Character Creation

This page shows the 5 steps in generating a character's stats. Note however, that there is much, much more to creating a meaningful character than simply numbers! Be sure to spend some time thinking up your character's, well, character! What is she like? What does she do? What are her goals and dreams? What are her strengths and her weaknesses? What's her family life like, if she has one? Does she have many friends, or is she a recluse? These are just a few questions to ask yourself before setting out into the Wasteland.

Step 1: Determine SPECIAL Ability Scores
In the Fallout Roleplaying Game, every character has 7 key attributes, or "SPECIAL" stats. Each letter of the acronym SPECIAL represents an ability: When creating a character, a player has 40 points to distribute between the 7 SPECIAL stats. Keep in mind that no stat can be lower than 1 or higher than 10.
 * Strength
 * Perception
 * Endurance
 * Charisma
 * Intelligence
 * Agility
 * Luck

Step 2: Generate Derived Statistics
No, it's really not as scary as it sounds! It might just take a while. Derived statistics, or secondary statistics, are based off of your SPECIAL abilities. The derived statistics, and the methods of deriving them, are:
 * Hit Points HP = 15 + STR + (2 x END)
 * Evade Rating ER = 10 + AGL
 * Action Points AP = 5 + 1/2 AGL
 * Carry Weight WG = 25 + (25 x STR)
 * Sequence = AGL + PER
 * Critical Chance CRIT = L
 * Skills Gained Per Level = 10 + INT

Step 3: Choose Skills
In the Fallout Roleplaying Game, players complete most tasks by using skills. A character's level in a certain skill is equal to the relevant SPECIAL ability multiplied by 2. When creating a character, a player chooses 3 "Tag" skills that are permanently raised by 15. The skills, and the SPECIAL abilities used to determine them, are: Perception is both a skill and a stat, but both will have separate scores, so watch out!
 * Barter = CHA
 * Energy Weapons = PER
 * Explosives = PER
 * Guns = AGL
 * Lockpick = PER
 * Medicine = INT
 * Melee Weapons = STR
 * Perception* = PER
 * Repair = INT
 * Science = INT
 * Sneak = AGL
 * Speech = CHA
 * Survival = END
 * Unarmed = END

Step 4: Choose Perk
In addition to skills and SPECIAL abilities, characters also recieve one perk at first level, and one at each level after that. Perks are passive abilities that offer a variety of boons, such as resistance to certain types of damage, extra effects when using certain types of armour or weapons, or raising a SPECIAL ability.

Step 5: Choose Traits
Traits are similar to perks, but have a penalty of some sort to offset the bonus. A player may give their character up to 2 traits when they create their character: after that, traits can no longer be gained. Note that traits are entirely optional, and a player need not take one if they don't want.