Ok so I started NV with the same strategy as I used in FO3, (i.e all agility\ perception, eventual 3x Demolition Expert perk), and I've struggled all the way in NV.

To start with, grenades and dynamite are about as useful as throwing paper aeroplanes at the beginning of the game (does anyone notice how enemies tend to 'run under' your V.A.T.S when throwing explosives regardless of yout % chance?) - that is until you start stacking up 'Demolition Expert' - and now I'm in a whole new world of hurt!!

Ok, so I start upping the 'Demolition' perk and all of a sudden grenades become so powerful - not only to anything you throw them at, but yourself too!!! I think I made a bad call choosing the 'Small Frame' trait (+1 Agility but 'Fragile Limbs') because unless I'm throwing grenades outside in the middle of the desert, using them anywhere else results in me blowing my limbs off every time time I throw anything!! It's costing me a fortune in Stimpacks - repairing bits of me whenever I chuck a grenade down a corridor, or into a room etc...

Moral of this story is don't choose the Small Frame trait if you're going bombs. Bad idea.

BTW - Obsidian\ Bethesda, fantastic work on NV. Ignore the trolls - this is the best yet by far.

Cheers.

Please use this topic on explosives already up and running, no need for two on the same subject. Thanks.

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1134479-explosives-really-blows-in-new-vegas/