Fallout: New Vegas Preview - New Perks

Fallout: New Vegas will be a new stand-alone game powered by the Fallout 3 engine and developed by California-based Obsidian Entertainment--a studio that's home to several of the developers of the original Fallout and Fallout 2. But New Vegas will, as the name suggests, take the adventure to Sin City, where the glitzy neon signs light up even the postapocalyptic wasteland. Along with the new story, new characters, and new quests, New Vegas will offer new perks--powerful attributes your character can pick and choose after gaining a few experience levels that improve your performance with the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System (VATS), grant you bonus action points (AP) in combat, and more. New Vegas will be released next week, but you can see the game's new perks, along with explanations from associate producer Tess Treadwell, lead producer Larry Liberty, and tech producer Jason Fader, right here.

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Cowboy

Required Character Level: 8
Required Attributes/Skills: Guns 45, Melee 45
You do 25 percent more damage when using any revolver, lever-action firearm, dynamite, knife, or hatchet.

Tess Treadwell: Cowboy is my favorite because, well…cowboys are awesome. I also love revolvers (one of my favorite Fallout: New Vegas weapons is one of the revolvers), and 25 percent is no bonus to sneeze at.

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Jury Rigging

Required Character Level: 14
Required Attributes/Skills: Repair 90
You possess the amazing ability to repair any item using a roughly similar item. Fix a trail carbine with a hunting rifle, a plasma defender with a laser pistol, or even power armor with metal armor. How does it work? Nobody knows…except you.

Tess Treadwell: If you pick up jury rigging, you're already halfway to [the game's highest] level, and the repair skill is obviously important to you because you've almost maxed it out. So this skill will reward you for this by making the repair skill even more useful.

Jason Fader This perk is amazing. Often, I'll pick up every weapon I can find. Expanding my repair options means I don't have to find the exact weapon or armor to repair something. Since weapons and armor weigh quite a bit, this will come in handy for those travelers out there that like to loot everything they see.

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Rad Child

Required Character Level: 4
Required Attributes/Skills: Survival 70
You truly are a rad child. As you go through the increasingly devastating stages of radiation sickness, you will regenerate more and more health.

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Laser Commander

Required Character Level: 22
Required Attributes/Skills: Energy Weapons 90
From the humble laser pistol to the mighty Gatling laser, you do plus 15 percent damage and have plus 10 percent chance to critically hit with any laser weapon.

Jason Fader: This would be my favorite. I always put my points into energy weapons and love to pew pew! I played through most of Fallout 3 with a wazer wifle, and for New Vegas, the Gatling laser is my weapon of choice for everything.

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Shotgun Surgeon

Required Character Level: 6
Required Attributes/Skills: Guns 45
Your precision with a scattergun is something to behold. When using shotguns, regardless of ammunition used, you ignore an additional 10 points of a target's damage threshold.

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Long Haul

Required Character Level: 12
Required Attributes/Skills: Endurance 6, Barter 70
You have learned how to pack mountains of gear for the long haul. Being over-encumbered no longer prevents you from using fast travel.

Jason Fader: I tend to grab everything I see and explore every nook and cranny. This perk means I can lug my mountain of stuff back to a vendor, or store it somewhere for a rainy day. I can recall countless times in Fallout 3 where I was too encumbered to get anywhere, but I wanted to hang on to my stuff for selling. This perk lets me have my cake and sell it too!

Larry Liberty: From a practical standpoint the perk that makes the biggest difference has to be long haul. Being able to collect all kinds of junk makes it a lot easier to be a completion-ist.

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Math Wrath

Required Character Level: 10
Required Attributes/Skills: Science 70
You are able to optimize your Pip-Boy's VATS logic, reducing all AP costs by 10 percent.

Jason Fader: This perk has a warm place in my heart. Since I'm a techie kind of guy, any perk that involves science is immediately on my wishlist. Oh, and I use VATS. constantly, so more AP equals more awesome, slow-motion kills!

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Pack Rat

Required Character Level: 8
Required Attributes/Skills: Intelligence 5, Barter 70
You have learned the value of careful packing. Items with a weight of two or less weigh half as much for you.

Tess Treadwell: I love this perk because I'm a role-playing game kleptomaniac and will steal anything that isn't nailed down.

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The Professional

Required Character Level: 6
Required Attributes/Skills: Sneak 70
Up close and personal, that's how you like it. Your sneak attack criticals with pistols, revolvers, and submachine guns, whether guns or energy weapons, all inflict an additional 20 percent damage.

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Purifier

Required Character Level: 14
As a purifier of the wasteland, you do plus 50 percent damage with melee and unarmed weapons against centaurs, nightstalkers, spore plants, spore carriers, deathclaws, super mutants, and feral ghouls.