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Fallout: New Vegasholds a special position in the franchise for a lot of fans. It carries a lot of popular features not found in other entries, has memorable companions and unfolds a strong narrative from the seeming blank slate of an amnesiac protagonist.
It can be daunting to start out the game, especially coming from newer entries in the series. The game starts character creation with an inkblot test and personality quiz, and the value of different stats and skills is hard to gauge without cracking open a guide or wiki page. Here’s a solid starting build for a courier that can conquer the Mojave.
SPECIAL Attributes
The general descriptions the game gives towards SPECIAL stats can be a bit deceptive in terms of how useful each is. Lots of them havehidden secondary effects that you’re able to’t directly seethe numbers on.
The game starts you with five in everything andfive extra points to allocate. The other way to look at it is having 33 points and a minimum of one in each attribute. This build focuses onmaximising four attributes: intelligence, endurance, agility, and perception.
Youdon’t want any SPECIAL attribute to start at 10.This prevents you from making use of any features that increase them later, such as implants, traits, or quest rewards.
Strength
Six
Strength is situational. It is vital for melee builds but has limited use elsewhere.
Having a six in strength unlocksthe stonewall perk, whichprevents knockdown effects that can easily stunlock the courier.
Perception
Perception increases the range at which enemies will be detected and added to your compass.
Alow perception will have you being frequently ambushedas you only detect enemies once they start hitting you.
Endurance
Nine
Endurance not only gives youmore HPbut also lets youinstall implants from Doctor Usanagi in New Vegas. These implants givepermanent bonuses to your SPECIAL attributesas well as unique perks such as passive healing.
Consider each point of endurance to also be an investment towards your other stats later on. An endurance of nine lets you obtain all implants.
Charisma
One
Charisma does very little directly for your character. Its main use is that itapplies a hidden modifier to damage and armour for companions.
It’s typically not worth investing in unless you’re using mods to recruit multiple companions or are doing a challenge run involving them.
Intelligence
Intelligence gives you better scaling per level.You’ll get more skill points each time you level up, letting you max out your key skills faster.
Agility
Eight
Agility affects howquickly you perform certain animations, such as unsheathing weapons or reloading.
This makes agility always relevant, alongside it unlocking useful feats later on.
Luck
Luck has minimal impact on normal gameplay but lets you quickly make money at the casinos.
A character with maximum luck can get ahead start in the early game by rolling jackpot slotsand then buying legendary weapons.
Using other boosts, these SPECIAL stats will be increased to a permanent 7,8,10,2,10,10,2, and you can gain stronger temporary boosts with chems and equipment to pass skillchecks.
Best Starting Skills To Choose
You’ll be recommended a set ofstarting skills based on the Doc’s personality quiz. You shouldn’t feel obligated to take his suggestion: Saying you like to solve problems directly will assume you mean using melee weapons, which this build lacks the strength to make the most of.
Tag skills in New Vegas are less important than in other games of the series. You’ll get aflat sum of bonus points to them,but with ten intelligence, you’ll eventually gain 100 in everything.
You’ll also gain some relevant starting gear, such as aballistic or energy pistol,depending on your choice of weapon skills.
Energy Weapons Or Guns
Personal Preference
These make the best staple weapons, either guns or energy weapons. In the early game you’ll struggle to have a large supply of explosives, or the armour to use melee against the stronger wildlife enemies like cazadors or deathclaws.
Ballistic weapons are easier to find in the early game, whileenergy weapons have more varied special effectsand entertaining weapon mods.
Medicine Or Survival
Is hard mode enabled?
Both skills give youaccess to healing and crafting recipesthat’ll be useful throughout the game.
Survival mode changes the equation of whether medicine or survival is the better skill. Being able to improvise food items that heal and reduce starvation becomes more important than increasing the healing value of stimpaks that you can carry an infinite number of anyway.
Speech
Can be replaced with another utility skill
Speech is always useful, and a starting charisma of one means you’ll have barely any points in it. Choosing it as a tag skill brings it back up to a respectable number, which you can thenboost further with chems or magazinesuntil you have enough levels to invest in it.
Best Traits To Choose
Traits give both advantages and penalties, though with the right build, you can completely ignore their downsides. You can pick two traits during character creation. The Old World Blues DLC allows the courier to repick later.
The bonus points given here let you start with most of your key attributes near their maximum.
Once you reach the city outskirts you’ll be able to fullyupgrade them at Doctor Usanagi’s medical clinic. You’ll want toget the intelligence implant early, as it does not give skill points retroactively.
