Fallout Wastelands

A Post-Nuclear Role-Playing Game

A Black Diamond Project - Version 2.0
Table of Contents
4… Notes About Fallout Wastelands #... 5. Adventuring in the Wastes
7... 1. Introduction #... Exploration and Travel
9... 2. Character Creation #... Eat, Pray, Live
9... Character Terminology #... Rest and Relaxation
12... Character Races #... Maintaining Gear
12... Humans #... Trading and Barter
13... Ghouls #... Breaking and Entering
14... Super Mutants #... Hazards of the Wasteland
15... Robots #... Energy and Power
16... Character Statistics #... The Art of the Steal
16... SPECIAL Stats #... Damage, Death, and Dying
18... Derived Stats #... Karma
22... Traits #... 6. Combat
30... Finishing Touches #... Combat Begins
32... 3. Skills #... Determining Initiative
32... Character Creation #... Actions
37... Applying Skills #... Vehicle Combat
37... Skill Tests #... After Combat
38... Skill Competencies #... 7. The Armory
38... Degrees of Success #... Weapons
39... Skill Contests #... Energy Weapons
40... 4. Character Advancement #... Explosives
42... Perks #... Guns
 #... Melee Weapons

#... Unarmed Weapons

#... Weapon Modifications

#... Armor

#... Traps

#... Equipment

#... Ammunition

#... Chems

#... Gear

#... Vehicles

#... Vehicle Enhancements

#... 8. The Bestiary

#... Appendices

#... Index
A Few Notes About Fallout: Wastelands
For years I’ve loved playing the Fallout games, starting
out with Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas before moving on
(or back?) to Fallout and Fallout 2. I became enamored by the
setting and fell in love with the 1950s-era retro-futuristic
atmosphere, the pulp Science! themes, and the surprisingly
beautiful post-apocalyptic world that unfolded before me. It
was like Firefly met Mad Max and Rango and it was perfect.
Once I worked my way through the series (the games that
existed at the time), I began searching for a tabletop version of
Fallout so I could explore the wasteland with my friends at
college.

Unfortunately all of the systems I found were either too

complicated or otherwise didn’t have the right “feel” to them.
Games either took too long to set up or we got hung up on
some mechanic that the video games’ systems had always
handled for us without our knowledge or notice. Five or six
games were scrapped because of this… until I found David’s
“Retropocalypse” (which you can find here at
http://machineageproductions.com).

Thus Fallout: Wastelands was born. Since all of my college buddies had graduated and
moved back home or forward with their lives and careers, I established a new group of gamers,
all of them fairly new to pen and paper games. After a few hours of exploring the post-
apocalyptic ruins of their hometown, they all fell in love with it, and so did I. It was fairly easy
to pick up, they were familiar enough with the setting, and they weren’t bogged down with all
sorts of rules and numbers. As they kept exploring the ruins of Shippensburg, Pennsylvania (or
to be more accurate, Shippensburg, Eastern Commonwealth) my players expressed a desire to
have a system with a bit more crunch. They had grown as gamers, and the game had to grow
with them.

So I spent a few weeks working on additions to “Retropocalypse,” adding more dice

(because as gamers we all love rolling more dice!), reworking the combat system (which we
found was the biggest hang up of the game and prevented everyone from just jumping in), and
creating several new Backgrounds, Perks, Traits, and gear. I built upon the original framework
while doing my best to stay true to David’s work.

That worked well for several months, but then I moved, leaving my new-old group
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behind (though I’ve heard they’ve continued exploring the wastes without me). I continued
working on Fallout: Wastelands until I reached a point where I couldn’t continue working on it
without doing a complete overhaul.

Which is, of course, what I did.

I looked back through some of the more complex games my friends and I had tried and
found myself looking at Jason Mical’s Fallout Pen and Paper, the very first system I looked at in
college. Reading through the system I found that it could work as a basis for Fallout:
Wastelands v2. However, as I looked through the rules I also found the things that had turned
my friends and me off in the first place. The biggest thing was the Damage Threshold/Damage
Resistance calculations. It’d require a calculator to get through a single turn of combat if things
weren’t changed around a bit.

So I rolled up my sleeves, recruited some friends with varying degrees of role-playing

experience, and got to work. The main body of Jason’s Fallout Pen and Paper has remained
untouched and I credit most of this game to him. Credit also goes to J.E. Sawyer and his Fallout
RPG from which I borrowed some ideas, and of course David and his Retropocalypse team.
Anything you like here was probably the idea of one of those fine gentlemen, while anything
you’re not a fan of… well, I’ll take credit.

Before you dive too deeply into Fallout: Wastelands, please remember that this game
assumes you have some pre-existing knowledge of how pen and paper games are run and the
Fallout series and universe in general. I didn’t write this to be “Baby’s First RPG,” but I did try
my best to strike a balance between ease of use and accessibility for new players and crunch and
customization for more veteran role-players. I hope I succeeded.

This document only touches on the Fallout setting since I didn’t want to wind up with
hundreds and hundreds of pages (though I’m close) and because the setting and its lore are the
copyrighted materials of Bethesda Softworks. My biggest sources of information are, of course,
the Fallout video games. I also recommend checking out No Mutants Allowed, Nukapedia: the
Fallout Wiki, and the Fallout Bibles by Chris Avellone.

All in all, this is a labor of love and I hope that someone out there in the wastelands
enjoys it.

Thanks,

Sean M., Lead Designer

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Much of this document is reprinted material from Jason Mical's "Fallout Pen and Paper" and as such I
claim none of it as my own intellectual property. Anything you like, thank Jason (as well as David and the
entire “Retropocalypse” crew). Anything you hate is my fault and my fault alone. The images found
throughout this PDF are also not mine, and will be credited appropriately as I find the original sources.
This work is a free, noncommercial Role-Playing Game not intended for sale. It is based off of Jason
Mical’s “Fallout Pen and Paper” and in parts “Retropocalypse,” which in turn was derived from “Old
School Hack.” The game setting is based on Interplay Entertainment and Bethesda Softwork's Fallout
video game series and is meant to be a fan-created homage. The game content, but not the setting
content, is released under a Creative Commons Attribution/Non-Commercial License.

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Section One: Introduction
“War. War never changes.”

The Fallout universe exists in an

alternate timeline not so different than
our own. When this divergence started
exactly is difficult to say, although most
agree that it was some point not long
after World War II and the bombings of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. From this
point of divergence until the Great War
on October 23, 2077, a stylized
representation of 1950s American
culture –heavily influenced by the Worlds of Tomorrow and similar works. Nuclear energy was
harnessed as a source of energy rather than as a weapon of mass destruction (although there were
plenty of those too).

Life was good for the citizens of America in the Fallout universe (at least on the surface),
but that all changed one fateful day in October when the United States, China, and other nuclear-
armed nations commenced a brief, but rapid, exchange of nuclear strikes. Although the conflict
–the Great War- lasted for less than two hours, the destruction it wrought was staggering and
complete: more energy was released in earliest moments of the war than in all previous global
conflicts combined.

The world that remained was harsh and unforgiving. Each day was a battle for survival, a
war against the wasteland. For ninety years after the Great War, humanity survived, but
struggled each day to do so. Above ground small bands of humans fought over the crumbling
remains of once great cities while mutants prowled the irradiated wastes. Underground, a
fortunate few enjoyed the relative safety and comfort of Vault-Tec’s Vaults. Some fought to
keep the world out, others decided to connect with the surface world and attempt to repopulate it.

Wherever humanity survived, it did so under the constant threat of psychotic super
mutants, haywire robots, vicious raiders, and all manner of hostile mutant creatures. However,
despite all of this, civilization is starting to make a comeback in the post-War world, and is doing
whatever it can to flourish.

Now about the world itself… Remember, all of this was based on the thoughts and ideas
of how science, especially in regards to nuclear power and radiation, worked back in the 1950s.
All of those wacky myths of our timeline? They’re the hard truth in Fallout’s timeline. The
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world has remained a scorched, blasted wasteland rather than the lush, vibrant world it would
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have become in our timeline.

 Science is all but thrown out the
window as radiation causes insane mutations
than simply killing whatever it infects. A
simple mole rat becomes a dog-sized
monster capable of chewing through steel.
Ants develop the ability to breathe fire.
Humans transform into nearly immortal
zombie-like caricatures of their former
selves.

The oceans turned green from all of

the radiation, food remains preserved after decades or even centuries, soda pop can heal injuries,
and aliens not only exist, but have made themselves known.

The world you know is gone. Now, only the wasteland exists, and everyday life there is a
war.

And war… War never changes.

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Section Two: Character Creation
“Ah, you’re here, good…” Overseer Jacoren of Vault 13, Fallout

Character creation is the most intensive part of Fallout

Wastelands. The decisions you make here with affect
how you play for the rest of the game- or until your
character dies and you make a new one. Luckily for
you, the following step-by-step guide will help you
through this phase of the game and let you walk out
into the Wasteland ready for an adventure!

First you have to think about what your

character will be like. They will serve as your window
into the post-apocalyptic world that is the Fallout
series. Do you want to be a wise-cracking ghoul, a
super mutant with the soul of a poet, a robot
programmed to destroy all humans, or a fairly average
Joe or Jane just trying to make his or her way in the
wasteland?

Character Terminology
Race: The human race isn’t alone anymore, my friend. Robots were built before the war and
given complex AIs to emulate the thought processes of the human brain. West Tek performed
experiments and began developing the FEV, although the full extent of their research wouldn’t
be known until the super mutants entered the wasteland after the Great War. And finally there
are the ghouls- humans twisted by radiation into nearly immortal creatures. Each race has
different bonuses available to them.

SPECIAL Statistics: There are 7 SPECIAL Statistics, or SPECIAL Stats, that describe the
various attributes of a character: Strength (STR), Perception (PER), Endurance (END), Charisma
(CHA), Intelligence (INT), Agility (AGL), and Luck (LCK). These are the character’s natural
strengths and weaknesses, and are the limits by which other aspects of a character (such as Skills,
Hit Points, and certain resistances) are determined. In general, SPECIAL Statistics are not
greatly altered after the game begins. For more information on what specific Stats mean to the
game, see “Character Statistics!” below.
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Derived Statistics: This is a catchall category for many of the other parts of a character that
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don’t fall under any of the previously mentioned slots. Many of these do not change all that
often, except for those related to armor. Derived Stats include Hit Points, Armor Class, Damage
Resistance, Radiation Resistance, Healing Rate, Nerve, Melee Damage, Action Points, Carrying
Capacity, Initiative, and Critical Hit Chance. For more information on specific Derived Stats,
see “Derived Stats” in Character Creation below.

Traits: Traits are an optional part of a character, selected during character creation or with the
selection of the “Look at all these Traits!” Perk. A character can pick up to two traits. Traits are
usually double-edge swords that provide a minor bonus balanced out by a penalty, but can help
shape a character concept. For more information on what specific Traits mean, see “Traits” in
Character Creation below.

Skills: There are 18 Skills a character knows. These are the skills a character learns as he or she
travels across the wasteland, encountering strange people with stranger customs. While some are
skills that everyone is at least moderately capable in, there are some skills that require more
specialized training to becoming truly capable. Fallout Wasteland’s Skills are: Academics,
Athletics, Barter, Energy Weapons, Explosives, Gambling, Guns, Investigation, Medicine, Melee
Weapons, Pilot, Repair, Science, Security, Sneak, Speech, Survival, and Unarmed. Skill can go
up all the time, and sometimes they go down. For more information on what specific Skills
mean, see “Section 3: Skills.”

Perks: Perks are special abilities a character gains at each even-numbered level (2nd-level, 4th-
level, 6th-level, 8th-level, etc.) for humans and every third level (3rd-level, 6th-level, 9th-level, 12th-
level, etc.) for non-humans and sometimes as rewards for performing certain actions or role-
playing well. Perks sometimes modify Skills, or they will provide an additional ability or option
for a player to use to their advantage. Perks never penalize the character, they just provide
benefits. For a list of Perks and more information about what each Perk does, see “Section #:
Perks,” below.

Damage Resistance (DR): Damage Resistance (or DR for short) is a character or item’s ability
to (what else?) resist damage. DR comes from four sources: race, armor, Perks, and chems.
Whenever an attack connects, a character reduces an amount of damage equal to their Damage
Resistance to the type of damage dealt. An attack cannot be reduced below 0 damage, and if
Damage Resistance reduces damage from an attack below 0, the attack deals 0 damage instead.
For more information about DR, see “Section:

Karma: Just like in the real world, the post-nuclear wasteland has a system of morals, although
usually the guy with the bigger stick gets away with whatever he wants despite that system.
Performing certain actions can raise and lower a person’s karma. Rather than an abstract idea of
morality, punishment, and reward, karma in Fallout Wastelands is a numerical value of how
many good or bad things a character has done. Karma helps determine a character’s reputation
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among other inhabitants of the wastes.

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 Do enough good deeds (protecting children, helping grannies cross the street, blow a
raider’s brains out, those sorts of things) and word gets around. Perform enough wicked deeds
(selling children into slavery, shooting grannies in the kneecaps, and helping raiders attack
caravans) and people will start to hear about it.

Virtuous people tend not to associate with the wicked, and vice-versa. Most interactions
between these two groups lead to violence and one or both parties becoming bloodstains on the
ground. If a character is really good or really bad, or performs an action that heavily affects their
karma one way or another, they can sometimes get a karmic Perk. Most of the time, these just
describe a well-known aspect of a character, but they can sometimes give bonuses for being
especially good (or evil). A character’s Karma always starts at zero.

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Character Races
Every character belongs to a race,
one of the several intelligent
species in the post-nuclear world.
However, of all these creatures,
only four have managed to
peacefully co-exist for any real
amount of time, and it is from
these four races that a player
character can hail. The four
playable races in Fallout
Wastelands are Humans, Ghouls,
Robots, and Super Mutants.
While creatures like deathclaws
have been known to possess
degrees of intelligence, they are
the exception and not the norm, and are therefore not playable races… for now.

While humans are easily the most common species roaming the radioactive swamps and
deserts of post-apocalyptic North America, they are not alone. Ghouls and Robots from the Old
World and Super Mutant remnants of the Master’s Army and Vault 87 can also be found in
civilized parts of the wasteland. Each race brings to the table its own benefits, usually in the
form of resistances to certain hazards or access to a greater number of Traits during character
creation.

While each race has been created with the idea of not being any better or worse than any
other race (just different), the Robot race is not as beginner-friendly as the Human, Ghoul, or
Super Mutant races. If this is your first time playing an RPG, we suggest starting out as a
Human until you get a feel for how things work.

Choose wisely when you pick your race, as it cannot be reselected once your adventure
begins! Unless you die, that is.

Humans
Your basic, run-of-the-mill, nothing outstandingly special, human. He’s (probably) got two
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eyes, two arms, and two legs. He’s you, me, and everyone we know. The average human stands
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somewhere between five feet and six-and-a-half
feet in height and weighs in between 110 to 280
pounds. Most humans live to be around seventy
or eighty before they finally kick the bucket.

Across the wastelands, humans are the

most populous of intelligent creatures. They’ve
formed tribes, established villages, and rebuilt
some of the pre-War cities dotting the landscape.
Some are hard-working, industrious men and
women trying to build a better tomorrow, and
others are scumbags content to kill and pillage for a living. While the actions of humans nearly
ended the world in the past, it will be the actions of humans that will save the future.

Humans have no bonuses or penalties to their Derived Stat. The biggest benefit of being
a human is that they get a Perk every even-numbered level (2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, etc.), granting them
the largest number of Perks out of the four races.

Ghouls
When the bombs hit, some people were
irrevocably changed (and not just atomized at
ground zero, either). Ghouls are humans were
alive during the Great War and managed to
survive the dropping of the bombs. The
radiation altered them at a cellular level,
slowing their cellular mitosis rate and rendering
them essentially immune to the effects of old
age.

However, their outward appearance has been forever altered, transforming them into
hideous creatures by most anyone’s standards. A ghoul’s skin hangs from his bones like
oversized clothes, and sunken eyes peer out from skulls twisted and burned by radiation, given
these unfortunate people their name. Their skin can be anywhere from pale white to dirt brown
in color, with green and yellow the most common. When they do have hair, it rarely grows.

While the radiation twisted the bodies of the unfortunate ghouls, it didn’t affect their
minds. Ghouls are just as intelligent (or stupid) as their human counterparts and are capable of
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doing just about anything that a normal human can do. Many ghouls live apart from human
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society in settlements among their own people and super mutants, who rarely mind the
appearance of these creatures.

Ghouls age very slowly, and their lifespan is often three hundred or more years past when
they were exposed to the radiation. Their unnaturally long lifespan does not mean that they can’t
be killed by other means, however, and ghouls are just as vulnerable to disease, falls, and bullets
as everyone else. They do, however, get a +10% on all Nerve Tests made to resist being
addicted to chems, as most chems have a reduced or nullified effect on a ghoul. Ghouls are
about the same size as humans, although they tend to weigh a little less since they retain far less
water.

Ghouls are completely immune to radiation, and in fact heal 1 HP every 10 seconds (one
round of combat) for every 10 rads they are exposed to (10 rads = 1 HP, 20 rads = 2 HP, etc.).
Ghouls get a Perk every third level, starting at level 3 (3rd, 6th, 9th, 12th, 15th, etc.).

Super Mutants
Super Mutants (also called “mutants” and
“meta-humans”) are not the product of
“natural” after effects of the Great War, but
are a race created by various experiments.
Whether they are the children of the Master
or the result of the experiments of Vault 87,
all super mutants trace their ancestry to the
Forced Evolutionary Virus (FEV for short).
After being dipped into the FEV vats, a
human either mutates into a super mutants
or die a horribly painful death. Like
ghouls, super mutants age very slowly, but
not as slowly as their mutated cousins.

Super mutants are huge, often reaching ten feet in height (although their stooped posture
usually makes them appear closer to seven feet tall) and weight up to 350 pounds, all of it solid
bone and muscle. Super mutants don’t have a physical sex anymore (the FEV more or less
removes them), but most identify as either male or female. Their skin is usually greenish yellow
in color and various bunions and growths cover their bodies.

Super mutants are immune to radiation and disease and increase their Hit Point maximum
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by an additional 2 Hit Points each level. They possess a great healing rate than humans and
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ghouls (increase your Endurance by 2 for the purposes of determining your Healing Rate). Super
mutants cannot wear armor made for humans or ghouls and cannot wear power armor. Super
Mutants get a Perk every third level, starting at level 3 (3rd, 6th, 9th, 12th, 15th, etc.).

Robots
Before the Great War, several companies and research
facilities manufactured robots of all types. Many of them
were given a roughly humanoid appearance and went on to
serve as security, common labor, and various other
functions. These machines were artificial intelligences per
se, but most were programmed with advanced
supercomputers that allowed them to “reason” on the same
level as many human, and in some instances even better.

A robot can communicate with humans and with one

another using memorized speech patterns. Many people in
the wastes will find speaking robots to be more of a
sideshow curiosity than an actual being, and will treat them
more as property than as a sentient creature. Many robots
stand between six and seven feet in height and weight
between 300 and 400 pounds. Most are made of metal and silicon, and are usually a white, gray,
or tan color. Robots cannot wear armor, but they can use weapons and tools. Robots don’t have
a lifespan, but they do need to have their batteries replaced every 75 to 150 years to continue
operating.

Robots do not require food or water to survive, nor do they require sleep, although a
robot must spend one hour each day shutting down and rebooting. They take damage as normal,
but cannot heal Hit Points over time. Instead, robots must be repaired through the use of the
Repair Skill (which functions identically to the Medicine Skill when used on a robot).
Furthermore, a robot must be maintained at least once a month through a successful Repair and
Science Skill while being examined for at least 12 hours. If this maintenance is not performed,
the robot begins taking 1d10 points of damage for every 24 hours beyond the deadline for the
repairs (this damage is not negated by the robot’s innate Damage Resistance).

Robots are immune to the effects of radiation, poison, and chems. Robots have 15 points
of Damage Resistance against both Ballistic and Energy weapons, but are susceptible to EMP
weaponry. Robots select up to one Trait during character creation. Robots get a Perk every third
level, starting at level 3 (3rd, 6th, 9th, 12th, 15th, etc.).
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Character Statistics
After deciding on a character concept and
picking the race and Traits that best suit it,
the player has to decide on a character’s
SPECIAL Statistics. Each character has
seven SPECIAL Stats that determine
various aspects of his or her persona. The
Stats are Strength (STR), Perception (PER),
Endurance (END), Charisma (CHA),
Intelligence (INT), Agility (AGL), and Luck
(LCK). Together, these seven statistics
define your characters’ natural abilities.

SPECIAL Stats
SPECIAL Stats can range from 1 to 10 and cannot drop below 1 or exceed 10, even with
the effects of items, Perks, Traits, or conditions. Each player begins with 1 point in each
SPECIAL Stat and has 33 points to distribute amongst his or her Stats. A player buys points at a
1-for-1 rate, so increasing Strength from 1 to 6 would cost 5 points, and increasing Luck from 1
to 10 would cost 9 points. If you choose a Trait that affects a SPECIAL Stat, keep this in mind
as you are distributing your points. Remember that Traits cannot raise Stats about 10 or lower
them below 1, so there’s no use in wasting points!

While your SPECIAL Stats are used mainly to determine your Skills and Derived Stats,
there may be times when the Overseer calls for your character to make a Stat Test. In instances
such as these, you multiply the appropriate Stat by 10 before making the roll. For example, if the
Overseer calls for a Strength Test to break down a door and your character has a Strength of 8,
you would multiply 8 by 10, giving you a result of 80% (pretty good odds!). If you roll an 80%
or lower on your d100, you would succeed in your attempt to kick down the door.

A complete description of Primary Statistics, with their use, is provided below:

Strength (STR): A measure of your character’s physical strength and muscle power. Characters
with a high Strength probably spent a lot of time at the gym or out working the fields, while
characters with low Strength were probably bookworms and nerds growing up. This Stat is used
to determine Carrying Capacity and Melee Damage. All weapons have a minimum Strength
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requirement as well, and if a character doesn’t meet it his or her accuracy with the weapon is
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decreased. Strength Tests are made to break down doors, bend the bars of a prison cell, pick up a
fallen comrade in the middle of a gunfight, and other feats that require sheer muscle power.

Perception (PER): Perception is your character’s awareness and “street-smarts,” sometimes

called instinct or a “sixth sense.” Perceptive characters are more likely to notice details instantly,
like smells, sounds, and sights that don’t come together to form a “normal” picture. Perceptive
character also tend to be able to read another person’s reactions, and can even tell when another
person is lying. Highly perceptive characters often find work as investigators, while characters
with low Perception Stats are often found wandering about lost in their own little world. This
statistics is used to help determine Initiative (alongside Agility) and helps determine the
maximum distance your character can fire a ranged weapon effectively. Perception Tests are
made when there is little detail a character has a chance of noticing, such as the glinting of a
scope as a sniper lines up a headshot.

Endurance (END): Endurance is a character’s overall health and fitness. Characters with a high
Endurance have great immune systems, good cardiovascular fitness, and can outrun and out-
swim others. A character with a high Endurance could swim the length of the Potomac while a
character with a low Endurance would drown in a Vault bathtub. Hit Points, Healing Rate, and
Radiation Resistance are all based on Endurance. An Endurance Test would be made to
determine whether or not your character can hang on to that rope over a canyon or if he
succumbs to the radscorpion venom pulsing through his or veins. Lastly, Endurance is used to
calculate Nerve, which determines if a burst hit would knock a character down or even
unconscious.

Charisma (CHR): Charisma determines both a character’s physical attractiveness and her
knowledge of what exactly to say and when to say it. Beauty as well as grace and leadership
ability contribute to a character’s Charisma. A charismatic character will be the leader of the
pack, and everyone is more likely to follow her orders. Nerve, a character’s willpower, is
calculated in part by his or her Charisma. Lastly, Charisma helps determines the initial treatment
a character will get from an NPC that doesn’t have a preconceived notion of her. Charisma Tests
are made when a character is attempting to schmooze past some guards or trying to pick
someone up at the bar.

Intelligence (INT): Intelligence is a character’s higher reasoning power.

Characters with high Intelligence have better memories and are better at
solving problems than people with low Intelligence. Scientists have high
Intelligence, while chem-fueled raiders probably do not. Many of the
non-combat Skills use Intelligence in their base values. Intelligence also
determines the number of Skill Points your character gains each level.
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Intelligence Tests are made when the character is attempting to guess a

password or determine the sequence of an electric charge running through
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the patterns on the floor. Lastly, the Overseer may call upon a character
to make an Intelligence Test to make an idea if a player is unsure as to how to proceed during a
campaign.

Agility (AGL): A character’s Agility Stat measures the speed of her reactions and how quickly
an impulse travels from the brain to the proper part of the body. Characters with high Agility are
jugglers and acrobats, or sometimes thieves. Characters with low Agility suffer from having two
left feet. This Stat is the basis for a character’s Armor Class (combined with armor) and Action
Points. It also modifies a large number of Skills, particularly the combat skills. Agility Tests are
made to dodge a poison dart trap set up by a clever tribal or pull one’s arm out of a sewer hole
before it’s bitten by a radioactive rat.

Luck (LCK): Luck is perhaps the most ambiguous of the SPECIAL Stats. It governs everything
and nothing. Characters with a high amount of Luck just tend to have things go their way, while
characters with a low amount of Luck always seem to be standing under the window just as the
piano falls out of the building. Most notably Luck governs the Gambling Skill while providing a
small bonus to the rest of a character’s Skills. Luck also directly influences a character’s
likelihood of scoring a Critical Hit. Luck Tests are made at the Overseer’s discretion. They can
determine if your character, while scrambling in the dirt trying to crawl away from a Super
Mutant Behemoth manages to find that .44 Magnum half-buried in the dirt, and if said gun even
has any bullets left. Finally, anytime two creatures tie (such as if two creatures have the same
Initiative), a Luck Contest is called upon to break it.

Derived Stats
After determining your character’s SPECIAL
Stats, you need to figure out what her Derived Stats are.
Remember that many Trait bonuses and penalties are
applied to Derived Statistics. Formulas for determining
the starting levels of Derived Statistics are given with
the description of each Stat.

At the end of some of the Derived Stat descriptions

you’ll see red text determining the average score for
each Stat. To calculate the average value of a Stat, we
assumed the creature in question had 5 points in each of
the relevant SPECIAL Stats, including Luck. You can
use this as a quick way to determine if your own
character is above or below average in a particular
18

Stat.
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Hit Points (HP): Perhaps the most important statistic in the game, Hit Points determine whether
your character is alive and breathing or dead and buried. Dead character cannot be played or
revived, ever. Not even if their brains are placed inside of jars. Seriously. Hit Points can be
recovered with time, drugs, the correct Skills (usually Medicine, although cases can be made for
Survival as well), or an able doctor. If a character’s Hit Points drop to 0, he doesn’t
automatically die. A character whose Hit Points are between 0 and -10 is knocked unconscious
and begins recovering Hit Points as if he was resting (see Healing Rate, below). That means an
unconscious character will eventually wake up, although it may take several hours or even days.

While a character does gain Hit Points whenever he levels up, the amount is fairly low.
However, by increasing his Endurance or selecting certain Perks, a character can greatly increase
his Hit Points. A character’s starting number of Hit Points equals: 15 + [STR + (2 x END)].
Each level beyond 1st, a character gains Hit Points equal to: 2 + ½ END, rounded down. Average
Hit Points during Character Creation: 30. Average Hit Points each Level: 4.

Armor Class (AC): A character’s Armor Class is

possibly the second-most important Stat in the
game, as it reduces the chance of ever being hit by
an attack. Armor Class (or AC) is measured as a
percentage. Your character’s base Armor Class is
equal to her Agility. In addition, any armor she
may be wearing can improve her Armor Class. For
example, if your character has an Agility of 6 and
dons a leather jacket that provides an Armor Class
of +8%, her AC is 14%. Armor Class affects an
attack’s chances of hitting. For example, if a raider
attempts to take a shot at the girl in the spiffy leather jacket with his rusty hunting rifle, he has to
subtract 14% from his Guns Skill before rolling.

Action Points (AP): Action Points determine

Agility Stat Number of Action Points
the amount of actions a character can perform per Turn
in a single turn. Having more AP can 1 5
determine the difference between reloading 2-3 6
your 10mm pistol and firing that last shot at 4-5 7
the feral ghoul, or being torn to pieces by its 6-7 8
claws and teeth. 8-9 9
10 10
Certain action cost more AP than others. For example, moving one hex (roughly one
19

yard) costs 1 AP. Reloading most weapons requires 2 AP. Making an attack usually requires 5
AP. See the chart below to determine your character’s AP, based on his Agility score.
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Carrying Capacity: Carrying Capacity determines how much equipment your character can
carry on his person- on his back, in his pockets, or in his rucksack. Every item in the game has
weight. A character’s Carrying Capacity is 25 lbs. + (25 x STR). Having a high Carrying
Capacity does not mean that a character automatically has places to store all of their gear (for
instance, a suit of power armor has to be worn, it can’t realistically be carried without a cart or
sled). Average Carrying Capacity: 150 lbs.

Critical Chance: A Character’s Critical Chance is their likelihood that a regular attack will
become a Critical Hit and deal extra damage. Traits, Perks, and certain chems and equipment
can modify this number, but for most creatures Critical Chance is equal to their Luck Stat. For
example, a character with Luck 3 scores a Critical Hit whenever they roll a 3 or less on their
attack rolls. Average Critical Chance: 5%.

Healing Rate: Life possesses the remarkable Endurance Stat Healing Rate
ability to heal itself naturally. Your 1-5 1
character’s Healing Rate is the number of Hit 6-8 2
Points they heal naturally in a day (24 hours) 9-10 3
of activity, or in six hours of resting. Use this 11-12* 4
table to determine healing rate, based upon 13+* 5
Endurance (and remember: Robots do not heal damage naturally).

*A character cannot have an Endurance higher than 10, but Super Mutants increase
their Endurance score by 2 for the purposes of determining Healing Rate, and several chems can
increase a character’s Endurance for the purposes of determining a character’s Healing Rate.
For all other purposes, a character’s Endurance cannot exceed 10.

Initiative: Initiative determines who goes first in a combat round. Of course, if you are the one
initiating the combat, you automatically get to go first (you ambush a group of merchants
traveling through a valley or hit a Legion patrol heading back to camp). After the first turn, all
combat turns get broken down by Initiative, with the highest Initiative going first, and so on
down the line (ties are broken with Luck Contests). Initiative equals PER + AGL. Average
Initiative: 10.

Melee Damage: This is how much extra Strength Stat Melee Damage
damage your character does in unarmed 1-4 +1
combat or with melee weapons. The more 5 +2
melee damage your character does, the harder 6 +3
she or he hits. Strong characters can hit very 7 +4
8 +5
20

hard. See the chart before for determining

9 +6
Melee Damage, based on Strength:
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10 +7
Nerve: There are terrifying things in the wasteland: buildings filled with feral ghouls, insane
raiders that want to wear your face as a mask, and of course deathclaws. A wastelander has to be
brave (or incredibly, incredibly stupid) to face all of these terrors and more. A character’s Nerve
represents his or her overall bravery, will to continue on, and ability to shrug off hits that would
drop a lesser being. Whenever faced with a horrifying threat, overwhelming odds, or after
suffering a particularly nasty injury, the Overseer may call for a Nerve Test. Succeeding on a
Nerve Test means a character remains calm and collected and can continue acting as normal,
while failing a Nerve Test means a character’s will has broken or they were overwhelmed by
damage and has entered shock. The types of situations that call for Nerve Tests can be found in
Section 4: Adventuring in the Wastes. A character’s Nerve equals 5 x (END + CHA). Average
Nerve: 50%.

Radiation Resistance: In the post-nuclear world, radiation is always a concern. Some places are
naturally radioactive, like the blast center where a nuke went off. Some are more radioactive
than others. For example, you are guaranteed to find more rads at the center of a blast than you
are 5 miles away. A character’s base Radiation Resistance equals 2 x END. Radiation
Resistance can be increased with chems, certain types of armor, and Perks. A character with an
Endurance of 5 has 10% Radiation Resistance. This means that 10% of the rads that hit his skin
don’t enter his body. If he was standing at the rim of a blast crater and was exposed to 1,000
rads every ten minutes, only 900 of them would enter his body. Average Rad Resistance: 10%.

21
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Character Traits
Traits are an important part of the character creation process, as they help differentiate characters
from one another and grant them abilities at 1st-level. They can range from a description of the
character’s personality or a physical description, and can permanently affect things like Skills,
SPECIAL Statistics, and Derived Statistics. Some Traits are not available to every race, and
some Traits are only available to certain races. The following Traits are available to characters
during Character Creation (or when a character takes the “Look at all these Traits!” Perk).

Beta Software: You’ve been built and equipped with an experimental operating system and
peripherals. You gain one additional Tag Skill. However, if you fail a Tag Skill (or miss an
attack made with a Tag Skill), you immediately lose all remaining APs for that round. Only
Robots can choose this Trait.

Bloody Mess: By some strange twist of fate, people around

you always seem to die with a little more ultraviolence.
Ever since you were a child you’ve always seen the worst
ways a person can die. Grandma didn’t die in bed in her
sleep, no, she was torn apart by rabid deathclaws. This
doesn’t mean that you kill people any faster or slower than
usual, just that when someone around you dies, they die in
the most dramatic fashion possible. Just how dramatic is up
to the Overseer. Seeing all of this carnage has steeled your
stomach, granting you a +5% bonus to your Nerve.

Brotherhood of Steel Initiate: You were raised or inducted into the ranks of the Brotherhood of
Steel at a young age. As an Initiate, you’ve spent the majority of your adult life learning about
pre-War technology- how to find it, repair it, operate it, maintain it, and most importantly, keep it
out of the hands of those who would abuse it. While technologically minded, you are not what
most would consider a “people person.” You gain a +5% bonus to Academics, Energy Weapons,
Pilot, Repair, and Science, but you suffer a -20% penalty to Barter and Speech. Only Humans
can choose this Trait.

Bruiser: You’re a little slower, but a lot bigger. You may not hit as often, but when a punch
connects, that raider’s grandbabies are going to feel it! Your total Action Points are lowered by
2, but your Strength increases by 2 (to a maximum of 10).

Built to Destroy: You know the old adage: “The flamer that burns twice as bright burns half as
long.” In your hands, all weapons have a +5% bonus chance to score a Critical Hit, but
22

whenever you would check off a box to determine your weapon’s condition, you check off two
boxes instead.
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Chem Reliant: You are more easily addicted to chems. Your chance to be addicted is twice as
much as usual, but you recover from the ill effects of chems in half the time. Robots cannot
choose this Trait.

Claustrophobia: You’re afraid of clowns. Wait, not, that’s coulrophobia… Claustrophobia is

the fear of small spaces. Yeah! Anyway, while indoors you suffer a -5% bonus on all Skill
Tests and attacks, but when out in the wild blue yonder you gain a +5% bonus on all Skill Tests
and attacks.

Clean Living: Chems only affect you half as long as normal, but your chance to become
addicted is reduced by half. Robots cannot choose this Trait.

“Conscientious Objector”: You don’t like to fight. Like, at all. Some would call you a
coward, but you object to that statement, politely. You suffer a -15% penalty to your Nerve, but
whenever you fail a Nerve Test to prevent yourself from fleeing, you may move up to ten hexes
rather than the regular five.

Early Bird: The early yao guai gets the bighorner, or at least that’s what my papa always said.
From 6:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. you gain a +2 bonus on all SPECIAL Stats, but suffer a -1 to all
SPECIAL Stats from 6:00 p.m. to 5:59 a.m., when you’re not at your best. Robots cannot
choose this Trait.

EMP Shielding: You have been specifically designed to resist electro-magnetic pulses, at the
cost of being much heavier It takes you 2 AP to move 1 hex because of your heavy equipment,
but you have a +30% bonus on all Tests made to resist the effects of EMPs and pulse weapons.
Only Robots can choose this Trait.

Escaped Synth: Whether you know it or not you were made in a laboratory, not born like
everyone else. You’re an android, a facsimile of a human being. You gain 2 points of Damage
Reduction and a +50% bonus on Tests to resist addiction, disease, poisons, and radiation.
Despite what you may think, you're someone's property, and your old master has people out
scouring the wastelands to find you. Only Humans can choose this Trait.

Fast Metabolism: Your metabolic rate is twice that of a normal person. This means you are
much less resistant to radiation and poison, but your body heals
faster. You get a 2 point bonus to Healing Rate, but your Radiation
Resistance starts at 0%. Only Humans can choose this Trait.

Fast Shot: You don’t have time for a targeted attack, but you
attack faster than the eye can see! It costs you one less Action
Point (AP) to use a weapon, but you cannot perform targeted shots.
23

This Trait has no effect on Melee Weapon or Unarmed attacks.

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Finesse: Your attacks show a lot of finesse and panache, and while
you don’t do as much damage, you certainly know where to strike to maximize effectiveness.
All of your attacks have a -3 penalty to damage, but you gain a +10% bonus chance to score a
Critical Hit.

Four Eyes: Archimedes once used a pair of glasses to make a death ray. It’s totally true, look it
up sometime. You, however, need to wear a pair of glasses to even see properly. While wearing
any type of glasses, you gain a +1 bonus to Perception, but when you’re not wearing glasses you
suffer a -2 penalty to Perception. Whenever you get hit with a Critical Hit, if you’re wearing
unbroken glasses they immediately break. Note that your Perception cannot be improved past 10
or reduced below 1.

Glowing One: Where were you when the bombs fell? Directly beneath them? Because you sure
as hell look like it. Extreme radiation exposure has left you glowing in the dark like a lava lamp.
Your glow eliminates modifiers from light in combat for you, your allies, and your enemies. In
addition, increase your Radiation Resistance by 10% for the purposes of determining your ability
to heal while exposed to radiation. Everyone around you takes 10 rads per hour (see Radiation
under “Damage and Death,” below), although equipment that would give you radiation
resistance can contain these rads. Only Ghouls can choose this Trait.

Good Natured: You were a good kid growing up and studied useful things like medicine,
general academics, and how to talk about your feelings without resorting to violence. Not like
that Richie Marcus! As a result your Academics, Barter, Medicine, Repair, and Speech skills are
substantially improved, but your fighting skills are a little lacking. You gain a +10% bonus to
Academics, Barter, Medicine, Repair, and Speech, but you suffer a -15% penalty to Energy
Weapons, Explosives, Guns, Melee Weapons, and Unarmed. Robots cannot choose this Perk.

Ham Fisted: Genetic engineering – or dumb luck – has endowed you with huge hands. Just
enormous. Seriously. You immediately make Unarmed a Tag Skill, but you suffer a -10%
penalty to Guns, Medicine, Repair, and Security. Only Super Mutants can choose this Trait.

Heavy Handed: You fight harder, not smarter. Your attacks are brutal, but they lack a certain je
ne sais quoi. You rarely cause a good Critical Hit, but you consistently do more damage. You
get a +5 bonus on all Melee Weapon and Unarmed Damage rolls, but your Critical Hits only do
half as much damage.

Hoarder: You don’t ever throw things away in case they can be useful later on. Sometimes
that’s not a bad habit to have in the wasteland, but sometimes you just need to let it go. Increase
your Carrying Capacity by +25 lbs. (after you calculate it based on your Stats). If at any time
you’re carrying less than 100 lbs., you suffer a -1 penalty on all Stats. Note that your Stats
cannot be reduced below 1.
24

Hot Blooded: Your enemies won’t like you when you’re angry, but considering that they’re
Page

shooting at you, they probably don’t like you now. When your Hit Points drops below 50%, you
gain a +5 bonus on all weapon damage rolls. However, in your rage you suffer a -2 penalty to
Agility and Perception. Note that your Agility and Perception cannot be reduced below 1.

I Ain’t Scared of No Ghost: You’re very brave, but also very stupid. You gain a +25% to your
Nerve, but have a -2 penalty to your Intelligence (remember that SPECIAL Stats can’t be
reduced below 1). Robots cannot choose this Trait.

Jinxed: I’ve got good news, and bad news. The good news?
Everyone around you suffers from more critical failures in combat.
The bad news? That includes you and your allies. If you, a party
member, or an NPC have a failure in combat there is a greater chance
that it will be upgraded (downgraded?) to a Critical Failure. Critical
failures are bad: weapons explode, the wrong people are shot in the
dick, body parts fall off. Whenever someone fails a Skill Test or
misses with a weapon attack, they have a 50% chance of turning that
failure into a critical failure.

Kamikaze: By not paying attention to any threats around you (not

the radroaches, not the raiders, and certain not that hungry yao guai),
you can act a lot faster in a turn. You don’t gain your Agility bonus to your Armor Class
(meaning your Armor Class is 0 regardless of Agility), but you gain a +5 bonus on Initiative.
You must wear armor to get an Armor Class.

Knight Without Armor: Where do you roam? For whatever reason, you thought it would be a
good idea to ditch things like armor in favor of light, less restrictive clothes. Whatever your
reasoning is, you’ve learned how to fight without relying on cumbersome armor. You double
your Agility bonus to your Armor Class, but whenever you wear armor you double the Action
Point cost for moving around. Robots and Super Mutants cannot choose this Trait.

Loose Cannon: You don’t like to play by the rules. In fact, you make a habit of burning any and
all rule books you find. Whenever you throw a weapon (such as an explosive or throwing spear)
you decrease the Action Point cost by 2. However, you suffer a -10% penalty to the accuracy of
your attack.

Mean as Fuck: You've seen it. You've probably been shot or stabbed by. Fuck, man, you've
probably done it! Nothing scares you anymore. You get a +10% on all Nerve Tests made to help
you keep your composure and a +20% bonus on Speech checks made to intimidate others.
However, you're a nasty fellah, and whenever you gain Bad Karma you double the amount. Only
Super Mutants can choose this Trait.

Naturally Gifted: You have more natural talent in your big toe than many people have in their
25

whole bodies. You gain a +5% on all Skills, but you gain 10% less XP from encounters. Robots
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cannot choose this Trait.

Nightkin: You've been bred for an affinity for Stealth Boy technology and trained in covert
operations. Increase your Perception by 1 (to a maximum of 10). Stealth Boys last twice as long
when you use them. However, you hate being seen so much that it drives you mad. Whenever
you're not under the effects of a Stealthboy you suffer a -10% penalty to your Nerve and on Skill
Tests. Only Super Mutants can choose this Trait.

Night Person: As a night-time person involved in late-night activities of varying natures, you
are more awake when the sun goes down. Your Intelligence and Perception are improved at
night, but are dulled during the day. You suffer a -1 penalty to Intelligence and Perception
between 6:01 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., and a +1 bonus to Intelligence and Perception between 6:01
p.m. and 6:00 a.m. Note that your Intelligence and Perception cannot be increased beyond 10 or
decreased beyond 1. Robots cannot choose this Trait.

Old World Blues: Most people would say you're lucky for surviving the Great War, but you
can't help but feel like the world has moved on and left you behind. You've got a dark sense of
humor that upsets most people around you, and you often feel morose and melancholy. On the
plus side, you've picked up a trick or two during your long life. You suffer a -5% penalty on all
Skill Tests and attack rolls, but can take up to two other Traits. Only Ghouls can choose this
Trait.

One Hander: One of your hands is very dominant, almost to the point where you wonder why
God saw fit to give you two. That second hand is always getting in the way! You excel with
single-handed weapons, but two-handed weapons cause problems. You suffer a -20% penalty to
hit with all two-handed weapons, but you get a +10% bonus to hit with any and all weapons that
only require one hand.

One in a Million: You’re not particularly lucky or unfortunate, but when lightning strikes, it
strikes hard! Whenever you score a Critical Hit you deal double the usual critical damage.
Whenever you have a critical failure, the severity of the failure is doubled as well (a weapons
jam may turn into a full-on explosion). It doesn’t matter if it makes sense, it just happens that
way.

Psyker-Pathic: Your parents always said you were different. Special,

even. Maybe it was that glowing goo you played around in as a child,
or maybe it was that thing that weird old man once told you.
Whatever it was, you’ve found that you can casually skim the surface
thoughts of those around you, granting you a +15% bonus on all
Barter, Investigation, and Speech Tests. However, you can’t seem to
turn it off, and you suffer a -5% penalty on all Skill Tests and attack
rolls when around more than ten people at any given time. Perhaps
26

with time your gifts will grow, my young apprentice. Robots cannot
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choose this Trait unless they have selected the Robobrain Trait.
Robobrain: You were built to house a brain, which serves as your central processor. You can
be affected by chems and poisons, which are twice as effective in both the good ways and the
bad (double all bonuses, but double the addiction rate, and the duration of negative effects and
withdraw symptoms). Lastly, you can pick up an extra Trait. Only Robots can choose this Trait.

Sex Appeal: You’ve always been good with the ladies, man (or with the men, lady).
Unfortunately, those jealous twits that make up the rest of your sex tend to be annoying, spiteful
little creatures. When interacting with members of the opposite sex, you gain a +25% bonus to
your Barter and Speech Skill Tests. However, when interacting with members of the same sex,
you suffer a -40% penalty on all Barter and Speech Skill Tests. Only Humans can choose this
Trait.

Shiny and Chrome: I see you really enjoy polishing your chassis, if you know what I mean. Oh,
you don’t? Never mind then. You’ve received a silver ablative coating that reflects light and
lasers off your surface, but damn if it isn’t distracting in a firefight. You increase your Damage
Resistance against Energy damage to 20, but the bright light reduces your Perception by 2 (to a
minimum of 1). Only Robots can choose this Trait.

Small Frame: You’re not exactly a big, strong, manly man, but that’s never slowed you down.
You can’t carry much, but you are more nimble. Your Carry Weight is decreased by 15 lbs. x
Strength, but your Agility increases by 1 (to a maximum of 10). Super Mutants cannot choose
this Trait.

Targeting Computer: You’ve been upgraded with a state-of-the-art onboard targeting

computer. All attacks cost 1 extra AP to perform, but you gain a +10% bonus on attack rolls.
Only Robots can choose this Trait.

Tech Wizard: You spent your formative years hunched

over a bench learning all about how things work. What
makes them tick. That sort of thing. Unfortunately this
came at the cost of your vision and your social skills.
You get a +15% bonus to Repair, Science, and Security,
but you suffer a -1 penalty to your Charisma and
Perception Stats.

Tight Nuts: You were built Ford tough! Designed to

withstand any and all forms of punishment! You
increase your Damage Resistance against Ballistic
damage to 20, but you gain only half the Hit Points
back from repairs. Only Robots can choose this Trait.
27

Tribal Wisdom: When Einstein said World War IV would be fought with sticks and stones, it’s
Page

probably people like you he was talking about. You know how to survive the wastelands better
than anyone else. Sure you might have to resort to eating buts and worse, but you can survive
off of practically nothing! However, you’re not so good with that fancy book-learnin’. You gain
a +20% bonus to Melee Weapon and Survival, but you suffer a -15% penalty on Academics,
Barter, and Science. Only Humans can choose this Trait.

Trigger Discipline: You know how to make each shot count. All attacks with Energy Weapons
and Guns cost 1 extra AP to perform, but you gain a +20% bonus on attack rolls made with those
weapons.

Vat Skin: Other people find you hideous to behold and disgusting to smell after your nice “bath”
in the FEV vats. The good news is that your Damage Resistance has increased by 2 thanks to
your extra tough hide. The bad news is that every animal, human, and ghoul within 5 hexes of
your location, friend and foe alike, suffers a -2 penalty to Perception (robots and other Super
Mutants are unaffected). Only Super Mutants can choose this Trait.

Vault Dweller: You're the descendant of some smart folks that went ahead and reserved
themselves bunks in a Vault-Tec Vault! You begin play with a Pip-Boy 3000. However, you
were born under a rock and know nothing about the hardships of the world. As a result, you
suffer a -5 penalty to all of your Skills and a -10% penalty to your Nerve. Only Humans can
choose this Trait.

Wild Wasteland: Maybe you were shot in the head,

or maybe you were stung by one too many
radscorpions. Either way, you’re a bit messed up in
the ol’ thinker. For most, the wasteland is a dark and
serious place with death lurking around every corner,
but for you it has its moments of fun and whimsy!
You see strange sights and occasionally make
strange insights about the world around you. Just
how strange? Well that’s up to the Overseer. On the
plus side, seeing all of this weirdness as strengthened
your resolve, somewhat, granting you a +5% bonus
to your Nerve.

Once you’ve picked you Traits, be sure and note

their effects on your Statistics and Skills, as well as their other effects on your character sheet.
28
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Skills
Once you’ve got your Race, Stats, Derived Stats,
and Traits sorted out you’ll need to sit down and
take a look at your Skills. At 1st level your Skills
will be determined largely by your SPECIAL
Attributes and your Tag designations, and it won’t
be until you start getting XP and gaining levels that
you’ll be able to improve your Skills.

You may find that your Skill Values are

fairly low during character creation, and that’s
perfectly fine. If you came out of the Vault and set out into the wastes like Adonis himself (read:
damn near perfect) it’d make for a boring game and story.

For more information on Skills and how they work both during Character Creation and in
the rest of Fallout: Wastelands, see Section 3: Skills.

29
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Finishing Touches
“Are you prepared for your quest?” Arroyo Village Elder, Fallout 2

Once you have your Race, Stats, Traits, and Skills

figured out, you’re almost ready to set out into the
wastes. You’ll need to apply a few more
finishing touches before heading out there.

What makes your character tick? What’s

her motivation in life? Is she out there looking to
help her town or is she searching for revenge?
Perhaps your character is the Chosen One of her
tribe or she’s the only one who knows how to stop
a man with an evil, evil plan.

Where did she come from? Where is she

going? Why is she out in the wastelands instead
of in the safety of a Vault or a town? Is she a member of a tribe, an exile from a Vault, or a
courier? Is she even human? You’ll want to discuss some of the details of your back story with
the Overseer to make sure it fits in with the campaign he has in mind. You may also want to
figure out what the rest of the party is planning so you know you’ll fit in. But you don’t want to
give away too much. After all, you want a few surprises for your traveling companions.

Lastly, before going out into the wasteland you’ll need to pick out your starting
equipment. From each bullet point, choose one piece of gear to add to your inventory. Consider
how your character came across these items while you do it. Gifts from an old friend?
Scavenged in the wastes? Stole ‘em? That’s up to you.

 An Energy Weapon or Gun with a Minimum Skill Requirement of 0, plus 20 rounds of

ammunition.
 A Melee Weapon or Unarmed Weapon with a Minimum Skill Requirement of 0.
 5 sticks of Dynamite or 5 Molotov Cocktails
 Leather Armor, Armored Vault Dweller’s Jumpsuit, Raider Armor, or Metal Armor
 4 Stimpaks, 10 Bobby Pins, and 20 Caps

Once you have these details figured out and possibly written out you’re good to go. Get
out into the wasteland and start exploring!
30
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Section Three: Skills
Skills are one of the most important part of the Fallout
Wastelands system, as they determine what your character
is capable of doing. As you grow and explore more of the
wasteland, you may find that certain skills are more
beneficial to your character, and that others are necessary
to survive and thrive in your neck of the woods.

Fallout Wastelands makes use of eighteen different Skills,

allowing characters to vary in what they can and cannot
accomplish. Some Skills are used more heavily in
combat, while others are more useful in social situations.
Regardless of what’s going on in the world around the
characters, each Skill should have some sort of application. After all, maybe that raider shooting
at you is willing to listen to reason (or the jingling of Caps) and perhaps that merchant can be
coerced to lower the price of the goods he’s selling.

CHARACTER CREATION AND TAG!

When you create a 1st-level character, the first thing you do is calculate the starting percentages
(called the Skill Value) of your Skills based on your SPECIAL Attribute scores. The starting
percentages are calculated before ANY other skill adjustments are made – from Tag Skills
adjustments to Traits to the addition of Skill Points. Once your Skill Values have been
calculated, you can pick your Tag Skills and add in the bonuses.

Every character begins play with three Tag Skills to start. A Tag Skill is best described as a
character’s areas of expertise. Whether through natural talent, study, or repeated application of
the skill, a character has become more proficient in the use of these three Skills. Unless
otherwise stated (perhaps through the application of a Trait), a character begins play with three
Tag Skills, no more, no less. The number of Tag Skills shall be three, and three shall be the
number of Tag Skills. Not two, unless… you get the picture. Each Tag Skill gains an immediate
15% bonus.

Lastly, add ½ of your character’s Luck (LCK) Attribute, rounded up, to each of your Skills to
represent a dose of good fortune. Characters with more Luck benefit from it, but even those who
would normally consider themselves unlucky still find themselves on the receiving end of good
31

fortune from time to time.

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When calculating Skill Values, bear in mind that Skills cannot go below 1% and cannot surpass
100%.

At the end of each Skill Description you’ll see red text determining the average score for each
Skill Value. To calculate the average percentage of a Skill, we assumed the creature in question
had 5 points in each of the relevant SPECIAL Stats, including Luck. You can use this as a quick
way to determine if your own character is above or below average in a particular Skill.

Academics: A character’s Academics Skill covers the various fields of knowledge not covered
by other skills. This includes, but is not limited to: random bits of trivia about towns or factions,
general lore of a region, history of the wasteland and the Old World, philosophy, literature. A
character trying to research a particular subject would make an Academics Test, as would a
character trying to win the local dive bar’s trivia night. A character’s starting Academics Skill
equals: 10% + (2 x INT). Average Skill: 23%

Athletics: A character’s Athletics Skill covers his or her general athletic nature. In general, the
higher your Athletics Skill, the more physically gifted you are. While simple acts such as
walking or running across an open field or the decaying ruins of a pre-War parking lot wouldn’t
require an Athletics Test, attempting to dodge an explosion, climb the rusty steel girder of a
building, swimming across the Colorado River, or attempting to outrun a deathclaw would all
require Athletics Tests. A character’s starting Athletics Skill equals: 0% + [2 x (STR + END)].
Average Skill: 23%

Barter: A character’s Barter Skill is primarily used in

the buying and selling of items, such as trading with a
merchant or scavenger. In general, the higher your
Barter Skill, the lower the prices of items will be.
Barter can also be used from time to time as an
alternative to Speech, provided you're willing to pay the
price… The Barter Skill also encompasses a person's
knowledge about local merchant caravans, vendors, and
the area's economic status. A character’s starting
Barter Skill equals: 0% + (4 x CHA). Average Skill:
23%

Energy Weapons: The use of Energy Weapons is not a

very common skill in most of the post-nuclear world. They don’t exist in large numbers due to
the fact that they were just coming into actual warfare when the world blew itself up. Several
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groups, most notably the Brotherhood of Steel and the Van Graffs, search for Energy Weapons
to use for themselves, keeping the best out of the hands of the average wastelander. A
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character’s Energy Weapons Skill is used primarily to determine their ability to use an Energy
Weapon in combat, but it also determines a character’s general knowledge of Energy Weapons,
such as ammunition types and how to properly modify such a weapon. Energy Weapons include
laser pistols, plasma pistols, holorifles, pulse rifles, and flamers. A character’s starting Energy
Weapons Skill equals: 0% + (2 x PER). Average Skill: 13%

Explosives: Explosives are a dangerous weapon that in the wrong hands can cause as much
damage for the user as the target. A character’s Explosives Skill determines his or her
proficiency in the use of Explosives as a weapon and his or her general knowledge of explosive
tools. Devices ranging from dynamite to fragmentation grenades to bottle caps mines are all
governed by the Explosives Skill. A character skilled in Explosives can also attempt to disarm
an Explosive device. A character’s starting Explosives Skill equals: 5% + (PER + STR).
Average Skill: 18%

Gambling: A character’s Gambling Skill is used primarily to determine his or her knowledge of
how certain games of chance work. While one cannot (legally) affect how the dice roll in a
game of Craps, a person can use their knowledge of the game and attempt to calculate the odds
before placing a bet. A character with a high Gambling Skill can also figure out ways to rig a
game in their favor, or determine if someone else is cheating. While Lady Luck may be a fickle
mistress, a clever wastelander know when to hold ‘em, and when to fold ‘em. A character’s
starting Gambling Skill equals: 0% + (5 x LCK). Average Skill: 28%

Guns: Guns are one of the most common weapons found

in the wasteland. Caravan guards, NCR Troopers,
mercenaries, and raiders alike all tend to carry at least
one gun on them at any given time. A character’s Guns
Skill determines his or her proficiency with standard
ballistic weapons such as the 10mm pistol, sniper rifle,
hunting shotgun, and even more powerful weapons like
the minigun. The classic bow and arrow is also covered
under the Guns Skill. The higher a character’s Guns
Skill, the more accurate he is when shooting, and the
easier it is for him to clear a jam. Outside of combat the
Guns Skill determines a character's overall knowledge of
firearms and their ability to make hand loaded
ammunition. A character’s starting Guns Skill equals: 5% + (4 x AGL). Average Skill: 28%

Investigation: A character’s Investigation Skill determines his ability to spot clues, notice
patterns, find items of importance that others would miss, and perhaps most importantly, locate
traps on the battlefield and determining if someone is lying, withholding information, or trying to
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distract someone. A character with a high Investigation Skill would be able to spot a working
sniper rifle in a pile of junk or be able to determine if the raider sweating it out during
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interrogation is nervous about his own fate, or about having his lies discovered. A character’s
starting Investigation Skill equals: 0% + [2 x (INT + PER)]. Average Skill: 23%

Medicine: A character’s Medicine Skill determines not only her ability to patch up minor cuts
and scrapes, but also her knowledge of more advanced medical procedures. It also encompasses
a character's general medical knowledge in subjects such as pharmaceuticals, anatomy, and
biology. Patching up another wastelander in the middle of a gunfight is a dangerous, but
completely acceptable, use of the Medicine Skill. Performing surgery on a dying friend is
another use of the Medicine Skill. A less scrupulous character can also use her medical
knowledge to harm another creature by deliberating botching a surgery or slicing particular
arteries or muscles. Bear in mind that the Medicine Skill takes time to use, as one cannot expect
to perform open heart surgery in a matter of seconds. A character’s starting Medicine Skill
equals: 5% + (PER + INT). Average Skill: 18%

Melee Weapons: A character’s Melee Weapons skill governs his skill with weapons ranging
from a simple lead pipe to the high-tech super sledge, and everything in between. It also
encompasses a character’s ability to use throwing weapons, such as a knife or spear. Since using
simple tools to beat things into a bloody pulp is something fairly innate to human nature, this is
usually a pretty high skill. A character’s starting Melee Weapons Skill equals: 20% + [2 x
(AGL + STR)]. Average Skill: 43%

Pilot: A character’s Pilot Skill determines her ability to

handle a vehicle in stressful and dangerous situations, as
well as her ability to ride domesticated creatures, such as a
brahmin or bighorner. Driving down a fairly even road at a
leisurely speed doesn’t often call for a Pilot Test, but
driving off road in a burning Highwayman while raiders are
taking potshots at your windshield may require one, if not
many more, Pilot Tests. Lastly, the Pilot Skill also governs
a character’s general knowledge of vehicles and driving
techniques. A character’s starting Pilot Skill equals: 0% +
[2 x (AGL + PER)]. Average Skill: 23%

Repair: The Repair Skill is the practical application of the Science Skill. As things are
constantly breaking down in the wastes, having a handyman around is a must. Repair covers
fixing all manner of mechanical things ranging from guns to vehicles, and can also be used to
intentionally sabotage or disable a mechanical device. The Repair Skill can also be used to get a
robot back into operating shape, much like the Medicine Skill being used on a human or ghoul.
A character’s starting Repair Skill equals: 0% + (3 x INT). Average Skill: 18%
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Science: The Science Skill represents a character’s combined scientific knowledge in a variety
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of fields. Biology, chemistry, and physics are three common scientific fields, as is computer
engineering. One of the most popular uses of the Science Skill is the hacking into of pre-War
electronic devices to access the information held within. While Academics covers general
knowledge, the Science Skill covers more specialized and in-depth knowledge of different fields.
A character’s starting Science Skill equals: 0% + (4 x INT). Average Skill: 23%

Security: A character’s Security Skill covers a wide range of

abilities, most of which revolve around breaking and entering.
Picking locks, arming or disarming traps, and determining the best
point of access in a compound or base are all governed by the
Security Skill. For characters possessing a stronger moral fiber, the
Security Skill can be used to upgrade locks and doors to make them
more difficult to break into. A character’s starting Security Skill
equals: 5% + (PER + AGL). Average Skill: 18%

Sneak: A character’s Sneak Skill determines her ability to move quietly and unseen, as well as
her ability to plant items on other people and pick pockets. Lighting, distance, and the number of
creatures a character is trying to sneak past all factor into whether or not an attempt at stealth is
successful. A character’s starting Sneak Skill equals: 5% + (3 x AGL). Average Skill: 23%

Speech: A character’s eloquence and ability to bring others around to his type of thinking is
determined by his Speech Skill. The better a character’s Speech Skill, the most likely he is to
sway others and get them to follow his orders and suggestions. When a character needs to
convince another creature to do something, a Speech Test is attempted. While the Investigation
Skill is more commonly used to detect lies, a character can attempt to make a Speech check to
figure out if someone is trying to sway them, although it won’t allow them to determine the other
creature’s motives. A character’s starting Speech Skill equals: 0% + (5 x CHA). Average Skill:
28%

Survival: A character’s Survival Skill determines her ability to stay alive and even flourish in
the wilderness that is the post-War wasteland. It encompasses all sorts of knowledge pertaining
to wild flora and fauna, a person's ability to live off of the land, and his or her ability to
successfully navigate in the wilderness using landmarks or the stars. A character with a high
Survival Skill is also more capable of finding sources of food and water and making edible meals
out of gathered plants and hunted animals and certain medicines, such as healing powder and
anti-venoms. A character’s starting Survival Skill equals: 0% + [2 x (END + INT)]. Average
Skill: 23%

Unarmed: A character’s Unarmed Skill determines her ability to kickass without having to rely
on heavy, cumbersome weapons. The Unarmed Skill encompasses a variety of martial arts,
boxing, pugilism, and other hand-to-hand combat styles that emphasize using one's body as a
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weapon. The higher a character's Unarmed Skill, the most likely he or she is to strike foes while
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in combat. It also governs a character's knowledge of various martial arts styles and how to
defend against them. A character skilled in Unarmed combat is never at a loss for weapons, and
can make for a dangerous opponent. A character’s starting Unarmed Skill equals: 25% + [2 x
(AGL + STR)]. Average Skill: 48%

Applying Those Skills

Now that you understand the basics of each Skill, it’s time to learn exactly how they apply to
your survival and prosperity out in the wastelands. Skills are perhaps the most important (or at
least the most used) facet of your character. They are called upon in battle to determine your
likelihood of actually blowing out that raider’s brains and they are useful out of combat when
dealing with merchants, patching up your friends, hacking into computers, and driving off into
the sunset.

Whenever you want to use a Skill, you will roll a d100 (d%) against a particular Skill’s
value. This is called a Skill Test. The goal is to roll a number less than or equal to your Skill’s
value. So if you’re attempting to recall information about a pre-War author, you would want to
attempt an Academics Test. Your character is rather well-versed in the academics arts, and so
you have an Academics value of 63%. Assuming the Overseer doesn’t add any difficulty
modifiers (see below for more details), you would need to roll a 63 or lower on your d100.
Should you roll a 64 or higher, you would fail your roll. Remember that a roll of 1 is always a
success, and a roll of 100 (000) is always a failure.

Skill Test Difficulties: Sometimes you will find Difficulty Skill Modifier
yourself in a particularly difficult spot where using Trivial +20%
your Skills isn’t going to be easy. You might be Easy +10%
trying to fix a jam in your Bozar while super Average +0%
mutants are taking pot shots at you and your tool kit Hard -10%
is seven feet away, depriving you of the proper Expert -20%
items to fix your gun. In such an instance, the Overseer might decide that the Skill Test should
be more difficult than it normally would be. See the table to the right for the different difficulty
rating and the penalties or bonuses to Skill Tests they provide.

Once the Overseer determines the difficulty of the Skill Test, you add or subtract the
associated modifier to your Skill value. So if the Overseer decides that it’s going to take a Hard
Guns Skill Test to clear the jam in your Bozar while those super mutants are shooting at you,
you’d subtract 10% from your Guns Skill value (44% would be reduced to 34% for example),
36

thus requiring you to roll at or below 34 on your d100 to get your gun ready to return fire.
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 In some cases you might get lucky and have additional resources available to you. For
example, if your character is in surgery trying to fix up a friend whose leg was heavily damaged
by a fragmentation mine, you might get some bonuses by having additional medical staff around
or having access to more than just a stimpak and a partially destroyed copy of a Journal of
Internal Medicine. In such a case, the Overseer might rule that patching up the leg would be an
easy Medicine Skill Test, bumping your Medicine Skill of 55 to a Medicine Skill of 65 for the
duration of the treatment.

Skill Competencies and Automatic Successes: When a character has a Skill Value of at least
25%, he is considered competent in the Skill. Being competent means that a character is
comfortable enough performing certain actions that the Skill encompasses that he doesn’t have to
attempt a Skill Test to perform as long as he is not in a dangerous situation. For example, a
character with a Guns Skill of 25% can perform routine maintenance on his firearm without
having to attempt a Guns Skill Test. A character with a Guns Skill of 18% would have to
attempt a Skill Test to perform the same action.

A character can never automatically succeed thanks to competency in combat, nor can a
character use Skill competency to automatically succeed on an attack roll (with the exception of
something like target practice in a controlled environment). Complex tasks, such as hacking into
a Securitron’s programming or repairing a tank, cannot automatically succeed using the Skill
Competency rules.

Degrees of Success and Failure: The primary use of any % Away From Degrees of
Skill Test is to determine whether or not a character Skill Value Success/Failure
succeeds or fails in an attempted action. However, life is 0-9% None
hardly ever as simple as “succeed, fail,” and Fallout: 10-19% 1
Wastelands strives to emulate that through the use of 20-29% 2
degrees of success and failure. For every 10% a character 30-39% 3
40-49% 4
rolls under his Skill value, he is considered to have
50-59% 5
achieved a degree of success. Likewise, for every 10% a 60-69% 6
character rolls over his Skill value, he is considered to 70-79% 7
have achieved a degree of failure. 90-89% 8
90-99% 9
For example, a wastelander with an Investigation
Skill value of 60% is looking for a weapon in a pile of junk. The player expresses interest in
finding a firearm and rolls a 27% on his Investigation Skill Test. He has achieved three degrees
37

of success, and so the Overseer awards him with a hunting rifle as opposed to a homemade pipe
pistol. The more degrees of success the character achieves, the better the result of the Skill Test.
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If the player rolls a 1% it is considered a Critical Success.

 The opposite is true as well. If the same character had rolled a 90%, he would have
achieved three degrees of failure. Now when it comes to looking for a weapon degrees of failure
may not be as important, but a particularly devious Overseer could have the wastelander stumble
upon an active landmine.

Exactly how degrees of success and failure are incorporated is up to each Overseer.
Some Skills lend themselves to degrees of success and failure more readily than others. For the
application of degrees of success and failure in combat, see Section 6: Combat.

Skill Contests: Sometimes a creature has to use a Skill

against another creature rather than against an inanimate
object. Such an instance is called a Skill Contest, and it
involves two or more creatures all attempting the same
Skill Test. Each creature involved in a Skill Test rolls a
d100 against the chosen Skill Value and records their
degrees of success. The creature that has achieved the
most degrees of success wins the Skill Contest.

For example, if a member of the Brotherhood of

Steel is grappling with a Super Mutant, they would
attempt an Athletics Skill Contest. The BoS member has
an Athletics Skill value of 43% while the Super Mutant
has an Athletics Skill value of 74%. The BoS member achieves two levels of success while the
Super Mutant only achieves one, meaning that the BoS member wins the Skill Contest and either
successfully grapples the Super Mutant or escapes the Super Mutant’s hold.

This allows a character with a higher Skill Value the greater chance of succeeding on a
Skill Contest, but doesn’t rule out the underdog entirely. If one creature involved in a Skill
Contest rolls a 1%, she automatically succeeds on the Skill Test. The opposite is true for any
creature that rolls a 100% on a Skill Contest- that creature loses the Contest.

In the case of a tie, the tied parties engage in a Luck Contest to determine a victor.
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Section Four: Character Advancement
After laying waste to enough enemies and Level XP Human Non-Human
completing enough quests, characters will gain Required Perks Perks
enough Experience Points (XP) to level up. 1 0 - -
The table to the right shows you how much 2 1,000 1st -
experience you need to reach each level as well 3 3,000 - 1st
as when your character would be receiving 4 6,000 2nd -
5 10,000 - -
Perks based on his or her race. Humans
6 15,000 3rd 2nd
receive a Perk every even-numbered level, 7 21,000 - -
while non-Humans receive Perks every three 8 28,000 4th -
levels starting at Level 3. Leveling up 9 36,000 - 3rd
provides several other benefits such as Skill 10 45,000 5th -
Points and increased Health. 11 55,000 - -
12 66,000 6th 4th
13 78,000 - -
14 91,000 7th -
5th
Bigger and Stronger 15 105,000 -
16 120,000 8th -
17 136,000 - -
Whenever a character levels up they gain a 18 153,000 9th 6th
small number of Hit Points- proof that what 19 171,000 - -
doesn’t kill someone only makes them 20 190,000 10th -
stronger. Certain Perks (as well as the Super 21 210,000 - 7th
Mutant race) gain additional Hit Points each 22 250,000 11th -
time they level up. Note that temporary 23 290,000 - -
24 330,000 12th 8th
increases and decreases to Endurance (chems,
25 370,000 - -
certain items, etc.) 26 410,000 13th -
27 450,000 - 9th
A character increases his or her Hit Point 490,000 14th -
28
maximum by the following amount each level: 29 530,000 - -
2 + (1/2 x END, rounded up). 30 570,000 15th 10th

Get ‘Dem Skills

Each time a character gains a level, they receive a number of Skill Points that they can distribute
to their various Skills. There is no limit to how many Skill Points a character can put into any
one Skill when she levels up. If a character wants to put 14 points into Explosives and 2 into
39

Barter, she may do so. A Skill maxes out at 100%, after which it cannot be further improved
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upon. Certain Perks can increase the number of Skills a character gains when she gains a level.
Note that temporary increases and decreases to Intelligence (chems, certain items, etc.) do not
increase the number of Skill Points a character gains when she levels up.

Skills are purchased on a one-for-one basis. Increasing a Skill from 15% to 16% only costs 1
Skill Point, as does increasing a Skill from 89% to 90%. Being more proficient in a Skill does
not increase the cost of improving the Skill.

A character gains the following number of Skill Points each level: 5 + (2 x INT).

40
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Here Are The Perks
As a character gains levels, he or she gains
Perks, which represent the knowledge of a
character has acquired traveling through the
wasteland. Not just knowledge of Skills, but
of various techniques that they’ve learned
through their wasteland journeys. Perks can
affects SPECIAL Stats, Skills, Derived
Stats, and sometimes they just offer
something new for a character to do.

Some Perks will require a creative

Overseer to implement. Many Perks have
Level, Skill, and/or SPECIAL Stat
requirements that must be reached before the Perk can be selected. Most Perks can only be taken
once, but several Perks have two or three Ranks, with each rank increasing the effects of the Perk
for the character taking it. A complete list of Perk is below, many of which are inspired by the
original Fallout games, and others that are inspired by Retropocalypse.

Action Boy/Action Girl/Action Bot Two Ranks

Requirements: Agility 5, Level 12
You've always described yourself as a (wo)man of action, and now you can act like it! You
know how to make the most of every moment. For each rank of this Perk you have, you gain 1
additional Action Point each turn during combat.

Adrenaline Rush One Rank

Requirements: Strength < 10, Level 6
You have a fear of death that allows you to fight harder when you
are wounded. When your Hit Points drop below 50% of its
maximum, you gain a +1 bonus to your Strength Stat (this cannot
be increased beyond 10) and gain 5 points of Damage Resistance
against Ballistic and Energy damage.

Adamantium Skeleton One Rank

Requirements: Endurance 6, Level 14
Your bones are tougher than usual, likely the result of some experiment or maybe a mutation.
Your limbs only take half the normal amount of damage from attacks and natural hazards such as
rockslides and falls. In addition to this, Critical Hits against your limbs deal double damage at
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most.
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And Stay Back! One Rank
Requirements: Strength 7, Level 12
You put some oomph in your swings when you attack. By spending an additional Action Point
when you make an attack, you can try to knock your opponents on their asses. If you do, your
opponent must succeed on a Hard Athletics Skill Test or be knocked on their asses.

Aquaboy/Aquagirl One Rank

Requirements: Endurance 5, Survival 40%, Level 10
Water is your ally, your friend, your muse. You’ve spent so much time swimming that you’ve
actually mutated slightly (probably because of all the radiation) to be better adapted to the water!
You no longer absorb radiation from water, whether it’s from swimming in it or drinking it, and
you’ve grown small gills that allow you to breath underwater. Lastly, water doesn’t count as
difficult terrain for you and you don’t need to succeed on an Athletics Skill Test to swim through
rough waters. Robots cannot choose this Perk.

Artful Dodger Two Ranks

Requirements: Agility 6, Athletics 50%, Level 6
I guess all of those years playing underground games of dodge ball in the Vault reactor chambers
have finally paid off! You gain a +5% bonus to your Armor Class for each rank of this perk that
you take.

Atomic Powered! One Rank

Requirements: Science 40%, Robot, Level 12
You’ve been outfitted with a state-of-the-art General Atomics International Radiation Processing
Core! What’s that, you ask? Well, it’s a neat little device that converts radiation into clean
atomic energy! Whenever you’re in an area that would expose you to more than 5 rads per
second (50 rads in a turn), you gain an additional 5 AP on each of your turns. Radical!

Bend the Rules One Rank

Requirements: Luck 6, Level 16
You’ve never been known to play by the rules. The next time you get to choose a Perk, you can
ignore all restrictions except for race (for example, a human still cannot take a Perk restricted to
robots). Hopefully you won’t get caught!

Better Criticals One Rank

Requirements: Perception 6, Luck 6, Agility 4, Level 10
What can I say? When you’ve got it, you’ve got it! The critical
hits you cause in combat are more devastating. You get to roll
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twice on the Critical Hit table and take both results. In addition,
your chance to cause damage to a limb is increased by 50%.
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Super Mutants cannot choose this Perk.

Big Brained One Rank
Requirements: Academics 50%, Educated, Psyker-Pathic, Level 12
You’re smart. A certifiable gee-nee-us! You immediately get a +5% bonus on each of your
Skills as well as your Nerve. Furthermore, you double all bonuses and duration of Mentats and
you don’t risk becoming addicted to them. Now get out there and put that big brain of yours to
good use!

Black Widow/Lady Killer One Rank

Requirements: Level 2, Charisma 6
In combat, you deal an additional +10 damage against targets of the opposite sex. This damage
is the same type as the base damage of the weapon used (Guns deal an additional 10 points of
Ballistic Damage, Incinerators deal an additional 10 points of Energy Damage, etc.). Outside of
combat, you get a +10% bonus on all Barter, Investigation, and Speech Skill Tests made against
members of the opposite sex. Robots and Super Mutants cannot choose this Perk.

Bone Head Two Ranks

Requirements: Endurance 7, Super Mutant, Level 6
You have a very thick skull, likely the result of head-butting all of those bighorners when you
were little. With the first rank of this Perk, you get a +25% bonus on all Nerve Tests made to
avoid being knocked unconscious by enemy attacks. With the second rank of this Perk, that
chance increases to +50%. You can never surpass 100% on a Nerve Test, and a roll of 100 is
always a failure.

Bonsai, the Way of the Fruit One Rank

Requirements: Science 40%, Survival 50%, Ghoul, Level 12
Through careful nurturing you’ve managed to get a small fruit tree to grow out of your head. Is
it weird? You bet your ass it is! But is it useful? Hell yes! The tree grows enough fruit to
provide you with all the nutrition you need, allowing you to spend less time foraging for expired
cans of pork and beans and bottles of irradiated water and giving you more time to look for the
things you want, like plasma rifles and Caps! Each day you wake up with enough fruit to last
you through the day.

Break the Rules One Rank

Requirements: Luck 6, Level 16
Sometimes bending the rules just isn’t enough for you. Sometimes you can only be satisfied by
breaking a rule so badly that it goes against the very nature of the universe! When you choose
this perk, you may choose any perk next time you would get a perk, regardless of requirements
or race. Just remember, cheaters never prosper…
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Brown Noser One Rank
Requirements: Charisma 5, Intelligence 6
Hey, you’ve got something on your nose there. Nope, missed it. Still there! There you go!
Anyway, you’ve learned how to suck up to your superiors (and just about everyone else),
granting you a +1 bonus per rank to your Charisma whenever you’re dealing with authority
figures. Despite the fact that you get what you want from your bosses, you still get the sense that
maybe they don’t really like you…

Brutish Hulk One Rank

Requirements: Strength 7, Endurance 5, Super Mutant, Level 9
Sometimes you smash! Sometimes it’s clobbering time! But all the time you really, really
tough! Each time you level up, you increase your Hit Point maximum by an additional 5 points
(you don’t gain additional Hit Points for the levels you missed). All those puny wastelanders are
jealous of just how tough you are!

Cannibal One Rank

Requirements: Level 12
You’re a humanitarian in the most literal sense. Not very many people know it, but you enjoy
delicacies of the forbidden nature- human flesh. Whenever you eat human flesh, you
immediately restore 2d10 Hit Points, gain 5 Rads, and lose 1 point of Karma. If for some reason
you want to chow down in combat, it costs 3 AP, much like using an item. Eat up! Robots
cannot choose this Perk.

Cap Collector One Rank

Requirements: Barter 50%, Level 6
You’ve mastered the art of the deal! Whenever you attempt a
Barter Skill Test to lower the price of an item you wish to buy or
raise the price of an item you want to sell, you can re-roll the
Skill Test if you don’t like the first result, but you must accept the
results of the second roll, even if it is worse.

Cautious Nature One Rank

Requirements: Perception 6, Level 4
Discretion is the better part of valor, and so is cowardice the better part of discretion. Therefore
in tense situations you often valiantly hide yourself in a nearby closet or locker. Whenever
you’re caught in an ambush, you can still take your turn, although you only start that turn with
half of your normal amount of Action Points. May I suggest bravely running away?
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Cherchez La Femme/Confirmed Bachelor One Rank
Requirements: Level 2, Charisma 6
In combat, you deal an additional +10 damage against targets of the same sex. This damage is
the same type as the base damage of the weapon used (Guns deal an additional 10 points of
Ballistic Damage, Incinerators deal an additional 10 points of Energy Damage, etc.). Outside of
combat, you get a +10% bonus on all Barter, Investigation, and Speech Skill Tests made against
members of the same sex. Robots and Super Mutants cannot choose this Perk.

Child of Atom One Rank

Requirements: Luck 8, Level 14
The Great Atom is not yet ready for you to join in the Glow, despite your best attempts to get
yourself killed. Once per 24-hour period you can re-roll any roll (Skill Test, weapon attack or
damage, you name it), but you must accept the results of the second roll, even if it is worse.
Praise Atom!

Combat Medic One Rank

Requirements: Medicine 75%, Agility 6, Level 4
The Surgeon General has handed out his orders, and your
ass is going to the front lines, soldier! While your allies are
spending all their time shooting and being shot, you’ll be
running around trying to patch them up. You can heal
people much faster than the usual wasteland doctor, and
whenever you attempt to help a fallen comrade, it only takes
5 APs to use your Medicine Skill.

Comprehension One Rank

Requirements: Intelligence 6, Level 4
Looks like all that time spent scavenging libraries for books and magazines paid off, neeeeeeerd!
With this perk, you gain one additional Skill Point each time you read a skill book and double
the temporary bonus to your Skills you get for reading magazine articles.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Badass

Requirements: Unarmed 60%, Agility 6, Level 14
You watched a lot of Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee holotapes growing up and you’ve managed to
learn a thing or two from them. You attack faster than most with unarmed weapons and
techniques, allowing you to make extra attacks in a turn. The AP cost to make an unarmed
attack is reduced by 1.
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Cult of Personality
Requirements: Charisma 10, Level 12
Everywhere you go you find that people like you. Everyone. Instead of getting a negative
modifier for the “wrong” kind of Karma, you get a positive modifier. Bad people like good
girls, and good people like bad boys. Good guys still like good guys, and bad guys still like bad
guys. Go figure.

Dances with Deathclaws Two Ranks

Requirements: Level 10, Charisma 6, Survival 45%
You’ve got a sense for the way animals think, and as a result they won’t harm you as long as you
don’t act with hostility toward them. With the first rank of this perk, any creature classified as an
“animal” won’t attack you. With the second rank of this perk, any creature classified as an
“animal” will not only leave you alone, but will rush to your defense whenever you’re attacked
by another non-animal.

Death Sense
Requirements: Perception 5, Super Mutant, Nightkin Trait, Level 3
As a result of living a life of danger you’ve developed excellent senses. You decrease all
penalties to Skills and attack rolls from light levels by half. You also gain a +25% bonus on all
Perception and Investigation Tests made to locate enemies attempting to sneak past you.

Demolition Expert One Rank

Requirements: Explosives 60%, Intelligence 6, Level 8
You know how to make and detonate explosives of all natures, and all it costs you was a singed
eyebrow, a forefinger, and the hearing in your right ear. Whenever you fail to set an explosive
properly, you immediately know that you fucked up and the explosive will reset, allowing you to
try again.

Die Hard One Rank

Requirements: Medicine 40%, Endurance 6, Level 10
You won’t go down without a fight! When your Hit Points below 25% of your maximum
number of Hit Points, you gain a +10 bonus to your Damage Resistance. This bonus goes away
when your Hit Point total increases above 25% of your maximum.

Dr. Wasteland, M.D. Three Ranks

Requirements: Medicine 40%, Perception 6, Level 4
You’ve studied all your life, rummaging through ruins for ancient texts on medicine and piecing
together torn medical journals. Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately) this had made you one of
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the most qualified medical personnel in the wasteland. Whenever you use a stimpak (whether on
yourself or another person) you heal one die per Degree of Success immediately rather than one
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die per round. Furthermore, for each rank of this perk that you take, you automatically earn one
Degree of Success for your Medicine Skill Tests involving stimpaks (a Degree of Success earned
this way cancels out a Degree of Failure if you fail the Skill Test).

Drunken Master One Rank

Requirements: Unarmed 60%, Level 4
You *hic*! You don’t have a problem! No sir! You can stop drinking whenever you want, you
just don’t want to yet, and anyone that tries to stop you is going to enter a world a pain.
Whenever you’re under the influence of alcohol you gain a +20% bonus to your Unarmed Skill.
You lose this bonus during those rare moments of sobriety. Robots cannot choose this Perk.

Duck and Cover! One Rank

Requirements: Agility 6, Level 4
Vault-Tec, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Civil Defense, guarantees the best
working knowledge in Catastrophe Management. You only take half damage from explosive
weapons and traps. This includes the damage from concussive force and shards of shrapnel.

Educated Three Ranks

Requirements: Academics 40%, Level 6
You can actually read! You’re one of the lucky few who
managed to receive some semblance of a proper education
growing up. Every rank of this perk will grant you 2 additional
Skill Points each time you gain a level (for a maximum of 6
additional Skill Points). Thank God for that fancy book-learnin’!

Explorer One Rank

Requirements: Survival 60%, Endurance 6, Level 8
You’ve been everywhere, man! You get a +20% bonus on all Survival Tests made to find the
right path to a previously unexplored location or to prevent yourself and your allies from getting
lost in unfamiliar terrain. Furthermore, you reduce the travel time when humping through the
wasteland for yourself and your allies by 25%.

Fleet of Foot Two Ranks

Requirements: Agility 5, Level 6
You’ve learned to take longer strides, allowing you to dash about the battlefield much faster. For
each rank you take in this Perk, you can move 2 additional hexes while in combat. The first 2
hexes you move in combat don’t cost any Action Points.
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Float Like a Butterfly One Rank
Requirements: Unarmed 75%, Level 12
Like the famous boxer of old, you float about the battlefield bobbing and weaving in a dizzying
pattern of feints and jukes. As long as you’re not carrying a weapon in either one of your hands,
you gain a +3% bonus to your AC instead of the normal +1% for each unused Action Point you
have at the end of your turn.

Flower Child One Rank

Requirements: Endurance 5, Level 8
Hey man, we should, like ban the bomb and instead dig these groodalicious chems I… uh…
found. Yeah. You are half as likely to become addicted to chems of any sort and you reduce all
withdrawal times and effects by 50%.

Fortune Finder One Rank

Requirements: Luck 8, Level 6
You have an innate talent for sniffing out piles of Caps in the wasteland. Of course most of the
time you’ll have the take it off the cold, dead bodies of your enemies. Anytime you find Caps,
you can attempt a Luck Test. If you succeed, double the amount of Caps you found.

Friend of the Night One Rank

Requirements: Perception 6, Level 4
Whether it was a mutation or just adapting to years of (no doubt
illegal) nighttime activity, you’ve gained the ability to see
perfectly in the dark. It doesn’t matter if it’s nighttime, you’re
indoors or underground, or if the sun just plain decided not to
come up this morning, you can see just find. You suffer no
penalties to attack rolls, Stat Tests, or Skill Tests due to dark
conditions.

Full Metal Jacket Two Ranks

Requirements: Guns 40%, Agility 6, Level 6
The only way you’ll part with your guns if when they pry them from your cold, dead hands. You
turn every fight into a firefight because you’re so damn good with your guns. Every bullet you
fire that successfully hits its target does +2 damage for each rank of this Perk that you possess.

Ghost Stalker One Rank

Requirements: Sneak 60%, Level 6
You’ve spent the better part of your life skulking about the shadows, most likely being up to no
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good, and as a result you’ve grown accustomed to moving about in pitch darkness. While
sneaking about at night or in areas of darkness you gain a +20% on all Security and Sneak Skill
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Tests.
Grim Reaper’s Spring One Rank
Requirements: Luck 8, Level 14
You know, I heard you shot a man in New Reno just to watch him die. Killing one man just isn’t
good enough for you, not when you can kill ‘em all and let God sort ‘em out. Whenever you kill
an opponent, you immediately regain 5 AP to use during your turn. If you kill more than one
creature in a turn? Well that’s just more of ol’ Grim’s work you’re doing. Now put those
suckers in the bag!

Healing Factor Three Ranks

Requirements: Endurance 6
You’ve always recovered from dust ups and injuries faster than anyone else you knew. Maybe
you’re just plain tougher than they are, or maybe you hang out with a bunch of crybaby wimps!
Each time you rest, you gain an additional Hit Point for each rank of this perk you possess.
Robots cannot take this Perk.

Heave, Ho! Three Ranks

Requirements: Level 6
I guess all of those years spent throwing dodge ball at those nerds hiding in the Vault reactor
chambers have finally paid off! For the purposes of determining the maximum range of thrown
weapons, each rank of this perk will increase your Strength by 2.

Here and Now One Rank

Requirements: Level 8
You’re tired of waiting around! They’re your levels and you want them now! With this perk,
your character immediately gains enough experience points to go up to the next level, giving you
more Hit Points and Skill Points. For example, if you take this perk at level 8, you immediately
gain 8,000 XP and level up to Level 9.

Hide of Scars Two Ranks

Requirements: Endurance 6, Super Mutant, Level 9
Your skin is covered in a patchwork quilt of scars and scabs- signs of the battles you’ve fought
and survived and premonitions of the fights you will undoubtedly join in future days. However,
there’s a plus side to that life of ultraviolence: For each rank of this perk, you increase your
Damage Resistance by 2.

Home on the Wastes One Rank

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Requirements: Luck 8, Level 4

You’ve spent time out in the wasteland, drifting through the wastelands in search of treasure?
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Enlightenment? Something along those lines? Anyway, you’ve picked up a few tricks along the
way. Anytime you find food, you can attempt a Luck Test. If you succeed, double the amount
of food you found.

I Run Barter Town! One Rank

Requirements: Barter 60%, Charisma 7, Level 10
You’ve got a head for business and numbers that lets you walk away with the better end of the
deal more often than not. Once per 24-hour period, you can buy or sell an item at the price you
name as long as it doesn’t surpass the item’s minimum or maximum values.

I’m a Pyro! One Rank

Requirements: Energy Weapons 75%, Level 8
If it makes things burn, you know how to use it without killing
yourself in the process… usually. You do an additional +10
damage when using fire-based weapons such as Flamers,
Incinerators, Molotov cocktails, napalm, and other fun things like
that.

I Make My Own Luck Three Ranks

Requirements: Luck 6, Level 6
Okay, the name’s a bit of a misnomer since you don’t really make your own luck… Now that
we’ve cleared that up I’ll let you know what taking this Perk will do for you: Each rank adds
+5% to your Critical Chance statistic. That’s up to +15%!

Increased Flexibility One Rank

Requirements: Sneak 60%, Agility 6, Level 4
You’ve spent years doing yoga with your grandma (it keeps her young) and as a result you’re
quite supple. It only costs you 1 AP to change your stance in combat or to stand up after being
knocked down.

Innocent Demeanor One Rank

Requirements: Charisma 6, Karma > 49, Level 6
You have an air about you that makes people think you’re going to stay out of trouble, the
suckers! You gain a +20% bonus on Stealth Tests made to pick someone’s pockets or snag an
item while in the room with someone who is aware of you (but not necessarily actively engaged
with you). You’d better wash those sticky fingers!

Intense Training See Text

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Requirements: See Text

All that hard work (or cheating) has finally paid off! Add one point to any one of your
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SPECIAL Stats, provided it does not increase the Stat above 10 points. You may take this perk
as many times as you’d like (or at least until all of your Stats are 10).

Know the Land One Rank

Requirements: Perception 7, Survival 20%, Level 2
Most people are happy just to survive the wasteland, but you thrive in it. You can see further in
the wilderness and you are able to decipher maps more easily, whether they are current or pre-
War. It is up to the Overseer to determine what this Perk will do in his or her campaign.

Lead Foot One Rank

Requirements: Pilot 60%, Perception 6, Agility 6, Level 4
Your reflexes have developed to make you a very fast driver. Granted, we never said that you
were a very good driver. You know how to coax a little more speed and power out of a vehicle’s
engine, increasing its maximum speed by 25%.

Lead Us, Oh Leader One Rank

Requirements: Charisma 6, Level 4
You have a natural talent when it comes to issuing orders and getting others to follow your
example. Any ally within 10 hexes of you gets a +1 bonus to their Agility (maximum Agility of
10) and a +5% bonus to their Armor Class. You, however, do not get these benefits- that’s the
price of being a leader.

Life Giver Two Ranks

Requirements: Endurance 4, Level 6
You’ve been blessed with the gift of life! Each time you gain a
level, you increase your Hit Point maximum by an additional 4
points per rank of this perk. With two ranks, that +8 whole Hit
Points!

Light Step One Rank

Requirements: Agility 5, Luck 5, Level 8
Some might say you have petite feet, or a feminine step, but when a mine leaves them with
stumps starting at their ankles you’ll be the one laughing. You never risk accidentally setting off
traps, although if you so desire you can still set them off deliberately. If another person triggers
a trap and you’re caught in the blast, you double you Agility for the purpose of making an
Agility Test to prevent or reduce damage.
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Living Anatomy One Rank
Requirements: Medicine 60%, Level 12
Years of hands-on experience and studying lots of charts has
given you a better understanding of living creatures and their
strengths and weaknesses. You immediately gain a permanent
10% bonus to your Medicine Skill. Furthermore, thanks to your
advanced anatomic knowledge you deal an additional +5 points
of damage with every attack made against a living creature.

Lone Wanderer One Rank

Requirements: Survival 50%, Charisma < 4, Level 4
You were always more comfortable keeping your own company, and now you’ve learned how to
use your independence to your advantage. As long as you’re at least 10 hexes away from your
allies you gain a +10% bonus on all Skill Tests.

Mad Bomber Two Ranks

Requirements: Explosives 70%, Agility 4
You’re a little unhinged, and nothing makes you happier than listening to a classic holotape and
blowing up a building or three. All weapons and tools governed by the Explosives gain a +5
bonus to damage for each rank of this perk that you take.

Man’s Best Friend One Rank

Requirements: Level 12, Charisma 6, Survival 60%, Dances with Deathclaws
A bit of brahmin jerky and you’ve made a friend for life! And truly, what more does a man need
in this world than a trusty dog? You get a dog as an NPC companion (see the Bestiary for its
stats). Whenever you gain a level, increase your dog’s Hit Points by 5. If your canine friend
passes away, you can find another one after grieving for the appropriate amount of time (24
hours).

Mental Block One Rank

Requirements: Psyker-Pathic Trait, Level 14
You’ve learned to put your mind over matter and tune out any
outside mental interference. You picked up this trick after
hanging out with that guru at the bar. For the purposes of
determining range in combat and finding traps, you increase
your Perception by 1 (up to a maximum of 10).
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Mister Sandman One Rank
Requirements: Level 10, Sneak 60
Bring me a dream! With this perk, whenever you find a sleeping person, you may attempt an
Expert Stealth Skill Test. If you succeed, you smother the life out of your target and lose 10
Karma. If you fail, well… your target wakes up and you’ll probably have some explaining to do.
Furthermore, you deal an additional 10 points of damage whenever you successfully make a
Sneak Attack (do not multiply this bonus damage).

Mr. (or Ms.) Fixit One Rank

Requirements: Repair 60%, Level 12
You’re quite the handy(wo)man! Normally when you attempt to repair a weapon or piece of
armor, you need to have an identical weapon or piece of armor from which you can salvage
parts. However, thanks to some tinkering around, you’ve learned how to take scraps from
different weapons and armor to repair your gear. You can repair weapons using parts from any
weapon in the same category (Guns to Guns, Energy Weapons to Energy Weapons, etc.) and can
patch up armor using parts taken from any other suit of armor in the same weight class (light to
light, power armor to power armor, etc.).

Mutate! One Rank

Requirements: Level 10
Oh dear… We’re, well… we’re not exactly sure how to tell
you this, but you were exposed to quite a bit of radiation
back there and… well… you’re different now. When you
take this perk you may immediately reselect your Traits and
can redistribute your SPECIAL Stats (this will change your
Skills). You cannot change your Perks or how you spent
your Skill Points, as the act of spontaneous mutation does
not change your previous life experiences. Robots cannot
choose this Perk.

Mysterious Stranger One Rank

Requirements: Luck 6, Level 10
You’ve got your own personal guardian angel… armed with a fully loaded .44 magnum. He
shows up just when you need him most, and to devastating effect. Once in a 24-hour period you
can attempt a Luck Test. If you succeed, the Mysterious Stranger arrives to the sound a guitar
riff to aid you in combat. He disappears the moment your enemies are defeated, leaving without
a word. (The stats for the Mysterious Stranger can be found in the Bestiary).

Pack Rat One Rank

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Requirements: Barter 40%, Intelligence 7, Level 6

You know just how to pack your bags to maximize carrying capacity. You also have a bit of a
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hoarding problem, but that’s not why we’re here. For the purposes of determining your Carrying
Capacity, treat all items in your inventory as if they weighed half as much as they normally do.
They still retain their actual weight for all other purposes.

People Person One Rank

Requirements: Speech 50%, Charisma 7, Perception 5, Level 6
You’ve spent some time studying other human beings, giving you the inside knowledge of their
emotional reactions to situations. Whenever you deal with an NPC, the Overseer must warn you
whenever what you’re about to say will be taken in a negative light.

Pocket Shopper One Rank

Requirements: Agility 8, Sneak 80%, Level 14
You’re a sucker for bargains and often search for the elusive “five-finger discount.” You gain a
+25% bonus on all Sneak Skill Tests made to pickpocket another creature or to plant something
on their person (after all, most merchants have a return policy!).

Power Armor Training One Rank

Requirements: Level 14 -or- Brotherhood of Steel Initiate,
Level 10
Power armor is pretty badass, and you’d look pretty badass
wearing it. Now that you’ve trained in its proper use and
maintenance, you can march through the wastelands shiny and
chrome in a suit of power armor. You suffer no penalties for
wearing power armor and enjoy all of its benefits. However,
choosing this Perk does not mean you have procured a suit of
armor, however. Robots and Super Mutants cannot take this
Perk.

Quick Draw One Rank

Requirements: Agility 5, Level 2
Compared to you, if others were any slower on the draw they’d have birds nesting in their
holsters. It only costs you 2 AP to swap weapons and equipment in combat rather than 4 AP.

Quick to Act! Three Ranks

Requirements: Perception 6, Level 4
Mom and Dad always told you to sit still and be patient, but you’ve never been very good at that.
For each rank of this perk that you take you gain a +2 bonus to your Initiative.
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Quiet As the Waters One Rank
Requirements: Sneak 60%, Level 6
Like moonlight over still water, you pass through the wasteland silently, leaving no footsteps and
making no sounds. During the nighttime or in areas with little to no illumination you gain a
+20% bonus on all Stealth Tests. You lose this bonus if you’re outside during the day or in areas
with good lighting.

Rad Resistance Two Ranks

Requirements: Endurance 6, Intelligence 4, Level 6
Whether by mutation or some quirk of genetics, you’ve developed
a natural resistance to radiation, plus the ability to slowly purge
radiation from your body. Each rank of this perk increases your
Radiation Resistance by 15% and allows you to reduce the
amount of rads in your body by 5 every 24 hours. Ghouls and
Robots cannot choose this Perk.

Radiation, Baby! One Rank

Requirements: Endurance 6, Ghoul
You’ve been exposed to so much radiation that it’s twisted up your DNA like a kitten with
string! The result? You gain an extra +5 to your Healing Rate when in a source of radiation that
gives out 10 or more rads an hour.

Ramblin’, Gamblin’ Man One Rank

Requirements: Gambling 50%, Luck 10
You really know when to hold ‘em, and when to fold ‘em. Add in a dash of extra luck and you
can turn a mean profit each time you sit down at a casino table. Whenever you make a Gambling
Test, you can roll it twice and take the better result.

Rapid Reload One Rank

Requirements: Guns 30% or Energy Weapons 30%, Agility 5
You’re pretty quick when it comes to reloading those guns of yours. Reloading your weapons
only costs you 1 AP, rather than 2.

Road Warrior One Rank

Requirements: Guns 40%, Agility 6, Drive Angry Perk, Level 12
You’re an expert when it comes to driving and shooting at the
same time. You do not suffer the normal 10% penalty when
firing from a vehicle in motion, and creatures shooting at you
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while you’re driving or riding in a moving vehicle suffer an

additional -5% on their attack rolls (for a total of -15%). That’s a
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cool jacket you’ve got there.

Scrounger One Rank
Requirements: Luck 8, Level 8
You always seem to know where to look for ammunition out in the wastes. Whether it’s an Old
World survivalist’s cache or an overlooked box of .22LR ammunition, you make out like a
bandit when it comes to bullets. Anytime you find ammunition, you can attempt a Luck Test. If
you succeed, double the amount of ammunition you found. This extra ammunition is the same
type as the initial ammo, not new ammunition.

Secret Ninja Art of Ninjutsu! One Rank

Requirements: Sneak 80%, Unarmed 80%, Agility 10, Level 18
You walk the shadows, hunting down your enemies, and looking
really cool as you do it (too bad no one can see you)! Whenever
you successfully sneak up to an opponent your Unarmed and
Melee Weapon attacks deal double damage.

Sharpshooter One Rank

Requirements: Perception 7, Intelligence 6, Level 9
You’ve got a sharp eye- all the better to see raiders and feral ghouls with. You increase your
Perception Stat by 2 for the purposes of determining the modifier for range in combat with your
weapons.

Silent Running One Rank

Requirements: Sneak 50%, Agility 6, Level 6
You’re silent, but deadly! In more ways than one! With this
Perk you can run and sneak around at the same time, allowing
you to dash from place to place unnoticed and unseen!

Silver-Tongued Devil One Rank

Requirements: Charisma 6, Level 8
You can talk your way through just about anything, you cunning linguist. People aren’t going to
immediately resort to violence when they catch you committing a crime (except murder, because
not even you are that good). Whenever you are caught stealing, trespassing, or sleeping with
another man’s wife, you can immediately attempt a Speech Test to try and talk your way out of
the situation before the usual violence would break out. This Perk does not guarantee successful
negotiations.
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Size Matters One Rank
Requirements: Strength 7, Robot or Super Mutant, Level 6
You know what they say: it’s not the size of the gun that matters, but how you use it! Okay,
okay, it’s definitely the size of the gun that matters. You can wield any two-handed weapon in
one hand. And don’t worry- no one thinks you’re overcompensating for anything.

Slayer One Rank

Requirements: Unarmed 80%, Agility 7, Level 24
The slayer walks the earth! Like Grognak before you, you can dish out attacks with lightning
speed! All Unarmed and Melee Weapon attacks cost you 2 less APs, and each time you hit an
opponent with an Unarmed or Melee Weapon attack you may attempt a Luck Test. If you are
successful, your attack immediately becomes a Critical Hit!

Secrets of the Vipers Two Ranks

Requirements: Endurance 3, Level 6
You’ve unlocked the True Way of the Great Snake and can now walk safely amongst its
Children. Each rank of this perk confers a +20% bonus on all Endurance Attribute Tests made to
resist the effects of poisons and venoms, whether they are naturally or artificially produced.
Robots cannot choose this Perk.

Short Circuit One Rank

Requirements: Psyker-Pathic, Level 14
You’ve learned how to turn things off and on using only your brain! By spending 5 AP, you can
make an Expert Intelligence Test to shut off or power on an electrical item. Powering on an item
in this fashion allows it to function for 1 hour, and likewise shutting it down keeps it shut off for
1 hour. If you attempt to use this ability on a robot, the robot may attempt an Intelligence Test,
and if it has more Degrees of Success than you, the shut down attempt fails.

Smooth Talker Three Ranks

Requirements: Charisma 4, Level 4
You must be the descendant of a used-car salesman, because
damn, you're able to convince just about anyone to do just about
anything. Each rank of this perk gives you a +10% bonus to all
Speech Skill Tests made to persuade someone to perform an
action for your benefit. Super Mutants cannot choose this Perk.
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Sniper One Rank
Requirements: Guns 80%, Agility 8, Perception 8, Level 24
You don’t mess around; you aim for the head just like ol’ Mr. Crowley told you to. Whenever
you hit an opponent with a ranged weapon attack you may attempt a Luck Test. If you are
successful, your attack immediately becomes a Critical Hit!

Spray ‘n Pray One Rank

Requirements: Guns 40%, Energy Weapons 30%,
Agility 7, Perception 6, Level 6
You’ve got an itchy trigger-finger and get a little too
excited when a fight starts. However, this lends itself
to your particular style of shooting- namely you shoot
until the gun runs dry, reload, and shoot again. Each
attack you make with a gun or energy weapon costs
one less AP to perform.

Steady Arm One Rank

Requirements: Strength 6, Super Mutant or Robot, Level 6
No matter how chaotic the battle gets around you, you remain calm and focused as you line up
that perfect shot. Due to your massive size, burst attacks cost 1 less AP.

Stonewall One Rank

Requirements: Strength 6, Level 4
You spent a lot of time getting knocked down and getting back up
again, and you decided that you’re not about that life anymore.
You increase your Damage Resistance against all Melee Weapon
and Unarmed attacks by 5 and you cannot be knocked prone by
any means in melee combat, although explosives and firearms can
still knock your ass to the ground.

Strong Back Two Ranks

Requirements: Endurance 5, Strength 5, Level 8
Growing up, your nickname was “Mule.” Okay, so maybe it wasn’t, but you’re still about as
strong as one of the stubborn beasts. Each rank of this Perk adds +50 lbs. to your Carrying
Capacity.

Stunt Devil Two Ranks

Requirements: Strength 6, Endurance 6, Agility 6, Level 6
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Whether from deliberate or accidental practice, you’ve learned how to bounce when you hit the
ground. You take half damage from falling and from vehicle wrecks. In addition, you
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immediately gain a +10% bonus to your Pilot Skill. Alas, there are no stunt dogs in the Fallout
universe.

Super Psychotic! One Rank

Requirements: Endurance 5, Super Mutant, Level 9
Your body has adapted to the use of Psycho (what does that say about you?). Positive effects of
Psycho are doubled, and the addiction rate for this drug is halved.

Swift Learner Three Ranks

Requirements: Intelligence 4, Level 4
You’ve always been a quick learner, able to pick up on things that
leave others baffled. Each rank of this perk adds an additional
5% (round up) to your Experience Points whenever you earn
them. For example, if you complete a task normally worth 50
XP, you would earn 53 XP instead at the first rank of this perk.
This perk is best taken on early, but I’m sure you knew that
already (‘cuz you’re so smart).

Tag! One Rank

Requirements: Level 12
Your skills have improved to the point where you can pick an additional Tag Skill. Choose one
of your non-Tag Skills and immediately increase that skill by 15%.

Team Player One Rank

Requirements: Charisma 4, Level 12
There is no “I” in “Enclave,” and you know that better than
anyone. Having learned the advanced techniques of teamwork
and sharing, you gain a +10% bonus on all Skills whenever all
members of your party and all NPC companions are within 10
hexes of you.

Tough Hide One Rank

Requirements: Endurance <8, Ghoul or Super Mutant, Level 12
Exposure to radiation and the harsh wastes has hardened you against the elements. You gain a
+15% bonus to your Armor Class and gain 5 points of Damage Resistance against Ballistic,
Energy, and Radiation damage (but not poison damage).
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Tough as Nails One Rank
Requirements: Endurance 6, Ghoul, Level 6
Sure you’ve got pits and chunks out of your skin and sure it feels like sandpaper when someone
touches, and sure you’re ugly as sin, but there’s a bright side! You’re really tough to hurt, and
you seem to snap back from injuries pretty quickly! You’re not exactly invincible, but there are
parts of you that are extraneous and will probably grow back if damaged. You increase your
Endurance by 2 for the purpose of determining your healing rate and any crippled limbs are fully
healed after 48 hours- provided they don’t suffer additional injuries.

Toughness Three Ranks

Requirements: Endurance 5, Level 6
All the old holotapes and radio shows taught you that the tough
guys get the girls, so you decided it was time for you to become
tough. Each rank of this perk grants you 3 points of Damage
Resistance against all forms of damage (Ballistic, Energy, Poison,
and Radiation damage).

Tunnel Snake One Rank

Requirements: Sneak 60%, Agility 6, Level 4
You slither about like a snake. A very fast snake. You can move at your normal rate (1 AP per
hex) while crouching or prone. And remember, Tunnel Snakes rule!

Wasteland Samurai Three Ranks

Requirements: Melee Weapons 60%, Agility 6, Strength 6, Level 6
You wander the wastelands in search of a great enemy to best. You goal in life is to prove that
you are the best swordsman (or whatever) the wastelands have ever seen. With each rank of this
Perk that you take, you increase your Critical Hit Chance with all Melee Weapons by 5%!

Way of the Iron Fist Three Ranks

Requirements: Unarmed 60%, Agility 6, Strength 6, Level 6
You have studied ancient fighting techniques that allow you to hit someone so hard that both
their ancestors and their grandchildren will feel it in the morning! You get a +2 bonus to Melee
Damage whenever you make an unarmed attack for each rank of this Perk that you take.

Weapon Handling One Rank

Requirements: Strength <10, Level 12
You’re not the strongest gal around, so you had to get creative in
order to effectively nuke the hell out of your enemies with your
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Fatman. This perk increases your Strength Attribute by 3 for the

purposes of determining how effectively you can handle and fire
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certain weapons.
Section Five: Adventuring in the Wastes
Once characters are created, it is up to the
Overseer to provide the adventure and
flesh out the wasteland and the people
and critters that inhabit it. Adventures
and campaigns (series of adventures
leading into one another) are limited only
by the imaginations of the Overseer and
the players. Remember, while the
Overseer provides the world and writes
or runs the adventures, there is no game
without contribution and participation from the players.

Section Five will cover some of the more important aspects of the game, such as questing
and exploring the wastelands. Combat –an important part of most adventures- will be covered in
Section Six.

Exploration and Travel

Ah, the great outdoors! So many sights to see and ruins to plunder. Whether it’s a vast,
radioactive desert, the cramped and crowded skeletons of pre-War cities, or the irradiated
swamps along the coasts, the wasteland is full of all sorts of places, which in turn contain
treasures for those wastelanders crafty enough to get to them. However, it takes more than piss,
vinegar, and the power of positive thinking to survive in the wastelands. No, it takes vim, vigor,
and brains.

Exploring is fairly straightforward and handled primarily through the use of the Survival
Skill, which can be used to navigate, find shelter, and acquire food and water. Traveling from
one town to another town along a well-known caravan road and with a map wouldn’t require a
Survival check. Throw in a sandstorm or radiation storm –two very dangerous events- and you
may have to roll a few Survival Skill Tests to keep from losing your way.

Traveling from a civilized town out into the wilderness in search of the ruins of a pre-
War city, however, would be significantly more difficult. While it’s up to the Overseer to
determine when it’s appropriate for a creature to make a Survival Skill Test to prevent from
being lost, we recommend every four hours or whenever an event occurs that would call for one.
Natural phenomena, dust ups and gun fights, or a few hours’ rest are all things that would disrupt
a creature’s focus and require them to make another Survival Skill Test to get back on track.
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Eat, Pray, Live
Just about every creature needs food, water, and rest to survive long
enough to get killed by deathclaws or radiation sickness. In order to
remain full of piss and vinegar, a creature needs to consume roughly
two pounds of food and a gallon of water every twelve hours.
Furthermore, she needs eight hours of rest for every twelve hours of
heavy activity –which of course adventuring is considered. So long
as a creature meets these requirements they remain at the peak of
fitness and function at their best.

However, if a creature goes too long without food, water, or rest, they start to suffer the
consequences of starvation, dehydration, and sleep deprivation. At first they might simply feel
like extra hardships, but before too long they’ll become killers.

For every twelve hours Need Water Food Sleep

a creature goes without one or First -1 END -1 STR -1 AGL
more of these necessities, Stage
she’ll experience penalties, Second -1 PER, -2 STR, -1 INT,
Stage -2 END -1 CHR -2 AGL
shown on the table to the right. Third -2 PER, -1 INT, -3 STR, -1 PER, -2 INT, -1 END,
If a creature doesn’t eat or Stage -3 END -2 CHR -3 AGL
drink for twelve hours, she Fourth -2 PER, -3 END, -3 STR, -2 PER, -2 INT, -2 END,
suffers the consequences of Stage -2 AGL, -1 INT -2 CHR -3 AGL
Fifth Death Death Death
both dehydration and Stage
starvation, but not sleep
deprivation. If a creature goes twenty four hours without food and twelve hours without sleep
she suffers the penalties of second stage starvation and first stage sleep deprivation. After sixty
hours without one or more of the necessities, the creature will die.

Eating food, drinking water, or getting some rest will reverse the corresponding condition
by one stage. For example, if a ghoul’s gone twenty-four hours without food and finds a can of
pork ‘n’ beans, which he of course gobbles down, his hunger levels drop from Second Stage to
First. If that same ghoul goes thirty-six hours without food and eats the can of pork ‘n’ beans,
his hunger level drops from Third Stage to Second Stage.

Rest and Relaxation

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Maintaining Gear
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Every character has gear, which in Fallout: Wastelands refers to weapons and armor. Gear
needs to properly maintained in order to work, as a jammed gun is more likely to get you killed
than it is to kill your enemies and worn out armor won’t protect you very well.

When your laser pistol or bumper sword breaks, it is a

problem. If it breaks in the middle of a battle and you didn’t have
the foresight to bring along a spare, it becomes a major problem.
There’s really nothing to do but wait until combat is over and
attempt to repair the item. The same can be said for armor- if you’re
in the middle of a fight and your metal armor isn’t holding up
anymore, you’re going to be in for a world of hurt.

Repairing and maintaining weapons and armor isn’t too

difficult, although it does require the right tools. Repairing a
weapon requires spare parts (or a Weapons Repair Kit), a successful
Repair Skill Test, and an hour of your time. Most spare parts will come from other weapons,
which destroys the scrapped weapon. For example, if a wastelander is trying to repair her N99
Pistol, she would either need a Weapons Repair Kit, the specific part she needs, or another N99
to scrap for parts.

Armor takes a little more time, although the parts for most of your standard types of
armor aren’t too difficult to find. Repairing a suit of armor requires the proper materials (leather
for leather-based armors, metal for metal-based armors, ballistic polymers for combat armors,
etc.), a successful Repair Test, and four hours of time. Most of the parts for armor are fairly easy
to find, whether its scrap metal or animal hides.

Power armor is a whole different ballgame. Repairing the physical shell and the internal
wiring for the servomotors requires the proper parts (usually metal and ceramics), a successful
Repair Skill Test, and eight hours. Making sure the computer systems within the armor are still
functioning requires military-grade circuitry, a successful Science Skill Test, and four hours.
The metal used for power armor isn’t too difficult to acquire in most parts of the wasteland,
although the circuitry for the computers is significantly harder to find.

Whenever you successfully repair a weapon or suit of armor you clear two condition
boxes (up to the maximum of ten). You are not required to wait until a weapon breaks to repair
it, but can perform daily maintenance on your gear to keep it in pristine condition. All the scum
of the earth with be jealous of your shiny guns and armor!

Trading and Barter

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There are no banks in the wasteland, for better or for worse. Most of the economy is based on
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bartering, although more civilized areas have come to use pre-War bottle caps as a form of
currency. Some places, like the New California Republic and the lands controlled by Caesar’s
Legion have created their own currencies based on those from the Old World, and others use
casino chips. Nine times out of ten, however, you’ll just as likely trade a can of pork ‘n’ beans
for a fistful of bullets as you are to fork over some God honest Caps.

When going through the Armory, you’ll notice that

weapons, armor, chems, equipment, and even random
knickknacks will have different values. These are their
values in Caps, the most commonly accepted form of
currency across the wastes. When trading, buying, and
selling, most people will try to get as close to breaking even
as they can, although they are more likely make sure they
come out on top rather than give something away for free.

A creature’s Barter Skill influences what he or she can

buy, how much they’ll wind up paying for it. Typically the
creature with the higher Barter Skill Value will get the better end of the deal, but like in all things
the underdog has the chance to win.

While it varies from Overseer to Overseer, typically a Barter Skill Contest is called
between the buyer and the seller. The winner is determined by degrees of success, and for each
degree of success the winner has over the loser, he or she raises or lowers the price of the good
being bought or sold by 10% in their favor.

For example, if a wastelander is trying to buy a flashlight valued at 10 Caps, she would
engage the merchant in a Barter Skill Contest. The merchant, having spent the better part of his
life doing this, has three degrees of success while the wastelander actually fails her Skill Test and
suffers a degree of failure. The merchant, having four degrees of success over his buyer, sells
the flashlight for 14 Caps.

Now of course an Overseer can disregard these rules and have the player characters role-
play these interactions for a more realistic game experience, although said Overseer should make
sure to either inform the players beforehand or make another use of the Barter Skill for player
characters that have a higher Barter Skill Value.

Breaking and Entering

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Hazards of the Wastelands

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Poison, Radiation,

Energy and Power

While the infrastructure required to build and maintain a power grid is incredibly rare (but not
unheard of!) in the post-War world, there are still places where one can find old pre-War power
plants and refineries chugging away. And of course there are still energy and microfusion cells
waiting to be recovered by aspiring wastelanders. Each cell holds a certain amount of charge -
which is almost never one-hundred percent when found out in the wasteland- and each weapon,
vehicle, or object takes a certain amount of energy from them each time they are fired, driven, or
used.

For the purposes of weapons, an energy or microfusion cell

serves as both the ammunition and the clip or magazine (an energy
weapon doesn’t typically get filled with multiple cells at a time like a
firearm is with bullets). When one cell is drained it is replaced with
another, much like an empty magazine or clip is replaced with a fresh
one. For most instances, this is purely a cosmetic distinction.

Energy cells are smaller and look similar to what we would

call batteries (and in fact play that same role when not being used to
power laser pistols). Aside from powering smaller objects like flashlights and alarm clocks,
energy cells are used to power smaller energy weapons such as laser pistols and plasma
defenders.

Microfusion cells are larger and typically power much larger items that require a larger
supply of electricity. The famous pre-War toy Giddyup Buttercup was powered by microfusion
cells, as are the slightly more prominent Gatling laser and plasma rifle. Vehicles, such as a
Chryslus Highwayman, are powered by microfusion cells.

There are some places in the wastes where a creature can

recharge their energy cells and microfusion cells. However these
recharging stations are extremely rare and are almost always found in
the hands of raider gangs or Brotherhood of Steel outfits. Sometimes
the owners of a recharging station can be convinced to recharge cells
for a small fee, although anyone less than a jerky vendor straight out
of Junktown should expect to pay through the nose for such a service.

While it varies from station to station (for example a charger

hooked up to a bicycle will be less efficient than a refurbished
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military establishment), it takes an average of one hour to fully charge a microfusion cell or a
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half hour to charge the smaller energy cell.

 Last but not least, there are still a few rare vehicles and pieces of equipment that run off
of guzzolene (better known as gas or petrol). Gasoline is one of the rarest substances in the
wastes, and it can be very difficult to come by. Sometimes a larger settlement might have access
to an oil refinery, but they won’t trade it for anything less than everything you own plus your
first born. Fortunately, a clever mind can figure out how to make fuel out of other materials
more readily available, like bighorner shit.

The Art of the Steal

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Damage, Death, and Dying

Life in the wastelands is a nasty, brutish ordeal and people that go
out there often get hurt –or get dead. Most damage suffered by the
inhabitants of the wasteland occurs during violent combat ordeals
with hostile critters and people, but occasionally there are other
forms of damage that a creature can take.

Most forms of damage fall into either Ballistic (any sort of

high-trauma physical damage) or Energy (lasers, fire, plasma,
electricity). If you get shot in the foot, hit in the chest with a
sledgehammer, or fall down a ravine you take Ballistic damage. If you get shot by a holorifle,
catch on fire, or accidentally brush up against a live wire – that’s Energy Damage. Perks and
armor that provide Damage Resistance usually provide resistance to one, the other, or both.

Karma
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Section Six: Combat, A.K.A. “How to Waste
Fools in the Wasteland”
Sometimes talks break down and bribes don’t work.
Those raiders pointing submachine guns at you and
your caravan guards have decided that it’ll be easier
for them to get the chems and booze off your corpses
rather than listen to you beg for your life and try to
come to some sort of agreement. In instances like this,
you may find yourself in the middle of a fight with
bullets whizzing past your skull, lasers leaving the
acrid smell of ozone in the air, and tire irons striking
armor.

This is combat, and combat never changes. In

Fallout: Wastelands, combat is designed to operate as
a series of 10-second Rounds where every participant
gets a Turn (an opportunity to perform actions) that
resolves when all parties hostile to one another are either incapacitated, dead, or have run away
with their tales tucked between their legs.

Combat is broken down into multiple Steps, described below:

Combat Begins
Combat officially begins when one creature or character decides to attack someone or something
else (sometimes, attacks can be made on inanimate objects such as doors, and in this case the
entire combat procedure is not necessary, unless combat is going on around the character
attempting to break the door down). The creature or character that initiated combat gets the
opportunity to use all of their Action Points (AP) before Initiative is determined.

Determining Initiative
Because a character’s Initiative doesn’t change, this step only needs to be performed at the
beginning of a particular combat, and only once unless there is a major shift in the tide of battle
(an additional party enters the combat zone, for example).
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 Whichever creature or creatures have the highest Initiative values get to take their actions
first, with the next highest Initiative moving second, and so on until the round is over. Ties in
Initiative should be determined by the tied creatures engaging in a Luck Contest.

Actions
Any action in combat requires the use of Combat Actions
Action Points (AP). The higher a Action Action Point Cost
creature’s Agility, the more Action Attack Varies, See Text
Points she has to spend each round. A Movement 1 AP per hex
creature’s turn is over when all AP have Use an Item 3 AP
been spent, or they declare that they are Equipping an Item 4 AP
Taking Items 4 AP
going to defend and forfeit the rest of
Reloading Weapons 2 AP
their AP (although not entirely, see Using Skills Varies, typically 2 AP per
Defending, below). The possibilities for second
Actions are: Healing a Comrade 10 AP
Getting Up 4 AP
Attacking: Attacking is probably the Setting Traps 6 AP
most common action taken during Changing Positions 2 AP
combat and is easily the most complex. Suppressive Fire All APs
See the “Attacking and Damage” section Defending Defending uses up the
remainder of the creature’s
below for more information on how to
AP
beat your opponents to hell. Ready an Action See Text
Movement: This includes moving closer to a target, moving behind a tree or other cover, or
bravely running away. It costs 1 AP to move 1 hex, which is roughly one yard across (this
becomes much more important later when determining weapon ranges). Creatures cannot
occupy the same hex as another living creature or large, inanimate objects. Any object larger
than a medium-sized shrubbery gets a hex all to itself. Dead bodies (no matter how large or
small) do not get their own personal space. They are dead and cannot object to you walking all
over them.

Battlefield terrain does have an impact Terrain Type AP Cost Modifier

on movement in battle, with more difficult Open or Flat Ground Normal
terrain requiring more AP to traverse. See the Rough or Wet Ground x2
table to the right for more information. Torn or Muddy Ground x3

Using an Item: If your character is holding an item in her hand she can use it in combat,
provided that its use takes less than 10 seconds (Overseer’s discretion). Stimpaks, chems, Geiger
counters, and a police whistle are all examples of items a creature can use in combat. Note that
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an item must be in hand to use it. Using an item costs 3 AP.

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Equipping Items: If you run out of ammunition for a gun and need to draw another, or if you
want to grab that stimpak out of your pocket, you are equipping an item. Equipping an item
takes 4 AP for each item equipped. Therefore, if you trade your hunting rifle for a .44 magnum
and want to grab that stimpak in the same round, it will cost 8 AP total. You can equip any item
that is on your person (your pockets and backpack count as “on your person.”)

Taking Items: You can take an item on the ground, in a container, or off the bodies of your
enemies. As with Equipping Items, this costs 4 AP per item, and your character must be
standing in the same hex as the item (or on an adjacent hex if the item is in an immobile
container). If you want to grab that Bozar and the ammo for it, it will cost 8 AP.

Reloading: Guns, energy weapons, and certain explosive

weapons all use up ammunition. When your firearm is empty,
partially empty, or jammed you can reload it by spending 2
AP. If you have enough ammunition, this will completely fill
the clip. If not, you can place as many bullets, energy cells, or
grenades as you have in the clip. It’s generally a good idea to
head into combat with fully loaded weapons, so you aren’t
prancing around trying to get those rounds in while the
baddies are shooting.

Note that a weapon can only be loaded with the kind of

ammunition it is supposed to use, and that two different ammunition types – AP and JHP for
example – cannot be combined in one clip. Furthermore, mortars, artillery pieces, and vehicle
weapons other than machine guns take one full round to reload, using all of a creature’s Action
Points for that turn.

Using Skills: Sometimes, it becomes necessary to use certain skills in combat (besides the
obvious combat-oriented skills). Although the battlefield isn’t always the best place to try and
pick locks or repair a broken computer, there are times when using your talents are necessary,
especially if it means you can escape those crazy Super Mutant commandos. Some skills, like
Medicine, take too long to use in combat (outside of the most basic applications).

The Overseer should determine if the task that a character wants to perform can be done
in combat (cracking a safe, for example, might be a little too time consuming). Once a character
decides on a Skill Test to attempt, the Overseer should calculate how many AP and how many
rounds (if necessary), the action will take. Typically the use of a Skill should cost 2 AP per
second required to complete the Skill.

Characters using skills gain no Armor Class bonuses from Agility or unused AP during
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the round(s) they are using to perform the Skill Test, so their Armor Class is limited to what they
are wearing when they are using their skills.
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Healing a Comrade: A character can use his Medicine Skill in combat to heal a fallen comrade
(or foe, if they are so inclined), but only if the target has been knocked unconscious (see Combat:
Damage and Death, below). This action requires that the character be in an adjacent hex to the
target, and takes 10 AP. If the action cannot be performed in one round, they can give up all of
their Armor Class benefits except for the armor they are wearing and complete it in the next
round.

When the action is complete, the healer makes a Medicine Skill Test. If the Test is a
success, the injured person restores 1 HP for each degree of success. The target does not get any
AP until the round after he/she/it was healed.

If the fallen comrade or enemy is a robot, a creature can use the Repair Skill to achieve
the same results.

Getting Up: If you have been knocked down during the previous combat round, or for some
reason are starting combat on the ground, it takes 4 AP to clamber to your feet. Characters who
are on the ground receive no Armor Class bonus either from unused AP or their Agility, making
their AC without armor equal to zero. Note that Getting Up is not the same as Changing
Positions, below.

Setting Traps: Devious parties can use mines and traps to their
advantage, having one or more members circle behind the enemy
while the rest of the party engages them in combat. The trap setters
then set up their cowardly weapons and clear out while the others
drive the enemy into the traps. It takes 6 AP and a successful roll
against Explosives or Survival to lay a trap, based on the type of trap
being set.

Changing Positions – Crouching & Prone: Crouching and prone are

great ways to improve your accuracy in combat, and to help you hide
behind available cover, making much less of your body visible and
available to an attacking enemy. They are also great ways to make
yourself a sitting duck, allowing people to hit you more easily.
Changing positions takes 2 AP, unless the character is going from Prone to Standing, in which
case it costs 4 AP, just like Getting Up (see above). Note, however, that going from prone
crouching to prone, prone to crouching, or crouching to standing takes only 2 AP, and is not the
same as getting up.

When Crouching, a creature gains a +10% bonus to their Energy Weapons, Explosives,
and Guns Skills when making an attack. Movement requires 2 AP per hex while crouching, and
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a creature’s Armor Class from Agility (Base AC) is reduced to 3 (characters with an Agility of
three or lower are not affected).
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 Prone creatures gain a +25% bonus to their Energy
Weapons, Explosives, and Guns Skills when making an attack.
Movement requires 4 AP per hex while prone, and the
creature’s Armor Class from Agility (Base AC) is reduced to 1.
Prone creatures cannot make unarmed or melee attacks unless
they are part of a grapple.

Note: Crouching and Going Prone have no effect on

attack rolls made with mounted weapons such as howitzers,
artillery pieces, and mounted machine guns. The Overseer can
ultimately use common sense to determine if it makes sense to give a crouching or prone bonus
for a specific weapon.

Suppressive Fire: There are times when it’s not in your best interest to actually hit your target,
but instead to unleash an unholy torrent of pipin’ hot lead and lasers to keep your enemies’ heads
down. This is better known as “covering fire” or “suppressive fire,” and has saved the lives of
many a wastelander. In order to use suppressing fire, a creature needs to possess a gun or energy
weapon.

First the creature denotes a particular area that he wants to lay down covering fire,
selecting a number of adjacent hexes equal to his Perception Attribute. The shape of the area
must also make sense and is ultimately up to the Overseer’s discretion. Then the creature then
determines how many rounds he wants to fire at that area and makes a Guns or Energy Weapon’s
Skill Test (rather than an attack roll). If the Test is a success, all creatures in the designated area
must succeed on a Nerve Test, reducing their Nerve Value by 1% for each round of ammunition
fired at the area.

A creature that succeeds on their Nerve Test may continue acting as normal, although any
ranged attacks they make for the remainder of the round suffer a -10% per degree of success the
shooter had on their Guns or Energy Weapons Skill Test. A creature that fails can only spend
their APs to Move or Defend for the remainder of the round.

Defending: Sometimes, discretion is the better part of valor. If a

creature has some (or all) AP left and doesn’t want to do anything
else, they can defend. The leftover AP are then added to the
creature’s Armor Class (1 AP adds 1 point to the creature’s Armor
Class).

Ready an Action: Sometimes it’s best to let your enemies make the
first move and react to that rather than go in full-cocked and guns
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blazing. It’s rare, granted, but it does happen. If a creature wants to

ready an action they spend the appropriate amount of Action Points
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for the action, declare the trigger, and then end their turn. All remaining AP are lost.

When the creature’s trigger is met (for example, a raider waiting for a caravan guard to
come within thirty feet -10 hexes- of him), the creature immediately performs the action he or
she had readied. A creature’s place in the combat’s initiative order is not changed by readying
an action.

Attacking and Damage

Occasionally even the most dedicated pacifist might wind up fighting for their life, and when
they do, they’ll need a system of rules and mechanics to help keep them alive (or help get them
killed if you’re going to be so negative about it). The backbone of this combat system is
attacking- doing unto other before they can do unto you. It was in the Bible, don’tcha know?

Attacks cost varying amounts of Action Points depending on what kind of attack it is, and
having varying ranges and targets. Unarmed and melee attacks, for example, can only target in
an adjacent hex (in some rare cases, a melee attack might have a 2-hex range). Ranged attacks,
such as those from a laser rifle or a throwing knife, may be made so long as the target is in range
and there is a clear or semi-clear line of sight. You cannot attack someone behind a wall or other
form of total cover. The Overseer (and common sense) ultimately determine what counts as
“total cover.” Attacks may only be announced if the character has enough AP to spend on the
action. Those AP are deducted immediately.

There are three kinds of attacks in Fallout:

Wastelands: Normal (Single) Attacks, Targeted Attacks, and
Burst Attacks. Some weapons, like assault rifles,
submachine guns, and combat shotguns can do all three.
Single-shot and melee weapons can only make a Normal
Attack or Targeted Attack. Other weapons, like the Flamer
and Missile Launcher are too bulky and unpredictable to
make Targeted Attacks. Still more weapons, like the Gatling
Laser and Minigun, can only fire in Burst mode. The options
for attack will be listed on the weapon’s description in the Armory.

Action Point Cost: Unlike most actions, which simply have an AP cost attached to them,
attacking has a variable AP cost based on the weapon a creature is using and the type of attack it
is (Normal, Targeted, Burst). All of these values can be found in the entry for the weapon itself
in Section 7: The Armory. Typically a Normal Attack will cost the least, followed by a Targeted
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Attack, and finally a Burst Attack.

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Burst Mode: In Fallout: Wastelands Burst mode is an interchangeable term that covers the three-
round burst and fully-automatic fire. A weapon’s Burst is assumed to be the number of shots a
weapon can fire in fully automatic mode in one round of combat; the minimum number of shots
in a burst is always three (a quick squeeze of the trigger to say howdy), and the maximum
number of shots in a burst is given in the weapon’s description. This number represents the
maximum number of shots an automatic weapon can fire per round, depending on its rate of fire
(ROF).

Some weapons, like miniguns, can burn through a lot more ammunition than assault
rifles. As a result, they can fire more shots in a round. Note that creatures with more Action
Points might be able to squeeze off just a little bit more (in other words, a second “burst”) than
characters lacking in that attribute. For information about rolling attacks in Burst mode, see
Burst mode and Cone of Fire below.

Determining and Rolling Attacks: Actually hitting your mark takes a bit of math (good thing it
was your favorite subject in school!). A formula for calculating your attacks will be presented at
the end to help simplify the process.

First, the target of an attack must be open and within range, and the attacker has to be
able to see them or at least know with a degree of certainty where the target is located. If the
target is out of an attack’s range, penalties will be deducted from the attacker’s Skill Value.
Thrown weapons, such as throwing knives, spears, and grenades, are based on Strength as well
as Perception- meaning they can potentially suffer penalties from both stats!

Base Chance: A creature’s base chance to hit with any sort of weapon or attack is equal to their
Skill Value in the appropriate weapon skill, as noted below:

 Energy Weapons: Laser rifles, plasma pistol, holorifles, flamethrowers, and the like.
 Explosives: Grenades, grenade launchers, missile and rocket launchers, and the like.
 Guns: Pistols, rifles, submachine guns, miniguns, and the like.
 Melee Weapons: Knives, sledgehammers, machetes, bumper swords, and the like.
 Unarmed: Fists, feet, brass knuckles, power fists, deathclaw gauntlets and the like.

Range Modifiers: The first modifier to an attack’s

accuracy is Range. Each weapon has its own base range
in hexes (yards). A creature adds an additional number
of hexes to the weapon’s range equal to his or her
Perception times two (2 x PER). For every hex beyond
this combined value that the target is from the attacker,
the attacker subtracts 5% from his or her weapon’s Skill Value.
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For throwing weapons, your additional range is determined by the lower of a creature’s
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Strength or Perception Stat. A creature with a Strength of 4 and a Perception of 6 would have a
throwing weapon range of 8. She can make out enemies beyond 8 hexes, but her arms can’t
generate enough force to propel weapons further than those 8 hexes.

If a ranged weapon attack is within point-blank range (a number of hexes equal to the
creature’s Perception), add 10% to the creature’s Skill Value to determine his chance to hit.
Also, when attempting a double shot with a shotgun or similar weapon, the weapon’s effective
range is reduced by 5 hexes. For more information, see Double Shot Weapons, below.

Vision Modifiers: The second modifier to an

Vision Modifiers
attack’s Skill Value is Vision, which can be Fair weather with a few clouds, a -0%
affected by lighting, objects, weather, or just about well-lit building
anything else the Overseer can think of. A handy Medium cloud cover, medium-lit -20%
table is provided below to help players and building, low rainfall or light
Overseers determine any penalties based on dust storm, bright light
Vision. Heavy clouds, poor indoor -40%
lighting, moderate rainfall or
Armor Class Modifier: The third modifier to an dust storm, light fog or smoke
attack’s Skill Value is Armor Class. Deduct the Heavy rainfall or dust storm, -60%
moderate fog or smoke, sudden
target’s AC from the attacker’s Skill Value. bright light
Severe weather (sandstorm, -80%
Cover Modifiers: The fourth modifier is cover. In
blizzard, hurricane, etc.), heavy
order to keep things simple, Fallout: Wastelands fog or smoke, radiation storm
has four types of cover: partial (25% penalty to Total darkness, blinding light -100%
attacks made against the target), half (50% penalty For Combat During the Night, Subtract
to attacks made against the target), three-quarters an Additional:
(75% penalty to attacks made against the target), Full moon, lots of artificial -10%
and full. A creature behind full cover cannot be lighting
Crescent or half moon, moderate -20%
targeted by most attacks, although attacks with
artificial lighting
grenades and similar “splash” weapons can still New or no moon, no artificial -40%
deal damage to creatures behind total cover. lighting
Melee weapon and unarmed attacks are not affected by cover, as there can’t be anything
between the attacker and his target in order for a melee attack to succeed at all.

Miscellaneous Modifiers: The fifth modifier is open for any bonuses or penalties the character
might receive for having a particularly well-made or poorly-crafted weapon, attachments and
modifications, Perks, chems, or any other bonuses or penalties the Overseer might deem
necessary and appropriate.

If a creature’s Strength and/or Skill Value are below the minimum required to properly
handle his weapon, said creature will have a harder time properly using the weapon in battle.
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For each point of Strength below the required Strength Stat, deduct 10% from their attack’s base
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chance to hit. For example, a creature with a Strength of 4 trying to wield a weapon that requires
a Strength of 6 to properly handle would deduct 20% from their attack’s base chance to hit.

For Skill Values, treat it as though the creature failed a Skill Test and deduct 10% from
their attack’s base chance to hit for each degree of failure. For example, a character with an
Unarmed Skill Value of 16% trying to hit an opponent with a weapon with a minimum Unarmed
Skill Value requirement of 50 would have three degrees of failure and therefore deduct 30%
from their attack’s base chance to hit.

Lastly, deduct 10% from the chance to hit for every 8 condition boxes checked off from
the weapon.

Targeted Shots: The sixth and final modifier is only for Targeted Shot Penalties
target shots, so these may not even apply in most Melee Attacks
instances. Shots may be targeted in one of four different Torso -0%
locations: torso (main body), head, arms, and legs. Legs -10%
Arms -20%
Targeted shots have an increased chance of Head -30%
dealing a Critical Hit to the area targeted, either crippling
in the case of limbs, causing blindness in the case of the
head, or causing extra damage. See Rolling for Criticals Targeted Shot Penalties
Ranged Attacks
below for more information on Critical Hits.
Torso -00%
Certain creatures lack humanoid anatomy, at Legs -20%
Arms -40%
which case the Overseer determines the various areas one
Head -60%
can target, such as a robot’s hover apparatus or a
radscorpion’s tail.

The Formula: Once all the modifiers are determined, follow the formula:

Base Chance % +/– Range Modifiers – Vision Modifiers – AC Modifiers – Cover Modifiers +/–
Targeted Shot Modifier

Cancelling or Rolling the Shot: At this time, if the chance to hit is less than 0%, the attacker has
the option of canceling the shot. The shot is just beyond the attacker’s skill and they have a one-
in-a-million chance (well, technically a one-in-one-hundred chance) of hitting their target
(remember, a roll of 1% is always a success). Should the attacker decide to cancel the shot, he
does not recover any of the AP they have spent lining up the attack, but neither does he lose
ammunition from firing random shots in the dark.

If the attacker decides to follow through with the shot (whether or not they think they can
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hit), now is the time to roll the dice.

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Firing Burst Weapons: Rolling an attack in Burst mode is a little different than rolling normal
attacks. Instead of rolling for every bullet, the Critical Failure Table
creature rounds off their Skill Value to the d10 Effect
nearest 10, rounding down before applying 1 Ammo Problems: The magazine was
further modifiers. The creature then rolls one damaged or the ammo was bad. The gun
doesn’t fire, and the rest of the magazine
attack per 3-round burst, rounding up (so must be discarded.
thirteen rounds would round up to five bursts 2 Weapon Jammed: Should have cleaned your
with the last bullet’s attack being rolled on its gun this morning! The weapon will take 1
own). Some weapons, like the minigun, can turn to unjam, costing the owner all of his
AP and the ammunition must be discarded.
only fire in burst mode and will therefore 3 Loss of AP: D’oh! The attacker loses all
always follow these rules. remaining Action Points for that round.
4 Dropped Weapon: Something slipped and
Lastly, a burst weapon cannot pick and the weapon flew out of your hands and hit
choose targets as freely as a standard single the ground. You immediately drop the
shot weapon. When firing in bursts, you can weapon and must spend AP to pick it back
up.
only move one hex to the left or right from 5 Weapon Explodes: Something nasty
your last target between bursts. For example, happened, causing the bullet, missile, or
if there are two super mutants charging side fusion cell to explode (or your machete,
by side and a third mutant six hexes away, the somehow). The creature wielding the
weapon and all creatures within 2 hexes
wastelander firing his minigun can only hit take 3d10 ballistic damage.
the mutants adjacent to one another with a 6 Hit Something Else: You didn’t hit what
single burst attack and will have to spend APs you were aiming at (so much for gun
on a second attack to hit the super mutant six control), but you hit the next closest
creature. If two creatures are equidistant to
hexes away, or waste ammunition filling the your target, the Overseer randomly selects
empty air between the super mutants with one as the new target.
lead. 7 Damage Self: You cut yourself your knife
or shot yourself in the foot. Half of the
Double-Shot Weapons: This particular type weapon’s normal damage is dealt to you
immediately. You klutz.
of weapon is usually found in the shotgun
8 Have an Accident: You slip and fall. All
family, although some crafty denizens of the remaining AP are gone and on the
wasteland have made other weapons that creature’s next round, it must stand back up.
involve firing ordinance out of one or more While down, a creature loses all AC from
AGL.
barrels at once. These weapons have two
9 Weapon Breaks: The weapon breaks
barrels, loaded (typically) with two shells, and beyond repair. Time for a new one, I guess.
two triggers that can be fired either 10 Anvil: A miniature anvil (or piano for you
simultaneously or independently. If a weapon artsy types) falls out the sky -seemingly at
random- and strikes the creature on the head
is discharged in a double-shot, only one attack for 1d10 points of ballistic damage that
roll needs to be made, as both shots are going ignores DR. It seems God has a sense of
to the same place. However, two damage rolls humor after all.
should be made. See Damage below.
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 When attempting to unload both barrels of a double-shot weapon, the sheer force exerted
by the blast will cause the weapon to become much more unwieldy. Making a double-shot
reduces the range of the weapon by 5 hexes.

After the Roll: Once the chance to hit is determined (see, that wasn’t so bad), the creature makes
an attack roll. Rolling the d100 is akin to pulling the trigger- if the creature snuck up on an
unsuspecting person, they had up until that point to stop and suffer no consequences. Once the
roll is made, however, there is no turning back.

If a creature makes an attack with a weapon and misses, that weapon loses one box on its
condition bar (or two, if the creature wielding it has the “Built to Destroy” Trait or possesses a
weapon that deteriorates faster than usual). If the box is the last box, then the weapon has either
jammed, busted, or fallen apart. For more information on how this affects combat, see “Weapon
Status Modifier” above.

It is possible to screw up an attack so badly, so poorly, just fuck up so much that

something bad happens to the attacker. This is called a Critical Failure and can be slightly
comedic, if not downright hilarious, in a rather dark way. The chance for a Critical Failure is
always 1%. If an attack rolls fails by rolling 1% on a d100, the Overseer rolls on the table to the
right.

The Overseer can, of course, make up his or her own list of Critical Failures. These are
simply options for an Overseer to choose from.

Knockdown with Melee Weapons and Burst

Attacks: Getting hit with melee attacks (both
Melee Weapons and Unarmed attacks) and a
barrage of bullets from a machine gun not only
hurts, but it also has the chance to knock the
target flat on his or her ass. Whenever a creature
is hit by a melee attack or a burst weapon, the
target must succeed on a Nerve Test, subtracting
the damage from the melee attack or the highest
amount of damage suffered from the burst attack
(so if a creature takes 10, 15, and then 20 damage from a burst, she subtracts 20 from her Nerve
Value).

If a creature fails on their Nerve Test, they fall prone and must spend the usual 4 AP to
get up (see Getting Up, above). In addition, the creature does not receive any Armor Class from
their Agility – their AC drops to the value of their armor and nothing more.
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Missing: Sometimes you hit what you’re shooting at, and sometimes you miss. Normally a miss
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is just a miss, but sometimes in the heat of combat a missed bullet or swing of a sledgehammer
can hit someone or something besides your initial target- be it friend or foe. Whenever you miss
with an attack, the attack goes wide by a number of hexes equal to your degrees of failure. The
direction can be randomly determined by the roll of a die or by the Overseer. Please note that a
missed melee weapon or unarmed attack can only hit a creature in a square adjacent to both the
attacker and the target.

If the new hex is occupied by an object or creature, the attacker rolls their damage against
that object or creature as though they had been the initial target. Sometimes accidents happen,
friend.

Explosive Weapons: Explosive weapons are perhaps the most

unique of all weapon types when it comes to combat, as you
don’t really “attack” with them in the traditional sense. In fact,
using an explosive weapon is closer to engaging in a Skill
Contest than a traditional attack. What does that mean? Well
we’ll explain!

Since explosive weapons have a splash radius that

affects a large area, landing a precise shot isn’t as important as
hitting a general area. It’s like playing horseshoes, but with
hand grenades. So rather than making an attack roll, the user of
the explosive weapon designates a hex as her target and makes
an Explosives Skill Test. If she succeeds, the “attack” is
considered a success, the attacking creature records her Degrees of Success, and the explosive
lands in the targeted hex.

Next, all creatures (friends, foes, and neutral parties all) caught within the blast radius
must attempt Athletics Skill Tests to avoid the brunt of the blast. Those who achieve more
Degrees of Success than the attacker only take half damage from the attack, while those who
achieve fewer or no Degrees of Success take full damage from the attack (see “Damage” below
for more information).

But what if the wielder of the Explosive weapon completely botches their Skill Test?
You might ask. Well, in such a case, the attack is still considered a success as far as throwing or
launching the ordinance goes, however, the center of the blast is moved one hex closer to the
attacker for each Degree of Failure. For example, if a wastelander fires a grenade launcher and
targets a square 6 hexes away from her, but has three Degrees of Failure, the Overseer places the
center of the blast 3 hexes away from the attacker.

All creatures within the new blast radius attempt their Athletics Skill Tests normally, and
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only those with more Degrees of Failure than the attacker take full damage. If the attacker is
caught within her own blast, she immediately fails her Athletics Test and takes full damage from
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the attack. For more information on Explosive weapons, see the Explosives entries in “Section
7: The Armory.”

Damage: The very best part of combat is when you

get to roll all of those dice to turn your enemies into
a fine rest mist. Each weapon has a certain amount
of damage that is does, usually expressed like
2d12+8 or a similar formula. Ammunition types
can modify damage for a weapon, usually providing
a static numeric bonus.

Remember that some weapons can make a

double shot, requiring the damage dice to be rolled
twice for one successful hit. Damage is the one part
of Fallout: Wastelands where dice other than the
ten-sided dice are used.

However, just because something got hit doesn’t mean that it will take the maximum
amount of damage. Armor, assuming the target is wearing it, will (what else?) reduce some of
the damage. Damage from an attack cannot be reduced below 0, and if Damage Resistance
would reduce an attack’s damage below 0, the attack deals 0 damage instead.

The attacker rolls the damage necessary (and in the case of burst weapons, rolls damage
once and multiplies the damage on the dice by the number of rounds fired from the weapon), and
then reduces from that total the target’s Damage Resistance. For example, if a super mutant
opens fire on a raider with a minigun, pouring fifty rounds of hot lead into his enemy’s body, he
rolls the weapon’s damage dice once, then multiplies by 50.

If a creature wielding a burst weapon targets multiple creatures during one burst, he rolls
the damage dice once per target, multiplying each damage roll by the number of rounds he’s
firing at that target. So if that same super mutant fires 50 rounds at a gang of five raiders and
puts 10 bullets into each raider, he would roll for weapon damage five times, multiplying each
roll by 10.

Damage Types: There are several types of weapons in Fallout: Wastelands and not all of them
deal the same type of damage. In an effort to keep things fairly simplified, we’ve categorized all
weapon damage into one of four types of damage.

 Ballistic: Ballistic damage is the most common type of damage encountered in the
wasteland. Bullets, melee weapons, explosives, unarmed attacks, most wild animal
attacks, and even many natural hazards (such as rockslides) all deal ballistic damage.
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Most types of armor provide some form of protection ballistic damage.

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  Energy: Energy weapons (of course) deal energy damage, as do flamethrowers, stun
weapons, and just about any weapon that uses cells rather than bullets deals energy
damage. Fires, natural or less so, deal energy damage.
 Poison: Poison damage is dealt not only by sources such as poisonous gas and chemical
exposure, but animal venom and even acid (we know it’s not technically not poison). Of
all of the types of damage, poison is the least common, although it’s not unheard of.
 Radiation: Radiation damage comes mostly from environmental hazards, although some
weapons deal radiation damage. Whenever a creature is hit by a weapon that deals
radiation damage, it reduces the damage by its Rad Resistance.

Chance for Critical Hits: Every successful Critical Hit Bonuses Based on Body Parts
attack means that the attacker has a chance to Target Critical Chance Bonus
score a Critical Hit. If the roll on the d100 is Arms +10%
less than or equal to the attacker’s Luck Stat, Legs +20%
the attack becomes a Critical Hit. Note that if Head +30%
a gun firing in burst mode hits a target more than once, only one of those bullets per three-round
burst is allowed a Critical Hit. Since each burst is rolled separately, a creature can score multiple
Critical Hits in a burst attack.

Targeting specific body

Crippled Limbs
parts increases the chance to
Arms Arm cannot be used for fighting or using items.
score a Critical Hit, as see on -50% on all attacks made with two handed
the table above. For example, if weapons.
an NCR sniper with a Luck of 6 Legs Double AP costs of movement per crippled leg
lines up a head shot against a (x2 for one, x4 if both legs are crippled).
chemmed out raider, his Critical Head Tripled Critical Hit damage, reduce target’s
Hit chance increases from 6% to Perception by 5 (minimum 1 Perception).
Torso Target suffers -50% on all Nerve Tests until
36%. The sniper rolls a 26 on healed with a successful Medicine Test.
his d100, causing the attack to
become a Critical Hit.

A Critical Hit deals double damage (triple for headshots) and cripples whichever part of
the body it targeted (if the attack targeted a specific part of the body). For a burst weapon attack,
a creature only doubles one of the bullets rather than the entire burst, effectively increasing the
overall multiplier by 1 per burst. For example, a 9-round burst of ammunition would multiply the
weapon damage by 10 instead of 9.

The effects of a crippled body part vary from part to part. The table to the right details
the effects of Critical Hits against certain body parts. If an attack doesn’t target a particular body
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part, the Critical Hit simply deals double damage and the target must succeed on a Nerve Test to
remain standing up.
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Applying Damage: Fallout: Wastelands is a turn-
based role-playing game, but all actions occurring
during combat happen nearly simultaneously, with
creatures possessing higher initiatives acting slightly
faster than those with lower initiatives. In order to
simulate this, we’ve taken an approach often used in
tactical war games- damage isn’t applied to a creature
until the end of the round.

If you deal what you believe to be enough

damage to drop an opponent, you can select other
targets for the rest of your attacks during the turn. If you’re not sure, you may want to consider
firing off another laser or giving that crowbar one more swing. At the same time, if you are hit
with enough damage to drop your character to the dirt, you still have until the end of the round to
soak up more damage and possibly make an attack of your own if you haven’t gone yet.

For example, if a mercenary crew is in a shootout with a gang of raiders and one of the
mercenaries suffers enough damage to reduce her Hit Points to 0 and knock her unconscious, she
doesn’t fall unconscious (or die) until the end of the round. If a creature would be reduced to
zero Hit Points before it is there turn during a round, they continue taking their turn as normal.

In many cases this allows a creature to get a parting shot off before either falling over or
outright kicking the bucket. At the same time, however, it does force the creatures involved in
the fight to consider their actions carefully. Do you put that last bullet in the raider’s brain to
make sure? Or do you save yourself the ammunition and put it into his friend?

Continuing and Ending Combat: As stated previously, combat ends when all opponents are
either incapacitated, dead, or have run away with their tails tucked between their legs. The
process of a combat round is repeated until only one side remains fighting. Afterwards,
experience points are awarded to the victorious party (usually the players) and the living
creatures may take whatever they want from the bodies of their opponents. To the victor go the
spoils and all that.

Vehicle Combat
Vehicle combat (while rare) occurs much in the same way that regular combat occurs. Each
individual character determines their Initiative as usual. Keep in mind that working vehicles are
rare in the Fallout universe, and as such vehicle combat is not likely to happen all that often
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unless the Overseer has designed a campaign revolving around vehicles- be they motorcycles,
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tanks, or vertibirds.
[To be expanded upon at a later date.]

After Combat
[To be expanded upon at a later date.]

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Section Seven: The Armory (Tools of the Trade)
Alright, so you’ve read (or skimmed, or skipped) all
of the rules, you’ve picked your Perks, your Tag
Skills, and have a general idea as to what you want
to do with your character. So, what’s next?
Weapons and armor of course! Without those
you’d have a hell of a time trying to grind your
enemies into a red paste (although if you’re good
enough with your fists you might not need
weapons).

The Cap value of each weapon and suit of

armor is given for ease of trading purposes, along
with all of the appropriate information for weapons,
ammunition, and armor.

Weapons
The weapons are divided and organized based on the Skill they use, starting with Energy
Weapons and moving on alphabetically from there. Each category of weapon will have a short
description of what that particular “school” of weapon does, its history, and the primary types of
ammunition and damage one should expect from those weapons.

At the end of each weapon entry will be a table with the weapon’s stats and information
including its minimum Strength and Skill Value requirements (Min. STR, Min Skill), the
weapon’s Weight (Wgt), its damage when using standard and specialized ammunitions (Dmg),
the weapon’s Range (Rng), and the Action Point costs for Normal, Targeted, and Burst attacks.
Note that not all weapons will have all of these pieces of information in their stat blocks.

For as many weapons and suits of armor as possible we’ve provided images to help both
the players and the Overseers get a sense for what they’re handling.

Weapon Condition
Weapons are not indestructible and require regular maintenance and repair in order to continue
functioning properly. Each weapon has 10 condition boxes, and a box is checked off for every
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five attacks a creature makes with the weapon, or each time the weapon’s owner does something
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incredibly stupid, like using a rifle as a crowbar or dropping a super sledge off a cliff.
 When boxes are checked off it represents normal wear and tear on a weapon, but when
the last box is checked off the weapon is broken or jammed and must be repaired or thrown
away. If 6 or more boxes are checked off, the user suffers a -10% penalty to any attack rolls
made with the weapon.

Energy Weapons
Ahh! Who doesn’t love the smell of ozone in the morning? I know I do!

Energy weapons were developed in the early 21st century and were deployed by almost
every major governmental body during the years leading up to the Great War. Pistols do not
require two hands to use, although all other energy weapons do. There are two main types of
energy weapons: laser and plasma, although other weapons (such as the Flamer) fall under this
category as well. Energy Weapons use the Energy Weapons Skill to determine a creature’s
proficiency and accuracy.

Lasers are highly concentrated beams of

light that melt through pretty much everything and
leave behind that sweet tange of ozone. Plasma,
on the other hand, is completely different, using
superheated, ionized gas that pretty much melts
through everything and turning it into a gloopy,
glowing goo. Flamers and their ilk simply burn
everything to ash, leaving behind a veritable
scorched earth.

The Standard Ammunition (Std.) of energy

weapons are energy cells for pistols, microfusion
cells for heavier weapons like rifles and the tesla
cannon, and flamer fuel for Flamers and
Incinerators. There are two specialized ammunition types for energy weapons: Optimized Cells
(Opt.) and Overcharged Cells (O/C). Flamer fuel is a standardized ammunition type only.

Optimized Cells have a lower base damage rating, but all attacks made with optimized
cells have a +10% bonus to their Critical Hit chance. They may not possess the same amount of
stopping power overall, but when they hit in just the right spot, a laser, pulse, or burst of plasma
powered by an optimized cell will tear right through the target.
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Overcharged Cells swap efficiency for power. They possess a higher damage rating,
allowing them to bypass more Damage Resistance. However, whenever an attack made with an
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overcharged cell misses, the weapon loses two condition ratings rather than one.
Energy Pistols: The simplest, and arguably the weakest, of the energy weapons. However,
energy pistols (much like ballistic pistols) are good for concealing and scaring folks who haven’t
dealt with energy weapons before. They also tend to use Energy Cells, which are much more
common than the microfusion cells required by large energy weapons.

AEP7 Laser Pistol: The AEP7 laser pistol was put into
service to replace the AEP5 and boasts a generous battery
size, tight shot grouping at range, resilience to extended use,
and a decent damage output for its size, making it an
excellent choice for a sidearm. After the Great War, the
AEP7 became a very popular energy weapon thanks to the
high number of surviving models and its overall durability.
The AEP7 is the favorite sidearm amongst members of the
Brotherhood of Steel all across the wasteland. The AEP7 holds 10 charges and uses Energy
Cells to recharge. Value: 1200 Caps

Min. STR: 1 Min. Skill: 0 Wgt: 3 lbs. Std. Dmg: 2d8+5 Opt. Dmg: 2d4+4
O/C Dmg: 2d10+6 Rng: 25 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Targeted: 6 AP Burst: N/A

Firelance “Alien Blaster”: Some people claim that this

weapon came from little gray men floating around in ships up
in the air. Frankly, that’s ridiculous. It’s probably some
prototype blaster made by the Enclave or that whacko faction
of the Brotherhood of Steel in the midwest. Or those crazies
in Big MT. Whoever made it and wherever it came from
aside, the Firelance is a pretty sweet piece that packs quite a
punch. It took some doing, but some folks have managed to
get it to run on Microfusion Cells. The Firelance holds 10 charges and, oddly, uses Microfusion
Cells to recharge. Value: 10000 Caps

Min. STR: 1 Min. Skill: 75 Wgt: 2 lbs. Std. Dmg: Opt. Dmg: 8d6+11
8d10+15
O/C Dmg: Rng: 10 hexes AP Normal: 4 AP Targeted: 5 AP Burst: N/A
8d12+19
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MPLX Novasurge Plasma Pistol: Better known as the
“plasma pistol,” the MPLX was a pre-War attempt to
create a weapon both more powerful and more reliable
than the AEP7 (it succeeded in one category). The
weapon design utilizes an electromagnetic propeller to
push a bolt of plasma through the barrel and sending it
flying at its target. Unfortunately, the MPLX’s plasma
bolt is rather slow moving compared to the AEP7’s lasers and the Plasma Defender’s own bolts.
The MPLX holds 12 charges and uses Small Energy Cells to recharge. Value: 1400 Caps

Min. STR: 2 Min. Skill: 25 Wgt: 3 lbs. Std. Dmg: 2d12+5 Opt. Dmg: 2d8+4
O/C Dmg: 3d10+6 Rng: 20 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Targeted: 6 AP Burst: N/A

Plasma Defender: The official name for the Plasma

Defender is the Glock 86 Plasma Pistol. This little
beauty was designed before the Great War by the
Gaston Glock AI in an attempt to create the “perfect
sidearm.” An all-around upgrade of the MPXL, the
Defender shoots a small bolt of superheated plasma
capable of tearing through most materials and is
powered by easy to find and carry energy cells. The
slowness of the MPLX’s plasma bolts is a non-issue for the Plasma Defender, which projects its
plasma at a speed comparable to the AEP7’s lasers. The Plasma Defender holds 16 charges and
uses Energy Cells to recharge. Value: 2750 Caps

Min. STR: 2 Min. Skill: 50 Wgt: 3 lbs. Std. Dmg: 3d10+5 Opt. Dmg: 3d6+4
O/C Dmg: 3d12+6 Rng: 35 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Targeted: 6 AP Burst: N/A

Solar Scorcher: The Solar Scorcher is not named

because it can actually damage the sun (that’d be crazy
though, right? Someone should fund that!), but because
it harnesses the incandescent power of sunlight rather
than the boring old energy of energy cells. While the
battery needs to be replaced every century or so, you
probably won’t have to worry about that, which basically
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means you’ll have unlimited ammunition for the rest of

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your life! While in direct sunlight, the solar scorcher

recharges in about 30 seconds. In overcast weather it takes closer to a minute, and if there is no
sunlight to be had it won’t recharge, making nighttime activities a little more difficult with this
particular weapon. The Solar Scorcher holds 6 charges and recharges with the power of the sun!
Value: 2000 Caps

Min. STR: 1 Min. Skill: 50 Wgt: 15 lbs. Std. Dmg: Opt. Dmg: N/A
6d10+10
O/C Dmg: N/A Rng: 20 hexes AP Normal: 4 AP Targeted: 5 AP Burst: N/A

YK32 Pulse Pistol: A weapon that fires high energy

pulses of light and sound at an opponent, causing them to
start destabilizing at a molecular level. Fun and
educational for kids and grownups alike! It looks a little
like a Captain Cosmos gun. This weapon is designed to
incapacitate robots and power armor in particular, and
while it can deal damage to organic creatures, it is extra effective against machines. It’s single
shot only. The YK32 Pulse Pistol holds 10 charges and uses Energy Cells to recharge. Against
robots and creatures wearing power armor, the YK32 Pulse Pistol deals an additional 2d12
Energy Damage. Value: 12500 Caps

Min. STR: 2 Min. Skill: 75 Wgt: 2 lbs. Std. Dmg: 3d12+8 Opt. Dmg: 3d8+6
O/C Dmg: Rng: 15 hexes AP Normal: 4 AP Targeted: 5 AP Burst: N/A
3d10+10

Energy Rifles: Energy rifles were the weapons of the pre-War world’s elite military forces and
rolled out onto the battlefield shortly before power armor. In the wasteland today they are
considered to be the backbone of any self-respecting energy weapon-based armory and any
wastelander, super mutant, ghoul, or robot that finds themselves a working energy rifle will find
themselves to be a formidable member of the wasteland community. Most energy rifles use
microfusion cells to recharge, unless otherwise stated.

AER9 Laser Rifle: The AER9 wasn’t

actually the top-of-the-line laser rifle in
service at the time of the Great War. The
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weapon to hold that distinct honor was the

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AER12, which saw service in a handful of

speciality units. However, almost every AER12 was destroyed during the war while the AER9
survived thanks to its superior durability. The AER9 holds 20 charges and uses Microfusion
Cells to recharge. Value: 3500 Caps

Min. STR: 3 Min. Skill: 25 Wgt: 8 lbs. Std. Dmg: 3d10+8 Opt. Dmg: 3d6+6
O/C Dmg: Rng: 25 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Targeted: 6 AP Burst: N/A
3d12+10

AER12 Laser Rifle: The state-of-the-art, best-

of-the-best, and all-around-greatest laser rifle
ever built on God’s green earth, the AER12
Laser Rifle outshines the AER9 in nearly every
way, shape, and form (except that whole
durability detail we mentioned earlier). The best part? It shoots green lasers! GREEN! Just
make sure that you take excellent care of one of these badboys if you happen to find one, as they
have a tendency to break down rather quickly compared to many other energy weapons. The
AER12 Laser Rifle holds 20 charges and uses Microfusion Cells to recharge. Value: 5000 Caps

Min. STR: 3 Min. Skill: 50 Wgt: 9 lbs. Std. Dmg: Opt. Dmg: 3d8+8
3d12+12
O/C Dmg: Rng: 35 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Targeted: 6 AP Burst: N/A
4d10+16

Holorifle: This homemade weapon has

origins somewhere around the Mojave
Wasteland and is rumored to have been
built by a Brotherhood of Steel Scribe
utilizing Old World technologies. A
few more have popped up in the wasteland, but for the most part it’s been limited to the West
Coast. The holorifle is a pump-action energy weapon, making it unique among all energy
weapons in that regard. The emission of the holorifle is a concentrated photon-energy based
projectile that is similar to, but not the same as, a laser. The main difference is the energy lingers
after the initial shot, dealing an additional 15 points of energy damage on the target’s next turn.
The Holorifle holds 5 charges and uses Microfusion Cells to recharge. Value: 6000 Caps

Min. STR: 4 Min. Skill: 50 Wgt: 8 lbs. Std. Dmg: 4d8+9 Opt. Dmg: 4d4+7
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O/C Dmg: Rng: 25 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Targeted: 6 AP Burst: N/A

4d10+11
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Laser RCW: The Laser Rapid Capictor
Weapon –better known as the Laser RCW-
is a laser assault rifle that sports a rotating
drum containing six capacitors centered
around an electron charge pack. The
capacitors in the drum are rotated as they fire in succession, producing a single continuous laser
beam. While each capacitor is firing, the ECP is used to recharge the previously discharged
capacitor. This capacitor rotation allows the Laser RCW to operate like a multi-barreled ballistic
weapon and avoids the rate-of-fire limitations that most energy weapons suffer from. The Laser
RCW holds 60 charges and uses Microfusion Cells to recharge. Value: 4500 Caps

Min. STR: 4 Min. Skill: 50 Wgt: 4 Std. Dmg: 2d6+4 HP Dmg: 1d6+2
ArP. Dmg: Rng: 32 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Targeted: 6 AP Burst: 6
2d8+5

M72 Gauss Rifle: The final

product of endless research in
railgun technology, the M72
Gauss Rifle comes from the
laboratories of old Germany. It
uses an electromagnetic field to
propel rounds at a tremendous speed and is the unique in that it’s the only energy weapon that
doesn’t require the use of Microfusion Cells, Energy Cells, or Flamer Fuel. A shot can go
through just about any material, including flesh. Stone, concrete, rock, and thick metal are just
about the only things that can stop a shot from this gun. There is a telltale spiral trail of ionized
particles visible for a couple seconds after this gun is fired. Single shot only. The M72 holds 12
shots and uses the rare 2mm Electromagnetic Cartridge as ammunition. Value: 8250 Caps

Min. STR: 5 Min. Skill: 75 Wgt: 7 lbs. Std. Dmg: Opt. Dmg: 4d6+12
4d10+16
O/C Dmg: Rng: 50 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Targeted: 6 AP Burst: N/A
4d12+20

V.35 Quantum Multiplas Rifle: An upgraded

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version of the standard plasma rifle, the

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multiplas rifle was designed with urban combat

in mind. Unlike most personal energy weapons, the multiplas weapon is actually capable of
firing a burst of plasma, making it quite valuable in firefights. However, in order to do this the
weapons draws more energy from the microfusion cell that powers it, resulting in shorter battery
life. The multiplas rifle can be fired in single shot mode or in 3-round bursts. The multiplas rifle
holds 12 charges and uses Microfusion Cells to recharge. Value: 10000 Caps

Min. STR: 4 Min. Skill: 50 Wgt: 9 lbs. Std. Dmg: Opt. Dmg: 4d8+11
4d12+15
O/C Dmg: Rng: 35 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Targeted: 6 AP Burst: 6
5d10+19

V.34 Quantum Plasma Rifle: An industrial-

grade energy weapon manufactured by
Winchester Arms, the plasma rifle performed
admirably before the war, although it was
expensive to manufacture and required some
specialized training to use. It fires superheated
bolts of plasma down a superconducting barrel
that accelerates the plasma, allowing it to hit the target with some actual stopping power unlike
the weightless laser of the AER9 and AER12. The plasma rifle holds 15 charges and uses
Microfusion Cells to recharge. Value: 4000 Caps

Min. STR: 3 Min. Skill: 25 Wgt: 8 lbs. Std. Dmg: Opt. Dmg: 3d8+10
3d12+13
O/C Dmg: Rng: 25 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Targeted: 6 AP Burst: N/A
4d10+16

YK42B Pulse Rifle: This little number was

developed by the Yuma Flats Energy
Consortium and is designed to use an
electrical pulse to destabilize its targets on
the molecular level, especially if those
targets are dirty robots! It is considered an all-around superior weapon to the pulse pistol, but its
higher power output is offset by its increased size and weight. What more could you ask from a
weapon? The pulse rifle is single shot only and holds 15 charges. The YK42B uses Microfusion
Cells to recharge. Against robots and creatures wearing power armor, the YK42B Pulse Rifle
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deals an additional 2d12 Energy Damage Value: 17500 Caps

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Min. STR: 3 Min. Skill: 25 Wgt: 8 lbs. Std. Dmg: Opt. Dmg: 4d8+10
4d12+14
O/C Dmg: Rng: 30 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Targeted: 6 AP Burst: N/A
6d10+18

Tri-Beam Laser Emitter: The Tri-Beam

Laser Emitter looks like someone took an
AER9 and cut the end off, although anyone
with half a brain for energy weapons knows
that doing that would only result in a rather
impressive discharge of energy. The tri-beam
laser emitter sports a unique emitter aperture
and attached wires, allowing it to fire two lasers at once. The tri-beam emitter can fire one or
both lasers at once, and unlike ballistic shotguns, choosing the double-shot action doesn’t reduce
the weapon’s effective range due to a lack of kickback. The tri-beam laser emitter holds 10
charges and uses Microfusion Cells to recharge. Value: 4500 Caps

Min. STR: 4 Min. Skill: 75 Wgt: 9 lbs. Std. Dmg: Opt. Dmg: 2d6+8
2d10+10
O/C Dmg: Rng: 35 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Targeted: 6 AP Burst: N/A
2d12+13

Heavy Energy Weapons: While there aren’t many of them, heavy energy weapons are some of
the most powerful and potent arms that a wastelander can get her hands on. All heavy energy
weapons require two hands to use and most of them require some proper training before they are
ready to be used.

Flamer: The M9E1-7 “Flamer”

Flamethrower is your basic flamethrower. A
nozzle with a gun-like trigger is attached to a
hose, which in turn is attached to a special
backpack containing fuel. Useful for taking
out large groups of people. Unlike most
energy weapons, the Flamer uses flamer fuel
rather than energy cells or microfusion cells.
The Flamer fires a jet of jellied petroleum
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(or similar flammable substance) in a 10-

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shot “burst.” A Flamer’s tank holds 50

charges of Flamer Fuel, the same substance that refills it. Value: 4500 Caps

Min. STR: 7 Min. Skill: 50 Wgt: 15 lbs. Std. Dmg: Opt. Dmg: N/A
6d10+20
O/C Dmg: N/A Rng: 15 hexes AP Normal: N/A AP Targeted: N/A AP Burst: 6

Gatling Laser: The H&K L30 Gatling

Laser was thought to be the only energy
weapon capable of firing in burst mode
and for years it was true. Then a cache of
plasma weapons that could match the L30
were discovered and quickly spread
throughout the wastelands. Designed
specifically for military use, these were in the prototype stage at the beginning of the Great War.
Multiple barrels allow longer firing before overheating. The Gatling Laser only fires a 10-shot
burst. The L30 holds 30 charges, and uses Microfusion Cells to recharge. Value: 7500 Caps

Min. STR: 8 Min. Skill: 75 Wgt: 18 lbs. Std. Dmg: Opt. Dmg: 3d6+8
3d10+10
O/C Dmg: Rng: 40 hexes AP Normal: N/A AP Targeted: N/A AP Burst: 6
3d12+13

Incinerator: The Flambe 450

Flamethrower –more commonly called
the “Incinerator”- was designed as a
squad support weapon and was
employed during the Great War to take
out nests of machineguns and to torch
civilian villages as a form of terrorism (we never said it was a nice weapon). It’s comparative
light weight and increased weapon range make it a formidable weapon in the right hands. Like
the flamer, the Incinerator uses flamer fuel rather than energy cells or microfusion cells. Unlike
the Flamer, the Incinerator launches globs of flamer fuel in a firey orb rather than a jet of jellied
petroleum. The Incinerator is a single shot only weapon. The Incinerator tank holds 15 charges
of Flamer Fuel, the same substance that refills it. Value: 2000 Caps

Min. STR: 6 Min. Skill: 25 Wgt: 12 lbs. Std. Dmg: 6d8+15 Opt. Dmg: N/A
O/C Dmg: N/A Rng: 25 hexes AP Normal: 6 AP Targeted: N/A AP Burst: N/A
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P94 Plasma Caster: The plasma
caster is to the plasma rifle what the
Gatling laser is to the laser rifle. It
is a powerful energy weapon that
outclasses its smaller cousins in both
firepower and rate of fire at the cost
of being as big as a whale and twice as hungry. Due to the sheer power of the plasma caster,
anyone with less than damn near mastery over all things energy weapons (and the strength of a
mule) is unlikely to be able to use this weapon properly, or at all. The plasma caster only fires in
10-shot bursts. It holds 30 charges and uses a microfusion cell to recharge. Value: 10000 Caps.

Min. STR: 8 Min. Skill: 75 Wgt: 20 lbs. Std. Dmg: Opt. Dmg: 6d6+8
6d10+10
O/C Dmg: Rng: 30 hexes AP Normal: N/A AP Targeted: N/A AP Burst: 6
6d12+12

Tesla Cannon: The Tesla

cannon is an incredibly rare, pre-
War, portable directable energy
weapon. It was designed to be a
lightweight, compact anti-tank
weapon. The design was named
for Nikola Tesla, whose designs
for the technology were seized by the U.S. government after his death. When used, the cannon
projects a blast that will damage the enemy on impact. Single shot only, and the bulk of the
Tesla cannon prevents it from being able to perform targeted shots. Whenever the Tesla Cannon
hits its target, some extra energy lingers, dealing an additional 3d8 points of energy damage on
the target’s next turn. The Tesla cannon holds 5 charges and uses Microfusion Cells to recharge.
Value: 14000 Caps

Min. STR: 8 Min. Skill: 75 Wgt: 8 lbs. Std. Dmg: Opt. Dmg: 6d8+15
6d12+20
O/C Dmg: Rng: 30 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Targeted: N/A AP Burst: N/A
8d10+25
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Explosives
Sometimes you’ve got to kill a lot of super mutants and
you don’t want to waste a lot of bullets. Sometimes
you want to make a really dramatic entrance and laser
weapons won’t cut it. Desperate times call for
desperate measures, and desperate measures call for
explosions! And who doesn’t love a kick-ass explosion
in the morning?

Explosives have been around for centuries and

have always served the same purpose: make a lot of
noise, cause a lot of damage, and disorient the enemies
that aren’t immediately killed. Explosive weapons are
rarely used alone and tend to be the opening or closing
“statement” in any given battle.

If not handled properly, explosives can be quite dangerous, not only for the user, but
anyone remotely close to them. That being said, it best to exercise the utmost caution when
handling explosives- whether its dyanmite, a fragmentation mine, or a Fatman Launcher.

There are three categories of Explosives:

Launchers, Mines, and Thrown. Unlike other types
of weapons, Explosives cannot be used to make a
targeted attack, as while one could argue that you
could aim a grenade at someone’s head, the resulting
explosion would still envelope their entire body.
Instead, each explosive has a blast radius (Blast),
which is the explosive’s affected area. This is the
radius, originating from the targeted creature or hex.

The figure on the right shows what hexes are

effected depending on the blast radius of the
weapon. Most explosive weapons have a blast
radius of one or two, although a few have a blast
radius of three.

Objects that provide cover can affect an explosive’s blast radius, possibly reducing or
even stopping the blast. Quarter cover or less does nothing to slow or prevent an explosion, but
half cover reduces the blast by one radius, and full cover stops a blast completely. Note that
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cover only affects an explosion in the hexes the cover itself exists in and potentially hexes behind
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or in front of the cover.

Launchers: Launchers are weapons designed to fire an explosive a greater distance father than a
human, ghoul, super mutant, or robot can throw. They sling small explosive rounds at a target
and tend to look similar to rifles or shotguns. All explosive launchers require two hands to use
and deal Ballistic Damage.

M42 Fat Man: The M42 Fat

Man is a pre-War heavy
weapon designed to turn a
single soldier into a walking,
talking artillery piece. It is a
shoulder-mounted catapult
that is deadly, precise, and
weighs about as much as a baby brahmin. It launches a minature nuclear warhead (“Mini Nuke”
for short) over one hundred and fifty yards to deliver a devastating nuclear explosion. They are
incredibly rare in the post-Great War world and any individual or organization that manages to
get their hands on one (and a handful of Mini Nukes) has the keys to their very own kingdom.
The radioactivity of the Fat Man’s blast releases 5 rads each second (50 rads each round) for a
good ten minutes. Single shot only, the M42 Fat Man holds one Mini Nuke. Value: 50000 Caps

Min. STR: 8 Min. Skill: 75 Wgt: 30 lbs. Dmg: 10d10+20

Rng: 40 hexes Blast: 3 hexes AP Normal: 8 AP Burst: N/A

Grenade Launcher: The grenade

launcher is a pump-action operated
weapon that fires 40mm grenades from a
tubular magazine. It is a superior
version of the grenade rifle, boasting a
longer range and delivering more deadly
ordinance. However, it has the minor drawback of weighing twice as much as its smaller cousin.
The grenade launcher is found most commonly in the hands and armories of high-profile and
well-funded mercenary companies as well as in the NCR’s military. Some say this baby was
based on an old Chinese design, but the Great War is over now, so who the hell cares? Single
shot only, the grenade launcher holds four 40mm grenades. Value: 3000 Caps
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Min. STR: 5 Min. Skill: 50 Wgt: 12 lbs. Dmg: 4d12+8

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Rng: 20 hexes Blast: 1 hex AP Normal: 5 AP Burst: N/A

Grenade Machinegun: Why anyone felt the
need to develop this weapon is beyond me.
That being said, why anyone feels the need to
use any other weapon is equally beyond me.
It’s a machinegun… THAT LAUNCHES
GRENADES! Developed by the United States
Army to help combat Chinese Hei-Gui
commandoes in the American Southwest, the
grenade machine was designed to cover a large area in grenade fire
in a very short period of time- essentially serving as a handheld
carpet bombing device. It was very effective. The grenade
machinegun has an attached computer monitor that shows the
weapon’s feed system, although it takes some knowledge of
computers to understand the scripts. Fifteen shot burst only. The
grenade machinegun’s magazine holds 30 25mm grenades. Value:
30000 Caps

Min. STR: 8 Min. Skill: 75 Wgt: 15 lbs. Dmg: 5d12+15

Rng: 15 hexes Blast: 1 hex AP Normal: N/A AP Burst: 7

Grenade Rifle: A fairly simple and easy-

to-use grenade launching device, the
grenade rifle excels over standard
grenades due to the fact that it is easier to
aim and fires at a longer distance. Also it
doesn’t tire out your arm nearly as fast as
repeated throwing does. Where the grenade rifle falls short, however, is the fact that its 40mm
grenades have less stopping power than the traditional hand grenade and the single-shot, break-
action design makes rapid fire impossible. This little number is old –older than most weapons
you’ll find from before the war even- but it’s better to have her on your side than against you.
Single shot only. The grenade rifle holds one 40mm grenade. Value: 1200 Caps

Min. STR: 3 Min. Skill: 25 Wgt: 6 lbs. Dmg: 3d12+6

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Rng: 20 hexes Blast: 1 hex AP Normal: 5 AP Burst: N/A

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“Red Glare” Missile
Launcher: You don’t get
much more American than this
particular weapon! I mean, it’s
even got an American flag
painted on it! Goddamn this is
a patriot’s best friend! This
particular model of missile launcher is believed to be a prototype weapon developed in the
Hopeville Missile Base in the Southwest Commonwealth during the months leading up to the
Great War. Officially it’s never been used outside of firing ranges and combat simulations, but
unofficially I’m sure it’s blown several Chinese Chimera tanks to hell. The Red Glare inclues
many aesthetic features including –but not limited to- the beautify Stars and Stripes mentioned
before, a unique digital interface connected to the range-finding laser system to aid in the aiming
and firing of the device, a scope, a modification retractable barrels for easier carrying when not
in use, and a self-compressing, pump-action reloading mechanism to allow for faster cycling of
shots. Single shot only. The “Red Glare” is loaded with cannisters that hold up to 13 high-
velocity missiles. God Bless America! Value: 15000 Caps

Min. STR: 6 Min. Skill: 50 Wgt: 20 Dmg: 6d8+18

Rng: 50 hexes Blast: 2 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Burst: N/A

Mines: Sometimes called “landmines” or “proximity mines,” mines are explosive weapons that
are placed on the ground, armed, and then left to sit patiently until some fool unknowingly (or
knowingly) sets it off, resulting in an all-around impressive explosion and, according to standard
operating military procedure, jumping “up two hundred feet into the air and [scattering] yourself
over a wide area.” They are generally considered ungentlemanly, but people that complain about
landmines complain about everything.

Note that all mines have an AP cost of 6. This is because mines are not used like typical
weapons, and setting a mine in the middle of the battlefield is considered a special action rather
than an attack. Also, mines don’t have a range, as they are always placed in a hex adjacent to the
creature setting the mine. See “Section 6: Combat” for more information on setting mines.

A mine will detonate if a creature enters the same square as the mine or if the creature is
standing in a hex adjacent to the landmine when he ends his turn. Unless otherwise noted, all
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mines deal Ballistic Damage.

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Bottlecap Mine: An improvised explosive crafted from a
lunch box (either Vault-Tec approved or otherwise), some
duct tape, nitrogen rich fertilizer, a cherry bomb, a sensor
device, and anywhere between ten and twenty Nuka-Cola
bottlecaps. While some people consider this to be a foolish
waste of Caps, others realize that the sheer amount of
damage these things can do outweighs any material cost.
Well, the potentially sheer amount of damage. Like many
improvised weapons, the bottlecap mine can deal incredible
amounts of damage, but it’s not exactly the most reliable weapon out there. When a bottlecap
mine explodes, the Overseer rolls a d6 and divides the result in half (rounding down) to
determine the weapon’s blast radius for the explosion. Value: 25 Caps

Min. STR: 1 Min. Skill: 0 Wgt: 1 lbs. Dmg: 2d20

Rng: N/A Blast: See Text AP Normal: 6 AP Burst: N/A

C-4 Plastic Explosive: Also known as Composition 4, C-4

plastic explosive packs quite a punch for such a small
package. The “Charge, Demolition, M112,” a 1.25 pound
brick or plasticized RDX being the standard-issue demolitions
charge for the United States Army before the Great War, is
still finding much use in the harsh environment of the post-
War wasteland. A remotely denoated charge, it can be
implemented in many ways for effect and entertainment.
Mercenaries (and incredibly fortunate raiders) often use C-4
charges to set up ambushes or blow up enemy hardpoints. Pre-War, military grade C-4 is some
of the best explosive ordinance Caps can buy. Value: 500 Caps

Min. STR: 1 Min. Skill: 50 Wgt: 1 lb. Dmg: 5d10+8

Rng: N/A Blast: 2 hexes AP Normal: 6 AP Burst: N/A

Fat Mine: The mother of all landmines, the Fat Man is a

very simple device consisting of a proximity sensor and a
Fat Man Mini Nuke. That’s basically it. There is a certain
beauty in its simplicity, namely that blinding flash
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followed by a glorious mushroom cloud. And the screams

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of your enemies? Pure music the likes that not even the
King himself could match. The Fat Mine is a popular explosive weapon amongst Super Mutants,
particularly in the Commonwealth, but it also sees use amongst raider groups in other parts of the
wasteland. You have to be a certain kind of crazy to strap a small explosive onto a larger
explosive. The radioactivity of the Fat Mine’s blast releases 5 rads each second (50 rads each
round) for a good ten minutes. Value: 5000 Caps

Min. STR: 3 Min. Skill: 50 Wgt: 4 lbs. Dmg: 10d10+20

Rng: N/A Blast: 3 hexes AP Normal: 6 AP Burst: N/A

Gas Bomb: The gas bomb is an improvised explosive

incendiary device made from (ironically) a fire extinguisher
filled with explosives –usually jellied petroleum or a cocktail
of highly flammable pre-War chemical materials- duct taped
to a sensor module, and placed in a convenient location where
it patiently waits to blow up. Its simple construction makes it
a favorite amongst raiders and the super mutants of the East
Coast. It functions in a similar manner to other land mines,
with the notable exception of the fact that the gas bomb deals
Energy Damage. Value: 400 Caps

Min. STR: 3 Min. Skill: 25 Wgt: 5 lbs. Dmg: 4d8+8

Rng: N/A Blast: 3 hexes AP Normal: 6 AP Burst: N/A

Frag Mine: The frag mine looks like a tan shaped

disk with a black gear and red button on top. The
tain paint is most likely used to camouflage –whether
in the blasted wastes of today or the vast Gobi Desert
of yesterday. It is a simple device designed more to
incapacitate than actually kill so that enemy forces
have to spend time and resources recovering injured
soldiers and nursing them back to health. The
fragmentation mine has a sensor that, when
triggered, initiates a rapid countdown complete with
beeping and a blinking light. Why they designer wanted to add acoutrimants that make a
landmine stand out is beyond me, but the look on a raider’s face when they realize they’re
standing on a fragmentation mine is priceless. Value: 1000 Caps

Min. STR: 1 Min. Skill: 25 Wgt: 1 lb. Dmg: 5d6+10

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Rng: N/A Blast: 1 hex AP Normal: 6 AP Burst: N/A

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Plasma Mine: An anti-personnel device believed to have
been developed by the Enclave shortly after the Great War
while they were still in hiding, biding their time. It
functions identically to the frag mine, with two notable
exceptions. One: it releases a blast of super-heated plasma
rather than shards of shrapnel or ball bearings. Two: it has a
clumsy, top-heavy design that often results in it tipping over
if not placed on a level surface. Fortunately, it blows up all
the same no matter how it sits. These days plasma mines
are found mostly in regions once occupied by the Enclave,
such as the Core Region and the Capital Wasteland. Unlike most other mines, the plasma mine
deals Energy Damage. Value: 2000 Caps

Min. STR: 2 Min. Skill: 75 Wgt: 1 lb. Dmg: 5d8+15

Rng: N/A Blast: 2 hexes AP Normal: 6 AP Burst: N/A

Pulse Mine: The pulse mine was developed during the

last years leading up to the Great War to combat the
increasing amounts of robots and power armor on the
battlefield. It consists of a proximity fuse and
minitaurized EMP device enclosed in a gray metal
casing screwed to the base. Armed status is indicated
by four red diodes situated on the cover. It will begin
beeping when its proximity alarm is triggered and
detonate within seconds. While it was designed to
destroy robotic targets, the pulse mine’s
electromagnetic pulse will still deal damage to regular flesh-and-blood creatures. Against robots
and creatures wearing power armor, the pulse mine deals an additional 2d6 Energy Damage.
Value: 2000 Caps

Min. STR: 2 Min. Skill: 50 Wgt: 1 lb. Dmg: 4d6+10

Rng: N/A Blast: 3 hexes AP Normal: 6 AP Burst: N/A

Thrown: The most common type of explosive device, thrown explosives range from dynamite to
standard-issue fragmentation grenades to homemade Nuka grenades and gas bombs. Many
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mercenaries and soldiers carry one or two thrown explosives on their person, as they are useful
for clearing rooms and forcing enemies to flee cover or keep their heads down. They can also be
used to destroy vehicles and inflict severe amounts of damage to power armor.
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Dynamite: An explosive typically used for excavation and
mining, dynamite has also found use as a weapon in the hands of
several gangs, most notably the Mojave’s Powder Gangers. Easy
to make, easy to acquire, and easy to use, dynamite is a favorite
amongst lower-tier raiders and gangsters. Typically thrown as a
single stick when used as a thrown explosive, dynamite lacks the
stopping power and blast radius of several other types of
explosives, but it’s still an incredibly effective weapon.
Dynamite deals Ballistic Damage. Value: 50 Caps

Min. STR: 1 Min. Skill: 0 Wgt: 1 lb. Dmg: 2d6+4

Rng: 10 hexes Blast: 1 hex AP Normal: 5 AP Burst: N/A

Flash Bang: The flash bang is a non-lethal explosive device

designed to incapacitate rather than harm, although it does
have enough explosives packed within it to cause minor
irritation. Upon detonation, the flash bang releases a large
explosion of bluish white energy that dazes and disorients.
The flash effectively blinds the target and the bang leaves
behind a ringing sound that blocks all other noises. All
creatures caught within the blast radius of a flash bang have
their Perception reduced by 5 (minimum of 1) and start each
turn with two fewer Action Points for six rounds. The minor
amount of damage the flash bang deals is Energy Damage.
Value: 300 Caps

Min. STR: 4 Min. Skill: 25 Wgt: 1 lb. Dmg: 1

Rng: 15 hexes Blast: 1 hex AP Normal: 5 AP Burst: N/A

Frag Grenade: The standard throwing explosive device utilized

by militaries worldwide before the Great War. It contains a small
amount of high explosives, but the external shell itself forms most
of the damaging fragments. Designed to be used against groups of
enemies, the frag grenade’s detonation sends shards of metal
shrapnel flying in all directions. It is particularly effective against
101

lightly or unarmored enemies, although it still wreaks havoc

against heavier armor. Power armor wearers tend to be able to
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walk right through fragmentation grenade explosions. Frag grenades deal Ballistic Damage.
Value: 150 Caps.

Min. STR: 2 Min. Skill: 25 Wgt: 1 lb. Dmg: 3d8+6

Rng: 15 hexes Blast: 2 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Burst: N/A

Incendiary Grenade: The AN-2051 model 0531

incendiary grenade is a thrown explosive device
comparable to the fragmentation grenade with the
notable exception that it utilizes flames rather than
shrapnel and concussive force. It is in many ways an
improved Molotov Cocktail that utilizes explosive effects
to spread white hot phosphorus across a small area in a
short period of time. There are few places that
manufacture these today, meaning most of the AN-2051s
are salvage from pre-War military bases and wrecked
convoys. The incendiary grenade deals Energy Damage
and deals an additional 2d12 Energy Damage to all
creatures within its blast radius during the following turn.
Value: 300 Caps

Min. STR: 2 Min. Skill: 50 Wgt: 1 lb. Dmg: 2d12+6

Rng: 12 hexes Blast: 2 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Burst: N/A

MFC Grenade: A favorite amongst the Brotherhood of Steel –

especially their less-funded chapters outside of the Core Regions-
the MFC Grenade is a powerful improvised explosive created by
converting three Microfusion Cells into a small thrown device. It’s
similar to the plasma grenade in many ways, although it is
considerably less powerful. On the plus side, the parts needed to
make a Microfusion Cell Grenade are easy to come by, especially
compared to plasma grenades. This makes them quite common
amongst raiders and wastelanders – especially those with a love of
energy weapons and explosions! The MFC grenade deals Energy
Damage. Value: 150 Caps

Min. STR: 2 Min. Skill: 25 Wgt: 1 lb. Dmg: 4d6+8

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Rng: 14 hexes Blast: 3 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Burst: N/A

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Molotov Cocktail: Also called a fire bomb, the Molotov Cocktail
is a simple explosive device that consists of a bottle full of
gasoline, oil, or some other flammable substance, with an oil-
soaked rag as the fuse. They break on impact, spraying an area
with a flaming liquid that continues to burn over time. They are
quite popular amongst raiders since they take almost no skill to
make, and many wasteland tribes carry them as well. The
Molotov Cocktail deals Energy Damage and deals an additional
1d4 Energy Damage to all creatures within its blast radius during
the following turn. Value: 50 Caps

Min. STR: 2 Min. Skill: 0 Wgt: 1 lb. Dmg: 4d4

Rng: 12 hexes Blast: 1 hex AP Normal: 5 AP Burst: N/A

Nuka-Grenade: This unassuming weapon is crafted from

Abraxo cleaner, Nuka-Cola Quartz, and turpentine all mixed
together and stored in an old can of pork ‘n’ beans. It
incorporates the radioactive properties of a relatively rare
Nuka-Cola variant to produce an enhanced plasma blast…
through SCIENCE! The device itself is fairly simple to use:
three shakes, ignite the fuse, take aim, and throw! Three
shakes! Two and you won’t have much of an explosion. Four
and that explosion will happen before you can throw it. The
damage from a Nuka-Grenade is comparable to that of a Fat
Man or Fat Mine, and the ingredients are at least as rare. The
Nuka-Grenade deals Energy Damage. The radioactivity of the
Nuka-Grenade’s blast releases 5 rads each second (50 rads
each round) for a good ten minutes. Value: 5000 Caps

Min. STR: 2 Min. Skill: 75 Wgt: 1 lb. Dmg: 10d10+20

Rng: 12 hexes Blast: 3 hexes AP Normal: 6 AP Burst: N/A

Plasma Grenade: The plasma grenade is a magnetically-sealed

plasma delivery unite, with detonating explosives, creating a large
blast of green superheated plasma on detonation. It is a strictly
superior weapon to the fragmentation grenade, but at the cost of
being more difficult to locate and even harder to manufacture for
103

anyone outside of the Brotherhood of Steel, the Van Graffs, and

the possible Enclave Remnants scattered across the wasteland.
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All of that being said, the plasma grenade is a good weapon to

have thanks to its wide blast radius and significant stopping power. Did I mention that it gooifies
its target’s bodies? The plasma grenade deals Energy Damage. Value: 300 Caps

Min. STR: 2 Min. Skill: 50 Wgt: 1 lb. Dmg: 4d8+10

Rng: 15 hexes Blast: 2 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Burst: N/A

Pulse Grenade: A handy weapon when dealing with rogue

robots (or regular robots for that matter), the pulse grenade
releases a powerful electromagnetic pulse upon detonation,
severely crippling any robotics –be they part of a robot or
power armor- caught in the blast. Against biological targets
the pulse grenade is less than effective. They are a favorite
of the Brotherhood of Steel, as they can use them to disable
robots without necessarily destroying them. Scavengers
also like these weapons for similar reasons, although they
tend to scrap their prey down to the last bolt when they’re
done. Against robots and creatures wearing power armor,
the pulse mine deals an additional 2d4 Energy Damage. Value: 300 Caps

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: Dmg: 3d4+6

Rng: 15 hexes Blast: 2 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Burst: N/A

Tin Grenade: The tin grenade is an improvised explosive device

made by taking nearly a pound of gun powder, a handful of ball
bearings, packing it into an old tin can, threading a dynamite fuse
into it, taping the whole thing together, and lighting the fuse just
before you throw it. It’s most commonly found in the hands of
junkies and raiders, as most properly armed mercs and wastelanders
will arm themselves with real weapons before setting out. All of
this being said, the tin grenade can be quite deadly, especially since
those who use them ten to launch an entire salvo. The tin grenade
deals Ballistic Damage. Value: 30 Caps

Min. STR: 2 Min. Skill: 0 Wgt: 1 lb. Dmg: 3d4+4

Rng: 12 hexes Blast: 1 hex AP Normal: 5 AP Burst: N/A
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Guns
The sound of gunshots, the smell of powder and smoke,
that kick as your gun jumps to life in your hands. Ahh,
this is truly the life.

Guns are the staple weapons choice for most of

the post-apocalyptic world. Something about how the
American people felt about guns managed to survive the
bombs. Perhaps it’s the old school feel, or maybe the
satisfaction one gets from blowing out a raider’s brains
with a .44 Magnum, or maybe, just maybe, it’s because
it doesn’t take a Computer Science degree to build,
maintain, and fire a gun (unlike those fancy energy
weapons), but rather just some piss, vinegar, and grit.

Guns shoot bullets. It’s pretty simple, really. Nothing fancy like “lasers,” or “plasma,”
or “charged photon particles” (whatever the hell that means!). Guns fall into several classes:
pistols, rifles, submachine guns, shotguns, and machine guns. Of them, pistols are the only guns
that are guaranteed to be one handed, although a few SMGs and shotguns can be used in one
hand. While energy weapons tend to be more compatable with one another, guns all fire
different types of ammunition, although some do overlap. However, rather than go into an
unnecessary amount of detail, we’ve divided all gun ammunition into one of the three following
categories:

Standard Ammunition (Std.) for a gun is the type of bullet or shell most likely to be used
with a particular gun. Seven-six-two millimeter. Full metal jacket. Designed to leave holes in
their targets and generally put an end to any sort of argument or disagreement. Aside from
Stnadard Ammunition, most guns can use either Hollowpoint Ammunition (HP) or Armor
Piercing (ArP.) rounds. While we understand that certain weapons, like shotguns, that might not
be able to use hollowpoints or armor piercing rounds, we didn’t want to come with an alternative
name for each gun (although shotguns would totally use flechettes in place of hollow point
rounds!)

Hollowpoints have a lower base damage rating, but all attacks made with hollowpoints
have a +10% bonus to their Critical Hit chance. They may not possess the same amount of
stopping power overall, but when they hit in just the right spot, a hollowpoint will ballon and tear
and big-ass hole in its target that’s just perfect for letting all that blood leak out.
105

Armor piercing rounds swap efficiency for power. They possess a higher damage rating,
allowing them to bypass more Damage Resistance. However, whenever an attack made with an
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armor piercing cell misses, the weapon loses two condition ratings rather than one.
Pistols: The smallest of firearms, pistols often serve the purpose of sidearm to a larger gun.
Most are fairly lightweight, possess small magazines, and pack enough of a punch to ward off a
would-be mugger but usually not enough to scare off hardened raiders. The most common use
of a pistol is as a concealed weapon used to protect when the chips are down. They are easily the
most common of all firearms, and most wastelanders wouldn’t be caught dead without one.

.357 Magnum Revolver: This piece is a single

action, fixed-cylinder revolver that fires a .357
magnum round. It has an average firing rate,
but makes up for it by packing a bigger punch
than its cousins. It sports a fairly long barrel,
making it more accurate at longer ranges,
although its sights aren’t large enough to let it
fire at ranges comparable to even the cheapest
of rifles. A durable weapon, getting a .357 to jam or break down takes a Herculean effort.
Single shot only, the revolver chamber holds 6 rounds of .357 caliber Magnum ammunition.
Value: 450 Caps

Min. STR: 3 Min. Skill: 0 Wgt: 2 lbs. Std. Dmg: 2d6+4 HP Dmg: 1d8+3
ArP. Dmg: Rng: 20 hexes AP Normal: 4 AP Targeted: 5 AP Burst: N/A
2d8+5

.44 Magnum Revolver: The .44 Magnum

Revolver is a double action, swing out cylinder
revolver that was, for a time, the king of all
side arms, although it has since been displaced
by a little number made by a man named Irwin.
Before the Great War it was considered one of
the more high-end revolvers on the civilian
market and even after two centuries most
models have maintained their accuracy,
functionality, and aesthetic appear- bearing testament to their craftsmanship. Now the only
question is: “Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?” The .44 Magnum is single shot only and the
chamber holds 6 rounds of .44 Magnum ammunition. Value: 600 Caps
106

Min. STR: 5 Min. Skill: 50 Wgt: 4 lbs. Std. Dmg: 2d8+6 HP Dmg: 2d4+5
ArP. Dmg: Rng: 12 hexes AP Normal: 4 AP Targeted: 5 AP Burst: N/A
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2d10+8
.45 Auto Pistol: The trademarked weapon of the
New Canaanites, the .45 Auto Pistol is a recreation
of an ancient design said to be more than four
centuries old. While not particularly unique or
interesting in any way, the .45 Auto Pistol is reliable
and thanks to the New Canaanites has received an
almost legendary status among tribals and raiders- a
blessing and protector for one and a divine strike
from heavens for the other. The sensitive trigger
mechanism of the .45 Auto Pistol does allow for a
slightly higher rate of fire when compared to similar guns. The .45 Auto Pistol is single shot
only and holds 7 rounds of .45 Auto ammunition. Value: 425 Caps

Min. STR: 3 Min. Skill: 25 Wgt: 2 lbs. Std. Dmg: 3d4+4 HP Dmg: 2d4+3
ArP. Dmg: Rng: 18 hexes AP Normal: 4 AP Targeted: 5 AP Burst: N/A
3d6+5

5.56mm Pistol: Originally crafted in the Hub,

the 5.56mm Pistol has since spread across the
New California Republic and beyond, although
unfortunately mostly in the hands of organized
criminals. It is easily the most powerful
handgun in the wasteland, although its offset
slightly by its mammoth weight. A motorized
cylinder and crane allow for quicker shooting
and reloading than a typical revolver, and a
small LED on the side lets the wielder know when it is empty or in the process of being reloaded.
The 5.56mm Pistol is single shot only and holds 5 rounds of 5.56mm ammunition. Value: 3500
Caps

Min. STR: 6 Min. Skill: 50 Wgt: 5 lbs. Std. Dmg: HP Dmg: 3d4+8
3d8+10
ArP. Dmg: Rng: 30 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Targeted: 6 AP Burst: N/A
3d10+13
107
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M&A 9mm Pistol: A good semiautomatic pistol for
hunting small game and scaring off raiders that aren’t
quite dedicated to the whole raider lifestyle. The M&A
in particular is the standard sidearm of the New
California Republic Army and is manufactured by
M&A Guns Manufacturers, an NCR-based company,
although it has since spread across the wastelands. Like
the N99, the M&A 9mm Pistol is fairly commonplace,
although it’s because the manufacturer exists today
rather than any spectacular amount of durability. Single shot only. The M&A holds 13 rounds
of 9mm ammunition. Value: 300 Caps

Min. STR: 2 Min. Skill: 0 Wgt: 2 lbs. Std. Dmg: HP Dmg: 1d8+2
1d12+3
ArP. Dmg: Rng: 18 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Targeted: 6 AP Burst: N/A
4d4+4

N99 10mm Pistol: After the phase out of the N80 in

2051, the N99 sidearm became standard issue
military gear. The N99 was known for its ability to
survive in the harshest of conditions and did so in
many tests, as the weapon was able to be restored to
working condition after an extended period of time
exposed to hard elements and without maintenance.
As a result, the N99 is one of the most commonly
found handguns in the wastes. The N99 is single shot only and the clip holds 12 rounds of
10mm ammunition. Value: 250 Caps

Min. STR: 4 Min. Skill: 25 Wgt: 3 lbs. Std. Dmg: 2d8+3 HP Dmg: 2d4+2
ArP. Dmg: Rng: 20 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Targeted: 6 AP Burst: N/A
2d10+4

Pipe Pistol: The pipe pistol, also called the “zip gun,”
has been traced all the way back to pre-War Detroit.
108

They vary in construction from model to model, but most

are single-shot, handmade pistols crafted from the spare
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parts of better guns and designed to fire 9mm, 10mm,

.22LR. They aren’t terribly reliable, but take little skill to build, maintain, or fire. Pipe pistols
are commonly found amongst tribal groups and primitive raider gangs. They have lower ranges
and are prone to jams and breaks. While your pipe pistol may vary, most are single shot and
hold 4 rounds of .22LR ammunition. Value: 150 Caps

Min. STR: 3 Min. Skill: 0 Wgt: 5 lbs. Std. Dmg: 2d4+2 HP Dmg: N/A
ArP. Dmg: N/A Rng: 14 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Targeted: 6 AP Burst: N/A

Rifles: Designed to hit targets at a long range reliably and repeatedly, the rifle is the workhorse
of the firearms family. They are typically a long barrel connected to a metal, wooden, or
polymer stock, allowing for a greater degree of accuracy over longer distances. Rifles are
usually fired from the shoulder, with the shooter looking down the barrel to aim. Most rifles
have iron sights or scopes to assist in aiming.

.22LR Hunting Rifle: Nicknamed the

“varmint rifle” by wastelanders,
settlers, and pioneers alike, the .22LR
hunting rifle is a bolt-action rifle
commonly carried by caravaneers,
prospectors, and town militias. They
are used mainly to take out small game such as birds and geckos, although a trained sniper can
still put a bullet in a raider’s eyeball from a few hundred yards. Easy to maintain and easy to
repair, the .22LR hunting rifle is a staple weapon in the wasteland. Single shot only, the .22LR
hunting rifle holds 5 .22LR rounds. Value: 300 Caps

Min. STR: 3 Min. Skill: 0 Wgt: 6 lbs Std. Dmg: 2d6+2 HP Dmg: N/A
ArP. Dmg: N/A Rng: 30 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Targeted: 6 AP Burst: N/A

Abilene Kid LE BB Gun: The

Abeline Kid LE BB Gun is a rare pre-
War weapon of which only two
hundred were said to be made.
However, that was probably some sort
109

of marketing gimmick, seeing as how one or two can be found in just about every settlement and
merchant’s inventory. A good weapon for practicing sharpshooting, the BB gun doesn’t demand
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much from its wielder in terms of strength or competence. Single shot only. The chamber holds
100 teeny-tiny little stinging BBs. Value: 150 Caps

Min. STR: 1 Min. Skill: 0 Wgt: 2 lbs. Std. Dmg: 2d4 HP Dmg: N/A
ArP. Dmg: N/A Rng: 25 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Targeted: 6 AP Burst: N/A

Anti-Material Rifle: The mother of

all rifles, the anti-material rifle
wasn’t made for simple potshots at
raiders. No, it was designed to take
down tanks. Unfortunately for the
anti-material rifle, there aren’t many tanks left to shoot, but I’m sure a pissed-off deathclaw
would make for a good target in their place. The anti-material rifle is a magazine-fed, bolt-
action, .50 caliber rifle designed for use against military targets and equipment – a.k.a.
“material.” It is a rather heavy gun with significant recoil that has the potential to actually push
the marksman back a few inches with each shot. All anti-material rifles were built standard with
scopes, which has been calculated into the range below, and most were made from steel and
carbon fiber parts to keep the thing from weighing as much as the tanks they were designed to
destroy. The anti-material rifle is single-shot only and holds 8 rounds of .50 caliber ammunition.
Value: 4500 Caps

Min. STR: 8 Min. Skill: 75 Wgt: 13 lbs. Std. Dmg: HP Dmg: 3d6+5
3d10+7
ArP. Dmg: Rng: 140 hexes AP Normal: 8 AP Targeted: 10 AP Burst: N/A
3d12+9

Assault Carbine: The assault

carbine is a magazine-fed, compact
automatic weapon with a high rate
of fire and comparatively low
spread, making it ideal for both the
pre- and post-War infantryman. Its
accuracy is maintained even at longer ranges, although it can’t compete with a dedicated sniper
rifle. Unlike some other firearms, the assault carbine isn’t particularly durable or easy to
110

maintain and is best in the hands of a veteran mercenary or soldier rather than a greenhorn. The
assault carbine fires a single shot or a 3 round burst and the magazine holds 18 rounds of
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5.56mm ammunition. Value: 1700 Caps

Min. STR: 3 Min. Skill: 50 Wgt: 6 lbs. Std. Dmg: 2d8+3 HP Dmg: 2d4+2
ArP. Dmg: Rng: 40 hexes AP Normal: 6 AP Targeted: 7 AP Burst: 7
2d10+4

Automatic Rifle: The automatic

rifle was designed back before the
war as a squad-support weapon.
It had some moderate success and
popularity thanks to its durability
and relative ease of maintenance, but the weight, bulk, and comparatively small clip resulted in
many militaries dropping it in favor of other Squad Automatic Weapons. Nowadays it’s become
fairly popular amongst mercenary groups since it can take a beating and the ammunition type,
while not the most common, is abundant and fairly inexpensive. The automatic rifle fires a
single shot or a 10 shot burst. The clip holds 20 rounds of .308 ammunition. Value: 1000 Caps

Min. STR: 8 Min. Skill: 75 Wgt: 16 lbs. Std. Dmg: HP Dmg: 2d6+2
2d10+3
ArP. Dmg: Rng: 40 hexes AP Normal: 6 AP Targeted: 7 AP Burst: 7
2d12+4

Brush Gun: “Brush gun” is an

informal umbrella term used to refer to
any large-caliber, lever-action hunting
carbine. They were so named thanks
to their durability, ability to be
handled easily in brush and other tight spaces. These attributes have made the brush gun popular
amongst wastelanders along the edges of New World civilizations and the lucky tribals that
manage to get their hands on one. It doesn’t require much training or know-how to properly fire
or maintain a brush gun either, although its .45-70 Gov’t ammunition isn’t exactly common.
Single shot only. The brush gun’s tubular magazine holds 10 rounds of .45-70 Gov’t
ammunition. Value: 500 Caps

Min. STR: 4 Min. Skill: 25 Wgt: 5 lbs. Std. Dmg: 2d8+5 HP Dmg: 2d4+4
ArP. Dmg: Rng: 20 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Targeted: 6 AP Burst: N/A
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2d10+6
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DKS-501 Sniper Rifle: An old pre-
War sniper rifle, the DKS-501 is a
long range projectile weapon that
boasts good damage, excellent range,
and plentiful ammunition. It is,
unfortunately, a rather fragile weapon that requires regular repa ir and maintenance to keep it in
working condition. It also requires a fair amount of knowledge of military-grade firearms to
properly use, what with all the dials on the scope. Said scope grants the DKS-501 an increased
range, as denoted below. Single shot only. The magazine holds 6 rounds of .308 ammunition.
Value: 2200 Caps

Min. STR: 6 Min. Skill: 50 Wgt: 8 lbs. Std. Dmg: HP Dmg: 2d8+5
2d12+7
ArP. Dmg: Rng: 70 hexes AP Normal: 6 AP Targeted: 7 AP Burst: N/A
4d10+9

Hunting Rifle: The wastelander’s

best friend, the .308 caliber
hunting rifle can be found all
across the blasted remains of the
continental U.S., from the NCR to
the Capital Wasteland and from
Texas to the Commonwealth. This bolt -action rifle is perhaps the second-most popular firearm
in the wasteland (second, of course, only to the N99) thanks to its durability and dependability,
and its relatively common ammunition. In the right hands the hunting rifle can be a viable
weapon for long-range sniping and overall combat. The hunting rifle is a single shot weapon
that holds 5 rounds of .308 ammunition. Value: 1000 Caps

Min. STR: 6 Min. Skill: 25 Wgt: 6 lbs. Std. Dmg: HP Dmg: 2d6+4
2d10+5
ArP. Dmg: Rng: 40 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Targeted: 6 AP Burst: N/A
2d12+6

Marksman’s Carbine: An improvement

112

of the pre-War assault carbine, the

marksman’s carbine is said to be an old
pre-War paratrooper weapon that
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combines lightweight carbon fiber polymers with steel to create a durable weapon capable of
being carried for miles without becoming an undue burden. Each marksman’s carbine came
standard with a scope, which is calculated into the range, that possesses the same mil-dot reticle
as the standard-issue DKS-501 sniper rifle. An American all-star, the marksman’s carbine does
require extensive knowledge of pre-War firearms to properly use and maintain. Fires single
shots or up to an 8 shot burst. The chamber holds 24 rounds of 5mm ammunition. Value: 3500
Caps

Min. STR: 4 Min. Skill: 75 Wgt: 6 lbs. Std. Dmg: HP Dmg: 2d6+5
2d10+6
ArP. Dmg: Rng: 55 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Targeted: 6 AP Burst: 6
2d12+8

Service Rifle: A semi-automatic,

medium power rifle, the service rifle is
chambered with a 5.56mm cartridge
and designed to fire in just about any
condition or environment. A post-War
weapon designed by the Gun Runners, the service rifle borrows ideas from various pre-War
firearms such as the AK-47 and the AR family. Like the M&R 9mm and the 5.56mm Pistol, the
Service Rifle is mainly localized to NCR and the lands immediately surrounding it, although
similar firearms have popped up in other parts of the wasteland. Single shot only. The service
rifle holds 20 rounds of 5.56mm ammunition. Value: 900 Caps

Min. STR: 2 Min. Skill: 25 Wgt: 9 lbs. Std. Dmg: 2d8+4 HP Dmg: 2d4+3
ArP. Dmg: Rng: 35 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Targeted: 6 AP Burst: N/A
2d10+5

Shotguns: Shotguns, also called “scatterguns,” are firearms designed to shoot a multitude of lead
or steel balls of varying sizes. They hurt. A lot. Most look a bit like rifles and usually take two
hands to fire correctly. They have a wide spread, allowing them to cover a wider area. Thanks
to this spread, they are well-liked by amateur gunslingers, since it takes significantly less skill to
hit your target with a shotgun than it does with a revolver or rifle.

Combat Shotgun: One of the finest

113

firearms ever manufactured, the combat

shotgun is a semi-automatic weapon with a
Page

large drum magazine. This bad boy

delivers all the stopping power of your traditional shotgun without that pesky reload every one or
two shots. Thanks to its all-metal frame it is incredibly durable, meaning that hundreds have
survived the Great War. Due to its role on the battlefield, the combat shotgun can fire both
single shots and a 3-shot burst. The drum holds 12 rounds of 12-gauge shotgun shells. Value:
2750 Caps

Min. STR: 7 Min. Skill: 75 Wgt: 5 lbs. Std. Dmg: 3d8+8 HP Dmg: 3d4+6
ArP. Dmg: Rng: 22 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Targeted: 6 AP Burst: 6
3d10+10

Double-Barrel Shotgun: Nicknamed “the

Widowmaker” is a short, double-barreled
shotgun that boasts a very nice mahogany
grip. Thanks to their status as a civilian
weapon during the pre-War, they are quite common in the wasteland. A favorite amongst town
militias. Single or double shot. The chamber holds two 12-gauge shells. Value: 800 Caps

Min. STR: 5 Min. Skill: 0 Wgt: 7 lbs. Std. Dmg: HP Dmg: 2d8+4
2d12+6
ArP. Dmg: Rng: 14 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Targeted: 6 AP Burst: N/A
3d10+8

Hunting Shotgun: A traditional pump-

action shotgun, the hunting shotgun was
designed for game hunting, particularly
waterfowl. It boasts a considerable range
for a shotgun and it boasts a superior
chamber size, allowing the wielder to go longer without reloading. For those who are lucky
enough to find or afford such a weapon, a hunting shotgun can be a man’s best friend. The
hunting shotgun holds 6 rounds of 12-gauge shells. Value: 1200 Caps

Min. STR: 5 Min. Skill: 50 Wgt: 8 lbs. Std. Dmg: 4d4+8 HP Dmg: 2d6+6
ArP. Dmg: Rng: 30 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Targeted: 6 AP Burst: N/A
4d6+10
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Lever-Action Shotgun: The lever-action
shotgun is a smaller firearm that requires less
experience to handle than many other
members of the shotgun family. Its lever
action makes it a little faster between shots
than a standard pump-action shotgun and it boasts a slightly larger ammunition capacity than the
double-barreled or sawed-off shotguns. Besides, when you carry this thing around you look like
a goddamn cowboy, and what’s cooler than that? The lever-action shotgun holds 5 rounds of 20-
gauge shotgun shells. Value: 1000 Caps

Min. STR: 4 Min. Skill: 25 Wgt: 3 lbs. Std. Dmg: 3d6+6 HP Dmg: 2d6+4
ArP. Dmg: Rng: 15 AP Normal: 4 AP Targeted: 5 AP Burst: N/A
3d8+8

Sawed-Off Shotgun: The sawed-off shotgun

is a break action, 12 gauge shotgun with
most of the original barrel and stock
removed to make it smaller and more easily
concealed at the expense of range. Pulling
the trigger fires both barrels at once,
restricting the weapon to double shot only
(the range deduction is represented below).
It’s not designed for sniping, but it’ll turn
your enemies into Brahmin burger in a matter of seconds. Double shot only. The chamber holds
two 12-gauge shells. Value: 800 Caps

Min. STR: 4 Min. Skill: 50 Wgt: 4 lbs. Std. Dmg: 3d6+7 HP Dmg: 2d6+5
ArP. Dmg: Rng: 5 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Targeted: 6 AP Burst: N/A
4d8+9

Submachine Guns: Often called “grease guns,” submachine guns can fire off single shots and
bursts of lead alike. They were designed to put the stopping and suppressive power of early
machine guns like the Gatling gun into the hands of infantry soldiers. Used as early as late
World War I, submachine guns soon changed the face of warfare in the 20th Century.
115
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.45 Auto Submachine Gun: Nicknamed
the “Storm Drum”, the .45 Auto SMG is
an old two-handed automatic weapon that
was stored in U.S. Army National Guard
armories during the Great War. A large
number of them surfaced after looters
and prospectors broke into the armories and they have spread across the wasteland, becoming the
signature weapon of various gangs and tribes. It boasts a large drum magazine capable of
holding fifty rounds of .45 auto ammunition and possesses a moderate range. The .45 Auto
SMG fires single shots or up to a 12-shot burst. The ammunition drum holds 50 rounds of .45
Auto ammunition. Value: 1200 Caps

Min. STR: 6 Min. Skill: 50 Wgt: 11 Std. Dmg: 2d6+4 HP Dmg: 1d6+2
ArP. Dmg: Rng: 32 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Targeted: 6 AP Burst: 6
2d8+5

9mm “Grease Gun” SMG: The 9mm SMG is the

iconic wasteland grease gun and is capable of emptying
its thirty round magazines in under three seconds. That
being said, it’s not the most reliable gun out there what
with its rather large spread and fairly low stopping
power compared to its bigger brothers. It’s also not the
most durable of weapons, but can be easily repaired
with spare parts and scrap metal. The 9mm SMG is a one-handed submachine gun capable of
firing a single shot or up to a 5-round burst. The magazine holds 30 rounds of 9mm ammunition.
Value: 900 Caps

Min. STR: 3 Min. Skill: 0 Wgt: 4 lbs. Std. Dmg: 2d4+3 HP Dmg: 1d4+2
ArP. Dmg: Rng: 20 hexes AP Normal: 4 AP Targeted: 5 AP Burst: 5
2d6+4

12.7mm Submachine Gun: This little number is a

heavy-duty large caliber monster that features an
unconventional top-mounted magazine that lies
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parallel to the weapon’s barrel. It boasts a rather

impressive amount of stopping power, but suffers from
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a small magazine capacity and large spread. Not too

many 12.7mm SMGs survived the war, and most of those in circulation today were built by
groups like the Gun Runners. The 12.7mm SMG can be fired in single shot or a 10-shot burst
and the clip holds 20 rounds of 12.7mm ammunition. Value: 2500 Caps

Min. STR: 6 Min. Skill: 75 Wgt: 5 lbs. Std. Dmg: HP Dmg: 2d6+3
2d10+5
ArP. Dmg: Rng: 28 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Targeted: 6 AP Burst: 6
2d12+7

H&K MP9 10mm SMG: The 10mm SMG is a one

handed automatic weapon with an excellent rate of
fire, although it suffers from having a rather large
spread. While it’s certainly not the best primary
weapon anyone can have, it makes for a decent
sidearm. It’s a fairly common weapon with an
abundant source of ammunition, making it rather
popular amongst raider gangs. This weapon can fire a
single shot as well as a up to a 10-shot burst. The clip
holds 30 rounds of 10mm ammunition. Value: 1000 Caps

Min. STR: 5 Min. Skill: 25 Wgt: 5 lbs. Std. Dmg: 2d6+3 HP Dmg: 2d4+2
ArP. Dmg: Rng: 25 hexes AP Normal: 5 AP Targeted: 6 AP Burst: 6
2d8+4

Machine Guns: The ultimate tool in any survivalist’s self-defense armory, the machine gun is
designed to hurl enormous volumes of pipin’ hot lead at the enemy. They typically trade
accuracy for sheer firepower, but who the hell cares? All machine guns require two hands to use
and fire in burst mode only.

Bozar: The ultimate refinement of

the sniper’s art, the Bozar is a
scoped, accurate, light machine gun
with an ammunition capacity of
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thirty 5.556mm rounds. It was

initially designed for U.S. special
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forces teams to take out small vehicles and combines phenomenal firepower with great precision
and can easily pierce the strongest of defenses. Though somewhat finicky and prone to jamming
if not kept scrupulously clean and in good repair, its many good qualities more than make up for
its extra maintenance requirements. The Bozar fires 15 shot bursts only and the magazine holds
30 5.56mm rounds. Value: 5250 Caps

Min. STR: 8 Min. Skill: 75 Wgt: 15 lbs. Std. Dmg: HP Dmg: 4d4+8
4d8+12
ArP. Dmg: Rng: 75 hexes AP Normal: N/A AP Targeted: AP Burst: 6
4d10+16 N/A

Light Machine Gun (LMG): A

favorite amongst the NCR’s Heavy
Trooper Corps, the light machine gun
is a fully automatic 5.56mm machine
gun with a rapid rate of fire. It also
boasts a fairly quick reload speed
when compared to other machine guns. It does, however, have a bit of weight to it and shouldn’t
be used by someone unfamiliar with firearms. The LMG fires 10 shot bursts only and the
ammunition belt holds 50 shots of 5.56mm ammo. Value: 4750 Caps

Min. STR: 8 Min. Skill: 75 Wgt: 15 lbs. Std. Dmg: +2d10 HP Dmg:
ArP. Dmg: Rng: AP Normal: AP Targeted: AP Burst:

Rockwell CZ53 Minigun: The

Rockwell CZ53 personal minigun is
capable of fire 5mm ammunition at
over 60,000 RPM with an
ammunition capacity of 120x 5mm
rounds. Goddamn. This baby
makes up for the small size of the
5mm round by sending a veritable
hail of bullets toward its target. Its
sheer size, coupled with its trademark sound, is enough to send anyone in its path running for
cover. This weapon was the favorite of the Mariposa super mutants during Unity’s time, and
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although they are dispersed, this weapon remains. The CZ53 fires a 20 shot burst only and the
big ol’ box magazine holds 120 rounds of 5mm ammunition. Value: 3800 Caps
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Min. STR: 10 Min. Skill: 75 Wgt: 25 lbs. Std. Dmg: 2d4+5 HP Dmg: 1d4+2
ArP. Dmg: Rng: 35 hexes AP Normal: N/A AP Targeted: AP Burst: 6
2d6+7 N/A

Rockwell CZ57 Avenger: Designed as

the replacement for the CZ53 Personal
Minigun. The Avenger’s design
improvements include improved gel-fin
cooling and chromium plated barrel
bores, giving it a greater range and
lethality. It also has an ammo capacity
120x 5mm round like the earlier
versions of the CZ53 model. It also
possesses a high-speed motor that nearly doubles the weapon’s RPM compared to its
predecessor. The Avenger fires a 40 shot burst and the magazine holds 120 rounds of 5mm
ammunition. Value: 5500 Caps

Min. STR: 10 Min. Skill: 75 Wgt: 18 lbs. Std. Dmg: 3d4+7 HP Dmg: 1d6+4
ArP. Dmg: Rng: 40 hexes AP Normal: N/A AP Targeted: AP Burst: 6
3d6+10 N/A

Shoulder-Mounted Machine Gun

(SMMG): The SMMG is similar to
the minigun, but with a lower rate of
fire. The bulk of the weapon rests on
the user’s shoulder like a missile
launcher, dispersing the weight more
evenly across his or her body. The upgrade from 5mm to 10mm ammunition makes this a
particularly potent machine gun, but this is offset by the scarcity of parts, making maintenance
for the SMMG very important. It is also notably the only one-handed machine gun available.
The SMMG fires a 10 shot burst and the magazine holds 60 rounds of 10mm ammunition.
Value: 3500 Caps

Min. STR: 7 Min. Skill: 50 Wgt: 17 lbs. Std. Dmg: 4d8+8 HP Dmg: 4d4+6
ArP. Dmg: Rng: 30 hexes AP Normal: N/A AP Targeted: AP Burst: 6
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4d10+10 N/A
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Melee Weapons
Sometimes a gun just doesn’t cut it. Sometimes you
want to hearken back to the old days and reconnect with
your primal, caveman roots. Sometimes you want to
dispatch your enemies a little more personally. When
you want to get up in someone’s face but don’t want to
get your hands too dirty, you use melee weapons.

Ranging from knives to tire irons to super

sledge, Melee Weapons are some of the most common
weapons found in the wasteland. Most people carry at
least one on their person either as a primary weapon or
as a back up for when you run out of bullets and energy
cells. They require little in the way of maintenance, and
most people have an innate knack for beating the tar out of another living creature with a blunt
object.

Melee Weapons have a base damage, depicted in the weapon’s “Dmg” box. Whenever
you attack with a melee weapon, you’ll deal the weapon’s base damage and add your Melee
Weapon Bonus, determined by your Strength. Most melee weapons deal Ballistic Damage,
although a select few deal Energy Damage. Specific damage types are mentioned in the
weapon’s description.

While Energy Weapons and Guns have a variety of ammunition types, Melee Weapons
(and Unarmed Weapons, as you’ll see below) have a Special Attack (Sp. Atk) that can be
performed in combat. These attacks vary from weapon to weapon, although some weapons share
Special Attacks. The Action Point cost and description of a weapon’s Special Attack is listed in
its weapon stat block. In order to use a Melee Weapon’s Special Attack, you must meet the
weapon’s Minimum Skill Requirement.

Hand-to-Hand Weapons: The overwhelming majority of Melee Weapons are hand-to-hand

weapons designed for use in close quarters combat (the other group are throwing weapons).
Handy in a fight, hand-to-hand weapons have a range of one or two hexes, although they can be
thrown as a last-ditch effort. Throwing a hand-to-hand weapon requires a Melee Weapons
attack, but you subtract twice the weapon’s weight from your Melee Weapon Skill Value.
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9 Iron: A fairly common “weapon” often found around old country clubs and teenage dating
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sites, this bent up old 9 iron is utilized by raiders and down-on-their-luck junkies as a last-ditch
tool of self-defense. It’s lightweight, easy to find and maintain
(all you’ve really got to do is straighten it out after a fight) and
doesn’t take much in the way of training to use properly- just
line it up and give it a swing! Getting hit in the face with the
ol’ 9 iron tends to knock one on his ass or break one’s nose.
It’s also handy to have if you manage to find an intact pre-War
Mini Putt-Putt Course or for “disabling” mines in an old war
zone! The 9 iron requires two hands to use and deals Ballistic
Damage. Value: 80 Caps

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 3 lbs. Dmg: Rng: 1 AP Normal: AP

2 0 2d6+MD hex 3 Targeted: 4
Sp. Atk: Fore! (5 AP)- Deals 3d10+MD Ballistic Damage and target must succeed on an Expert
Strength Test or be knocked prone.

Baseball Bat: The baseball

bat, nicknamed “the Swatter”
is a common melee weapon
found in the Wasteland.
Back before the War, the U.S. was quite a patriotic nation, and baseball was the sport of
America. Some people have differing opinions on what baseball actually was. Was it a game
involving balls and runs, or a vicious blood sport where only one team left the stadium alive? I
guess we’ll never know… It looks like someone added a few nails to this one. The baseball bat
requires two hands to use and deals Ballistic Damage. Value: 120 Caps

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 4 lbs. Dmg: Rng: 1 AP Normal: AP

4 0 3d4+MD hex 3 Targeted: 4
Sp. Atk: Grand Slam (5 AP)- Deals 6d4+MD Ballistic Damage, plus double your Melee Damage
Bonus. If you kill a creature with a Grand Slam, you send their head flying toward the fences!

Bumper Sword: A
favorite amongst
super mutants, the
bumper sword, as the
121

name suggests, is
forged from the
bumpers of pre-War cars and trucks. The bumper is flattened and sharpened into a thick, heavy
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blade and an exhaust pipe is strapped to the unsharpened end to serve as the handle. It is by no
means an elegant weapon, but damn does it suck to be on the receiving end of one of its swings!
The bumper sword requires two hands to use and deals Ballistic Damage. Value: 300 Caps

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 12 Dmg: Rng: 2 AP Normal: AP

8 50 lbs. 2d12+MD hexes 4 Targeted: 5
Sp. Atk: Mauler (8 AP)- Deals 3d10+MD Ballistic Damage and target must succeed on an
Expert Strength Test or be knocked prone and back one hex for each Degree of Failure
(minimum 1 hex).

Chainsaw: This fusion-

powered chainsaw is powered
by a miniature nuclear battery
that drives a toothed chain
along a grooved bar at up to
8,000 RPM. This allows the
sharp teeth to shred virtually
anything they come into
contact with. It was originally designed as a hardware tool, but since the war raiders and the like
have repurposed it for use as a weapon, particularly against feral ghouls. The chainsaw requires
two hands to use and deals Ballistic Damage. Value: 3000 Caps

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 20 Dmg: Rng:1 AP Normal: AP

7 50 lbs. 5d10+MD hex 5 Targeted:
N/A
Sp. Atk: Scrap Heap (10 AP)- Make three attacks against a single target. Increase the Critical
Hit Chance of each attack by 5% (+5%, +10%, and +15%).

Cleaver: The favorite of men named Pete across the

wasteland, the cleaver was designed centuries ago to chop
hunks of meat for use in butcher’s shops, but has since
been repurposed as a melee weapon. The shape and
weight of the weapon makes it ideal for hackin’ and
whackin’ and smackin’ and choppin’ that meat. The
cleaver only requires one hand to use and deals Ballistic
Damage. Value: 60 Caps
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Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 2 lbs. Dmg: Rng: 1 AP Normal: AP

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2 0 2d4+MD hex 3 Targeted: 4

Sp. Atk: Back Slash (2 AP)- Deals 1d6+MD Ballistic Damage to your target, but has a +10%
bonus to your Critical Hit Chance.

Combat Knife: A simple,

utilitarian knife designed by
the U.S. military for both
combat and survival
purposes. It has a long, clip-
point blade with serrations along the back intended for cutting rope and small branches. While
not designed to be thrown, the combat knife is balanced enough that you can throw it if need be.
The combat knife only requires one hand to use and deals Ballistic Damage. Value: 200 Caps

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 1 lbs. Dmg: Rng: 1 AP Normal: AP

3 25 2d6+MD hex 3 Targeted: 4
Sp. Atk: Dirt Nap (2 AP)- Deals 1d10+MD Ballsitic Damage to your target, but has a +5%
bonus to your Critical Hit Chance.

Fire Axe: The fire axe is a wooden handled axe

with a heavy steel head intended for firefighting use.
It has a broad, finely sharpened front blade and a
sharp pick point on the rear of the head. The long
hardwood handle allows for sweeping attacks at a
reasonable distance and the handle is covered in part
by a rubber coating to ensure a good grip on the
weapon. It was originally designed for breaking
down walls and doors to help get to people trapped
in burning buildings, this weapon can inflict severe
damage to a soft target. The fire axe requires two
hands to use and deals Ballistic Damage. Value:
400 Caps

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 8 lbs. Dmg: Rng: 2 AP Normal: AP

5 50 1d12+MD hexes 3 Targeted: 4
Sp. Atk: Mauler (6 AP)- Deals 2d12+MD Ballistic Damage and target must succeed on an
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Expert Strength Test or be knocked prone and back one hex for each Degree of Failure
(minimum 1 hex).
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Katana: The katana is the
staple weapon of the
Wasteland Samurai and is
characterized by its distinctive
appearance: a curved, slender,
single-edged blade, circular or
squared guard, and a long grip
that can accommodate two
hands. It is renowned for its
sharpness and cutting ability, and the fact that its steel has been folded at least a thousand times.
The katana requires two hands to use and deals Ballistic Damage. Value: 800 Caps

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 4 lbs. Dmg: Rng: 1 AP Normal: AP

4 75 2d8+MD hex 3 Targeted: 4
Sp. Atk: Unlabored Flawlessness (All APs)- You spend you turn focusing, then striking with
extreme precision! Deals 6d8+MD Ballistic Damage plus triple your Melee Damage Bonus!

Lead Pipe: Just a simple lead pipe that someone probably

used to commit a murder in an old mansion. One end has tape
wrapped around it to improve grip, while the other end is
either heavily corroded… or possibly bloodstained. The end
is topped with a pipe fitting to give it some extra weight and
add some oomph to its swings. Sure it ain’t much to look at,
but the trusty lead pipe doesn’t require any training or fancy
maintenance to work. All you gotta do is line up an attack
and swing. The lead pipe only requires one hand to use and
deals Ballistic Damage. Value: 20 Caps

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 3 lbs. Dmg: Rng: 1 AP Normal: AP

4 0 1d8+MD hex 5 Targeted: 5
Sp. Atk: Lights Out! (7 AP)- Deals 2d6+MD Ballistic Damage. If you score a Critical Hit with
this attack, you immediately knock out your target.
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Machete: A practical weapon and tool for the practically

minded wastelander. The machete is as good at hacking
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apart limbs as it is cutting through the overgrowth of the

Tangle. Made from a sharpened lawnmower blade and attached to a wooden handle, the
machete is easy to make, easy to maintain, and easy to use in battle. The machete only requires
one hand to use and deals Ballistic Damage. Value: 100 Caps

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 2 lbs. Dmg: Rng: 1 AP Normal: AP

3 0 1d8+MD hex 4 Targeted: 5
Sp. Atk: Back Slash (2 AP)- Deals 1d6+MD Ballistic Damage to your target, but has a +10%
bonus to your Critical Hit Chance.

Nail Board: A primitive weapon comprised of a 2x4 with

nails or rail spikes driven through one end. It is a favorite
amongst super mutants, particularly the less intelligent
species on the East Coast. Thanks to its simple design and
components, it takes half the time to repair a nail board than
it does for other weapons. The nail board requires two hands
to use and deals Ballistic Damage. Value: 50 Caps

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 4 Dmg: Rng: 2 AP Normal: AP

7 25 1d10+MD hexes 3 Targeted: 4
Sp. Atk: Grand Slam (5 AP)- Deals 2d10+MD Ballistic Damage, plus double your Melee
Damage Bonus. If you kill a creature with a Grand Slam, you send their head flying toward the
fences!

Pool Cue: A simple weapon that consists of a long,

pointy stick. Yep, that’s it: a stick. I mean, it’s a nice
laminated stick that lets you play some pretty fun
games at the local pub, but it’s not much as far as
weapons go. You could always break it in half and use
the pointy end to deal some real damage (bump it up to
a d8, but drop the range to 1 hex). The pool cue is
often found in the hands of raiders, junkies, and
scavengers that haven’t found a better weapon yet.
Despite all of the shit we give the pool cue, it does
boast a decent reach and takes almost no skill to
125

handle, making it slightly better than nothing at all. Plus, you can always use it to play a game of
pool at the Atomic Wrangler. The pool cue requires two hands to use and deals Ballistic
Damage. Value: 10 Caps
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Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 1 lb. Dmg: Rng: 2 AP Normal: AP
2 0 1d4+MD hexes 3 Targeted: 4
Sp. Atk: Grand Slam (5 AP)- Deals 2d4+MD Ballistic Damage, plus double your Melee Damage
Bonus. If you kill a creature with a Grand Slam, you send their head flying toward the fences!

Protonic Inversal Axe: An upgrade to Big MT’s

Proton Axe, the Protonic Inversal Axe is an
advanced war-axe with a glowing blue-violet
blade, white capacitors, and a black haft. It was
designed to incapacitate robots and power armor-
wearing mechanized infantry. The blade is a
current of pure energy that overloads the circuitry
of mechanized foes, dealing increased damage to
them. It’s a pretty sweet high-tech weapon that
requires a bit of know-how to properly handle.
The protonic inversal axe requires two hands to
use and deals Energy Damage. Against robots and
creatures wearing power armor, the protonic
inversal axe deals an additional 1d10 Energy
Damage. Value: 3500 Caps

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 8 lbs. Dmg: Rng: 2 AP Normal: AP

5 50 3d10+MD hexes 4 Targeted: 5
Sp. Atk: Inverse Protonic Electrocutioner (8 AP)- You attack with a great, sweeping swing that
threatens not only your initial target, but each creature adjacent to it that is within your range!
Each successful attack deals 4d10+MD Energy damage!

Rebar Club: A crude weapon favored by the super

mutant armies roaming around the wastelands. It is
made from a piece of concrete with several pieces of
rebar sticking through it. These pieces of rebar are
bound together at the base by a pair of leather belts,
forming a makeshift handle. While primitive (and
very heavy), it is an effective weapon capable of
126

dealing incredible amounts of damage in the right

hands. The rebar club requires two hands to use and
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deals Ballistic Damage. Value: 2000 Caps

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 9 lbs. Dmg: Rng: 2 AP Normal: AP
9 50 3d10+MD hexes 4 Targeted: 5
Sp. Atk: Mauler (8 AP)- Deals 6d10+MD Ballistic Damage and target must succeed on an
Expert Strength Test or be knocked prone and back one hex for each Degree of Failure
(minimum 1 hex).

Ripper: Designed by the pre-War military for use

against the Chinese, the Ripper is essentially a
chainsaw compacted into knife form so that it can be
wielded with just one hand. Nevertheless, the Ripper
inherits many of the qualities of its larger version. The
attack button can be held down and it will dismember
anything it comes into contact with, much like its big
brother. Like the chainsaw, the Ripper runs on a small
nuclear-powered battery with enough juice to keep it
going for decades. The Ripper only requires one hand to use and deals Ballistic Damage. Value:
1000 Caps

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: Dmg: Rng: 1 AP Normal: AP

3 25 2d12+MD hex 4 Targeted: 5
Sp. Atk: Scrap Heap (8 AP)- Make three attacks against a single target. Increase the Critical Hit
Chance of each attack by 5% (+5%, +10%, and +15%).

Shishkebab: This weapon originated in

the Capital Wasteland and serves as a
makeshift “flaming sword” crafted from a
motorcycle gas tank, handbrake, an over
mitt, and a sharpened lawn mower blade.
The shishkebab’s fuel is stored in the
motorcycle tank and is pumped onto the
blade with the handbrake. Thanks to
relatively easy-to-follow building
instructions, the weapon has traveled both
north and west in the hands of wastelanders, popping up in NCR lands and the Commonwealth
127

alike, with some variations. The Shishkebab only requires one hand to use and deals Ballistic
Damage. Value: 2200 Caps
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Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 3 lbs. Dmg: Rng: 1 AP Normal: AP

6 50 2d8+MD hex 4 Targeted: 5
Sp. Atk: Flambé Cut (5 AP)- You ignite the blade and make an attack, dealing an additional 2d8
Energy Damage on the attack. The Shishkebab’s tank can hold enough Flamer fuel to make 20
of these attacks before it needs to be refilled.

Sledgehammer: The sledgehammer is a simple tool

designed to do one thing: smash. It’s essentially a
wooden pool with a chunk of heavy, shaped metal on the
end. While originally a tool to be used in construction, it
has become a favorite weapon among raiders and
wastelanders for its relative ease of use and the massive
amounts of trauma it can inflict on both living bodies and
robot chasses. The sledgehammer requires two hands to
use and deals Ballistic Damage. Value: 250 Caps

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 12 Dmg: Rng: 2 AP Normal: AP

7 50 lbs. 3d4+MD hexes 4 Targeted: 5
Sp. Atk: Mauler (8 AP)- Deals 6d4+MD Ballistic Damage and target must succeed on an Expert
Strength Test or be knocked prone and back one hex for each Degree of Failure (minimum 1
hex).

Spear: The spear has long been

associated with war and thanks to its
nearly perfect design it has barely
changed at all since its inception.
Nowadays spears are made from
knives or sharpened bits of metal duct
taped or tied to broomsticks and pole
cues rather than proper spearheads forged in fire and affixed to properly shaped hafts. They are a
favorite amongst tribal folks and wastelanders that spend more time out in the wilderness than in
civilized lands. The spear only requires one hand to use and deals Ballistic Damage. Value: 100
Caps

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 3 lbs. Dmg: Rng: 2 AP Normal: AP

2 25 2d8+MD hexes 4 Targeted: 5
128

Sp. Atk: Mauler (8 AP)- Deals 4d8+MD Ballistic Damage and target must succeed on an Expert
Strength Test or be knocked prone and back one hex for each Degree of Failure (minimum 1
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hex).
Stun Baton: More common along the West Coast in lands
controlled by the New California Republic, the stun baton is
a proper law enforcement tool and a must for any brahmin
herder. Most stun batons are repurposed cattle prods,
although some are actually true stun batons found from pre-
War police stations and military barracks. The stun baton is
powered by a Microfusion cell, which provides enough
power for 10 attacks before it needs to be recharged. The
stun baton only requires one hand to use and deals Energy
Damage. Value: 600 Caps

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 3 lbs. Dmg: Rng: 1 AP Normal: AP

4 50 1d8+MD hex 5 Targeted: 6
Sp. Atk: Lights Out! (7 AP)- Deals 2d6+MD Ballsitic Damage. If you score a Critical Hit with
this attack, you immediately knock out your target.

Super Sledge: The Super Sledge is a high-tech

sledgehammer manufactured from high-strength,
ultra-light, ultra-dense materials and fitted with a
kinetic energy storage device and a rocket booster
to increase the force of impact when its strikes its
target. Based off of the civilian sledgehammer, the
Super Sledge was designed by the Brotherhood of
Steel to help combat the super mutants making up
the Master’s Army. In a cruel twist of fate, it has
since become a popular weapon amongst super
mutants, as it takes considerable strength to wield the weapon. The Super Sledge requires two
hands to use and deals Ballistic Damage. Value: 4000 Caps

Min. Min. Skill: Wgt: 20 Dmg: Rng: 2 AP Normal: AP

STR:8 75 lbs. 4d12+MD hexes 4 Targeted: 5
Sp. Atk: Mauler (8 AP)- Deals 8d12+MD Ballistic Damage and target must succeed on an
Expert Strength Test or be knocked prone and back one hex for each Degree of Failure
129

(minimum 1 hex).
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Switchblade: The favorite weapon of my old
buddy Mack, the switchblade is a small,
lightweight, and compact melee weapon favored
amongst gangsters and organized criminals. While
it doesn’t boast a lot of stopping power on its own,
it is easy to conceal and when it hits the right spot it
can drop even a super mutant. Whenever you
attempt a Stealth Skill Test to conceal the weapon,
you get a +20% bonus to your Stealth Skill Value.
Just don’t do anything rash, alright? The
switchblade only requires one hand to use and deals
Ballistic Damage. Value: 50 Caps

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 1 lb. Dmg: Rng: 1 AP Normal: AP

1 25 1d6+MD hex 2 Targeted: 3
Sp. Atk: Blood-Nap (1 AP) Deals 1d4+MD Ballstic damage to your target, but has a +10%
bonus to your Critical Hit Chance.

Thermic Lance: The thermic lance is an

industrial metalworking tool that heats
and melts an iron tube packed with iron
rods in the presence of pressurized
oxygen, producing the high temperatures
required for cutting through steel girders
and other thick metal objects. It is heavy,
but deals considerable damage. It has
been found mainly in the Midwest
Wasteland, but has made its way west in
the hands of Caesar’s Legionaries. It has
become feared by the Brotherhood of Steel, as it renders their famed power armor almost
completely useless. The thermic lance requires two hands to use and deals Energy Damage.
Value: 4500 Caps

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 20 Dmg: Rng: 2 AP Normal: AP

7 75 lbs. 4d10+MD hexes 5 Targeted: 6
Sp. Atk: Scrap Heap (10 AP)- Make three attacks against a single target. Increase the Critical
130

Hit Chance of each attack by 5% (+5%, +10%, and +15%).

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Tire Iron: A tool normally used for
loosening nuts from car tires, the tire iron has
become a common weapon often utilized by
raiders and sometimes by those lucky enough
to find a working pre-War vehicle. It’s not a
particularly damaging weapon, but it’s fairly
lightweight, allowing for quick swings.
Legend has it that a man wanders the
wasteland with little more than a sawed-off shotgun and a tire iron, but I’ve never met him
myself, so I can’t be sure. The tire iron only requires one hand to use and deals Ballistic
Damage. Value: 70 Caps

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 3 lbs. Dmg: Rng: 1 AP Normal: AP

3 0 1d6+MD hex 4 Targeted: 5
Sp. Atk: Lights Out! (6 AP)- Deals 2d4+MD Ballsitic Damage. If you score a Critical Hit with
this attack, you immediately knock out your target.

Throwing Weapons: The second category of Melee Weapons, throwing weapons, cover any
non-explosive weapon designed to be thrown at a target. As mentioned in the Combat Rules, all
throwing weapons, the additional range is equal to double the creature’s Strength or Perception
Stat, whichever is lower. Unlike hand-to-hand weapons, throwing weapons do not have a special
attack, but instead have an extra effect.

Proton Throwing Axe: Similar in appearance to the

Protonic Inversal Axe, the proton throwing axe is a
smaller, more compact, and more aerodynamic weapon
that not only has a decent throwing range, but detonates on
impact, unleashing an electromatic pulse as it does so.
While the explosion is impressive, it doesn’t deal as much
as damage as a dedicated explosive weapon. The proton
throwing axe only requires one hand to use and deals
Energy Damage. Value: 900 Caps
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Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 1 lbs. Dmg: Rng: 14 AP Normal: AP

1 25 2d6+MD hexes 4 Targeted: 5
Effect: Beep! Beep! Boom!- A proton throwing axe explodes on impact, dealing an additional
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1d6 Energy Damage (2d6 to robots and power armor wearers) within 2 hexes of the original
target.

Throwing Hatchet: An axe shaped and balanced for

accuracy at a range, the throwing hatchet is a
favorite amongst hardened pioneer types and more
savage tribals. They are fairly sturdy and thanks to
their (comparatively) heavy weight, they have a fair
amount of force behind them when thrown by a
strong creature. If a throwing hatchet is thrown at a
limb, it deals double damage on a successful hit.
The throwing axe only requires one hand to use and deals Ballistic Damage. Value: 100 Caps.

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 2 lbs. Dmg: Rng: 12 AP Normal: AP

1 25 2d6+MD hexes 4 Targeted: 5
Effect: Chopping Block- A throwing axe deals 4d8+MD Ballistic Damage when it hits a limb
(arm or leg).

Throwing Knife: The deadly weapon of choice for

assassins, throwing knives are as silent as they are
cunning. They are small, light weight, quick, and
quiet. The standard throwing knife is between six and
seven inches in length and made from a lightweight
alloy with a cloth grip. They lack the damage of
hatchets and spears, but they can be thrown more
quickly and are particularly deadly when they hit a
vital area. The target of choice for most knife throwers
is the throat. The throwing knife only requires one hand to use and deals Ballistic Damage.
Value: 100 Caps

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 1 lb. Dmg: Rng: 6 AP Normal: AP

1 0 1d6+MD hexes 3 Targeted: 4
Effect: Go For the Throat- A throwing knife deals 4d6+MD Ballistic Damage when it hits the
throat (a targeted strike against a creature’s head). Robots are immune to this effect.
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Throwing Spear: A primitive, but
effective, weapon used by tribals and
made popular by Caesar’s Legion.
While it’s designed primarily for
hunting game, it has become a popular
weapon for combat for those unable to
find bullets and incapable of
understanding the finer points of
energy weapons. Throwing spears are simple to make, usually consisting of a six-foot wooden
handle, a cloth grip, and a sharp piece of scrap metal cut into a crude spear point. While
throwing spears lack the range of other throwing weapons, they have the most stopping power,
especially when aimed at a creature’s center of mass. The throwing spear only requires one hand
to use and deals Ballistic Damage. Value: 90 Caps

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 1 lb. Dmg: Rng: 8 AP Normal: AP

1 25 2d8+MD hexes 4 Targeted: 5
Effect: Nailed It!- A throwing spear deals 3d8+MD Ballistic Damage when it hits a creature’s
chest (a targeted strike against a creature’s torso). If the attack is successful, the creature is
pinned to the the nearest perpendicular surface (such as a wall, withered tree, or car) within 2
hexes.

Tomahawk: A makeshift weapon crafted from a pair of

railroad spikes secured to a section of PVC pipe with
electrical cable and bungee cord. Often adorned with
feathers, paint, and beads for decoration by tribal
warriors. They are light in weight and are tied with the
proton throwing axe for having the best base throwing
range. Due to its strange shape, the tomahawk has an
unpredictable flight pattern and leaves particularly nasty
wounds when it strikes with a Critical Hit. Value: 150
Caps

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 1 lb. Dmg: Rng: 14 AP Normal: AP

3 50 2d4+MD hexes 4 Targeted: 5
Effect: When you score a Critical Hit with the tomahawk, it deals 4d4+MD before the
multipliers.
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Unarmed Weapons
All across the wasteland there are people who hone
their bodies, working to make themselves into the
perfect weapon. Then there are the folks who like
to expedite the process with neato tools like the
power fist and the deathclaw gauntlet, because why
punch someone with your fist when you can punch
them with a deathclaw’s fist!?

There are two categories of Unarmed

Weapon- the Traditional Unarmed Weapons (your
very own fists and feet), and Augmented Unarmed
Weapons (brass knuckles, bladed gauntlets, and the
like). Just about everyone has some innate talent in
beating one another to death, but it takes a true
master of the unarmed craft to do with in style.

Like Melee Weapons, Unarmed Weapons have a base damage, depicted in the weapon’s
“Dmg” box. Whenever you attack with an Unarmed Weapon, you’ll deal the weapon’s base
damage and add your Melee Weapon Bonus, determined by your Strength. Most unarmed
weapons deal Ballistic Damage, although the Zap Glove deals Energy Damage. Specific damage
types are mentioned in the weapon’s description.

While Energy Weapons and Guns have a variety of ammunition types, Unarmed
Weapons (like Melee Weapons) have a Special Attack (Sp. Atk) that can be performed in
combat. These attacks vary from weapon to weapon, although some weapons share Special
Attacks. The Action Point cost and description of a weapon’s Special Attack is listed in its
weapon stat block. In order to use an Unarmed Special Attack, you must meet the weapon’s
Minimum Skill Requirement.

Traditional Unarmed Attacks: A wise old man once said

“A true warrior only needs one’s fists!” Said old man also
had a pet bear that served as his sparring partner and beat up
trees and rocks for a living. These techniques are for those
who have honed their bodies into the perfect weapon. All
creatures can attempt these attacks (provided they have arms
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and legs), but they follow the same rules for Minimum
Strength and Skill Requirements. All Special Unarmed
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Attacks deal Ballistic Damage. Unlike standard weapons,

traditional Unarmed Attacks don’t have a condition- as long as you’re alive you can keep
punching and kicking.

Jab: A quick, straight punch typically aimed at the jaw, throat, or back of the neck. Trades
stopping power for speed. Float like a bloatfly and sting like a cazador.

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: N/A Dmg: Rng: 1 AP Normal: AP

2 25 1d4+MD hex 2 Targeted: 3
Sp. Atk: Rabbit Punch (3 AP)- Deals 1d4+MD Ballistic Damage. If you score a Critical Hit with
this attack, you immediately knock out your target.

Low Kick: A low, sweeping kick made with the intention of tripping up your opponents. The
bigger they are, the harder they fall.

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: N/A Dmg: Rng: 1 AP Normal: AP

5 50 1d8+MD hex 4 Targeted: 5
Sp. Atk: Hook Kick (5 AP)- Deals 1d10+MD Ballistic Damage. If the attack targets a creature’s
legs, the creature must succeed on a Hard Strength Test or be knocked prone.

Palm Strike: An open palmed strike often aimed at the chest with the intent to crack ribs or
possibly stop the heart. It takes a true disciple of the Way of the Iron Fist to master this
particular technique.

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: N/A Dmg: Rng: 1 AP Normal: AP

5 50 1d6+MD hex 3 Targeted: 4
Sp. Atk: Quivering Palm (5 AP)- Deals 2d6+MD Ballistic Damage. Target must succeed on a
Hard Nerve Test or take 1d6 Ballistic Damage for each Degree of Failure.

Snap Kick: A quick kick usually aimed at the chest. It’s a fast kick, though it trades some of its
power for speed.

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: N/A Dmg: Rng: 1 AP Normal: AP

135

6 50 1d6+MD hex 3 Targeted: 4

Sp. Atk: High Kick (4 AP)- Deals 2d6+MD Ballistic Damage. If the attack targets a creature’s
head, it has a +20% bonus to your Critical Hit Chance.
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Standard Kick: A standard kick delivered not unlike that of a pissed-off brahmin. A little
slower than a punch, but it has more stopping power behind it.

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: N/A Dmg: Rng: 1 AP Normal: AP

4 0 2d4+MD hex 4 Targeted: 5
Sp. Atk: Roundhouse Kick (6 AP)- Make one attack against a target, and a second attack against
a creature adjacent to the first target.

Standard Punch: Just your run of the mill swing, usually aimed at the target’s torso, just under
the ribs. It hurts quite a bit.

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: N/A Dmg: Rng: 1 AP Normal: AP

1 0 1d6+MD hex 3 Targeted: 4
Sp. Atk: Haymaker (6 AP)- Deals 2d6+MD Ballistic Damage, and has a +15% bonus to your
Critical Hit Chance.

Enhanced Unarmed Weapons: Ever want to punch someone and send them flying back a
dozen feet? Or have a buzz saw attached to your hand? You’re in luck! As the name would
suggest, enhanced unarmed weapons serve to make your standard punches stronger thanks to the
power of scientific ingenuity! In many ways Enhanced Unarmed Weapons work like Melee
Weapons. The overwhelming majority of Unarmed Weapons only have a range of one hex, and
they cannot be thrown.

Ballistic Fist: One of the most powerful unarmed

weapons around, the Ballistic Fist is an upgraded
version of the classic Power Fist. It consists of a
heavy metal gauntlet with a trigger plate along the
knuckles. When engaged, the ballistic fist fires a
12-gauge shell into the target’s body. Sometimes,
the buckshot can pass through the initial target
and hit a creature behind them. The ballistic fist
fires a single 12-gauge shotgun and must be
reloaded between uses. The Ballistic Fist deals,
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what else? Ballistic Damage. Value: 2200 Caps

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 6 lbs. Dmg: Rng: 1 AP Normal: AP

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9 75 4d10+MD hex 5 Targeted: 6

Sp. Atk: Two-Step Goodbye (7 AP)- Deals 4d10+MD Ballistic Damage to the target and 2d10
Ballistic Damage to a creature directly behind them.

Bear Trap Fist: A primitive unarmed weapon fashioned

from a medical brace, a bear trap, and sheets of scrap
metal. The jaws of the trap are folded back past the
normal open position, exposing the pressure plate. When
a punch connects, the pressure plate makes contact with
the target, causing the trap to snap shut. The bear trap
can be released with a quick squeeze of the handle,
allowing the wearer to chomp down on multiple enemies.
You can, of course, always decide to keep the trap
clamped down to limit their mobility. The Bear Trap Fist deals Ballistic Damage. Value: 900
Caps

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 6 lbs. Dmg: Rng: 1 AP Normal: AP

5 25 3d8+MD hex 4 Targeted: 5
Sp. Atk: It’s A Trap! (5 AP)- Deals 3d8+MD Ballistic Damage and engages the bear trap.
Whenever you or the trapped creature wants to move you must attempt a Strength Skill Contest.
The winner can move about normally, but must spend twice the normal AP cost to do so. The
loser cannot move.

Bladed Gauntlet: A rather simple weapon consisting

of jagged blades forged from scrap metal and
strapped to a reinforced leather armband. The blades
are sharpened and twisted for stabbing rather than
slashing, and that rust is just perfect for infecting
your enemies with the tetanus! It’s a fairly common
weapon in mercenary circles and with raider gangs
thanks to its abundance and the ease of maintenance
and repair. It also doubles as a handy can opener!
The Bladed Gauntlet deals Ballistic Damage. Value: 600 Caps

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 10 Dmg: Rng: 1 AP Normal: AP

137

5 25 lbs. 2d8+MD hex 3 Targeted: 4

Sp. Atk: Cram Opener (7 AP)- Deals 2d8+MD and ignores half of the target’s Damage
Reduction.
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Boxing Gloves: These gloves are designed to
inflict as little injury as possible to your knuckles
while inflicting as much damage as possible to the
opponent’s face. This allows the user to “safely”
knock someone out without killing them. That
being said, it still hurts like all holy hell when you
get clocked in the face. Boxing gloves deal
Ballistic Damage. Value: 50 Caps

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 6 lbs. Dmg: Rng: AP Normal: AP

1 0 1d6+MD 1hex 2 Targeted: 3
Sp. Atk: Lights Out! (7 AP)- Deals 2d6+MD Ballistic Damage. If you score a Critical Hit with
this attack, you immediately knock out your target.

Brass Knuckles: Developed in antiquity, this

weapon is nevertheless quite prevalent in the
post-Great War wastelands. Also called
knuckledusters, brass knuckles take the form of
four linked metal rings in a shallow convex
formation with a bumper attached to the concave
face. The rings are slipped over a combatant’s
fingers with the bumper pressed into the palm of
the hand. When a punch is thrown, the brass
knuckles take the majority of the impact impulse,
transferring much of the punch’s kinetic energy to the target by the way of the harder, smaller
impacting surface of the metal knuckles. This, in turn, drastically increases the likelihood of
serious tissue disruption and bone damage for the user. Brass knuckles deal Ballistic Damage.
Value: 70 Caps

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 1 lb. Dmg: Rng: 1 AP Normal: AP

2 0 1d10+MD hex 3 Targeted: 4
Sp. Atk: Lights Out! (7 AP)- Deals 2d10+MD Ballistic Damage. If you score a Critical Hit with
this attack, you immediately knock out your target.
138

Deathclaw Gauntlet: A very powerful weapon crafted from a deathclaw hand, medical brace for
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structure, a leather belt for rigidity and to serve as a handle, and a healthy amount of duct tape
and Wonderglue to hold it all together. The claws of
the wasteland’s deadliest predator are now in your
hands! Literally! These razor sharp claws can cut
through leather, steel, and advanced polymers like
they were paper. The length of the claws also allows
you to strike enemies beyond the range of most other
unarmed weapons. Deathclaw gauntlets are quite
rare in the wasteland, however, as few are brave –or
stupid- enough to actually go toe to toe with a living
deathclaw. The deathclaw gauntlet deals Ballistic
Damage. Value: 4000 Caps

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 10 Dmg: Rng: 2 AP Normal: AP

6 75 lbs. 4d10+MD hexes 4 Targeted: 5
Sp. Atk: Audible Sharpness (All APs)- You lunge at your target, striking with your great claws!
Deals 4d10+MD Ballistic damage, ignore your target’s Damage Resistance, and automatically
removes two condition blocks from your enemy’s armor.

Displacer Glove: A variant of the power

fist, the displacer glove generates a
shockwave upon impact that is quite similar
to the effects of a M72 Gauss Rifle’s 2mm
Electromagnetic Cartridge’s impact. Not
only does this extra force deal additional
damage, but has a chance to send your
opponents flying through the air. Handy if
you happen to be fighting near a cliff. This
shockwave is generated by the speaker on
the knuckles, and there’s even a slot for
holotapes if you want to change the sound it
plays on impact. Its rumored that the
mighty Caesar has equipped his elite Praetorian Guard with displacer gloves and that he himself
is a master of this weapon as well. The displacer glove deals Ballistic Damage. Value: 1800
Caps

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 6 lbs. Dmg: Rng: 2 AP Normal: AP

139

4 75 3d8+MD hexes 4 Targeted: 5

Sp. Atk: Pushy (6 AP)- Deals 3d8+MD Ballistic Damage and the target must succeed on an
Expert Strength Test or be knocked back 2 hexes and be knocked prone.
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Industrial Hand: The industrial hand was a
tool developed by H&H Tools and first used
in Hopeville. It consists of a mechanical
glove with a circular saw blade mounted on
the back, self automated by a nuclear fission
battery. It was used in industrial work for
cutting materials such as metals or plastics,
now re-purposed for use as a devastatingly
powerful unarmed weapon. The blade
extends forward when the weapon is engaged
and begins spinning rapidly for maximum devastation. Please remember to wear your safety
goggles whenever you operate the H&H Tools Industrial Hand. The industrial hand deals
Ballistic Damage. Value: 1500 Caps

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 10 Dmg: Rng: 1 AP Normal: AP

7 50 lbs. 3d8+MD hex 4 Targeted: 5
Sp. Atk: Sp. Atk: Scrap Heap (8 AP)- Make three attacks against a single target. Increase the
Critical Hit Chance of each attack by 5% (+5%, +10%, and +15%).

Mantis Gauntlet: The mantis gauntlet is

the least impressive of the three unarmed
gauntlets made from animal parts, but it
is still quite deadly (and metal, seeing as
it’s made out of animal parts). It consists
of a severed mantis foreleg, fitted to the
wielder’s forearms and reinforced with
metal bars and leather straps. A handle
beneath the “blade” allows for extra
stability. It’s believed that the White
Legs tribe out of the Salt Lake region created the first mantis gauntlets, though it has migrated
outside of Utah, likely as a result of the ever expanding raids of the White Legs. The mantis
gauntlet deals Ballistic Damage. Value: 200 Caps

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 10 Dmg: Rng: 2 AP Normal: AP

4 25 lbs. 2d10+MD hexes 3 Targeted: 4
140

Sp. Atk: Embrace of the Mantis King! (6 AP)- Deals 2d10+MD Ballistic Damage as you pierce
your foe. They take another 2d10 Ballistic Damage on their next turn unless they spend all of
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their Action Points “safely” dislodging the claw.

Power Fist: The “Big Frigger” power
first was designed by BeatCo. before the
Great War and was long said to be the
ultimate weapon in unarmed combat
until BeatCo. released the Ballistic Fist
and a competitor later released the
displacer glove. The Big Frigger Power
Fist is a pneumatic-type weapon
consisting of a large metal glove with a
piston and ram built in above the
wearer’s fist. The piston shoots the ram
forward with every punch, allowing the fist to deal more damage than an non-augmented
unarmed strike. The entire rig is powered by a nuclear battery with enough juice to keep the
device operating for a few hundred years. Convenient! The power fist deals Ballistic Damage.
Value: 1800 Caps

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 6 lbs. Dmg: Rng: 1 AP Normal: AP

5 50 3d10+MD hex 4 Targeted: 5
Sp. Atk: Greased Lightning (6 AP)- Deals 3d10+MD Ballistic Damage, plus an additional 2d10
Energy Damage as you release the electrical energy generated by the battery’s isotopes! The
wearer and the target both become exposed to 50 Rads (the creatures can attempt to resist the
Rads as normal).

Spiked Knuckles: A simple, spiked variation of the brass

knuckles. They were quite popular amongst big city
gangsters in pre-War times and have remained as such in
post-War times as well, particularly in New Reno. It
functions identically to the brass knuckle in nearly every
way, with the spikes serving to puncture both armor and
flesh with greater ease, causing increased trauma to the site
of impact. Handy in a fight, but handle them carefully lest
you stab yourself. Spiked knuckles deal Ballistic Damage.
Value: 150 Caps

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 1 lb. Dmg: Rng: 1 AP Normal: AP

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3 25 1d12+MD hex 3 Targeted: 4

Sp. Atk: Lights Out! (7 AP)- Deals 2d12+MD Ballistic Damage. If you score a Critical Hit with
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this attack, you immediately knock out your target.

Yao Guai Gauntlet: Originally created
by the Sorrows tribe of Zion Canyon, the
yao guai is crafted from the forearm of an
adult yao guai. Like the deathclaw
gauntlet, it is reinforced with a medical
brace and a leather belt. Unlike the
deathclaw gauntlet, however, it is worn
like a glove rather than strapped to the
arm. Unfortunately, this snug fit prevents
the wearer from using that hand for other
tasks. Thanks to the gauntlet’s claws, it
possesses a bit of reach, allowing the
wearer to strike enemies from afar.
While the yao guai gauntlet has some
weight to it that slows down its swings, its weight has the benefit of an increased stopping power
that can knock enemies on their asses. The Yao Guai Gauntlet deals Ballistic Damage. Value:
1400 Caps

Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 10 Dmg: Rng: 2 AP Normal: AP

4 50 lbs. 3d10+MD hexes 4 Targeted: 5
Sp. Atk: Bear’s High Five (8 AP)- Deals 4d8+MD Ballistic Damage and target must succeed on
an Expert Strength Test or be knocked prone and back one hex for each Degree of Failure
(minimum 1 hex).

Zap Glove: A variant of the power fist

originally designed for non-lethal law
enforcement, the zap glove has since been
transformed into a powerful and incredibly
lethal unarmed weapon. Visibly it similar to
the power fist, although it replaces the
pneumatic ram with a taser knuckle piece
which releases a burst of electricity when it
strikes an object. While it wasn’t the original
intention of the weapon, this burst of electricity
142

makes it quite effective against robots and

those wearing power armor. The zap glove deals Energy Damage. Value: 2200 Caps
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Min. STR: Min. Skill: Wgt: 6 Dmg: Rng: 1 AP Normal: AP

4 75 3d10+MD hex 4 Targeted: 5
Sp. Atk: Robot Toaster (6 AP)- Deals 3d10+MD Energy Damage, plus an additional 2d10
Energy Damage to robots and creatures wearing power armor. Robots and power armor wearing
creatures only regain half of their AP on their next turn.

143
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Weapon Modifications
Sometimes weapons need a little dressing up to
give them that extra pizzazz or make them just a
little more reliable in the heat of battle. These are
known as weapon modifications and can range
from improved iron sights to a high-tech recon
scope to an extended magazine so you can carry
more ammunition.

Most weapon modifications come from a

kit (usually pre-War police or military), but some
require a master craftsman to make. All weapon
modifications can be bought or sold, although
merchants aren’t going to part with them without
charging a large number of Caps.

Energy Weapon Modifications: While energy weapons are the most advanced form of
weaponry, there are ways to make them better, obviously. Many energy weapon modifications
serve a similar purpose to gun modifications, only they’re cooler and more high-tech. For the
most part, energy weapon modifications serve to make weapons more durable or to increase
accuracy and ammunition capacity. Almost every energy weapon modifier has to be recovered
from a pre-War military installation, and those found in the hands of merchants are very
expensive indeed.

Auxiliary Recharger Chip: This high-tech gadget attaches to an energy weapon and slowly
recharges energy cells and microfusion cells by capturing the wasted energy and diverting it back
to the power source. For every five shots fired, the auxiliary recharger chip recharges one shot,
effectively giving you a free shot every five shots. Value: 2000 Caps

Combat Sights: Whether they are the iron sights of a laser pistol or a Gatling laser, improved
sights must be specifically crafted for a particular weapon. Adding improved sights negates the
penalties to a weapon’s accuracy for not meeting the Minimum Skill requirement to use the
weapon. Cannot be added to a weapon with a recon scope. Value: 500 Caps

Expanded Flamer Tanks: For use only with the flamer and incinerator, the expanded tanks
double the weapon’s ammunition capacity. Value: 250 Caps
144

Focused Laser Optics: The focused laser optics can only be attached to a laser weapon and
serve to increase the intensity of the laser. Attaching this modification to a laser weapon
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increases its Critical Hit Chance by 10%. Value: 1000 Caps

High-Capacity Terminal: The high-capacity terminal is a cool piece of pre-War tech that
attaches to the outside of an energy weapon and stores an additional energy or microfusion cell.
Wires connect the terminal to the main weapon, allowing it to draw power from both the
terminal’s cell and the weapon’s primary cell. The high-capacity terminal doubles the weapon’s
ammunition capacity. Value: 250 Caps

High-Energy Ionizer: The high-energy ionizer can only be attached to a plasma weapon and
adds additional charge to a bolt of plasma. Attaching this modification to a plasma weapon
increases its Critical Hit Chance by 10%. Value: 1000 Caps

Laser Sight: What’s cooler than a laser? Attaching a laser to a laser! The laser sight increases
the accuracy of all attacks made within point-blank range (attacks made within a number of
hexes equal to the shooter’s Perception) by an additional 10% (20% total). Value: 500 Caps

Magnetic Accelerator: The Magnetic Accelerator is a series of electromagnetic coils that

increases the rate at which a bolt of plasma or laser beam is generated. Adding a magnetic
accelerator decreases the AP costs of a weapon’s attacks by 1, to a minimum of 1 Action Point.
Value: 500 Caps

Recon Scope: The recon scope allows a person to easily examine a target and effectively
increases the range of the weapon. Complete with target tracking and night vision, the recon
scope increases the range of the weapon by 20 hexes. Cannot be added to a weapon with combat
sights. Value: 1500 Caps

Reinforced Components: These parts were developed to make energy weapons (which are
notoriously fragile) a bit more durable so that they don’t fall apart in the middle of a fire fight.
By replacing parts with reinforced components, a weapon will only lose a condition box after ten
attacks, rather than the usual five. Value: 500 Caps

Explosive Weapon Modifications: Explosive weapon

modifications are only applied to launchers such as the Fat
Man launcher and grenade rifle. Non-launchers cannot be
modified (or rather, modifications would be useless since
explosives tend to be once and done). Below are some
examples of explosive weapon modifications, along with
the kinds of weapons that can be upgraded by each
improvement.
145

Carbon Fiber Parts: Carbon fiber parts are military-grade modifications designed to decrease
the weight of a weapon without reducing its structural integrity. Replacing the heavier parts of a
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weapon with carbon fiber parts decreases the weapon’s weight by 50%, rounded down (10 lbs. to
5 lbs., 5 lbs. to 2 lbs., etc.). Value: 500 Caps

Combat Sights: Whether they are the iron sights of a grenade rifle or an improved laser range
finder on the missile launcher, improved sights must be specifically crafted for a particular
weapon. Adding improved sights negates the penalties to a weapon’s accuracy for not meeting
the Minimum Skill requirement to use the weapon. Value: 500 Caps

Custom Action: A customized action has to be specially crafted for a particular weapon.
Adding a custom action decreases the AP costs of a weapon’s attacks by 1, to a minimum of 1
Action Point. Value: 500 Caps

Long Barrel: An elongated barrel (or lengthened catapult launch way for the Fat Man) serves to
increase the effective firing range of a weapon. Adding a long barrel to a launching weapon
increases the weapon’s range by 50%, rounded down (10 hexes becomes 15 hexes). Value: 250
Caps

Gun Modifications: Specifically designed for firearms,

these modifications will enhance the statistics of nearly
every gun- be it the BB gun or the anti-material rifle. The
best part about gun modifications is the fact that they tend to
remain largely inexpensive thanks to the fact that there are
thousands of them that survived the Great War and they
don’t require an Engineering Degree to manufacture (lookin’
at you, energy weapon modifications).

Carbon Fiber Parts: Carbon fiber parts are military-grade

modifications designed to decrease the weight of a weapon
without reducing its structural integrity. Replacing the
heavier parts of a weapon with carbon fiber parts decreases
the weapon’s weight by 50%, rounded down (10 lbs. to 5
lbs., 5 lbs. to 2 lbs., etc.). Value: 500 Caps

Custom Bolt/Receiver: A customized bolt or receiver has to be specially crafted for a particular
weapon. Adding a custom bolt or receiver decreases the AP costs of a weapon’s attacks by 1, to
a minimum of 1 Action Point. Value: 500 Caps

Extended Magazines: A magazine that allows a person to carry additional ammunition. Comes
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in the form of standard magazines, drum barrels, or elongated tubes (for repeater-style weapons).
Attaching an extended magazine doubles the weapon’s ammunition capacity. Value: 250 Caps
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Improved Iron Sights: Improved sights that glow, increasing a weapon’s accuracy. Adding
improved sights negates the penalties to a weapon’s accuracy for not meeting the Minimum Skill
requirement to use the weapon. Value: 500 Caps

Marksman’s Scope: The recon scope allows a person to easily examine a target and effectively
increases the range of the weapon. Complete with night vision, the marksman’s scope increases
the range of the weapon by 20 hexes. Cannot be added to a weapon with improved iron sights.
Value: 1500 Caps

Laser Sight: A laser sight modification that increases a weapon’s accuracy in close-range
scenarios. The laser sight increases the accuracy of all attacks made within point-blank range
(attacks made within a number of hexes equal to the shooter’s Perception) by an additional 10%
(20% total). Value: 500 Caps

Long Barrel: An elongated barrel can only be attached to a pistol or revolver and serves to
increase the effective firing range of a weapon. Adding a long barrel to a handgun increases the
weapon’s range by 50%, rounded down (10 hexes becomes 15 hexes, etc.). Value: 250 Caps

Recoil Compensator: A device designed to aid in the use of automatic weapons. The recoil
compensator decreases the AP costs of all burst attacks with a weapon by 1 AP (this effect stacks
with the effects of a custom receiver). Value: 500 Caps

Silencer: The silencer serves to muffle the sound of a firearm, forcing creatures trying to locate
the shooter to attempt an Expert Perception Test rather than an Easy Perception Test. Value: 250
Caps

Melee and Unarmed Weapon Enhancements: Since the

Great War, firearms have become more scarce and intelligent
people have begun to innovate ways to make melee weapons
more effective in combat. Below are some examples of melee
and unarmed weapon enhancements, along with the kinds of
melee weapons that can be upgraded by each improvement.

Alloy Frame: A series of lightweight, alloy parts designed to

decrease the weight of a weapon. Replacing the heavier parts
of a weapon with the kit’s alloy parts decreases the weapon’s
weight by 50%, rounded down (10 lbs. to 5 lbs., 5 lbs. to 2
lbs., etc.). Value: 500 Caps
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Balanced Grip: A redesigned grip made with the intention of restoring proper balance to a
weapon. Replacing the previous grip with the improved, balanced grip decreases the AP costs of
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a weapon’s attacks by 1, to a minimum of 1 Action Point. Value: 250 Caps

Barbed Wire: Barbed wire can only be applied to blunt weapons, such as a baseball bat or super
sledge (it’s ultimately up to the Overseer’s discretion). Wrapping barbed wire around a weapon
increases its Critical Hit Chance by 10%. Value: 200 Caps

Electric Charge: A series of copper wires rigged to a microfusion cell designed to unleash a jolt
of electrical energy upon contact. Adding an electrical charge to a melee or unarmed weapon
adds +10 Energy Damage to all attacks. The microfusion cell has to be replaced after ten
attacks. Value: 1000 Caps

Heavy Duty Chromed Parts: Parts manufactured before the Great War for heavy-duty
machinery, these parts can be applied to a weapon to increase its condition. By replacing parts
with the HD chromed parts, a weapon will only lose a condition box after ten attacks, rather than
the usual five. Value: 1000 Caps

Serrated Edge: A serrated edge can only be applied to bladed weapons, such as a fire axe or
bumper sword (it’s ultimately up to the Overseer’s discretion). Applying a serrated edge
increases the weapon’s Critical Hit Chance by 10%. Value: 200 Caps

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Armor
Weapons are good, great, and wonderful and all that, but if you
wander out into the wasteland with nothing more than a gun,
some bullets, and your canteen, you’re probably gonna die.
Fortunately for you, there are men and women (and robots) out
there who specialize in making armor so that way fools like you
don’t immediately die.

Armor provides a variety of bonuses, but its main

function is boosting the wearer’s Armor Class –the ability to
completely negate damage- and providing Damage Resistance –
the ability to reduce incoming damage from enemy fire. All
armor, regardless of type, provides some measure of ballistic
damage resistance and energy damage resistance. Some types
of armor provide radiation resistance as well.

At the end of each armor entry is a table with the armor’s stats and information including
its Weight (Wgt), its Armor Class (AC), Ballistic Damage Resistance (BDR), Energy Damage
Resistance (EDR), its weight class (Light, Medium, Heavy, or Power) and lastly any
miscellaneous bonuses such as radiation resistance and Attribute and Skill modifiers.

Humans and ghouls can wear armor interchangeably without any real penalty or
discomfort (although truth be told, ghoul-crafted armor tends to be a little snug on your average
human). Super mutants, however, can only wear armor specifically crafted for super mutants
and cannot wear power armor. Robots do not wear armor, because that would look silly.

Armor Condition
Like weapons and vehicles, armor also loses its effectiveness over time if not maintained and
repaired. For every five successful hits that cause damage against a character wearing a set of
armor, the armor loses a condition box, and for every successful critical hit, armor loses two
condition boxes. Armor eventually begins to lose its ability to reduce damage as it wears thin
and acquires more holes.

Every suit of armor has 10 condition boxes (making each condition box effectively 10%
of an armor durability) and when each condition box has been checked off the armor is
considered broken and provides only the most meager protect – a damaged suit of metal armor is
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still technically better than going into a gunfight naked. For each condition box checked off,
reduce the armor’s Damage Resistances by 1 and Armor Class by 2%.
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 For example, if a suit of leather armor in pristine condition provides an Armor Class
bonus of +8%, a Ballistic Damage Resistance of 8, and an Energy Damage Resistance of 6. If
the armor has lost two condition boxes, it would instead provide an AC bonus of +4%, a BDR of
6, and an EDR of 4. If the same suit of armor continues taking damage and has lost four
condition boxes, its effectiveness is reduced further. Said suit of armor would provide no AC
bonus or EDR and only 2 points of DR against ballistic damage.

Armored Vault Jumpsuit: A traditional Vault-Tec jumpsuit often reinforced with either leather
padding, ceramic or metal plates, or Kevlar. Traditionally worn only by Vault Dwellers out in
the wastelands, these jumpsuits provide modest protection and often have enough gear and
equipment strapped on to them to provide a minor bonuses to certain Skills. Value: 400 Caps

Wgt: 12 lbs. AC: +10% BDR: 8 EDR: 6 Light Armor

Misc: +2% bonus to two Skills (determined by the Overseer).

Combat Armor: The standard military-issue armor for

ground troops before the war, there are still quite a few
suits of combat armor lying around in the wasteland. It
was designed to protect key sections of the human body
from ballistic trauma with hard armored plates made from
complex polymers and ceramics, with a flexible body suit
interwoven with thermal-dissipative membranes and
bulletproof material. Most are used by law-enforcement
or better-funded mercenary groups, though a particularly
wealthy gangster or wastelander could easily afford a suit
for himself. Value: 6500 Caps

Wgt: 25 lbs. AC: +20% BDR: 15 EDR: 15 Medium Armor

Misc: None

Leather Armor: A durable (and fashionable!) leather jacket reinforced with additional leather
pads and ballistic fibers. It offers modest protection without weighing the wearer down and can
be easily patched up and repaired after a nasty gunfight. Last, but certainly not least, it looks
really, really cool. Value: 250 Caps

Wgt: 10 lbs. AC: +8% BDR: 6 EDR: 4 Light Armor

Misc: None.
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Lightweight Metal Armor: A suit of metal armor modified for long-range travel, this
lightweight metal provides excellent protection without weighing so much that the wearer can’t
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travel across the wastelands. The weight is still significant enough to reduce the wearer’s
mobility, although many claim that the protection it provides is worth the inconvenience. Value:
1100 Caps

Wgt: 20 lbs. AC: +10% BDR: 12 EDR: 14 Medium Armor

Misc: -1 Agility

Mercenary Outfit: A lightweight armor usually consisting of a ballistic jacket worn beneath a
standard leather jacket with some minor reinforcement in terms of leather or metal plates on the
shoulders and shins. Bandoleers and sheaths are kept in easy to reach places, granting the wearer
a bit of an edge when using traditional firearms and hand-to-hand weapons. These types of
outfits are, of course, quite popular amongst seedier mercenary crews. Value: 150 Caps

Wgt: 30 lbs. AC: +15% BDR: 3 EDR: 2 Light Armor

Misc+2% Guns, +2% Melee Weapons

Metal Armor: Usually built from the shells of decommissioned robots (a fact that they just love,
by the way), metal armor provides a significant amount of protection compared to leather armor.
It is one of the most common types of armor and is a favorite among mercenaries due to its
protection and the fact that it can be repaired rather easily. It is incredibly cumbersome,
however, and therefore isn’t recommended for those who want to travel long distances. Value:
1500 Caps

Wgt: 30 lbs. AC: +15% BDR: 14 EDR: 16 Heavy Armor

Misc: -1 Agility

Radiation Suit: A radiation suit is necessary is

someone is going to do any prolonged activity in an
irradiated area- such as the Commonwealth’s
Glowing Sea. While in a radiation suit, a person is
protected from all radioactivity and radiation as well
as protection from airborne poisons and toxins.
Needless to say, these suits are quite rare and
incredibly valuable. Value: 5000 Caps

Wgt: 5 AC: BDR: 4 EDR: 4 Light

lbs. +15% Armor
Misc: 100% Radiation Resistance
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Raider Armor: The go-to armor of the scum of the earth, raider armor is usually just layers of
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leather, cloth, and metal connected with wires and belts to form a loose-fitting banding. It
doesn’t offer the greatest protection in the wasteland, but it can be repaired very easily thanks to
its low craftsmanship and the easy to acquire parts. Value: 700 Caps

Wgt: 15 lbs. AC: +8% BDR: 6 EDR: 6 Light Armor

Misc: +2% Sneak; Can be repaired in half the normal time.

Reinforced Combat Armor: This suit of armor is more advanced and consists of a body-
enclosing suit of armor. The sleeves of the body suit are full sleeves and include plate protection
for the upper and lower arms. The lower body is protected by woven trousers and incorporate no
hard armor, save the boots. In the interest of comfort and mobility, the armor encasing the foot
and lower leg is articulated, not sealed. Value: 8000 Caps

Wgt: 25 lbs. AC: +25% BDR: 17 EDR: 17 Medium Armor

Misc: None

Reinforced Combat Armor, Mk. II: The most advanced in the

line of infantry combat armors, the Mk. II boasts thicker armor
plates than the standard or reinforced lines of combat armors.
These plates not only completely cover the torso, shoulders, knees,
and lower legs, but have forearm guards along with several pouches
located along the upper thighs and waists. The suit provides equal
protection from ballistic fire and energy emissions. Value: 9500
Caps

Wgt: 25 AC: +25% BDR: 20 EDR: 20 Medium

lbs. Armor
Misc: None

Reinforced Leather Armor: Someone took a cool leather jacket and made it even cooler by
slapping some metal on to that baby. While slightly heavier than a standard suit of leather
armor, reinforced leather armor provides better protection against not only standard ballistic fire,
but energy weapons fire as well. Value: 700 Caps

Wgt: 15 lbs. AC: +15% BDR: 10 EDR: 8 Light Armor

Misc: None.

Reinforced Metal Armor: Sometimes standard metal armor isn’t enough. In those cases, one
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needs reinforced metal armor. Reinforced with what, you ask? Well typically a Kevlar
undershirt and even more metal, particularly steel and lead. Unlike typical suits of metal armor,
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this reinforced variant is rare and usually only found in civilized areas due to the fact that it takes
a skill metalworker to create. Value: 1900 Caps

Wgt: 35 lbs. AC: +15% BDR: 16 EDR: 18 Heavy Armor

Misc: -1 Agility; +10% Radiation Resistance

T-45d Power Armor: Originally developed and

manufactured for the United States Army by West-
Tek, the T-45d power armor was the very first
version of power armor to be successfully deployed
in battle and is said to have been the turning point in
the Sino-American War. In the post-War world, it
has –alongside the T-51b and T-60f models- become
the symbol of the Brotherhood of Steel in the
wasteland, especially along the East Coast.

The T-45d consists of a powered armor frame,

a metal chassis, and a helmet complete with radiation
scrubbers and a spotlight. The armor is shaped and
reinforced to allow it to withstand fire from just about every imaginable weapon. The entire rig
is powered by a TX-28 MicroFusion Core, which generates enough energy to power the HiFlo
hydraulics. These cores generate enough energy to power a suit for centuries, although if
removed the entire rig will be rendered inert.

A creature requires specialized training in order to use T-45d Power Armor. Value:
12500 Caps

Wgt: 105 lbs. AC: +25% BDR: 27 EDR: 30 Power Armor

Misc: +2 Strength, -2 Agility; +75% Radiation Resistance; Requires Power Armor Training

T-51b Power Armor: The second suit of power

armor developed by West-Tek, the T-51b is
considered an advancement in nearly every way.
While its servos provide a smaller bonus to the
wearer’s physical abilities, the lighter frame has a
lower restriction on the operator’s mobility. The
armor itself is a poly-laminate composite capable of
absorbing over 2500 Joules of kinetic impact and is
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coated with a 10-micron-thick silver ablative coating

that can reflect laser and plasma emissions.
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 The helmet houses a spotlight, radiation scrubbers, and a built-in computer system that is
full of pre-War military information (although the computers could feasibly be reset), and a
bulletproof visor. The main body is completely sealed, providing excellent radiation resistance,
and contains a recycling system that can convert human waste into drinkable water, although it
can only do so for so long before the waste is too contaminated.

A creature requires specialized training in order to use T-51b Power Armor. Value:
15000 Caps

Wgt: 95 lbs. AC: +28% BDR: 31 EDR: 35 Power Armor

Misc: +1 Strength, +1 Charisma; +80% Radiation Resistance; Requires Power Armor Training

T-60f Power Armor: The pinnacle of pre-War

power armor, the T-60f was deployed after the
Battle of Anchorage alongside the T-51b,
although in significantly reduced numbers. It is
considerably larger than the T-45d or T-51b, but
thanks to advancements with its kinetic dynamos
and motion-assisted servos, it doesn’t reduce the
operator’s mobility in the slightest. It is slightly
heavier than its less advanced variants, but
makes up for it with its improved durability.

The helmet contains a spotlight, radiation

scrubbers, and a pre-War computer system
containing information- much like the T-51b. However, it also contains a variant of the Vault-
Tec Assisted Targeting, allowing the operator to track enemy combatants and place shots with a
greater degree of accuracy. The body is completely sealed and regularly purges irradiated
materials from the suit. The T-60f houses a waste recycling system that is more efficient than
that of the T-51b, allowing a creature to reuse their body’s liquid waste for up to a week before
needing to replenish with outside materials.

A creature requires specialized training in order to use T-60f Power Armor. Value:
20000 Caps

Wgt: 115 lbs. AC: +35% BDR: 35 EDR: 40 Power Armor

Misc: +2 Strength, +1 Charisma, +1 Intelligence; +10% on all weapon attack rolls; +90%
Radiation Resistance; Requires Power Armor Training
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Tesla Armor: A suit of armor that appears similar in design to the X-01 Power Armor, although
in truth it is a suit of heavy armor. The armor is covered in Tesla Attraction Coil Rods that serve
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to attract electrical energy, granting the wearer superior Energy Damage Resistance. This energy
is channeled to not only power the armor, but actually enhance the wearer’s skills with energy
weapons by providing additional power to the weapons. Tesla armor is particularly rare,
although it is slightly more common in areas once controlled by the Enclave. Value: 4500 Caps

Wgt: 35 lbs. AC: +15% BDR: 32 EDR: 45 Heavy Armor

Misc: +10% Energy Weapons; -1 Charisma; +50% Radiation Resistance

Tribal Armor: Similar in many respects to

raider armor, tribal armor is a fairly primitive
and easy to manufacture and maintain.
Made from animal hides and scrap metals,
tribal armor provides some protection
against ballistic fire, but is rather lacking
when it comes to energy emissions since the
crafters have little experience with such
weaponry. The muted tones of the armor
allow for the wearer to more effectively
sneak through the wasteland, and deep
pockets and pouches create additional space
for storing food and water supplies. Value: 600 Caps

Wgt: 30 lbs. AC: +15% BDR: 5 EDR: 2 Light Armor

Misc: +5% Sneak, +5% Survival

Vandal Armor: A better-crafted version of the raider armor, vandal armor is pieced together
from scraps of armor that provides modest protection without impacting mobility. Unlike
standard raider armor, vandal armor is layered with purpose and utilizes Kevlar and ballistic
fibers to protect the more vulnerable parts of the human body. Value: 800 Caps

Wgt: 15 lbs. AC: +15% BDR: 8 EDR: 8 Light Armor

Misc: +5% Sneak, +1 Agility; Can be repaired in half the normal time.

X-01 Mk. I Power Armor: The first suit of power

armor to be manufactured after the Great War, the X-01
line was developed and employed by the remnants of
the United States Government. It’s believed that the
armor was first put into development in 2198 as part of
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a larger project to develop various technologies. When

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it was finally unveiled by the Enclave, the X-01 Mk. I suit out-performed the T-51b in nearly
every way.

It is composed of lightweight metal alloys reinforced with ceramic castings at key stress
points. The motion-assist servo-motors used in the armor are of a high-quality. Furthermore, it
has an auto-gyro system to keep it upright and the knees can be locked into position, to prevent
the wearer from falling over in case the operator loses consciousness on duty. It also possesses a
waste recycling system believed to be developed from the same prototype system used to
develop the waste recycling system in the T-60f power armor.

A creature requires specialized training in order to use X-01 Mk. I Power Armor. Value:
20000 Caps

Wgt: 90 lbs. AC: +30% BDR: 36 EDR: 40 Power Armor

Misc: +1 Strength, -1 Charisma; +85% Radiation Resistance; Requires Power Armor Training

X-01 Mk. II Power Armor: A few years after fielding the X-01 Mk. I, the Enclave developed
and manufactured the Mk. II for use by their elite soldiers. It is built almost entirely from a
lightweight ceramic composite rather than the usual combination of metal and ceramic plates.
The standard-issue version has a matte black finish to make nighttime operations easier.

The helmet comes standard with radiation filters, audio amplifiers for both incoming and
outgoing transmissions, built-in night vision (negating any negative modifiers from light sources
or a lack thereof). It is also hermetically sealed, providing excellent radiation resistance, and has
an even more advanced waste recycling system, allowing the operator to go for weeks without
external sources of water.

A creature requires specialized training in order to use X-01 Mk. II Power Armor. Value:
35000 Caps

Wgt: 95 lbs. AC: +35% BDR: 40 EDR: 45 Power Armor

Misc: +2 Strength, -1 Charisma; +90% Radiation Resistance; Requires Power Armor Training

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Equipment
Equipment is any item that is not a weapon, armor, or a
weapon modification and can range from ammunition,
chems, and general utility gear. These are common, or
at least not insanely rare, and useful items found in the
wasteland. All equipment has a Cap Value and a
weight, which is recorded in the item’s description.

Equipment can be found, scavenged, bought,

stolen, or even crafted. Merchants happily buy and sell
it, or trade it for similar goods. The most commonly
traded equipment are ammunition and chems, although
food is a close third.

The four Equipment categories are Ammunition,

Chems, Food, and Gear, the latter of which is a catch-all
for general items that serve a utilitarian purpose.

Ammunition: Ammunition is required to shoot guns, energy weapons, and certain explosives.
As such, it is quite valuable, and in many peoples’ eyes, worth its weight in Caps. There are
several types of ammunition, which are listed below. Unlike other types of Equipment,
ammunition does not have a weight. While it’s not overly realistic, we didn’t want to bog people
down with an insane amount of bookkeeping. The value of ammunition has two entries, one for
standard ammunition and one for the variant ammunition (hollow point, overcharged, etc.).

.22LR: This is a low powered round, especially when compared to

5.56mm, .308, or .45 Auto cartridges. Back before the Great War
the .22LR was used as a commercial small game hunting round.
Due to the small size and low stopping power of the .22LR round, it
takes a particularly skilled marksman to make a kill shot with a
weapon chambered with .22LR. Value: 10 Caps Standard, 15 Caps
Variants

.308: The “Grandad’s” brand of .308 caliber ammunition is a full-sized cartridge used primarily
in hunting rifles in the pre-War United States. In the post-War wasteland it has become a
popular brand of ammunition for high-power conventional weapons and long-range
157

sharpshooters. Value: 40 Caps Standard, 60 Caps Variants

.357 Magnum: The .357 magnum round was most commonly manufactured by Big Chief and
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has a significant powder load, which makes it a very powerful cartridge for a pistol round, and
acceptable for use in carbine length lever-action rifles. Value: 15 Caps Standard, 20 Caps
Variants

.44 Magnum: The .44 magnum round is a high powered magnum pistol cartridge derived from
the .44 special pistol round. The round was originally developed for revolvers, but with its high
velocity and heavy bullet, manufacturers quickly developed lever-action and carbines chambered
in .44 magnum. Ancient as it is, .44 magnum still delivers quite a punch and proves to be quite
effective in the field. Value: 25 Caps Standard, 35 Caps Variants

.45 Auto: The .45 Auto round is manufactured by Union Cartridge, and is a large caliber auto-
pistol cartridge used in pistols and submachine guns. It was rather rare for a time, but in recent
years has been manufactured in New Canaanite lands and sold across the wastes. Value: 15
Caps Standard, 20 Caps Variants

.45-70 Gov’t: A powerful .45 caliber round from the late 19th century,
.45-70 Gov’t (government) rounds are one of the rarer types of
ammunition found in the wasteland. It is a little more common in the
Core Regions than along the East Coast, but it’s not unheard of. The
New California Ranger Corps utilizes .45-70 Gov’t for their brush
guns and revolvers. It is highly sought after thanks to its rarity and
sheer stopping power. Value: 30 Caps Standard, 45 Caps Variants

.50 MG: The .50 MG is a large caliber heavy machine gun and long-range anti-material rifle
round. It is the largest, heaviest, and oftentimes the most expensive conventional firearm
ammunition around. The only known weapon to utilize .50 MG is the anti-material rifle,
although some savvy wastelanders have rechambered more common weapons to fire this
particular ammunition. Value: 80 Caps Standard, 120 Caps Variants

2mm Electromagnetic Cartridge: Relatively rare compared to other ammunition types, the
2mm EMC is a specially-designed round used only by the Gauss Rifle. It combines the sciences
behind conventional firearms ammunition (namely a solid “bullet”) with the high-tech science
behind energy weaponry. The Enclave is said to have once had a large stash of these rounds, as
does a shadowy organization existing in the Commonwealth and Capital Wasteland… Value:
200 Caps Standard, 400 Caps Variants

5mm: The 5mm round is a small caliber, high velocity rifle

cartridge most commonly utilized by miniguns. It is commonly
belt-fed and is available in rather high quantities, something made
necessary by the notably large “magazine” sizes on the weapons
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that use it. It boasts a high penetration rating, which offsets its
smaller size considerably. Value: 50 Caps Standard, 75 Caps
Variants
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5.56mm: The 5.56mm round is a high velocity small caliber rifle cartridge and is considered a
general-purpose round for all guns, spanning the wasteland’s arsenal from the service rifle to the
Bozar. 5.56mm is common, light, cheap, easy to make, and is considered one of the two “small
rifle” cartridges, the other being 5mm. It is a solid, all-around dependable round. Value: 60
Caps Standard, 90 Caps Variants

9mm: Before the Great War, Donaustahl BmbH 9mm

ammunition was the preferred type of ammunition for the
average United States gun-owning civilian (in contrast to the
military’s favored 10mm round). It is a medium caliber auto-
pistol round, suitable for use in handguns and submachine
guns. Value: 20 Caps Standard, 30 Caps Variants

10mm: In the pre-War era, 10mm was the standard

ammunition for the Bureau of Alcohol, Drugs, Tobacco,
Firearms and Lasers and for the branches of the military that
weren’t transitioning over to experimental energy weapons. It
is a medium caliber, high velocity auto-pistol round. Value: 30 Caps Standard, 45 Caps Variants

12.7mm: The Hauer Premium Show Stopper 12.7mm civic defense round is a consumer-grade
pistol round of identical bullet diameter to the military-grade .50 caliber, but with less stopping
power. While it shares the same bullet diameter, the cartridge case is much shorter, holding far
less powder than the full-sized .50 MG cartridge. Value: 60 Caps Standard, 90 Caps Variants

12-Gauge Shell: The Purebore Buckslayer Sure Shot 12 gauge shotgun shell is a large bore
shotshell. 12-Gauge tends to be used in more “modern” shotguns when compared to 20-Gauge
ammunition. Value: 15 Caps Standard, 20 Caps Variants

20-Gauge Shell: Masterson low recoil/max power 20-gauge shotgun shells are very similar to
their larger, better known cousins, the 12-gauge shells. Smaller in bore size, they have lighter
powder loads and a smaller amount of shot, resulting in lower recoil and reduced target effect.
Value: 20 Caps Standard, 30 Caps Variants

25mm Grenade: This is standard ammunition for the grenade machinegun. It is designed to
explode on impact, and does so 96.4% of the time. Value: 100 Caps Standard, 150 Caps
Variants

40mm Grenade: This is the projectile fired from the 40mm grenade launcher and grenade rifle.
They are much larger than 25mm grenades, making them heavier and harder to fire at great
speed. Value: 200 Caps Standard, 300 Caps Variants
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BBs: BBs are lead free metal pellets for use in air guns. They are usually
propelled using compressed air or gas – particularly pump-action guns-
there is no need for common ammunition ingredients such as gunpowder
or primers. Value: 10 Caps

Energy Cells: Small, self-contained energy storage units often associated

with one-handed energy weapons. Energy cells essentially act as a very
powerful battery or capacitor. They are the standard ammunition used by
the majority of the pistol-sized energy weapons. Value: 150 Caps
Standard, 225 Caps Variants

Flamer Fuel: Flamer fuel is a mixture of petro-chemicals and other

flammable compounds for use in specialty flamethrowers. Most flamer
fuel is either military grade found in old pre-War Army bases or a
homemade concoction made from corn-based ethanol combined with
laundry detergent. Sometimes people mix all four! Value: 200 Caps

High-Velocity Missiles: A guided, self-propelled projectile armed with a high explosive charge,
these are used by missile launchers. Missiles are incredibly rare, as they are difficult to
manufacture in the post-War world, although rumor has it they’re being churned out of a small
settlement called the Pitt. Value: 300 Caps

Microfusion Cells: The microfusion cell model No. 1040 MRC is a medium-sized energy
production unit. It is a self-contained fusion plant with an output of 1040.8 VDC used as
ammunition for energy weapons, particularly rifle-sized energy weapons and larger. They are
more powerful than energy cells, but at the same time are more expensive. Value: 200 Caps
Standard, 300 Caps Variants

Mini Nuke: Alright, so we lied. Mini Nukes do

have a known weight, and it’s about three
pounds. A mini nuke is similar to an American
football in both shape and size. When the red tab
on the nose is pressed down, the atomic fission is
activated and creates a small nuclear explosion.
However, the only way to detonate them is to use
a M72 Fat Man (or strap another explosive to it).
They have a powerful explosion, causing the
characteristic mushroom cloud, and leave residual
radioactivity. Value: 1000 Caps
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Chems: Chems (a truncation of “chemical”) is post-
apocalyptic slang for “drug.” A chem is any chemical –
medicinal or otherwise- used to cause changes in a person’s
behavior or biological system. The origin of the post-War
chem trade is unknown, although many signs point to the
Great Khans tribe, at least in the Core Regions. Chems can
range from simple things like booze and cigarettes to
military-grade Psycho to medicinal stimpaks.

Some chems are addictive and can have adverse

effects on you if you aren’t up to your gills in them twenty-
four seven. Resisting addiction requires a Nerve Test (your
combined mental and physical fortitude to resist both the
psychological and biological effects). Each addictive chem has an Addiction Rating, which is a
number subtracted from a creature’s Nerve Value before the Nerve Test is attempted. If a
creature succeeds on the Nerve Test, they are not addicted. If they fail, the creature is addicted
and suffers the effects of addiction whenever they aren’t using.

Booze: Booze is a distilled product with a high alcohol content made from fermenting corn,
grain, potatoes or spores plant. Some booze – the good stuff – may even be left over from the
Great War. There are several variants of alcohol: Gamma Gulp brand beer, moonshine, rot gut,
scotch, vodka, whiskey, wine, absinthe, and of course wasteland tequila. Drinking booze gives
you a +1 bonus to your Strength and Charisma and a -1 penalty to your Intelligence for 30
minutes. If you become addicted to Booze, you suffer a -1 penalty to Charisma and Agility
whenever you aren’t under the effects of the chem. Addiction Rating: 10%. Value: 20 Caps

Buffout: Buffout is a highly advanced steroid that was popularized before the Great War by
professional athletes and their clandestine use of the drug. Taking Buffout increases your
Strength by 2, your Endurance by 3, and your Hit Points by 60 for 30 minutes. If you become
addicted to Buffout, you suffer a -1 penalty to Strength and Endurance whenever you aren’t
under the effects of the chem. Addiction Rating: 10%. Value: 200 Caps

Coyote Tobacco: This typically comes in chew form, although some people make cigarettes
from the leaves. Coyote tobacco is a naturally growing plant that when used increases your
Perception and Agility by 1 for 30 minutes. If you become addicted to Coyote tobacco, you
suffer a -1 penalty to Perception and Charisma whenever you aren’t under the effects of the
chem. Addiction: 10%. Value: 25 Caps

Expired Stimpak: A stimpak, or stimulation delivery package, is a type of hand-held

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medication used for healing the body. The item consists of a syringe for containing and
delivering the medication and a gauge for measuring the status of the stimpak’s contents. When
the medicine is injected, it provides immediate healing of the body’s minor wounds. Most
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stimpaks that survived the Great War have long
since expired, and while they provide some healing
properties, they aren’t as good as the rare few that
are still fresh. Whenever you administer an expired
Stimpak, you may attempt a Medicine Skill Test as
part of the action. You heal 1d8 Hit Points, plus
1d8 Hit Points each round for a number of rounds
equal to your Degrees of Success. If you fail your
Skill Test, you still heal 1d8 Hit Points when you first use the expired Stimpak. Value: 50 Caps

Hydra: Hydra is a drug developed from antivenom, nightstalker blood, and cave fungus. While
under the effects of Hydra, you suffer no penalties for crippled limbs for 30 minutes and you heal
1 Hit Point every 10 seconds (1 HP per round inc ombat). If you become addicted to Hydra, you
suffer a -3 penalty to Endurance whenever you aren’t under the effects of the chem. Addiction:
10%. Value: 500 Caps

Jet: An inhalant chem with a mysterious origin. Some say it was developed by
a man in New Reno, while others claim that it was developed before the Great
War. Regardless of where it came from, Jet has ravaged the wasteland as one of
the most addictive chems out there. While fucked up on Jet (there’s really no
other way to describe it), your Action Point maximum increases by 5 for 30
minutes. If you become addicted to Jet, you suffer a -1 penalty to Strength,
Perception, Charisma, and Agility whenever you aren’t high as a kite.
Addiction: 80%. Value: 25 Caps

Med-X: Med-X is a potent opiate analgesic that binds to opiod receptors in the brain and central
nervous system, reducing the perception of pain as well as the emotional response to pain.
Essentially, it is a painkiller delivered by a hypodermic needle. It was used before the War as an
anesthetic before surgery- particularly battlefield surgery. While under the effects of Med-X,
you increase your Damage Resistance by 15 for 30 minutes. If you become addicted to Med-X,
you suffer a -1 penalty to Agility and Intelligence whenever you aren’t under the effects of the
chem. Addiction: 10%. Value: 200 Caps

Mentats: This pre-War chem was developed and

created by Med-Tek. They were designed to increase
the memory related functions and speed up other mental
processes. These chalky red pills were a popular party
drug once favored for the boost it gave to creativity –
turn on, tune in, drop out. While under the effects of
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Mentats, you increase your Intelligence and Perception

by 2 and your Charisma by 1 for 1 hour. If you become
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addicted to Mentats, you suffer a -1 penalty to Perception and Intelligence whenever you aren’t
under the effects of the chem. Addiction: 5%. Value: 280 Caps

Party Time Mentats: For when you really want to be the hit at a party! With the addition of a
few organic ingredients (and a healthy dose of whiskey), regular Mentats now provide you with
all that artificial courage you need to have a good time. While under the effects of Party Time
Mentats, you increase your Intelligence and Perception by 2 and your Charisma by 5 for 1 hour.
If you become addicted to Party Time Mentats, you suffer a -1 penalty to Perception and
Intelligence whenever you aren’t under the effects of the chem. Addiction: 15%. Value: 400
Caps

Psycho: Psycho appears as a form of injected drug composed of

strange, unknown chemicals of military origin that comes with its own
unique delivery system. It was designed at the orders of General
Chase specifically for military use. BRING IT ON! It increases a
user’s damage resistance and its dampening effect on higher brain
functions make for tough, but uncontrollable, troops. This drug was
very popular for human-wave assaults. Nowadays raider gangs use it
for the same thing. While under the effects of Psycho, you deal an
additional +10 points of damage on attacks and increase your Damage
Resistance by 5 for 30 minutes. FUCKING KILL! If you become
addicted to Psycho, you suffer a -2 penalty to Intelligence and a -1
penalty to Strength and Endurance whenever you aren’t under the
effects of the chem. Addiction: 20%. Value: 400 Caps

RadAway: RadAway is an intravenous chemical solution that bonds with radiation particles and
passes them through the body’s system. It takes some time to work, and is also a potent diuretic.
While it is not addictive, the use of RadAway often results in severe headaches, stomach pains,
and in some instances hair loss. When you use RadAway, you reduce the number of rads in your
body by 5 every minute for 30 minutes (for a total of 150 Rads at the end of the half hour).
Value: 1500 Caps

Rad-X: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and that was the idea behind Rad-X.
While it wasn’t marketed for consumer use before the Great War, the use of Rad-X in the
military was widespread enough to allow for several thousand bottles to survive the apocalypse.
It didn’t take long for scientists to figure out how to make more, and Rad-X continues to thrive
to this day. By taking Rad-X, you increase your Radiation Resistance by 25%. Obviously
humans are the only sentient creature that benefits from taking Rad-X. Value: 2000 Caps
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Rebound: A variant of Jet, Rebound is usually held in a metal hip flask filled with liquid jet and
a pair of glass vials of pre-War adrenaline drugs taped to the side, which flow up through tubes
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into the mouth of the flask. A need on the top administers the drug cocktail, causing a steady
rush of energy rather than an instant energy rush. When
under the effects of Rebound, you start each round of
combat with an additional Action Point (1 on the first
round, 2 on the second round, 3 on the third round, and so
on until combat ends or you reach 10 bonus Action
Points). This effect lasts for 30 minutes. If you become
addicted to Rebound, you suffer a -1 penalty to Agility
and Charisma whenever you aren’t under the effects of the
chem. Addiction: 90%. Value: 75 Caps

Rocket: Also known as “UltraJet” in some regions, Rocket is Jet’s cooler younger brother. It
packs an even greater punch than Jet and the high lasts twice as long. The recipe is still largely
undetermined, but most call for Jet, Abraxo Cleaner, and either a bottle of Nuka-Cola or a box of
Sugar Bombs. While fucked up on Rocket, your Action Point maximum increases by 15 for 1
hour. If you become addicted to Rocket, you suffer a -1 penalty to Strength, Perception,
Charisma, and Agility whenever you aren’t high as a kite. Addiction: 90%. Value: 25 Caps

Slasher: A potent potable made by combining Psycho, a stimpak, and usually a pulpy fruit like
banana yucca. It provides the typical rage inducing effects of Psycho, but with added damage
resistance thanks to the adrenaline in the stimpak. Some folks have tried experimenting by
combining Psycho with Med-X to make Slasher, but those people are dead now. While under
the effects of Slasher, you deal an additional +15 points of damage on attacks and increase your
Damage Resistance by 10 for 30 minutes. If you become addicted to Slasher, you suffer a -2
penalty to Intelligence and a -1 penalty to Strength and Endurance whenever you aren’t under the
effects of the chem. Addiction: 25%. Value: 500 Caps

Smooch: A greasy, green goo developed in the Reservation, Smooch is an extremely mellow
chem that provides feelings of incredibly ecstasy, and notably provides the same effects to
ghouls as it does humans. While under the effects of Smooch, you gain a +1 bonus to your
Charisma and Luck for 1 hour. If you become addicted to Smooch, you suffer a -2 penalty to
Charisma and Agility whenever you aren’t under the effects of the chem. Ghouls do not gain
their typical +10% on Nerve Tests to resist the chance of becoming addicted to Smooch.
Addiction: 15%. Value: 200 Caps

Steady: A combat chem made from unknown chemicals and

hailing from unknown lands, Steady provides the user with a steady
aim that makes it damn near impossible to miss in sharpshooting,
making it perfect for snipers trying to line up the perfect shot. Due
to the potency and untested nature of the chem, however, it is also
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highly addictive. While under the effects of Steady, you suffer no

penalties for not meeting the minimum Strength or Skill
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requirements of a particular weapon for 30 minutes. If you become

addicted to Steady, you suffer a -1 penalty to your Strength and Agility whenever you aren’t
under the effects of the chem. Addiction: 80%. Value: 500 Caps

Stimpak: Occasionally you’ll get lucky and stumble upon a cache of Pre-War stimpaks that
haven’t expired. Most are found in military bases or hospitals, but some can be found in random
first aid kits. Most fresh stimpaks are actually manufactured by chemists, as the ingredients and
instructions on how to prepare one were quite common in Old World ruins. However, they are
also rather pricey. Whenever you administer a Stimpak, you may attempt a Medicine Skill Test
as part of the action. You heal 1d10 Hit Points, plus 1d10 Hit Points each round for a number of
rounds equal to your Degrees of Success. If you fail your Skill Test, you still heal 1d10 Hit
Points when you first use the Stimpak. Value: 150 Caps

Super Stimpak: After the success of their “Stimpak,” Lee Rapid

Pharmaceuticals researched and developed the “Super Stimpak,” the
latest in the line of personal medical administration devices. While
largely the same as a stimpak, the super stimpak contains an additional
vial that contains even more powerful painkillers and adrenaline
boosters. While normally safe, some people have complained about
“stimpak sickness.” Not that you need to worry about that! Whenever
you administer a Super Stimpak, you may attempt a Medicine Skill
Test as part of the action. You heal 1d12 Hit Points, plus 1d12 Hit
Points each round for a number of rounds equal to your Degrees of
Success. If you fail your Skill Test, you still heal 1d12 Hit Points
when you first use the Super Stimpak. Value: 500 Caps

Turbo: Turbo is one hell of a chem that is made from Jet, turpentine, the poison gland of a
cazador or radscorpion, and broc flower juices. The combination of these three deadly poisons
(and the broc flower) put the user in an almost zen-like state where the rest of the world moves
so very slowly. While under the effects of Turbo, you get a +2 bonus to your Agility and double
your total Action Points and your Armor Class for 1 minute. If you would take multiple hits of
turbo in a quick succession, you wouldn’t increase the duration of the effect, but instead double
the potency of the chem (the bonuses max out after three hits of turbo). If you become addicted
to Turbo, you suffer a -1 penalty to each of your SPECIAL Stats (minimum 1 in each stat) and
reduce your AP maximum by 2 (to a minimum of 4) whenever you aren’t under the effects of the
chem. Addiction: 20%. Value: 600 Caps

Voodoo: A tribal concoction made from the parts of dead critters (yum!). Eating this powder
makes the user feel damn near invincible. While under the effects of Voodoo, your eyes will be
keen, your limbs will not break, and your claws will strike like thunder! You gain a +15 damage
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with any Melee Weapon or Unarmed attacks and your limbs cannot be crippled for 15 minutes.
If you become addicted to Voodoo, you suffer a -2 penalty to each of your SPECIAL Stats
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(minimum 1 in each stat) whenever you aren’t under the effects of the chem. Addiction: 20%.
Value: 500 Caps

Food: Fallout: Wastelands refers to any

non-Chem healing item as “food,” a catch-
all phrase that covers what most people
consider food as well as beverages. Food
and drink also serve the incredibly
important role of keeping you alive (See
Section 5: Adventuring in the Wastes for
details). Without food, a creature would
starve. Without water, a creature would die
of dehydration. Unless said creature is a
robot. Robots don’t need that shit. While
food and drinks are incredibly beneficial,
they also have a dangerous side-effect: the deadly radiation that saturates so much of the
wasteland.

Animal Meat: Whether it’s from a brahmin, a radstag, a mirelurk, a deathclaw, or a dog, animal
meat is one of the more abundant types of food out in the wasteland. Eating raw animal meat is
dangerous, as you combine the exposure to radiation with the risk of food borne illness.
Whenever you eat properly prepared animal meats, you heal Hit Points over time, much like you
would when using a stimpak. Whenever you eat animal meat, you may attempt a Survival Skill
Test as part of the action. You heal 1d6 Hit Points, plus 1d6 Hit Points each round for a number
of rounds equal to your Degrees of Success. If you fail your Skill Test, you still heal 1d6 Hit
Points when you first eat the meat. Animals are quite abundant in the wasteland, as is their
delicious, delicious meat. Eating animal meat increases your Rads by 5 and lowers your
Starvation by one stage. Value: 20 Caps

Aqua Pura: With a name that literally means “pure water,” you know it’s
got to be good! Aqua Pura is a rather rare water item that, so far, can only
be found in the Capital Wasteland and the Commonwealth and is tightly
controlled and regulated by the East Coast Brotherhood of Steel chapter.
It’s created by a process known as “Project Purity” that not only strips out
all radioactive material, but actually leaves a little bit of the radiation
cleansing particles in the water itself. Drinking Aqua Pura automatically
restores 2d6 Hit Points, reduces your Dehydration by one stage, and
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decreases your Rads by 10. Value: 100 Caps

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Bug Meat: While you may not like it, you can’t deny that bloatflies, radroaches, cazadors,
stingwings, and bloodbugs have some nutritional value to them. Plus there’s a lot more bugs out
there than damn near anything else, meaning the meat is dirt cheap to buy if you can’t find it on
your own. Whenever you eat properly prepared bug meat, you may attempt a Survival Skill Test
as part of the action. You heal 1d4 Hit Points, plus 1d4 Hit Points each round for a number of
rounds equal to your Degrees of Success. If you fail your Skill Test, you still heal 1d4 Hit Points
when you first eat the meat. Eating bug meat increases your Rads by 5 and lowers your
Starvation by one stage. Value: 5 Caps

Canned Food: Whether it’s the Greasy Prospector’s Improved Pork

and Beans or a good old fashioned can of CRAM, canned foods are one
of the most common items to survive the Great War, and as a result they
are one of the most common items found on a wastelander’s dinner
plate. While it’s probably not the freshest thing you’ll ever eat, canned
food has kept well enough that when you eat it, it stays eaten. Eating a
can of canned food automatically restores 2d6 Hit Points, reduces your
Starvation by one stage, and increases your Rads by 5. Value: 10 Caps

Cave Fungus: Cave fungi are pieces of fungus skewered n a stick, like a kebab of sorts. They
can be found all over the wasteland –particularly in swamps and caves- and are used not only as
a food item, but as an ingredient for several chems and medicines. Eating cave fungi
automatically restores 2d4 Hit Points, reduces your Starvation by one stage, and decreases your
Rads by 10. Value: 15 Caps

Dirty Water: So-called “dirty” water is the most common type of water found in the wasteland.
It is water that contains radioactive particles, and so drinking it can be a little risky. However,
drinking irradiated water is slightly better than dying of dehydration, which I’ve heard can suck
pretty hard. Drinking dirty water immediately restores 2d4 Hit Points, reduces your Dehydration
by one stage, and increases your Rads by 5. Value: 25 Caps

Fresh Fruits and Vegetables: While some feared that the wastelands would remain blasted and
barren for all eternity, slowly forcing mankind to turn to cannibalism as the last of the pre-War
junk food and canned goods ran out, others realized that all of that was pretty gloomy (and a
little stupid) and decided to start farming again. The fruits of their labors (pun intended) have
resulted in a myriad of edible plants ranging from razorgrain to mutfruit and maize to tatos.
While these may not be the exact fruits and vegetables you’re used to, they’re genetically similar
enough, and perfectly edible. Eating fresh fruits and vegetables automatically heals 2d6 Hit
Points and reduces your Starvation and Dehydration each by one stage.
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Junk Food: Back before the Great War junk food was something enjoyed by people during
recreation. Nowadays it can mean the different between life and death if nothing else is on hand.
Junk food can range from Potato Crisps to Dandy Boy Snack Cakes. It’s still real tasty, although
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it doesn’t provide much in the way of nutritional value. Eating junk food immediately
restores 2d4 Hit Points, reduces your Starvation by one stage, and increases your
Rads by 5. Value: 25 Caps

MRE: Meals, Ready-to-Eat are incredibly nutritious field rations developed and
used by the United States Armed Forces in combat and field conditions where
organized food facilities weren’t available. The main meals in the pouch come pre-
cooked in “boil in the foil” packets that can be warmed by immersing them in water,
which in turn activates heating cells in the MRE pouch. They are, of course,
commonly found in old military installations, although the Brotherhood of Steel and
the New California Republic have both developed their own MREs. The meals can
range from pork chops to lasagna to sushi (although that last one is admittedly quite
rare) and contains enough food and water –and a dose of caffeine- to keep a soldier
on her feet. Eating an MRE automatically restores 2d6 Hit Points, reduces your
Starvation, Dehyrdration, and Exhaustion by one stage each, and increases your Rads
by 5.

Nuka-Cola: What’s better than an ice cold Nuka-Cola? Nothin’, that’s what. This
famous drink was invented in 2044 by a man by the name of John-Caleb Bradberton,
and its unique taste gained widespread popularity, quickly becoming the most
popular soft drink in the United States (certainly better than Bawls Guarana!). The
recipe of Nuka-Cola is a closely guarded secret, but that hasn’t stopped several
wastelanders from trying to recreate it. Drinking Nuka-Cola immediately restores 2d6
Hit Points, 5 Action Points, reduces your Dehydration and Exhaustion by one stage
each, increases your Rads by 10, and puts a Cap back in your pocket! There are
several flavors of Nuka-Cola out there (Nuka-Cola, Nuka-Cherry, Nuka-Cola Quartz,
and the Special Edition Nuka-Cola Victory). Try them all! Value: 50 Caps

Nuka-Cola Quantum: The ultimate in Nuka-Cola brand beverages, Nuka-Cola

Quantum is an incredibly rare drink that glows bright blue thanks to the radioactive
Strontium-90 isotope. The recipe of Nuka-Cola Quantum is an even more closely
guarded secret than original Nuka-Cola. So secret, in fact, that no one’s managed to
crack it yet to reproduce the beverage. Sure, some people have tried, but you can
always tell the fakes from the real deal. As such, Nuka-Cola Quantum has become
incredibly rare as more and more are consumed without being replaced. Drinking
Nuka-Cola Quantum immediately restores all Hit Points and Action Points, returns
your Dehydration and Exhaustion back to Stage One, increases your Rads by 20, and
puts a Cap right back in your pocket! Take the leap… enjoy a Quantum! Value: 500
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Caps

Purified Water: Most purified water comes from small water purifiers or the rare
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natural water source that hasn’t been radiated to hell and back. Lakes and rivers in
the western regions of the United States wasteland tend to have less radiation than those closer to
the East Coast, likely due to the number of valuable military targets dotting the Eastern
Seaboard. Purified water is free of radiation, but unlike Aqua Pura, it doesn’t provide any sort of
resistance or recovery from radiation sickness. Drinking purified water immediately restores 2d6
Hit Points and reduces your Dehydration by one stage. Value: 50 Caps

Strange Meat: Where did this come from? Who knows?

Whatever this mysterious meat is, it’s not the worst
tasting thing you’ve ever had. Eating strange meat like
this automatically restores 2d8 Hit Points, reduces your
Starvation by one stage, and increases your Rads by 10.
I’ve heard that if you eat too much of this stuff it’ll give
you the shakes, so watch out. Value: 15 Caps

Gear: And finally we come to gear, the catch-all for any

particularly handy object that you might come across in your
travels. Gear can be anything from a flare gun to a bobby pin. As
there isn’t a unified purpose amongst “gear” unlike food, chems,
or ammo, you’ll have to pay particular attention to what each item
does.

Gear can be found out in the wastelands hidden away in

the ruins of the Old World, or in the inventories of wandering
merchants. Some parts of the wasteland have been developed
enough to begin manufacturing – regions such as the NCR and the
Pitt – and have begun making some of this gear themselves.

Armor Repair Kit: A bag containing pieces of leather, ballistic fiber, duct tape, epoxy, and
ceramic plates. Having an armor repair kit allows a creature to use his or her Repair Skill to
restore the condition of a piece of armor. Without it, a creature has to use another piece of armor
to provide the spare parts or scrounge around for something nearby. Using an armor repair kit
grants the user a +10% on all Repair Skill Tests used to repair armor. An armor repair kit has
enough supplies in it to repair a suit of armor up to 10 times. Weight: 15 lbs. Value: 500 Caps

Bobby Pins: A flexible, double-pronged hairpin made

of metal or plastic, normally used to hold hair in place.
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After the Great War, bobby pins became commonly

used for the arts of breaking and entering. While a
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bobby pin and a screwdriver can be used to open locks,

they aren’t designed for and therefore provide no bonus to a creature’s Security Skill. If a
creature fails a Security Test while trying to open a lock with bobby pin, the pin breaks. Bobby
pins can only be used on standard locks. A mechanized or electronic door requires an electronic
lock pick, or a skilled hacker and a nearby terminal. Weight: Practically nothing. Value: 5 Caps

Books: Most books were destroyed during the Great

War, as paper and glue don’t do much to withstand
atomic fire. In some parts of the wasteland, those that
survived were destroyed out of fear that they contained
the secrets to another apocalypse. In other, less crazy,
parts of the wasteland organizations and individuals took
books and protected them, sometimes even working to
copy or restore them. Unlike magazines, which only
provide a temporary bonus, owning a book gives you a
+3% bonus to the corresponding Skill, provided that you
have the book on your person. Losing the book means
you can’t reference it anymore, and you lose the bonus.
Below are the various books that found throughout the
wastelands, with the Skills that they modify. Remember, knowledge is power! Weight: 2 lbs.
Value: 500 Caps

 Big Book of Science: Science  Lying, Congressional Style: Speech

 Chinese Army: Special Ops Training  Nikola Tesla and You: Energy
Manual: Stealth Weapons
 D.C. Journal of Internal Medicine:  Pugilism Illustrated: Unarmed
Medicine  Tales of a Junktown Jerky Vendor:
 Dean’s Electronics: Repair Barter
 Duck and Cover!: Athletics  Tumblers Today: Security
 Grognak the Barbarian: Melee  United States Driver’s Manual: Pilot
Weapons  U.S. Army: 30 Handy Flamethrower
 Guns and Bullets: Guns Recipes: Explosives
 Gwinnett Book of World Records:  Wasteland Survival Guide: Survival
Academics  Where’s Walden?: Investigation

Cigarette Lighter: Useful for lighting cigarettes and cigars, as well as

Molotov cocktails and just about anything else that will burn. Lighters
are typically used to light recreational chems and improvised
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explosives, but they can also be used as a source of light, in which case
they’ll shed light in a three yard radius (3 hex radius). Traditional
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lighter fluid is hard to come by, so most people refill their lighters with homemade Flamer fuel.
Weight: 0 lbs. Value: 10 Caps

Doctor’s Bag: The best friend of any wasteland

medicinal practitioner, the doctor’s bag contains a variety
of medical tools – forceps, medical brace, scalpel,
surgical tubing, bone saw, bottle of whiskey. Typical
doctor stuff. If a creature has a doctor’s bag, she gets a
+10% on all Medicine Skill Tests made for the purposes
of treating crippled limbs, blindness, poison, and disease.
A doctor’s bag has enough supplies in it to treat up to 10
patients or ailments. Value: 450 Caps

Electronic Lock Pick, Mk. II: The Wattz Electronics Micromanipulator FingerStuff electronic
lock pick is an advanced lock picking device used for cracking security on electrically-powered
and maglocked doors, such as though found in military installations and Vaults. While it’s
intention is to be used on electronic locks, the electronic lock pick can also be used on standard
locks as well. Failing a Security Skill Test with an electronic lock pick just result in failure to
opening the lock, the device won’t break unless a 100 shows up on the dice. Using an electronic
lock pick gives a creature a +20% bonus on all Security Skill Tests made to open locks. Weight:
1 lb. Weight: 10 lbs. Value: 500 Caps

Eyeglasses: A simple pair of Sunco-brand

eyeglasses, they don’t provide much value except for
those who are vision impaired. With the “Four Eyes”
trait, these eyeglasses provide a +1 bonus to your
Perception. Without that trait they do nothing, except
maybe make you look a little smarter. They do have
lens that provide slight magnification properties, so a
clever man could probably build a death ray out of them. Weight: 0 lbs. Value: 10 Caps

Flare Gun: A small gun-like tool that, when fired, will launch a flare approximately ten yards
(10 hexes) away. The flare will remain lit for approximately one hour and provide bright light in
a 5-hex radius. A flare gun can be used as a weapon, for which it uses the Guns Skill, although
the shooter suffers a -10% penalty on all attacks with it. A flare used as a weapon deals 2d6
Energy Damage. Weight: 2 lbs., a flare weighs 1 lb. Value: 20 Caps. A flare costs 10 Caps.

Flashlight: Also called a torch, a flashlight runs off of small Energy Cells, same as a laser pistol.
A fully charged energy cell will provide a flashlight with enough juice for 30 hours of light. A
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flashlight shines light in a 60-foot cone. Weight: 1 lb. Value: 15 Caps

Gas Mask: A gas mask confers protection against harmful gas and radiation. The lenses are
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darkened and the mask covers the ears, providing protection against flash bang grenades as well.
Wearing a gas mask confers a +15% bonus to a creature’s Radiation Resistance and immunity to
flash bangs. Weight: 3 lbs. Value: 150 Caps

Geiger Counter: This useful little device not only detects how much radiation is in a person or
object, but it can detect harmful radiation in the surrounding area as well. Be mindful of he fact
that low amounts of radiation saturate just about everything these days, so your Geiger counter
will go off constantly. Powered by energy cells. Weight: 5 lbs. Value: 300 Caps

Lockpick Set: This set of locksmith tools includes all of the necessary picks and tension
wrenches to open conventional pin and tumbler locks, as well as a few special tools and trinkets
for more difficult, mechanical-locking mechanisms. Unlike bobby pins, lock picks are durable
enough to withstand increased amount of pressure, and failing a Security Skill Test to open a
lock won’t break a lock pick unless it is a Critical Failure. Using a lockpick set gives a creature
a +10% bonus on all Security Skill Tests made to open locks. Weight: 1 lb. Value: 50 Caps

Magazines: Magazines were a popular pre-War item containing all sorts

of useful information for your everyday wastelander on the go. Reading
a skill magazine takes about a minute and gives the reader a +10% bonus
to the appropriate Skill for 10 minutes. However, once a magazine has
been read, it will no longer contain useful information for the reader, as
they’ve already absorbed it. In fact, you may as well throw it away
when you’re done, or save it to use as toilet paper. Below are the
various magazines that are found throughout the wastelands, with the
Skills that they bolster. Now get out there and read! Weight: 0 lbs.
Value: 100 Caps

 American Digest: Academics  ¡La Fantoma!: Sneak

 Athletics Illustrated: Athletics  Locksmith’s Reader: Security
 Boxing Times: Unarmed  Meeting People: Speech
 Fixin’ Things: Repair  Milsurp Review: Guns
 Future Weapons Today!: Energy  Patriot’s Cookbook: Explosives
Weapons  Programmer’s Digest: Science
 Tales of Chivalrie: Melee Weapons  Salesman Weekly: Barter
 Hold ‘Em Magazine: Gambling  Today’s Physician: Medicine
 Hot Rodder: Pilot  True Police Stories: Investigation
 Lad’s Life: Survival

Pip-Boy 3000: The Personal Information Processor (PIP)-Boy 3000 is a safe, secure piece of
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pre-War technology. It guarantees privacy, safety, and guidance in times of need! It runs the
state-of-the-art (sorta) Pip-OS v7.1.0.8 and has 64k RAM and more than 38,911 bytes! This
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personal computing device functions as a terminal, radio, Geiger counter, map, flashlight, and
key to Vaults! Furthermore, the Pip-Boy
3000 can play audio logs, load holotapes, and
is the only Vault-Tec approved way to open
Vault-Tec security doors! While wearing or
using a Pip-Boy 3000 you gain an additional
Tag Skill of your choice, representing the
programs you’ve installed onto your personal
device. Reprogramming the software of a
Pip-Boy requires 8 hours and an Expert
Science Skill Test. Please consult with your
Overseer before changing your Pip-Boy
3000’s personal software. The best part of all this? Your Pip-Boy 3000 is super lightweight and
so tough an atom bomb couldn’t break it! Once again thank you for choosing Vault-Tec! Value:
50000 Caps

Rope: What sort of role-playing game would be complete without a rope? This is perhaps one
of the most useful items someone can have on their person. Most rope these days is made from
braided brahmin hair, but if you’re really lucky you can find some good pre-War nylon
parachord rope. A typical length of rope is 45 feet in length and can hold up to 300 pounds if
necessary, though I wouldn’t have it hold that weight for long. Weight: 10 lbs. Value: 25 Caps

Scrap/Junk: Scrap and junk are two words used to encompass a plethora of things a creature
may find on their adventures. If something is considered scrap or junk it just means that your
Overseer has come up with something that we haven’t made stats or descriptions for. It could be
incredibly useful, or incredibly useless. Scrap and junk can be anything from a pre-War alarm
clock to a pile of scrap metal to a bundle of copper wire. Really, it’s up to your Overseer and
your own creativity to figure out how to make the most of scrap. Value: Varies

Sunglasses: These shades not only look cool and give

you an air of kick-ass authority, but they protect your
eyes from super bright light as well. Whenever you
wear these shades you don’t take any penalties to your
attacks for super bright light, such as that from a flash
bang. If someone uses a flash bang against you, you’re
only affected by it for half the normal duration. These
sunglasses qualify for the “Four Eyes” Trait. Weight: 0 lbs. Caps: 5 Caps

Tool Set: A set of basic tools, such as small wrenches, pliers, some screwdrivers, a hammer or
two, spools of wire, and of course Wonderglue and duct tape. These are used for basic repairs,
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such as for a water purifier, a television, a computer terminal, and all that. While the duct tape,
Wonderglue, and wire will need to be replaced periodically, the rest of the supplies can be used
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and reused. Having a tool set confers a +5% bonus to all Repair Skill Tests made for general
repairs. Weight: 15 lbs. Value: 50 Caps

Vehicle Repair Kit: A toolbox containing some necessary equipment for repairing a vehicle,
power armor, robot, or any other complex mechanical device. The kit contains a Pip-Boy-like
computer for interfacing with the vehicle to analyze the problem, and more than a dozen
different tools to complete the actual repairs, including a blowtorch, auto-axe, wrench, power
drill, and duct tape. Having a vehicle repair kit allows a creature to use his or her Repair Skil to
restore the condition of a complex machine. Using a vehicle repair kit provides a +10% bonus
on all Science and Repair Skill Tests used to fix vehicles, power armor, and robots. Weight: 20
lbs. Value: 500 Caps

Weapon Repair Kit: A weapon repair kit is a useful item that

holds duct tape (of course), scrap metal and wire, various
electronics, Wonderglue, a wrench, and some spare screws
(screwdriver sold separately). Having a weapon repair kit allows
a creature to use his or her Repair Skill to restore the condition of
a weapon. Without it, said creature would be forced to another
weapon to provide the spare parts or scrounge around for
something nearby. Using a weapon repair kit grants the user a
+10% on all Repair Skill Tests used to repair weapons. A weapon
repair kit has enough supplies in it to repair a wepaon up to 10 times. Weight: 10 lbs. Value:
500 Caps

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Section Eight: The Bestiary- Meet the Things
That Want to Kill You
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Appendices
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Index
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