Intelligent character build worth it?

[Joe]

Is it an interesting/satisfying/possibly-successful option to begin with an intelligent character? I try to think about it, but other than crafting and computer terminals, I see no reason to focus on repair, science, and medicine. All evidence seems to state that being the biggest, meanest caveman is the ultimate goal of character progression.

[talgaby]

High intelligence -> more skill points -> more focus on speech challenges and talking your way out of things. And of course you yourself can play the intelligent character intelligently. Scout passages that are not watched by highwaymen. Lay traps, lure enemies or wildlife to attack each other; Animal friend can be a very interesting perk sometimes.

[Vita, Mortis, Careo]

INT is probably the single most important character attribute for long-term character success.

[ARmodder]

There are side quests in which medicine or science is required to successfully complete the quest and a higher medicine skill increases the boost you get from chems as well as how many health points each Stimpack provides when used, Science is also used for certain quests as well it's good to have SPECIAL skills balanced and there are several perks that add to your SPECIAL stats I usually keep most of the SPECIAL skills at their default levels and increase Intelligence or the SPECIAL skill that affects guns.

[snapzit]

I've been playing an intelligent character for some time, and it's worked out very well. She heals better, is smart about battles, and can get into computers and disable robots faster. Of course, being smart doesn't help with cazadors at all.

[Icedfate]

i always go high intelligence just because you get more skill points...so your skills are higher at a lower level.
i always considered skill points to be more important than character level.
i take the perks to get more skill points per level and then the one to get more skill points from the skill books before anything else.
i also take the trait that gives a bonus to all skills but i take a penalty to xp so my skils are higher but i level slower.
i figure, if i do everything i'll reach max level anyway...

athough, with all the dlc pacs and a level cap of 50, its highly likely that i would get 100 in every skill by then even if i didn't find all the skill books

[ForrestFire]

Are you considering speech as part of intellegence?

[Icedfate]

i actually don't raise my speech until much later, most speech challenges are in the 50-75 range. i think the only speech challenges that require 100 are at the very end of the game and they are optional, not really needed.

right now on my second playthrough, i am level 12 and i have 50 speech and 80 repair, 70 science.
i plan to raise repair to 90 by level 14 because i like the jury rigging perk.

my guns is still 30.
raising guns, increases the dps and your accuracy in vats, but i find i don't need to use vats that often, i usually run and run and use iron sights and save vats for when the enemy is really close to me and when they are that close i get 95% accuracy anyway.

there is a perk you can take that caps your xp level at 30, i guess for the greater challenge, but all your skills will be 100 if you do everything you're gonna be maxed out or close to maxed out.

a good balance of skills might be necessary if someone wanted to do some sort of "Challenge run" where they leveled up as little as possible and only stuck to the main questline but i never played that way, i like to see and do everything so i don't really worry about my skill levels, although seeing as you can find 4 of each skill book and an addition 1-2 in the dlc packs, i try not to level any skill past 80 at least until i find the skill books.

i also usually raise my lockpicking to 75 very early on because i want to be able to pick each lock as i come up to it instead of having to backtrack and remember where they are later.
if you have 80 + the comprehension perk, reading a skill magazine will temporarily boost it to 100 to help you in those rare instances you find a very hard lock.

some recipes require 90 science, so i eventually try to get my science up there, medicine and survival increase the healing effects from stimpacks and food and unlock some perks and recipes.


the game seems balanced so that any character build can win the game but i think intelligence is important if you want to see and do everything.

i know that in earlier fallout games, you could get unique dialogue options if you played an exceptionally stupid character, like 1-2 intelligence but i never tried it here.
also, a melee focused character might not need the skill points as much if you only pump up like, melee or unarmed to 100 and completely ignore the other weapons you can be like a "dumb bruiser", but i think that would get boring after a while.

the game seems more interesting with an intelligent character

[Incunabulum]

The sad part is that its not really worth it to play a *low intelligence* character.

[Spocks Toupee]

with 16 skill points per level, I can pour a ton of points into Speech

[ForrestFire]

Originally posted by eviltwin61878:

the game seems more interesting with an intelligent character

I completely agree, there are so many small things that make the game great that could be easily missed if you are playing as low intellegence character.

[Spocks Toupee]

Originally posted by IndividualNoob:

Originally posted by eviltwin61878:

the game seems more interesting with an intelligent character

I completely agree, there are so many small things that make the game great that could be easily missed if you are playing as low intellegence character.

I agree as well, this is my first play through with a character that has a really high speech skill, and I can't believe how many speech checks, and how easily resolved some situations have been

[MissRockyqo]

Originally posted by Two Bears:

INT is probably the single most important character attribute for long-term character success.

Well said.

[roland from the game]

Originally posted by IndividualNoob:

Originally posted by eviltwin61878:

the game seems more interesting with an intelligent character

I completely agree, there are so many small things that make the game great that could be easily missed if you are playing as low intellegence character.

That being said theres a hidden conversation with the Vagrant guy or something if you have less than 3. It's pretty funny

[Brandybuck]

Probably the single most important stat in the game. Details provided by other posters above. Unless you're a brute who just barges through the game, Intelligence will give you more skill points, contribute to a couple of good skills, and give you a variety of dialogue optionsl

[Brandybuck]

p.s. I recall a tabletop RPG that took away the INT/Intelligence attribute, with the reasoning that it's the actual player and not that character who solves puzzles and figures stuff out. NPCs still had Intelligence, but players had Memory instead. Can't remember the game though.