Fallout: Retribution
Character Creation
When creating a character for Fallout, you should first brainstorm what kind of character you wish to create. There are no classes here so everything is dependant on your choices. Maybe you wish to create an ex-NCR sniper bent on hunting down the people who killed his family, perhaps you want to create an intelligent scientist who creates robots to defend himself, or maybe you just want to make a humble engineer protected by his less intelligent allies. Any character is possible.
SPECIAL
In fallout we use seven attributes to determine the base numbers for your character. It is important to understand what each SPECIAL stat does before deciding on which ones to invest in!
S - Strength. This determines how much you can lift or carry, starting melee weapon and unarmed skill, and lastly adds directly into melee damage! Strength is important for any melee character.
P - Perception. This determines how well you can see. Perception factors into skill such as Doctor, Lockpick, and finding traps. Perception is important for any rogue or thief.
E - Endurance. This is how hardy you are and directly determines hitpoints. Additionally Endurance factors into Outdoorsman. This is important for anyone who doesn't want to die quickly.
C - Charisma. This is how good you are at talking to people. Charisma has an effect on the Barter and Speech skills. Additionally your Charisma is how good you look, with 1 being blindingly ugly and 10 being absolutely stunning.
I - Intelligence. This is how quickly you think and how much you know. Intelligence has an effect on several skills including repair, science, and first aid. Intelligence also directly effects the skill points you get when you level up. For this reason you should never neglect your Intelligence score!
A - Agility. How fast you move and how dextrous you are. High agilities allow you to react quicker and aim better. Agility effects nearly all ranged weapon skills, directly effects how many action points you have, and how much you can move in a given turn.
L - Luck. Luck is a fickle mistress, sometimes she gives and sometimes she takes. Your Luck directly determines what numbers you achieve critical success on. It also directly effects every skill in the game.
Now that we understand SPECIAL...
We can begin actually deciding our stats. First, each of the seven start at 1. Next you have 33 attribute points to spend however you like. The maximum score you can have in an attribute is 10.
Misc Attributes
Now that we have our SPECIAL stats created there's a few important miscellanious attributes to calculate before we head into skills or traits.
Action Points - 5 + (AGI / 2, rounded down, cannot be less than 1)
HP - Endurance + 2 * level
Melee Damage bonus - STR
Skill points per level - 5 + (Int x 2)
Critical Success Range - Luck
Critical Failure Range - Luck + 90
Misc Attributes Explained
Your Action Points, or AP, determine what you can do in a combat round. The maxmimum Action Points you can have at any given time is 20, and unspent action points rollover to your next turn. For this reason it is possible to wait multiple turns while outside of combat then initiate it with multiple attacks.
HP is the amount of damage you can take before you die. It should be noted that upon reaching 0 hitpoints you do not immediately die - should a stimpack be administered within two turns you will survive, additionally high grade medical help can stop death if used within the same time period.
Melee Damage Bonus is the bonus added to the damage of all melee attacks including with weapons and unarmed.
Skill Points per level is the amount of skill points you have to spend each level, including first level.
Critical ranges determine critical success (Automatic success) and critical failure (Automatic Failure.) If you roll within the range of either you suffer their effects.
Skills
The following are the skills and their starting percent value based on your SPECIAL stats. It costs more points to increase the percentage based on it's current value. 1% - 40%: 1 point 41% - 60%: 2 points 61% - 80%: 3 points 81% - 95%: 4 points Skills cannot exceed 95% because there is always a 5% chance of failure.
Combat Skills
Big Guns - Agility
Energy Weapons - Agility + Intelligence
Melee Weapons - Agility + Strength
Small Guns - Agility + 10%
Throwing - Agility + Strength
Unarmed - Agility + Strength
Big Guns are weapons such as rocket launchers, artillery, or heavy machine guns. Energy weapons are any weapon that uses a charge pack instead of conventional ammunition. Melee weapons are any weapon used in melee combat that does not rely onyour fists. Small Guns are any pistol, SMG, assault rifle, or similar sized firearm that uses conventional ammunition. Throwing weapons are grenades, molotovs, spears, and throwing knives. Unarmed is your bare fists or weapons which use your fists such as spiked knuckles or a power fist.
1
Non-combat Skills
Barter - Charisma x 2
Doctor - Intelligence + Perception
First Aid - Intelligence + Perception + 10%
Gambling - Charisma x 2
Lockpick - Agility + Perception
Outdoorsman - Intelligence + Endurance
Repair - Intelligence x 2
Science: - Intelligence x2
Sneak - Agility + 10%
Speech - Charisma + 10%
Steal - Agility + 10%
Traps - Agility + Perception
Barter is your ability to negotiate trade deals. Doctor is an advanced form of first aid such as surgery or curing diseases. First Aid is basic treatment such as stitching or bandaging a wound. Gambling is used when playing any casino games or anything relying on random chance. Lockpicking is the ability to open locks or doors. Outdoorsman is used to survive wilderness such as tracking, hunting, and building shelter. Repair is your ability to repair objects and items. Science is used to research or learn as well as hack or use computers. Sneak is your ability to hide or stealthily do certain actions. Speech is your ability to convince people of your position. Steal is your aiblity to pickpocket people or steal from them. Traps is used to place, disable, or find traps.
Traits
Traits are natural abilities a character possesses that helps to make them unique. Typically each trait has a benefit and a drawback - this is done on purpose. You may take two or none.
Bloody Mess - Enemies have more violent deaths.
Bruiser - +2 strength but -2 AP
Chem Reliant - Recover from Chem Addiction twice as fast but twice the chance to be addicted.
Chem Resistance - Half the chance to get addicted but chems last half as long.
Fast Metabolism - Gain 2 more health from sleeping but -1 poison and radiation resistance.
Fast Shot - All throwing and firearm attacks cost 1 less AP but cannot take the aim action.
Finesse - +2% critical chance but -1 damage on all attacks.
Gifted - +1 to all SPECIAL stats, -10% to all skills and gain 2 less skill points a level.
Good Natured - +15% to First Aid, Doctor, Speech, and Barter. -10% to all combat skills.
Heavy Handed - +5 melee damage, melee attacks cannot critically succeed.
Jinxed - Everyone around you, including you, has a 5% higher chance of critical failure.
Kamikaze - +2 to initiative roles, all amrmor is less effective on you making them give 1 less armor.
One Hander - +20% to hit with one-handed melee weapons but -40% to hit with two-handed melee weapons.
Sex Appeal - Opposite sex characters react more favorably but same sex characters are annoyed.
Skilled - +5 skill points per level but you gain perks a level later than normal.
Small Frame - +1 Agility but -1 Endurance.