Fallout:New Vegas character builds

gothamhunter

Diamond Member
Apr 20, 2010
4,466
6
81
What are your recommended builds for someone who has all the FO:NV content? I've played up to getting to the strip before, and was kind of a jack of all trades, but this route I'm thinking of maybe going for more of a slick-talker character and try to focus on energy weapons when needed. I try to get the most out of any situation I'm in when I play these type of games and being able to communicate well seems to be one of the main ways of doing so.

Pisses me off though when they like, throw in the need of explosives 85 for you to save a town and crap like that lol.
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
82,854
17,365
136
The way the skill system works theres really no "builds" as such. It wont take long until you have max skill points in almost everything.

I guess if you deliberately went low skill point you could make the game more challenging, be forced to focus.
Take an Intelligence of 1, never pick any feats that boost skills or give extra points.
I never do that. High endurance for the implants, max intelligence for the skills, everything else works itself out.
 

Imp

Lifer
Feb 8, 2000
18,829
184
106
Level-cap is 45 with all official mods. I just maxed my gun character and he has 100 skills in everything but 3 traits. The only real difference is perks, and that's if you want guns, energy, explosives, or melee. Explosives is impractical, so it's only 3.

I've made all my characters "sly talkers" since speech is so important, and I still have enough perks/points for one major weapon. So, just choose a main weapon type and the rest falls in place.

Melee is the funnest, but you'll need a lot of stimpacks.
 

gothamhunter

Diamond Member
Apr 20, 2010
4,466
6
81
What about "morality"? Did you guys go generally good/bad, or just whatever you thought was cool?
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
82,854
17,365
136
What about "morality"? Did you guys go generally good/bad, or just whatever you thought was cool?

Its actually easier to pick a faction and then just do whatever you need to do.
If you go with the Legion you will probably end up more on the evil side.
 

gothamhunter

Diamond Member
Apr 20, 2010
4,466
6
81
Its actually easier to pick a faction and then just do whatever you need to do.
If you go with the Legion you will probably end up more on the evil side.

Yeah; Legion seems pretty bad. Has anyone noticed any worthwhile benefits siding one over another?

Did anyone go the route where they
took over the Vegas Strip?
 

sandorski

No Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
70,107
5,641
126
At the beginning of the game, pick what's most needed then. Lockpick/Repair/Small Arms seems good.
 

Imp

Lifer
Feb 8, 2000
18,829
184
106
Explosives is the MOST practical, if you are clever.

I wish there were more mini-nukes available like in Fallout 3. There's only 1 or 2 launchers in all of Vegas, and the nukes themselves are scarce. I think I had 30 saved up by the time I finished Fallout 3, and used a few for "special" occasions.

Explosives and close-combat doesn't work that well, and it throws shit all over the room. No likey:).
 

DaveSimmons

Elite Member
Aug 12, 2001
40,730
670
126
One important perk is the one that doubles the value of skill books. That, and to steal every skill book you see, but without being seen / caught -- it's worth a sneak magazine or stealth boy to grab a skill book.

If you do that you can raise most skills pretty high even with the original FONV level cap.

Also, if you want an energy weapon user, you'll find more of them if you up the difficulty from Normal. With it at the highest (but without Hardcore) they are all over the place at one ghoul-filled location.

For a cheap early energy weapon look for the Recharger Rifle and Pistol -- unlike all other weapons they re-generate their own ammo over time, 1 round per second, so you never run out.
 
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wuliheron

Diamond Member
Feb 8, 2011
3,536
0
0
if you're into researching how to "maximize" your character I found a good page which goes into detail. he recommends tagging lockpick, science, and speech.

http://www.gamingreality.com/2010/11/fallout-new-vegas-character-creation.html

That would be my recommendation too. I'd also select "wild wasteland" in the beginning so you can obtain the alien blaster later and work on building up your agility. Then follow the main roads and get to Vegas as quickly as possible grabbing all the snow globes along the way and building up your lock pick. After that you can quickly run down the other main roads to the dam, Nellis AFB, and Jacob's Town to collect the remaining snow globes and alien blaster.

Its a quick way to collect big bucks fast, at least one major weapon, and mark distant places on the map for fast travel later. That way you can spend more time concentrating on completing major missions and less time messing with little details like how much money you have, how to get places, who you can sell stuff too, and whether or not you have a powerful enough weapon to get where you need to go next.