art by appleman86

Earlier this month, Bethesda started releasing their "Vault-Tec educational video series" on the different S.P.E.C.I.A.L. attributes as they will appear in the quickly upcoming Fallout 4. Over the last few weeks, Bethesda has given us their videos for Strength, Perception and Endurance.

Initially, I was going to wait until all seven videos where out before doing a blog post on the series. I still intend to do that blog. However, I am mentioning and linking the released videos now in conjunction with showing of Bethesda's new video on Fallout 4's character system. The video reiterates what we have already heard, but reveals a tasty number of the new perks and answers a few frequently asked questions.

For example, as well as the level 1-10 perks in the chart, there is clearly a "level 0" line of attribute training perks. One of the perks that the video focuses on is the level 10 Charisma perk "Intimidation". We see that the perk has three levels, with the higher levels adding new and different things that can be done with the perk. Additionally, while you can take Intimidation "right out of the Vault" if you have Charisma 10, the second and third ranks of the perk have level requirements (level 23 and 50). This means that while you can design a character to have that character-defining perk you want virtually immediately, getting the most powerful and/or versatile version of that perk is some ways off.

We get to see the entire initial Charisma perk tree, although we still don't know what abilities will come with buying additional ranks in most of them. These perks also reveal a few interesting tidbits about the game mechanics. For example, we now know that if you have a companion, friendly fire is a danger... unless you have the Charisma 8 perk "Inspirational" to negate it. Other revealed perks include an Intelligence perk that will upgrade your PipBoy to show the path to your nearest quest target.

Along with this, we now have a fully-revealed perk chart!

As promised above, here are the three S.P.E.C.I.A.L. videos released so far. I'm eager to hear what you think about them, so let me know in the comments below.

Strength

Perception

Endurance

All in all, I'm excited. This is new and innovative for the franchise, yet still feels very much like Fallout to me. Let me know your thoughts on the new S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system now that we have this healthy dose of information.

Any idea what your first Fallout 4 character's S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Talent will be?