We all know that since Obsidian is a developer, we can expect balanced character development. But, some things just seem illogical. For example, if you want high proficiency with guns, you need high Agility (directly affects Guns skill), Strength (affects Damage & Weapon effectiveness - requirement for "top tier" guns is 8) and Perception (affects Accuracy). There is no Gifted trait (+1 to all SPECIAL stats), so you'll start with 5 SPECIAL points. This means that for developing one particular skill, you need to lower more than half of your SPECIAL stats below average. What do you guys think about it?

I'm not worried about it. We don't know for certain if the way you just described is EXACTLY how your effectiveness in combat will be tallied up, but even if you are 100% in your assumptions, that's just fine with me because it means my character doesn't get to be the ultimate gunfighter unless I build him to be the ultimate gunfighter to the exclusion of all else. Trade-offs have always been a core aspect of RPGs. Still, I have the means to build my character to be a "good" gunfighter by just increasing his skill in Guns to 100% alone, and that's good enough for me because I doubt the game is going to be so hard that I won't be able to fight through with just that alone, and some good tactics.

Good?
Choices and consequences.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b263/CWheezy/Trollface_HD.jpg

I don't see the problem. You had the same setup in Fallout 1/2, really. It's to balance the game and ensure that you can't be a master of everything. If you're building a purely combat focused character you're probably going to sacrifice your intelligence, charisma and luck. Likewise if you're going to build a diplomatic character you're probably going to sacrifice most gun based attributes.

Well a choice will have to be made. I wouldn't mind being able to change up my strategy at different points in the game, but you can't be a jack of all trades. On a good note, this will make your gameplay decisions very important.

I agree, balancing the RPG system is very important. Also, not being able to develop "master of everything". But, sacrificing everything else for one particular skill? Not even in Fallout 1&2.

S - 8
P - 8
E - 4
C - 4
I - 5
A - 8
L - 3

There's a solid guns character right there. It's not very hard to make a specialized character. You just have to make some sacrifices, as it should be.

Just do not feed it...

I don't expect that the guy using minigun would be the sharpest and most good sighted guy on the wastes, so it really doesn't matter to me. But I think the stats needed for weapons are weapon specific so you don't have to be good at everything to get the maximum accuracy and damage with certain weapon. Also I believe there are some improvements that you can buy somewhere along the game, as there was in FO1 & 2.

I suspect you're making a mountain out of a molehill.

Agility: makes the starting skill higher and slightly increases reload/draw speed. Solution: Modest Agility, more skill points put into your weapon skill of choice to compensate for lower starting skill.
Strength: I think "top tier" is probably a misnomer. Heavy weapon equivalents needing higher strength, sure, but there's gonna be some Lincoln Repeater / A3-21 equivalents with modest strength requirements, mark my words.
Perception: I'm glad it affects accuracy... Perception was a serious dump stat in FO3. But I'm sure you can do well with modest perception and high skill, again to compensate for your average accuracy.

Strength 8 Perception 6 Agility 6 is perfectly doable without lowering any stats past 5. If you took small frame and four eyes (weird, I know), you could effectively be S 8 P 7 A 7. If you threw Charisma away as a dump stat, you'd have four more points to spread around, with only 1 stat lower than average. Where's the problem? You can't be good at everything, and being the "heavy weapons guy" should cost something. It is an action movie archetype, after all.

I, for one, am glad that there are benefits to lopsided characters. That and the lower number of perks should make there be more than "melee or unarmed" as the only choices for character builds.

dude look at fallout 1/2 i just started anew in both and you have to exactly what your saying i hope its not like fallout 3 at all where by level 10 your just invincible or at least for me i was and level ten came fast and level thirty man [censored] it wasnt even a challenge i want it to be like the first two and just be almost in-[censored]-possibe to play even on ''wimpy'' that makes it fun leveling was hard even in the begining and to the point of your special going in with your skills man thats just obvious your skill is not linear it has to use others think if you aim a gun you have to have agility to aim strength to hold it for extended time and all the other [censored] dude really you should have it the obsidian way and you saying is just assumptions and stereotypes of obsidian but i respect your opinion like bioshock says no two players will ever play the sameso no two gamers are the same

i am just worried i cant make the character i want. but i will find a way

strength-6
perception-5
endurance-3
charisma-6
intelligence-8
Agility-7
luck-5

i bet you will you at 5 points so all fallouts have been five+ i think ive never played bos or tactics

You know OP after reading your first post I was kinda concerned. But, then I thought about it and I'd actually love it if we didn't end up with the "10 in all SPECIAL stat's" characters that we had in FO3, or anything close to them.

In Fallout 3 my build was:

S - 6
P - 6
E - 6
C - 1
I - 9
A - 6
L - 6

This nets you near max skill points right from the beginning. If you go to Rivet City directly you only miss one level. I'm sure that there will be similar strategies in FNV, just not on the first time through. The journey is the destination so I'll enjoy every moment of figuring it out.

it really depends on what your going for like my first character is probably going to have the same stats as riddike from fallout tactics which sacrifices things that have to do with social interaction so i can excel in combat these are the stats 8 ST, 7 PE, 7 EN, 1 CH, 5 IN, 7 AG, 5 LK

Indeed.

You forgot lucl;/

I can see quite a few interesting gunslingers...


fast shot

s 5
p 9
e 3
c 1
i 4
a 9
l 9

guns energy weapons and explosives tagged... also trains repair and barter...



built for destroction trigger discipline

s 9
p 9
e3
c 1
i 3
a 7
l 9

guns exploives sneak



fast shot built for destruction

s 7
p 6
e 7
c 1
i 7
a 9
l 3

guns energy weapons repair also trains survival and science and med


blah blah blah...

You took some time to calculate. This is constructive, thanks for your opinion

Remember also that you can use drugs, gear, and implants to raise your SPECIAL.
Depending on the STR bonuses of Power Armor, for example, you might be able to get away with a mediocre strength skill of say, 6 or 7 and use drugs like buffout, get the strength boosting implant, and wear power armor to bring that score up.

That's true.