The Chosen One, the protagonist in Fallout 2, is the descendant of the Vault Dweller.Ī diverse selection of various recruitable non-player characters can be found to aid the player character in the post-apocalyptic wasteland. The protagonist is governed by the SPECIAL character system, which was designed specifically for Fallout and is used in the other games in the series.Īt the end of the game, the Vault Dweller would be exiled from Vault 13 and eventually found Arroyo, the starting point for Fallout 2. In subsequent Fallout games, they are referred to as the " Vault Dweller." The player or protagonist of Fallout is an inhabitant of one of the government-contracted fallout shelters known as Vaults. Main article: Fallout characters Protagonist Armed with the Pip-Boy 2000 and meager equipment, the protagonist is sent out into the remains of California to find another water chip.
They are given a portable device called the " Pip-Boy 2000" which keeps track of mapmaking, quest objectives, and various bookkeeping aspects. The Vault's overseer tasks the protagonist with finding a replacement.
Vault 13's water chip, a computer chip responsible for the water recycling and pumping machinery, has broken. The game takes place in 2161, 84 years after the Great War in Southern California and begins in Vault 13, the protagonist's home. Overseer Jacoren sends the Vault Dweller on a mission to obtain a water purifier chip. Before the Great War came the Resource Wars, during which the United Nations had disbanded, and Canada was annexed. The war lasted less than two hours but caused immense damage and destruction. The game is set in a post-apocalyptic world following the " Great War," a nuclear war that occurred on October 23, 2077. As skills grow higher in rating, they begin to cost more skill points to increase. Chems can also temporarily boost the player character's skills however, they often have adverse effects such as addiction and withdrawal. For example, equipping lock picks would improve lockpicking skills. Some skills can also be improved while having certain items equipped. How high skills can be developed is affected by the character's attributes-a character with a low Intelligence will not be able to boost their Science rating as high as a character with high Intelligence, for example. Some non-player characters can also improve Skills via training. However, after a skill reaches a certain Level, books no longer have any impact on that skill.
Every time the player gains a Level, they will be awarded skill points to be used to improve their skills, equal to five points plus twice their Intelligence. The starting values for those skills at level one are determined by the player's seven basic attributes or SPECIAL, but most of those skills would fall between 0% and 50%. There are 18 different skills in the game.