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Skill advancement[]

Each skill has its own skill level, which is expressed as a percentage. Skill levels can be increased by allocating skill points earned from gaining levels. Skills can also be improved by reading specific books or completing quests within the game.

Raising a skill one percentage point costs one skill point. If the player character has a specifically tagged skill, one skill point will raise the corresponding skill by two percentage points.

When purchasing skills, if the skill type is tagged, two skill % (at 1-100%) are given for each skill point spent. There are no half skill points for a cost of one. Similarly, when buying skills at cost two or higher, two or more skill points must still be purchased at once, for a cost of two, or three for three, etc. (E.g. if a skill is at 101%, and tagged, the next purchase must be of two skill, taking the skill to 103%, for a cost of two skill points.)

To raise a skill one percentage point (or two if it is tagged) when its current percentage value is between or including:

  • 1% to 100% costs 1 skill point
  • 101% to 125% costs 2 Skill points
  • 126% to 150% costs 3 Skill points
  • 151% to 175% costs 4 Skill points
  • 176% to 200% costs 5 Skill points
  • 201% to 300% costs 6 Skill points

Note that if the second of the two skill points bought for a tagged skill ends up above the transition between two costs, the cost is the lower one. For example, if a skill is at 100% and tagged, spending one skill point takes the skill to 102% for the cost of one skill point.

Skill points can be left unspent and will remain, to be spent later. This could conceivably be useful in the event of a hurdle in the game of unknown type that would prevent further progress, e.g. a locked door. Any unspent skill points in excess of 99 are lost.

Perks can be left unspent and saved until later. When the perk option opens simply select cancel and it will close. The perk window will keep reopening each time one enters the character screen but each time it can be closed again with cancel. However, one cannot stack perks; if they have avoided selecting a perk and gain another one, the first perk will be lost*.

Note: This is no longer the case in the current version of Fallout 2 being sold on Steam and GoG. The current purchasable version has a pre-installed mod called sfall (v3.2a for Steam and GoG, v2.9a for Bethesda.net) which allows you to store multiple unspent perks without losing them.

Effect of stats on skills[]

SPECIAL stats (Strength, Perception, etc.) modify skills with a considerable bonus. The game keeps track of this bonus throughout the game, in real time. Any changes to stats, (e.g. chem effects, aftereffects, and addiction effects, the Hubologist zeta scans, Gain (statistic) perk, red memory module enhancement, mirrored shades equipped, ear bitten off by the Masticator etc.) during the game add to or subtract from this modifier.

Effect of difficulty settings on skills[]

  • Combat and tagged skills are unaffected by difficulty settings.
  • Active and passive skills are lowered by 10 (%) when the difficulty is changed from "normal" to "hard".
  • Active and passive skills are raised by 20 (%) when the difficulty is changed from "normal" to "easy".

Maximizing skill point gain/cost ratio[]

Reducing the base stat modifier of skills with chem effects, and/or by changing the difficulty to hard, can reduce the cost of skill points if it lowers the skill below a skill cost threshold. For example, Science can be raised to 135% for only one skill point per % by lowering Intelligence to zero with Mentats' aftereffects or Psycho effects (there is a limit of two chems without saving and reloading, but that will doubtlessly be necessary in any case to avoid addiction), and raising the difficulty to "hard" before spending. It can be raised a further 20% if needed, afterwards, by setting the difficulty to "easy" (same goes for reading books). This also works for higher tiers of skill point cost. Note, however, a player buying the higher tiers is doubtless in late game or finished with the game story, and may prefer to just wait for or look for the Vault City designer notes after finishing the Enclave Oil Rig.

List of skills[]

Note: The Fallout 2 Hintbook increases all skills to 300%. To avoid cluttering the table, it is not listed for each individual skill.

Combat skills[]

Skill Associated stat(s) Associated skill book Initial value
Small Guns Agility Guns and Bullets 5% + (4 x AG)
Big Guns Agility 2% x AG
Energy Weapons Agility Cat's Paw issue no.5 2% x AG
Unarmed Agility, Strength 30% + 2 x (ST + AG)
Melee Weapons Agility, Strength 20% + 2 x (ST + AG)
Throwing Agility 4% x AG

Active skills[]

Skill Associated stat(s) Associated skill book Initial value
First Aid Perception, Intelligence First Aid Book 2 x (PE + IN)
Doctor Perception, Intelligence 5% + PE + IN
Sneak Agility 5% + (3 x AG)
Lockpick Perception, Agility 10% + PE + AG
Steal Agility 3% x AG
Traps Perception, Agility 10% + PE + AG
Science Intelligence Big Book of Science 4x IN
Repair Intelligence Dean's Electronics 3% x IN

Passive skills[]

Skill Associated stat Associated skill book Initial value
Speech Charisma 5% x CH
Barter Charisma 4% x CH
Gambling Luck 5% x LK
Outdoorsman Endurance, Intelligence Scout Handbook 2% x (EN + IN)

Modding[]

When setting up custom perks, here is the list of Perk Image files. Count down to image you want.

Example Perk using Luck Image:

[t11] 
NoHardcode=1 
Name=MyPerk 
Desc=Replace Drug Reliant with +5 strength, -9 intelligence, +50% to Outdoorsman 
Image=6 
StatMod=0|5|4|-9 
SkillMod=17|50
Skilldex.LST
Image Number Filename (.FRM) Description
0 STRENGTH StrengthBasicStat
1 PERCEPTN PerceptionBasicStat
2 ENDUR EnduranceBasicStat
3 CHARISMA CharismaBasicStat
4 INTEL IntelligenceBasicStat
5 AGILITY AgilityBasicStat
6 LUCK LuckBasicStat
7 LEVEL Level
8 EXPER Experience
9 LEVELNXT NextLevel
10 HITPOINT HitPoints
11 POISONED Poisoned
12 RADIATED Radiated
13 EYEDAMAG EyeDamage
14 ARMRIGHT CrippledRightArm
15 ARMLEFT CrippledLeftArm
16 LEGRIGHT CrippledRightLeg
17 LEGLEFT CrippledLeftLeg
18 ARMORCLS ArmorClass
19 ACTIONPT ActionPoints
20 CARRYAMT CarryWeightCarryAmount
21 MELEEDAM MeleeDamage
22 DAMRESIS DamageResistance
23 POISNRES PoisonResistance
24 SEQUENCE Sequence
25 HEALRATE HealingRate
26 CRITCHNC CriticalChance
27 SKILLS Skills
28 GUNSML SmallGuns
29 GUNBIG BigGuns
30 ENERGYWP EnergyWeapons
31 UNARMED Unarmed
32 MELEE MeleeWeapons
33 THROWING Throwing
34 FIRSTAID FirstAid
35 DOCTOR Doctor
36 SNEAK Sneak
37 LOCKPICK Lockpick
38 STEAL Steal
39 TRAPS Traps
40 SCIENCE Science
41 REPAIR Repair
42 SPEECH Speech
43 BARTER Barter
44 GAMBLING Gambling
45 OUTDOORS Outdoorsman
46 KILLS Kills
47 KARMA Karma
48 REP Good/Bad
49 REPBRSRK Berserker
50 REPCHILD ChildKiller
51 REPGOOD Champion
52 ALCHOHOL AddictionAlcohol
53 ADDICT AddictionDrugs
54 TRAITS Traits
55 FASTMETA FastMetabolism
56 BRUISER Bruiser
57 SMLFRAME SmallFrame
58 ONEHAND OneHander
59 FINESSE Finesse
60 KAMIKAZE Kamikaze
61 HEAVYHND HeavyHanded
62 FASTSHOT FastShot
63 BLDMESS BloodyMess
64 JINXED Jinxed
65 GOODNATR GoodNatured
66 ADDICT DrugAddict
67 DRUGREST DrugResistant
68 NIGHTPER NightPerson
69 SKILLED Skilled
70 GIFTED Gifted
71 PERKS Perks
72 AWARENES Awareness
73 HND2HND BonusHTHAttacks
74 DAMAGE BonusHTHDamage
75 BONUSMVE BonusMove
76 BONUSRNG BonusRangedDamage
77 BONUSRAT BonusRateofFire
78 EARLYSEQ EarlierSequence
79 HEALRATE FasterHealing
80 MORECRIT MoreCriticals
81 NIGHTVIZ NightVision
82 PRESENCE Presence
83 RADRESIS RadResistance
84 TOUGHNES Toughness
85 PACKANIM PackAnimal
86 SHARPSHT Sharpshooter
87 SILNTRUN SilentRunning
88 SURVIVAL Survivalist
89 MSTRTRAD MasterTrader
90 EDUCATED Educated
91 HEALER Healer
92 FORTUNFD FortuneFinder
93 BETRCRIT BetterCriticals
94 EMPATHY Empathy
95 SLAYER Slayer
96 SNIPER Sniper
97 SILENTD SilentDeath
98 ACTION ActionBoy
99 MENTALBK MentalBlock
100 LIFEGIVR Lifegiver
101 DODGER Dodger
102 SNAKEEAT Snakeater
103 MRFIXIT MrFixit
104 MEDIC Medic
105 MTRTHIEF MasterThief
106 SPEAKER Speaker
107 HEAVEHO HeaveHo
108 FRIENFOE FriendlyFoe
109 PICKPOCK Pickpocket
110 GHOST Ghost
111 CULTOPER CultofPersonality
112 SCROUNGR Scrounger
113 EXPLORER Explorer
114 FLOWER FlowerChild
115 PATHFNDR Pathfinder
116 ANIMALFR AnimalFriend
117 SCOUT Scout
118 STRANGER MysteriousStranger
119 RANGER Ranger
120 QUIKPOCK QuickPockets
121 SMOOTHTK SmoothTalker
122 SWFTLERN SwiftLearner
123 TAG Tag
124 MUTATE Mutate
125 BETRAY Betrayer
126 BUFFOUTS BuffoutAddiction
127 DEFENDER DefenderRep
128 DEMON DemonRep
129 DESPAIR DespairRep
130 EXPERTSX Expert
131 FIGHTER FighterRep
132 GIGOLO Gigolo
133 GRAVEROB Grave-robber
134 GUARDIAN GuardianRep
135 IDOLIZED IdolizedRep
136 JETADICT JetAddiction
137 LIKED LikedRep
138 MADEMAN MadeManRep
139 MARRIED MarriedRep
140 MENTATS MentatsAddiction
141 NEUTRAL NeutralRep
142 NUKACOLA NukaColaAddiction
143 PORNSTAR Pornstar
144 PSYCHO PsychoAddiction
145 RADAWAY RadawayAddiction
146 SCOURGE ScourgeRep
147 SHLDHOPE ShieldofHopeRep
148 SLAVER SlaverRep
149 TRAGIC TragicCardGameAddiction
150 VILLFIED VillifiedRep
151 VIRGIN Virgin
152 WANDERER WandererRep
153 HATED HatedRep
154 GENERIC GenericVaultGuy
155 ADRNRUSH AdrenalineRush
156 CAUTIOUS CautiousNature
157 DRMLARMR DermalArmor
158 GECKOSKN GeckoSkinning
159 H2HEVADE HandtoHandEvade
160 HARMLESS Harmless
161 HERE&NOW HereandNow
162 KARMABCN KarmaBeacon
163 KMASUTRA KamaSutraMaster
164 LITESTEP LightStep
165 LVNGANAT LivingAnatomy
166 MAGPERS MagneticPersonality
167 PACKRAT PackRat
168 PHNXARMR PhoenixArmor
169 PYROMNAC Pyromaniac
170 QWKRECOV QuickRecovery
171 STONWALL Stonewall
172 VCINNOC VaultCityInoculations
173 WEPNHAND WeaponHandling
174 DIVORCED Divorced/Widowed
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