Building the Perfect Wastelander.

I'd dare to say that there aren't better skills and perks in NV, they are balanced enough and it all depends on the build you want to do. That said I tried this SPECIAL build once:

S -7
P -5
E -7
C -1
I -7
A -7
L -6

Trait: Four Eyes

With the inplants and the Lucky Shades you end with all the stats at 8 (CH excluded, but it's a dump stat anyway :\). The only downside is that you lose Sniper and Better Criticals.

 

I swear I read "The perfect Wasteland", which made me thought of a more desolate place than NV.

 

Why do you waste points for CH and a perk for AGI?

 

I'm pretty sure most of the companions are one-man armies even with a low charisma.

 

I went for a tank/energy weapons build on my last playthrough just to see how it would work out and it's absolutely pointless. It works well against weaker enemies I suppose but deathclaws can still 1-2 hit kill you on Hard mode. I was wondering do their attacks ignore DT in New Vegas?

 

yeah I wish Charisma would have been far more important in conversations. I mean even if you have 100 in speech and 10 with intelligence critical options should AS WELL require high charisma because frankly. Who is going to listen to you even if you are right but have the charm of

 

Yes, their attacks ignore DT. EW needs dedication, they are powerful but need a more definite build compared to Guns. For armored enemies Over/Max Charge ammo with the Plasma Caster (or the Holorifle if you have it) work wonders.

 

wouldn't that be basically blind?

 

For me for an EW build i'd go the following route. My Wastelander follows the thief architype, hes pretty much a former "Prospector" turned Courier who specilized in breaking into old treasure sites and repairing anything valuable for sale/profit. Tagged skills are Science Lockpicking and Repair. Trats are Kamakaze and Build to destroy. (needless to say hes rough on his equipement but is confident enough on maintaining them)

Str 5
Per 6
End 5
Chr 5
Int 6
Agi 5
Luck 8

my first perk is usually +1 strengh from Intense Training
i dont go for the Chr 1 route as it just stinks of Metagaming to me.

I do 5 str as you dont need more then that, between the +1implant and the +1point from intense training and +1 from power armor and you'll have 8 str. more then enough to use almost any weapon in the game (Gattling laser is only 8, and if you apply this to guns you can get weapons handling if you want to rock a minigun)

I do extra points in perception mostly for RP purposes and the various perception checks in the game. again if i was going ot meta game it you could drop this low because honestly with EDE with me 99% of the game his perk means you dont really "need" perception but i like it anyway. so its 6 +1implant for 7 Per.

Endurance and Chr are set to the default of 5. Int is 6 points, the difference in points you get from a Int of 10 and a Int of 6 is small so unlike FO3 having a maxed out Int isnt as important. that said put 6 +1 from the implant to give me 7 int. Again plenty for perks and the various Int Skill checks in the game

Agility is a tempting place to put more points as it does give a good return in AP but i left it alone at 5 as i just like putting my last 3 points in Luck more. a luck of 8+ works great for a crit focused build and means you never really need to worry about money. Granted its not like money is that hard to come by, but being able to clean out all the casinios effortlessly is just too nice for me to pass up.

Implants i get are

+1 Str
+1 Int
+1 Perc
Armored skin
regen

 

...wow you sexy thang. I just got a stiffy looking at your profile pic. Bring that dusty red sandstone ass over here.

...I mean, yeah, whose going to listen to someone with no charisma, amirite?

...you sexy thang.

 

I almost always start the game with:

S-5
P-5
E-5
C-3
I-9
A-7
L-6

My character always, even though i dont want them to, ends up taking Intense Training 5 or 6 times. I usually only switch up my S.P.E.C.I.A.L for when i play a melee character or sometimes an EXPLOSIVES guy.

 

Energy weapons focused character who I end up giving a stupid amount of implants to.

S 5
P 5
E 9
C 1
I 7
A 5
L 8

And now it's time for a level two 'very hard' hardcore OWB run!

 

I modeled my in-game stats on how (I assume) I would be represented in SPECIAL terms

S-3
P-5
E-4
C-7
I-8
A-7
L-6

 

LOOKS TO KILL: decided i'd base my character off of an old school bond girl. White hair, blue eyes, pale middle age. Tag skills, sneak, barter, small arms.

S:3,(4 with intense training)
P:2
E:2(not so bad with the subdermal implant and the breeder)
C:9
I:8
A:9
L:9(use naughter nightware for gambling)

The best character I've built so far, i've made more money than I know what to do and doing great killing enemies with a varmit rifle with all the mods, and the cowboy repeater.