Perks Perks are powerups gained as the player gains level, with one gained every 3 levels, with the first obtained at level 3. Certain perks have prerequisites typically based at times on character level, SPECIAL, and/or skill points. The perks chosen will typically be the most defining characteristic of a character in the role and abilities it will have.
Characters who have taken the Skilled trait will only obtain a perk every 4 levels, with the first obtained at level 4.
Warning: While you may wait 1-2 levels before choosing your perk, if you have not chosen a perk by the time you would have obtained another one, you will permanently lose the chance to choose the unallocated perk.
List of Perks
Level 3 Perks
| Perk | Level | Requirements | Ranks | Effect |
| Thief | 3 | None | 1 | The skills Sneak , Traps , Lockpick , and Steal get a bonus equivalent to spending 35 Skill Points into each skill. |
| Awareness | 3 | PE 5 | 1 | Allows you to see detailed information about about the hit points, weapons, and injuries of other creatures. |
| Bonus HtH Damage | 3 | AG 6, ST 6 | 3 | +3 Melee Damage . |
| Earlier Sequence | 3 | PE 6 | 2 | +4 Sequence . |
| Faster Healing | 3 | EN 5 | 2 | +4 Healing Rate . |
| Toughness | 3 | LK 6, EN 6 | 3 | All resistances increased by 4%, including Radiation Resistance . The Crit Roll of any Critical Hits against this character are decreased by 4. |
| Strong Back | 3 | ST 6, EN 6 | 3 | +22 Carry Weight . |
| Survivalist | 3 | EN 6, IN 6 Outdoorsman 40% | 1 | The skill Outdoorsman gets a bonus equivalent to spending 80 Skill Points into the skill. |
| Healer | 3 | PE 7, AG 6, IN 5 First Aid 40% | 2 | +30-40 HP healed when using the First Aid skill. |
| Scout | 3 | PE 7 | 1 | Allows you to find Special Encounters more often. Disabled |
| Quick Pockets | 3 | AG 5 | 1 | AP cost of reloading and inventory actions are decresed by 1/3, rounded down. |
| Swift Learner | 3 | IN 4 | 3 | Character gains 10% more experience. Disabled |
| Smooth Talker | 3 | IN 4-9 | 3 | +1 IN for the purpose of conversation with NPCs. Disabled |
| Adrenaline Rush | 3 | None | 1 | Works only in combat mode. If HP < 2/3, +2 ST If HP < 1/2, +8 Healing Rate If HP < 1/3, +1 AP and +5 AC . |
| Cautious Nature | 3 | PE 6 | 1 | +3 PE for the purpose of determining placement in random encounters. |
| Bookworm | 3 | IN 6 | 1 | The maximum number of each Book a character can read is increased to 15. Does not effect rare books. |
| Karma Sutra Master | 3 | AG 5, EN 5 | 1 | Disabled |
| Quick Recovery | 3 | AG 5 | 1 | -25% to Knockout penalty -50% to Lose Turn penalty. -75% to Knockdown or Knockback penalty. |
Level 6 Perks
| Name | Level | Requirements | Ranks | Effect |
| Bonus Ranged Damage | 6 | AG 6, LK 6 | 2 | +2 to Minimum and Maximum damage of any ranged attack. When bursting, this bonus is added to each bullet in the burst. Bonus can be multiplied by a Critical Hit . |
| More Critical | 6 | LK 6 | 3 | +5% Critical Chance . |
| Rad Resistance | 6 | EN 6, IN 4 | 2 | +20% to radiation resistance |
| Silent Running | 6 | AG 6 Sneak 50%. | 1 | Allows running while in sneak mode |
| Educated | 6 | IN 6 | 3 | +2 Skill points gained per level |
| Heave Ho! | 6 | None | 3 | With thrown weapons you receive a +2 ST bonus for every rank of this perk |
| Ghost | 6 | Sneak 60% | 1 | You receive a +20%...40% bonus to sneak during the night |
| Ranger | 6 | PE 6 | 1 | Outdoorsman skill receives a bonus equivalent to spending 135 skill points |
| Gambler | 6 | Gambling 50% | 1 | Gambling Skill receives a bonus equivalent to spending 135 skill points |
| Harmless | 6 | Steal 50% Karma +50 | 1 | Steal skill receives a bonus equivalent to spending 135 skill points |
| Magnetic Personality | 6 | CH <10 | 1 | Allows one additional companion to follow you |
| Negotiator | 6 | Speech 50% Barter 50% | 1 | The skills Speech and Barter receive a bonus equivalent to spending 70 skill points into each |
| Pack Rat | 6 | None | 1 | Increase maximum carry weight by +22kg. |
| Salesman | 6 | Barter 50% | 1 | Barter skill receives a bonus equivalent to spending 135 skill points |
| Stonewall | 6 | ST 6 | 1 | Gain a 40% chance to avoid knockout, impossible to knockdown |
| Fortune Finder | 6 | LK 8 | 1 | Allows finding more valuable loot on NPC corpses Disabled |
| Night Vision | 6 | PE 6 | 1 | Ignore vision range penalties at night. |
Level 9 Perks
| Name | Level | Requirements | Ranks | Effect |
| Sharpshooter | 9 | PE 7, IN 6 | 1 | +2 PE for the purposes of determining accuracy with ranged weapons and sight range. |
| Better Critical | 9 | PE 6, LK 6, AG 4 | 1 | +10 to your crit roll . |
| Dodger | 9 | AG 6 | 1 | +8% chance to evade enemy attack. Does not stack with the bonus from the Evasion skill. |
| Speaker | 9 | Speech 50% | 1 | The skill Speech gets a bonus equivalent to spending 135 Skill Points into the skill. |
| Explorer | 9 | None | 1 | +2% chance to find a special encounter. Disabled |
| Demolition Expert | 9 | AG 4 Traps 75% | 1 | Removes the randomizer when setting the timer on an explosive. Explosion radius when using explosives is increased by 1 hex. |
| Here and Now | 9 | None | 1 | +1 Level. |
| Light Step | 9 | AG 5, LK 5 | 1 | 50% chance to avoid damage when stepping on a trap. |
| Pyromaniac | 9 | Big Guns 75% | 1 | +15 damage with weapons that have the fire type. This damage can be multiplied by a Critical Hit . |
| Mysterious Stranger | 9 | LK 4 | 1 | Randomly spawns an allied NPC upon entering a random encounter. The chance of this is 25 + LK * 4 . The Stranger's power is dependent upon the player's level, and if he should die, he will not be able to spawn for another 45 minutes. |
Level 12 Perks
| Name | Level | Requirements | Ranks | Effect |
| Action Boy | 12 | AG 5 | 2 | +1 AP . |
| Tag! | 12 | None | 1 | Tag an additional skill. Does not increase skill investments retroactively |
| Lifegiver | 12 | EN 4 | 2 | +48 HP . |
| Mr. Fixit | 12 | Repair 40%, Science 40% | 1 | The skills Repair and Science receive a bonus equivalent to spending 70 skill points into each |
| Medic | 12 | First Aid 40%, Doctor 40% | 1 | The skills First Aid and Doctor receive a bonus equivalent to spending 70 skill points into each, and +20 additional temporary skill points when using medical bags |
| Master Thief | 12 | Steal 50%, Lockpick 50% | 1 | The skills Steal and Lockpick receive a bonus equivalent to spending 60 skill points into each. |
| Gain Strength | 12 | ST <15 | 1 | +1 ST. |
| Gain Perception | 12 | PE <15 | 1 | +1 PE. |
| Gain Endurance | 12 | EN <15 | 1 | +1 EN. |
| Gain Charisma | 12 | CH <15 | 1 | +1 CH. |
| Gain Intelligence | 12 | IN <15 | 1 | +1 IN. |
| Gain Agility | 12 | AG <15 | 1 | +1 AG. |
| Gain Luck | 12 | LK <15 | 1 | +1 LK. |
| Living Anatomy | 12 | Doctor 60% | 1 | Doctor skill receives a bonus equivalent to spending 80 skill points. There is an additional 10% chance to heal injured limbs and +5 to final damage against biological targets. This bonus damage can be affected by criticals |
| Weapon Handling | 12 | AG 5 | 1 | Receive +3 strength solely for calculating the chance to hit with weapons. |
| HTH Evade | 12 | AG 8 Close Combat 150%, Evade 180% | 1 | Add a 1% chance to evade an attack for every available AP if both hands are empty or occupied with close combat weapons. |
Level 15+ Perks
| Name | Level | Requirements | Ranks | Effect |
| Pathfinder | 15 | EN 6 Outdoorsman 40% | 1 | Increases the movement speed on the world map by 25%. |
| Bonus HtH Attacks | 15 | ST 6, AG 6 | 1 | Close Combat attacks cost 1 AP less. |
| Bonus Rate of Fire | 15 | PE 6, AG 7, IN 6 | 1 | Ranged weapon attacks (including Throwing Weapons ) cost 1 AP less. |
| Pickpocket | 15 | AG 8 Steal 80% | 1 | Other players don't see theft animation when using the Steal skill, item volume penalty reduced by 50%. |
| Silent Death | 15 | AG 8 Sneak 110%, Close Combat 80% | 1 | When performing a Close Combat attack to a target's back when in Sneak mode, damage is increased by 200%. Doubled damage can be increased with a Critical Hit . |
| Armor Buster | 18 | AG 8, PE 5 Throwing 130% | 1 | Damage from grenades ignores 30% of a target's DR . |
| Sniper | 18 | PE 8, AG 6 | 1 | Critical chance with an aimed attack when using Small Guns , Big Guns , and Energy Weapons is increased. +45% to Eyes, +30% to Arms/Legs/Groin/Head. |
| Slayer | 18 | ST 7, AG 8 Close Combat 80% | 1 | Critical chance with an aimed attack when using Close Combat and Throwing weapons is increased. +45% to Eyes, +30% to Arms/Legs/Groin/Head. |
| Transposition | 18 | Close Combat 160% Evasion 160% | 1 | 25% chance of restoring all AP with a successful evasion. |
| Reanimator | 21 | AG 5 Doctor 120% | 1 | When using the Doctor skill on a character killed without a critical/violent animation, that character has a chance to be revived based on the formula: Doctor / 4 + LK * 2 . |
| Combat Evasion | 33 | Evasion 180% | 1 | The increase in movement speed granted by the Evasion skill is applied in combat. |
| Combat Running | 30 | AG 9 | 1 | Allows running during combat, at the cost of 1 AP per 3 Hexes. Running is only allowed if the character has 4 or more AP. |
Quest Perks
Quest Perks are additional perks a character can only obtain by interacting with the game world. Requirements for quest perks can vary greatly, and often require the character to complete a task or pay a fee before obtaining them.
List of Quest Perks
| Name | Level | Requirements | Ranks | Effect |
| Snakeater | Any | EN 6 | 1 | +25% Poison Resistance. |
| Gecko Skinning | Any | None | 2 | Allows you to skin Silver and Golden Geckos. A second rank of this perk will allow you to skin Fire Geckos. |
| Large Animal Skinning | Any | None | 1 | Allows you to skin Brahmin and Mantis. |
| Nosferatu Blood | 12 | Requirements of the quest | 1 | Faster naturall HP regeneration |
| Midnight Child | 12 | Requirements of the quest | 1 | Cancel penalty to accuracy at night time. |
| Doctor Klauss operation | Any | Min 30 reputation of NCR and 50'000 for operation | 1 | One point to Perception or Endurance |
Karma Perks
Karma Perks are perks which appear on their own and are caused by a characters actions or karma. Some are simply for appearance, but others can have a useful effect in game, such as changing certain NPCs reactions to you or allowing certain interactions that may not otherwise be available.
These perks can appear, disappear, or change depending on the actions of the character.
List of Karma Perks
| Name | Level | Requirements | Ranks | Effect |
| Trapper | Any | 160 Gecko kills | 1 | Smiley in Klamath will pay more money for gecko pelts. |
| Childkiller | Any | Kill a Child | 1 | Enables the possibility to encounter Bounty Hunters . |