Fallout 4 – character system trailer
Bethesda has released a trailer that takes a look at the Character System that grants you many custom possibilities when creating your very own Vault Dweller in Fallout 4 and the various abilities that you will be granted with its levelling system. Coming from the Bethesda blog, below are official details on the Character System:
They have also released further details and an image detailing the many Perks within the game that you will acquire as you progress during its campaign, as seen below.
Fallout 4 will release for the PC, PS4 and Xbox One on November 10th.
The first choice you make, early in the game, is the starting value from 1 to 10 of your 7 SPECIALs: Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck. Each week we’re releasing videos that give you a look at what those skills do in the game (from Vault-Tec, of course). Fallout 4 – S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Video Series.
When selecting your starting SPECIALs, you can assign 28 points. This makes it difficult to initially max out certain SPECIALs, but you can still start with a 10 if you choose to neglect others. Even though you pick your SPECIALS early before the bombs fall, we do let you change them when exiting the Vault into the Wasteland, after you’ve played for a little.
Levelling is experience point (XP) based like Fallout 3, not skill-based like Skyrim. But levelling speed is closer to Skyrim, and not as slow as Fallout 3. This means you’ll be getting more opportunities, especially early on, to level up and select a Perk. Additionally, whereas Fallout 3 had an initial level cap of 20, Fallout 4 has no level cap, and we’ve balanced the game to keep the content and challenge going for higher levels.
As you can see, each SPECIAL has a Perk assigned for each rank of the SPECIAL, from 1 to 10. You can select any Perk up to the rank of your SPECIAL. If you have a 10 in Charisma, you can select the Intimidation Perk that lets you manipulate human enemies into doing your bidding.
It was our goal that all the Perks be balanced amongst each other, regardless of if they required a 1 or a 10. The higher the SPECIAL requirement, the more focused or exotic the Perk was for that playstyle. Take for example the Agility 1 Perk Gunslinger (20% more damage with pistols), and the Agility 10 Perk Gun Fu (your 2nd target in V.A.T.S. takes 25% more damage regardless of weapon).
What’s important is that each of these Perks is actually a mini Perk tree*, with multiple ranks that also do new things. Gun Fu above allows even more damage the more targets you select, increasing to instant Critical Shots. Gunslinger has ranks that up the range of pistols, add a chance to disarm enemies, and even instant limb crippling shots.
You can find more details over at the Bethesda Blog.