most part the skills seem pretty superfluous. Barter only reduces cost from NPC traders and increases net on your trades to them. Repair is only useful to get your gear repaired to max condition and thusly max damage or damage reduction. Science for the doors or computers you can make use of. Lockpick so you can pick harder locks. Explosives doesn't seem to have any baring on disarming land mines or much of anything else. Sneak has zero use unless you can turn off the Pip boy light (which apparently can be turned off according to a load screen bump, but I have not found out how as yet). The weapon skills should increase ability to use a weapon of the type but I have found little differance between my 58 energy skill and the 100 energy skill on two characters, other then critical chances. Which I thought was more by luck, but the luck on each character is the same at 3.

That's what I have found, use it as you see fit. You either find it useful or you have come to your own conclusions. Now on my third play through to test each person theories. SO find what works for you and run with it

Gunda, just so you know, you can turn on/off the light by holding the Pip Boy button (Tab by default) for a few seconds.

Sweet Thank you!!!

Excellent, glad I could help!