elle days | courier six (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
quixotically) wrote2021-01-14 06:35 pm
quixotically) wrote2021-01-14 06:35 pm
Entry tags:
reference [s.p.e.c.i.a.l., skills, and perks]
Elle is 100% human, and everything she can do is reliant on her physical ability, skills, and equipment. However, the following should be noted:
S.P.E.C.I.A.L.
In Fallout: New Vegas, character base stats are organized in a format known as S.P.E.C.I.A.L. These seven base stats dictate how many hit points and skill points the character has, as well as provide bonuses to skills and affect the character's move speed, physical strength, how often critical hits will be scored, and how much of an impression the character will leave on other people. Five is the base/average stat.
Here are the details on Elle's S.P.E.C.I.A.L.:
▶ Strength: 6
Because her strength wasn't up to scratch for the first part of her journey (it started as a 4), she didn't have the muscle to carry a lot of gear. To make up for it, she's had to learn how to pack smart and learn how to compensate for the weight of heavier weapons (see the Weapon Handling perk). The only reason why her strength is statistically a 6 is due to surgery from her time in Big MT. In narrative, this will translate to having a stronger back for carrying equipment and being more resistant to, say, breaking her back. She will not throw harder punches or do more damage with melee weapons; when it comes to those things, she is still quite bad at them.
▶ Perception: 8
She has a keen eye and strong intuition, and both of these things help her pick up on small details that other people might otherwise miss. When wearing her Pre-War fedora, this stat increases (by one) for two reasons: one, it keeps the sun out of her eyes, and two, the hat is a ~frame of mind.~
▶ Endurance: 4
She takes injury hard and has the chance of going down faster than your average folk. Over her time in the Mojave, she learned how to adapt and was forced to withstand more pain and longer periods of time without food and water.
▶ Charisma: 8
Her charisma comes down to her bright personality, which stands out in a setting like the Mojave Wasteland, where "nothing is clean" (as Elle has put it). She is engaging, friendly, and genuine, and while this doesn't always help her get along with everyone, it does get her results when she's talking to people. She leaves a strong impression on those she meets, and word of her travels quickly in the Mojave.
▶ Intelligence: 4
Sometimes, even if she sees the small details, she doesn't always connect them to the bigger picture. Generally, this means that she can be slower to catch on to things than other people, usually because her focus is elsewhere.
▶ Agility: 6
When it comes to dodging attacks, reaction time in combat, and running, Elle benefits from her Small Frame (see Traits below). This means she's a smaller target for people to aim at, and she can be a zippy little thing if she really wants to be.
▶ Luck: 7
It can be said that Lady Luck is especially fond of her. Things have a habit of going right for her both at the card tables and when it comes to scoring lucky hits on her enemies.
Skills [wiki]
When it comes to skills needed to survive in the Wasteland, Elle's picked up a lot of experience and tricks from her companions. However, when push comes to shove, there are some she makes more use of than others.
▶ Speech and Barter (her most used skills, considering how she prefers to talk around conflicts more than anything else. and sometimes, talking money works where just plain talking doesn't)
▶ Guns (fairly straightforward; guns are a girl's best friend. they have saved her life and the lives of her friends and those around her time and time again, and so through necessity more than anything else she's learned how to use guns as accurately and most effectively as possible. her specialty here falls under "shotguns to the face," but if she's adaptable and fairly handy with pistols and rifles, too. however, she is useless with heavy weapons, such as miniguns)
▶ Lockpick (in order to access the best stashes of goods, get through doors that have been locked since before the War, and find clues for her quests, she has had to tackle locks with just bobby pins and a screwdriver, and it's more than second nature for her)
▶ Repair (the Mojave is just as unkind to gear as it is to people. in order to maintain upkeep on her equipment, old technology in the desert, and even sometimes her companions, she has had to learn how to fix anything put in front of her. it helps that two of her closest friends are especially talented at this and were willing to teach her both the basics and some tricks of the trade)
▶ Science (though she started her journey without much interest in this area, the Big MT taught her how important it can be. her knowledge specialty here is in hacking RobCo terminals and breaking and fixing robots from the Fallout world)
▶ Medicine (this is a skill she has developed since before she became a Courier, so it comes very easily to her; sometimes, she realizes she knows how to do something without having been taught it. her knowledge specialty lies in curing poisons and dealing with battlefield trauma. she has saved the lives of Boomers, NCR soldiers, her friends, and herself with her skill)
▶ Sneak (staying quiet and unnoticed can be vital to surviving at times, especially in highly dangerous areas like the Big MT and the Sierra Madre ... and narrow trash-littered hallways full of invisible super mutants)
▶ Survival (a necessity for staying alive in an irradiated desert wasteland, and that's where her outdoorsman skills lie. she'll be much less effective in, say, a forest or tundra environment, but she knows very well how to deal with a lack of food and water, clean or otherwise, how to tolerate the heat, and how to cook and hunt. it's worth noting though that she's a big baby in the face of cold)
It should also be noted that the following skills are marked weaknesses for her, ones that she barely uses and barely knows how to:
▶ Unarmed (the best she hope to do is try to knock someone off their feet so she can put more distance between them)
▶ Melee (her preferred melee weapon is the butt of her gun. no, it isn't good for her gun, but if someone's closed to melee with her, she's desperate enough to go for it)
Perks (that matter; wiki)
In addition to her skills, Elle also developed various tricks and shortcuts throughout her adventures. She also has had a few surgeries, which have provided her almost supernatural benefits.
▶ Damage Bonuses (this comes from having so much experience killing things in the Wasteland; she's just learned where to aim and how to take enemies down faster)
▶ Survival Tricks (little things like "how to run longer on less water" and "how to make drugs last longer")
▶ Animal Friend [two ranks] (Elle naturally has a way with animals, and so many in the Wasteland don't attack her, and they will even aid her in battle)
▶ Jury Rigging / Junk Rounds / Scrounger (thanks partially to experience and necessity, but mostly thanks to her friends Raul and Veronica, she has learned how to fix things and make ammo from whatever happens to be lying around, and how to scrape for materials to do so)
▶ Quick Draw / Rapid Reload / Run 'n' Gun (she has learned how to reload her gun fast and draw it even faster, as well as fire one-handed guns more accurately while in movement)
▶ And Stay Back / Shotgun Surgeon (she has learned how to make the most of her favored weapon, the shotgun, so that she can do more damage and catch opponents off-balance)
▶ Weapon Handling (she learned how to handle heavy weapons without her accuracy suffering for it)
▶ Big Brained / Cardiac Arrest / Reinforced Spine (at the end of her time in Big MT, she was stitched back together, but in a way that made her body stronger. she is more resistant to poisons and being addicted to drugs and healing items have a stronger effect. in addition, the likelihood of her breaking bones or suffering from concussions has been reduced, partially balancing out the drawbacks of Small Frame)
Traits [wiki]
Traits are innate perks that provide both a benefit and a drawback. The protagonist can pick up to two at the beginning of the game. The ones listed below are more like statistical benefits and drawbacks of physical build and personality inclinations.
▶ Small Frame
Like it says on the tin, Elle is built small. This has its bright side, namely that it's easy for her to hide in cramped places and duck under incoming attacks. Unfortunately, it also means it's pretty easy to break her limbs if that attack does hit...
▶ Good Natured
Elle is naturally predisposed to try to resolve conflicts peacefully. It's so set in her bones that it took a lot more effort for her to learn to be combat effective, thanks to her reluctance.
S.P.E.C.I.A.L.
In Fallout: New Vegas, character base stats are organized in a format known as S.P.E.C.I.A.L. These seven base stats dictate how many hit points and skill points the character has, as well as provide bonuses to skills and affect the character's move speed, physical strength, how often critical hits will be scored, and how much of an impression the character will leave on other people. Five is the base/average stat.
Here are the details on Elle's S.P.E.C.I.A.L.:
▶ Strength: 6
Because her strength wasn't up to scratch for the first part of her journey (it started as a 4), she didn't have the muscle to carry a lot of gear. To make up for it, she's had to learn how to pack smart and learn how to compensate for the weight of heavier weapons (see the Weapon Handling perk). The only reason why her strength is statistically a 6 is due to surgery from her time in Big MT. In narrative, this will translate to having a stronger back for carrying equipment and being more resistant to, say, breaking her back. She will not throw harder punches or do more damage with melee weapons; when it comes to those things, she is still quite bad at them.
▶ Perception: 8
She has a keen eye and strong intuition, and both of these things help her pick up on small details that other people might otherwise miss. When wearing her Pre-War fedora, this stat increases (by one) for two reasons: one, it keeps the sun out of her eyes, and two, the hat is a ~frame of mind.~
▶ Endurance: 4
She takes injury hard and has the chance of going down faster than your average folk. Over her time in the Mojave, she learned how to adapt and was forced to withstand more pain and longer periods of time without food and water.
▶ Charisma: 8
Her charisma comes down to her bright personality, which stands out in a setting like the Mojave Wasteland, where "nothing is clean" (as Elle has put it). She is engaging, friendly, and genuine, and while this doesn't always help her get along with everyone, it does get her results when she's talking to people. She leaves a strong impression on those she meets, and word of her travels quickly in the Mojave.
▶ Intelligence: 4
Sometimes, even if she sees the small details, she doesn't always connect them to the bigger picture. Generally, this means that she can be slower to catch on to things than other people, usually because her focus is elsewhere.
▶ Agility: 6
When it comes to dodging attacks, reaction time in combat, and running, Elle benefits from her Small Frame (see Traits below). This means she's a smaller target for people to aim at, and she can be a zippy little thing if she really wants to be.
▶ Luck: 7
It can be said that Lady Luck is especially fond of her. Things have a habit of going right for her both at the card tables and when it comes to scoring lucky hits on her enemies.
Skills [wiki]
When it comes to skills needed to survive in the Wasteland, Elle's picked up a lot of experience and tricks from her companions. However, when push comes to shove, there are some she makes more use of than others.
▶ Speech and Barter (her most used skills, considering how she prefers to talk around conflicts more than anything else. and sometimes, talking money works where just plain talking doesn't)
▶ Guns (fairly straightforward; guns are a girl's best friend. they have saved her life and the lives of her friends and those around her time and time again, and so through necessity more than anything else she's learned how to use guns as accurately and most effectively as possible. her specialty here falls under "shotguns to the face," but if she's adaptable and fairly handy with pistols and rifles, too. however, she is useless with heavy weapons, such as miniguns)
▶ Lockpick (in order to access the best stashes of goods, get through doors that have been locked since before the War, and find clues for her quests, she has had to tackle locks with just bobby pins and a screwdriver, and it's more than second nature for her)
▶ Repair (the Mojave is just as unkind to gear as it is to people. in order to maintain upkeep on her equipment, old technology in the desert, and even sometimes her companions, she has had to learn how to fix anything put in front of her. it helps that two of her closest friends are especially talented at this and were willing to teach her both the basics and some tricks of the trade)
▶ Science (though she started her journey without much interest in this area, the Big MT taught her how important it can be. her knowledge specialty here is in hacking RobCo terminals and breaking and fixing robots from the Fallout world)
▶ Medicine (this is a skill she has developed since before she became a Courier, so it comes very easily to her; sometimes, she realizes she knows how to do something without having been taught it. her knowledge specialty lies in curing poisons and dealing with battlefield trauma. she has saved the lives of Boomers, NCR soldiers, her friends, and herself with her skill)
▶ Sneak (staying quiet and unnoticed can be vital to surviving at times, especially in highly dangerous areas like the Big MT and the Sierra Madre ... and narrow trash-littered hallways full of invisible super mutants)
▶ Survival (a necessity for staying alive in an irradiated desert wasteland, and that's where her outdoorsman skills lie. she'll be much less effective in, say, a forest or tundra environment, but she knows very well how to deal with a lack of food and water, clean or otherwise, how to tolerate the heat, and how to cook and hunt. it's worth noting though that she's a big baby in the face of cold)
It should also be noted that the following skills are marked weaknesses for her, ones that she barely uses and barely knows how to:
▶ Unarmed (the best she hope to do is try to knock someone off their feet so she can put more distance between them)
▶ Melee (her preferred melee weapon is the butt of her gun. no, it isn't good for her gun, but if someone's closed to melee with her, she's desperate enough to go for it)
Perks (that matter; wiki)
In addition to her skills, Elle also developed various tricks and shortcuts throughout her adventures. She also has had a few surgeries, which have provided her almost supernatural benefits.
▶ Damage Bonuses (this comes from having so much experience killing things in the Wasteland; she's just learned where to aim and how to take enemies down faster)
▶ Survival Tricks (little things like "how to run longer on less water" and "how to make drugs last longer")
▶ Animal Friend [two ranks] (Elle naturally has a way with animals, and so many in the Wasteland don't attack her, and they will even aid her in battle)
▶ Jury Rigging / Junk Rounds / Scrounger (thanks partially to experience and necessity, but mostly thanks to her friends Raul and Veronica, she has learned how to fix things and make ammo from whatever happens to be lying around, and how to scrape for materials to do so)
▶ Quick Draw / Rapid Reload / Run 'n' Gun (she has learned how to reload her gun fast and draw it even faster, as well as fire one-handed guns more accurately while in movement)
▶ And Stay Back / Shotgun Surgeon (she has learned how to make the most of her favored weapon, the shotgun, so that she can do more damage and catch opponents off-balance)
▶ Weapon Handling (she learned how to handle heavy weapons without her accuracy suffering for it)
▶ Big Brained / Cardiac Arrest / Reinforced Spine (at the end of her time in Big MT, she was stitched back together, but in a way that made her body stronger. she is more resistant to poisons and being addicted to drugs and healing items have a stronger effect. in addition, the likelihood of her breaking bones or suffering from concussions has been reduced, partially balancing out the drawbacks of Small Frame)
Traits [wiki]
Traits are innate perks that provide both a benefit and a drawback. The protagonist can pick up to two at the beginning of the game. The ones listed below are more like statistical benefits and drawbacks of physical build and personality inclinations.
▶ Small Frame
Like it says on the tin, Elle is built small. This has its bright side, namely that it's easy for her to hide in cramped places and duck under incoming attacks. Unfortunately, it also means it's pretty easy to break her limbs if that attack does hit...
▶ Good Natured
Elle is naturally predisposed to try to resolve conflicts peacefully. It's so set in her bones that it took a lot more effort for her to learn to be combat effective, thanks to her reluctance.