Hi ive played fallout 1 and a bit of 2 but ive always wanted to make a melee character that would work yet never been able to. Does anyone know if there is a chance to make a melee character that isnt a brute that just swings a sledgehammer. I was thinking of making a melee char that maybe wields a really powerful high end knife. And maybe use stealth a bit to lower the enemies chance to gang bang me. Does anyone have any ideas for this I was thinking of high agility, above average perception, max endurance and ok strength making the char into an ac powerhouse that cant be hit and still stand toe to toe with bastard raiders and others.

Any ideas?

I've not played a melee character myself but I have heard that they are definitely viable. As for them not simply being a "brute that just swings a sledgehammer", I'm not so sure though. I think that the Super Sledge is one of the best melee weapons and may be considered "essential" for a melee build. If you want a knife though, the Ripper isn't much worse than the Super Sledge but unlike the sledge it uses small energy cells for ammo. You might also want to consider unarmed combat... the Power Fist is also highly regarded and many like it better than the sledge because it doesn't knock enemies back, so you can keep hitting them. It also uses small energy cells though.

It might be possible to be less "brutish" by being stealthy, as you suggest. Anyone else tried something like that?

EDIT: I'm referring to the options in Fallout 1. There may be more options in Fallout 2.

Thanks for the info. Just wondering since ive always wondered if this was possible. Say i wanted to try a one handed weapon ranged guy that uses desert eagles and smgs primarily. I would definitely take the one-handed trait in the creation of the character making it so i could hit much better than usual. Would that be a possible build for getting through the game. Ive also thought of actually using first aid or doctor which up till now i have no idea about. Some say these are useless but i still believe doctor might be better. Know anything about any of that?

Edit-And do throwing weapons have any significance as to an actual weapon or are they just good for grenades Cause i dont see any perks that add to the damage of them or throwing knives for that matter-it would be cool if you can reuse knives that you threw at an opponent that you killed. Such a great game that i can think about all this. Sorry for all the questions.

I've heard of people playing through the game with only one-handed guns, but I think this may have been done as a "challenge" playthrough meaning it might be harder than if you also used some two-handed guns. As for throwing weapons, I think they are generally considered to be rather weak; even grenades are not as powerful as you'd expect. They can be OK as supporting weapons but having your character's primary focus be throwing weapons will probably be very hard.

I'm less familiar with first aid and doctor. I think that part of the problem with first aid is that in most cases you can just rest until your wounds are healed, and there's usually plenty of stimpaks around. But it could be fun to experiment with them. One thing I like about Fallout is that even if different character builds aren't necessarily "easy" to play, it's often still possible to get through the game with them.

I just started a game with a fast shot/bloodymess and tagged small guns, speech and steal. Im going to make this character runthrough evil karma just for kicks and hope on wiping out all towns and npcs in the game just so for kicks. A long time ago one of my friends told me that they officially slaughtered every single character in the whole world of arcanum the rpg. He said that eventually the tarantian government sent an army after him with like 40 soldiers on map saying he needed to die because he was evil incarnate or w/e. He said it took a few tries but eventually he took them all out a five person party. I dont hope to do that, but i will be going in solo. Hopefully it will be fun.

Melee only is possible in both Fallouts, it's a little harder (so you might save this up for the second playthrough) but doable quite well, I've replayed Fallout1 with a melee character.

I'm always playing with one handed guns, namely the .223 Pistol, but I don't play for the challange, that's just my favourite weapon which is powerful enough so I can use it all the way to shoot Horrigan in the eye.

My character is always quite diplomatic though, so I rarely need to slaughter thousands that would justify burst weapons.

After I beat the game and built an all powerful character, I did try to kill everyone in the game once, but it's definitely NOT fun, even with burst weapons. The yellow jumper junkies are so annoying, on the first gunshot they start crawling to the edge of the map so slow, that you'll spend all night in TB combat. Not to mention when they go off-screen and there is no way to target them, but it's enough to keep you in combat mode.

Thanks for the advice guys, very helpful. Im making this char into a bullshitter through and through. Steal from people, bullshit them with speech and if that doesnt work-blow them away with a desert eagle. With steal as one of my main skills i am already racking up the experience as people have plenty of cash that they hopefully get more of (almost unfair). Im surprised people dont use steal moreoften- it saves a lot of time, and is fun. Especially since im going the evil way.

If you play properly, steal is not too much fun if you're a good guy, but it can be a nice addition for evil characters. What's the worst that could happen? Just shoot them if they complain.

I have to admit, as much as I hate god mode and built in cheats, I love to find borderline cheating glitches in games, so I use steal with a good char whenever I feel like it, and just save/load a lot until I get it done. The fight with the slavers is so much easier after you've stripped all mercs of their ammo and guns. There were also a couple of traders in FO2 who stored all your money on them, it was great fun to properly buy their whole stock for free.

Melee is definitely possible (particularly in FO2.)
I'm not so sure about FO1, but in FO2 there was this mechanical chainsaw-knife or some such. Simple knives and such should also work.

I've done FO2 completely unarmed, just kicks and punches.
There's something *very* satisfying in taking out a super mutant with a single well placed punch! :D

The trick is piling the perks on melee skills, there are some insanely powerful tricks you'll get that way. Also, take lots of agility so you'll get the speed and accuracy, and strength to do damage.

And *always* aimed shots, kick them in the eyes! :)

I've heard that the following tactic is quite effective:

Get a (super) sledgehammer then aim for the legs and when you've crippled your opponents go for the eyes.

Have fun :)

Nice idea jonni! I just crippled a raider that way with my gun. Does anyone know if knives and hand knuckles count as 1 handed weapons cause i took one-handed and fast shot so i can use the smg and still use the combat knife. I hope it does, then i'd be set.

Knives at least are one-handed weapons, fists should be as well.

Fast shot perk makes it impossible to aim at a specific bodypart! That in turn makes it almost impossible to succeed in the long run with knives or fists. With armored opponents, you need to start targeting heads and eyes before long.

You'll still do fine, just need to use guns a bit as well.

I like that particular perk combo myself, it's great fun to blast away with a magnum, and not taking the time for aimed shots makes the combat roll along faster and smoother.

Man you werent kiddin Jarmo. The desert eagle rocks! I made it my mission to find one right after i heard there was one in the game. I went into the raiders fort or base and immediately ran up to the main guy. I told him that im a sicko and he asked me to prove it so i killed the prisoners (its fun to be evil in this game). I searched everyones pockets to see if they had a magnum until i managed to make it to lvl 3. I got the awereness feat which tells me what everyone has which for this character is very helpful. I found a lone girl with a magnum and blow her away with my pistol. I then snatched the magnum and ran the hell outta there barely making it out.

I'm prally gonna need to go back there to take them all out but for now thats ok. I decided im going to make a extreme critical based build on this char with more criticals tagged 2 times at least. Then ill take better criticals and ill be set with more rate of fire so i can shoot more as well. If i have any room left bonus move will help me run away if need be. Hopefully i have enough room to take all those. This game is so much fun!