The Breakdown: Fallout 76 Character System and Perks Explained

A lot of information was revealed during the Fallout 76 panel yesterday at QuakeCon 2018, where Development Director Chris Mayer, Project Lead Jeff Gardiner, and of course, Game Director Todd Howard, took the stage to answer in-depth questions about what we can expect when Fallout 76 releases this November. As the game is played entirely online, one of the biggest points of discussion was centered on how, exactly, character progression and the S.P.E.C.I.A.L system would work, especially given stats like Charisma, which seems like it’d only be useful against NPCs.

Chris, Jeff, and Todd gave a wealth of details for these topics, but if you watched the panel, you might just realize how confusing some of those details actually were. So, we’re here to break it down for you.

Being a Better You

The S.P.E.C.I.A.L system is making its return, which should look familiar to anyone who’s ever played a Fallout game. Unique additions to the S.P.E.C.I.A.L system were first detailed in the “Being a Better You” video, which is part of the overall “You Will Emerge” Vault-Tec video series.

In “Being a Better You”, we got a look at several stacked cards that make up a particular aspect of the S.P.E.C.I.A.L system. Players, for example, will be able to acquire “Bodyguards”, “Friendly Fire”, “Quack Surgeon” and “Animal Friend” perks as part of the overall Charisma stat; whereas a perk like “Grease Monkey” can be equipped under the “Intelligence” stat.

Because the game is completely online, teaming up with others is almost a given. In fact, Mayer seems to suggest at one point that roaming with other players will make your experience better than flying solo. Because of this, whenever you do find yourself in a group, you will be be able to share your particular perk cards to make your team stronger and take down a variety of enemies.

For the full details, you can watch the full “Being a Better You” video below.

Perks + Leveling Up

“Being a Better You” was then followed up with a deep dive into the character system from the panel.

According to Howard, each time you level up, you pick any S.P.E.C.I.A.L (strength, perception, endurance, etc.) that you want to increase. Then, you will pick a perk within that S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Gladiator, a melee perk, was used as an example for Strength. Since the perks are now cards, players will have to equip those cards depending on the number of points they have available. The more players level up, the more perk cards will become available.

One of the big things to note is there is freedom in leveling up and choosing perks. For example, players can pick any perk within any S.P.E.C.I.A.L that their character meets the requirements for each time they level up.

Swaps + Perk Card Packs

Perks can be swapped at anytime for any situation, and you can also combine the perks to create more powerful versions of them. Say for example, you already have the Gladiator perk equipped, but want to choose it a second time (three seems to be the max) so that your melees inflict 20% damage, instead of 10%. You will be able to rank up to the second perk level, but keep in mind this will cost your character even more points.

Perk Card Packs were also introduced and are seen as the “wild cards” of the game. They look to act in a similar manner to the bonuses in Fallout Shelter, where you receive a lunchbox of miscellaneous items for completing certain tasks.

Perk Card Packs include a variety of four cards, which aims to give players more choices, and which oftentimes suggesting certain perks they may not have thought to previously equip. Players will receive Perk Card Packs every two levels, but once level ten is reached, the Perk Packs will start coming every five.

In order to combat the power curve of the game, the level ups stop at fifty. However, players will still be able to receive and equip perks for an ever-changing and continuous online experience.

Fallout 76 will release on November 14 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.