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| Section I - Table Of Contents |
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Section I - Table Of Contents
Section II - Rules Of Conduct
Section III - Version History & Thanks
Section IV - Introduction & Basics
Section V - Character Creation
Section VI - Character Development
Section VII - Character Equipment
Section VIII - Quest Issues
Section IX - Conclusion
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| Section II - Rules Of Conduct |
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This guides most recent version can always be found at www.gamefaqs.com.
The use of this guide is open to all and is absolutely free. It may not
be sold to or by anyone.
If you wish to publish this guide on any other website you may do so
provided you do not change the contents of this guide in any way at all.
I dont require any information about this, as long as I receive the
recognition for it.
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| Section III - Version History & Thanks |
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Version 1.1
Damnit, I made another huge mistake in the character creation process! =(
Anyway, I also made a few minor changes in the quest issues and refrased
some of my poor english in a few other areas! I pray to god that this will
be final version of this guide. Seriously people, how many decades are you
gonna play Fallout and point out my stupid mistakes? ;) I cant blame you
though, Its one hell of a great game =D
Version 1.0
Added some notes on how to deal with some quest issues. This guide is now
fully completed, unless it turns out Ive made some HUGE mistake.
Version 0.4
Changed a HUGE error in the character creation process. I think everything
should be according to plan now.
Version 0.3
Changed the guide on how to deal with Francis (thx to Poseidon for
this one). Also added a section on some quests you might miss out because
of your stats (thx to Gordon Wong for making sure I took care of this
issue).
Version 0.2
Added a summary to the character creation section. Also I corrected some
minor spelling errors and some grammar fixes. Please dont bother
e-mailing me simply to point out Im not writing don't in the proper
manner etc. Those things are so trivial and pointless Im not going to
care for one second about them.
Version 0.1
This is the fist version of this guide. I would appreciate as much
feedback and suggestions as possible concerning this guide since this is
sort of a beta release for me, considering its the first FAQ / Guide I
have ever made.
All propositions may be sent to: chutchik@hotmail.com and please set the
subject as "Fallout 2 Melee Fighter Guide".
First of all I want to thank Black Isle for a totally outstanding game.
The people who made this game are truly gifted indeed and your hard work
will always be remembered and appreciated by those of us who hold Fallout
close to our hearts. Thank you very much!
Also lots of thanks go out to GroZZleR who made the Fallout 2 "Melee
Master Character Guide". Although his guide truly is an excellent guide,
I dont exactly agree with all of his recommendations and choices, so I
simply decided to make my own guide. Since I have been playing Fallout
for a very long time and used all kinds of characters like unarmed masters,
sniper-specialists, rouges and even diplomats Id say Im pretty well suited
to make this guide but of course that does not mean Im 100% right and that
if you follow my steps you will have the perfect melee fighter.
Thx to Poseidon for the grand idea on how to deal with Francis in Broken
Hills.
Thx to Gordon Wong for basically the entire "Quest Issues"-section.
And finally thx to Max Dymond for additional info on the Quest issues and
pointing out my previous mistake on the character creation process.
Finally I just want to say that this Guide is based on my personal playing
style and preferences and although it suits my playing style perfectly it
may not suite yours quite as well, so please feel free to make whatever
changes you desire when creating your own personal character because in the
end it all comes down to making whatever choices suit your playing style
and makes the game enjoyable for YOU! Also Ill try to keep you from making
deadly mistakes, so dont worry ;)
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| Section IV - Introduction & Basics |
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First of all lets ask ourselves the main question that pops up when
reading this guide, why oh why would I make a melee character when I can
blast people sky high with my minigun, plasma rifle, rocket launcher etc.?
By people I mean deformed ghouls and mutants ;)
And the answer... Because a melee character can be as deadly if not perhaps
more so than a ranged fighter. And also because there is nothing more
satisfying than running up to your opponents through a rain of fire and
bullets to smack them around with your bare fists =D
Notice I wrote bare fists... this is mainly because the Mega Power First is
more powerful and can be sooner acquired than the Super Sledgehammer. Also
unarmed fighting is required in some sub quests in the game unlike melee
fighting. And besides, you can take advantage of the HtH Evade perk when
using Knuckles and Power Fists but not when you use melee weapons. So
considering all of these important factors I think you will soon understand
why I choose an unarmed fighter rather than a melee fighter and why this
guide is also for an unarmed fighter, ONLY!!!
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| Section V - Character Creation |
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Lets start with the unimportant choices. Name, Gender and Age. You may fill
in these in any way you like, although *SPOILER* if you choose your gender
as female and your name is Buffy you will get some equipment in The Den if
you talk to Rebecca. Personally Id say our unarmed fighter will be quite
strong enough even without some extra equipment but the choice is yours to
make.
Its all about playing whatever character you find interesting or amusing.
Although a female unarmed fighter known as Buffy gives an interesting twist
to the game if you imagine all of your enemies to be vampires ;)
Now for something that really matters. Traits!
Im going to agree with GroZZleR about the trait Gifted. Its probably one of
the best traits available. Unless you plan to increase all of your skills to
max Id say its one hell of a trade to gain 7 extra attribute points for a
measly 5 skill point loss for every level.
Now for your second trait, since you will be using unarmed and not melee
weapons that means all of your possible weaponry will be one handed. As you
might have figured out already that means your going to pick the One Hander
trait. If you are playing a female you might consider choosing Sex Appeal
since you will have an extremely low charisma (as if that truly matters in a
game like Fallout). Id go with One Hander either way, but as usual the
choice is yours to make.
Now for the attributes. This assumes you have chosen the Gifted trait. If
you havent done that Id recommend you get your brain examined ;)
Id start by lowering my strength by one so it ends up at 5. Yes, you read it
correct, I said LOWER your strength. This is simply because you will get an
enhancer that will increase your strength by 1, and the Advanced Power
Armour will give you an additional increase of 4, finishing if off with a
maximum strength of 10 so any other points will simply go to waste.
You will decrease your perception by 1 point, It will end up at 5 and
eventually at 6 after using an enhancer. Seriously now, you wont be needing
very high perception considering you will be an arms length at furthest from
your enemies, but lower than that could have some serious sequence issues,
at some times even so bad that your enemies receive two full rounds of
attack before you get your chance to counter. So that concludes our
perception to 5 in the creation stage. Note however that you will need a
higher perception for some perks. In those cases you will use either Jet or
Mentats to raise is to the required level.
Moving on to endurance. Obviously you will be taking a lot of hits since you
will often spend some rounds of running while your enemies get some free
shots at you, so this is one of your most important attributes. Raise this
one to 8 to ensure you gain a good amount of hitpoints every time you level
up. Also I recommend at least one level of the Lifegiver perk and you will
soon have more hit points than your enemies have bullets.
Ahh, charisma. Probably the most worthless attribute in Fallout 2, unless
you enjoy stupid companions who tend to burst their weapons at you while you
are running up to your enemies. Lower it as much as you possibly can. I do
this game solo, so I dont want, nor do I like charisma. Besides, you are
supposed to be an ugly brute, now am I right, or am I right? ;)
Who said you cant have brains AND brawns? You character will be bathing in
brain cells. Increase this attribute to 9. Yeah you guessed it, an enhancer
will raise it to 10. You need a high value in intelligence to be able to
talk your way in or out of whatever and to compensate for your loss in skill
points due to the Gifted trait, so setting this to 9 will be pretty much
perfect.
At last, probably the most important attribute in this game, Agility. This
basically determines how fast you are in combat. You want to be able to
throw 2 punches every turn or 5 for example? We will raise this attribute to
a maximum of 10.
And last but certainly not least, the most interesting attribute, Luck. This
one affects a lot of things in and out of combat. For example your chances
of critical hits or failure in combat amongst other things. Also a high luck
lets you experience special encounters. And most importantly, luck
determines how effective the Slayer perk becomes. With a luck of 10 you will
get a critical hit 95% of the time you make a successful melee attack. I say
10 because you will be able to raise your luck by 2 with the Zeta-Scan in
NCR. Make sure you save your game before the zeta-scan since there is small
chanse your luck will instead be REDUCED by 1.
To sum it all up I will write down the completed attributes after the
creation and also after your character is fully developed.
S - 5 --> 10
P - 5 --> 6
E - 8 --> 8
C - 2 --> 3
I - 9 --> 10
A - 10 --> 10
L - 8 --> 10
An alternative would be to lower your perception by two points and add them
to endurance, however this would almost certainly make your enemies recieve
2 full rounds of attack before you get a chance to counter, effectively
eliminating those few extra points of health. I highly recommend following
my default point allocation in the attribute process.
The first choice I think is pretty obvious by now, but for the mentally
challenged Ill write it down anyway. UNARMED FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!! You will
want to raise this skill to somewhere around 150. This includes the bonuses
from Mr. Sullivan and the boxing bags in the Sierra Army Depot.
Now for the second skill. Thats right you guessed it, Sneak. This skill is
very important to any melee fighter since you will have the ability to sneak
up to your enemies and shred them to a million pieces before they get a
chance to even react to your presence. And if your skill level is high
enough you will be able to deal damage without alerting your surroundings.
This could be important in some quests. Id raise this skill to the 130's.
Now for your third and final choice. Personally I went for Doctor, since
this will let you heal some damage without overusing your precious
stimpacks, and also you must have a high skill level in this skill to be
able to obtain the combat implants. But this skill isnt a must at all, this
is simply the skill I preferred, but I suppose you could take Lockpicking,
Speech, Stealing or whatever other skill suits your playing style. If you
choose Doctor raise it to the somewhere between 100 - 120, if you go for
stealing, lockpicking or speech, 100 will suffice.
And that concludes our character creation process. Although a good
foundation is the basics of succeeding with a new character he / she wont
make it far unless you develop him / her properly. So on to the next
section.
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| Section VI - Character Development |
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Since I included the development process in the skills, all thats left is
really the perks. Perks are the most important part of developing your
character properly, so I will go through levels 3 to 24 describing the best
choice of perks, and add some recommended perks in addition if you manage to
gain enough levels beyond 24. So here goes nothing!
Level 3: Awareness - Gives HP details and what weapon your opponent is using
Not much to say here, Awareness is one of the best perks available and lets
you really plan out and be tactical in combat. For example take out the
enemies with the best weapons first etc. This is the absolute best choice at
this level. However your perception atrribute must be at least 5 for this
perk, so if you chose to lower your perception for endurance you will have
to use Jet or Mentats to be able to choose this perk. Always save your game
before using drugs so you dont get addicted.
Level 6: Silent Running - Lets you run and stay in sneak mode simultaneously
This is really more of a comfort perk. There are definitely better choices,
but since Im practically always in sneak mode this perk really comes in
handy for me. For better developing purposes you may want to choose, Quick
Pockets or Bonus Move.
Level 9: Better Criticals - Lets you deliver more devastating critical hits
This is an incredibly good perk. Whenever you make a critical hit, this perk
makes sure you get a 20% bonus on the critical hit table which determines
the effect of your critical hit. I actually killed all the boxers in New
Reno with instant kills thanks to this perk. This perk is a must, however it
requires a perception of 6 so bring out the drugs for this one.
Level 12: HtH Evade - Gives you extra AC if you dont have weapons equipped
Lifegiver - Gives you an additional 4 hit points every level
HtH Evade: This of course does not include unarmed weaponry, such as
knuckles or power fists. Each unused action points gives 2 points to AC
instead of 1. You wont be wasting your action points like that, but its also
gives an additional bonus to your AC. That bonus consists of 1 / 12 of your
unarmed skill, so if you have an unarmed skill of 120 you will gain 10 extra
AC every turn.
Lifegiver: Not much more to say here. You get 10 hit points every level
instead of 6 (with an endurance of 8). Add another Lifegiver and you will
get 14 hit points every level. Now thats just plain scary!
Level 15: Bonus HtH Attacks - Hallelujah! Instead of 3 normal attacks you
get 5
Hurray! Its finally here. You get 3 aimed attacks instead of 2, or 5 normal
attacks instead of 3. Now thats some good shit ;)
Level 18: Silent Death - Lets you hit for double damage when sneaking behind
Lifegiver - Gives you an additional 4 hit points every level
Silent Death: This is a great perk if you use sneaking properly. If you hit
someone from behind while sneaking the victim takes double damage. Whats
funny is that you can actually do this several times in one round if you
keep moving behind your opponent.
Lifegiver: Not much more to say here. You get 10 hit points every level
instead of 6 (with an endurance of 8). Add another Lifegiver and you will
get 14 hit points every level. Now thats just plain scary!
Level 21: Bonus Move - 2 additional action points to use for movement only
Lifegiver - Gives you an additional 4 hit points every level
Bonus Move: Lets you use 2 action points each turn for movement only. This
can come in quite handy considering you have to waste a few action points
moving between your opponents to kill them all.
Lifegiver: Not much more to say here. You get 10 hit points every level
instead of 6 (with an endurance of 8). Add another Lifegiver and you will
get 14 hit points every level. Now thats just plain scary!
Level 24: Slayer - Practically every successful hit becomes a critical hit
It doesnt get any better than this. Finally the perk we have all been
waiting for. With a luck of 10, 95% of all your hits become critical, and
with the Better Critical perk you will be creating some serious havoc.
Level 27 and beyond I recommend you add either Lifegiver, or Bonus Move. If
you still have more perks to distribute theres always room for TAG! or maybe
a few Action Boy perks.
Well, thats all folks on this section. Now you know how to create and
develop one hell of an unarmed fighter.
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| Section VII - Character Equipment |
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This is all the equipment that will be available to you. And how to acquire
it. All of the following weapons require 3 action points to use by default.
Brass Knuckles - 2-5 damage
You can buy these pretty early in the game, but you wont have to!!
Spiked Knuckles - 4-10 damage
You can steal these from the Dunton brothers in Klamath, and you will be
using them for quite a while. Or you can just kill them like I did ;)
Power Fist - 12-24 damage
Now we are talking some serious weaponry. The best way of getting these is
to arm wrestle Francis in Broken Hills. To succeed with this task you need
at least 9 strength and 8 luck so ull need to use some buffout. The drawback
is that you might get addicted when using drugs, but there is a way around
this problem. You dont care if Fransic gets addicted do you? Well, unless
you are a members of MRIS (Mutants Rights In Society), simply use a couple
of Jet on him, rest for an hour, and then arm wrestle him while his strength
has dropped substantially (thx to Poseidon for this one). PS. You will still
have to use at least 1 dose of buffout, or Francis wont even let you try to
armwrestle him! DS.
Mega Power Fist - 20-41 damage
This weapon can be acquired quite easily after beating Francis for his
power fist. Simply take your new weapon to New Reno Arms, but dont enter
from the main entrance. Instead make sure the salesman is in main entrance
room, and sneak in the back, past the guard dogs and climb the stairs hidden
behind a shelf. Down there you will encounter a man who will upgrade all of
your weapons completely free.
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| Section VIII - Quest Issues |
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Although this is not a walkthrough, but a character creation guide I have on
request added this section to solve the issues with not being able to get
some quests because of low charisma.
The first quest affected by the characters low charisma is the "Find Johnny"
quest. One way to raise you charisma in Fallout 2 is by using mentats.
As always when using drugs save you game before actually taking the mentats
incase you become addicted, and then speak to Balthaz for the quest. Im not
100% sure that this works since I never tried it myself, but with the
mentats you will probably be able to raise your charisma to average, so I
assume that will be enough to get this quest. If not, then you could get the
charisma enhancer and a pair of sunglasses and try again.
The second series of quests is getting accepted by the Wright family. I
never knew this myself since luckily I always got it on the first try. It
was however noted that you wont always get it that easily, so just save your
game and to be on the safe side swallow some mentats and become a prize-
fighter before speaking to any of the Wrights.
The third, and to my knowledge, final major quest affected by low charisma
is the killing Bishop quest you get from his wife after sleeping with her.
Aside from using mentats to aid you in this quest I suggest you become a
prize-fighter AND a pornstar before speaking to Mrs Bishop at all. As with
the previous quest Im not completely sure if this actually works, but this
is the best you can do with this character anyway. If you wanna gimp a well
made character for the sake of 2 quests, by choosing different stats, that
is up to you.
I think the best sollution would be to simply use the drugs, and the
charisma enhancer and also to get the sunglasses from Mason, but dont let
the description fool you. Its not enough to have them in your inventory,
however if you equip them they will raise your charisma by yet an
additional point, thus raising your chanses of getting all of these quests
and any other that might be affected by your charisma.
Another sollution is to choose the Sex Appeal trait instead of One Hander
during the character creation proccess, however that would mean having to
spend at least 50 additional skillpoints in you unarmed fighting skill to
reach the same level of skill you would have with the One Hander trait. Also
this would only make one or two of theese quest available while probably
making it impossible to do the last one or two depending on your gender due
to the drawbacks of that trait.
Thx go out to Gordon Wong for getting my attention on this matter and also
Max Dymond for additional info!
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| Section IX - Conclusion |
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That brings this guide to an end. I hope this guide will convince many that
an Unarmed character in Fallout 2 can be quite powerful indeed, and that the
use of heavy weaponry isnt the only way to beat this game.
Please, if you notice anything wrong in this guide, or if you have
suggestions on how to improve it, do not hesitate even for one second to
send me a mail with your much appreciated help. Also any feedback at all
would be appreciated concerning whether you liked or disliked this guide and
any reason behind it.
As I mentioned before simply send a mail to: chutchik@hotmail.com
with the subject: "Fallout 2 Melee Fighter Guide"
