Your seven attributes are cleverly formed into the acronym “SPECIAL”, which stands for Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility and Luck.

Attributes do a number of things for you-depending on what the actual attribute is, but they all give a 2 point bonus to their related skills for each point in that attribute. For example, if your Strength was 5 your base Melee Weapons skill would get a 10 point bonus. Luck is the exception, which gives a 1 point bonus for each two points in Luck to all your skills. This also means that when determining your skill points, each skill starts out with at least a +2 bonus (for your minimum of 1 in each attribute.) But… more on that later. A brief description of each attribute will be given, as well as list what bonuses it gives. Below the chart listing the nuances of the effects of that attribute will be the suggested starting score for each attribute.

Implants¶

Instead of Bobbleheads, in New Vegas you have Implants. Again, anybody who played Fallout 1 or 2 shouldn’t be surprised by the concept of shelling out caps to have your character surgically augmented. You can get one Implant per point of Endurance you have (not counting points gained from gear worn or from getting an Endurance-boosting Implant). Naturally, this means you shouldn’t use Endurance as a dump stat, at least, and at most, if you’re a power gamer, you should strive to have a high Endurance to get as many Implants as possible. The Implants are listed below, along with the Caps they cost, and the bonuses they give. Note that buying an Implant rewards you with a perk corresponding to that Implant, which is how the Implants will be listed below. Also, there is no significant down-time associated with these surgeries; you shouldn’t starve to death or dehydrate from having a surgery, even though it does fast-forward time by three hours.

Obviously these Implants differ in potency… the Sub-Dermal Armor Implant is better than a Toughness perk, and for Hardcore players, how can life get much better than health regeneration? On the other hand, for a build like the one in this guide (one which uses Charisma as a dump stat) it might seem mindless to bother getting enough Endurance in order to boost Charisma.

You can buy the Implants from Doctor Usanagi at the New Vegas Medical Clinic. Check the “New Vegas Medical Clinic Run” section to see how to reach this area with a new, low-level character.

Why Get the Monocyte Breeder Implant?¶

The Monocyte Breeder is NOT a combat implant. It heals too slow to make any difference in a fight. Why bother with it then? Well, two reasons, one good, one bad. First the bad reason-save a few essential considerations, such as meeting perk requirements, weapon requirements, and having enough Intelligence (and hence skill points) to max out all your skills, there are few good reasons to invest more or less into many of the attributes. Simply put, the health and extra implant you can get with a point of Endurance is worth more than what the other SPECIAL attributes offer. Now for the good reason-in Hardcore mode, the Monocyte Breeder is not a lackluster implant, as it will allow you to heal by resting, waiting, or even fast traveling. Sure as hell beats having to snarf food, constantly drink from a water source, or make yourself a Stimpak pin-cushion.

Lonesome Road DLC Bonus Attribute¶

At the end of the “Lonesome Road” DLC you’ll get one of four perks, depending upon your actions… the only interesting thing you need to focus on here is the fact that all these perks will give you one SPECIAL point to allocate-just like picking an Intensive Training perk, but for free! It’s something to keep in mind, but since it happens so late in the game, it’s not really an important “build” consideration. Putting it in Luck and getting the 1% critical hit chance is a fine way to spend this perk.