Fallout 4 Build Calculator
Fallout 4 hands you 28 S.P.E.C.I.A.L. points at character creation and no way to take them back, so the spread you pick in Vault 111 decides which perks you can touch for the rest of the run. Enter a level and a seven stat spread below and this calculator checks the spread against the 28 point budget, then works out the numbers the game derives from it: perk points earned, Hit Points, Action Points and carry weight. It plans the starting build only. It does not pick perks for you, and the sections below are honest about where its job ends and a full perk planner’s begins.
Quick Answer
The pre-filled build is a level 10 rifleman spread of S 3, P 7, E 3, C 3, I 4, A 5, L 3, which totals exactly 28. It earns 9 perk points, has 131 Hit Points, 110 Action Points and 230 lbs of carry weight. Any spread that does not total 28 is rejected, because 28 is the budget the game gives you at creation.
Key takeaways
- 28 points is the whole budget: 1 in every stat plus 21 to distribute, 10 maximum in one stat at creation.
- Endurance is worth more health than it looks. It feeds Hit Points twice, in the base and in every level gained, and it applies retroactively.
- One point per level buys a perk rank or a stat increase, so the starting spread is a foundation, not a life sentence.
- Fallout 4 and Fallout 76 use different systems entirely: 28 points up front here, 56 points by level 50 with perk cards there.
- Quick Answer
- How to use the Fallout 4 build calculator
- The formulas: Hit Points, Action Points and carry weight
- Worked example: a level 10 rifleman on 28 points
- What each stat actually gates
- Two more spreads that fit the budget
- Fallout 4 builds are not Fallout 76 builds
- What competing calculators miss
- Frequently asked questions
- Add This Calculator to Your Website
- References
How to use the Fallout 4 build calculator
Set a level, shape the seven stats until the counter reads zero points remaining, then click Calculate. Results stay hidden until you do.
- Character level: the level you want to plan at. It changes two outputs: perk points (level minus 1) and Hit Points, which grow every level.
- The seven S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats: each starts from the game’s creation rules, a minimum of 1 and a starting maximum of 10. The live counter under the grid shows how many of the 28 points remain, in green while you are at or under budget and red once you overspend.
- Read the derived numbers: Hit Points as the headline, then perk points, Action Points and carry weight, plus a build focus badge naming your highest stat. A field left blank or set to 0 counts as 1, matching how the original tool treated it.
One behaviour worth knowing before you rely on it: the seven stats are checked as a total, not one by one. Typing an 11 or 12 into a single stat still calculates if the total is 28, even though the game itself caps a starting stat at 10. Keep starting spreads inside 1 to 10 per stat and the plan matches what Vault 111 will actually let you enter.
The formulas: Hit Points, Action Points and carry weight
Three of the four outputs are the game’s standard derived statistics, documented on the community Fallout wikis, which for game mechanics like these are the reference the player base and other planners work from. The formulas are:
Action Points = 60 + (Agility × 10)
Carry Weight = 200 + (Strength × 10) lbs
Perk points = Level − 1
Hit Points is the formula to get right, and it is the one simplified calculators most often get wrong. According to the Fallout Wiki’s Fallout 4 S.P.E.C.I.A.L. page, health has a base of 80 plus 5 per Endurance, and then grows by 2.5 plus half your Endurance for every level. An earlier version of this page used a flat 5 Hit Points per level for everyone, which undercounts a high Endurance character badly: at level 50 with Endurance 10 it returned 370 HP where the game gives 497. This version uses the real formula, and the worked example below shows the difference on a real spread. Two consequences follow from the real formula. Endurance applies retroactively, so taking it late still pays the health you would have earned earlier. And because the result is rounded down, an odd Endurance squeezes slightly more from the maths than an even one at some levels.
| Derived stat | Driven by | What it decides in play |
|---|---|---|
| Hit Points | Endurance and level | How much damage you can take before dying; radiation eats into it |
| Action Points | Agility | V.A.T.S. shots, sprinting time, holding breath on a scope |
| Carry weight | Strength | How much loot you haul before becoming overencumbered |
| Melee damage | Strength, +10% per point | Explains why a Strength 10 build hits half again as hard barehanded as Strength 5 |
| XP modifier | Intelligence, +3% per point | Why high Intelligence characters out level low Intelligence ones on the same kills |
Worked example: a level 10 rifleman on 28 points
The pre-filled build funds one job properly. Perception 7 for aimed rifle work, Agility 5 for a workable Action Point pool, Intelligence 4 for Gun Nut and Hacker access, and 3s in Strength, Endurance and Charisma so nothing is crippled.
| Check run | Hit Points | Action Points | Carry weight | Perk points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1, all seven stats at 4 | 100 | 100 | 240 lbs | 0 |
| Level 25, five stats at 5, A 2, L 1 | 225 | 80 | 250 lbs | 24 |
| Level 50, S 10, E 10, A 4, rest at 1 | 497 | 100 | 300 lbs | 49 |
Every row is a real run of the calculator above, so you can type any of them in and get the same numbers back. The level 50 row is the one to study: the old flat formula this calculator used to ship priced that Endurance 10 build at 370 HP, a 127 point understatement of the health the game actually grants.
What each stat actually gates
A stat’s derived numbers are only half its value. The other half is the perk column it unlocks, because a perk needs both the stat value and, for higher ranks, the character level.
The perk chart holds 70 base perks, 10 under each stat, as Bethesda set out when it detailed the system before launch. A few gates decide most builds. Armorer needs Strength 3 and sits behind almost every armour upgrade. Rifleman needs only Perception 2, which is why even a Perception light build can run rifles. Science! needs Intelligence 6 and gates the best energy weapon and power armour mods. Local Leader needs Charisma 6 and is the single point where settlement building really opens up, because it allows supply lines between settlements. Ninja needs Agility 7 and multiplies sneak attack damage, which is why stealth builds pay for Agility they would otherwise skip. Better Criticals needs Luck 6 for characters who live in V.A.T.S. Read the spread in the calculator against gates like these, not just against HP and AP: a point that unlocks the perk your build is built around is worth more than a point that only pads a derived stat.
Two more spreads that fit the budget
The worked example is one answer to 28 points, not the only one. These two spreads also total 28 and show how the derived numbers swing with the plan:
Front line heavy: S 6, P 3, E 6, C 2, I 3, A 5, L 3
Built to stand in the open with a heavy weapon. At level 10 the calculator returns 159 HP, 110 AP and 260 lbs of carry weight. Endurance 6 plus Strength 6 buys survival and hauling; the cost is Perception 3, so aimed V.A.T.S. work stays ordinary.
Settlement leader: S 3, P 3, E 3, C 8, I 5, A 3, L 3
Charisma 8 clears the Local Leader gate at 6 with room to spare, and Intelligence 5 keeps crafting and hacking open. At level 10 the calculator returns 131 HP, 90 AP and 230 lbs. Combat stats are modest by design: this build wins at the workbench and the bargaining table.
Try both in the tool before you judge them. The HP gap between the heavy at Endurance 6 and either other build at Endurance 3 is 28 points by level 10 and grows by 1.5 points every level after, which is the retroactive Endurance effect compounding quietly in the background. Players who plan tabletop characters run the same kind of comparison with a D&D average damage calculator, checking what a build does on paper before committing a campaign to it.
Fallout 4 builds are not Fallout 76 builds
The two games share stat names and almost nothing else about progression. Planning a build for one with the other’s rules produces a character that cannot exist.
| Rule | Fallout 4 | Fallout 76 |
|---|---|---|
| Starting points | 28, all at creation | 1 per stat, then 1 per level |
| Total by the cap | Grows past 28 through level up training, no level cap | 56 at level 50, then no more from levelling |
| Single stat cap | 10 at creation; higher later via training and bobbleheads | 15 base, before legendary perks and buffs |
| What a point buys | A perk rank on a fixed chart, gated by stat and level | Room to equip ranked perk cards, swappable at any time |
| Hit Points base | 80 + 5 per Endurance, plus per level growth | 250 + 5 per Endurance, no per level growth |
The Fallout 76 figures come from the Fallout Wiki’s Fallout 76 S.P.E.C.I.A.L. page, which also records the 56 point total and the level 50 stop. If your character is in Appalachia rather than the Commonwealth, the Fallout 76 calculator covers the other half of the series maths: damage, caps per hour and XP planning. Difficulty planning transfers between games too, in spirit at least: tabletop players sizing a fight before it starts reach for a D&D 5e encounter calculator for the same reason wastelanders check a build before leaving the Vault.
What competing calculators miss
Full planners and quick calculators each leave something out, and the honest comparison is:
- Full build planners (Nukes & Dragons, the Wasteland S.P.E.C.I.A.L. planner): complete perk charts, bobblehead planning and shareable build links. Genuinely better for choosing perks over a 50 level plan, but heavy when all you want is to sanity check a starting spread and its HP before you leave Vault 111.
- Quick derived stat calculators (Sage Calculator and similar): fast, but several still describe health as roughly 5 points per Endurance per level, which is the flat simplification this page used to ship. On a level 50, Endurance 10 build that shortcut reads about 127 HP low.
- Guide pages with no tool (perk chart articles, build videos): good spreads, frozen in prose. You cannot test your own variation against the 28 point budget or watch the points counter push back when you overspend.
- The gap this page fills: the creation rules enforced exactly (28 points or no result), the real Hit Points formula instead of the flat shortcut, and a live points counter that turns red the moment a spread stops being legal, all in one small tool with copy and share for build discussions.
Frequently asked questions
You get 28 points in total. Every stat starts at 1, which accounts for 7 points, and you distribute the other 21 freely, up to 10 in any one stat. This calculator enforces that same 28 point total and will not calculate until your seven stats add up to exactly 28.
At character creation a single stat can start at 10 at most, and only by leaving other stats low. Stats are not capped at 10 for the whole game, though: a level up point can be spent on training a stat, a bobblehead adds 1 more, and gear, chems and food can push a stat higher still while they are active.
Hit Points = 80 + (Endurance x 5) + (2.5 + Endurance / 2) x (Level – 1), rounded down. Endurance counts twice: once in the base and again in the per level gain, and it applies retroactively, so raising Endurance later recalculates the health you would have gained at earlier levels too.
One per level, so a level 10 character has 9 points to show for levels 2 to 10. Each point buys either one rank of a perk your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats unlock, or one point of training in a stat itself. Fallout 4 has no level cap, so points keep coming for as long as you keep levelling.
No. It checks your starting S.P.E.C.I.A.L. spread and computes the derived numbers that spread produces: perk points earned by your level, Hit Points, Action Points and carry weight. Perk selection itself happens on the in game perk chart or in a full build planner. What this page adds is the exact derived stat maths, including the real Hit Points formula, before you commit to a spread.
Because the tool models character creation, where 28 is the fixed budget. That is also its honest limit: a long played character who spent level up points on stat training has a total above 28, and this calculator cannot enter that spread. Use it to plan the starting build your later training will grow from.
None on its own. Perception gates the rifle and lockpicking perks most ranged builds live on, Agility sets your Action Points and the stealth perks, and Intelligence speeds up levelling itself with a 3% XP bonus per point. The strongest starting spreads fund one combat style properly instead of spreading 28 points thinly across all seven stats.
The systems look alike and work differently. Fallout 4 gives you all 28 points at creation, caps starting stats at 10, and lets one perk point per level buy a perk rank or a stat increase, with no level cap. Fallout 76 starts every stat at 1, adds one point per level to a maximum of 56 at level 50, caps each stat at 15, and spends those points on equipping ranked perk cards instead of a perk chart.
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References
- The Fallout Wiki. Fallout 4 S.P.E.C.I.A.L.: starting total of 28, Action Points 60 + Agility x 10, carry weight 200 + Strength x 10, Hit Points base 80 + Endurance x 5 with 2.5 + Endurance / 2 per level. Accessed October 21, 2026.
- Fallout Wiki (Fandom). Endurance (Fallout 4): the full Hit Points derivation, its rounded down form, and retroactive Endurance. Accessed October 21, 2026.
- Fallout Wiki (Fandom). Strength (Fallout 4): carry weight and the 10% per point melee damage bonus. Accessed October 21, 2026.
- Fallout Wiki (Fandom). Agility (Fallout 4): Maximum Action Points = 60 + 10 x Agility, from the game’s own settings values. Accessed October 21, 2026.
- The Fallout Wiki. Fallout 76 S.P.E.C.I.A.L.: the 56 point total at level 50, the 15 point stat cap and the 250 + 5 per Endurance Hit Points used in the comparison table. Accessed October 21, 2026.
- PlayStation LifeStyle, reporting Bethesda’s perk chart post. Fallout 4 Perk Chart and Character System Detailed by Bethesda: 28 assignable points, 70 base perks, no level cap. Accessed October 21, 2026.