Explosives is a skill in Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, replacing the Traps and Throwing skills from previous games. Its governing primary statistic is Perception.
Fallout 3
Example: A starting Perception of 5 and Luck of 5.
"The best way to solve a problem is to make it go away."
The Explosives skill governs the ability to use all mines, grenades and Explosives skill based weapons (excluding missiles and mini nukes - see Big Guns).
The higher your skill, the higher the damage you inflict. The Explosives skill also affects the distance and accuracy of a thrown bomb (e.g. frag grenade, pulse grenade etc.)
The player's Explosives skill determines how close you can get to a mine before it detects you, as well as how long the mine will take before it explodes. There does not appear to be a minimum Explosives skill necessary to disarm a mine, so long as you can run up and activate it fast enough.
Ways to increase Explosives
- Permanent
- Leveling up (10+INT (+3 with Educated perk))
- Bobblehead - Explosives (+10)
- Little Leaguer (+5 for each rank)
- Duck and Cover! (+1 or 2 with Comprehension)
- Tag! (+15)
- Temporary
- Mentats (+2-10 depending on current Perception, a perfect Perception of 10 will see no benefit)
- Raider blastmaster helmet (+5)
- Takoma Park Little Leaguer cap (+5)
- Torcher's mask (+5)
Bombshell armor (+10)- Desmond's eyeglasses (+5)
Affected weapons
Perks that require Explosives skill
| Perk | Required | Level | Additional Requirements |
|---|---|---|---|
| Demolition Expert | 50 | 6 | - |
| Pyromaniac | 60 | 12 | - |
Interactions that require Explosives skill
Specific levels of Explosives are required to disarm certain explosive-based traps.
- 25 is required to disarm or detonate Megaton's atom bomb.
- 30 is required to disarm hanging grenade bouquets
- 45 is required to disarm rigged computer terminals
- 50 Explosives is required to train the residents of Big Town in placing a minefield during Big Trouble in Big Town.
- 60 is required to disarm rigged baby carriages.
- High explosives can cause Reilly to reveal that her rangers left mines to slow down the mutants during the Reilly's Rangers quest.
- Note: The Repair skill is used to disarm any trip wires or pressure plates associated with traps.
Fallout: New Vegas
Example: A starting Perception of 5 and Luck of 5.
In Fallout: New Vegas, many more types of weapons fall into the Explosives category. Any weapon that was originally a big gun in Fallout 1, 2, or 3 and used explosion type ammunition (such as the Fat Man, or Rocket Launcher), was moved to this category when the Big Guns skill was removed.
Ways to increase Explosives
- Permanent
- Leveling up (Up to +15 (+2 with Educated perk))
- Duck and Cover! (+3 or 4 with the Comprehension)
- Optics Enhancer implant (+2 depending on current Perception, a perfect Perception of 10 will see no benefit.)
- Tag! (+15)
- Skilled (+5)
- Temporary
- Patriot's Cookbook (+10 or 20 with Comprehension.)
- Absinthe (+6 with 100 Survival, Perception of 10 will see no benefit, 8-9 will see reduced benefit.)
- Mentats +4, Perception of 10 will see no benefit, 9 will see reduced benefit.)
- Raider blastmaster helmet (+5)
- Advanced riot gear (+10)
- Dr. Mobius' glasses (+10)
Affected weapons
Note: most explosive weapons have damage listed as "1 (or 2) + some number." The 1 (or 2) is the damage that the projectile (like a thrown grenade) or placed explosive (like a mine) does upon a direct hit, pretty much just from physics. As such, that number can generally be ignored for most intents and purposes (and damage calculations for grenades and mines in the Pip-Boy 3000 appear to do so).
Perks that require Explosives skill
| Perk | Required | Level | Additional Requirements |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heave, Ho! | 30 | 2 | Strength 5 |
| Demolition Expert | 50 | 6 | — |
Mad Bomber 
|
45 | 6 | Repair 45 |
Grunt 
|
20 | 8 | Guns 45 |
| Pyromaniac | 60 | 12 | — |
| Hit the Deck | 70 | 12 | — |
| Splash Damage | 70 | 12 | — |
Interactions that require Explosives skill
- 25 Explosives to convince Easy Pete that you can handle his dynamite when assembling a posse for Ghost Town Gunfight.
- 25 Explosives to comment on the bomb Dean Domino placed under your chair.
- 35 Explosives to disarm the bomb in the monorail train at Camp McCarran.
- 35 Explosives to kill the Weathers' in Left My Heart.
- 40 Explosives to tell Pete, a child Boomer, something that will get you boomer fame.
- 45 Explosives to completely train the Misfits in the use of grenades (25 or 35 to give an incomplete instruction).
- 50 Explosives to free the Weathers in Left My Heart without the key.
- 50 Explosives to blow up both the sulfur deposits under Vault 19 and the entire Vault.
- 50 Explosives to rig President Kimball's Vertibird to explode in Arizona Killer.
- 50 Explosives to defuse the bomb onboard the President's Vertibird in You'll Know It When It Happens.
- 50 Explosives to help Caesar's Legion learn to disarm NCR mines.
- 50 Explosives for a skill check during The Job when discussing what caused the destruction of Hopeville with Ulysses.
- 60 Explosives to blow up the sulfur deposit under Vault 19 without blowing up the Vault.
- 65 Explosives to teach ED-E how to make satchel charges.
- 75 Explosives to threaten Father Elijah without blowing up the Sierra Madre vault.
Notes
- Player-placed land mines are not triggered by the player themself, companions or NPCs of a faction the player character is currently disguised as.
- Explosives placed prior to temporary boosts wearing off will still retain the boosted damage bonus from the higher explosives skill when they were placed. In other words, a frag mine placed prior to a Patriot's Cookbook wearing off will inflict the same damage after those items have worn off.
- Though most explosive weapons have a "skill requirement", indicated by the number next to the explosive symbol in the Pip-Boy menus, the player can wield these weapons regardless of skill. The same is true of Guns, Energy Weapons, Unarmed weapons, and Melee weapons.
Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel 2
 | The following is based on Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel 2 and is not canon. |
|---|
Explosives was going to appear as a weapon skill in Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel 2. It would have increased the base damage inflicted by explosive weapons.[1] Assuming Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel 2 would have used a points based system like its predecessor, it would be able to be increased.
| End of information based on Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel 2. |
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References
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