Fallout 4 Character and Perk System

Published: September 24, 2015 7:27 PM /

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Fallout 4 Perks

Fallout 4 is right on the horizon and Bethesda is releasing more and more information about the game as we get closer to its release date. Already we have seen the release of the Bethesda S.P.E.C.I.A.L video series which help educate gamers on what each of the Special stats entail, they have now just released information about how the perk system will work on Bethesda.net.

When you start the game you will be given 28 Special points that you can freely assign into your character. This means if you really want you could max out two of your stats, as long as you're ok keeping your other stats way down. You will be picking all of these stats before the bombs fall and you get catapulted into the wasteland but if you find you don't like your original selection then you will be able to redo the stats when you leave the vault.

You gain experience in the wastelands as you complete quests and kill baddies and this experience will go to your characters level, which has no cap. Each of these level ups gives you an upgrade point so that you can unlock a new perk or get an upgrade for one that has already been unlocked.

Fallout_4_Perk_Poster_web
Click here for a full screen view

Don't let this confuse you as it doesn't just mean that there are 70 perks for you to attain as you play the game as each of the perks are their own minitree, with the exclusion of a few that only have one rank such as the Awareness Perk. This means that if you unlock a perk such as Gunslinger you could then rank it up further so it might up the range of pistols, add a disarm ability or even instant limb cripple. This might mean that while upgrading a perk it might not be a direct upgrade like for Strong Back being able to carry more, but might be something along similar lines like being able to quick travel while encumbered. You can't just unlock all of these instantly though as these tree perks require you to be at a certain level before you're able to use them as well as invest additional perk points. 

With each SPECIAL having 10 Perks, there are 70 base Perks. With Perk ranks, it increases that number to over 270. That number also includes a top-level Training perk for each SPECIAL, so that you can essentially skip a regular Perk and raise a SPECIAL by 1.

Bethesda has admitted that it might sound complicated, but that it's an elegant system and will, "reward both investing early in a playstyle, as well as growing your character over the course of the game." A lot of the perks that you have seen in Fallout 3 will be making a return in this new system where they could be part of a perk tree. On top of that you can also get perks from reading magazines located around the world. Some can give you a perk in it's entirety while others can be used to rank up a perk.

Grognak the Barbarian_new

Bethesda finished up their blog post by also announcing that because they like the Perk poster so much every physical pre-order copy of Fallout 4 will also come with one, that way you can keep focusing towards the next level.

What do you think of the new perk system for Fallout 4? What elements of the old system will you miss? Was there anything you really didn't like about the old system?

Have a tip, or want to point out something we missed? Leave a Comment or e-mail us at tips@techraptor.net


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Andrew has written Video Game and Entertainment news, reviews, and guides for 10+ years. As Senior Content Manager, he assists in creating and editing… More about Andrew