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This page lists all perks in Fallout 2. |
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General information[]
In Fallout 2, perks are selected every 3rd level (or every 4th level if you have the Skilled trait). There are 70 regular perks and 12 special perks. For perks with multiple ranks the benefit listed should be interpreted as "per rank".
You can take chems (e.g., Mentats or Buffout) to increase desired SPECIAL stats temporarily; This way you can get perks that wouldn't normally be available. Perks taken under drug influence remain permanent, even when your stats fall under the requirements after the chems wear out.
List of perks[]
Not all perks are equal due to the way the game is structured. A quick breakdown of the usability of perks is as follows:
- Recommended
- Awareness: Essential for any sort of planning in combat.
- Bonus Rate of Fire/Bonus HtH Attacks: Self-explanatory.
- Slayer and Sniper: Ultimate combat perks, for a brawler and gunner respectively.
- Good
- Action Boy: Universally useful. Bonus Move is good for melee characters.
- Gain Agility: Good when your Agility is an even number, to get an extra action point.
- Living Anatomy: +5 damage per attack and a small bonus to Doctor (which is actually useful in Fallout 2).
- More Criticals and Better Criticals: Good pairing if you don't plan on getting either Slayer or Sniper. Otherwise, Better Criticals is strictly superior.
- Quick Pockets: Improved access to inventory.
- Average
- Dodger and Toughness: Protection is good.
- Gain Charisma, Gain Intelligence, Gain Luck, Gain Perception: Depends greatly on the situation, allowing the player to respectively gain an additional party member if the new value is even, more skill points if Intelligence is less than 7 or 8, improving critical hits, and/or sniping. Situational.
- HtH Evade: Perfect for unarmed experts (unarmed weapons like the power fist can be used in conjunction with this perk).
- Lifegiver: Accumulates a lot of hit points over the course of the game. Probably a good choice for those who get hurt often.
- Magnetic Personality: Useful for those with low Charisma and an even score to boot (otherwise, Gain Charisma is superior).
- Mutate!: A good choice of traits renders this useless, unless used to replace Finesse with Fast Shot after taking Sniper.
- Tag!: Can be used on previously increased skills to gain a whole lot of skill points.
- Bad
- Bonus HtH Damage and Bonus Ranged Damage: The bonus to max damage is too low to make a noticeable effect (short of using burst weapons).
- Explorer, Ranger, Scout: Marginally helpful if playing with low Luck and Hard difficulty. Otherwise pointless.
- Gain Strength: Pointless with power armor and chems.
- Pickpocket: Failing at stealing causes everyone to turn permanently hostile regardless. Save scumming is effectively mandatory for any sort of normal gameplay, rendering the perk null.
- Silent Death and Silent Running: Sneaking is poorly implemented and the perks follow the pattern. Silent Death only affects the first attack made, while Silent Running is a convenience.
- Smooth Talker: Diplomat characters will have a good starting intelligence.
- Pack Rat, Strong Back: Inventory capacity is hardly an issue, especially with a party member to use as a mule.
- Weapon Handling: Negligible impact. More skill points in the governing skill compensates for this.
- Useless
- Adrenaline Rush: Negligible bonus requiring the character to be heavily wounded.
- Animal Friend: Animals are not a threat.
- Cautious Nature, Mysterious Stranger, Pathfinder, Scrounger, Survivalist: All world map perks are useless, as the effects are marginal at best and there's more than enough gear to find in it.
- Comprehension: Does not affect the threshold that makes reading skill books useful.
- Cult of Personality, Karma Beacon, Presence: The reaction system is broken, rendering these useless.
- Demolition Expert: Marginal use.
- Earlier Sequence: Minimal impact on combat.
- Educated, Gambler, Harmless, Master Thief, Medic, Mr. Fixit, Negotiator, Salesman, Speaker, Survivalist: There are enough skill points in the game without the need to waste perks on getting more skill points.
- Empathy: Marginal effect.
- Faster Healing, Healer: Healing rate is never an issue.
- Fortune Finder, Master Trader: Money is not an issue in the game.
- Gain Endurance: Lifegiver is better than raising a dump stat.
- Ghost: Even less useful than Silent Death.
- Heave Ho!: No effect at Strength 4.
- Here and Now: Gaining levels to gain a perk that gains a level. Useless.
- Kama Sutra Master: Achieves nothing that Sexpert, Sex Appeal, or good stats don't do already.
- Light Step: Utterly marginal.
- Night Vision, Sharpshooter: Marginal effectiveness in any combat situation. Directly increasing a weapon skill has a much more noticeable effect.
- Pyromaniac: Marginal effect.
- Quick Recovery, Stonewall: Marginal effect.
- Rad Resistance, Snakeater: Radiation and poison are marginal threats.
- Swift Learner: Useless. The purpose of levels is to gain perks. The purpose of perks is not gaining more levels.
Abilities[]
Perks in this category provide miscellaneous bonuses that do not fit in other categories. Awareness is among the most useful of perks.
Name | Level req | Other requirements | Ranks | Benefit |
---|---|---|---|---|
Awareness | 3 | PE 5 | 1 | Examining a target shows hit points, weapon and ammunition count |
Comprehension | 3 | IN 6 | 1 | 50% more skill points when reading books |
Faster Healing | 3 | EN 3 | 3 | +2 bonus to your healing rate |
Here and Now | 3 | 1 | Immediately gain an extra level | |
Kama Sutra Master | 3 | EN 5, AG 5 | 1 | Some characters more likely to have sex with you |
Quick Pockets | 3 | AG 5 | 1 | Inventory access during combat only costs 2 AP |
Strong Back | 3 | ST 6, EN 6 | 3 | Carry an additional 50 lbs. of equipment |
Swift Learner | 3 | IN 4 | 3 | +5% bonus whenever XP is earned |
Educated | 6 | IN 6 | 3 | +2 skill points at level up |
Empathy | 6 | PE 7, IN 5 | 1 | Reaction levels are shown when in an in depth conversation |
Magnetic Personality | 6 | CH < 10 | 1 | +1 to the number of party members who can be recruited |
Pack Rat | 6 | 1 | Carry an addition 50 lbs. of equipment | |
Demolition Expert | 9 | AG 4, Traps 75% | 1 | Explosives do more damage and always detonate on time |
Light Step | 9 | AG 5, LK 5 | 1 | 50% reduction in your chance of setting off a trap |
Master Trader | 9 | CH 7, Barter 75% | 1 | 25% discount when purchasing items from stores and traders |
Mutate! | 9 | 1 | Change one of your traits | |
Gain | 12 | (Statistic) < 10 | 1 (x7) | +1 to the respective Statistic |
Combat[]
A group of useful perks, especially those increasing the frequency of attacks. Bonuses stack.
Name | Level req | Other requirements | Ranks | Benefit |
---|---|---|---|---|
Bonus HtH Damage | 3 | ST 6, AG 6 | 3 | +2 points of damage for hand-to-hand and melee attacks |
Earlier Sequence | 3 | PE 6 | 3 | +2 to attack sequence |
Night Vision | 3 | PE 6 | 1 | 20% reduction in darkness level |
Bonus Move | 6 | AG 5 | 2 | Two extra APs per turn that can be used only for movement |
Bonus Ranged Damage | 6 | AG 6, LK 6 | 2 | +2 points of damage for attacks with ranged weapons |
Heave Ho! | 6 | ST less than 9 | 1 | +2 to Strength when determining range of a thrown weapon |
Pyromaniac | 9 | Big Guns 75% | 1 | +5 points of damage with fire-based weapons, more violent fire death animations |
Sharpshooter | 9 | PE 7, IN 6 | 1 | +2 to Perception when determining range modifiers |
Action Boy | 12 | AG 5 | 2 | Additional action point available in combat |
HtH Evade | 12 | Unarmed 75% | 1 | +2 for each unused Action Point, plus 1/12 your Unarmed skill to Armor Class at the end of a combat turn |
Living Anatomy | 12 | Doctor 60% | 1 | +10% to Doctor and +5 damage to living creatures |
Weapon Handling | 12 | ST < 7, AG 5 | 1 | +3 to Strength for weapon calculations |
Bonus HtH Attacks | 15 | AG 6 | 1 | Hand-to-hand attacks cost 1 AP less to perform |
Bonus Rate of Fire | 15 | PE 6, IN 6, AG 7 | 1 | Ranged weapon attacks cost 1 AP less to perform |
Dialogue[]
Perks in this category are useless, either tied to broken mechanics or easily bypassed with drugs.
Name | Level req | Other requirements | Ranks | Benefit |
---|---|---|---|---|
Presence | 3 | CH 6 | 3 | +10% to initial reaction of non-player characters |
Smooth Talker | 3 | IN 4 | 3 | +1 to Intelligence for the purposes of dialogue |
Karma Beacon | 9 | CH 6 | 1 | Karma is doubled for the purposes of dialogue and reactions |
Cult of Personality | 12 | CH 10 | 1 | People will always view you favorably, no matter your reputation and their alignment |
Survivability[]
Perks in this category should generally be chosen only if no better perks are available. See notes for details.
Name | Level req | Other requirements | Ranks | Benefit |
---|---|---|---|---|
Stonewall | 3 | ST 6 | 1 | Reduction in chance to be knocked down during combat |
Toughness | 3 | EN 6, LK 6 | 3 | +10% to damage resistance |
Adrenaline Rush | 6 | ST < 10 | 1 | +1 to Strength when your HP drops below 50% |
Quick Recovery | 6 | AG 5 | 1 | Getting up after being knocked down in combat only costs 1 AP |
Rad Resistance | 6 | EN 6, IN 4 | 2 | +15% to Radiation Resistance |
Snakeater | 6 | EN 3 | 2 | +25% to Poison Resistance |
Dodger | 9 | AG 6 | 1 | +5 to your Armor Class |
Lifegiver | 12 | EN 4 | 2 | Additional 4 Hit Points on level-up |
Worldmap[]
Name | Level req | Other requirements | Ranks | Benefit |
---|---|---|---|---|
Cautious Nature | 3 | PE 6 | 1 | +3 to Perception during random encounters |
Scout | 3 | PE 7 | 1 | Amount of viewable map increased |
Fortune Finder | 6 | LK 8 | 1 | Additional money is found during random encounters |
Pathfinder | 6 | EN 6, Outdoorsman 40% | 2 | 25% reduction in travel time on the world map |
Explorer | 9 | 1 | Higher chance of finding special places and people in random encounters | |
Mysterious Stranger | 9 | LK 4 | 1 | Chance you will gain a temporary ally in random encounters |
Skills[]
These perks provide flat bonuses to skills or modify them. They are best avoided, as the skills they affect have marginal use in gameplay, with the exception of Tag!.
Name | Level req | Other requirements | Ranks | Benefit |
---|---|---|---|---|
Healer | 3 | PE 7, IN 5, AG 6, First Aid 40% | 2 | 4-10 more hit points healed when using First Aid or Doctor skills |
Thief | 3 | 1 | +10% to skills: Sneak, Lockpick, Steal and Traps | |
Survivalist | 3 | EN 6, IN 6, Outdoorsman 40% | 1 | +25% to Outdoorsman |
Gambler | 6 | Gambling 50% | 1 | +20% to Gambling |
Ghost | 6 | Sneak 60% | 1 | +20% to Sneak in dark conditions |
Harmless | 6 | Steal 50%, Karma 50 or more | 1 | +20% to Steal |
Negotiator | 6 | Barter 50%, Speech 50% | 1 | +10% to skills: Speech and Barter |
Ranger | 6 | EN 6 | 1 | +15% to Outdoorsman |
Salesman | 6 | Barter 50% | 1 | +20% to Barter |
Silent Running | 6 | AG 6, Sneak 50% | 1 | Able to sneak and run at the same time |
Speaker | 9 | Speech 50% | 1 | +20% to Speech |
Living Anatomy | 12 | Doctor 60% | 1 | +10% to Doctor and +5 damage to living creatures |
Master Thief | 12 | Lockpick 50%, Steal 50% | 1 | +15% to skills: Lockpick and Steal |
Medic | 12 | First Aid 40% or Doctor 40% | 1 | +20% to skills: First Aid and Doctor |
Mr. Fixit | 12 | Science 40% or Repair 40% | 1 | +10% to skills: Repair and Science |
Tag! | 12 | 1 | Pick an additional Tag Skill |
Criticals[]
General perks affecting criticals.
Name | Level req | Other requirements | Ranks | Benefit |
---|---|---|---|---|
More Criticals | 6 | LK 6 | 3 | +5% chance of critical hits |
Better Criticals | 9 | PE 6, AG 4, LK 6 | 1 | 20% bonus on the critical hit table |
Slayer | 24 | ST 8, AG 8, Unarmed 80% | 1 | All HtH attacks are critical hits |
Sniper | 24 | PE 8, AG 8, Small Guns 80% | 1 | Increased chance to score a critical hit with ranged weapons |
Weapon perks[]
Weapon perks are enjoyed when one uses a specific weapon.
Name | Weapons wielded | Benefit |
---|---|---|
Weapon Accurate | Various | +20% bonus chance to hit |
Weapon Knockback | Sledgehammer Super sledge Louisville Slugger Boxing gloves Plated boxing gloves |
Every five points of damage knocks the target back one hex |
Weapon Long Range | Various | Doubles the effective range of the weapon |
Weapon Penetrate | Various | Reduces target's Damage threshold to one-fifth it's normal value |
Armor perks[]
Armor perks are enjoyed when one wears a specific piece of armor.
Name | Armors worn | Benefit |
---|---|---|
Combat Armor | Combat armor Brotherhood armor |
+20 Radiation resistance |
Powered Armor | Power armor Hardened power armor |
+3 Strength, +30 Radiation resistance |
Special perks[]
See also[]
- Fallout perks
- Fallout 3 perks
- Fallout: New Vegas perks
- Fallout 4 perks
- Fallout Tactics perks
- Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel skills