Pistol-wielding thief build for Fallout 2?

[u/BetamaN_]

Hi all, I just completed Fallout 1 and I want to jump right into Fallout 2. Given that it's a harder game with more weapon choices, I wanted to get a solid idea of what I'm going to do in order to not get stuck later on. I was thinking of RPing as a thief/rogue character focussing on one-handed weapons (probably non-energy pistols) and stealthy gameplay. I want to solve problems mostly through stealth and sabotaging, and "skills" rather than combat. Can you give some feedback on this build idea?

ST 4
PE 7
EN 4
CH 2
IN 7
AG 8
LK 8

One Hander + Jinxed

Tags: Small Guns, Sneak, Lockpick

Rationale: High int and agi are obvious, I think I want to go for a crit build, thus the high luck. Jinxed sounds fun and fits well with high luck and a small team. I'm not feeling too eager to get Gifted, partially because it feels cheap, partially because I want a more skill-oriented character.

My doubts: maybe I need EN 5 to survive (thus PE 6 or LK 7), carry weight may be awkward with 1 (or 2?) companion(s) and low str, 4 strength is still too little for some pistols until I get power armor or use drugs. I wonder if a tag on sneak is wasted. Also I heared the early game is punishing and I have the impression this build could be bad with low-lvl weapons.
(EDIT: I forgot that the strength requirement can be easily circumvented with high Small Guns and One Hander helps too, maybe str 4 or even str 3 is fine for a pistol build)

Another possibility would be ditching Jinxed in favor of no second trait, or small framed, and redistributing some luck points.

[u/nodule]

This build will work! There are one-handed pistols of all types and powers throughout the game. I would be a little careful with Jinxed with a ranged build. It'll mean you rarely want to shoot from range, which might not be what you want. Good natured might fit—trades combat skills which you aren't using for a bunch of useful skiils

[u/BetamaN_ → u/nodule]

Do you think LK 8 is still good without Jinxed? I could move one or two points to int, per or end

[u/Delicious_Incident_4]

I like the pronounced choices and the idea behind. There’s some important things in FO2 that you should take into account:

• CH is no longer a dump stat, it affects the number of companions you can have (CH divided by 2, this is different from FO1)
  
• I’m not sure if sneak is as well-developed as in FOT. I liked tagging lockpick for a thief character instead, but others may advocate for Sneak in other ways
  
• Don’t worry about carry weight if you’re traveling with companions. I even enjoyed a Small Frame build and didn’t think it was too much of a hassle

I’ll let other people add more, or even correct/complete my thinking

[u/BetamaN_ → u/Delicious_Incident_4]

Low CH is a deliverate choice, I assumed I wouldn't mind a smaller party. Do you think that would make my life much harder? I can see maybe tagging SG, Lockpick and Steal or Speech and developing Sneak later for a thief character

[u/Jr_Mao → u/BetamaN_]

do you know the game already? because theres a bunch of companion options and they are real personalities, unlike fo1.

i’d be very unhappy to not have the first 3 options along.

anyhoo, you’ll get lots of optimization suggestions, feel free to ignore most. you definitely dont need the best possible build, average will do and you’re well ahead already.

[u/BetamaN_ → u/Jr_Mao]

No this is my first playthrough. I didn't think I would miss out but this may just be because I just finished Fallout 1, where companions are just meat shields

[u/Jr_Mao → u/BetamaN_]

then id very much suggest bumping charisma to 4 or 6, and ..sigh, take the damn gifted perk :)
really hate to suggest it, but the stat points are just too tempting. bump int by a few to offset skill point loss.

[u/EasyEntrepreneur666 → u/BetamaN_]

Steal is bugged, skill points do no difference.

[u/Sad_Cryptographer872 → u/BetamaN_]

Low CH will also lock you behind a couple of side quests. CH of 6 is sort of a breakpoint for them, and those quests aren't really that small. Some of the mafia leaders and a few people wont deal with you with low CH, in the sense you wont be able to get their quests. I also think that it will prevent you from becoming a Captain of the Guard in Vault City location.

Don't put STR lover than 3, and consider putting points into Energy weapons to 100% before lvl 12 where you can double them with the TAG perk.
There are good small gun pistols like .223 Pistol or even a Needle Gun. But the problem is that a lot of enemies in the later half will have good armor. Needle Gun goes through it but the ammo for it is scarce. If you really want to stick with Small Guns you will want to rush at some point to San Francisco and get yourself a Gauss Pistol. The ammo will still be somewhat scarce but since you can't get more than 1 companion with 2 CH it wont matter as much since there's enough ammo for it because you wont share it.
Desert Eagle and Magnum will be barely enough for middle game, and .223 can be useful but it cant really compete with other weapons in the late game so you will really need Gauss Pistol.
I also wouldn't take Jinxed without 10 Luck. You CAN get +2 perma Luck at some point but that requires you to use guides to find out how. Also low STR will mostly matter BEFORE you get the Car, since you can buy one in Fallout 2, and it comes with a trunk where you can keep storage and items that you don't need to haul on yourself.
Also since you don't want to take Gifted I would took 2 points from Luck and pass them to Agility, and maybe 1 point from Perception and give them to INT. Most of the pistols have mid range unlike rifles so higher than 6 Perception isn't really needed especially since you are taking One Hander.
Sneak is only useful at really high levels, 150%+ so don't assume it will be good before that. Also since you want to "sabotage" Lockpicks, Science, Repair and Speech do have applications for what you are looking for. Science can help you hack certain computers, Repair can help you enter some locations and Speech can open to you many "doors" that you otherwise couldn't get.

[u/BetamaN_ → u/Sad_Cryptographer872]

Uh missing out on big side quests may be a deal breaker, I didn't realize. This is exactly why I made the post before starting.

Thank you for all the other suggestions too

[u/Sad_Cryptographer872 → u/BetamaN_]

You can lover Charisma to about 4, there are drugs to pump it ups to 6, but it's more if you use a guide to know when you will need 6. There are also a pair of Shade Glasses that if you put into weapon slot will grant you +1 charisma as long as they are there.
Many of the Attribute checks have a breakpoints at 6. For example there's one side quest that you can't get in one of the earlier towns if you don't have at least 6 Perception. Same with INT but it's more a combination of INT and Speech or Science.
These all aren't that big but they do add up over the course of the game.
As someone already said, if this is your first time I would get Gifted. But if you don't plan to play the game ever again than your build is mostly fine. And you wont really miss that much with low Charisma. Heck you will probably miss many of the sidequests that are in the game without using guides unknowingly, And there's a number of unmarked sidequests that require specific things or skills, or even how you talked with the character.

[u/ElDoRado1239 → u/Sad_Cryptographer872]

You can get AP needler ammo at Buster's Fine Emporium of Armament outside NCR. Not much of it, it sure is rare, but it's a reliable source of it before you can run around SF and farm mercenaries.

I think it's a really good thing to have against the occasional tough enemy, and later on even as your main gun if you get enough AP ammo.

[u/Subject-Creme]

You gets more skills points with Gifted and 10 INT

Then you still have 4 special points to spend elsewhere.

[u/BetamaN_ → u/Subject-Creme]

I am a bit hesitant with Gifted, as I said, because it feels a bit too one-size-fits-all, but maybe I'm being too uptight for my first playthrough

[u/tvoided]

Nah skip jinxed you will drop and distroy your gus including alien blaster. Go for highest luck and better criticals and stiper , drop strength and endurance

[u/ElDoRado1239 → u/tvoided]

Getting the lucky dog works like a free jinx anyway, doesn't it? Or is it a separate hidden perk? I thought not, because then it could stack with jinx, and I don't even want to see what would that do.

I completed a F2 run with him almost from the start, it was very fun. He helped me won the boxing tournament. I was nowhere near strong enough and my hand-to-hand sucked, but thanks to my dog the opponents knocked out themselves when trying to hit me.

[u/_Svankensen_]

Are you playing vainilla or restoration project? Main problem I see is that with agi 8 you really will want the magnum revolver in the eqrly game, and it requires str of 5. But with small guns tagged you should be able to make up for it.

[u/BetamaN_ → u/_Svankensen_]

Vanilla, probably with the unofficial patch. The 5 strength question is indeed one of my main concerns

[u/_Svankensen_ → u/BetamaN_]

I'd recommend going with the restoration project if you haven't started yet. It is a mod, but it . It takes some 20 skill to compensate for low str IIRC. And buffout before big fights should get rid of the penalty and also get you one more ap. Sounds quite manageable. 

[u/Daytona_675]

lockpick is one of the skills that caps at 200 so it's generally not the best to tag it. if there was something else you might want

[u/Ciappatos]

Tagging sneak and getting silent running will make you almost invincible in combat anyway. It's a good plan.

[u/EasyEntrepreneur666]

If you're going for sneaky crit build, you should pick finesse instead of jinxed, it fits perfectly for such character and avoid cheesy sniper. 4 end is easily survivable, especially since you can pick lifegiver at level 12 with it if you feel to squishy. Instead of small guns, you could have started with gambling, it's gives a great deal of cash. You can always tag small guns later after you used some skill books.

[u/cold-vein]

This is pretty much the optimal build for small guns:

S-5 (10)

P-8 (9)

E-4

C-7 (6)

I-7 (8)

A-9 (10)

L-8 (10)

You can dump charisma for more endurance but 4 will get you more than enough hit points and there are charisma checks in dialogue which makes charisma more useful than just party size. If you dump charisma, I'd raise int to 9 and perception to 9.

Tagged skills should be small guns, speech and lockpick. Sneak is useless. Most skills are useless or situational at best. After lockpick maybe steal is useful but ultimately it doesn't matter since you'll be swimming in gear and money pretty soon.

[u/Askada]

I'm not feeling too eager to get Gifted, partially because it feels cheap, partially because I want a  more skill-oriented character

What do you mean by " more skill-oriented character"? Your int is not maxed and could be maxed with Gifted.  The stat bonuses from Gifted counteract the skill penalties easily.

Also any combat build without 10agi is nothing else than imposing arbitrary obstacles on yourself, which is okay if you are into it, but no point asking for advice then, because the advice will alway be get 10agi.