Fallout 3 Character Guide

This is my own personal map for my idea of the "perfect" character in Fallout 3. I used this build for my second character and I was very happy. There are small changes that you can make to suit your style, but I don't think you'll find anything more effective than a combat shotgun to the face.

Starting SPECIAL:
Strength 4
Perception 7
Endurance 4
Charisma 5
Intelligence 8
Agility 7
Luck 5

Perks by level:
02 - Intense Training
03 - Intense Training
04 - Educated (Requirements: Intelligence 4+)
05 - Intense Training
06 - Toughness (Requirements: Endurance 5+)
07 - Intense Training
08 - Commando OR Strong Back (Requirements: Strength 5+, Endurance 5+)
09 - Commando OR Strong Back (Requirements: Strength 5+, Endurance 5+)
10 - Finesse (Requirements: Luck 6+)
11 - Intense Training
12 - Sniper (Requirements: Perception 6+, Agility 6+)
13 - Intense Training
14 - Master Trader (Requirements: Charisma 6+, Barter 60+)
15 - Cyborg (Requirements: Science 60+, Medicine 60+)
16 - Better Criticals (Requirements: Perception 6+, Luck 6+)
17 - Intense Training
18 - Concentrated Fire (Requirements: Small Guns 60+, Energy Weapons 60+)
19 - Intense Training
20 - Grim Reaper's Sprint

SPECIAL total at the end without equipment mods:
Strength 6
Perception 10
Endurance 6
Charisma 6
Intelligence 10
Agility 10
Luck 7

You could also consider taking a few points away from Perception and applying them to Charisma or Luck.


General Tips:
If you didn't know, there are 20 bobbleheads in the game that will increase your SPECIAL statistics by one each and your skills by 10 points. These are crucial. You can get the Strength bobblehead at the start of the game when you come to the town of Megaton, which is why I put Strength at 4. The Medicine bobblehead is also found in Vault 101 and is available from the start. I would recommend making getting as many of these as you can one of your primary objectives.

The quest line "Them!" will give you the choice of increasing your Strength or Perception by 1 as well as giving you a slight resistance to fire damage.

The "Oasis" quest gives you the option to get a permanent +1 to your Endurance and gives you extra damage resistance. Coupled with Cyborg and Toughness, you'll be laughing off a Super Mutant minigun to your face like it was nothing.

Power Armor will increase your Strength by 1 or 2 depending on if you use the Brotherhood or Enclave variant. The Enclave helmet will decrease your Charisma by 1 while it's equipped, but I wouldn't worry about that too much.

I personally find Sneaking to be useless in Fallout 3, but if you like to steal a lot of stuff, Silent Running might prove to be useful at level 13 instead of more Intense Training. Getting a bonus to your damage output by sniping a character that's unaware of your presence can be useful, but I found getting up close to be just as effective at eradicating most everything.

Your primary stats are Agility and Intelligence for the following reasons: First, more Intelligence = more skill points. If you can get Lockpicking, Science, Small Guns, and Energy Weapons to 100 after skill bobbleheads, then you're in great shape. The other three important skills are Barter, Speech, and Medicine. Those you should be able to get to around 70.

You want more Agility because a higher Agility gives you more points to spend in VATS, which lets you slow down the action and aim for specific body parts equaling more damage.

Another Perk you might want to consider is Bloody Mess. Not because of the increased violence factor, but because of the +5 to damage that it gives you. As for Scrounger and Fortune Finder, I would skip those. Fallout 3 is the type of game where ammo and money is scarce in the beginning, but plentiful later on.