___ _ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ _ ___

| __/_\ / __| __| _ )/ _ \ / _ \| |/ / |

| _/ _ \ (__| _|| _ \ (_) | (_) | ' <|_|
|_/_/ \_\___|___|___/\___/ \___/|_|\_(_)
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___ _ _ _____ ___ ___ ___ _ _ ___ _____ ___ ___ _ _
|_ _| \| |_ _| _ \/ _ \| \| | | |/ __|_ _|_ _/ _ \| \| |
| || .` | | | | / (_) | |) | |_| | (__ | | | | (_) | .` |
|___|_|\_| |_| |_|_\\___/|___/ \___/ \___| |_| |___\___/|_|\_|
______________________________________________________________
This guide goes over all SPECIAL statistics, Skills, Perks and Traits in Fallout
New Vegas, and can be used as an appendix while playing the game. The lists are
kept print-friendly and are a good reference source. That's pretty much it.
Better yet, this is spoiler free stuff!
___ ___ _ _ _ _____ ___ ___ _ _ ___
| \ / _ \| \| | /_\_ _|_ _/ _ \| \| / __|
| |) | (_) | .` |/ _ \| | | | (_) | .` \__ \
|___/ \___/|_|\_/_/ \_\_| |___\___/|_|\_|___/
______________________________________________
[AND TERMS OF USE IN A SENSE]
If you found this guide helpful, feel free
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3. Tell someone dear how special they
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[And afterwards, of course, return to
blasting off heads in New Vegas!]

Thank you very much for your consideration!
_____ _ ___ _ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ _ _ _____ ___ _ _ _____ ___
|_ _/_\ | _ ) | | __| / _ \| __| / __/ _ \| \| |_ _| __| \| |_ _/ __|
| |/ _ \| _ \ |__| _| | (_) | _| | (_| (_) | .` | | | | _|| .` | | | \__ \
|_/_/ \_\___/____|___| \___/|_| \___\___/|_|\_| |_| |___|_|\_| |_| |___/
_________________________________________________________________________[TOC]
I. . . . . . . . . . . . STATISTICS/SKILLS/PERKS/TRAITS
1.1 ................... Are you S.P.E.C.I.A.L.? [STA-1]
1.2 ................... Skills [STA-2]
1.3 ................... Perks [STA-3]
1.4 ................... Traits [STA-4]
1.5 ................... Derived Statistics [STA-5]
II. . . . . . . . . . . . . VIRGIN HISTORY [VIR]
III . . . . . . . . . . . . CREDIT CHIPS [CRD]
IV . . . . . . . . . . . . RIGHTCOPY [COPS]
___ ___ _____ _ _____ ___ ___ _____ ___ ___ ___
|_ _| / __|_ _/_\_ _|_ _/ __|_ _|_ _/ __/ __|
| | _ \__ \ | |/ _ \| | | |\__ \ | | | | (__\__ \
|___(_) |___/ |_/_/ \_\_| |___|___/ |_| |___\___|___/
_________________________________________________[STA]
_____________________________________________________________________
||
| 1.1 Are you S.P.E.C.I.A.L.? [STA-1] |
|_____________________________________________________________________|

S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stands for Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma,
Intelligence, Agility, and Luck. These are your primary stats, and they
directly influence your skills - and thus gameplay. This section deals with
the effects that the SPECIAL stats have on your character and summarizes this.
STRENGTH

Description: Strength allows you to hold more items in your inventory and
increases your unarmed damage. It also influences which weapons you can and
cannot (effectively) use.
_________ _______________________ ___________ ________________________________
|STRENGTH:|"RANK" NAME: |MAX WEIGHT:|UNARMED DMG: |SKILL MODIFIERS: |
|=-=-=-=-=|=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=|-=-=-=-=-=-|=-=-=-=-=-=-=|-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=|
| 1 |Wet Noodle | 160 | 0.5 |Melee Weapons +2 |
| 2 |Beached Jellyfish | 170 | 1.0 |Melee Weapons +4 |
| 3 |Doughy Baby | 180 | 1.5 |Melee Weapons +6 |
| 4 |Lightweight | 190 | 2.0 |Melee Weapons +8 |
| 5 |Average Joe | 200 | 2.5 |Melee Weapons +10 |
| 6 |Barrel Chested | 210 | 3.0 |Melee Weapons +12 |
| 7 |Beach Bully | 220 | 3.5 |Melee Weapons +14 |
| 8 |Circus Strongman | 230 | 4.0 |Melee Weapons +16 |
| 9 |Doomsday Pecs | 240 | 4.5 |Melee Weapons +18 |
| 10 |Hercules' Bigger Cousin| 250 | 5.0 |Melee Weapons +20 |

Associated Skills: 1. Melee Weapons. 2. Unarmed
Associated Perks: 1. Heave, Ho! (Minimum of 5 STR, LVL 2)
2. Stonewall (Minimum of 6 STR, LVL 8)
3. Strong Back (Minimum of 5 STR, LVL 8)
4. Super Slam (Minimum of 6 STR, LVL 8)
5. Unstoppable Force (Minimum of 7 STR, LVL 12)
6. Weapon Handling (STR < 10, LVL 16)
7. Strength Implant (STR < 10, LVL --)
PERCEPTION

The better your perception, the quicker you'll spot enemies on the compass.
___________ ____________________ ___________________________________________
|PERCEPTION:|"RANK" NAME: |SKILL MODIFIERS: |
|=-=-=-=-=-=|-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=|-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-|
| 1 |Deaf Bat |Energy Weapons & Lockpick & Explosives +2 |
| 2 |Senile Mole |Energy Weapons & Lockpick & Explosives +4 |
| 3 |Squinting Newt |Energy Weapons & Lockpick & Explosives +6 |
| 4 |Unsuspecting Trout |Energy Weapons & Lockpick & Explosives +8 |
| 5 |Wary Trout |Energy Weapons & Lockpick & Explosives +10 |
| 6 |Alert Coyote |Energy Weapons & Lockpick & Explosives +12 |
| 7 |Big-eyed Tiger |Energy Weapons & Lockpick & Explosives +14 |
| 8 |Monocled Falcon |Energy Weapons & Lockpick & Explosives +16 |
| 9 |Sniper Hawk |Energy Weapons & Lockpick & Explosives +18 |
| 10 |Eagle with Telescope|Energy Weapons & Lockpick & Explosives +20 |

Associated Skills: 1. Energy Weapons. 2. Explosives. 3. Lockpick.
Associated Perks: 1. Friend of the Night (Minimum of 6 PER, LVL 2)
2. Sniper (Minimum of 6 PER, LVL 12)
3. Light Step (Minimum of 6 PER, LVL 14)
4. Better Criticals (Minimum of 6 PER, LVL 16)
5. Infiltrator (Minimum of 7 PER, LVL 18)
6. Perception Implant (PER < 10, LVL --)
ENDURANCE

Endurance increases you maximum health, poison resistance, radiation resistance,

and an invisible stat named fatigue. This governs how quickly you are knocked
down in combat (and how fast targets become "unconscious").
____ _______ _______________________ ___________ ___________ _________________
|END:|MAX HP:|SKILL MODIFIERS: |PSN RESIST:|RAD RESIST:|FATIGUE: |
|=-=-|=-=-=-=|-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-|=-=-=-=-=-=|-=-=-=-=-=-|=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=|
| 1 | 120 |Survival & Unarmed +2 | 0% | 0% | 20 + (LVL x10) |
| 2 | 140 |Survival & Unarmed +4 | 5% | 2% | 40 + (LVL x10) |
| 3 | 160 |Survival & Unarmed +6 | 10% | 4% | 60 + (LVL x10) |
| 4 | 180 |Survival & Unarmed +8 | 15% | 6% | 80 + (LVL x10) |
| 5 | 200 |Survival & Unarmed +10 | 20% | 8% |100 + (LVL x10) |
| 6 | 220 |Survival & Unarmed +12 | 25% | 10% |120 + (LVL x10) |
| 7 | 240 |Survival & Unarmed +14 | 30% | 12% |140 + (LVL x10) |
| 8 | 260 |Survival & Unarmed +16 | 35% | 14% |160 + (LVL x10) |
| 9 | 280 |Survival & Unarmed +18 | 40% | 16% |180 + (LVL x10) |
| 10 | 300 |Survival & Unarmed +20 | 45% | 18% |200 + (LVL x10) |

Associated Skills: 1. Survival. 2. Unarmed.
Associated Perks: 1. Lead Belly (Minimum of 5 END, LVL 6)
2. Toughness (Minimum of 5 END, LVL 6)
3. Stonewall (Minimum of 6 END, LVL 8)
4. Strong Back (Minimum of 5 END, LVL 8)
5. Radiation Resistance (Minimum of 5 END, LVL 8)
6. Long Haul (Minimum of 6 END, LVL 12)
7. Life Giver (Minimum of 6 END, LVL 12)
8. Solar Powered (Minimum of 7 END, LVL 20)
9. Rad Absorption (Minimum of 7 END, LVL 28)
10. Endurance Implant (END < 10, LVL --)
CHARISMA

Charisma improves your success when talking to people, and increases your
companions' armor and damage.
___________ __________________ ______________________ ____________________
|CHARISMA: |"RANK" NAME: |COMPANION ARMOR & DMG:|SKILL MODIFIERS: |
|=-=-=-=-=-=|-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=|=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-|=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-|
| 1 |Misanthrope | + 5 |Barter & Speech +2 |
| 2 |Old Hermit | +10 |Barter & Speech +4 |
| 3 |Creepy Undertaker | +15 |Barter & Speech +6 |
| 4 |Peevish Librarian | +20 |Barter & Speech +8 |
| 5 |Substitute Teacher| +25 |Barter & Speech +10 |
| 6 |Cheery Salesman | +30 |Barter & Speech +12 |
| 7 |Diplomat | +35 |Barter & Speech +14 |
| 8 |Movie Star | +40 |Barter & Speech +16 |
| 9 |Casanova | +45 |Barter & Speech +18 |
| 10 |Cult Leader | +50 |Barter & Speech +20 |

Associated Skills: 1. Barter. 2. Speech.
Associated Perks: 1. Ferocious Loyalty (Minimum of 6 CHR, LVL 6)
2. Animal Friend (Minimum of 6 CHR, LVL 10)
3. Charisma Implant (CHR < 10, LVL --)
INTELLIGENCE

Intelligence increases the amount of skills points you gain to distribute over
your skills when you level up. It also improves Medicine, Repair and Science.
Furthermore, Intelligence influences your converation level. If you're dumb
your dialogue will reflect this.
_____________ _____________ ______________________________________________
|INTELLIGENCE:|"RANK" NAME: |SKILL POINTS |SKILL MODIFIERS: |
| | |PER LEVEL UP:| |
|=-=-=-=-=-=-=|-=-=-=-=-=-=-|-=-=-=-=-=-=-|=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-|
| 1 |Sub-brick | 10.5 |Medicine & Repair & Science +2 |
| 2 |Vegetable | 11 |Medicine & Repair & Science +4 |
| 3 |Cretin | 11.5 |Medicine & Repair & Science +6 |
| 4 |Knucklehead | 12 |Medicine & Repair & Science +8 |
| 5 |Knowledgeable| 12.5 |Medicine & Repair & Science +10 |
| 6 |Gifted | 13 |Medicine & Repair & Science +12 |
| 7 |Smartypants | 13.5 |Medicine & Repair & Science +14 |
| 8 |Know-it-all | 14 |Medicine & Repair & Science +16 |
| 9 |Genius | 14.5 |Medicine & Repair & Science +18 |
| 10 |Omniscient | 15 |Medicine & Repair & Science +20 |

Note that half points are kept invisible and carry over to the next level-up.
Associated Skills: 1. Medicine. 2. Repair. 3. Science.
Associated Perks: 1. Retention (Minimum of 5 INT, LVL 2)
2. Swift Learner (Minimum of 4 INT, LVL 2)
3. Comprehension (Minimum of 4 INT, LVL 2)
4. Educated (Minimum of 4 INT, LVL 4)
5. Entomologist (Minimum of 4 INT, LVL 4)
6. Pack Rat (Minimum of 5 INT, LVL 8)
7. Nerd Rage! (Minimum of 5 INT, LVL 10)
8. Computer Whiz (Minimum of 7 INT, LVL 18)
9. Intelligence Implant (INT < 10, LVL --)
AGILITY

Agility increases your Action Points in V.A.T.S., and improves how fast you
draw, holster and reload your weapons, as well as your running speed.
_____________ ________________ ___________________ _______________________
|AGILITY: |"RANK" NAME: |ACTION POINTS (AP):|Skill Modifiers: |
|=-=-=-=-=-=-=|-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=|-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-|=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=|
| 1 |Walking Disaster| 68 |Small Guns & Sneak +2 |
| 2 |Accident Prone | 71 |Small Guns & Sneak +4 |
| 3 |Oaf | 74 |Small Guns & Sneak +6 |
| 4 |Butterfingers | 77 |Small Guns & Sneak +8 |
| 5 |Under Control | 80 |Small Guns & Sneak +10 |
| 6 |Catlike | 83 |Small Guns & Sneak +12 |
| 7 |Knife Thrower | 86 |Small Guns & Sneak +14 |
| 8 |Knife Catcher | 89 |Small Guns & Sneak +16 |
| 9 |Acrobatic Marvel| 92 |Small Guns & Sneak +18 |
| 10 |Walks on Water | 95 |Small Guns & Sneak +20 |

Associated Skills: 1. Guns. 2. Sneak.
Associated Perks: 1. Rapid Reload (Minimum of 5 AGL, LVL 2)
2. Quick Draw (Minimum of 5 AGL, LVL 8)
3. Silent Running (Minimum of 6 AGL, LVL 12)
4. Sniper (Minimum of 6 AGL, LVL 12)
5. Light Step (Minimum of 6 AGL, LVL 14)
6. Action Boy/Girl (Minimum of 6 AGL, LVL 16)
7. Slayer (Minimum of 7 AGL, LVL 24)
8. Nerves of Steel (Minimum of 7 AGL, LVL 26)
9. Agility Implant (AGL < 10, LVL --)
LUCK

Luck increases your chance to deliver critical hits and boosts all your skills.
Enemies will more often miss their shot at you. Lastly, Luck also affects
gambling in a mysterious way.
_________ ____________________ _________________ _________________
|LUCK: |"RANK" NAME: |CRITICAL CHANCE: |SKILL MODIFIERS: |
|=-=-=-=-=|-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=|-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-|-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-|
| 1 |13 Pitch-black Cats |Critical Hit +1% |All Skills +1 |
| 2 |Broken Gypsy Mirror |Critical Hit +2% |All Skills +1 |
| 3 |Sickly Albatross |Critical Hit +3% |All Skills +2 |
| 4 |Spilled Salt |Critical Hit +4% |All Skills +2 |
| 5 |Coin Flip |Critical Hit +5% |All Skills +3 |
| 6 |Stacked Deck |Critical Hit +6% |All Skills +3 |
| 7 |Lucky 7 |Critical Hit +7% |All Skills +4 |
| 8 |Leprechaun's Foot |Critical Hit +8% |All Skills +4 |
| 9 |21-Leaf Clover |Critical Hit +9% |All Skills +5 |
| 10 |Two-headed coin flip|Critical Hit +10%|All Skills +5 |

Associated Skills: ALL.
Associated Perks: 1. Fortune Finder (Minimum of 5 LCK, LVL 6)
2. Scrounger (Minimum of 5 LCK, LVL 8)
3. Miss Fortune (Minimum of 6 LCK, LVL 10)
4. Mysterious Stranger (Minimum of 6 LCK, LVL 10)
5. Better Criticals (Minimum of 6 LCK, LVL 16)
6. Luck Implant (LCK < 10, LVL --)
_____________________________________________________________________
||
| 1.2 Skills [STA-2] |
|_____________________________________________________________________|

There are 13 skills in New Vegas, and it's nearly the same set as in Fallout 3.
The differences are: 1. Small Guns has been renamed to Guns. 2. Big Guns is no
longer a skill in New Vegas. 3. The Survival Skill is new.
This section deals with all skills. These are derived from one of your SPECIAL
stats, and are further increased by spending skill points after levelling up,
or by reading skill books or skill magazines.
Skill Books permanently increase a skill with 3 points. If you have the
Comprehension Perk, Skill Books grant one additional point per book, for a
total of 4 points.
__________________
Skill Magazines temporarily increase a |INT:|SKILL POINTS:|
skill by 10 points. If you have the |=-=-|=-=-=-=-=-=-=|
Comprehension Perk, they temporarily | 1 | 10.5 |
increase the skill by 20 points. | 2 | 11 |
| 3 | 11.5 |
Intelligence is the SPECIAL stat that | 4 | 12 |
influences how many skill points you get | 5 | 12.5 |
for each level up. Starting at 10.5 skill | 6 | 13 |
points at 1 INT, this can become 15 points | 7 | 13.5 |
at level 10. This has been dumbed down | 8 | 14 |
from 20 in Fallout 3. It's a good idea | 9 | 14.5 |
to start out with a high INT stat. | 10 | 15 |

An interesting shift from Fallout 3 to New Vegas is that skills such as Barter
and Speech have become a lot more useful. Dialogue options are no longer
chance-dependent, but require a fixed amount of skill points. You can now
expect to see dialogue options that require 50 speech - bottom line. If you
don't have enough, you can't get the option to work, it's that simple. There
are various options for Barter as well. Other skills may also have dialogue
options, such as Medicine, Sneak, Repair or Science, although these are less
common than Speech and Barter dialogue options.
BARTER

Statistic: Charisma
Useage: Allows you to buy lower, sell higher.
Unlocks special dialogue options.
Unlocks Perk: 1. Pack Rat (Minimum of 70 Barter, LVL 8)
2. Long Haul (Minimum of 70 Barter, LVL 12)
ENERGY WEAPONS

Statistic: Perception
Useage: Increases effectiveness of Energy Weapons (such as Laser Pistol,
Laser Rifle, Plasma Pistol, Plasma Rifle), and Flamer Weapons
(such as Incinerator).
Unlocks Perk: 1. Run 'n Gun (Minimum of 45 Energy Weapons, LVL 4)
2. Plasma Spaz (Minimum of 70 Energy Weapons, LVL 10)
3. Meltdown (Minimum of 90 Energy Weapons, LVL 16)
4. Concentrated Fire (Minimum of 60 Energy Weapons, LVL 18)
5. Laser Commander (Minimum of 90 Energy Weapons, LVL 22)
EXPLOSIVES

Statistic: Perception
Usage: Improves the damage you do with explosives, enhances your
accuracy when throwing explosives, increases the ease with
which you disarm mines, and improves damage of Missile Launchers
Fat Men, and similar weapons.
Unlocks Perk: 1. Heave, Ho! (Minimum of 30 Explosives, LVL 2)
2. Demolition Expert (Minimum of 50 Explosives, LVL 6)
3. Hit The Deck (Minimum of 70 Explosives, LVL 12)
4. Pyromaniac (Minimum of 60 Explosives, LVL 12)
5. Splash Damage (Minimum of 70 Explosives, LVL 12)
GUNS

Statistic: Agility
Usage: Increases effectivity of guns that use conventional ammunition
(such as Pistol, Rifles, etc).
Unlocks Perk: 1. Rapid Reload (Minimum of 30 Guns, LVL 2)
2. Run 'n Gun (Minimum of 45 Guns, LVL 4)
3. Shotgun Surgeon (Minimum of 45 Guns, LVL 6)
4. Cowboy (Minimum of 45 Guns, LVL 8)
5. Center of Mass (Minimum of 70 Guns, LVL 14)
6. Concentrated Fire (Minimum of 60 Guns, LVL 18)
___________ _______________
LOCKPICK |DIFFICULTY:|REQUIRED SKILL:|
|=-=-=-=-=-=|=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=|
Statistic: Perception |Very Easy | 0 |
Usage: Allows you to pick locks. |Easy | 25 |
See ratings on the left. |Average | 50 |
Unlocks Perk: 1. Infiltrator (Minimum of |Hard | 75 |
70 Lockpick, LVL 18) |Very Hard | 100 |

MEDICINE

Statistic: Intelligence
Usuage: Increases the effectiveness of medicine (RadAway, Rad-X,
Stimpaks, Super Stimpaks, etc.). At skill level 100, the
initial effects of medicine is doubled (?).
Unlocks Perk: 1. Living Anatomy (Minimum of 70 Medicine, LVL 8)
2. Chemist (Minimum of 60 Medicine, LVL 14)
3. Chem Resistant (Minimum of 60 Medicine, LVL 16)
MELEE WEAPONS

Statistic: Strength
Usage: Increases effectivity of melee weapons (Combat Knife, Machete,
Tire Iron, etc..)
Unlocks Perk: 1. Cowboy (Minimum of 45 Melee Weapons, LVL 8)
2. Super Slam (Minimum of 45 Melee Weapons, LVL 8)
3. Unstoppable Force (Minimum of 90 Melee Weapons, LVL 12)
4. Ninja (Minimum of 80 Melee Weapons, LVL 20)
REPAIR

Statistic: Intelligence
Usage: Increases your ability to repair weapons and armor, and also
affects your ability to create items and gun ammunition at
reloading benches.
Unlocks Perk: 1. Hand Loader (Minimum of 70 Repair, LVL 6)
2. Jury Rigging (Minimum of 90 Repair, LVL 14)
SCIENCE ___________ _______________
|DIFFICULTY:|REQUIRED SKILL:|
Statistic: Intelligence |=-=-=-=-=-=|=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=|
Usage: Used for hacking terminals. |Very Easy | 0 |
See ratings on the left. |Easy | 25 |
It is also used to recycle |Average | 50 |
Energy Weapon ammo at |Hard | 75 |
reloading benches. |Very Hard | 100 |

Unlocks Perk: 1. Vigilant Recycler (Minimum of 70 Science, LVL 6)
2. Math Wrath (Minimum of 70 Science, LVL 10)
2. Nerd Rage! (Minimum of 50 Science, LVL 10)
3. Robotics Expert (Minimum of 50 Science, LVL 12)
4. Computer Whiz (Minimum of 70 Science, LVL 18)
5. Nuka Chemist (Minimum of 90 Science, LVL 22)

SNEAK

Statistic: Agility
Usage: Increases you speed, your ability to stay hidden from enemies
when crouching and during pickpocketing. Attacking while hidden
grants you a Sneak Attack Critical Hit.
Unlocks Perk: 1. Friend of the Night (Minimum of 30 Sneak, LVL 2)
2. The Professional (Minimum of 70 Sneak, LVL 6)
3. Mister Sandman (Minimum of 60 Sneak, LVL 10)
4. Silent Running (Minimum of 50 Sneak, LVL 12)
5. Ninja (Minimum of 80 Sneak, LVL 20)
SPEECH

Statistic: Charisma
Usage: Increases your success when talking to people, often granting
you special priviledges.
Unlocks Perk: 1. Terrifying Presence (Minimum of 70 Speech, LVL 8)
SURVIVAL

Statistic: Endurance
Usage: Increases the amount of health you gain from eating and drinking
food and water, and improves creating items at campfires.
Unlocks Perk: 1. Hunter (Minimum of 30 Survival, LVL 2)
2. Entomologist (Minimum of 45 Survival, LVL 4)
3. Rad Child (Minimum of 70 Survival, LVL 4)
4. Travel Light (Minimum of 45 Survival, LVL 4)
5. Lead Belly (Minimum of 40 Survival, LVL 6)
6. Rad Resistance (Minimum of 40 Survival, LVL 8)
7. Animal Friend (Minimum of 45 Survival, LVL 10)
UNARMED

Statistic: Endurance
Usage: Increases damage when fighting bare handed/with knuckles.
Also decreases the damage taken when blocking with your hands.
Unlocks Perk: 1. Piercing Strike (Minimum of 70 Unarmed, LVL 12)
2. Paralyzing Palm (Minimum of 70 Unarmed, LVL 18)
3. Slayer (Minimum of 90 Unarmed, LVL 24)
_____________________________________________________________________
||
| 1.3 Perks [STA-3] |
|_____________________________________________________________________|

CONFIRMED BACHELOR/CHERCHEZ LA FEMME

Level: 2
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [*****] / [**...]
Prerequisite: Male/Female gender
Description: In combat, you do +10% damage against opponents of the same sex.
You sometimes get access to unique dialogue options when dealing
with the same sex. While Confirmed Bachelor is supremely useful,
as a woman you're better off taking the Black Widow perk. There
are simply more men than women in the game.
LADY KILLER/BLACK WIDOW

Level: 2
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [**...] / [*****]
Prerequisite: Male/Female gender
Description: In combat you do +10% damage against opponents of the other sex.
You sometimes get access to unique dialogue options when dealing
with the other sex. While Black Widow is supremely useful,
as a man you're better off taking the Confirmed Bachelor perk.
There are simply more men than women in the game.
FRIEND OF THE NIGHT

Level: 2
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [.....]
Prerequisite: Sneak: 30, Perception: 6
Description: Your eyes adapt quickly to low-light conditions indoors and when
darkness falls across the post-nuclear wastelend. Well that's
just great, but it's better to turn up your TV's brightness a
little (or better yet, check the in-game options) than to waste
a perk spot.
HEAVE, HO!

Level: 2
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [*....]
Prerequisite: Explosives: 30, Strength: 5
Description: All thrown weapons fly farther and faster for you. Nothing more,
nothing less.
HUNTER

Level: 2
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [*....]
Prerequisite: Survival: 30
Description: In combat, you do +75% *critical* damage against animals and
mutated animals. So your regular damage stays the same. When
you do get a critical, it's not even twice the extra damage, but
only 75% extra, and only against animals and mutated animals.
Ever been scared of Mole Rats?
INTENSE TRAINING

Level: 2
Ranks: 10
Usefulness: [****.]
Prerequisite: ---
Description: Put a single point in a SPECIAL stat of your choice.
RAPID RELOAD

Level: 2
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [**...]
Prerequisite: Guns: 30, Agility: 5
Description: Makes all your weapon reloads 25% faster than normal. This can
make a little difference, but it's better to always keep your gun
reloaded anyway. Reloading in the heat of battle can be annoying,
but there are many other great perks to be chosen.
RETENTION

Level: 2
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [*....]
Prerequisite: Intelligence: 5
Description: The bonuses granted by skill magazines last three times as long.
You usually only need these bonuses for a very short while anyhow,
for a dialogue challenge, picking a lock, hacking a terminal, etc.
SWIFT LEARNER

Level: 2
Ranks: 3
Usefulness: [.....]
Prerequisite: Intelligence: 4
Description: You gain +10% extra experience points whenever EXP is given.
Considering you'll reach Level 30 by yourself, this is only a
waste of a perk spot. Why hurry? It's only 10%.
________________________________________________________________________________
CANNIBAL

Level: 4
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [.....]
Prerequisite: ---
Description: With the Cannibal perk you can eat corpses when in sneak bodies,
allowing you to regain hit points with this action. Everytime
you feed, you lose Karma and if the act is witnessed, well, you
get attacked. This isn't one of the best perks..
COMPREHENSION

Level: 4
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [*****]
Prerequisite: Intelligence: 4
Description: You get double the temporary bonus from reading skill magazines
(+20 points instead of +10), and one extra permanent point from
reading skill books (+4 instead of +3). A very useful perk as
this allows you to boost a whole lot more skills.
EDUCATED

Level: 4
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [*****]
Prerequisite: Intelligence: 4
Description: You get two more skill points every time you level up. Take this
perk at level 4 to get the most out of it: +52 skill points baby!
ENTOMOLOGIST

Level: 4
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [**...]
Prerequisite: Survival: 45, Intelligence: 4
Description: You deal +50% extra damage to mutated insects such as Radroaches,
Giant Mantises and Radscorpions. Decent, but not more than that.
RAD CHILD

Level: 4
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [*....]
Prerequisite: Survival: 70
Description: The higher your radiation sickness stage, the more health you
recover. Preferably, you don't even want to have radiation
sickness because it comes with stats penalties..
RUN 'N GUN

Level: 4
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [**...]
Prerequisite: Guns: 45 OR Energy Weapons: 45
Description: Reduces accuracy penalties when running and shooting with one-
handed weapons (guns and energy weapons).
TRAVEL LIGHT

Level: 4
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [*....]
Prerequisite: Survival: 45
Description: While wearing light armor or no armor, you run 10% faster. Cute,
but hardly essential.
________________________________________________________________________________
BLOODY MESS

Level: 6
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [****.]
Prerequisite: ---
Description: Enemies will often explode into a red, gut-ridden paste, and you
do +5% extra damage with ALL weapons. The gore is cute, but the
additional damage - even though it's only 5% - is very welcome.
DEMOLITION EXPERT

Level: 6
Ranks: 3
Usefulness: [****.]
Prerequisite: Explosives: 50
Description: All explosive weapons (including mines, grenades, missile launcher
and Fat Men) do +20% damage. That's quite a good bonus if you'd
like to specialise in explosives.
FEROCIOUS LOYALTY

Level: 6
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [**...]
Prerequisite: Charisma: 6
Description: When you drop below 50% health, your companions gain much greater
resistance to damage. Useful if you hate to see your companions
die in Hardcore mode, but otherwise not useful.
FORTUNE FINDER

Level: 6
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [**...]
Prerequisite: Luck: 5
Description: You find more bottle caps in containers than you normally would.
Meh.. Compared to other perks this one just doesn't compare,
especially because you only receive around +20% extra.
GUNSLINGER

Level: 6
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [**...]
Prerequisite: ---
Description: Your accuracy in V.A.T.S. is improved when using one-handed guns
like a Pistol. Handy, but you could always stand a little closer
to your target. Or, you know, use a Sniper Rifle.
HAND LOADER

Level: 6
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [***..]
Prerequisite: Repair: 70
Description: You know your way around reloading benches and don't let good
brass and hulls go to waste. When you use guns you're more likely
to recover cases and hulls. You also know all hand load recipes
at all reloading benches. A very decent perk to say the least.
LEAD BELLY

Level: 6
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [.....]
Prerequisite: Survival: 40, Endurance: 5
Description: You take -50% radiation when consuming food and drinks. What can
I say? RadAway!
SHOTGUN SURGEON

Level: 6
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [***..]
Prerequisite: Guns: 45
Description: When using shotguns, regardless what ammo you use, you ignore an
additional 10 points of the targets Damage Treshold. Quite nice!
THE PROFESSIONAL

Level: 6
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [****.]
Prerequisite: Sneak: 70
Description: Sneak Attack Criticals with Pistols, Revolvers and Submachine Guns
(both Guns and Energy Weapons) all inflict +20% damage. That's
quite a big bonus and you should definitely consider this perk.
TOUGHNESS

Level: 6
Ranks: 2
Usefulness: [****.]
Prerequisite: Endurance: 5
Description: Adds +3 to Damage Treshold. This is s decent boost to your DT,
and you can take two ranks in it.
VIGILANT RECYCLER

Level: 6
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [***..]
Prerequisite: Science: 70
Description: When using Energy Weapons you are more likely to recover ammo.
You also have more efficient recipes available at workbenches.
________________________________________________________________________________
COMMANDO

Level: 8
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [***..]
Prerequisite: ---
Description: Your accuracy is improved in V.A.T.S. with two-handed weapons
(such as rifles). Could be useful for those who like to play
around with Sniper Rifles.
COWBOY

Level: 8
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [***..]
Prerequisite: Guns: 45, Melee Weapons: 45
Description: You do +25% damage with revolvers, lever-action firearms,
dynamite, knives and hatchets. Not bad.
LIVING ANATOMY

Level: 8
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [***..]
Prerequisite: Medicine: 70
Description: Allows you to see the health and Damage Treshold of any target.
You also do +5% damage against humans and non-feral ghouls. This
is quite cool to have, and the damage bonus is nice too, but at
this point there's many competition..
PACK RAT

Level: 8
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: Hardcore: [*****] / Non-hardcore [.....]
Prerequisite: Barter: 70, Intelligence: 5
Description: Items with a weight of 2 or less only weigh half as much. You'll
definitely want to take this perk if you're playing on Hardcore.
Otherwise, don't bother.
QUICK DRAW

Level: 8
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [.....]
Prerequisite: Agility: 5
Description: You equip and holster weapons 50% faster. The holstering part
is completely useless and ... so is the equipping part to a great
extent. Worthless.
RAD RESISTANCE

Level: 8
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [*....]
Prerequisite: Survival: 40, Endurance: 5
Description: Rad resist +25%. Nothing more, nothing less.
SCROUNGER

Level: 8
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [*....]
Prerequisite: Luck: 5
Description: You find more ammo in containers. Can be useful, but the
perk competition is getting tighter.
STONEWALL

Level: 8
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [**...]
Prerequisite: Strength: 6, Endurance: 6
Description: +5 Damage Treshold against melee weaons and unarmed attack.
You can also no longer be knocked down in combat.
STRONG BACK

Level: 8
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [****.]
Prerequisite: Strength: 5, Endurance: 5
Description: Increases Carry Weight by +50. Niiice!
SUPER SLAM

Level: 8
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [*....]
Prerequisite: Melee Weapons: 45, Strength: 6
Description: All melee weapons (except thrown ones) and unarmed attacks have a
chance of knocking your target down. Handy, but not essential.
Only useful if you're specialising in Unarmed.
TERRIFYING PRESENCE

Level: 8
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [?????]
Prerequisite: Speech: 70
Description: In some conversations, you gain the ability to initiate combat
while terrifying a mob of opponents, sending them fleeing away
for safety. I don't know what the **** that means, but when I
find out, this vague description will hit the garbage bin.
________________________________________________________________________________
ANIMAL FRIEND

Level: 10
Ranks: 2
Usefulness: [*....]
Prerequisite: Survival: 45, Charisma: 6
Description: Rank 1: Animals don't attack you. Rank 2: Animals aid you in
combat, but never against other animals. The first rank is
arguably useless, and it's too big a price to pay TWO perk spots
just to get the effects from rank 2. Furthermore, animals usually
come in packs and won't attack each other.
FINESSE

Level: 10
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [***..]
Prerequisite: ---
Description: You have a higher chance to score critical hits, equivalent to
5 extra points of Luck. Well, that's not too bad, actually.
HERE AND NOW

Level: 10
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [.....]
Prerequisite: ---
Description: Instantly grants you a level. Absolutely worthless, considering
there's a limited amount of levels and you *will* get there
anyway, but to waste a perk spot with this would be ridiculous.
MATH WRATH

Level: 10
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [****.]
Prerequisite: Science: 70
Description: Reduces all Action Points (AP) costs by 10%. Quite nice,
especially in combination of other AP boosting perks! You can
make a realy V.A.T.S. killer character eventually.
MISS FORTUNE

Level: 10
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [***..]
Prerequisite: Luck: 6
Description: Just when your enemies think they have the upper hand, Miss
Fortune appears to turn their world upside down. Appearing only
in V.A.T.S., she has the ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of
victory.
MISTER SANDMAN

Level: 10
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [.....]
Prerequisite: Sneak: 60
Description: When in sneak mode you can silently kill any sleeping human or
ghoul, gaining experience too. But.. if they're sleeping, why
not just grab a Silenced Pistol or powerful melee weapon? This
perk is worthless compared to all others you can choose.
MYSTERIOUS STRANGER

Level: 10
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [**...]
Prerequisite: Luck: 6
Description: The Mysterious Stranger will randomly appear if the opponent is
still alive with 150 HP or less, with a chance of 10%, finishing
it off. Probably interferes with Grim Reaper's Sprint (although
dumbed down still preferable), so the Mysterious Stranger is not
too useful.
NERD RAGE!

Level: 10
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [*....]
Prerequisite: Science: 50, Intelligence: 5
Description: When health is at 20% or below (like, the point where any sane
person starts healing - I mean, c'mon, there's a *reason* your
health dropped that low, and that reason is likely to be four
sentry bots or a pack of ferocious deathclaws), only THEN will
your Strength get raised to 10, and do you gain +15 Damage
Treshold. Extremely conditional usage.
NIGHT PERSON

Level: 10
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [*....]
Prerequisite: ---
Description: When the sun is down this perk grants +2 INT and PER (max = 10).
This works both outside and inside. Did I mention it's worthless?
PLASMA SPAZ

Level: 10
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [**...]
Prerequisite: Energy Weapons: 70
Description: Action Point costs for Plasma Weapons (including Plasma Grenades)
are reduced by 10%. Since Math Wrath reduces *ALL* AP costs by
10%, you should always take that one first. Regardless, this
could still be a decent choice if you really want to make a
killer character in V.A.T.S., equipped with a Plasma Rifle
(because let's face it, that'd be the sole reason to take this
perk, because who cares about Plasma Grenades Action Point costs?)
I'm not going to make a joke about the name Plasma Spaz, because
I'm not *that* dirty.
________________________________________________________________________________
FAST METABOLISM

Level: 12
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [**...]
Prerequisite: ---
Description: +20% Stimpak effectiveness. Quite useful, but you can also be
more careful or hold more Stimpaks close to your heart..
GHASTLY SCAVENGER

Level: 12
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [.....]
Prerequisite: Cannibal Perk
Description: You can now also devour Super Mutants and Feral Ghouls. Once
again a worthless perk.
HIT THE DECK

Level: 12
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [***..]
Prerequisite: Explosives: 70
Description: Damage Treshold +50% against *ALL* explosions. Can be useful!
LIFE GIVER

Level: 12
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [***..]
Prerequisite: Endurance: 6
Description: Grants +30 Health Points. Unique and useful.
LONG HAUL

Level: 12
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [**...]
Prerequisite: Barter: 70, Endurance: 6
Description: Being overcumbered no longer prevents you from Fast Travelling.
Brings mixed feelings. Sounds great, right? Grab everything you
want (at least on the Mojave Wasteland), then Fast Travel to a
place where you can sell it all and dump it. But this still
requires an *entire* perk spot and the competition is big. Can't
you just dump your companion full with items anyway?
PIERCING STRIKE

Level: 12
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [****.]
Prerequisite: Unarmed: 70
Description: When strikeing unarmed or melee weapons (including thrown ones),
this perk negates 15 Damage Treshold points. Very useful for
Unarmed character builds, arguably even essential. It can also
have its uses for regular characters, as this greatly improves
melee combat in general.
PYROMANIAC

Level: 12
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [**...]
Prerequisite: Explosives: 60
Description: +50% damage with fire-based weapons like Flamer and Shishkebab.
Useful, sure, but essential? Maybe for melee characters.
ROBOTICS EXPERT

Level: 12
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [****.]
Prerequisite: Science: 50
Description: +25% damage to all robots. Sneaking up to a robot undetected
gives you the option to permanently shut them down. Good stuff!
SILENT RUNNING

Level: 12
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [*....]
Prerequisite: Sneak: 50, Agility: 6
Description: You run just as silently as crouched. But in all seriousness,
learn to sneak properly by staying undetected and save a perk
spot for something more useful.
SNIPER

Level: 12
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [**...]
Prerequisite: Perception: 6, Agility: 6
Description: The chance to hit an opponent's head is significantly increased.
Probably by 25%. Decent, not more than that.
SPLASH DAMAGE

Level: 12
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [**...]
Prerequisite: Explosives: 70
Description: +25% area effect for all explosions you cause. If you're a pyro,
this is for you! Otherwise, well, it's decent.
UNSTOPPABLE FORCE

Level: 12
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [*....]
Prerequisite: Melee Weapons: 90, Strength: 7
Description: You do a large amount of additional damage through enemy blocks
with all Unarmed and Melee attacks. Sounds great, but think about
what it says. It increase your damage when an enemy is blocking
only. It might be semi-handy for Unarmed characters, but even
then you might want to pick an other precious perk.
________________________________________________________________________________
ADAMANTIUM SKELETON

Level: 14
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [*....]
Prerequisite: ---
Description: Your limbs only receive 50% of the damage they normally would.
Sounds amazing, but this does nothing with regards to the regular
damage taken. And how often are your limbs crippled in combat?
Well.., yeah, *sometimes*, but not *that* often. This perk has
limited use.
CENTER OF MASS

Level: 14
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [***..]
Prerequisite: Guns: 70
Description: +15% damage in V.A.T.S. when targetting the torso. Certainly
a notable perk, especially for V.A.T.S. lovers.
CHEMIST

Level: 14
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [*....]
Prerequisite: Medicine: 60
Description: Chems last twice as long. Nice, but can't you just take a second
one when it wears off? Sure, sure, you might get addicted, but
that chance isn't too high and you can always cure that "Ave"!
JURY RIGGING

Level: 14
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [****.]
Prerequisite: Repair: 90
Description: You possess the amazing ability to repair any item using a roughly
similar item. Fix a Trail Carbine with a Hunting Rifle, a Plasma
Defende with a Laser Pistol, or even Power Armor with Metal Armor.
How does it work? Nobody knows... except you. This is actually
a unique and quite handy perk, allowing you to fix a wider
arsenal of weapons and equipment.
LIGHT STEP

Level: 14
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [.....]
Prerequisite: Perception: 6, Agility: 6
Description: You never set off enemy mines or floor-based traps. Who cares?
Just be more careful and save often, or disarm the things.
PURIFIER

Level: 14
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: Unarmed Builds: [****.] / All-Round: [**...]
Prerequisite: ---
Description: +50% damage with Unarmed and Melee Weapons against Centaurs,
Nightstalkers, Spore Plants, Spore Carriers, Deathclaws, Super
Mutants and Feral Ghouls. Only useful for unarmed character
builds.
________________________________________________________________________________
ACTION BOY

Level: 16
Ranks: 2
Usefulness: [****.]
Prerequisite: Agility: 6
Description: You gain +15 AP. Nice!
BETTER CRITICALS

Level: 16
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [****.]
Prerequisite: Perception: 6, Luck: 6
Description: +50% damage bonus for all critical hits you deliver. Very nice
indeed. Unfortunately it requires relatively high PER and LCK
stats, so you might need to skip it with certain character builds.
CHEM RESISTANT

Level: 16
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [*....]
Prerequisite: Medicine: 60
Description: 50% less chance to develop an addiction to chems. Then again, if
you're careful you'll never need to build up an addiction at all.
MELTDOWN

Level: 16
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [**...]
Prerequisite: Energy Weapons: 90
Description: Enemies killed by Energy Weapons give off a corona of harmful
energy. This can cause a chain reaction. More a fun perk than
actually helpful - it won't happen all that often to have enemies
grouped together tightly enough for this to cause a lot of damage.
TAG!

Level: 16
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [.....]
Prerequisite: ---
Description: Raises one skill with +15 points. Would've been "cute" at level
10, but at level 16, this is simply not worth the effort. There
are better ways to raise your skills.
WEAPON HANDLING

Level: 16
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [*....]
Prerequisite: Strength lower than 10.
Description: Weapon strength requirements are now 2 points lower than normal.
Again, this has limited usefulness. It'd be better to select
Intense Training - besides, you wouldn't want to have low strength
in any character build.
________________________________________________________________________________
COMPUTER WHIZ

Level: 18
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [.....]
Prerequisite: Science: 70, Intelligence: 7
Description: If you are locked out of a computer, you get a second attempt.
They're back, the two useful hacking and lockpicking perks. The
solution is simple: Save before hacking, and don't force locks.
CONCENTRATED FIRE

Level: 18
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [***..]
Prerequisite: Energy Weapons: 60, Guns: 60
Description: Your accuracy to hit any body part in V.A.T.S. increases slightly
with each subsequent hit on that body part. All in all this
results in a decent increase of accuracy.
INFILTRATOR

Level: 18
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [.....]
Prerequisite: Lockpick: 70, Perception: 7
Description: If you break a lock you get a second chance. This is the worthless
twin of Computer Whiz, and no one should ever bother with it on
a level as high as 18. Even at level 2 it would be bad!
PARALYZING PALM

Level: 18
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: Unarmed Builds: [*****] / All-Round Builds: [*....]
Prerequisite: Unarmed: 70
Description: You will sometimes perform a special V.A.T.S. palm strike that
paralyzes your opponent for 30 seconds. You must be completely
Unarmed for this to sometimes happen. A good perk for Unarmed
builds, otherwise it's kind of got a limited use.
________________________________________________________________________________
EXPLORER

Level: 20
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [**...]
Prerequisite: ---
Description: All locations are revealed on the Mojave Wasteland. It's a quick
practical solution, but it's nothing you can't do yourself. Two
stars for practical uses, but otherwise zero for completionists.
It can be very annoying to not know which locations you haven't
explored yet, though, so keep that in mind.
GRIM REAPER'S SPRINT

Level: 20
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [*****]
Prerequisite: ---
Description: If you kill a target in V.A.T.S., twenty Action Points (AP) are
restored upon exiting V.A.T.S. mode. Although heavily dumbed down
from Fallout 3 (where it restored all AP), this is still a great
perk to take.
NINJA

Level: 20
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: Unarmed Builds: [*****] / All-Round Builds: [***..]
Prerequisite: Melee Weapons: 80, Sneak: 80
Description: When attacking with Melee Weapons or Unarmed you gain a +15%
critical chance on every strike. Sneak Attack Criticals do 25%
more damage than normal. A must for all Unarmed builds, and even
decent for All-Round Builds.
SOLAR POWERED

Level: 20
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [*....]
Prerequisite: Endurance: 7
Description: When walking in direct sunlight: +2 Strength and slow health
regeneration. It's like getting 'Night Person' at level 20, and
yes, it's worthless.
________________________________________________________________________________
LASER COMMANDER

Level: 22
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [****.]
Prerequisite: Energy Weapons: 90
Description: +15% damage and +10% chance to get critical hits with all
Laser Weapons. Well, that *is* quite useful!
NUKA CHEMIST

Level: 22
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [?????]
Prerequisite: Science: 90
Description: You can now create a special kind of Nuka-Cola at workbenches.
SPRAY AND PRAY

Level: 22
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [*....]
Prerequisite: ---
Description: Your attacks do much less damage to your companions. (Oh, right,
I'm level 22, so we must be so dumb to actually start randomly
"spraying" bullets at my companions when firing at enemies). The
only useful scenario would be when explosions are involved.
________________________________________________________________________________
SLAYER

Level: 24
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: Unarmed Builds: [*****] / All-Round Builds: [**...]
Prerequisite: Unarmed: 90, Agility: 7
Description: Speed of all Unarmed and Melee Weapon attacks increased by +30%.
Again, this really shows how much the developers wanted people to
"like" Unarmed builds. It's a must for Unarmed builds, but not
more than decent for all-round builds.
________________________________________________________________________________
NERVES OF STEEL

Level: 26
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [****.]
Prerequisite: Agility: 7
Description: Action Points recover much more quickly than normal. Yet another
crown for V.A.T.S. lovers.
________________________________________________________________________________
RAD ABSORPTION

Level: 28
Ranks: 1
Usefulness: [.....]
Prerequisite: Endurance: 7
Description: Your radiation level slowly decreases on it's own over time. It
removes -20 RAD every 20 seconds. The real question is, who
really cares? I say, RadAway!
________________________________________________________________________________

BETTER HEALING

Companion: Arcade Gannon

Usefulness: [***..]
Description: You regain more health from all consumable sources. Quite handy!
ENHANCED SENSORS

Companion: ED-E
Usefulness: [*....]
Description: You can detect enemies from very long distances, and stealthed
enemies can also be detected. Nifty, but not very useful.
REGULAR MAINTENANCE

Companion: Raul
Usefulness: [***..]
Description: Your weapons and equipment condition decays 50% slower. That
is actually decently useful.
SCRIBE ASSISTANT

Companion: Veronica
Usefulness: [*....]
Description: You are allowed to craft workbench items through dialogue options
with Veronica. Sounds awesome, but you might as well be patient
and find a Workbench.
SEARCH AND MARK

Companion: Rex
Usefulness: [.....]
Description: Chems, firearms and ammo in your close surroundings are all
highlighted when you zoom in with the camera. Hardly useful at
all.
SPOTTER

Companion: Craig Boone

Usefulness: [.....]
Description: Hostile targets are highlighted when you're actively aiming.
Not very useful either.
STEALTH GIRL

Companion: Lily
Usefulness: [****.]
Description: Increases Stealth-Boy duration by 200% and also increases Sneak
Attack Critical hits by +10% damage. Very nice for a companion
perk!
WHISKEY ROSE

Companion: Cass
Usefulness: [****.]
Description: Consuming Whiskey doesn't reduce your SPECIAL stats and you are
no longer at risk of getting addicted to Whiskey, but you do raise
your Damage Treshold. Useful to say the least!
_____________________________________________________________________
||
| 1.4 Traits [STA-4] |
|_____________________________________________________________________|

Traits make their return in Fallout New Vegas, and while similar to perks, they
have two major differences: 1. Traits are chosen at the very start of the game,
during your character build. Your character's traits will remain with you after
finalizing your character build. 2. Traits have negative effects besides the
benefits they can provide. All traits have one rank, and you can either choose
none, one or a maximum of two. This section analyses all available traits and
gives you some advice on which to pick.
BUILT TO DESTROY

Positive effects: +3% chance for all weapons to deliver a critical hit.
Negative effects: +15% faster condition decay for all weapons.
This trait is best taken if you want to maximize your combat potential, and if
you like to rely on luck. The downside is a fairly big one: All your weapons
will last about 1/6th less long than they normally would, which brings a lot of
costs along. Should you pick this trait, be sure to quickly invest in your
Repair skill early on. I personally wouldn't recommend this trait.
FAST SHOT

Positive effects: +20% firing rate with Guns and Energy Weapons.
Negative effects: -20% accuracy with Guns and Energy Weapons.
A typical specialisation trait, forcing you to choose between a faster firing
rate at the cost of accuracy. Its counterpart is the Trigger Discipline trait.
FOUR EYES

Positive effects: +1 PER when wearing any type of glasses.

Negative effects: -1 PER when not wearing glasses.
To be honest, this one's quite awful. It reduces your characters natural PER
by 1 point, and increases the bonus you get from glasses by 1 point (making +2).
This means that when taking perks, you'll actually need one ADDITIONAL point of
Perception to be allowed to select the perk. Friend of the Nigh, for example,
will now require 7 PER instead of 6 PER. This Trait is therefore garbage.
GOOD NATURED

Positive effects: +5 points in Barter, Medicine, Repair, Science and Speech.

Negative effects: -5 points in Energy Weapons, Explosives, Guns, Melee Weapons
and Unarmed.
A specialisation in skill sets, laying focus on negotiation skills and problem
solving skills, while deteriorating weapon skills. Depending on how you'd like
to play the game early on, this can actually be a decent pick, but remember that
it'll be more difficult to eventually create a balanced all-round (nearly)
maxed character build.
HEAVY HANDED

Positive effects: Melee and unarmed attacks do more damage.

Negative effects: Melee and unarmed attacks do less critical damage.
Only important for characters who'll focus on being a melee and/or unarmed
fighter, this trait increases the damage you do with each regular hit, but it
reduces the damage that your critical hits do. If you don't like to rely on
luck all too much, this is a great trait to boost your melee/unarmed damage
with.
KAMIKAZE

Positive effects: Grants you a extra whopping of +10 Action Points.

Negative effects: -2 Damage Treshold.
Arguably one of the best traits, this increases your V.A.T.S. with 10 AP! Since
perks such as Grim Reaper's Sprint have been dumbed down, AP has become more
important, and if you find that you're using V.A.T.S. quite often, you simply
can't let this one slip away. The -2 DT is neglectible, and a good armor will
more than make up for it soon enough.
LOOSE CANNON

Positive effects: +30% faster speed with throwing weapons.

Negative effects: -25% range with throwing weapons.
This allows you to throw faster, but also less far with throwing weapons. It's
one of those traits that makes you wonder how the development went: "Hmm, hey
guys we only have 9 traits, shouldn't we, like, make 10? Boss: "Yeah, ten's a
nice number, what do you think?" Fat Joe: "Hey, um, why don't we, like, reduce
the range of throwing weapons. Oh, and um .., we'll just increase the speed!"
Boss: "Do it, the game's deadline is in two months." It *can* have its uses,
though. If you like to use grenades and/or dynamite in small corridors, then
range isn't a big issue, but throwing one faster could save your hide.
SMALL FRAME

Positive effects: +1 AGL.

Negative effects: Your legs are more easily crippled.
Well, if you're a stats maximizer, this one's for you! It does require you to
be more careful around explosives, mines, grenades and the like. You'll want
to invest more money in Doctor Bags and Stimpaks than you'd normally would, but
combined with a slight increase in your Medicine Skill, this can be a very
decent trait.
TRIGGER DISCIPLINE

Positive effects: -20% firing rate with Guns and Energy Weapons.
Negative effects: +20% accuracy with Guns and Energy Weapons.
The counterpart of the Fast Shot trait, this one reduces your firing rate for
an increase in accuracy. If you're not into brutal characters with machine guns
and plasma rifles, but more a sniper kind of person, this could be a decent
choice for you.
WILD WASTELAND

Positive effects: Adds some (random) events and (unique) weapons.

Negative effects: Removes some (random) events and (unique) weapons.
This Perk makes the game more 'Wacky'. A notable change appears to be the
removal of the Gauss Rifle, being replaced by an Alien Blaster. It's an
attempt to 'add' replay value.
___ ___ __ _____ ___ ___ ___ _ _ _ _ ___ ___ _____ ___ _____ __
|_ _|_ _| \ \ / /_ _| _ \/ __|_ _| \| | | || |_ _/ __|_ _/ _ \| _ \ \ / /
| | | | _ \ V / | || / (_ || || .` | | __ || |\__ \ | || (_) | /\ V /
|___|___(_) \_/ |___|_|_\\___|___|_|\_| |_||_|___|___/ |_| \___/|_|_\ |_|
________________________________________________________________________[VIR]

0.69 [19 October 2010]
====== =================
o The first virgin has been released publicly.
Handle with care!
0.70 [20 October 2010]
====== =================
o SPECIAL section complete.
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ _____ ___ _ _ ___ ___ ___
|_ _|_ _|_ _| / __| _ \ __| \_ _|_ _| / __| || |_ _| _ \/ __|
| | | | | | _ | (__| / _|| |) | | | | | (__| __ || || _/\__ \
|___|___|___(_) \___|_|_\___|___/___| |_| \___|_||_|___|_| |___/
________________________________________________________________[CRD]
This document is written by Absolute Steve 2010. All Rights Reserved.
Credits:

Richard: You're one of the administrators of Supercheats.com, and

this guide wouldn't have existed without your support!
Absolute Daniel: Thank you very much, my little brother! You've been a great
help with various sections. Be sure to check out his guides
when he starts to publish his own work!
All readers: Thank you very much for reading this, sending me donations,
enjoyable thankyous and for even reading the boring sections.
_____ __ ___ ___ ___ _ _ _____ ___ ___ _____ __
|_ _\ \ / / | _ \_ _/ __| || |_ _/ __/ _ \| _ \ \ / /
| | \ V / | /| | (_ | __ | | || (_| (_) | _/\ V /
|___| \_(_) |_|_\___\___|_||_| |_| \___\___/|_| |_|
__________________________________________________[COPS]
I merely created a copy of a great copyright notice, but to get away with it I
swapped the phrase copyright for rightcopy. An other reason is so people do not
read this section as copy right (which is a great thing, as this gives you the
right to copy other people's stuff)! Furthermore, this entire document falls
under the protection of the feodal laws not written by Super Mutant Fawkes in
the year 2223. Plagiarism would be unwise, and may result in severe rapage by
Super Mutants. Most Super Mutants have one form or another of herpes. Online,
this document can only be found at GameFAQs.com and Supercheats.com. Offline,
this document can only be found at my laptop, which is at all times at a secret
location at an even more secret Vault. After my death in 2077, you may do
whatever you wish with this document, a sole exception being printing it out
with the intention to wipe, because that's just unfunny. Closing words,
rightcopy was not at all inspired by 1984.
But in case you were wondering:
This may *not* be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal,
private use. It may *not* be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed
publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web
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Allowed sites are: GameFAQs.com, Supercheats.com.
*NOT* allowed: CheatCC or Cheat Code Central, nor any other cheat websites owned
or affiliated with David Allison (Dave), owner of CheatCC. Dave/CheatCC has
infringed the copyright of countless FAQs/guides and cheats and has altered
the copyright sections of countless more FAQs/guides, often removing 'GameFAQs'
and other trusted websites from the list while adding 'CheatCC'. This is a
serious violation of simple authorship rights and it has been going on for over
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