I’ve been reading bit how Fallout 1 is something of a culture shock and befuddles some people, so here’s a build for a “standard” playthrough.

Small Frame trait adds +1 Agility as a trade off for lower carrying weight. Gifted Trait adds +1 to all SPECIAL attributes as a trade off for starting with a -10 in all skills.

With that in mind, the SPECIAL choices:

Strength 5 is good enough to use assault rifles and sniper rifles. Over the course of the game you can gain +4 Strength, which means you aren’t locked out of late game options should you chose to change playstyle.

Perception of at least 5 allows the awareness perk to be unlocked, which is a good choice especially for newer players to be able to understand what kind of enemy they are up against. Perception 6 allows for a perk that reduces the AP cost of firing a ranged weapon, and a perk which increases the damage of critical hits.

Endurance raises hit points, radiation resistance, and healing. Good for it not to be too low. Endurance is calculated in such a way that only even numbers give a bump, so keep it in mind (ie: 1-2 are calculated the same, 3-4 are calculated the same, etc). You can raise this attribute by +1 later in game, if you intentionally choose an odd number to start.

Charisma. Useless. Set it to 1 every time. It’s only bumped up to 2 because of the gifted trait.

Intelligence. Very important. Governs how many skill points gained per level, among other things, but that is important. Keep it high if you’re new. A low intelligence playthrough is very fun, but not if you are already new.

Agility: Governs how many combat action points you get. Important for combat. Similar to endurance, it only benefits from being raised to an even number. Agility 9 is calculated the same as agility 8. For this build, agility will be raised by +1 later in the game.

Luck: Very important. It governs critical hit chances, and chances of special encounters on the worldmap, which will yield benefits that are sometimes exclusive to those encounters. Technically luck can also be raised by +1 later in the game, but the opportunity comes so late that it’s really worth it just to start out with 10 on that one sometimes.

Skills: Small guns is always a safe bet. You start with a handgun, and quickly get an SMG or hunting rifle for the early game. The skill stays relevant through the late game, and depending on your build and playstyle a viable option to end the game with. I’ve killed the final boss with a BB gun.

Speech is another safe bet to always take. Talking your way out of sticky situations is a versatile skill in Fallout.

The third taggable skill is a bit more of a tossup. Lockpicking is safe, since there are quite a few locked containers. Similarly, both repair and science come in handy at certain moments. Gambling is a skill that can break the game in your favor by allowing you to have infinite money. I’m still shocked that was never even slightly balanced out.

My only special encounter tip is that if you meet the used car salesman, he has a really great BB gun in his shack, but it is not the BB gun inside the locked container. That is a decoy.