Action Points

Derived statistic
Action Points
Fallout / Fallout 2 / Fallout Tactics
Modifies	Number of things possible to do during one combat turn
Affected by	Agility
Base value	5 + Agility / 2
Related perks	Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics: Action Boy/Action Girl, Bonus HtH Attacks, Bonus Move, Bonus Rate of Fire, Quick Pockets Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics: HtH Evade, Quick Recovery Fallout Tactics only: Flexible
Related traits	Bruiser, Fast Shot Fallout Tactics only: Rabid, Targeting Computer
Fallout 3
Modifies	Number of things a player can do during V.A.T.S. mode
Affected by	Agility
Base value	65 + 2 * Agility
Related perks	Action Boy/Action Girl, Grim Reaper's Sprint, Nerves of Steel
Fallout: New Vegas
Modifies	Number of things a player can do during V.A.T.S. mode
Affected by	Agility
Base value	65 + 3 * Agility
Related perks	Action Boy/Action Girl, Beautiful Beatdown, Grim Reaper's Sprint, Math Wrath, Nerves of Steel, Plasma Spaz, Ain't Like That Now
Related traits	Fast Shot, Kamikaze, Trigger Discipline
Fallout 4
Modifies	Sprinting, number of things a player can do during V.A.T.S. mode
Affected by	Agility
Base value	60 + 10 * Agility
Related perks	Action Boy/Action Girl, Astoundingly Awesome #8, Grim Reaper's Sprint, Quick Hands, Trigger Rush
Fallout 76
Modifies	Sprinting, number of things a player can do during V.A.T.S. mode
Affected by	Agility
Base value	105 + 10 * Agility
Related perks	Action Boy/Action Girl, Dead Man Sprinting, Dodgy, Marathoner, Grim Reaper's Sprint

“The number of actions that the character can take during one combat turn.”— Fallout in-game description

Action Points (or AP) is a gameplay mechanic that has appeared throughout the Fallout series, with varying degrees of interaction with other mechanics per installment.

Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics

Action Points are spent firing a weapon, reloading a weapon, fetching equipment from a character's backpack or moving to a new battlefield hex.

$\text{Initial level}=5+floor\left\lfloor\frac{\text{Agility}}{2}\right\rfloor$

Example: A starting Agility of 5.

$5+\left\lfloor\frac{5}{2}\right\rfloor=7~\text{Action points}$

Notes

• The Action Boy/Action Girl perk adds 1 AP per rank.
• The Bonus Move perk adds 2 special AP per rank that can only be used for movement.
• In Fallout and Fallout 2, the counter only shows up to 10 AP but internally it keeps track of any extras. In Fallout Tactics all AP show properly.
• In Fallout Tactics in continuous turn-based mode, the AP regeneration rate is directly proportional to the amount of AP a character has.

Fallout 3

Action Points are primarily used in V.A.T.S. to attack opponents, where each weapon has its own cost per use, shown on the weapons page. Unlike in the turn-based games, AP is not accumulated at the end of a turn. Instead, a meter counting the amount of AP is regenerated over time, with perks influencing the rate of regeneration.

$\text{Initial level}=65+(2\times\text{Agility})$

Example: A starting Agility of 5.

$65+(2\times5)=75~\text{Action points}$

Notes

• The maximum base amount of AP in the game is capped at 85 AP.
  • This limit can be temporarily increased with the addition of bonuses (see table below).
• The Level 20 perk Grim Reaper's Sprint restores all Action Points by successfully killing an enemy during one round of V.A.T.S.

AP bonuses

Name	AP bonus	Duration	Value	Form ID	Notes
Agility	2-20	Permanent	N/A	N/A	2 AP per Agility point
Action Boy/Action Girl	25	Permanent	N/A	00031DBA/ 0007B202	Level 16 Perk bonus
Nerves of Steel	None (see notes)	Permanent	N/A	xx0011C2	Perk that regenerates AP extremely slowly. Only obtainable through Broken Steel.
Ledoux's hockey mask	25	While equipped	100	0007401C	Worn by Goalie Ledoux (quest: "The Nuka-Cola Challenge", optional objective "Just for the taste of it").
Ranger battle armor	5	While equipped	430	00023030	From the quest: Reilly's Rangers
Lag-Bolt's combat armor	10	While equipped	400	xx00B95F	Obtained through the unmarked quest The Sorrowful Suitor from Broken Steel.
Tribal power armor	15 (13 since it decreases Agility by 1)	While equipped	739	xx00B50F	Granted for finding all 100 steel ingots in The Pitt.
Nukalurk meat	10	4 minutes	7	00095F48	Duration doubled with Chemist
Nuka-Cola Quantum	20	4 minutes	30	000284F9	Duration doubled with Chemist
Mississippi Quantum pie	20	4 minutes	20	00049076	Duration doubled with Chemist
Jet	30	4 minutes	20	00015164	Duration doubled with Chemist
Ultrajet	40	4 minutes	50	000C9CF4	Duration doubled with Chemist

Maximum AP

The maximum figure achievable without chems is 148. Starting AP = 65 + 10 Agility (85) + the Action Boy/Action Girl perk at level 16 (110) + Ledoux's hockey mask (135) + the tribal power armor (148). The +15AP bonus is negated by the -1 Agility penalty which the armor carries. An alternative to negate the -1 Agility is to use the Chinese stealth armor multiple hat glitch/exploit to wear Poplar's hood which has a +1 Agility bonus and stack it with Ledoux's mask for the +30 AP, making the maximum total 150 AP.

The maximum figure achievable with items and chems is a massive 280. (148) + Jet (178) + Ultrajet (218) + Nukalurk meat (228) + Nuka-Cola Quantum (248) + Mississippi Quantum pie (268) + alien biogel (278). The -1 Agility/ -2AP penalty carried by the tribal power armor can be negated using either more alien biogel or fire ant nectar (280). An alternative to negate the -1 Agility is to use the Chinese stealth armor multiple hat glitch/exploit to wear Poplar's hood which has a +1 Agility bonus and stack it with Ledoux's mask for the +30 AP.

Fallout: New Vegas

Action Points in Fallout: New Vegas are mechanically identical to Fallout 3, with the difference of the Agility bonus being multiplied by 3 instead of 2.

$\text{Initial level}=65+(3\times\text{Agility})$

Example: A starting Agility of 5.

$65+(3\times5)=80~\text{Action points}$

Notes:

• The maximum base amount is capped at 95 AP.
  • This limit can be increased with the addition of bonuses (see table below).

AP bonuses

Name	Type	AP bonus	Duration	Value	Form ID	Notes
Agility	SPECIAL	3-30	Permanent	N/A	N/A	3 AP per Agility point
Kamikaze	Trait	10	Permanent	N/A	00135F05	Trait
Action Boy/Action Girl	Perk	15 (per rank)	Permanent	N/A	00031DBA (Action Boy) 0007B202 (Action Girl)	Perk may take up to two times
Ain't Like That Now	Perk	None (see notes)	Permanent	N/A	xx00A749	Perk increase AP Regen rate by +25%
Beautiful Beatdown	Perk	None (see notes)	When unarmed	N/A	0015EADF	Perk reduces AP cost 10% with Unarmed challenge
Math Wrath	Perk	None (see notes)	Permanent	N/A	00135EC3	Perk reduces AP cost 10%
Plasma Spaz	Perk	None (see notes)	Permanent	N/A	00165AEF	Perk reduces AP cost 20% with plasma weapons
Nerves of Steel	Perk	None (see notes)	Permanent	N/A	000E2C49	Perk increase AP Regen rate by +20%.
Atomic!	Perk	None (see notes)	While irradiated	N/A	xx008011	Perk increase AP Regen rate with radiation level
Grim Reaper's Sprint	Perk	None (see notes)	When triggered	N/A	00099834	Perk restores 20 AP on a kill in V.A.T.S.
Implant Y-7	Implant	2	When eating	20000	xx00961A	+2 AP replenished for each food item consumed
General Oliver's uniform	Clothing	20	While equipped	100	0015E35D
Courier duster	Clothing	15	While equipped	1700	xx009254 (Legion)	"Fighting Chance" (Legion variant) in Lonesome Road
Armor of the 87th Tribe	Clothing	10	While equipped	6500	xx00C716	Found in Lonesome Road
Rebound	Aid-chem	5 per sec	1 minute	20	000CEA5F	+5 AP Regen per second for 1 minute
Rocket	Aid-chem	30	1 minute	20	00146CCD
Dixon's Jet	Aid-chem	10	4 minutes	5	00122B49
Jet	Aid-chem	15	4 minutes	20	00015164
Ultrajet	Aid-chem	40	4 minutes	50	000C9CF4
Battle Brew	Aid-drink	40	20 seconds	150	xx01495E	Found in Old World Blues - the "Red Mist" effect
Nuka-Cola Quantum	Aid-drink	20	4 minutes	30	000284F9	Found in Lonesome Road
Nuka-Cola Victory	Aid-drink	10	2 minutes	75	000E2F6C
Mushroom Cloud	Aid-food	3	20 seconds	50	0015E3A4
Sugar Bombs / Irr. Sugar Bombs	Aid-food	5	30 seconds	5 2	0008C551 00143FF0
Trail mix	Aid-food	5	30 seconds	5	0013D572

Regeneration rate

A character will take 16.66 seconds to recover their AP bar to full regardless of their AP total unless their AP is modified by perks. AP gained through perks do not count towards the regeneration rate. Therefore, a player character with 115 AP, 30 of which were gained through Action Boy/Girl perks, would actually take over 23 seconds to fully recover their AP bar. Furthermore, the perk Nerves of Steel decreases this regeneration period by 20%, to a potential minimum recovery period of 13.33 seconds.

The exact recovery time can be derived from the GECK variable Action Points Restore Rate, which in Fallout: New Vegas is the inverse of the number of seconds required to fully restore the AP bar. The default value is 0.060 (1/0.06 = 16.66 seconds).

Reloading Cost

For all firearms, a reloading cost of 10 AP will automatically be applied once the last round in a clip is selected to be fired in V.A.T.S. If the combined AP cost to fire the last round in a clip and the additional reload cost's total is too high, the last round cannot be fired. Reloading cost is affected by the Math Wrath perk and Fast Shot trait, and when used together can reduce reloading cost to 7 AP per reload. The Trigger Discipline trait has the opposite effect, raising the cost per reload to 12 AP when used alone.

Calculating AP With Rounding

While having the Math Wrath perk, and/or the Fast Shot and Trigger Discipline traits, decimal AP costs per shot will usually be created. The three aforementioned perk/trait's effects are multiplicative and work together rather than be applied individually, the result rounded, then the next applied.

Rounding when firing in V.A.T.S. will be applied to the final round queued. For example, Christine's CoS silencer rifle had a 38 AP per shot, whilst with Math Wrath and Fast Shot, the cost is reduced to 26.6 AP per shot. If two shots were queued, resulting in a total of 53.2 AP, the rounded cost would be 53 AP. If three shots were queued, the resulting total would be 79.8, becoming 80 when rounded. Every shot queued uses the actual decimal cost, it is only after the last shot is queued that rounding is applied.

Fallout 4

Action Points in Fallout 4 are mechanically identical to Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, with the difference of the Agility bonus being multiplied by 10 instead of 2 or 3 to calculate the amount available.

$\text{Initial level}=60+(10\times\text{Agility})$

Example: A starting Agility of 5.

$60+(10\times5)=110\text{ Action points}$

The base action points regeneration rate is 6.0% per second or 16.67 seconds ( 100/6.0 ) from 0 to 100%.

Action Points can now be used to sprint, with the rate of depletion while sprinting being calculated depending on the player character's Endurance (though taking certain perks can significantly reduce this).

Action Point cost per shot

Certain weapon mods can affect the AP cost of a weapon while in V.A.T.S.

• Lower cost: anything with the prefix "Light, Quick, Hair Trigger, Advanced, Reflex, or Sharpshooter" reduces AP cost in V.A.T.S.
• Higher cost: anything with the prefix "Heavy, Long, Rapid, Piercing, Automatic, Large, Drum, Full, Scope and Sniper" increases AP cost in V.A.T.S.

With the highest possible combination of AP reduction modifiers, a maximum of 16 shots can be queued, regardless of any remaining AP afterward.

Fallout 76

Action Points in Fallout 76 function similarly to those in Fallout 4 ; starting at 60 AP and increasing by 10 for every level in Agility.

$60+(10\times\text{Agility})$

The base Action Point regeneration rate is 6.0 per second or 16.66 seconds ( 100/6.0 ) from 0 to 100%.

Action Points are used to jump, sprint, power attack, and use VATS.

Action Point reductions

• The cost of sprinting is reduced by points in Endurance, the perk card Marathoner, leg armor with the Custom fitted mod, consuming Nukashine, and being overencumbered.
• The cost to power attack is reduced by the arm armor mod Aerodynamic and the power armor arm mod Optimized bracers.
• The cost to fire in VATS is reduced by weapon mods such as an Automatic receiver or a Reflex sight, in addition to the VATS Enhanced legendary effect, stacking additively up to -90%.

Notes

• 5 Action Points are spent every attempt to enter VATS while no VATS targets are visible. No Action Points are spent when successfully targeting.
• VATS slowly expends Action Points while active, independent of attack costs.
• Filling the Thirst meter increases the player's Action Point regeneration rate.

Derived statistics Defensive stats Armor Class · Damage Resistance · Damage Threshold · Defense · Energy Resistance · Fatigue · Fire Resistance · Hit Points · Poison Resistance · Radiation Resistance Gameplay stats Action Points · Bonus Damage · Carry Weight · Critical Chance · Healing Rate · Melee Damage · Perk Rate · Skill Rate · Sequence · Unarmed Damage Survival stats Dehydration/Thirst · Starvation/Hunger · Sleep