Recommended starter build for people that don't know what they want to be?

[John Faraday]

Got the game a year back, never touched it, and now I want to start playing. The only issue is that since I've never played the game I don't know what I want to specialize in, and the stat menu is a bit intimidating.

[Stolids]

http://www.gamesradar.com/fallout-new-vegas-character-build-guide/

Bunch of fun builds for different play styles.

[Tealtyr]

Except don't level up charisma.
You are not allowed to level up charisma.
Start game.
Set charisma to one.
Never mention it again.

[Bansheebutt]

Guns + Sneak is the most basic of builds and will get you through pretty much every combat situation in the game.

You'll also want Speech and/or Barter if you hope to achieve Non-Violent or "Ideal" outcomes in a number of situations.

Really though, the most fun thing about an RPG the first time through is building what *you* think fits your character and seeing how it fares in the world. It's an SP game that benefits from multiple playthroughs, you don't have to play "optimally," especially the first time around.

[John Faraday]

Originally posted by ︻デ┳═ー:

Except don't level up charisma.
You are not allowed to level up charisma.
Start game.
Set charisma to one.
Never mention it again.

So it's basically "that stat" then?

[talgaby]

For many, yes, CHA is the dump stat. It's an old, bad RPG habit, especially on video game RPGs.

[ÄmJii]

CHA does affect your companions Damage Resistance & Damage Bonus, so it's not utterly useless. If you wanna play a "pacifist" who lets his/hers companions do the dirty work, aim for 6 CHA and Ferocious Loyalty perk.

Other than that, what Blendermouth said. NV doesn't require you to min-max even on Very Hard, feel free to experiment!

[red255]

It has uses. it makes your NPC's more deadly and harder to smush. but I hate Strong NPCs because then they just kill everything for you.

Weapon wise I prefer energy. Because I'm like that. Started up a new game and I got a Laser pistol (GRA with +3 damage mod), a plasma rifle and a Laser RCW before leaving Primm.

I might have trouble taking down deathclaws with an RCW. but thats about it. *MIGHT* Bit hard on ammo at the moment. but thats what guns are for.

I got a 10 MM and caravan shotgun. as well as a 9 mm for trash. even with no skill in guns its handling well enough (though the plan was the laser pistol with bulk ammo for trash)

but yeah I got 2 RCW with about 900 rounds. before leaving primm. (converted from small energy cells thru microfusion)

you could choose something else. but I got a plasma rifle, and a RCW and a laser pistol before leaving primm. also some plasma pistols I didn't bother with. (could have grabbed a GRA +7 damage mod one but figured the rifle would set me better)

[Scraps]

I personally suggest doing a Sniper build that relies more on VATS than actually aiming. It's probably the easiest I can think of.

[Sen]

I put points on level-ups into Gun, Sneak, Speech, Science and Repair during my first playthrough.

Gun/Energy Weapons increases are great because it's an easy form of combat, I don't recommend melee or unarmed as the playstyle is solid with them, most enemies in late game are armed with guns or energy weapons so melee isn't all that effective (especially in the last mission, no spoilers 4 u). Explosives can also be great, but rounds for explosive weapons aren't very common.

Sneak is great if you want to avoid combat with pointless things, it's also great for avoiding kazodores and deathclaws. It's also works in harmony with Guns as you can sneak attack people and critical strike them, often resulting in a one shot kill. It also helps pickpocketing if you're into that, but I never bothered.

Speech is great for late game, it gets you out of some insane fights that are solid to beat. You can also gain reputation with people from most factions just by picking the right speech options.

I put points into Science as it lets you hack terminals in various places to make life in the wasteland so much easier, you can skip a lot of sticky situations and there's some cool easter eggs in some terminals too. Trying not to spoil things for you here xD

Repair, one of the most useful things. The one time I was really glad I put points in here is when I needed to go through a Vault for a quest and I needed 80 repair to use the elevator. Otherwise, I would have had to run through the whole facility and waste ammo on loads of enemies. Repair isn't essential, but it's useful.

I've never bothered with any other stats apart from these so I can't express my opinion on them. There's also mods you can get which add extra statistics to invest into, never used them either but I'm sure they're just as good as default ones.