To help you survive, here is a comprehensive list of nearly every single hostile critter, humanoid and nearly-unclassifiable creature you will come across one way or the other. Be wary, just because you know what they are like does not mean you can easily take them down. So make sure to read the recommended actions bit about twice or thrice, just so you know if it is time to fight or take flight.

The radroach is the very first enemy you will encounter in the world of Fallout 3 (not counting the bullies during the party), they are small and relatively harmless. The issue here is the fact that you are dealing with roaches mutated to giant size thanks to radiation exposure. Not only are these roaches now the size of a basketball, they have also developed a taste for human flesh and will attack when they see you. When killed, a radroach with drop radroach meat not really all that useful, but still worth picking up at the start of the game in order to earn more bottlecaps.

Thankfully, radroaches are pretty easy to kill: a couple of hits from a baseball bat is often all it takes to take one down. Guns are also effective in dispatching these pests, though it is recommended to save ammunition. The only time radroaches are a true danger is when they are in large numbers or are distracting you from a greater threat. Thanks totheir small size, it is relatively easy for a single radroach to sneak up on a player to land a quick bite, so be sure to keep an eye on your radar in case you decide to look down to deal with the roach.
  
 

Much like the radroach, the bloatflyis nothing more than a typical blowfly that has grown to super size thanks to the radiation. The issue here is that they tend to fly around randomly and will shoot players with some form of slimy needle projectile (according to some sources, they fire larva at targets). As a threat, blowflies are close to the bottom of the scale, but it is important for players to take them out fast as they tend to draw attention from other creatures in the wild. In fact, it is not too uncommon that a quick scuffle with a bloatfly ends with a long heated battle against a yao guai. Though not really much of a concern later in the game, but for low level characters, this is more than enough reason to dispose of the bloatflies fast. Lastly, they drop bloatfly meat, pretty cheap and heavy. But still worth selling if you can spare the weight allotment.

Killing a bloatfly simply takes a little bit of skill unless you can spare a few action points for VATS. This is because they tend to stay at a distance making them hard to kill with a melee attack and their flying pattern takes a while to get used to. In the late game, when fighting larger creatures and abloatfly, you can use the Grim Reapers sprint perk ability for a quick AP refill. To do this, simply unload all you AP on the larger target such as a deathclaw. Then wait for the AP bar to refill slightly, once you have enough to pull off a single shot, unleash it on the bloatfly (the perk will automatically refill your AP after making the kill, allowing you to unload another round of VATS attack on the deathclaw).
  
 

The brahmin possess the most interesting mutation we have ever seen in a creature: giving it two heads. For the most part, these mutated cows tend to be quiet, peaceful and docile. They are often found in human settlements as a source of meat (since no Brahmin milk is found in the game, it is to be assumed that these do not produce an edible type of milky) and are easily domesticated to perform the simple task of a pack animal. They are common and easy to find, in fact, you will find one just outside of the Megaton clinic.

However, not all are nice and tame. There are some brahmin that seem to have gone rabid and it is likely that you will encounter these wild beasts in your trek across the wasteland. Sadly, there is no visually discernible way to tell if a brahmin is aggressive or not other than the fact that it is charging at you with its horns all four of it.

Thankfully, brahmin are slow and easy to sneak up on. Most importantly, the fact that they have two heads makes them all the more susceptible to critical shots. Once killed, a these creatures will drop brahmin steak which is a pretty loot for a relatively easy kill.
  
 

Dogs have not changed much (if any) during the war they are pretty much the same here as they are before. No explanations has been given to this unique survival instinct, but many believe that like some humans, plenty of dogs have been able to find refuge inside the vaults most likely as family pets. In any case, players will no doubt run into hostile dogs. Either they are owned by hostile NPCs such as the talon company and raiders. Others are completely wild and are called vicious dogs.

These dogs fight in a very straight forward way: they will charge at you straight and attempt to bite you. Not much strategy here, just shoot them with a couple of bullets and theyll go down. The only concern here is the fact that vicious types tend to hunt in small packs (about 2-3 early in the game, and 3-5 later on). The ones travelling with raiders or Talon mercenaries can pose a bigger threat as they distract you from the others who will be shooting at you. Spare a quick shot on the dog using VATS before lining up a main target to optimize combat efficiency.

One thing that players should know is that dogs, even the ones owned by hostile NPCs, will not attack players who possess the Animal Friend perk which is quite recommended for anyone who loves to sneak as dogs have pretty good detection skills.
  
 

In a world post nuclear-apocalypse, it is no wonder that even the moles have been transformed. Taking in the same cue as other animals in the wild, the moles have mutated by increasing in both size and ferocity, making them pretty dangerous out in the wastelands. Running into mole rats when you are out on the wasteland and venturing inside ruins is a pretty common occurrence. When you find them, it is likely that they will be in groups of 2 or more and may also be accompanied by a few radroaches. Mole rats drop mole rat meat when killed this loot is generally not useful at all unless the player either has a food processor or access to the mole rat wonder meat maker machine.  

Killing a mole rat is as easy as fighting with dogs, if not easier. They usually take only a couple of bullets to kill and if you have finished the early parts of Moiras wasteland survivor guide quest, you may already have access to the repellant stick weapon. When equipped,players can easily kill any mole rat by hitting them once with the stick and waiting for a few seconds for the head to explode on its own. If you are on a rush, simply hit the mole rat twice to have the head explode upon landing the second hit.
  
 

These are among the results of experiments with the FEV (forced evolutionary virus) which tried to merge human DNA with that of animals. Exactly what animals were being merged to humans still remains unclear, but the results are truly mortifying. Centaurs possess the fleshy head of a human with no hair, uses four arms for walking (with all palms on the floor). From the mouth of a centaur protrudes several tentacles of unknown origin, but it is certain that this is highly radioactive as evidenced from the projectile which centaurs spit out carrying about 3 to 4 rads.

Fighting a single centaur is pretty easy. Just aim at the general head area and it will go down easily. The problem is that centaurs are super mutant pets and where ever youmay find a wandering centaur, it is likely that a small team of super mutants are nearby. Also, when in the middle of fighting upper mutants, centaurs might join the battle and attack from a distance with their spit. When killed, centaurs drop an assortment of items.Some may have no loot at all, other will provide a salvage or random items such as teddy bears and other content.

The DC area is home to the majestic black bears, now, after many years since the great war, these creatures are now known by a new name: the Yao Guai. Along with a new name also comes a new look and more savage reputation, the Yao Guai look more like ghoulish wolves than they are bears, and more importantly, citizens of the capital wasteland prefer to stay away from them due to their immense fighting and hunting abilities.

The yao guai are fast runners, able to catch up with slower backpedaling players making kiting a lot harder. They also hit very hard, an attack on a player with medium rate damage protection will still take serious hurt when hit with a very strong possibility of an arm being crippled.

In order to defeat a yao guai, players should try being able to spot one from afar, this will help you bring down the yao guais health by a significant degree before the actual combat beings. Once in combat, concentrate on the head there is no point crippling either the arms or legs as they will only stop the yao guai for less than a second. If ambushed, the best course of action is to move away, bring out your biggest gun, and keep shooting.

When defeated, the yao guai will drop yao guai meat this is as useful buff item since it provides an additional 10% to damage dealt, and also, the meat can be sold for a good price as well.
  
 

Death Claws

Out in the capital wasteland, of all the most common creatures you could possibly find, none can compare to the amount of life threatening dangerthat the death claw will provide. Considering that this is a world where people are pretty much literal in naming creatures (bloatfly anyone?), having the word death in its name must certainly mean that it is one nasty critter.

Unlike super mutant behemoths that are limited in number and will only appear 5 times in the course of the entire game and only in specific locations, being prepared for deathclaws is a whole other issue. Sure, the initial area you get to explore will be 100% deathclaw free (the general area around Megaton, vault 101, Grayditch, the capitol area and all the way down to Rivet City), but as you progress further, past Arefu, past Agathas Cabin, past Canterbury commons, the deathclaws lie in wait. And since deathclaws sometimes travel in packs of two, running into these creatures is certainly bad news for any low level player.

For those wondering, the death claw is actually a mutated chameleon. Of course, much of the original creature is no longer present. Instead, we get an eight foot tall monstrosity with gigantic claws that can rip apart the strongest of materials, legs that propel it at unbelievable speeds and an incredible metabolism that allow the deathclaw to withstand plenty of damage. Thankfully, the chameleons color changing camouflage is no longer present.

When fighting a deathclaw, do not hold back. Use up all the powerful weapons you may have. Do not skimp on your energy and pulse weapon reserves or that rare .44 caliber ammunition, because when you are facing down a deathclaw, you are literally facing the jaws of oblivion itself. Thankfully, it is possible to kitea deathclaw provided you do not run into other enemies.If you do, it may be a good idea to try maneuvering so that thehostiles will turn on each other instead of concentrating on you. Lastly, firing explosives is always a good idea, since you get a bonus for firing the initial strike, a well placed missile can take out most of the deathclaws HP.

Traps are not that much useful against deathclaws, but if you have a scoped weapon it is possible to fire off a few shots before it manages to dash all the way up to your side. Hitting it with a thrown explosive is more difficult as it has a pretty high detection rate.

There are also mind controlled Enclave deathclaws, these dare deathclaws under the control of the enclave through the use of some device strapped to the head of the creature. If you can manage to disable this device by shooting it, the deathclaw will return to its savage ways and attack its captors. Of course, once the deathclaw has disposed of its targets, it will attempt to kill you next.

All deathclaws will drop the deathclaw hand which can either be sold for plenty of bottlecaps orbe used in the deathclaw fist weapon for unarmed fighters.
  

One of the most common enemies in the game as players will have to fight a wide variety of humans in the course of this game. Ranging from cannibalistic raiders, the organized talon company mercenaries, the heavily armored Enclave soldiers, to the unscrupulous slavers of Paradise Falls, these men and women will be armed with a wide assortment of weaponry and armor.

Armored troops are basically any human wearing power armor type clothes, they are strong, well armed (they usually have heavy and energy weapons) and usually travel in small groups. While this also encompasses most hostile units from the Enclave, the strategies being provided will also work for the Brotherhood Outcasts and Brotherhood of Steel should you choose to fight against them as well.

Large hulking and powerful, super mutants are both an abomination and an upgrade of human life. Formerly human beings, these were exposed to the Forced Evolutionary Virus and radiation turning them into the giants that they are today. While usually depicted as slow and simple minded beings, the super mutants seem to have a government structure of their own and are organized in what appears to be a military-like fashion.

What happens when a human is exposed to extremely high levels of radiation? They turn into ghouls many of whomyou will encounter in the wasteland and if you followed the main storyline the moment you stepped out of the vault, good old Gob at Moriartys Saloon at Megaton will be the first ghoul you will meet. Aside from the fact that they look like zombies, ghouls are pretty much human deep inside their flesh is just decayed and rotten. Beyond them however, are the feral ghouls humans who have been so badly affected by radiation that they have lost most of their rationality and have turned into wild savages. Feral ghouls attackany other creature that is not a ghoul; they tend to lurk in dark tunnels and abandoned buildings, skulking about silently before they attack unsuspecting targets.

Once more, another creature that has been mutated by the nuclear radiation; the wild emperor scorpion is no long the nocturnal critter it once was, it is now a striving new predator out on the fields of the capital wasteland. These radscorpions are powerful and nasty buggers. More often than not, they are the first types of challenging enemies that a player would ever face early in the game. Much like regular scorpions, radscorpions are also armed with exoskeleton armor, two pincers and a powerful sting-tail. And like their original forms, the sting of theradscorpion is also quite deadly due to the poison within.

A mirelurk is a mutated crab a mutated horseshoe crab to be precise. The reason why this is very hard to identify is because unlike the other mutated animals on this list, the mirelurk does not retain much of the physical traits of its original form (except for the exoskeleton which surrounds it entire body). The mirelurk stands as tall as a fully grown man, has two legs for walking and pincer-equipped arms for attacking well, in the case of a standard mirelurk that is. Aside from the regular type, there is more powerful form of this creature; the mirelurk king.

There are generally two types of giant ants, the regular ones and the fire breathing ones. Ants,for the most part, are generally hostile creatures (though there are a few exceptions, most notably the Forager ants in Shalebridge). So when you spot them, get your guns ready. The good thing is that they are easy to spot thanks to the loud scuffling of their feet. Also, they tend to be slow, which means you have plenty of time to kill them before they can bite you. The real danger from ants comes from numbers, they tend to appear in groups and can prove to be quite a challenge when various types start appearing. While the regular garden variety ant are more spread out in the capital wasteland, the fire ants are local to the area of Grayditch and are the center of focus for the side quest: Those!.

Making things even more complicated is the fact that super mutants tend to travel with centaurs; bizarrely misshapen mutations that crawl across the ground like some grotesque monster from a science fiction book. They move silently and spit acid which is not what you need when you are taking fire from a squad of super mutants. In the course of Fallout 3, players will also encounter Super Mutant Behemoths massive super mutants the size of bus. These creatures will eat plenty of damage before going down, so be sure to save your game before deciding to fight one.

Super Mutant this vanilla variety super mutant is nothing to scoff at, if encountered by low level characters, it could be a pretty big firefight. The one thing to remember is that even at low levels, super mutants tend to have plenty of HP and good damage resistance. The only fortunate thing here is that they also tend to carry melee weapons early on; allowing players the chance to dispatch them before they get close. Midway through the game, they are a snipers best friend, as they tend to drop hunting rifles.

Aside from the occasional nail bat and more consistent hunting rifle, some super mutants also carry grenades with them, be sure to be pick these up from their bodies since they can be used for crowd control or be sold for a good price (if you do not use grenades). The hunting rifle is good for repairs, but the nail bat is often a waste of weight.

When fighting super mutants, keep an eye out for the ones around you. They often send a melee unit to keep a player distracted while others fire at you using their rifles. Also, since super mutants tend to lump in with other classes, it is likely that they may be travelling with a super mutant brute.

Super Mutant Brute armored and more dangerous, super mutant brutes tend to be the bane of manyclose quarters combat scenarios. Fortunately, even with their heavier armor, it is still possible to take them down either by crippling their arms or by giving them a healthy dose of shotgun pellets in the face.

The drops of a brute type super mutant tell much of the danger level it gives. First, it uses sledgehammers for melee combat and frag grenades to flush out players from hiding locations. The ones armed with long range weapons are equipped with either assault rifles or in some occasions, missile launchers.

The best way to fight brutes is to keep your distance since most of them use melee. But if they do get close, quickly move away, it does not take more than a few swings for a brute to whittle your life down (and of course, the durability of your armor). For the ones with missile launchers, a few good shots to the arm will force it to drop the weapon. The ones with assault rifles tend to move around while shooting, so do not hesitate to unload all your AP into a single VATS attack against one.

Super Mutant Behemoths No one knows where they came from or what they really want, most likely because no one who has gotten close enough to study a behemoth has managed to survive. In any case, these extremely powerful creatures seem to care only about one thing the moment they spawn: killing everything in sight.

These guys are actually ammunition trade-offs; you can spend a lot of ammo just to bring one down (or make use of your more expensive mini-nukes), but in exchange, you can get plenty of loot in return. Expect to get random ammunition, some food, plenty of bottlecaps and assorted items that can be sold as loot from any downed behemoths.

Remember, they only use melee attacks, which makes it possible to kill one by kiting or by being able to find asecure location to shoot from. The first one you encounter at the GNR Plaza can be easily brought down with the fat man find the body of the dead Brotherhood paladin and take the launcher and mini-nuke. This will help you bring down the behemoth before it manages to kill another NPC.

When killed, all types of radscorpions drop the radscorpion poison glands making them worth the effort to kill once the player has acquired slightly better weaponry than the initial equipment. This is because the glands only weight 1 unit each, but each has a value of 30 bottlecaps this makes it one of the best loot to sell to NPCs and most importantly, a great source of income when starting out.

Radscorpions radscorpions tend to slightly vary in size and also, behavior. But for the size of about one to two thirds of a human, these creatures are definitely dangerous. Usually, players will be able to spot radscorpions in the daylight since their tail tends to stick out against many surfaces. The best thing to do is to keep shooting at them from far away-effectively whittling down the HP before it gets close to you. Try to avoid melee combat as much as possible in order to save up on stimpaks.

Giant Radscorpions sometimes, radscorpions can get pretty big as in about the size of a small car. With the increase in size also comes a major upgrade in terms of defense, HP, and of course, attack power. Considerably one of the first major challenges of the game, giant radscorpions are the enemies that players should learn to run away from when starting out the game.

When facing a giant radscorpion, it is best if you manage to sneak up on it, land a critical shot and even manage to throw a grenade to soften it up. The creature is also pretty fast when it charges, so make sure you have got plenty of running room to maneuver around in. Players packing heavy weaponry such as miniguns and missile launchers will certainly have a faster time dealing with a giant radroaches than others. Another recommended tactic is to attack the target from a vantage point that cannot be reached without jumping (such as from the top of really high rock formations).

Outside of this list are the armored Enclave soldiers. These guys wear armor from head to toe, a good plan would be to soften them up with well laid mines or carefully thrown grenades. More details on them and other power-armor wearing humans are in a different page.

Raiders the most common human type enemies. These are basically the grunts of the wasteland. They tend to travel in groups so if you see one, make sure you look around if it has allies nearby. Mostly harmless early on, players should be wary of raiders in the second half of the game as they start bringing in heavy weapons such as missile launchers.

When killed, raiders drop an assortment of weapons ranging from knives, bats, 10mm pistols, submachine guns, Chinese assault rifles and missile launchers. In terms of apparel, they carry a variety of raider apparel: blastmaster armor (the helmet for which adds 5 to explosives and big guns skill), badlands armor, painspike armorand sadist armor. Additional headgear dropped is the arclight helmet, psycho-tic helmet and wastehound helmet. Wearing raider equipment will make your character look like one of the goons from Mad Maxx or Waterworld pretty fitting if you want to role-play a character living savagely in the wilds.

Our number one tip when facing raiders: be careful of traps. We already know they hunt in groups, and that is a pretty common issuewith plenty of enemies. But raiders are also quite fond of placing traps especially in their camps. Accidentally stepping on a mine or a spike trap could prove to be a fatal issue if you are already crippled or low on health. Also, raiders are very quick to call for backup, so quickly kill your targets if you intend to be doing some sneaking.

Slavers are among the most hated enemies of many citizens of the capital wasteland. They raid towns, settlements and any location with plenty of people in order tocapture them and bind them with slave collars. While slavers are not necessarily hostile, it is possible that one ends up fighting them when visiting Paradise Falls in order to free captured slaves.

Like raiders, slavers carry a variety of weapons, but their clothes are of the mercenary armor types. The clothes are visually more functional to look at than what raiders wear, providing slavers with a more sophisticated sense of style. The various types of merc armor are the adventurer, charmer, cruiser, grunt, troublemaker and veteran outfit. While these are actually pretty good to wear, none of these provide bonuses aside from armor.

When dealing with slavers in Paradise Falls, expect to be overwhelmed. They are plenty and most will assault you as soon as you enter the main door (the one after the guard). The best thing to do here is to find good cover and slowly taken them down one at a time. Once you have taken down the initial wave, only a few will be left within. Paradise Falls has several named NPC slavers particularly a boss named Eulogy Jones, be sure to save before having to face them.

Talon Company Mercenaries if these guys are after you, you can expect to keep running into them at many points in the game. The Talon company mercs are generally after any player who has a good karma or has chosen to save Megaton. Armed with recon armor and assault type small guns, they can prove to be quite a challenge if you are low on ammo.

These mercs, along with raiders tend to be good sources of small gun ammunition as they often carry Chinese assault rifles, shotguns and later in the game, laser rifles. The best part is, most Talon Company mercs do not even bother to wear helmets making them easy targets for VAT assisted headshots. Every now and then, these mercenaries will be accompanied by a trained attack dog or even a combat robot.

Players should always remember that Talons always attack in groups, and if your encounter with them begins with a quick dialogue from one of the mercenaries declaring their intent to kill you, know that sneaking around will no longer be an option. Thankfully, they are easily dispatched by a few headshots so be sure to make full use of your VAT skills when fighting them. Also, it is quite common that at least one enemy will be using a baton so expect that one of them will charge straight up to you.

Regulators only tend to appear in games where the player has an evil karma rating. They look like wasteland sheriffs and tend to pop out when least expected. What makes them different from the Talon company is that they are actually easier to deal with. While they may have better weapons than their mercenary counterparts (the Regulators are commonly armed with energy weapons such as laser pistols and laser rifles) they lack the armor used by the Talon Company making them quite vulnerable against most attacks.

When killed, regulators drop clothing quite similar to what Lucas Simms wears. The sheriffs duster provides a bonus of +1 to charisma and +5 to the small guns skill. While impressive to look at and having a pretty nice bonus, players should be careful when wearing the outfit as it cannot be repaired by merchants.

Always aim for the regulators head, despite the fact that the target is not wearing armor, they are also armed with pretty good weaponry. To is best to take them down quickly even if it is just so you could manage to loot more energy weapon ammo.

As creepy as these enemies may be (and they are, quite exquisitely creepy), the one thing that separates them from the zombies of lore is their lack of numbers which we should all be thankful for, as well as the lack of an infecting bite. Feral ghouls can group in batches of no more than 4 or 5, so the concept of taking down a group is pretty much the same for other creatures.

Feral Ghouls the typical hostile ghoul you will find underneath the ruins of the capital wasteland. Slow to move and slow to act, they are easy to dispatch and kill as long as you get the jump on them. Once they spot target, they start running rather briskly. This can be quite an issue if you are being distracted by other minor enemies such as radroaches.

The best thing about feral ghouls is that they are actually pretty easy to spot. Despite the fact that they are hiding in the dark, their detection is also limited by the lack of light (so be sure to turn off your Pip-Boy light!). Any character with a decent enough perception level will be able to find feral ghouls before they even get close. Also, these enemies bodies are made of decayed flesh making it all the more susceptible to damage. A good clean shot to head will easily take care of business. And if you find yourself surround, a quick sweep of a flamer will do wonders.

Feral Ghoul Roamers now these are the zombies you need to watch out for. Not only do they strike hard, they can also take quite a beating. Judging from the tattered clothes they wear, roamers are ghoul-ified soldiers, which explains the much stronger physique and of course, battle armor. Sadly, you cannot loot the equipment from the corpses after you kill them.

When faced with a ghoul roamer, keep backing up and shooting (kiting), as ghouls are always going to be limited to melee combat, your ability to dish damage from a distance will be an important part of survival. Much like regular feral ghouls, the roamers lack any head protection, so landing a powerful sneak critical headshot can help dispose of the creatures much easier.

Glowing Ones now this is what happens when a ghoul gets over-radiated (or in Fallout 3s case, even more ghoul-ified). All skin color is lost and the ghoul starts to glow. It is an eerie sight, finding that bright green glow emanating from the skin of a creature that looks pretty much undead. They tend to be solitary, but will join in the fight if they see other ghouls in combat.

Always look out for the glowing ones ability to heal other ghouls. They do this by releasing a quick burst of radioactive energy which causes damage to player HP, plenty of rads and restoring HP to ghouls in the area. When attacking, the Glowing Ones will also use melee attacks making them not much of a threat when faced alone. Another thing to take note of is that they continuously emanate radiation and engaging one in melee combat will expose you to rads.

Maxing Stats (for Broken Steel expansion)

Without using the Intense Training perk, it is still possible to raise all stats to 10 if you choose to forgo collecting the bobbleheads for SPECIAL until you reach level 30and learn the Almost Perk. Doing this will raise all your stats to 9, allowing you to add the final +1 bonus from each Bobblehead. Collecting the Bobbleheads prior to learning the perk will leave the stat at 9.

Trophies/Achievement

Aside from bonus points to player stats, the Bobbleheads are also associated with Playstation 3 Trophies and Xbox 360 Achievements. Collecting 10 unlocks I Play with Dolls and collecting all 20 unlocks Vault-Tec CEO.

SPECIAL

Next in the Fallout 3 Bobbleheads location guide is the Strength Bobblehead, which is located in Megaton, on top of a table inside Lucas Simms house (hes the sheriff). To access the house, the player must either pick the lock (average level) or disarm the bomb and Lucas will leave the door unlocked.

The Endurance Bobblehead can be found near a dead Brahmin inside the Deathclaw Sanctuary Interior. Since this area is filled with Deathclaws, it is not recommended to acquire this bobblehead early in the game.

The Charisma Bobblehead is in Vault 108, on a table in center of the Cloning Lab. It can be easily obtained early in the game (at later levels, stronger creatures such as deathclaws start spawning at the entrance of the Vault).

The Intelligence Bobblehead is in Rivet City, on a table inside the Science Lab. This is an easy location to visit early in the game, just be careful of a super mutant camp west of it (it has a gatling gun-equipped mutant) and you will have few troubles getting there.

The Agility Bobblehead in Fallout 3 can be found in the Greener Pastures Disposal Site. After you make your way past the radioactive pools, head for the western portion of the office ruins and look for a locked terminal, the bobblehead will right beside it.

The Luck Bobblehead location is in the basement of the Arlington House. Finding the Bobbleheadin the house is easy, but making it there can be confusing. In order to reach Arlington, players will have to travel east of the Super Duper Mart and into the Flooded Metro station (it appears as Arlington/Wasteland in the maps, but is named Flooded Metro when you approach the gates).

SKILLS

The Melee Weapons Bobblehead can be found inside the Dunwich Building, located in the extreme south west of the map. Go to the Virulent Underchambers and you will find it near a door leading back to the main building.

The Energy Weapons Bobblehead is located in Raven Rock and is considered a missable item. During the events of the American Dream, you should ensure that this bobblehead is obtained prior to meeting President Eden. The item itself sits Colonel Autumns desk (along with the holotape for a self-destruct sequence. His room can be found on the second floor, if you accidentally enter the control room before getting the bobblehead, reload your game as the doors will automatically lock you in.

The Explosives Bobblehead is a little hard to find, but it can be done pretty early in the game. First gear up for an extremely long walk from Megaton towards the general northwest direction of the map your first major landmark is the Silver Lining Drive-In. Once there, keep heading northwest towards the WKML station, a large antenna atop a hill. Head in, turn on the radio signal, then use your Pip-boy to tune into the station. Use the audio to search for the source of the signal (it is on the face of the hill, off the side of antenna). You are looking for a grate-like entrance. This leads to a small room that contains the Bobblehead.

The Lockpick Bobblehead can be found inside the East building of the Bethesda Offices (marked as the Bethesda Ruins in the map). Head to the Farragut Metro Station east of Megaton (across the river); once there, head straight north. Be careful as the ruins are guarded by a group of raiders so it might be a good idea to be well armed.After you clear out the enemies, head for the second floor of the east building. Look for the room with turret controls and a safe, the Bobblehead will be there.Also, note that the Bethesda Ruins is not part of any quest, so while you are there, you might consider clearing out the place as it also has some useful skillbooks.

The Big Guns Bobblehead is located at Fort Constantine, near the northwest-most portion of the map. This area is best explored when accomplishing the You Gotta Shoot Em in the Head quest. To get here, simply keep moving north west from Megaton, itwill be a long walk so save often. Along the way, you will pass by the WKML Station and the Silver Linings Diner (see Explosives skill Bobblehead location). Once you get to the fort, head for the northwest structure and go down to the basement, the bobblehead will be on the left, inside an open safe.

The Unarmed Bobblehead is located in a small cave directly west of Smith Caseys garage. To find it, simply set a waypoint between the garage and edge of the map itself. Once there, set your Pip-boy to show the local map instead of world map. If you are near enough, the entrance should be marked if not, try to uncover the immediate area of the map. Once you find it, simply go inside and look for a ghoul corpse. The bobblehead will be right beside it.

The Barter Bobblehead is inside Evergreen Mills. To get here, you can start from Smith Caseys Garage and head to the east. Be careful as the location is full of raiders. Look for the Bazaar area of the map (from the foundry, look for a doorway on the side) and eventually, you will come across Smiling Jack, the only friendly raider in the game. The Bobblehead is located on a shelf in Jacks store.

The Speech Bobblehead is found in Paradise Falls, to the west of Minefield, just above Arefu. This is a slaver base and depending on your actions, you can choose to enter the place as a guest of the slavers or as an intruder and shooting everyone down. Regardless of your choice, look for Eulogys Pad inside the compound and you will find the Bobblehead on top of a table beside a computer.

The Medicine Bobblehead can be easily obtained before taking the GOAT at the start of the game after the conversation with James. Simply look at his desk to find the item. If you missed this, you can come back for it only during the events of Escape! (take it before you go) and Trouble at the Homefront(this is the last chance to visit Vault 101) .

The Repair Bobblehead location is in Arefu, inside the house of Evan King. To locate Arefu, talk to Lucy in Megaton and she will mark the location for you as well as trigger the Blood Ties quest. Once there, pick the door of Evan Kings house (requires 50 lockpick skill) and the Bobblehead will be inside. Be sure to save the game in case you fail a force attempt.

The Science Bobblehead is inside Vault 106, found south-east of Arefu. This old vault is full of melee opponents and will trigger several drug-induced hallucinations from the player.Look for the living quarters and head to the room with a bookshelf in the back, the bobblehead is located on the shelf.

The Small Guns bobblehead is located inside the National Guard Depot. To get there, simply head east from Farragut Metro Station and follow the edge of the closed off area; also, be wary of raiders along the way and robots inside the Depot. The bobblehead itself can be found in the Armory, all the way down the basement and placed on a shelf.

Finally to complete our Fallout 3 bobbleheads guide collect the Sneak Bobblehead which is located in the Yao Guai Tunnels, which means that having the Animal Friend perk is a good idea. To get there, fast travel to Smith Caseys garage and start travelling north. You will across the raider-base Charnel House, from here, travel west and you will find the tunnels. Inside, your main goal is to reach the den, which is an area in the innermost portion of the tunnels with a small pool of water. The bobblehead will be right on top of a metal box before a curved stone ramp leading upwards.

I hope you found all the bobblehead locations and that they aid you in completing Fallout 3. If you have any questions please post a comment below.

The world is empty, bleak and highly irradiated. Water is scarce, ruins are everywhere and for some odd reason, everything looks like a cross between a 50s documentary and a western shooter mixed in with technology that looks straight right out of a Jetsons episode. Is this really Earth?

Well, the short answer is yes. This is earth, but not the Earth you know and certainly not the time you live in. The year is 2277, and there are no flying cars, teleporters and clean fuel. Instead, the United States has become a veritable wasteland as an effect of an all out world-wide nuclear war. We are made to assume that many other countries all over the world share a similar fate, but since all Fallout games have been set in the continent of America, we can only assume.

This unfortunate event, dubbed as the Great War, happed in 2077. Humanity survived thanks to the existence of Vaults massive underground structures made by a company called Vault-tec which housed thousands of people from the massive radiation caused by the bombs. The war was short, lasting only two hours, but it was enough to cause millions of death, the end of the Fallout universes modern civilization leaving the rest of humanity sealed and shielded in the vaults for decades.

The vaults were self-sustaining underground cities, able to house hundreds and provide food, water, shelter and even power for many, many years.When some of the vaults finally opened many decades later, the humanity has discovered that much of the world has changed.

The vaults were not meant to house people permanently, and despite its self-sustaining capabilities, the vaults wesimply to be used as a means to survive in the event of a nuclear disaster which did happen. Once the vault systems assess that the radiation outside has subsided to more tolerable levels, the gates would open and those inside are expected to rebuild society.

But that is not where your adventure begins. You have been awakened by Amata, daughter of the Vaults overseer and you need to leave the relatively safe confines of Vault 101 immediately. It seems that your illustrious genius of a father has snuckout of the vault. The overseer, fearing that this may lead to people following in his footsteps, has decided to send his guard after you. Amata informs you that the guards have killed your fathers assistant, and the very same fate can befall you.

Take the pistol, evade the guards, find a way to hack the computer terminal that hides the exit and make your way out into the wastelands to find your father and actually get some answers.

This is the world of Fallout, hope you have a nice day.

Know Your Gear

Learn to keep track of your health bar, available action points and the available ammo in your clip. This will help plenty when you are planning what to do next in the middle of combat. Also, your Pip-boy 3000 has a window dedicated to showing the current damage to limbs and which ones are in danger of getting crippled as well as the amount of radiation you have been exposed to. With that said, keep track of any nearby locations where you can sleep or pay for medical services.

Live First, Loot Later

The world of Fallout will present you with plenty of abandoned settlements, ruined buildings and many other various nooks and crannies to explore. Chances are,you will find plenty of salvageable items in the mess, maybe even some rare valuables such as unique items and skill books. But before you start venturing into uncharted territory, it is prudent to scout a little and see if there are raiders or other dangers in the way. You will find doors rigged with shotgun traps and plenty of mines littered everywhere, so it is important to watch where you step.

Time is on Your Side

Fallout 3 allows players to save and reload as many times as they want without any penalties. As such, you have the ability to turn back time and redo any actions you take. The quick save and quick load actions can turn a botched frontal assault into a successful ambush on a super mutant camp. And aside from helping you survive, this feature lets you see what may happen had you chosen a decision other than the ones you made such as letting the bomb in Megaton blow up. Once you have seen the what-if scenario, you can simply load your old save to resume your game as if nothing happened.

VATS is a Super Power

Activating VATS has its drawbacks; weapons wear down four times faster and you consume action points. But these little drawbacks are nothing compared to the benefits that the ability gives. First off, aiming and shootingin VATS seems to deliver more damage to where it is most needed. With this, you can easily take down enemies by focusing entirely on their weak points most often, the head. Second, VATS allows you to queue up shots, effectively saving ammo when tackling multiple targets. Third, you can use VATS to target thrown explosives midair or in the hands of your enemies, effectively turning it against the enemy that threw it at you. Lastly, VATS will highlight any nearby enemies- even those you might not have been able to take notice of.

Shotguns and VATS not Compatible

One weakness of VATS is that it does not work so well with shotguns. Shotgun type weapons have a spread attack consisting of 6 bullets. When used in vats, only one bullet is fired, effectively cutting down the efficiency of the shotgun down to 1/6th. The best thing to do is to aim using VATS, switching out of VATS while holding down the aim button. This leaves you aimed directly at the spot you were aiming at in VATS and firing the gun manually.

Use the Right Weapons

Different enemies are weaker against certain guns. Unarmored humans and creatures will easy fall to most types of weapons, but those with armor or exoskeletons might need something different. Energy weapons work well against armoredenemies and even robots, those players might want to throw the occasional pulse grenade on mechanical targets instead. Splash damage weapons are good against crowds and mini-guns work well against large targets (as they are easier to hit).

Sneaking Bonus

As long as you are undetected while sneaking, your first successful attack against an opponent will provide you with a sneak critical bonus. This raises your attack power significantly and if applied on a headshot, could provide you with a one-hit kill. As long as no other enemy hears the shot you fired, you will remain hidden and able to take down the rest of your enemies in a similar fashion.

Turn the Light Off

Your character is always carrying that Pip-boy from the vault and if you forget to turn off, you will be easily spotted by enemies. So unless you want to attract the attention of thos skulking death claws in the wild, it would be to your best interest to shut off the Pip-boy light.

Turn the Light On

In regards to the above given tip, what is the light for anyway? The Pipboy acts as a radial type flashlight, with the light projected in your immediate area, as opposed to being beamed out in a cone shape. This light source helps a lot when you are in the subway tunnels or in badly lit ruins when you are scavenging for items. When travelling with NPCs, having the light on increases the chances of the enemy choosing to target you instead of your ally.

Carry Supportive Gear

In your journeys, you will no doubt run across items that increase skills and stats such as Speech, Repair, Perception and others. Wearing them when appropriate will help compensate especially when your character has low stats or skills. As a rule of thumb, carry items with bonuses for repair, science and lockpicking as these will help greatly when you are scavenging for items.

Scavenge Smart

So you have cleared a building full of ghouls. Now you have got several floors of desks, lockers, trashcans, bodies, boxes and other containers full of loot to take home. So what do you do? First things first; strategize your scavenging. Open up the map and decide how to perform sweeps of the floor. Start with one area, systematically taking any item of value before moving on to the next. This will save you time from having to double check if you have left items behind.

Set a Temporary Depot

Chances are you will not have enough weight lifting ability to carry everything you find in a location. In cases like these, look for a room with containers near the main entrance of the location. Use this room as a temporary hub for storing all the loot you find. Since containers have no item limits, you can store as much items as you want allowing you to make repeated trips from the location to your favorite trader.

Invest in the Caravan

Sooner or later in the game, players will encounter caravan traders. These are roaming NPCs who offer trading and repair services and are easily identified thanks to the load-bearing Brahmin theytravel with (they are also accompanied by one bodyguard). Talking to them will reveal that they have a home base in Canterbury Commons, and when you go there, you can talk to Uncle Roe about investing in certain traders (the cost of which is cut in half if you have the master trader perk). Investing will increase the stocks of the merchants and allow them to offer better items higher repair limits.

Know Yourself

In order to get started: you have to know what kind of playing style suits you best. Of course, if this is your first time to play Fallout, then it is unlikely that you would know what choices are available. To deal with this chicken andegg dilemma, heres a little guide that will help you choose. Fallouts Gameplay is divided into two types: dealing with friendly NPCs and engaging in combat.

To get you started, here is a quick description of each gameplay aspect and the various approaches a playercan have to any given scenario as well as the important stats and skills that players should raise and any items or quest perks that will prove to be useful.

NPCs make the bulk of Fallouts non-hostile population and these are the characters that provide players with quests, items to trade with and other miscellaneous content. Aside from breathing life to the game, NPCs are also what drives the story forward, so you may want to determine how you would like to interact with them.

Friendly Whether you choose to be a complete goody-two-shoes kind of character and simply go about talking nicely to people or be a little more sly and seduce your way into a great bargain, there are plenty of non-hostile approaches to dealing with the folks you see in the various cities and towns of the Wastleland. A positive or neutral karma works plenty of wonders here and there is no doubt that a high charisma stat as well as speech and barter skills will be very important to friendly players. Having good Medicine and Science stats also work well since they provide quick solutions to several speech challenges.

SPECIAL: Charisma, Intelligence
Skills: Speech, Barter, Medicine, Science
Perks: Lady Killer, Black Widow, Child at Heart, Impartial Mediation, Master Trader
Items: Sexy sleepwear, Eulogy Jones Hat, Buttons Wig, Mentats, Beer

Deceptive Putting on a smiling face when you face NPCs is easy, and it is a lot easier to take items from their pockets once their backs are turned. Deceptiveplayers rely a lot on timing, stealth and a good combination of items that will help them skulk about heavily populated towns while pilfering and looting to their hearts content. But the deception goes beyond what you do in the dark, as outright lies also help cloud the vision of those around you, a good dose of charisma is important once again. Being deceptive will require skills in lockpicking, hacking, stealth, perception, agility the use of many important items that will help you in your trade.

SPECIAL: Perception, Agility
Skills: Sneak, Lockpick, Computers
Perks: Ant Sight, Thief, Scoundrel
Items: Shady Hat, Pre War Casual-wear, Mentats, Fire Ant Nectar

Antisocial Maybe you really hate talking, or simply just prefer to be on your own, there are plenty of reasons why anyone would want to be able to think only or themselves out in the wastes and you are no exception. Being antisocial is simply all about not really caring at all. Of course, you will still to do a bit of conversing to obtain quests, claim rewards and also to take care of some trading and repairing business, but when it comes down to it, you really do not care much about the people you deal with. You can take care of yourself well enough on your own and require minimal interaction with others in order to achieve you goals. This morally ambiguous play style allows you the freedom of causing as much trouble as you need to have but also requires plenty of skills to back whatever actions you decide to take. Just be sure to be careful of who you decide to kill as they may affect future quests.

SPECIAL: none preferred
Skills: Medicine, Computers, Small Guns, Repair
Perks: Fortune Finder, Scrounger, Robotics Expert
Items: none preferred

Psychotic Okay, so let us say that you want to have a character that has already fallen off the deep end. It would not be too hard to imagine suddenly busting out of the vault into a world savaged by a nuclear war, that is enough to bring anyones stress levels to a whole new level of a nervous breakdown. In any case, being psychotic means doing what you want when you want. You may play it like a cool villain who flashes a big bright smile before shooting off a persons head with an automatic shotgun, or simply as a stark raving lunatic whose first action when walking into a new town is to toss a grenade in the direction of anything that moves. In terms of skills, a bit of charisma does wonders if you are the type who likes to do a little talking before the mayhem. But regardless of which direction you take, plenty of weaponry and enough stats to turn you into a one-person army would be very important as you would have not only the usual baddies chasing you, but many NPCs as well.

SPECIAL: Endurance
Skills: none preferred
Perks: Thief, Toughness, Bloody Mess, Mister Sandman, Cannibal
Items: none preferred

In the world of Fallout 3, combat is a constant. No matter where, no matter when, you will always have something or someone to fight it is a rare occurrence for any player to go from one town to a nearby destination without having to kill a group of roving raiders or some stray radscorpion on the loose.As such, players also need to determine how they prefer to deal with these everyday threats to their survival.

Melee If you like to go real personal with enemies, then this is your kind of playing style. You use hammers, clubs, bats, knives and if when are all out of things to swing or stab with, you maul with your fists. For pugilists and brawlers, nothing says combat batter than getting your mitts all bloodied up with your newest kill. But do not ever think that this is a straightforward kind of combat. In a world where many enemies are armed with guns and other sorts of long range weaponry, plenty of thinking and planning is required before you go in and start busting heads. If going melee suits you best, then you will need some serious weaponry, and even more serious defenses.

Forget the movement penalties of movement with by using heavy armor after all, no matter how well you dodge, getting that up-close with a yao guai means you are going to get bit. Also, plenty of items for regenerating HP as well as removing rads is important as this build will get you eating and drinking a lot more than others. Despite its name, melee characters will want to specialize in one or two types of long range weaponry as plenty of situations still demand the use of a gun or something you can throw. Lastly, stealth and critical attacks are massively important in this playing style as it help you dispatch enemies without them hitting you back.

SPECIAL: Strength, Endurance
Skills: Medicine, Unarmed, Melee Weapons, Repair
Perks: Toughness, Iron Fist, Rad Resistance, Strong Back, Finesse, Life Giver, Chemist, Chem Resistant
Items: Power Armor, Hockey Mask, Buffout,

Straight Assault maybe you are the kind who loves to go in with guns ablaze, or you just like to fight straight on without having to think too much. If this isyou, then welcome to the club. Straight assault characters use a variety of weaponry that simply requires you to aim and shoot. A good balance of defense and offense is important as for strategy, not so much. Aside from a few occasional instances where barging in is suicide, preparing tactics is completely optional. This is the simplest but also one of the most in-efficient ways to play.

A bit of skill in circle strafing as well as VATS management will go a long way for strainght assault players as well as having plenty of ammunition and stimpaks. Forget mines and complicated weaponry such as the mini-gun (which requires a bit of a start-up before you can fire). This build focuses more on assault rifles, sub machine guns, laser rifles and similar weaponry: you aim, you shoot, you kill. No firing delays, no ballistic trajectories, no trapping required, just simple gunplay action. You might want to practice a little with grenades and a missile launcher to help with crowd control, but for the most part, your basic weaponry will always do the job.

SPECIAL: Perception, Endurance
Skills: Small Guns, Energy Weapons, Repair
Perks: Gun Nut, Gunslinger, Commando, Nerd Rage, Life Giver, Fast Metabolism
Items: Any heavy armor

Tactical Assault Taking notes from the straight assault variety, going tactical is simply doing a frontal charge backed with a plan. What most people do not realize is that this is the mode that is most common chosen by players as it helps keep you alive more often than just blundering in and shooting everything on sight. But what truly makes tactical assault different is the type of weapons that are used. Switching between a sledgehammer to a Chinese assault rifle as you drop one enemy after another, your character is a living index of weapon-killing efficiency.

Lots of weapons to see here, from shotguns to flamers to rippers, your character is likely to be carrying at least 5 different types of armaments at any given time. While this also means choosing to raise the stats for small guns, big guns and energy weapons, it also means that your character is a walking battle tank. Defense still plays a big role in this style so expect to invest a lot in both endurance and any perk that raises your damage resistance. Also, you need to remember the many different kinds of ammunition and knowing which ones your guns use as you will need to stockpile on supplies pretty often.

SPECIAL: Perception, Endurance
Skills: Small Guns, Big Guns, Energy Weapons, Repair
Perks: Gunslinger, Toughness, Commando, Fast Metabolism
Items: Depends on play style

Tactical Long Range This is the style of gameplay that best suits players who have plenty of patience for planning and more importantly, waiting. Great critical shots can down even super mutant soldiers with a single bullet, but one simply does not fire off attacks like these one after another. These are planned calculated attacks that focus heavily on calculating stats and just to be sure, doing plenty of quick save and quick loads.

This is by far, the most effort intensive of most gameplay styles, but it is also one of the most satisfying. For a greater part of the time, you will have to stay hidden, slowly creeping your way towards enemies and taking them down systematically: one at a time without anyone realizing that their comrades are dead until they are the last one left and depending on your skills, maybe not even then. Taking this route means getting real comfy with scoped snipers and scoped magnums as these guns can deliver deadly attacks at a range that even surpasses that of VATS. The OlPainless and the sneak critical attack bonus will be your best friend for the early part of the game and expect to be investing plenty in stealth, small guns, agility and perception. Luck also plays a very important part as it helps increase the chances of landing a critical hit on your enemies.Defense is the lowest priority here as you really avoid having to get into an actual firefight where your targets manage to shoot back.

SPECIAL: Perception, Agility
Skills: Small Guns, Energy Weapons, Repair, Sneak
Perks: Gun Nut, Gunslinger, Commando,Finesse, Sniper, Concentrated Fire, Cyborg
Items: light armor, clothes with bonuses to Agility, Perception or Sneak

Unorthodox This is the most difficult combat style but also the most enjoyable. Unorthodox combat relies heavily on the types of weapon you prefer to use, but mostly revolve around those that provide players with either really unique trajectories of usage methods. Special crafted weapons such as the Rock-It launcher fall under this category as it fires shots in very odd angles and loading it with ammo means having to scavenge your surrounding areas. Flamers and shotguns are also in the unorthodox if you choose to specializemainly in them you will find that short range projectile combat is a lot more complicated than it seems and that VATS seems to function all too differently (in the case of shotguns, VATS is not a good thing to use). Miniguns are counted here for their firing delay and extremely high rate of fire while the alien blaster is a notable add-on simply for the sheer lack of ammunition for the device.

Going the unorthodox route will have players setting up traps and elaborate plans on how to eliminate enemies. Whether you are laying down mines along the route of an enemy patrol or luring a group of raiders down a tunnel to be easily nuked, players will need to plan several steps ahead with each enemy encounter. Also, a bit of specialization in standard guns is important as some surprise encounters will make it hard to make use of exotic weaponry.Here, you can choose which skills to specialize in as each type of weapon has its own associated stat. Also, plenty of bottlecap and ammunition management needs to be put in place in order for you to keep up with the upkeep and maintenance of the weapons you use.

SPECIAL: Perception, Endurance, Luck
Skills: Big Guns, Energy Weapons, Repair
Perks: Gun Nut, Bloody Mess, Fortune Finder, Strong Back, Mysterious Stranger
Items: Depends on weapon choices

This is where the fun begins. The above categories are simply templates of what your character can choose be to give new players an idea of what they can do once they are part of the world of Fallout. Your character however, will be completely unique, with the attributes, stats and appearance of your own choosing.

Take a look at the above choices again, find one that you fancy the most and see if it truly fits your character. You will almost certainly want to tweak it like a friendly type who prefers tactical long range combat with a dose of unorthodox trapping to spice things up. Or you can be a generally antisocial type that loves tactical assault who takes the moral high ground as long as it does not inconvenience your needs. The choices are plenty and personal adjustments will make it all worth your while.

The following steps for creating a character take on an inverse perspective: creating a character based on what you want to final end-game result to be. As a result, your character will be a constant work in progress, slowly picking up items and gaining in levels until you reach that one singularpoint that you have accomplished all that you want. This may seem a little effortsome at first, but in the long run, being able to see and plan for the big picture is always the path of least regrets.

Step 1: Note Your Perks

Before you even being your game, before you even click on the New Game option, it is a great idea to whip out a piece of paper and a pen for writing down what you want. There are three basic points to consider: SPECIAL stats, skills and perks (see the individual pages for each character attribute for a more detailed explanation).

The first thing you should check is the perks. Sure, this the longest list and it is the last thing you get to tinker with in-game, but it is also the one that has requirements to learn which means you have to know these requirements beforehand so that you can be sure that you will have the necessary SPECIAL and skill levels to learn a specific perk.

Planning your perks also means keeping notes of the various levels for each perk learning concentrated firemeans that by level 18, your small guns and energy weapons skill should at least be 60, in effect, players should already be making preparations for this as early as level 17.

Step 2: Decide Your Equipment

Your apparel and accessories will help determine what final stats you will have in-game, and also, the weapons you prefer should be complemented by the skill specializations you will choose. This is why your gear is the second on the list.Also, these items provide bonuses to your character, which means you can afford not to invest so many skill points on sneak when you have got equipment that will help compensate for it.

Choose a set of apparel for trading and interacting (raises charisma, barter and speech), another for dealing with objects (raisingintelligence, repair, computers, medicine, science), one set for sneaking around (raising agility, perception, sneak, lockpick) and lastly, a final set for combat (which raises any stat you are reliant on or need a little boosting with when fighting an enemy). Once you have decided on these, read up on what it takes to earn the items and at what point you can gain them.

Step 3: Skills and SPECIAL

Deciding the numbers for skills and SPECIAL are the last things you should note. Always factor in anything important you take down in the first two steps and base your decisions here on that data. Remember that Skills are increased by collecting bobbleheads and reading books (which is made more effective with the comprehension perk). SPECIAL stats can be increased by 1 point through the Bobbleheads, several times through the Intense Training perk and some perks can be increased permanently by learning certain quest perks.

Step 4: Create a Growth Chart

Your character growth chart will guide you through the leveling process. Considering that Fallout is a pretty big game, you can expect that it will take more than a dozen game hours to get from level 1 to 20, and by that time, it would be quite hard to remember what you have decided at this point.

A growth chart should be simple, easy to follow and most importantly, one that you made for yourself. More often than not, during the course of the game, you will learn and realize certain aspects of gameplay that were not quite what you thought. Having your own plan gives you the absolute freedom to modify and change any detail you like just be sure to adjust any factors that will get affected by your alterations.

For a quick reference, here is a Sample Character Build:

Level 20: Grim Reapers Sprint
Level 19: Master Trader, Barter 60
Level 18: Concentrated Fire, Energy Weapons 60, Small Guns 60
Level 17: Better Criticals
Level 16: Action Boy
Level 15: Adamantium Skeleton
Level 14: Cyborg, Medicine 60, Science 60
Level 13: Intense Training +1 to Intelligence
Level 12: Sniper
Level 11: Animal Friend
Level 10: Mysterious Stranger
Level 9: Commando
Level 8: Strong Back
Level 7: Toughness (EN5)
Level 6: Gunslinger
Level 5: Comprehension
Level 4: Educated or Intense Training (Perception)
Level 3: Intense Training +1 to Intelligence
Level 2: Lady Killer
Level 1: SPECIAL (5,6,5,6,6,6,6)
Tag skills: Explosives, Small Guns, Sneak
Note: Learn Ant Sight from Those! quest

This character is a ranged player, concentrating on long range tactical combat with plenty of focus on skills. The initial SPECIAL stats are low which means that stat increasing items will have to be used in order to improve the players performance.

The list above notes down the perk to be learned for each specific level and any important skills that have to be raised. Skills that have no designated value can be raised with whatever points are not used up. Since the initial SPECIAL stats at level 1 already meet the requirements for all perks learned in the build, there is no reason to use Intense Training to raise other stats outside of intelligence (which increases the amount of skill points earned each level up). At level 4, an alternative option is provided in case the play decides to change their mind about their build (educated brings about 75 skill points as a bonus if learned at level 4 adds 3 skill points for 15 levels), though this may be offset through the use of books.

Earning Perks

For every level gained, players are allowed to learn 1 perk which means that players can earn up to 19 perks in a single game (as the level cap is set to 20 and you earn your first perk at level 2). This value is increased to 29 with the addition of the Broken Steel add-on which also adds new perks as well. Aside from the Perks that can be earned through leveling, there are some that are gained as rewards in quests. And like the level-earned perks, the DLC content for Fallout 3 also adds new quest related perks as well.

This is the list of the standard perks in Fallout 3. These are learned one at a time with every level gained. After distributing skill points, players will be allowed to learn a new perk from a list that shows all compatible perks. This compatibility is based on their current level and skill. Perks that are beyond the players current stats are displayed in dimmed out characters.

These perks are gained after speaking with certain NPCs and achieving certain in-game goals. There are no level or stat requirements for these perks aside from achieving the quest-related requirements that they are part of. As long as you can do the quest, it is possible to earn these abilities during that time. Note that with the exception of the Power Armor training, quest perks must be earned during the course of the quest or received as a reward in the end.