When you step away from the mirror in the bathroom at the start of Fallout 4 and meet the Vault-Tec salesman at the door, he invites you to answer a questionnaire where you can choose your name and determine which of the seven SPECIAL attributes to invest in.
There’s no need to fret whether or not you made the right decisions, as the game lets you respect just before you leave Vault 111.
Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck determine your character’s specs based on the numeric value of each attribute, which affects your raw abilities. All your stats start at 1, and you have 21 points to spend at the start of the game.
- Strength governs melee damage and carrying capacity
- Perception governs VATS accuracy and sleight-of-hand
- Endurance governs running capacity and hit points
- Charisma governs many aspects of conversation and persuasion
- Intelligence influences XP bonuses
- Agility adds Action Points in VATS
- Luck governs critical frequency
SPECIAL attributes also determine the Perks available, which in turn shape your character’s abilities. When planning which abilities you want, it’s best to figure out early which Perks you want access to through as much of the game as possible.
Some early perks we’d recommend are:
- Scrounger – This helps you pick up useful items and ammo, which is especially useful early in the game when certain ammo types are hard to come by.
- Hacker – Accessing Expert terminals opens many doors which would otherwise remain closed to you.
- Science! – A must for anyone interested in Modding.
- Concentrated Fire – Vital for builds based on Perception, this significantly improves the capabilities of VATS, allowing you much greater scope to target where you want and hit it.
- Locksmith – There are plenty of Expert level locks out there and this Perk will get you into many a safe.
You can test out your preferred builds Nukahub‘s SPECIAL character creator.
Fallout 4 officially launches tomorrow and you can check out our review here to keep you busy until you get your hands on a copy.
