Fallout 3 Character Creation Guide

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Fallout 3 is hailed to be one of the greatest “sandbox” games out on the market today. What a “sandbox” game means is a game that does not tie you down to follow a set path, you make your own decisions on what you want out of the game and face the consequences of said decisions as well! Yes there may be a main story, but you don’t have to follow it.

This style of playing is evident from when you first click new game and you have that oh-so-lovely cutscene of your birth. During these beginning moments of the game you pick your name, gender, and many, many other things, all of which is molding you for when you leave the vault.

Now there are many paths you can go down, so I will name but a few. Firstly, the Stealth/Thief type of character. This is for the type of person who prefers to carefully avoid fights while hiding in the shadows, and to sneak right into enemy territory to steal various items. For a character like this you will need a high perception rating to help you sneak up better on your enemies, and you will want to look out for perks such as Silent Running and Thief to help you along the way.

Another popular type of character, and the complete opposite to the Stealth/Thief character, is the Big Guns and Explosives expert. With a character like this you are hoping to get right in the enemies faces with a gun as big that you can get hold of! For a character like this you will want high endurance to help you take a beating and be better at using big guns, and a high strength to help you carry said big guns! Some perks you will want to look out for are Demolition expert and Size Matters.

Yet another type, for those who really are feeling brave is the Melee/Unarmed character. This character does as the name suggests, gets as close to the enemy as possible and punches them! Naturally you will want high Unarmed and Melee Weapons skills, but also watch out for Ninja and Iron Fist. As far as attributes go it is very similar to the Big Guns playstyle, Endurance to keep you alive and Strength so that your hits do more damage to your enemy.

The final style of play I will mention in this guide is the all-rounder, jack of all trades and master of none! This is the path I went down myself and I have no regrets. I recommend you get high perception and intelligence, as the greater your intelligence the more skill points you get to spend per level. Some perks which I found useful were Lady Killer/Black Widow and Cyborg due to the heavy use of laser weapons in the latter portion of the game.

To sum up, there will be a niche for all types of person in Fallout 3, and I am sure many people are now asking “but which is the best type?” My answer to that is none of them are the “best”, so pick the type that sounds good to you and go out there and give it a go! If played correctly any type of character can go far in the game, so go out there and have fun.

This post is part of the series: Fallout 3 Character Guides

Explore this set of guides on the various characters in Fallout 3 and how to maximize yours.

  1. Free Fallout 3 Guide: Character Creation
  2. Fallout 3. Popular styles of characters