Fallout 1 Skills Guide
Skills in Fallout 1 are your character's abilities that are used to actively or passively interact with the world and the post-apocalyptic survivors. Skills are what most checks are run against in Fallout games. Each skill has a maximum of 200%, which is not necessary to reach. We'll discuss why in a moment. Each of your skill value (from 1% to 200%) affects your chance of success with that skill. Now that you're familiar with the particular SPECIAL stats that affect them, we'll discuss what each skill can do for you. Ready? Let's begin.
Character Skills in Fallout 1
Fallout 1 skills can be separated into three categories: Combat, Active, and Passive. Except for combat skills, you shouldn't raise the skills above 95%; it's not worth it. Ideally, you'll want to increase your combat skills until you get a 95% chance to hit (which is the maximum, by the way) against all enemies, from a decent range, with the weapon of your choice. Sneak and Steal are also capped at a 95% chance of success; you will never have 100% chance of success using them. In fact, you'll still get caught A LOT with a 95% chance!
When you create a custom character, you will be able to choose three tag skill, which makes training those skills easier (tagged skills are two times cheaper). However, someone new to Fallout will not know how to choose a tag skill, because it's not obvious! Lucky for you, you're reading this guide, so I'll tell you the secret: all you have to do is click the button to the left of each skill. In the picture above, the white colored skills are tagged skills. Not happy with your choice? Click on the skill again to deselect it, and then pick something else. Recommended skills to tag: Small Guns, Lockpick & Speech (unless you're going for a stupid build).
When your character will level up you will gain a set of skill points to improve your existing skills. By the way, the maximum level that you can reach is 21 (with significant grinding I might add). First, let's talk about skills you should avoid investing your time in.
Fallout 1 Skills to Ignore
You'll want to avoid investing your precious points in the following skills:
Big Guns: Large, bulky, difficult to aim. Includes Miniguns, Rocket Launchers & Flamethrowers. Big guns are only used late in the game, so, until then, I'd choose another combat skill to focus on, kapish? Formula: base 10% + Agility.
Barter: You probably won't trade much, and Charisma is more important for that anyway. Money is plentiful, just a random encounter away. However, if you want to buy or trade things cheaper, go for it. Barter's formula: (base 20% + (2 x CH)).
Doctor: You only need little to fix a crippled limb... Besides, you're better off with Stimpaks, First Aid, and resting. Heals more Hit Points than First Aid. My guess, the only reason to invest in this skill would be if you play Jinxed and break limbs often. Can be used 3 times every 24 hours. Doctor's formula: (base 15% + (PE + IN)/2).
First Aid: Not worth spending any skill points. You'll use this skill more than Doctor at the beginning of the game, because it starts out higher. But once you reach the Hub, you can increase it to about 90% using books, and honestly, you don't need more than that. Can be used 3 times every 24 hours. First Aid's formula: (base 30% + (PE + IN)/2).
Gambling: I mean, unless you really, really, like gambling? There's few rewards from gambling in Fallout 1, but if you really need the money, use this cheap tactic. Formula: (base 20% + (3 x LK)). If you have at least 50% you can win a lot of money gambling in the Hub.
Sneak: Doesn't really work or it's rarely used. Besides, remember you have "Always Run" turned on? The skill only works if you're walking... The formula is: base 25% + Agility.
TIPS: You may get the "Silent Running" perk to be able to sneak and run at the same time. A Stealth Boy (if you ever find one) will temporary boost this skill by 20% when activate. Sneak can be used to skip dangerous encounters or to kill people without anyone noticing, which is useful in assassinations (when it works).
Repair: Not many things require repairing in Fallout 1. Besides, there are plenty of books that increase this skill. Repair is really the alternative to Science, since there are occasions where either can be applied! Repair's formula: base 20% + Intelligence.
Science: Although this skill has its uses, nothing is stopping you from levelling it up with books from the Hub's library, where books restock infinitely every time you exit the dialogue. I mostly go around checking out *working* terminals (like the ones in Vault 13's library), to get the XP and some otherwise missed information. Science's formula: (base 25% + (2 x IN)).
Steal: Your character's ability to relieve NPCs of their belongings, hopefully without them noticing you! Difficult to use, because you also have to consider the NPC's facing, Perception and the size of the object (not the same as weight!) you're trying to... uhm... relieve. However, giving the fact that Steal is capped at 95%, any failed steal attempt usually means that everyone in the area will start f1sting you -- I meant attacking! Attacking you. So, unless you fancy slaughtering whole towns over a chicken (wait, wrong game), you can't use Steal. Well, maybe if you quicksave a lot. But where's the fun in that? Steal's formula: base 20% + Agility.
TIPS: Getting your target drunk will dull their perception, increasing the odds of a successful attempt. If you get the Pickpocket perk (requires AG 8, Sneak 80%), size and facing modifiers are ignored when stealing. Regardless of your skill level, you can use Steal to see what enemies are carrying (but you won't see items they're holding). You can plant items on people using Steal (hint: big bada boom).
Traps: There aren't many traps in Fallout 1. And most are not likely to kill you. Traps are only a minor hindrance to the player, especially if they have decent armor. You can raise this skill a little for convenience if you like. Traps' formula: (base 20% + (PE + AG)/2).
Throwing: Unless you're planning to throw rocks at kids for fun, you'll pass on this skill. Grenades are not that abundant in the Fallout world either + they don't do a lot of damage... You could be throwing molotov cocktails, I guess; those are relatively fun to watch in action. Throwing's formula: base 40% + Agility.
Fallout 1 Recommended Skills to Pick
Next, let's talk about skills that are recommended to invest in:
Energy Weapons: This is the best combat skill to have in Fallout 1, when you're approaching the end of the game that is. Turbo Plasma Rifle FTW! Another great gun you'll want to get is the Alien Blaster. Formula: base 10% + Agility.
Melee Weapons: Limited use at the beginning of the game, but once you get that Super Sledge, fun, fun, fun! Melee weapons include: the cattle prod, clubs, all knives, sledgehammers, spears, and crowbars. Initial level: 55% + (AG + ST)/2.
Outdoorsman: Decreases bad random encounters. And if you do enter a bad encounter, it decreases the negative effects of dehydration and rockfalls, which is nice. It is also believed to increase the odds of a special encounter. Can save you valuable time when traveling, if you're worried about that water chip timer. Formula: (base 5% + (EN + IN)/2).
Unarmed: It determines the effectiveness of unarmed attacks (fists and feet). Also affects the brass, spiked knuckles, and rocks. Most players prefer this to Melee Weapons, because of the Power Fist (available late in the game). You might want to invest in this skill at the beginning, or if you go for an unarmed build. Just keep in mind that this skill involves A LOT of running around and taking damage. Patience is key here. Ask yourself, do you really want to fight machine guns with knuckles? If the answer is yes, then go for it. Initial level: 65% + (AG + ST)/2.
Fallout 1 Best Skills
Skills you should ALWAYS invest in, in my humble opinion, of course:
Lockpick: Tag it and raise it to 100% (80% if you have lock picks). By far, the most used skill in Fallout 1. There are many locked containers and doors you'll want to unlock, preferably without needing to come back to them because you couldn't open them the first time. PRO TIP: A set of Lock Picks will provide +20% bonus to this skill, and have infinite uses (unlike a doctor's bag). Lockpick's formula: (base 20% + (PE + AG)/2).
Small Guns: Tag it! Good to take early on, this will be your primary combat skill for most of the game (unless you went for a melee build). Can be used all the way to the end. To become a respected gunman, 130-150% is recommended. TIP: Keep an eye out for those "Guns and Bullets" magazines to increse this skill faster! Formula: base 35% + Agility.
Speech: I'd tag this also. You're playing Fallout 1 for the story, right? Then this should be a no-brainer. There are many speech checks in the game, hence you have to pay attention to this skill. If you want to get all you can out of the lore, if you want people to like you, and respect you, and give you quests, this skill is where you shoud put your points in. About 120 of them would do. How is Speech calculated: (base 25% + (2 x CH)).
And that's all I've got on this Fallout 1 Skills Guide! Next, we are going to discuss perks.
Read next: Character Perks