Hey guys,

I plan on starting my first adventure in Fallout 2.
I finished Fallout 3 times, so I am not new to the game, however I do know some things do differ.
What I am looking for is not turning my first character into an unplayable one.

I will play on hardest difficulty and I want to try a (mostly) melee oriented combat (later on I usually pick plasma guns).
I usually drop CHA in F1, but I don't know if this will affect me in a a hard way in F2. I don't care much for companions, but if I don't pick any, will I still be able to win all fights (or lose any quests they might have to offer) or will I won't have access to extra-content companion-related?

My stats will be something like these (there may be inconsistencies, as I am at work now):
STR 6 / PE 6 / EN 6 / CHA 2 / INT 8 / AGY 10 / L 8
- Bloody Mess and Gifted.
- melee weapons, lockpick and speech

I am open to any general advices but please no spoilers.

Thanks in advance for your time and help.

You've played Fo1 more than once. Fo2 is basically the same game with some technical and interface improvements. You do not need any advice... :>

EDIT: Sorry! I forgot about main advice - get Killap's Unofficial Patch or Restoration Project:
http://www.killap.net/

I recommend having a couple companions, they do make things much easier, and are rewarding to have along too. I think there are a couple companion quests, but you can have them with you temporarily/drop them/or not even let them into your party and still do them, I THINK. (someone else will know better, it's been a while for me)

I also recommend only choose 1 weapon type. If you want to melee, stick with melee. If you want energy weapons, stick with energy weapons. Splitting your skill points into 2 weapon types is a bad choice, imo, and just makes you weaker than you need to be. I always play with energy weapons in F1+2, and can get by well enough using a small gun and knife and grenades until I find the first energy weapon.

why skill point in speech but not have higher charisma? if you want dialogue options and such, charisma is good

also if you're going to solo, you might want to tag first aid instead of lockpick as you'll need the advantages there.

hard difficulty is hard

bloody mess and gifted are the 2 I always choose too

Especially Marcus, give him a big gun and he'll mow down all your companions so you don't have to care about them anymore! great!

Honestly, the companion system is fucked up in both fallouts. If you want to play with them it's okay, if you don't (like the op) you probably want to have one as a mule, but no more. that's entirely possible and you don't need companions to finish the game at all. I'm not sure about melee here, cause I did not play melee, do the later melee weapons like power fist count as melee or energy? Cause for a ranged fighter sticking to one weapon type does not make any sense, you probably want short and energy weapons, cause you'll *need* short weapons at the beginning and you want energy weapons later. you won't get them so soon if you play *correctly*.

I did not need so much skills in Fallout 2 anyway, many of them are rather useless, special or can be raised by different ways until you need them.

Hey guys,

Thank you for taking time to help me out.

I already started the adventure with what I posted in the first post.
As a matter of fact, I don't look to make a perfect character, nor do I intend to get most of the game (if I miss something, it's always a nice surprise to bump into it in a later playthrough).

However, I hear that you can (and you must) increase your skills past 100%? Is there an upper limit to these? If no, what is the minimum threshold at which you are proficient?

Small note:
About low CHA and high Speech: the idea I have in mind is that I also kind of try to roleplay a bit. So he's a not-so-charismatic fellow, who can however convince other people that he is right (without appeals and fake-smiles). He's a straight fellow who confronts enemies face-to-face: the closer to them, the better. But since he's also passionate about technology weapons, he has plans on learning to use them. And as a general guideline, he's a good-doer, however not a saint.

Looking forward to your replies.

Have a "safe and very productive" day.

300% is the max, the higher the skill the more does it cost to rise them. you probably want some skills at around 150%, increase them until you feel fine with the output, this system works well in Fallout.

OK, thanks a lot!
(I randomly marked a solution, since you all were helpful)

You can raise all skills above 100 but it's not worth it, only exception is getting the hit chance with your favorite weapon always up to 95 percent.


If you have the European version with removed children I recommend to patch them back into the game. I don't recommend putting any points into first aid. There are books like in FO1 and if you fail you can retry, loosing only a little time.

It's also totally overshadowed by doctor which heals more HP, heals crippled limbs, allows taking the living anatomy perk and there are even a few skill checks for it in the game so if there are leftover points put them into doctor instead.

yes, doctor, derrr, wow! I wasn't thinking when I typed, my brain went "healing skill!" and typed first aid.