I've been told that I could refine my build list if I combined certain types. While this is an idea worth considering, I also know that despite the higher level cap from 3, the level perk has gone up from each level to each second level. With so many specialization perks, and the fact that it is harder to maximize all skills, impossible with low intelligence, I think you'd have to specialize in one style.

New Vegas practically cries out for specialization instead of trying to make a jack-of-all-trades character that specializes in everything like in Fallout 3.

For Guns builds, the only perk they would need is Hand Loader. Aside from the weapons, the difference between them and a shotgun build is the addition of two perks: Shotgun Surgeon and And Stay Back. I remember one Guns build I played used pistols, rifles, and a shotgun. However, once I picked up the Riot Shotgun, I found that it took down enemies much better than the pistol or rifle so that I practically never used the others again.

If Cowboy was taken, then I would need to limit myself to using only weapons affected by Cowboy. Same with Grunt. Or Laser Commander or Plasma Spaz with Energy Weapons. Or Pyromaniac with fire weapons. At least that's my style of making builds for this game now. What's the point of taking a perk if only one weapon in your arsenal benefits from it, when every weapon you use in your endgame arsenal can benefit from it? It suits specialized-themed characters better.

Hand-to-hand builds invest in both Unarmed and Melee Weapons to unlock specific combat perks, such as Super Slam, Piercing Strike, Ninja, and Slayer, yet most the time, they only use either Unarmed or Melee Weapons, but not both?

Would it be practical to make:

- A Cowboy using Guns, shotguns, and Melee Weapons?
- A Grunt using Guns and Melee Weapons?
- A Guns build using shotguns together with their other weapons?
- An Energy Weapons build using both laser and Plasma, taking both Laser Commander and Plasma Spaz? Even if certain weapons are not affected by either perk?
- A Hand-To-Hand character using both Melee Weapons and Unarmed in their arsenal?
- A Pyromaniac using both flamers and hand-to-hand weapons from Unarmed or Melee Weapons?
- Hand-to-hand characters including weapons affected by Pyromaniac in their arsenal after taking the perk?

The short answer is yes to all your build ideas providing you are willing to trade off non-combat skills for combat skills.

FONV definitely favors specializing in one combat skill, especially if you are doing a low intelligence play through. But if you go with a higher INT build and are willing to shortchange some non-combat skills like survival, sneak, medicine or repair, you can put those points into a second combat skill, easy, and even a third for maximum combat flexibility. With an INT 8 build, i usually have 6 of the 8 non-combat skills and one of the combat skills maxed out by Level 30. With an INT 9 build and finding most of the skill books I've maxed all 13 skills by level 42.

The perk limitation is hard. I looked at this really closely once, even built a spreadsheet to categorize, rate and rank all the perks. Broadly, the perks are either attack buffs, defense buffs, or utility buffs. You only get 15 perks by level 30, so you really cannot afford to take many defense or utility perks since the attack perks are more rewarding. For utility, I usually take comprehension and jury rigging and resist the extra carry weight and all experience boosting perks. For defense, I limit myself to 2 perks. The rest go to attack perks. I don't take any VATS attack perks.

A single specialty straight guns build using shotguns is easy, running one right now. There are only two shotgun specific perks (shotgun surgeon and stay back).

Personally, I develop an attachment to specific weapons and focus my builds around those weapons. I don't care for any of the weapons associated with the cowboy or grunt perks. The riot shotgun is great. So are the sniper rifles, automatic rifles and pistols. For energy weapons, i end up using the LAER exclusively once I get one.

Good luck and enjoy New Vegas..

I came up with a final total of 13 builds. They are:

- Cowboy
- Grunt
- Grunt Tank
- Critical Guns
- Critical Energy Weapons
- Quickshot Guns
- Quickshot Energy Weapons
- Plasma VATS
- Critical Automatic
- Guns Tank
- Energy Weapons Tank
- Heavy Handed Tank
- Pyromaniac Tank

Except for the Heavy Handed Tank, all builds use both ranged and hand-to-hand attacks together with some explosives. The Tanks are the only ones who also take the Explosives-related perks.