Your Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck, of course! These primary statistics, also known as attributes, are the bedrock from which you’re chiseled. They range in value from 1 (woefully inadequate) to 10 (outlandishly prodigious). Each affects a different aspect of you and allows a specific list of 10 perks to be unlocked.
The Vault-Tec Registration Form: Primary Statistics
Tell us about yourself! Vault-Tec needs to know what kind of citizen you are to ensure your future happiness. A Vault-Tec representative should have visited you recently, and you should have chosen the values of your primary statistics. You begin with a total of 28 points, 21 of which can be spent however you wish. You can also gain an additional point by locating the “You’re S.P.E.C.I.A.L.!” book in your house in Sanctuary Hills (once you leave Vault 111).
| Name | Icon | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Strength |  |
Strength is a measure of your raw physical power. It affects how much you can carry and the damage of all melee attacks. Since every item you scavenge has a weight associated with it, the stronger you are, the more you can carry without becoming overburdened (which doesn’t allow you to run).Melee damage is inflicted by weapons you brandish with your hands, like a baseball bat. The higher your Strength, the more damage you inflict with such attacks. |
| Perception |  |
Perception is your environmental awareness and “sixth sense,” and it affects weapon accuracy in V.A.T.S. If you employ this combat technique, the higher your Perception, the greater your chance of hitting a foe. A higher Perception also reveals detected threats (red dots on your compass) at a greater distance. |
| Endurance |  |
Endurance is a measure of your overall physical fitness. It affects your total Health and the Action Point drain from sprinting. Health is the amount of damage you can take before dying, and a higher Health is more helpful if you like to charge into battle rather than lurk and shoot from a distance. As Action Points (APs) and sprinting are both incredibly important, having larger reserves of APs (and therefore the ability to sprint greater distances) is most helpful. |
| Charisma |  |
Charisma is your ability to charm and convince others. It affects your success to persuade in dialogue and prices when you barter. Raise your Charisma if you wish to complete speech challenges—conversations in yellow (Easy), orange (Medium), or red (Hard)—during discussions with others. Better bartering prices also mean Caps you receive from your scavenging and trading goes farther. |
| Intelligence |  |
Intelligence is a measure of your overall mental acuity and affects the number of Experience Points earned. Intelligence also gives you access to the Hacker perk, allowing you to unlock more difficult terminals. As you receive a Perk Point each time you rise a level (which is spent to either increase an attribute, purchase a perk, or increase a perk by a rank), decreasing the time it takes to level up can only help you. Or can it? |
| Agility |  |
Agility is a measure of your overall finesse and reflexes. It affects the number of Action Points in V.A.T.S. and your ability to sneak. It is considered a particularly important attribute to those who value stealth as a viable way to maneuver around enemy territories without being seen (while crouching). As you need the largest number of Action Points as possible if you favor V.A.T.S. combat, this is another reason to never overlook this attribute. |
| Luck |  |
Luck is a measure of your general good fortune and affects the recharge rate of critical hits. While searching for loot, your Luck determines the (random) likelihood of receiving a rare item, mod, or high-value item. In combat, critical hits help remove targets in quicker, more violently impressive ways, and decreasing the time it takes to inflict such pain is obviously helpful. |
The Benefits of Idiocy
Intelligence is the one attribute you may wish to leave low, if you’re interested in the benefits of the Idiot Savant perk, which requires a basic level of stupidity. Remember enemies become tougher as you level up, too, so expect to encounter more frightening foes if you lessen the time it takes to reach higher levels.