I've had the game pretty much since release. I've been waiting for patches to play, but I think I'm going to start soon.

I did a quick run through of the tutorial, but I think I'll restart the character. Any thoughts on a good solid build for a first play through. No spoilers just recommendations for starting stats. I've played Fallout 3 quite a bit so I"ll kind of be basing it on that, but things may have changed.

For tagged skills I'd probably go with Guns, Repair and Sneak.

For S.P.E.C.I.A.L., I'd probably bump up Endurance at the expense of Strength and Charisma and leave the others at or around 5.

For the trait. I figure I'll even tually want Wild Wasteland, but I'm thinking of Built to Destroy for a first playthrough (unless weapons are too hard to repair).

Any comments? Recommendations?

Glasses are easy to find, I like the perception boost it gives you.

Dont mess with Charisma, non-combat skills are MUCH MUCH MUCH more useful than in FO3. Having a high PER is always good.

I'd mention that if you want to gamble, Luck is important. You can increase Luck with implants and Intense Training during the game; Naughty Nightwear +1 on Luck too.

Charisma is important because you'll be dealing with many factions and Speech Skills are used a lot. The magazines give temporary boost to skills so take that into account. Charisma also affects Companion Nerve from +5 to +50.

There are many hats that give +1 to Perception.

Just a few thoughts....good luck.

Four Eyes subtract one Perception and off an buff of +2....I wouldn't recommend it.

A solid build imo is an average build, something like 6564667; since Perks with Perception requirement is rather high level I am should you can buy an implant for it.

Trait wise I say non/Wild Wasteland only is safe; Otherwise the only thing you should stay away is Four Eyes and Trigger Discipline.

You should consider the fact that Speech is quite important because the game has a lot of speech checks.

You should also consider the fact that guns have Strength requirements. Better and stronger guns require more strength. By lowering Strength you also limit your effectiveness with such weapons.

If you want to tag Guns and Sneak you might want to put more points into Agility. Endurance is not too important for a Guns/Sneak build.

Repair is a decent tag skill if you take Built to Destroy because repairs are expensive. Having a high Repair skill will enable you to pick Jury Rigging which might be useful.

S 5 -> 6
P 5 -> 6
E 7 -> 8
C 4 -> 5
I 7 -> 8
A 5 -> 6
L 7 -> 8

(arrows mean value after implants and trainings, add DT implant to the list of purchases)

Traits: Good Natured, Trigger Discipline
Tags: Guns, Lockpick, Speech

Perks:
02 - Intense Training (CHA or LCK)
04 - Educated
06 - Comprehension
08 - Travel Light (Survival 45)
10 - Cowboy (Guns 45, Melee 45)
12 - Finesse
14 - Strong Back
16 - Better Criticals
18 - Shotgun Surgeon
20 - Living Anatomy
22 - Hand Loader (Repair 70)
24 - Jury Rigging (Repair 90)
26 - Weapon Handling
28 - Toughness 1
30 - Toughness 2

Cowboy type, able to use all Guns besides heaviest ones to the fullest allowing you to review not just AMR or Sniper Rifle but also see stuff like Dinner Bell, Brush or Sequoia at their best. Perk order can be changed without much hassle in I think all cases.

I dont understand. I consider both these traits useful for a Guns/Sneak build. A free + 1 perception and weapon accuracy bonus.

STR 5
PER 5
END 5
CHA 5
INT 8
AGI 5
LUC 7

TAG a weapon type- guns or melee will give you a good starting and finishing weapon option
TAG a diplomacy skill- speech will help you convince NPCs often making quests quicker, barter gives you bigger rewards
TAG a support skill- repair, survival, medicine all have large upsides and MED occassionally sets up dialogue challenges.

With that as a base you can use INTENSE TRAINING, or implants to further specialize your SPECIAL.

strength is not really that importaint in the beginning. It can be off set with perks such as strong back and weapons handling.

I tend to lower STR and Luck and boost CHA, INT and have average END and AGI. Intelligence is responcible for the amount of skill points you get. More the better for me. Charisma for speech and barter.

Like the originals there are ways to in game to boost your specials but it will cost you alot.

Because Four Eyes take away one of your special points.

Trigger Disciplines is pure detrimental once you have sufficient skill.

That's all relative to when you get to the Clinic... 4000 or 12000 caps is tons at the beginning of the game, but with nearly all my characters, by later levels it's no skin to walk in and buy all the implants in one sitting...

just beat game lvl 30, beat the yes man path, ncr path, and mr house path all on the same playthru. Im waiting for patch to start second playthru (this is getting ridiculous). I had high speech, which if I make a new character I will probably choose barter instead just to mix it up, I saw many checks that were either or and I dont like the idea of what I was able to do later in the game w speech, and the end. (made quests much shorter). Guns is a must unless your going melee/unarmed; making a dominate explosive or energy weapons character doesnt seem as plausible unfortunately. (atleast atm tho correct me if im wrong). Make sure you have a decent ammount of endurance as you can get more implants, which are easy to come by and money is easy to get. Fortune finder perk i found to be great. Selling loot, caravan, or gambling are the easiest ways to make money, and quests (main reason im choosing high barter next time, tho I found speech could often be used to get more reward too). Luck should be decently high, but as mentioned, there are numerous ways to increase luck, and a luck above 8 is just not even gambling in the casinos. Make sure you get jury rigging perk at repair 90 as its the best in the game. I found most weapons easy to repair even before acquiring this perk, more just for maintaining high quality or rare/unique items. Cant wait to start my next playthru, wish this patch was out.....idk what build im gonna make tho, i just know that with intense training plus implants, my character was god by level 25.

o by the end of the game i did have a bug where a hacking screen would pop up instead of my scope on scoped weapons such as all american and sniper rifle, kinda renders my play file unusable so i hope patch is imminent so I can start my new toon

True, I have characters that are super rich. Once you get booted out of all the casinos for winning to much, a good barter along with doing the quests for Red Lucy I always have alot of money.

I am very happy with how much items cost as well as the implants. Still a good shopping spree at the gun runners and buying the impants can make a pretty big dent in my savings. I am not complaining .

Thanks to everyone for the great input. I'm really glad to hear that Charisma is not a dump stat like it was in FO3.

I'll probably set the stats like the below, seems balanced. I'll consider either Built to Destroy or Good Natured as a trait. Probably still tag Guns, Sneak, Repair. I'll maybe save the Wierd perk for next time, but it sounds really interesting.



Any additional advice is welcome. Thanks again.

Compared to FO3, there's a lot more talking. Speech and Barter get used in conversations a lot, a whole lot. Yes there's combat but not as much and, oddly, you get by with very low combat skills just fine. You'll be punching heads off left and right with some brass knuckles and 20 points in Unarmed. On the other hand, 20 in Speech isn't going to get you much.

I wouldn't bother with Survival, even if you're playing in hardcoe Mode. Food and water are just too easy to come by. In that sense, FNV is similar to FO3: there's mountains of loot all around you. You'll never need to worry about running out of Stims or food and water.

I went guns, repair and speech for tags. Focused on endurance (for implant capacity) and intelligence (skill points) in my special. Increased Luck the first time I leveled with intense training.

I know that people knock trigger discipline, but I actually like it. And here's why.

At maximum VATS range, you suffer a signifigant penalty to hit. You also suffer one for fast moving target at range, and environmental things, like the target being behind a bush, or moving through tall grass. Sometimes the one for bushes and tall grass can knock your hit percentage to 0. Thanks to Trigger Discipline, if you can see it and trigger vats, odds are that you've got a fair chance to hit it. Trigger Discipline + Sniper + Commando = max vats range headshots easily without any annoyance from fast, erratic enemies. Yes, I use that to blow up Cazadors. I really hate those things, and don't like them anywhere near me.

On my first playthrough I always wing it adn dont plan. I just do, One my subsequent playthrough I usually do builds.

Intelligence is not as important as it was in Fallout 3.The differance between 4 and 8 intelligence is only 2 points per level,just so you know.

heyo..

i run with

s 6
p 6
e 5 (up to six at L2 with intense training)
c 3
i 9
a 6
l 5

i have run this exclusively and find (for me) its the best way to go. I usually take "good natured" and something that affects my play. ie. for my Sniper play through.. I went natured and trig dicipline. it's also important to realize that I most always leave the companions at home unless i need to mule some stashes. i dont like that companions AI allows them to basically do whatever the fug they want when they want. more trouble than what its worth and you still get their perks even when you park them somewhere. charisma is mainly only necessary for your companions strength.

as for my initial tags. I always go with Speech, Repair and my offensive, ie.. guns, melee, unarmed, EW.

as to the high Int.. (debate). as far as I am concerned having 2.5 sp for 29 levels is WELL worth it. 60+ points I use for sneak (or whatever).. +books can nearly get you close to a 4th max or 5th for a skill that doesnt need to be maxed .. ie. sneak, lockpick, backup melee/unarmed.. ect.

6 str. get you most all guns, a decent carry start and breaks you into most all perk rqs.
6 perc. allows for perk rqs.
6 end, allows for most all perk rqs, and 6 implants. (+1 if you plant end itself)
3 char. I have had absolutely ZERO issues with low char as long as I focus on upping speech and good natured helps at the start. also.. as mentioned above.. i dont use companions on the front line
6 agility. Most all per reqs. (i would like this to be higher though but meh)
5.Luck. As a sniper.. boons beret, implant, inherent crit % with rifles, finesse perk, ect.. my god it's overkill to have 10 luck unless you like to gamble as far as i'm concerned. At 6 luck i have no issues with crits.. lol.

as for the perks i choose.. mostly defense at this time. it is a well known (proven) fact that many of the perks that effect guns either don't work as intended, are bugged.. or simply don't work at all. primarily perks that effect VATS and accuracy. I have had no issue with melee or defense type perks imo.

perks that i usually always get:

intense training at L2.. for +1 end.
hand loader
toughness
jury rig
stone wall
finesse
comprehension
educated
adamantium skeleton

the rest depending on what i play, guns/melee/pasive.. ect.

this is what i feel comfortable with.. probably not the best. but best enough for me.

cheers
d

S:6
P:5
E:6
C:6
I:6
A:5
L:6

take small frame(+1AGL) and four eyes(+2PER). You can find glasses early on at Doc mitchels house.

Tag: Guns,lockpick and speech (most usable skill's early on)

After implants you would be looking a character like this:

S:7
P:7
E:7
C:7
I:7
A:7
L:7

Seems solid to me, and with Finesse perk + boone's beret + sniper rifle + better criticals you can have ridicilously high critical chance. 85% if i calculated right, since sniper rifle gives 5x multiplier for crit chance.

NOTE:While wearing boones beret or other headwear you will all so get +1 to perception. Boone's beret gives +1 PER and 5x multiplier to crit chance

2 * 29 is 58.

It ain't much but still.........