My first gunner build

[Frin]

I'm creating my first character ever. I'd like to focus on guns, crafting and persuasion and leave PSI out for another run. I'm satisified with the stats, but I wondering about the 8 skills I need to use.
Anyway, stats are something like this

7 to Str (to be pumped to 8 later)
3 Dex
3 Agi
7 Con
5 Will
7 Int
Perception: all the rest of the points. Main stat.

In terms of skills I was thinking about:

Guns,
Persuasion,
Hacking,
Lockpicking
Electronics,
Tailoring
Mechanics,
Chemestry+Biology (half points each per level up)

Of course I'll be wearing heavy armor. I'm a bit concerned about the 3 Dex, since I already have a penalty to movement (due to heavy armor) and adding another 10% loss is not great, so I guess I could take a point of Perception and put it there.

As for the skills, I like persuasion since this is already a combat focused game, so if I can avoid some of it, it's a welcomed possibility. And I'd like to explore crafting as much as possible.

Do you think this build is viable? Is it fine to split points between Chemestry and Biology, or I should just pick one and keep everything maxed?

[Bruno]

I assume you will take feats for assault rifles, perhaps with a sniper for long range, and juggernaut/50%+ heavy armors.

You are going to experience some stun/incapacitations since you will always move last/no stealth or alpha strikes. This force you to get the best defensive gear possible and a high HP pool.

You will step on a mine or have a grenade thrown in your face from time to time so blast defense is also good.

Also, you might get into trouble with stealthed knife users, who can cripple your strength. So be sure to carry some adrenaline and other drugs at all time.

[Frin]

Thank you. Yes I'm going full AR with maybe sniper rifle. It's a good point about HP. Should I put more points into Con then, like 10?

I'm also taking thick head to mitigate stun effecs

[Bruno]

Well, it is hard to say, personal preference really. With 7 Con, Juggernaut, maybe Conditioning and wearing heavy armor you are quite survivable.

Personally I would sacrifice some offensive power to up Con to 10 and take the Thick Skull feat, and also take Last Stand for emergencies. But if you dont mind a bit more save/load, you might get by without. I prefer playing with as little reloading as absolutely possible.

You will be very resistant to conventional attacks and have great destructive capability, but for example Psi-wielding enemies can bypass your armor and can not miss, only defense then is hitting them before they can hit you, or having a sufficiently high HP pool.

[Sanger]

Looks like a pretty standard assault rifle tin can build to me, meaning it should be fine. Only two things stick out to me: firstly, why Will 5? If you're maxing Persuasion anyway then you should have more than enough to meet any skill checks throughout the game with Will at 3.

Secondly, why Intelligence 7? Which crafting feats are you going to be taking with this character? Armor Sloping is useless if you're a ranged fighter and are ignoring Stealth, Dodge and Evasion anyway, and Gun Nut is amongst the worst crafting feats in the game. Power Management is alright though, I guess. But consider whether this investment is worth it; more points in Perception and Constitution might be more valuable.

[Frin]

Right. Will 5 was chosen just to avoid malus to resistances. I'm regretting it now. Int 7 I guess it was a noob mistake: I took Armor Sloping and I like the fact I can still walk around, but I guess I could have used those points better.

I'm level 7 right now, I dumped my first stat point into STR (which is now 8 ) and my brand new metal armor is behaving just great. I crafted 2 AR, with two different barrels so that I can make use of both 7.62 and 8.6m bullets and my damage is really great right now.

My concern so far is related to the fact that there are 4 other stat points I can get and I'm unsure how to use them. If I put another point in STR it would be just to be able to wear the heaviest metal armor but it seems a waste for a non-melee character.

And if I want to bring CON to 10 to get Thick Skull, I'm going to leave PER at 7 which is not great for a ranged character.

In the end I guess high PER is more important than Thick Skull, so I think I'll leave CON at 7, but I'm still thinking if that 1 more point to STR is useful or not

[destroyor]

Don't get 9 STR, just use rathound BBQ if you want to use tungsten armor.

[Sanger]

Int 7 I guess it was a noob mistake: I took Armor Sloping and I like the fact I can still walk around, but I guess I could have used those points better.

Nah, a lot of people go with Int 7 with a build like this, it should be fine. Armor Sloping is still useful as a quality of life feat even if you don't need a lot of mobility in combat, as you noted.

Strength should be fine at 8. I'd sink the rest of the points into Perception and forget about Thick Skull - your Biology should reach 80 relatively quickly so you can always just craft Bullhead. Might as well enjoy the benefits of crafting while you're playing a character well-suited to it.

I didn't mention it earlier, but you won't need to put as many points into Hacking, Lockpicking and the various crafting skills as you probably think you will. It's hard to say how much Mechanics and Electronics you'll need since it'll depend on the quality of components you find, but you most likely won't need a large amount of Tailoring. Biology I don't think ever needs to go above 130 effective and Chemistry 112 effective. Hacking never needs to go above 130 effective and Lockpicking I think 125 effective. With Int 7 you'll reach some of those values long before you reach the level cap, so maybe consider putting a few points into Throwing or something to make crowd control easier (since you'll be able to craft all the best grenades anyway).

[Hazard]

Thick Skull is a bit of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it does what it says and on a heavy armor gunner build, 35 AP that being dazed leaves you with is enough to burst fire a 7.62 Hornet or an SMG, which in turn is often enough to take care of the enemy trying to stun you (usually at melee range, so missing is rarely a problem). On the other hand, you can never get the Second Wind stun immunity and thus, theoretically, can be constantly dazed if there are several enemies all using stunning attacks. And since most stuns only last for one turn, which a heavily armored character can usually survive just fine, Thick Skull becomes somewhat unappealing considering the opportunity cost of not being able to take some other feat instead.

The one big exception here are crawlers. They stun you for 2 turns, and that's plenty of time for them to bring the hurt to a tin can as well, at least in early to mid-game. They can be countered with high enough stealth skill or liberal use of flares, though, if you know when to expect them...