Character Creation

Making a character for Fallout Tabletop is similar to other pen and paper systems. It involves distributing main stats and what they apply to, then choosing skill points and perks. The final stage, equipment selection, is always performed in close cooperation with the Overseer. Creating a character is done in the following steps:

Deciding Level and Experience

Character level is a measure of a character's experience with the dangers of the wasteland. Characters usually begin at level 1 with no experience, but some campaigns or Overseers might begin at higher levels. SIMPLE is designed to be engaging even at low levels-- Overseers should not feel obligated to start campaigns overleveled to "skip to the good stuff".

Experience is a character's progress to the next level. To reach a level, a character needs 1000 experience points times the next level-- leveling from level 1 to level 2 takes 2000 experience points, whereas leveling from level 8 to level 9 takes 9000. Experience points are "used up" when leveling up, but roll over to the next level.

Upon leveling up, a character gets 10 Skill Points to distribute as they like, 1d6+EN Hit Points, a Perk, and a Combat Perk if the new level is even.

Determining S.P.E.C.I.A.L.

All characters have seven stats that define their mental and physical capabilities. Each character begins with 0 in every statistic and may spend a total 15 points across all seven statistics during character creation. No statistic may be raised above 5 or dropped below -3 before racial modifiers. Raising a statistic costs a number of points equal to the new value. Lowering a statistic gives extra points on a one-to-one basis.

For example:

• It would cost 2 points to raise a stat from 1 to 2.
• It would cost 5 to raise a stat from 4 to 5.
• It would cost 15 points to raise a stat from 0 to 5 (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5).
• It would give 1 point to lower the stat from 0 to -1
• It would give 1 point to lower the stat from -1 to -2
• It would give 3 points (1+1+1) to lower the stat from 0 to -3

It is important to note that race selection, traits, medicine, equipment or perks may modify these main attributes above or below the ranges listed here (-3 to 5), In this case going above or below the maximum and minimum are allowed.

• Strength - Raw physical power. Strong characters can carry more gear and can swing melee weapons more effectively. Strength is added to directly to Melee Attack rolls and Melee Damage rolls, and governs the Athletics and Intimidation skills.
• Perception - Natural senses and instinct. Perceptive individuals are better at determining distances and noticing fine details. It makes characters more accurate with ranged weapons and spotting hidden objects and creatures more easily. Perception is added directly to all Attack rolls and governs Detection and Tactics.
• Endurance - Hardiness and resilience. Characters with high endurance can take considerably more damage before they die. This directly effects health and beating physical effects, such as rads or poison. Endurance is added directly to a character's Health pool every time they level up and governs Outdoorsman.
• Charisma - Force of personality. Charismatic individuals are much better in social situations and are more confident in their actions. They have good relationships with other people and rarely hesitate in the face of danger. Charisma is used when determining initial relationships with wasteland groups, and governs the Deception and Speech skills.
• Intelligence - Reasoning and thinking abilities. Intelligent characters learn from their mistakes faster and are able to gain skills faster than their less-gifted friends. Intelligence is used when determining skill points gained with a Combat Perk slot and governs Electronics, Engineering, Medic, and Science.
• Agility - Agile characters are able to dodge better and are faster at reacting when combat starts. Agility is added directly to Defense and Initiative, and governs Pilot, Security, and Sneak.
• Luck - Lucky characters will have things go their way. Luck is added to a character's Critical Bonus, used when calculating critical hits. It also raises a character's Action Points, which allows them to change some dice rolls and make accurate targeted attacks in VATS.

Deciding Race

Race in SIMPLE Fallout describes whether a character is a human, a ghoul, or something stranger. Race affects a variety of stats, such as SPECIAL bonuses, metabolism and age.

Ghouls and humans are ubiquitous throughout the post-war world.

• Human: One extra Combat Perk at character creation.
• Ghoul: +1 LU, -1 CH, Rad Child (Perk), Begin with 300 Rads.

Super Mutants are also common in some parts of the Wasteland, although usually less tolerated. Super Mutant player characters require Overseer approval.

Super Mutants have a variety of sub-races to represent differences in their creation process. All are Large, giving them -2 Defense.

• First Generation: +1 ST, -1 PE.
• Second Generation: +1 ST, +1 EN, -2 IN.
• Vault 87 Super Mutant: +2 ST, -2 IN, -2 CH.
• Nightkin: +2 AG, -1 EN, -1 CH.

Robots are also found throughout the Wasteland, but robots capable of developing to the point of being a PC are not. Robot player characters are also subject to Overseer permission.

All robots start with Armor and weapons representing their in-built equipment. While usually better than the average character's starting equipment, they cannot be removed without an Engineering or Electronics check, nor can they freely use most equipment designed for people with opposable thumbs.

• Robots: +1 EN, -1 CH. No Combat Perk at character creation. All robots have 0 LU.

There are a variety of other races, such as synths, Zetans, and intelligent deathclaws, who might make a viable player character. Instructions for playing unusual player characters can be found in the relevant Bestiary entries.

Choose Traits

Traits are personality quirks that affect your players stats in special ways. They are all double edged swords, granting bonuses, but always incurring a penalty. A character, when created, can take zero, one, or two traits.

Choose Tag skills

Each player begins with two skills they choose to tag. Doing this grants a rank in the skill and makes it cost 1 point less to raise each rank.

Choose Perk and Combat Perk

Perks are unique abilities gained based on your character's skills and abilities. Every character begins at level 1 with a Perk and a Combat Perk. You gain a new Perk and Combat Perk every time you gain a level. You can select any Perk you meet the requirements for or spend a Perk slot on a Combat Perk instead. Combat perks can ONLY buy Combat Perks. A player can also always exchange 1 Combat Perk for (3 + INT) Skill Points. The very first Perk that the player chooses at level 1 can ignore any condition. Every Perk thereafter must meet the requirements to be obtained.

Fill in the Derived Attributes

At this point all the decisions for you character have been made and all that is left is filling in your derived attributes based on your S.P.E.C.I.A.L.

Hit Points

Base HP: 10 + EN

Each Subsequent Level: 1d6 + EN

When a character reaches zero hit points, they enter Bleed-Out and will lose 1 HP per round until they are stabilized using Medic or die at -20 HP. At -10 HP, a character falls unconscious. A character in Bleed-Out can only participate in the action phase, all skill checks (including combat) are halved, and are limited to 1 SQ movement per round. A successful DC 14 Medic check Stabilizes the character, preventing them from losing HP over time. All other effects apply until they are brought above 0 HP.

Defense

(Defense = AG + 8)

This is the difficulty to hit or be hit with a weapon. An attack roll must surpass this number to hit a target. This statistic is further influenced by Armor, making it extremely difficult to hit a heavily armored target.

Speed

6 Squares

Speed is how many squares a character can travel when performing a move action. By default it is 6, though perks and other factors effect this. A square is considered to be 5 square feet.

Action Points

(5 + LK + level)

Action Points, or AP, are a character's ability to fudge numbers and perform special abilities via Perks. Under certain conditions the player can spend AP to change or determine a dice roll.

• Re-Roll Doubles: When rolling 3d6, if a player gets two of the same number, they can reroll the odd die out for 1 AP.
• Re-Roll Triples: When rolling 3d6, if a player gets three of the same number, they may spend 1 AP to add that number for a second 3d6 roll and use that as their check result.
• Take 10: the player can spend 2 AP to automatically roll 10 on a skill check, as long as that skill is tagged.
• Perform a V.A.T.S. attack (See the combat page)

AP resets in between sessions.

Carry Weight

(ST * 10 + 100) in pounds.

A character cannot carry more equipment than their Carry Weight.

RAD Resistance

• Humans have a 10% bonus to RAD resistance
• Ghouls have a bonus of 20% to RAD resistance.
• All varieties of Super Mutant have a bonus of 25% to RAD resistance.
• Robots are immune to radiation.

Use the following equation to determine your RAD resistance based on Endurance:

(En x 2) + Racial Bonus = RAD resistance.

RAD resistance effectively removes a percentage of incoming radiation.

Healing Rate

(EN + 4)

Healing rate is how fast lost HP is recovered and the rate at which a character deals with rads. For every six hours of rest, every character heals EN + 4 HP and EN + 4 Rads. Natural healing cannot boost HP above its natural maximum or RADs below 0.

Hunger and Thirst

See Survival. Characters must consume a number of points of HNG and H20 per day based on their race, EN, ST, and AG or suffer increasingly severe penalties eventually leading to death.

8. Equipment Selection

A player can opt to choose one of these sets of equipment to begin with or discuss with the Overseer what to begin with. Of course, the Overseers can always forbid the players from choosing one of these starting packages.

Generic Backgrounds:

• Tribal Background: Studded Leather Jacket, Bow + 10 arrows, Healing Powder x3, Radscorpion Poison x2
• Backwater Background: 20Ga Stacked Double Barrel Shotgun (10 Rounds), Basic Clothing, Coyote Chew x2
• Vault Background: Pip Boy, Small Knife, Vault Suit, 1 Nuka-Cola
• "Civilized" Background: Basic Clothing, 10mm Pistol, 24 Rounds (2 Clips), 20 Caps, 1 Stimpack.
• Raider Background: Combat Knife, Piecemail Armor, Dynamite x3, Lighter
• Advanced Background: Laser Pistol, 1 SEC, Padded Clothing,  3 Stimpacks

The Sound Backgrounds:

• Pioneers Background: Leather Jacket, Self Rifle (10 Cartridges), Combat Knife
• Liberators Background: Padded Clothing, 9mm Pistol (2 Clips), The Little Book, MRE
• Commission Background: Armored Vault Suit, Brass Knuckles, Zip Gun (10 10mm Rounds)
• Redmond Outfit Background: Piecemail Armor, Hunting Rifle (20 5.56 Rounds) at 4 CND
• Vault 60 Background: Vault Suit, Pip-Boy, Shiv

Robot Backgrounds (See Appropriate Pages):

• Eyebot
• Mister Handy
• Protectron

The Sound Robot Backgrounds (See Appropriate Pages):

• Mechanist Duraframe Eyebot