A great classic of the series, the SPECIAL has been revised for Fallout 76. You will now have to go through a card system to access skills. Here's everything there is to know about the new mechanics.
SPECIAL and skills
As always in Fallout, the SPECIAL is divided into 7 characteristics: Strength (Force), Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility and Luck (Luck). At each level gain you can assign 1 point to a characteristic, up to a maximum of 15 points. You will not get any more SPECIAL points after level 50, thus forcing you to make choices for the build of your character.
Each characteristic manages particular attributes, and assigning a point to it increases its statistics. Here is the list of statistics and effects managed by the SPECIAL
| Characteristic | Stats & Effects Earned |
| Strength (Force) |
Weight carried Melee damage |
| Perception | Enemy detection Accuracy using SVAT |
| Endurance | Point of view Action Points used for the race Disease Resistance |
| Charisma | Sharing skills with the group Group Mission Rewards |
| Intelligence | Hacking Condition of crafted items More Collected Items |
| Agility | Points d'Action Discretion |
| Luck | Critical Hit Chance Condition and durability of found items |
Get cards
There is only one way to get cards: leveling up. At each level, you gain 1 point to invest in your SPECIAL as well as an improved characteristic card. You can also win packs containing 4 random cards to equip. These packages are obtained at levels 4, 6, 8 and 10, then one every 5 levels.
Each level gained allows you to invest a point in SPECIAL
From level 50, you stop earning a point to invest in the SPECIAL, but you still earn the packages every 5 levels.
Equip Cards
Each skill card has a level. To be able to associate cards with a characteristic, the total level of all the cards you want to equip must be less than or equal to your points invested in the characteristic. Concretely, this means that if you have 4 points in Luck, you can equip up to 4 level 1 cards, or any other combination that does not exceed 4. It is possible to change your equipped cards at any time.
Improving your cards increases skill bonuses.
It is also possible to improve the maps. If you get a duplicate card, then you can level it up. Possible upgrades are represented by stars at the bottom right of the cards.
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