How do you build your Character?

[Advint]

I pose this question to you LoversLab; How do you build you character in Fallout 4? What perks do you choose? What are your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats? Further more how do your decisions affect your overall game play? 

 

You see over on the YouTube channel my friend and I started we have started out with a focus on something he seems to have a passion for, Fallout 4  builds. Back when he was playing Skyrim he must have made eight characters at least. Each of which he described in detail to me... Now with my help he aims to share some of that with the world. Mind you it is not the first channel on YouTube to do so, but to us it's special.

You will find a link to my channel in my signature, and after I hear from you all I may link directly to the videos we have posted. So lets hear it LoversLab.

[dzeni]

This is how I build my character. 

 

[AsariX]

-Starting perk points avaraged out, so everything's between 3 and 5.

-Get hacking and lockpicking as soon as possible for the extra loot.

-Also get that perk that allows assigning caravans (not necessary for those who skip settlement play)

-Next, get Science, Gun Nut and Armorsmithing up as soon as possible

-Any spare points go into strength and the carry weight perk,until you can at least fast travel when overweight.

-Ignore everything that has the word VATS in it (which are way too many perks), except when running some mod that changes these perks to work outside VATS as well.

[DocClox]

My first build was a version of my standard F3 char: 9 int, and then prioritise charisma, agility luck and perception in more or less that order. Strength and end are dump stats on the grounds that you shouldn't need to carry so much stuff around and if they're hitting you then you're doing it wrong.

 

That version struggled a bit; I didn't make the most of that high initial int for one thing. For another, bloodbugs and molerats made it hard to avoid damage while settlement building meant that I did indeed want to carry a lot of junk. Eventually, the character settled into a sneaky, lucky sniper type. I felt a bit more at home after that.

 

For a second attempt, I went to the opposite extreme with 10 points each in strength and endurance and the rest on luck for idiot savant. That worked a lot better. I missed Local Leader and Scrapper perks, it's true, but on the other hand I could survive being mauled by a deathclaw and dispatch most enemies by hitting them with a tire iron. I invested but quite a few points into Endurance perks, as well as Big Leagues and blacksmith and then started the long grind to raise my Agility to the point where I could buy Blitz. Throw in a bit of Sneak and a bit of Ninja, and I can explore the Glowing Sea unprotected and one-shot legendary glowing deathclaws. It's a fun build.

 

The only thing that didn't really work was the power armour, which I can't really upgrade without Science. Plus I don't need it for the strength boost and I have enough hit points that I rarely need that level of protection. I'm currently boosting int and cha to get Scrapper and local leader (but I keep sinking points into ninja and stealth so it's slow going). When I get to scrapper, it's a short hop from there to science and fully souped up PA. I may get bored before that however.

 

I've not decided what I'll do for the next one. I'm tempted to max out agility & perception, since perception is another stat I tend to ignore (and I never did quite get to gun-fu with the sniper type). Or for an outright charismatic nerd with 10 in each and the rest in endurance to make them at least a little resilient.

 

Or I could be sensible and go for a more-or-less balanced settlement builder. 6 strength, 6 int and 6 cha for strong back, science and local leader. Probably have to rely on melee weapons for the most part. The good thing is that I will have the stats needed for a good PA build, which would compensate for a lot of the other shortcomings.

 

That's one thing at least F4 got right over Skyrim. In Skyrim, lacking any initial stats or classes, your character always converges on your playstyle and unless you're very careful you end up with the same character every time you play. In F4 your initial stats very much determine how you're going to play the character.

[xenic]

My 1st was a standard high charisma type. Basically I wanted to win most conversations. The one I'm on now I wanted to make an idiot but was disappointed at there not being any difference in the dialogue. 

[Advint]

That's one thing at least F4 got right over Skyrim. In Skyrim, lacking any initial stats or classes, your character always converges on your playstyle and unless you're very careful you end up with the same character every time you play. In F4 your initial stats very much determine how you're going to play the character.

So very true.

 

My 1st was a standard high charisma type. Basically I wanted to win most conversations. The one I'm on now I wanted to make an idiot but was disappointed at there not being any difference in the dialogue. 

I must confess, once I found out you can quick save mid conversation, it mattered a whole lot less to me to boost charisma.

[Minski]

The thing about charisma, though, is that you need 6 to handle several Settlements w/o going insane. In fact, Fallout 4 is the first time I've ever bothered with charisma at all just because of that and I must admit that I kind of like to have it high. Fits my chars as well.

[Advint]

Well I know when I made my first Character I messed up the build royally, but played right I was still able to eventually get something decent out of it. I mean like investing points in stats unnecessarily, grabbing perks like cap finder; just useless wastes of perk points.

 

It wasn't until I started the YouTube channel with my buddy that I realized how much waste there was in my build. He really optimizes the builds as much as he can, and even finds some interesting game play in the process. Such as the build he came up with for our first video that he dubbed the Nerdzerker, which requires you to maintain your health at a low level and play with it ever teetering on the edge of triggering nerd rage.

 

 

 

This is how I build my character. 

 

 

 

 

I see what you did there.........    .............   ...............   .............. 

[AhSeBrom]

My first character, I played as the husband, and built him with the stats I thought would fit a soldier as that's his backstory. This time around, I went with the wife, and figured Intelligence, Perception, and Charisma would all be above average. They started at either 5 or 6. Combat was a bit tough at first, but it's getting easier now, and she hardly ever fails a charisma check in conversation. My advice would be to come up with a plausible backstory, assign your SPECIAL skills accordingly, then have fun. A buddy of mine takes Strength and Agility maxed out, everything else at 1, but he's a power gamer. I can't see the game being that much fun like that. Hope this helps and good luck!

[DocClox]

Has anyone tried a militarist playthrough?

 

I'm thinking concentrate on building strong settlements, do "Old Guns" as soon as you have the firepower, then set up artillery everywhere possible. Then make maximum possible use of flare guns and smoke grenades.

 

It would probably also make a good PA build, since there's a synergy between settlement building and PA. (Strength for Strong Back also gives you Armourer, enough Int for Scrapper leaves you one off the requirement for Science) and the PA would fit the military focus.

 

 

[Stiffon]

Has anyone tried a militarist playthrough?

 

I'm thinking concentrate on building strong settlements, do "Old Guns" as soon as you have the firepower, then set up artillery everywhere possible. Then make maximum possible use of flare guns and smoke grenades.

 

It would probably also make a good PA build, since there's a synergy between settlement building and PA. (Strength for Strong Back also gives you Armourer, enough Int for Scrapper leaves you one off the requirement for Science) and the PA would fit the military focus.

 

That's pretty much my 1st run (latecomer lol) - using the husband it's a kinda fallback to his military roots.  Having trouble at present getting enough mats together for the number of artillery pieces but so far it's been fun.  Didn't help myself early on tho with some wasted naive perk picks lol!

 

[FauxFurry]

I went for a build that maxes out Intelligence first to speed the leveling process so I could get all SPECIAL stats up to 10 at which point I grabbed the Bobbleheads to boost the stats to 11, making everything Super Perfect.

[Guest Comrade DR. MAHUJ DIK]

The first Thing i decide is the backstory.

My first character was a scientist on the military working as an weapon tester/developer on the battlefield. Mainly power armor, big guns and explosives.

S 5

P 4 (5 with special books)

E 1

C 3

 I  9

A 1

L 1

 

Perks priority:

2) Nuclear expert

3)Big guns

4)science

5)gun nut

6)chemist

7)scrapper

8)demolitions expert

9)hacker

10) robotic expert

[Advint]

 

 

 

This is how I build my character. 

 

 

 

 

And now your life is complete.

 

 

 

The first Thing i decide is the backstory.

My first character was a scientist on the military working as an weapon tester/developer on the battlefield. Mainly power armor, big guns and explosives.

S 5

P 4 (5 with special books)

E 1

C 3

 I  9

A 1

L 1

 

Perks priority:

2) Nuclear expert

3)Big guns

4)science

5)gun nut

6)chemist

7)scrapper

8)demolitions expert

9)hacker

10) robotic expert

 

 

 

How far have you played with this build? I am interested in how it turned out so far.

[guk]

Someone made a guide on Steam with basic min/maxing in mind: Character Builds, v. 1.4

 

The only thing he didn't really accomodate for is settlement building, so if you want either Local Leader or Strong Back then you'll have to improvise unless you go for the STR or CHR builds.

[Guest Comrade DR. MAHUJ DIK]

 

 

 

This is how I build my character. 

 

 

 

 

And now your life is complete.

 

 

 

The first Thing i decide is the backstory.

My first character was a scientist on the military working as an weapon tester/developer on the battlefield. Mainly power armor, big guns and explosives.

S 5

P 4 (5 with special books)

E 1

C 3

 I  9

A 1

L 1

 

Perks priority:

2) Nuclear expert

3)Big guns

4)science

5)gun nut

6)chemist

7)scrapper

8)demolitions expert

9)hacker

10) robotic expert

 

 

 

How far have you played with this build? I am interested in how it turned out so far.

 

I finished the main quest, several questlines, but sadly fucked up when trying to use FO4 edit to create a vehicle retoration mod and fucked the save.

 

But the time I played with him was awesome! minigun is seriously underated,  if you chnage the barrel to the tribarrel itll do aboout 15 per shot and both comando and big guns affect it. with bith at level 5 youll be dealing 60 per bullet with it.

My enemies became mincemeat, also rocket launcher  stack explosives expert and big guns, get a 4 barrel and tracking to rain death over your enemies!!!!!!

 

Also lots of mentats and its variations for lots of xp and charisma checks, sell all non heavy or shotgun ammo for money, top settlements that made diamond city look like a small town.

There was a time when i had so much money that I gave every guard t-61 power armor and full moded weavy guns or combat rifles/plasma weapons, my settlements had over 500 defense (I was using the unlimited sze mod, because the limit for how it can grow is bullshit). I seriously could take over the commonwealth by my own, Since I joined the instituite, the brortherhood "atacked" sanctuary, greygarden and spectacle island (those were my settlements). I was a massacre, Each one had over 50 missile and heavy laser turrets  and at least 10 gaurd on T-61 they didnt even had time to shoot at us!

 

I even made a "final stand reataliation" after blowing the pridewen, I saved and then spawned 300 knights and 10 vertibirds oputside sanctuary  concrete walls... All my settelrs survived...

[DocClox]

I even made a "final stand reataliation" after blowing the pridewen, I saved and then spawned 300 knights and 10 vertibirds oputside sanctuary  concrete walls... All my settelrs survived...

Can I just say that, while I'm not a Big Guns sort of player myself, I have to admire your style.

[Advint]

 

 

 

 

This is how I build my character. 

 

 

 

 

And now your life is complete.

 

 

 

The first Thing i decide is the backstory.

My first character was a scientist on the military working as an weapon tester/developer on the battlefield. Mainly power armor, big guns and explosives.

S 5

P 4 (5 with special books)

E 1

C 3

 I  9

A 1

L 1

 

Perks priority:

2) Nuclear expert

3)Big guns

4)science

5)gun nut

6)chemist

7)scrapper

8)demolitions expert

9)hacker

10) robotic expert

 

 

 

How far have you played with this build? I am interested in how it turned out so far.

 

I finished the main quest, several questlines, but sadly fucked up when trying to use FO4 edit to create a vehicle retoration mod and fucked the save.

 

But the time I played with him was awesome! minigun is seriously underated,  if you chnage the barrel to the tribarrel itll do aboout 15 per shot and both comando and big guns affect it. with bith at level 5 youll be dealing 60 per bullet with it.

My enemies became mincemeat, also rocket launcher  stack explosives expert and big guns, get a 4 barrel and tracking to rain death over your enemies!!!!!!

 

Also lots of mentats and its variations for lots of xp and charisma checks, sell all non heavy or shotgun ammo for money, top settlements that made diamond city look like a small town.

There was a time when i had so much money that I gave every guard t-61 power armor and full moded weavy guns or combat rifles/plasma weapons, my settlements had over 500 defense (I was using the unlimited sze mod, because the limit for how it can grow is bullshit). I seriously could take over the commonwealth by my own, Since I joined the instituite, the brortherhood "atacked" sanctuary, greygarden and spectacle island (those were my settlements). I was a massacre, Each one had over 50 missile and heavy laser turrets  and at least 10 gaurd on T-61 they didnt even had time to shoot at us!

 

I even made a "final stand reataliation" after blowing the pridewen, I saved and then spawned 300 knights and 10 vertibirds oputside sanctuary  concrete walls... All my settelrs survived...

 

 

 

 

I even made a "final stand reataliation" after blowing the pridewen, I saved and then spawned 300 knights and 10 vertibirds oputside sanctuary  concrete walls... All my settelrs survived...

Can I just say that, while I'm not a Big Guns sort of player myself, I have to admire your style.

 

 

I'm a fan of death and destruction on a large scale. Sounds like that play through was right up my alley.

[Guest Comrade DR. MAHUJ DIK]

 

 

 

 

 

This is how I build my character. 

 

 

 

 

And now your life is complete.

 

 

 

The first Thing i decide is the backstory.

My first character was a scientist on the military working as an weapon tester/developer on the battlefield. Mainly power armor, big guns and explosives.

S 5

P 4 (5 with special books)

E 1

C 3

 I  9

A 1

L 1

 

Perks priority:

2) Nuclear expert

3)Big guns

4)science

5)gun nut

6)chemist

7)scrapper

8)demolitions expert

9)hacker

10) robotic expert

 

 

 

How far have you played with this build? I am interested in how it turned out so far.

 

I finished the main quest, several questlines, but sadly fucked up when trying to use FO4 edit to create a vehicle retoration mod and fucked the save.

 

But the time I played with him was awesome! minigun is seriously underated,  if you chnage the barrel to the tribarrel itll do aboout 15 per shot and both comando and big guns affect it. with bith at level 5 youll be dealing 60 per bullet with it.

My enemies became mincemeat, also rocket launcher  stack explosives expert and big guns, get a 4 barrel and tracking to rain death over your enemies!!!!!!

 

Also lots of mentats and its variations for lots of xp and charisma checks, sell all non heavy or shotgun ammo for money, top settlements that made diamond city look like a small town.

There was a time when i had so much money that I gave every guard t-61 power armor and full moded weavy guns or combat rifles/plasma weapons, my settlements had over 500 defense (I was using the unlimited sze mod, because the limit for how it can grow is bullshit). I seriously could take over the commonwealth by my own, Since I joined the instituite, the brortherhood "atacked" sanctuary, greygarden and spectacle island (those were my settlements). I was a massacre, Each one had over 50 missile and heavy laser turrets  and at least 10 gaurd on T-61 they didnt even had time to shoot at us!

 

I even made a "final stand reataliation" after blowing the pridewen, I saved and then spawned 300 knights and 10 vertibirds oputside sanctuary  concrete walls... All my settelrs survived...

 

 

 

 

I even made a "final stand reataliation" after blowing the pridewen, I saved and then spawned 300 knights and 10 vertibirds oputside sanctuary  concrete walls... All my settelrs survived...

Can I just say that, while I'm not a Big Guns sort of player myself, I have to admire your style.

 

 

I'm a fan of death and destruction on a large scale. Sounds like that play through was right up my alley.

 

 

And who's not?

[Jazzman]

I just build a single character on the sliders for Bethesda games, usually my Other Me, and this since the days of Morrowind when I was a little girl, long time passing. They all look somehow related but 'children' tend to do that, huh. The disadvantage of such an approach might be that all chars act similar, me-like, though close to the respective scripted start conditions that also determine the age group of the respective protagonist (funny that the Fallout series since FO3 by chance follows my age and even more). Unfortunately, I'm not an actor that can easily slip into different roles or perhaps even a different gender, thus my chars are all fem and neutral with a minor tendency to be evil, somewhat preconditioned one might say. The advantage is the close relation that inevitably develops over time which leads to a more intense game with probably more depth, and I can play such a game for a damned long time, often years, not just months for I carefully avoid the prefab endings w/o exactly knowing why, it just happens. Probably I want to live my own (virtual) life and not that of a suffering savior of sorts. I like my 'babies' and thus don't envy other players for their better looking chars that perhaps can do everything much better. Parents don't change their child for another and then again another and so forth in an endless line, do they? I merely change the hairstyle after some time and, of course, the outfit, simply b/c I do that in RL as well, and not just not to get bored. And oh yes, I favor intelligence, charisma and luck over the rest. Regarding the weapons used the preference hasn't changed much over the past fifteen years - long bow and axe or sniper rifle and shotgun.

 

That's my Other Me (just in case you haven't seen her in the screenshot section):

 

 

 

[Advint]

I just build a single character on the sliders for Bethesda games, usually my Other Me, and this since the days of Morrowind when I was a little girl, long time passing. They all look somehow related but 'children' tend to do that, huh. The disadvantage of such an approach might be that all chars act similar, me-like, though close to the respective scripted start conditions that also determine the age group of the respective protagonist (funny that the Fallout series since FO3 by chance follows my age and even more). Unfortunately, I'm not an actor that can easily slip into different roles or perhaps even a different gender, thus my chars are all fem and neutral with a minor tendency to be evil, somewhat preconditioned one might say. The advantage is the close relation that inevitably develops over time which leads to a more intense game with probably more depth, and I can play such a game for a damned long time, often years, not just months for I carefully avoid the prefab endings w/o exactly knowing why, it just happens. Probably I want to live my own (virtual) life and not that of a suffering savior of sorts. I like my 'babies' and thus don't envy other players for their better looking chars that perhaps can do everything much better. Parents don't change their child for another and then again another and so forth in an endless line, do they? I merely change the hairstyle after some time and, of course, the outfit, simply b/c I do that in RL as well, and not just not to get bored. And oh yes, I favor intelligence, charisma and luck over the rest. Regarding the weapons used the preference hasn't changed much over the past fifteen years - long bow and axe or sniper rifle and shotgun.

 

That's my Other Me (just in case you haven't seen her in the screenshot section):

 

 

 

I totally get this. Every RPG I play, with any choices involved, the characters always seem to come down to making the same decisions. After years and years it doesn't get old, because it's basically you in the game.

 

Nice effect with the toothpick for the character. And I see Abe made you more honest.

[Regallag]

As in every game, my first character looks as much like me as possible (except with more facial scars and better hair). My very first attempt never got past level 5 because I went heavy in strength and endurance, then decided I wanted to be a sneaky sniper. So my first REAL character is heavy into AGI and PER, with a bit less in INT, less still in END and CHA, and very little in STR and LCK. Most of my perk points so far have gone into rifleman, sneak, lockpicking and hacking. The character is still in progress, and I plan to get higher rank gun-nut perks, then up my INT for science and my CHA for local leader.

 

That's one thing at least F4 got right over Skyrim. In Skyrim, lacking any initial stats or classes, your character always converges on your playstyle and unless you're very careful you end up with the same character every time you play. In F4 your initial stats very much determine how you're going to play the character.

I never had that problem. The only issue I had with building different characters in Skyrim was any non-mage was [whatever-it-was] also an archer. And that was only because dragons liked to fly around like dicks. But, then again I can slip into and out of character pretty easily.

[Guest Mogie56]

Luck 10 all others get 3 each. then I pick and choose what points I put in others. for me luck has the best overall effect in battles and my personal play style. it gets the most work till higher levels when I can start working on other trees. Int. stays low till I need it higher, high charisma on some builds only because (and it depends on the build) sarcasm has it's uses if that's the direction I want it to go. Perception I take as far as sniper (if that's the build.) again pick and choose what gets points in that tree.  I go to Scribe Haylen & Knight Rhys as early as possible, there endless amount of missions are good for leveling up. and they are no where near as annoying as Preston. That group stays in Concord till I'm damn good and ready to fetch them. Everyone has a different play style and a different view on the S.P.E.C.I.A.L's tree. Once I got accustomed to it I rather like it. It's a far cry from earlier titles and for me a welcome one.

[Jazzman]

 

I just build a single character on the sliders for Bethesda games, usually my Other Me, and this since the days of Morrowind when I was a little girl, long time passing. They all look somehow related but 'children' tend to do that, huh. The disadvantage of such an approach might be that all chars act similar, me-like, though close to the respective scripted start conditions that also determine the age group of the respective protagonist (funny that the Fallout series since FO3 by chance follows my age and even more). Unfortunately, I'm not an actor that can easily slip into different roles or perhaps even a different gender, thus my chars are all fem and neutral with a minor tendency to be evil, somewhat preconditioned one might say. The advantage is the close relation that inevitably develops over time which leads to a more intense game with probably more depth, and I can play such a game for a damned long time, often years, not just months for I carefully avoid the prefab endings w/o exactly knowing why, it just happens. Probably I want to live my own (virtual) life and not that of a suffering savior of sorts. I like my 'babies' and thus don't envy other players for their better looking chars that perhaps can do everything much better. Parents don't change their child for another and then again another and so forth in an endless line, do they? I merely change the hairstyle after some time and, of course, the outfit, simply b/c I do that in RL as well, and not just not to get bored. And oh yes, I favor intelligence, charisma and luck over the rest. Regarding the weapons used the preference hasn't changed much over the past fifteen years - long bow and axe or sniper rifle and shotgun.

 

That's my Other Me (just in case you haven't seen her in the screenshot section):

 

 

 

I totally get this. Every RPG I play, with any choices involved, the characters always seem to come down to making the same decisions. After years and years it doesn't get old, because it's basically you in the game.

 

Nice effect with the toothpick for the character. And I see Abe made you more honest.

 

 

Glad you like the accessory effect 'cause that is what it's all about. Guess I just adapt myself as my other me to the changing conditions on the grid of a RPG. I really don't know how to play successfully as a man, just to play with a man, and that's a different kettle of fish. In game I act as I may see fit, not necessarily following a given script like a puppet on strings, that is. And time is with me, at level 92 you ain't bothered about what makes you s.p.e.c.i.a.l. anymore, you simply are s.p.e.c.i.a.l. or you'd have finished the game since long.

[Carabosse]

I decide on a back story for my character first, which usually runs to lines of the beginnings of a promising career in robotics, computing, baseball (maybe? ), and she was forced to give it up to start a family as that is what this fallout society expected and is perfectly normal. So I take what I expect the related special attributes to be based only on that personality and career background. I try to forget about or ignore whatever the perks are in the various trees, less they influence my decision on special stats. And later, even though it might be really useful to spend points building a special stat to unlock a particular perk, I only do so if the actions of the character allude to it. For example, applying a point to strength after spending all day rebuilding sanctuary .