So my character build will most likely be
*random name*
Female
*facial features to my liking*
SPECIAL:
S 6 or 7
P 6
E 7
C 5
I 6
A 5
L 5
Tag Skills:
Survival (for hardmode, if not hardcoe mode then Science)
Medicine
Energy Weapons
Traits:
Wild Wasteland
Fast Shot or Trigger Discipline
First two perks:
Black Widow
Cherchez La Femme

How does it look?

Looks pretty good to me. I take it you'll be going guns blazing with heavy armour for the most part?

I'm not sure what I'll do yet.. I kinda want to use power armour, but I'm not sure. The best build for me would probably be something like,

SPECIAL
STR-2
PER-5
END-9
CHR-1
INT-9
AGL-5
LCK-9

I'm assuming here ^ that there will be some way to raise each SPECIAL stat by +1, other than Intense Training. If not I suppose I could just take Intense training twice to bump up PER and AGL one point each for Better Criticals. But, y'know, I'd rather not lol. I might also need to substitute something for more STR points, due to the weapon requirements.

Tagged Skills
Guns
Medicine (I'm taking this over survival, even though I'll be playing with hardcoe on. I just think it will be better)
Repair

Obviously I'll be focussing a little on Lockpick and Science so that I can access all of the areas, but these three tagged skills are the ones I plan to max out. Probably in the order Guns>Repair>Medicine

And.. I haven't even thought about perks or traits other than Finesse and Better criticals lol =/

Oh my...

If you really consider going with two strength than you won't be able to use too many weapons my friend. Correctly that is.

My character build would be something like this
Special
S 7
P 6
E 6
C 5
I 6
A 5
L 5
All of these could change
I need help choosing a second trait I have already chosen the first one to be Trigger discipline or Fast shot

All of those are looking very good. My character will most likely be like this:

S.P.E.C.I.A.L
Strength - 7 (or 6)
Perception - 5
Endurance - 6
Charisma - 5
Intelligence - 7 (or 8)
Agility - 5
Luck - 5

Skills
1. Guns - tagged
2. Repair - tagged
3. Survival - tagged
4. Science
5. Speech

Traits
Wild Wasteland
Four Eyes or Small Frame

Im tagging
Guns
Survival
what should my third be?
Repair?
Lock pick?
Science?
Medicine?

my character is going to be the same as my FO3 one almost. Black Widow, agility, lots of sneaky and talking perks. I'm not much one for running in all guns blazing (although I very often have to run OUT all guns blazing lol)

I see most of you are really balancing your builds, which is quite a save build I guess.
As for my build, I'm trying to excel at Persuasion and Scientific encounters, and during fights I will depend on things that go :nuke: .

S.P.E.C.I.A.L
Strength - 5
Perception - 6
Endurance - 6
Charisma - 8
Intelligence - 8
Agility - 1
Luck - 6

Skills
1. Explosion - Tagged
2. Science - Tagged
3. Speech - Tagged
4. Barter (will probably only bring this to 70)
5. Repair

Traits
Four Eyes
Good Natured

I've never tested the 1 agi at FO3 with grenates, but it shouldnt be that hard to hit people with a :nuke: . But it will still most probably be a d--- at the early part of the game, where I don't have many grenades and stuff, and have to use a gun with lots of misses .

most of the builds look awsome to use! i might even try them out, they look fun, but Shirou, with explosion, is it worth having as a tagged skill? i never increased it in FO3 (besides getting it to 25 for the the Save/Blow up megaton) will it play a bigger role than just mines and gernades?

There are more weapons that focus with Explosives like the C4 explosives plus Missle Launcher and the Fatman are now considered under Explosives. I wouldn't tag Explosives unless you want to get the perks that involve Explosive being at a certain level

You can take 10 Ranks in Intense Training if you want to use up 10 of your 15 perks that way. There will also be implants (1 for each primary SPECIAL stat) that cost a fortune but will raise the corresponding stat by 1.


You don't have to take a second trait if you don't want another one. Or even a first one for that matter. They aren't like perks - you are not going to be handicapped or missing out on anything because you didn't take a second trait since they all have associated drawbacks.


Balanced builds are going to be bad in New Vegas and not "safe" at all. Unless you max intelligence and get all skill books, you will only be able to max 4 or 5 skills. Even if you farm every available skill point with a genius character you won't max more than 9 skills. And we still don't know how hard it is or how long it takes to reach level 30.

If you try and be balanced, you will handicap your character and end up being weak for most of the game, and possibly even at the end game. In New Vegas you will want to focus on a primary idea for your character that is an archetype or a blend of a couple of archetypes and stay on track reinforcing it through your SPECIAL and skills.

That said, most of these builds look pretty good, and will be fine as long as they only put points in the 4 or 5 skills they have listed. l3awl3ag's build worries me a bit due to the STR 2 - it seems like you are counting on finding Power Armor and stat boosters fairly quickly - I wouldn't count on that. As long as you are comfortable with the combat penalties and weapon handling downsides (and carrying capacity) this will impose, and are patient and careful, I think you will be fine, however.

I'm planning on this

S 4
P 6
E 6
C 6
I 8
A 6
L 4
Tags: small guns, repair, survival = around 80 to 100

minor: lockpick (25), speech (25+), Science(25+)

Traits: Four eyes, WW

Companions: Rex, Cass (not caring for Cass's perk because this character rarely drinks, but shes good with a shotgun )

Perks(not in order): hunter, FotNight, Night Person, travel light, retention/comprehension?, educated, hand loader, Animal friend, silent running, jury rigging, weapon handling. I don't care much for the rest of the higher up perks and may just use Intense training for the unused levels and meet other prerequisites and plan out better.

Making a character who likes accuracy and his scoped hunting rifle. Not planning to use VATS on this character either.
Also I'm thinking of taking the point out of charisma and finding the CHR implant so I can put the point into something else.

Let me know if you can think of anything.

First playthrough
________________________________________________________________________________________
Enumclaw. Age: 21 Race:Indian
Survial expert, uses medium armor and uses all guns except for energy and large guns.No alliance does as pleases.
hardcoe
Rual and Rex as compainions

Tagged skills:
Survival
Guns
Repair

Traits:
Heavy Handed
Wild wastland

Perks:
rapid reload
educated
comprehension
handloader
cowboy
strong back
life giver
piercing strike
jury rigging
solar powered
explorer
slayer

maybes:
unstoppable force
adamatium skeleton
quick draw
lead belly
superslam
hunter

S 8
P 5
E 8
C 2
I 8
A 7
L 2

Hmm, I'll drop in my plans as well - maybe there is some error in the maths, maybe it helps others..

Character NOT for hardcoe mode.

archetype/setting - nerdy know-it-all scientist geek (much like me, really).

Strength = 4 (upgrade to 5 asap)
Perception = 6
Endurance = 5
Charisma = 1 (nerd, after all. Not good with social interactions)
Intelligence = 10
Agility = 5
Luck = 9

Traits:
Wild Wasteland
Four Eyes
(both are more for roleplaying than stat boosts)

Tag skills:
Energy weapons
Science
Repair

Starting stats:
Bart.9; Guns 17; Survival 17(?); En. Weap. 34; Expl.19; Lockpick 19; Medicine 27; Melee 17; Repair 42; Science 42; Sneak 17, Speech 17(?), Unarmed 17;

The big plan:
Lvl2: Science+8(=50); En.W.+6(=40); Repair +1(=43); Intense Training (STR)
Lvl3: Repair +7(=50); En.W.+8(=48);
Lvl4: En.W.+7(=55); Repair +5 (=55); Science+2(=52); Educated;
Lvl5: En.W. +5(=60); Repair +5(=60); Science+7(=59);
Lvl6: En.W. +1(=61); Repair +5(=65); Science+11(=70); Vigilant Recycler;
Lvl7: En.W.+9(=70); Repair +5(=70); Science+3(=73);
Lvl8: En.W. +5(=75); Repair +10(=80); Science +2(=75); Strong Back;
Lvl9: En.W. +2(=77); Repair +10(=90); Science +5(=80);
Lvl10: En.W. +2 (=79); Science+5 (=85); Medicine+10(=37); Mysterious Stranger;
Lvl11: Science+5(=90); En.W. +1(=80); Medicine+11(=48);
Lvl12: Repair+10(=100); Science+5(=95); Medicine+2(=50); Finesse; ///Repair Skill @100;
Lvl13: Science+5(=100); Medicine+2(=52); Survival+10(=27); ///Science Skill @100;
Lvl14: En.W. +10(=90); Medicine+4(=56); Survival+3(=30) Jury Rigging;
Lvl15: En.W. +10(=100); Medicine+7(=63); ///Energy Weapons @ 100;
Lvl16: Medicine+4(=67); Lockpick+13(=32); Better Criticals;
Lvl17: Medicine+7(=73); Lockpick+10(=42);
Lvl18: Medicine+7(=80); Lockpick+10(=52); Meltdown;
Lvl19: Medicine+5(=85); Lockpick+12(=64);
Lvl20: Medicine+5(=90); Lockpick+12(=76); Toughness;
Lvl21: Medicine+3(=93); Lockpick+14(=90);
Lvl22: Medicine+7(=100); Lockpick+10(=100); Laser Commander; ///Lockpick and Medicine Skills at 100;
Lvl23: Survival+17(=47);
Lvl24: Survival+17(=64); Nuka-Chemist;
Lvl25: Survival+17(=81);
Lvl26: Survival+17(=98); Miss Fortune;
Lvl27: Survival+2(=100); Speech+15(=32)?;
Lvl28: Speech +17; Plasma Spaz or Grim Reaper's Sprint;
Lvl29: Speech +17;
Lvl30: Speech +17(should be up to 80ish); Grim Reaper's Sprint or Plasma Spaz;

And there you have it.
Disregarding any skill books, implants, quest perks (which can't really be planned, imo), you have S5,P6,E5,C1,I10,A5,L9 for the most game (good casino money, lucky drops, good critical rate, especially with the perks, helpers in Vats [which I'll use quite often]), Repair is at 100 at level 12, Science at level 13, Energy Weapons at level 15, Medicine and lockpick at level 22 (I reckon aboutat that time you'll really need the boost in stimpack heals), Survival at level 27(more a roleplaying decision, this - after 27 levels of wandering, even a nerd gets pretty damn good at surviving the wastes), and speech for the endgame story missions, just in case.

I'd think this would be rather interesting to play with. Obviously, with low survival for the most part, this character would not do well in hardcoe mode, but for a normal game at decent difficulties he shoudl be fine, no?
And, I wonder, if my maths are correct for this plan?

@X2-Eliah

I guess with "helpers in Vats" you mean the stranger and lady luck? You can only get those if your Charisma's at 6. They dont like to help nerds :ph34r: .
Also, you don't need high survival in hardcoe mode, it just helps to make the hardcoe mode less hardcoe.

Other then that it looks like a nice build.

No, the prerequisite for stranger and lady is Luck, not charisma...

Lol, you're right, my bad :facepalm: .

Strength - 4
Perception - 8
Endurance - 4
Charisma - 1
Intelligence - 9
Agility - 7
Luck - 7

Traits

Trigger Discipline
Small Frame

Tag!

Guns
Repair
Survival
(Sneak, Barter)

Companions

ED-E
Raul

Since there's no way I'm going to be able to play this game with a low Strength build like I did in Fallout 3 I'm gonna go for this instead..

SPECIAL
STR-10
PER-1
END- 10
CHR-1
INT-10
AGL-7
LCK-1

I might keep STR, END and INT at 9 so that I can put three points elsewhere, and then use the implants to max them out later. Then again I might not. I don't care about making a "perfect" build here. I'm not entirely set on 7 AGL either.. It depends whether or not I intend to use VATS. If I don't intend to use VATS, then I'll put those points into something else.

Anyway everything below is based under the assumption that I will go for 7 AGL.

Tagged Skills
Guns
Repair
Medicine

Perks
Rapid Reload
Educated
Toughness
Stonewall
Strong Back
Life Giver
Jury Rigging
Action Boy
Tag!
Grim Reaper's Sprint
Nerves of Steel

I still have another four to pick there, I'll figure that out as I go lol.

Traits
Wild Wasteland
Small Frame (I might take the Adamantium Skeleton perk somewhere down the line in an attempt to negate the limb damage)


The basic idea behind this build is just to get as high a Damage Threshhold as possible, and hope that it's enough to compensate for the poor critical chance. I've done one like this in Fallout 3 before and it worked well there, I don't see it struggling in New Vegas either. Even in hardcoe, which I will definitely be playing.

heres the first one ill do. comments please?
S-9 (and an implant ASAP)
P-3 (4 with glasses)
E-4 (5)
C-1
I-9
A-7
L-6 (9) (and an implant later)

TAG:
Guns, Lockpick, Science, and Repair (with Tag!)
bold will be raised to 100, repair to 90

Medicine, Barter, and Speech will go to at least 50. the rest of the skills will get no love, except from books or quest perks or something.

Traits:
Built to Destroy, Four Eyes

Perks:
IT L
Educated
IT L
Comprehension
Cannibal
Fortune Finder
Strong Back
Tag! Repair
Night Person
Hand Loader
Jury Rigging
IT E
Rapid Reload
Explorer
???
ill wait to see if there are any Lv. 30 perks before figuring out the last one, if there are none it will be IT P

That looks good to me mate. Although that Built To Destroy trait seems like a bit of an odd choice. If you're gonna sacrifice that much gear durability for critical chance, you might aswell go all the way. If it was me I'd be taking the Finesse perk for another +5% critical chance, and I'd bump the base Perception up to 6 so that I could take the Better Criticals perk. If you bundled all of that together with your high luck you'd have the highest critical chance possible, at the expense of three SPECIAL points from other stats.

You could take one point out of Agility, that would leave you at 6. Which is the other requirement for Better Criticals. You could probably get away with taking two points out of Strength, if you're going to use an implant. That would leave you at 8, which if I'm not mistaken is the requirement for heavy weapons like the Anti-Materiel Rifle.

Just a few suggestions. But the build looks really good anyway, you'll do fine with it as it is.

cant take anything from strength. these games are all about exploration to me, so i need as much carrying capacity as possible, all my chars have the same ST and IN. also, i intend to have raul as my follower to offset the downside of BtD. hopefully i can have him with an evil, allied with CL char. i suppose i could still drop it for good natured or something.

btw, how does perception affect shooting?

ill post my EN weapons char next. but i wont do melee or explosives.

I think i'm gonna go with

S- 5
P- 7
E- 6
C- 4
I- 6
A- 7
L- 5

though i might change it up a bit

Tag: Sneak, Guns, Survival, and then put a significant amount of points into repair, lockpick, and melee

yay, now i can post EW without double posting!
comments please
S-9 (and an implant ASAP)
P-7
E-5 (7)
C-1 (yes. even my good char has 1. its just not worth using the points)
I-9 (10)
A-3 (4)
L-5 (6)

TAG:
E Weapons, Lockpick, Science, and Repair (Tag!)
bold to 100, repair to at least 90, and barter, medicine, and speech to at least 50. the rest get no love aside from skill books or quest perks

Traits:
Good Natured and Small Frame

Perks:
IT L
Educated
IT E
Comprehension
Fortune Finder
Strong Back
Scrounger
Tag! Repair
Life Giver
Jury Rigging
IT E
Solar Powered
Laser Commander
Explorer
???
will decide last once i find out if there are Lv 30 perks or not, if not it will be IT A

i know, not much different from the last. but i dont have much choice with the huge skill point nerf

also, does anyone know if IT of 9 and 10 give the same skill points?

I don't think it does. In Fallout 3 it added points to Energy Weapons, Explosives and Lockpick. The only passive ability it had was increasing the range that you could detect enemies on the compass.