Fallout 76 Won’t Let You Respec Your SPECIALs

Fallout 76 is a new kind of game for the franchise, presenting a connected persistent world. You’ll be persistent too, as Bethesda marketing VP Pete Hines has confirmed that once you assign your SPECIAL points, you can’t respect them.

A fan on Twitter asked what can be done if he reaches level 50, has spent all of his SPECIAL points, and feels unhappy with his character build. Can he respec or does he need to start a whole new character from scratch? Hines answered plainly.

SPECIAL points are the acronym applied to your various stats in the Fallout games, standing for Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck. The games have a history of rewarding clever distribution of SPECIALs–like dialogue changes to make you more of a dumb brute if you pour all your points into Strength and none into Intelligence, or giving you some additional ways to talk your way out of problems if you have more Charisma.

Being stuck with your decisions does make some sense for an online connected world, since a big part of the game will be choices and consequences as they relate to your interactions with other players. But that also may mean you’ll want to plan your build a little more carefully right from the start.

We recently had extended hands-on time with Fallout 76. You’ll still have opportunities to swap out and customize your character, with features like mod support and cosmetic microtransactions. For details on how and when you can get into the upcoming beta, check out our guide to everything we know so far.