There are 83 perks in Fallout 3 and its official add-ons. Their effects vary from granting simple skill increases to more advanced features like the full regeneration of all Action Points upon terminating an enemy and exiting V.A.T.S.. In Fallout 3 you gain perks every level, opposed to every three levels in previous games. After the removal of traits, some of them (like Bloody Mess) were changed into perks.

The Beastlords are a group of cannibalistic tribals who underwent a mutation which gave them psychic control over various animals. They are fond of poison, which can cause problems for even the most stalwart of bands. Their leader is Emperor Dar. The Beastlords' inherent telepathic suggestion is a unique ability, acquired through prolonged exposure to an unknown radiation present within Mardin's underground caves. The creatures controlled by Beastlords include giant cockroaches, giant wasps, komodo dragons, brahmins, dogs, wolves, giant rats and radscorpions. While they are not able to control the intelligent deathclaws, they force them to serve them by holding the deathclaw matriarch hostage.

The Hub Police are the law enforcement of the Hub, headed by Sheriff Justin Greene. Most of them are simpltons who have a badge only because no one else would take the badge. They are spread throughout each district except for the Heights, where Mr. Hightower's guards have to fend for themselves. The Police Station is in the Downtown area, but if any member of the Hub Police is attacked, all others will become hostile toward you. In fact, if the police become hostile, you won't be able to leave the Hub (even if every single person is dead) without being in combat mode. Mind that defeating every member of the Hub Police is a remarkable feat; they are well armed, well armored, and well organized.

Feral ghouls are those ghouls (humans mutated by radiation) that lost their minds and became aggressive animals. Their minds are almost completely gone and they react mostly on instinct. Some of the Glowing Ones also become feral (or some of the feral ghouls start to glow due to exposure to radiation). They are known to use radiation-based attacks on humans.

Deathclaws are an enormously large, agile, and strong species of genetically engineered reptiles. They are substantially larger than a human, and have large and dangerous claws. It is claimed that they were originally derived from mixed animal stock DNA (mostly Jackson's Chameleons) before the Great War to replace humans during close-combat search-and-destroy missions and later refined by the Master, using genetic manipulation, but the accounts of their origins vary. Although they do not have vocal chords, the deathclaws seem to be able mimic human speech much the same as a parrot does, although normal deathclaws aren't intelligent enough to be capable of real speech.

Quincy is what remains of the pre-war Quincy, Illinois, known as the Gem City. The town is home to both humans and ghouls, which sometimes leads to racial tensions. Around 2197, the township of Quincy petitioned the Eastern Brotherhood of Steel for protection from a large group of tribals called Beastlords. This threat was unique, because their raiding parties include various monsters from the Wasteland; most notably, the deadly deathclaws. These Beastlords, under the leadership of Duff, took over certain parts of Quincy and were using hostages to ensure they have control over the rest of the town. Among those captured was Hillary Eastwood, the mayor. A Brotherhood squad was sent to rescue the mayor and assist in dealing with the Beastlords.

Combat Armor is among the best forms of protection in the post-War Wasteland. Although extremely expensive, the protection value of this armor and its variants is surpassed only by the few incarnations of power armor. Combat armor was designed to sheath the human body as completely as possible in high durability armor. The primary skin of combat armor is composed of complex polymers and ceramics. This hard armor was manufactured as specific plates. The plates were manufactured with a matte-finish olive drab coloring suitable for woodland camouflage. These plates are affixed to a flexible body suit woven from projectile- and energy-resistant fire-retardant materials.

Vertibirds are Enclave helicopter vehicles used as scouts and troop transports. In 2241 one of them crashed near the trapper town of Klamath, and was the first sign of the Enclave encountered by the Chosen One. The Chosen One later stole the Vertibird Plans from the Navarro base, but it is not certain whether he gave them to the Brotherhood of Steel, the Shi, or simply kept them. The Vertibird is a lateral twin-rotor (non-synchronized) helicopter design. An actual experimental prototype for this type of aircraft was the Platt-LePage XR-1/XR-1A tested by the US Army in the 1940's. Others included the German Fa 223 and the McDonnell XHJD-1 "Whirlaway".

Vault 13: A GURPS Post-Nuclear Adventure was an early working title for Fallout (later also called Fallout: A GURPS Post-Nuclear Adventure before the GURPS license was finally dropped). The game was initially intended to use Steve Jackson Games's GURPS system. GURPS is an acronym for Generic Universal Roleplaying System and is a table-top roleplaying game system published by Steve Jackson Games. Originally released in 1986, it is currently in its fourth edition. GURPS is designed to be easily applicable to any roleplaying-game setting, and is played with six-sided dice.

Tesla Armor is an armor appearing in all Fallout games published so far. It was constructed from plans left by Nikola Tesla decades before the war even started. Though his plans looked completely insane, they worked like a charm. The result was a metal shining armor providing superior protection against energy attacks thanks to the three Tesla Attraction Coil Rods which disperse a large percentage of directed energy attacks. Against conventional weaponry it acts as regular metal armor.

Elder Owyn Lyons is the idealistic leader of the Brotherhood of Steel's branch in the Capital Wasteland. His daughter, Sarah Lyons, is the division's Head Paladin. Some time after the destruction of the Enclave, the Brotherhood's ruling council decided to send a contingent of soldiers led by Lyons all the way to the East Coast to scour the ruins of Washington D.C., once the nation’s capital, and recover any and all advanced technology. But Elder Owyn Lyons had another priority, one he considered more important than his original directive or any orders received since – the protection of the innocent people of the Capital Wasteland. And so, Lyons sent word to his superiors that he would continue his search for technology when he was damned good and ready, and would not sacrifice the people who had come to rely on the bravery and strength of the Brotherhood of Steel. The Capital Wasteland division of the Brotherhood of Steel, headquartered in the Citadel, became its own entity: still affiliated with the Brotherhood of Steel on the West Coast, and bound by its laws and customs, but otherwise completely independent.

Klamath is a town built upon the ruins of the city of Klamath Falls in Southern Oregon. It is a small community of trappers that hunt the giant, mutant lizards called geckos in the area. Highly prized for their pelts, geckos and golden geckos are the lifeblood of this small community. Klamath is the stopping point for caravans on their way to the tiny tribal villages to the north like Arroyo, and also serves as a place where members of those tribes can come and exchange information, goods, and news about the larger world.

The tribal village of Peoria is now only a mockery of the once big city of Peoria, Illinois, located halfway between Chicago and St. Louis. After the War, only a small, primitive village built over a pre-War storehouse of fusion batteries survives. While the Whachutu tribals guard these batteries zealously, it is doubtful that they understand their function. The storehouse was guarded by automated turrets (considered to be "evil spirits" by the tribals) and inhabited by giant cockroaches.

Fallout Tactics 2 was the planned sequel to Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel, developed by Micro Forté. Its pre-production started shortly before the release of Fallout Tactics and after the first game did not meet sales expectations, the sequel was canceled by Interplay around December 2001.

The game was intended to take place toward the Southeast of the USA, as far as Florida, and the major conflict was to be between man and nature. The Midwestern Brotherhood of Steel was to be portrayed as even more fascist and oppressive, and as BOS only in name.

The basic premise was that a GECK had been radiated, and so the "Garden of Eden" it created was full of mutant plants and fungi. It begins to spread fairly rapidly, preying upon animal life and using them as carriers/fertilizer to spread its fungal seed. The player basically gets tasked with discovering the source and a way to put an end to it.

Dr. Willem Clark is the leader of the ghouls at the Reservation. He was a gifted nuclear physicist in his smooth skin days. He worked at the Reservation as chief scientist in the nuclear research and development department on Sub-Level 3. Even then he commanded a loyal following of fellow scientists who are in awe of his scientific capabilities and his ability to bring out the best in his colleagues. So, when the bombs fell and everyone was too scared to move, Willem took charge and kept the survivors alive; alive with hope that one day they would all return to the surface and start life anew. For nearly two centuries, Willem Clark has brought ghouls from all over the wastes to the Reservation. Some have stayed topside, happy to eke out an existence among the debris, while others have taken to the Sub-Levels of the Reservation. Those who have gone to the Sub-Levels enjoy fruitful, meaningful work and much better accommodations than those who on the surface.

In the SPECIAL character system, Traits are optional character modifictions that affect the player character. Traits modify different aspects of gameplay, including (but not limited to): Main Statistics, Derived Statistics and skills. Traits always have both positive and negative results. Fallout 3 is the first SPECIAL game, where there are no traits, as they were rolled into Perks. In games where Traits exist, one can choose up to two traits when designing a character (the player might also choose no trait at all). Choosing the Mutate! perk lets the player change one of his traits. Note that if you chose no trait at character creation, you cannot fill the empty slot with this perk.

Fallout: Warfare: Wargaming in the Fallout Universe is a tabletop battle game based on Fallout Tactics and using a simplified version of the SPECIAL character system. It was written by Chris Taylor (the main creator of SPECIAL) and was added to the FOT bonus disk. Because it was based on the FOT setting and available in most editions only to those who pre-ordered FOT, it was never widely played by Fallout fans. It is now available in the 2006 UK White Label DVD Release of the Fallout Collection. Alternatively, it can be downloaded for free from various places across the Internet, such as here: http://www.3ddownloads.com/nma-fallout/misc/games.

Glowing Ones are ghouls who absorbed so much radiation that they glow in the dark. They are often considered outsiders even by other ghouls. The Glowing Ones also emit radiation, so they can be dangerous to normal humans. In Necropolis, the Glowing Ones lived in the remains of Vault 12, and there was an animosity between them and the "normal" ghouls led by Set, who inhabited the ruins of the town. After Necropolis was overrun by the super mutants, the Glowing Ones who left the town lived much more harmoniously with the other ghouls (not to mention normal humans and super mutants).

The Anchorage Reclamation is the colloquial name applied to a decisive push by American power armor combat units into Chinese-controlled areas of Alaska between 2067 and 2077. The operation was ultimately successful. In 2067, with American and Chinese forces slugging it out at a near standstill in the frozen north, the first Power Armor units are shipped to Alaska. These initial versions of power armor are the distant cousins of the famous T-51b power armor. Less maneuverable, larger, heavier, and less mobile than Power Armors to come, these early Power Armor soldiers nevertheless proved instrumental in blunting the Chinese thrust into Alaska.

Made from tanned brahmin hide, the leather armor is a lightweight body armour, offering protection from firearms and melee damage. The original Leather Armor was designed for Motorcycle Football and other dangerous contact sports. It is likely that the simple construction techniques required to produce armor of this design made it a popular choice following a nuclear disaster. It provides moderate protection, and the light construction makes it easier to dodge attacks while worn. Unfortunately, it provides little to no protection against explosions or plasma attack.

Interplay is the company that published Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics and Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel. It was the owner of the Fallout franchise before it was sold to Bethesda Softworks.

In 1982, Adhaminto Boone had to close down his small games company, Boone Corporation. Brian Fargo, who was vice-president of R&D, took along some of the senior programmers to found Interplay productions. The small outfit published several titles, but finally struck gold with The Bard's Tale and Wasteland, which gave them the financial backing they needed to start publishing their own titles, instead of relying on EA as their publisher.

They started publishing games from other companies in 1988, but it wasn't until 1993 that they managed another hit, and started the "Descent" series, first produced by Parallax Software. Starting in 1992, they were noted for pumping out a few Star Trek games, and in 1997 they hit the motherlode with Fallout and MDK, followed by Baldur's Gate in 1998. Boldened by their success, Interplay went public that same year, and changed the name to "Interplay Entertainment Corp".

Like its more primitive cousin, dynamite, plastic explosive is both a tool and a weapon. In this case, "plastic explosive" takes the form of a large wad of Cordex, a military-grade blasting agent. It has been fitted with a blasting cap, itself wired to a timer. Although an antenna projects from the detonator assembly, there is no provision for remote detonation. Plastic explosive is, pound for pound, more powerful than dynamite, and sports a wider blast radius. Correspondingly, plastic explosive is more expensive than dynamite.

Levels are the general competency of the player character in the SPECIAL character system. A measure of your experience and abilities. Your Level is determined by the Experience Points you have earned throughout your journey. Each time you Level up, you can modify your skills but not your Primary Statistics. You can also gain special perks depending on your character. Therefore you become stronger and better with each Level you gain.

Chinese assault rifles are quite possibly a leftover from the United States' war with China, an event that triggered the Great War. This rifle is chambered in 5.56mm. It bears some visual likeness to the Russian-designed AEK-971 assault rifle, as well the AK-47, but also have some distinctive differences. This rifle can be seen in use by the super mutants in the Washington, D.C. area around 2277.

Chris Avellone got involved with the Fallout series when production was started on Fallout 2: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game. While many feel that his "feel" for the Fallout canon was lacking, the design of New Reno has been praised by just as many.

Later, he became the lead designer of a project codenamed Van Buren, which was canceled in 2003 and revealed to have been Black Isle's attempt at developing Fallout 3. During this time, he also compiled the Fallout Bible.

After leaving Black Isle Studios, Avellone, together with Feargus Urquhart, founded Obsidian Entertainment. At Obsidian, Avellone has worked on such titles as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II, Neverwinter Nights 2 and its expansion, Mask of the Betrayer, and was lead designer on the upcoming title Alpha Protocol. He is currently a senior designer on Fallout: New Vegas.

The advanced power armor was created by the Enclave's skilled team of engineers and scientists after the Great War.

It is composed of lightweight metal alloys, reinforced with ceramic castings at key stress points. The motion-assist servo-motors used in the armor appear to be high quality models as well, giving the wearer a +4 strength bonus. It is issued primarily to Enclave troops operating on the United States mainland, with the Enclave insignia prominently displayed on the breastplate while rank indicators are usually painted on the shoulders of the armor.

Later, the superior advanced power armor Mk II is introduced, and by 2277 it has become the standard-issue Enclave Power Armor used by all of that organization military units.

Erik J. Caponi is a designer at Bethesda Softworks and one of the developers of Fallout 3. Responsible for writing dialog, designing locations, crafting characters, implementing scenes and scenarios, and creating background lore for games set in the Fallout and Elder Scrolls series or role-playing games. Secondary duties include systems and content design.

Vree was Brotherhood of Steel's Head Scribe and lead scientist around 2162. She was responsible for weapons development, as well as research. According to Talus, she is one of the most intelligent people he ever knew and was born with the natural understanding of physics and chemistry. She spent every waking moment doing research or analyzing and reanalyzing anything she could get her hands on. Unlike her assistant, Sophia, she didn't consider history (even the Brotherhood's history) very important.

Broken Hills is a town in North California, inhabited by humans, super mutants and ghouls, living together in relative harmony (or so it seems). Shortly after the Master's defeat, super mutant Marcus wandered aimlessly until he encountered Jacob, a Brotherhood of Steel paladin. Marcus and Jacob fought for a day or two, but they soon realized the futility of their battle and became friends (though Marcus always thought that Jacob would have been improved by a dip in the FEV vats, while Jacob disagreed, which was always a bone of contention between the two). Eventually, Marcus and Jacob became founders of the town of Broken Hills.

Unarmed is a Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics, and Fallout 3 skill.

The combination of martial arts, boxing and other hand-to-hand martial arts. Combat with your hands and feet.

Being the most natural and cost-effective attack in the Fallout-series (Hey, it's free!) there's a lot of training to be gained here and there from various people throughout the game for unarmed-skills, perhaps even more than for Small guns.