Fallout: New Vegas Trait Editorial

PC Gamer has published an editorial on the trait system used by the Fallout series, with an emphasis on the traits we’ll be picking from in Fallout: New Vegas. In addition to Small Frame and Four Eyes, we’ll be seeing a return of Kamikaze in Obsidian’s installment:

So far Obsidian has confirmed two traits: an updated version of the old Small Frame trait, which gives an agility bonus but makes you more prone to broken limbs; and a new one called Four Eyes, which gives your character a bonus to perception while wearing glasses and a penalty when not wearing them. Because I asked real nice, they’ve now revealed a third: Kamikaze. It’s a trait familiar to those of us who played the first games, and like the Kamikaze trait in Fallout 1 and 2, it suits players with an aggressive fighting style you get 10 extra action points, but your Damage Threshold is reduced by two.

(Damage Threshold is another Fallout 1 and 2 feature I’m glad that Obsidian is bringing back. In New Vegas, armor has a Damage Threshold value. If your armor’s DT is 12 and an enemy hits you for 15 damage, you take three points of damage. If an attack does less damage than your DT number, you take zero damage.)

It’ll be a little different, having this trait in real-time/VATS combat. I can imagine that Kamikaze will reward a hit-and-run approach to combat. Jump out from cover, activate VATS and cue up as many attacks as you can, then (if anything survives) duck back behind cover before they can hit you back and punch through your weakened armor. Stealth players will get a big benefit out of this, too, since you’ll probably already be wearing light armor and it’s important to have a vicious first-strike capability when you do come out of hiding.