How do I increase one of the SPECIAL stats like intelligence?

[vic_viperman]

Do these stats level automatically or what? Example: I need 1 more point on intelligence for a quest, but you can't increase SPECIAL stats when you level up?

[Joel]

If you wanna do it ligitly you either have to take the perk "Intense Training" which you can take at level 2 & up to 10 time, Go to Doctor Usanagi & buy an INT implant which you can only do once for each stat or if you have the Lonesome road DLC you can beat it & earn a SPECIAL point. Also provided if you dan't need the stat to last that long there are plenty of chems, food or drink you can take to raise your stats for a limited time. Also there are some clothing &/or armor that will raise your stats as long as you wear them.

[Haerken]

You can increase intelligence when you level up and choose the Intense Training perk. You can add one point to any special attribute.

[Vic Evicerator]

Also, if you need it just to pass a speech check, pop a mentat before you engage the dialogue. Chem or equipment-based boosts to SPECIAL stats don't work for allowing you to get perks, but are good for almost everything else dependent on SPECIAL stats.

[Haerken]

You can also buy a body modification at the Vegas Clinic to increase your intellegence by one point.

[kaffekoppen]

You don't get SPECIAL points by leveling up. Three ways to raise stats *permanently*:

1. Perks (intense training). Usually a poor choice. You may think you want those SPECIAL points, but in 98% of all cases you'd be better off with something else. It can help you recover from a poor initial choice of SPECIAL though.

2. Implants. You can only get one +1 boost per SPECIAL. You can only have as many implants as your endurance. All permanent endurance boosts increase this EXCEPT for the endurance implant.

3. Special perks you earn for quest completion. Lonesome Road gives you +1 to any SPECIAL at the end of it. Old World Blues also has stat-buffing perks.

Also note that some perks from Old World Blues are listed as implants, but they don't count as implants. Only Usanagi at the New Vegas Medical Clinic sells actual implants.

Some people (like myself) do the "clinic run" on every new character. The goal is to reach the clinic and the int implant right away so you get the maximal number of skill points.

[hghwolf]

Originally posted by kaffekoppen:

Some people (like myself) do the "clinic run" on every new character. The goal is to reach the clinic and the int implant right away so you get the maximal number of skill points.

Don`t get this at all. Where`s the advantage to starting with 9 INT and then getting the Implant to just starting with 10 INT ? You don`t have more SPECIAL overall...

[kaffekoppen]

Yeah you do. If you start at 9 and get the implant instead of starting at 10, you have 1 more point to spend. Even if you spend that point on endurance to get to have that implant, endurance has other bonuses that make it worthwhile.

What I don't get is why so many people swear by high intelligence characters. If you have all DLCs, you can get 100 in everything even with below average int. My last character started with 3. Usanagi takes pity on you if you have low int and offers a discount on the int implant :)

Int is also the easiest stat to boost through the roof with gear and chems for those few int checks.

[hghwolf]

It`s a "burst" strategy. You end up very slightly weaker overall but advance more rapidly early on. And lots of people don`t get to Vegas Medical for quite some time anyway.

Less "gamey" basically.

[Sanjuro357]

The higher your intelligence, the more skill points you get when you level up. Another thing to keep in mind is that the implants will not work to get a SPECIAL to 10. e.g. if you have Int of 9, you can't get it to 10 with the implant. What I do is get Int to 8, go to the clinic and get the implant so Int is at 9, then use Intense Training to get the Int to 10.

[kaffekoppen]

@Richard: That's just not correct. You can get your stats to 10 using implants. Done it many times.

I know there is some weird bug with Reinforced Spine where it might not provide the full bonus if you already have the strength implant. This could cause what you mention, but the bug did not seem to affect my last character. I got strength to 10 anyway.

[G]

player.forceav intelligence 10

[Sentient_Toaster]

Originally posted by kaffekoppen:

What I don't get is why so many people swear by high intelligence characters. If you have all DLCs, you can get 100 in everything even with below average int. My last character started with 3. Usanagi takes pity on you if you have low int and offers a discount on the int implant :)

Not everybody is willing to scour the entire map for skillbooks, or to cheat themselves and look up all their locations on the wiki.

[Sanjuro357]

Originally posted by kaffekoppen:

@Richard: That's just not correct. You can get your stats to 10 using implants. Done it many times.

I know there is some weird bug with Reinforced Spine where it might not provide the full bonus if you already have the strength implant. This could cause what you mention, but the bug did not seem to affect my last character. I got strength to 10 anyway.

You're right, I mis-remembered. Your character's Endurance affects the number of implants you can get, basically the base number of your endurance = the number of implants you can get. If you get the endurance implant, it doesn't increase the number used to calculate how many implants you can get.

OP, you can find some useful info here:

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout:_New_Vegas_SPECIAL