Fallout 3 SPECIAL

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This page describes the SPECIAL implementation in Fallout 3.

• The content is not described in full detail on this page. For details, please see the respective articles.
• For SPECIAL implementations in other Fallout games, please see "SPECIAL".
• For an overview of Fallout 3 content, please refer to "Portal:Fallout 3."

 

Character creation

Main article: Fallout 3 character creation

At birth the player chooses the player character's name, gender and appearance. Later, as a child in Vault 101, the PC receives a book titled "You're S.P.E.C.I.A.L.!," whereupon the player can set the PC's seven primary character points. Later in life during the teen years the PC's performance on the G.O.A.T. determines which skills of the PC are tagged (tagged means raised by fifteen points); the player can also choose which skills to tag manually via choosing particular dialogue options with Edwin Brotch.

Every aspect of the Lone Wanderer chosen during early life can be changed when exiting Vault 101.

The maximum level the player can achieve in Fallout 3 is 20. This cap is raised to 30 with the Broken Steel add-on.

Primary statistics

Main article: Fallout 3 primary statistics

The S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system should be familiar to Fallout veterans, though there are significant differences from past games. The player's S.P.E.C.I.A.L. attributes default at 5 points per attribute, with an additional 5 points for distribution for a total of 40 points. Individual attributes cannot score lower than 1 or higher than 10, regardless of equipment, chems or ailments.

S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stands for:

• Strength
• Perception
• Endurance
• Charisma
• Intelligence
• Agility
• Luck

Derived statistics

Main article: Fallout 3 derived statistics

Derived statistics are attributes of a character which are based on (or derived from) the character's primary statistics or attributes which the player cannot influence directly.

The following derived statistics exist in Fallout 3:

Derived	Primary	Initial Level
Action Points	Agility	$\text{Initial level}=65+(2\times\text{Agility})$
Carry Weight	Strength	$\text{Initial level}=150+(\text{Strength}\times10)$
Critical Chance	Luck	$\text{Initial level}=\text{Luck}\times1\%$
Damage Resistance	n/a	n/a
Fire Resistance	n/a	n/a
Health	Endurance	$\text{Initial level}=90+(\text{Endurance}\times20)+(\text{Level}\times10)$
Melee Damage	Strength	$\text{Initial level}=\text{Strength}\times0.5$
Poison Resistance	Endurance	$\text{Initial Level} \%=(\text{Endurance}-1)\times5$
Radiation Resistance	Endurance	$\text{Initial Level} \%=(\text{Endurance}-1)\times5$
Unarmed Damage	Endurance Luck	$\text{Initial level}=\left\lceil\frac{2+(2\times\text{Endurance})+\left\lceil\frac{\text{Luck}}{2}\right\rceil}{20}+0.5\right\rceil$

Skills

Main article: Fallout 3 skills

Skills in Fallout 3 determine the player's effectiveness in a variety of situations. As in the previous games, the player chooses three Tag skills out of thirteen to receive a point boost. Tagging a skill grants the player a 15 point bonus to that skill. Your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. points affect certain skill points for a one time bonus of 2 points per score (except Luck, which is 1 point per score for all skills).

There are 13 skills in Fallout 3:

• Combat skills: Big Guns, Energy Weapons, Explosives, Melee Weapons, Small Guns, Unarmed
• Active skills: Lockpick, Medicine, Repair, Science, Sneak
• Passive skills: Barter, Speech

Perks

Main article: Fallout 3 perks

Perks are special elements of the level up system which grant special effects and abilities. In Fallout 3, you gain perks every level. Many perks have an attribute requirement, for example the Mysterious Stranger perk requires a Luck of 6 to become an option. Other perks have attribute and skill requirements. A perk's S.P.E.C.I.A.L. requirements cannot be met by equipping items or using drugs (with the exception of the Lucky 8-ball).

For a list of perks, please see Fallout 3 perks.

Changes from previous Fallout games

Compared to its predecessors, the new systems in Fallout 3 are much more flexible and allow for more changes during a character's development. For instance, tagging a skill no longer increases the rate of a skill's development, but skills gain their maximum effectiveness (and cap out) at 100. Additionally, while the Gifted trait (along with all traits) has disappeared, primary attributes are simultaneously less important and easier to acquire as your character grows.

Players who played the previous two games should also keep in mind that the SPECIAL system in Fallout 3 is much more forgiving when compared to the first two games: Low ability scores penalize the player less, while high ability scores do not grant as much of a benefit. Where in the first two games lowering a SPECIAL stat to 3 or lower could be a risky move regardless of your character type, characters in Fallout 3 can get away with SPECIAL scores of 1 in particular stats. For example, a character with 1 Intelligence will find most character interaction in the first two games impossible, while in the third you simply sacrifice a few Intelligence-dependent conversation options and some skill points.

Traits were removed completely, with some traits from previous games having their negative effects removed and being changed into perks.

Notes

• It is possible for the player to get all of their SPECIAL up to 10 without cheating if the player has Broken Steel. Once the player gets to level 30, if they choose the perk Almost Perfect, all of their SPECIAL lower than 9 will be raised to 9. If they then proceed to collect the 7 SPECIAL bobbleheads, each of which permanently increases the stat by 1, they will have maxed out their SPECIAL to 10 in each category. If the player obtains the 7 bobbleheads before they choose the Almost Perfect perk, they will only be able to get that category to 9 (unless it was at 10 before the perk).
• If the player decides to live in Tenpenny Tower, and wants to collect the Strength bobblehead and have Strength at 10, it is possible. The player would have to wait until after getting the Almost Perfect perk and then get the Ant Might perk from the quest Those!. This could also apply for Perception and Ant Sight perk.

Gallery

"You're SPECIAL!" book, used to allocate SPECIAL

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