Perks! A mechanic strong enough to be imported to Dungeons and Dragons Third Edition and changing that game forever. And Traits, brought over from GURPS, give character individuality and personality with a positive and a negative. New Vegas’s implementation of these systems is varied and fun, but fans have done an amazing job of adding more to the game and I have enjoyed them since 2010.
One thing I’m proud of with my New Vegas modlist is variety. It’s why I have so many radio and quest mods. It helps to avoid complacency as a player, of always listening to the same songs, doing my quests in the exact same order with the exact same gear. And to avoid that complacency with my player character’s build, I use a number of new Perk mods. I’ll run through the ones I use, some general quality of life mods related to character creation, and a few others that need to be here just for completeness’ sake.
I’ve also added a section on Charisma, New Vegas’s dump stat. There are some systems that make it a worthwhile pick during character creation, including extra Perks.
This is part of a series of articles on Fallout New Vegas mods. All mods in this series can be run individually, but are written to run concurrently.
This article is also written with the assumption that you are using at least the Base Finish of Viva New Vegas, which provides stability and bugfix mods for a vanilla experience. The Extended Finish is compatible and broadly preferred but not strictly necessary. B42 Optics is not recommended for either due to bugginess and quality.
Perk Mods
New Traits – 13
New Perks – 73
The original More Perks mod came out early in New Vegas’s life cycle, and it was a lot of fun. But modding has changed since 2010 – we have better ways to utilize the engine, less tolerance for bugs, and a propensity for game balance. The Reimagined mod updates the original Perks and Traits to modern standards (while discarding some others), and it adds a level of variety that I really appreciate. There’s a sense of fun and weirdness to it that just fits Fallout.
I recommend this for roleplayers looking to create a unique Courier with their own backstory and personality with new Traits, or if you’re looking to experiment with a truly unique build. And if you play tabletop RPGs, you’ll get this – it feels like a really fun third party splatbook.
Additional Mods: dree74 More Perks Upscaled (and Regular-ified Art Pack)
Sweet 6 Shooter Perk Pack (New Vegas Version)
New Traits – 27
New Perks – 93
This is an absolutely enormous mod. Where More Perks Reimagined added a lot of variety with its Perks, this mod focuses on specialization. It really rewards the player for committing to a particular play style, offering new ways to take advantage of it and additional strengths. Add to that the new Traits (some of which require particular Skills to be tagged, a mechanic specific to this mod) and the two mods synergize well with each other in breadth and depth as a base to work from.
New Perks – 19 (originally 23, but patched for compatibility with Sweet 6 Shooter Perk Pack)
Installation Instructions: Download Consistent Pip-Boy Icons Version 4.4 and install as “Consistent Pip-Boy Icons – PerkPackPlus)”.
Hide the .ESP, Config, and NVSE folders.
If you already use Consistent Pip-Boy Icons, use this in addition to the most recent version, not as a replacement.
I really enjoy this one. The additional utility to different armor types is what makes this stand out, giving bonuses to Vault Suits, Science outfits, Pre-War clothing, Ranger Armor, or Medium Armor. The other Perks are a lot of fun too. It’s a small mod, but it makes it a lot more fun to experiment with different equipment.
Additional Mods: The Sweet 6 Shooter Patch removes some Perks that overlap with hers.
New Traits – 10
New Perks – 21
Despite the name, I like this mod for its new Traits even more than the actual Perks. A number of them are flips from the base game, such as Born Bad (+5 to combat skills, -5 to four noncombat skills) or Built to Endure (15% less weapon degradation, but 3% less critical hit change). The Perks are still interesting though. Others are brought in from the original Fallout games, and another from Fallout 4.
The Perks are nothing to sneeze at either. There are some standalones, but the most interesting ones add additional levels to base game Perks. The whole thing feels like base game content, and when I forgot to install this the game felt a little less complete.
New Perks – 12 (+8 Challenge Perks)
This one’s partly for all my readers who remember Super VGA. But I’m happy to say this port of Fallout 1/2 Perks isn’t just a matter of nostalgia. The mechanics are sound, balanced properly for New Vegas, and tie the game better to its series roots. It also adds new Challenge Perks, giving you something new to shoot for during your time in the Wasteland.
Brotherhood of Steel Perk Pack
New Perks – 12
Fallout Brotherhood of Steel is an obscurity that falls somewhere above Hotel Mario in terms of franchise quality, but no one’s arguing it’s an underrated classic either. Porting the Perks to a less silly game proved to be a successful choice, creating some really interesting options for character progression. As a nod to the series’ worst game, whose only genuinely strong contribution was its ambient music, I recommend this mod. And to honor its spirit within this article, here’s some wildly out of place Slipknot.
New Traits – 1
New Perks – 1
Caravan, the little minigame that never quite managed to reach its potential. I already went through additional Caravan quests in another article, but I wanted to add this here too. You can get every base game Caravan Card right from the beginning with a new Trait, or get a bonus to Barter for collecting Caravan cards with a new Perk. Or both, they work together great. For the aspiring card sharks out there, enjoy this small addition to New Vegas.
New Perks – 1
Fallout 4’s Perk system was, like just about everything added to a new Fallout game, contentious. Most of its Perks were married to its game-specific mechanics, like the settlement system, but not all of them. And one that stood out was Idiot Savant: the Perk that randomly gives additional experience to characters with low intelligence.
Fallout has a tradition of ‘dumb dialogue’, where a player with low Intelligence has different dialogue responses and options compared to a normal character. It returned in New Vegas after an absence in 3. It’s less mechanically harsh than the original Fallout and less extensive than 2, but it’s definitely fun for a playthrough. Idiot Savant helps supplement that play style, using Fallout 4’s random additional XP while also giving an additional skill point per level. And yes, it makes the stupid sound.
Additional Character Creation Mods
I like option of expanding my charater’s backstory and making the play experience unique. The new Traits on this list help that a lot, and using more Traits makes each character feel richer and more fun. I use the 5 Traits version, even if I don’t always use every slot.
This is the most important mod in the game, offering the one correct answer for the Rorschach test from Doc Mitchell.
Wild Wasteland. A compromise on the team for people who preferred Fallout or Fallout 2’s humor – if it was more of a pop culture reference or something silly, it would only show up with the Wild Wasteland Trait. This mod gives it to you automatically without using a Trait slot, and allows you to get the Wild Wasteland exclusive Alien Blaster and normal game’s YCS/186. Just wait a week after finding the Alien Blaster, then return to that same area.
Most importantly, it disables the pop-up and theremin sound effect that happens when a Wild Wasteland exclusive joke comes up. I don’t know why they thought it was helpful to telegraph this for players, but removing that is the reason I use this mod instead of any others.
If you’re using my quest list, there are more Wild Wasteland encounters than there are in the base game. So even if you’ve played with it before, there’s something new to try. It is my preferred way to play the game.
More Perks Reimagined also allows you to get a Wild Wasteland exclusive Perk, Destiny Gambler.
Character Orientation Perks as Options – Reddit Special
Black Widow, Cherchez La Femme, Confirmed Bachleor, Ladykiller. These four Perks add unique flirtatious dialogue options and damage bonuses depending on your character and the NPC’s genders. Some people don’t like to play the game without these Perks for one reason or another. Rather than selecting them by default, this mod adds an additional dialogue menu at the end of character creation – the option to choose those as free Traits. You can pick one (+10% damage), two (+5% damage), prefer not to say (vanilla), or the new Ace of Hearts trait, marking your character as asexual (+15% damage.)
I designed this one, so I definitely recommend it.
Child at Heart – Teddy Bears on Parade
New Perks – 1
Fallout 3’s Child at Heart Perk gave the player unique dialogue options mostly geared towards the child characters in that game. The town of Little Lamplight, entirely populated by kids, was a different and easier experience with this Perk compared to any other. I think it’s one of Fallout 3’s most interesting choices, and certainly the most interesting Perk. And New Vegas cut it.
I get it. It was already incredibly situational, you only get a Perk every other level instead of every level like you do in 3, and there are way fewer kids in the game compared to 3. But there were Child at Heart encounters scripted and recorded for New Vegas which were left on the disc. Re-implementing the Perk is pretty simple, and it happened early in New Vegas modding. It was only four encounters, but it led to the same problem that caused it to get cut originally though. My solution was a new challenge.
If you collect 25 teddy bears, you unlock the Child at Heart Perk. You need them all in your inventory at one time, but aren’t required to keep them for the Perk to stay active.
ThePimentaRules implemented this design for me, and it works great.
This one is entirely up to personal preference, but I like it. No more automatic leveling with an intrusive pop-up, you just get an alert in the upper left corner of the screen. In order to level up, you need to open your Pip-Boy and press the hotkey.
If you’re someone who beelines to get the Intelligence implant, or just wants to hoard skill books to hit Perk prerequisites, this is a huge quality of life mod. It only takes one XP’s worth of lockpicking giving you a level before using the skill book to get mad enough to last the rest of your life.
Note: This mod will interfere with Fallout New California, and cannot be used if you’re running that mod. While my modlist isn’t designed with it in mind and I have not tested it, I know a lot of people run it. If only for the incredible Vault section.
How SPECIAL Are You? [A fork of SPECIALer]
I think a lot of players used various cheat methods to give more SPECIAL points, which is a very easy console command. While I do enjoy having an overly powerful character, I use this mod to stop myself from giving myself 10s in every stat.
This adds an additional 5 or 10 SPECIAL points during character creation, which you can select from a menu right before determining your SPECIAL stats. You can also choose to play the game per vanilla, or even give yourself a penalty of -5 if you’re looking for a challenge run.
This is not my mod: I have uploaded this version in accordance with the the creator’s (Ytterbium) permissions. You can find the original here.
My fork has spelling and grammar corrections, along with references to Fallout 1, 2 and Tactics. Fitting, considering New Vegas’s status as a sequel to those games.
Once you leave Goodsprings, you’ll get a pop-up asking if you’d like to respec your character. This is a great quality of life feature. However, additional Perk mods can cause a bug where you can’t select the Traits you did during the initial character creation. To avoid this bug being a problem, it cuts the respec option outside of Goodsprings completely.
Charisma
Part of the problem with writing these articles is the cross-disciplinary aspects of modifications. Player houses are quests, radio mods are quests, quests create radio stations and player houses, and here I have character creation and progression mixed with companions. But if every mod slotted neatly into one category, the additions would feel artificial instead of integrated.
Here’s how I balanced Charisma for diverse player builds.
Installation Instructions: Open the INI and change “bNoIntenseTraining” to 0.
This mod does two things: correctly implements the Nerve mechanic for companions (additional armor and damage to companions based on your Charisma) and gives you more Perks based on your Charisma. One to two Perks every six levels, capping out at your Charisma. Check out this chart for a breakdown, copied from the original mod author’s page.
You’re guaranteed one Perk, and if you run with the original level cap of 30 it is the only way to get multiple endgame Perks on hitting max level (even more of which have been added as a result of this list). This can drastically change your character creation choices, while offering a small supplement to any build.
(or)
New Perks – 1
I like Charisma Plus a lot. But it’s not something I’d likely recommend on my own. It feels like a Perk dispenser, and has a limited effect on overall gameplay. That’s why I use Charisma Carries You to cap your followers based on your Charisma – and get more slots than the base game provides.
1 Charisma – 0 Companions
2-4 Charisma – 1 Companion
5-7 Charisma – 2 Companions
8-9 Charisma – 3 Companions
10 Charisma – 4 Companions
The original version of this mod changes up the carry weight of characters, adds weight to various currencies, adds a couple of new Perks (including one from Fallout 2), and gives you more companion slots based on your Charisma.
I removed everything except the additional companion slots and Magnetic Personality Perk (lowering its level requirement to 8, and adding a new Pip-Boy icon sourced from from Fallout 2.) I would upload this version but the mod’s permissions aren’t set up for that.
Together the two mods make Charisma meaningfully weighted in character creation. Keep in mind there are Perks on this list which reward you for not having Companions, or are only valuable with a low Charisma.
My recommendation: Follower Formula Redone does mostly the same thing as the modded version of Charisma Carries You, but with a slightly different mathematical implementation of a follower cap. I don’t enjoy thee design as much, but it doesn’t require messing with FNVEdit to work properly.
Additional Mods
These are Perk-adjacent, and fit the scope of this article.
Autumn Leaves (And additional quality of life mods)
This is my favorite quest mod. There’s no combat required, it has a great story, dialogue, soundtrack, voice acting, and the design is phenomenal. It feels like the fifth DLC and is the first mod I download when I set up a new game. But there is more to it than talking. An optional scavenger hunt for Printing Cards scattered around the Vault gives you the ability to buy unique Perks, giving you something to remember Hypatia by. You can also get a Perk from an optional side mission depending on your choices.
jSawyer’s original mod adds the Challenge Perk “Never Axed For This”, giving you an additional Critical Hit chance with axes. Agua Fria restores this Challenge and Perk.
Among New Vegas’s many other additions to 3D Fallout are Challenges and Challenge Perks. There are 179 of these Challenges, though only 18 give Perks. Challenges Tracker adds a tab in the Pip-Boy allowing you to track your progress.
The Perk menu is at times extremely difficult to navigate. It starts off without much of an issue, but when you start getting to the midgame keeping track becomes a hassle pretty quickly. This organizes the menu with individual headings for Traits, Perks, Feats (one-time achievements that are noted but provide no actual gameplay benefit such as finding a Vault), and Challenge Perks.
Optional Mods
These are mods that I don’t run myself, but should fit on this list without issue.
This one is simple, and it does exactly what the name says. Like Fallout 3, this gives you one Perk per level. Its original implementation was one of the very first mods. The modern version can be used without taking a plugin slot thanks to Stewie’s Tweaks, which you should have if you used Viva New Vegas.
Fallout 3 Perks
Fallout 3 Perks – Lawbringer-Contract Killer and More
New Perks – 24, 1
Fallout 3’s Perks were balanced for getting one Perk per level. Because of this, a simple stat boost (i.e. damage or skills) was a more reasonable reward for leveling up. To allow for a more satisfying sense of progression when receiving less Perks, Obsidian opted to cut a number of Perks which provides more static bonuses. No mods that I know of reintroduce all of Fallout 3’s cut Perks to New Vegas, but this will give you access to the majority of them.
That said, I have two recommendations. Don’t use these mods without giving yourself one Perk per level for the same reasons Obsidian cut them to begin with. And instead of Fallout 3 Perks Lawbringer-Contract Killer and More, I recommend:
New Perks – 10
While it has fewer restored Perks, the ones that were restored were both converted and balanced better for New Vegas. Almost Perfect remains a viable additional mod no matter which one you use.
Note: Fallout 3 Perks Lawbringer-Contract Killer restores the Child at Heart Perk. This overlaps with the mod included earlier in this article, which does so through with a different implementation.
—
I’ve been playing this mod list for about 110 hours in one playthrough, and I haven’t gotten to everything on any of these lists yet. This is a long game and these mods make it even longer. Make a character you’ll be happy to spend that much time with.