Several days ago, Bethesda promised fans that it would provide a closer look at Fallout 76's character system and perks during ZeniMax Media's annual convention to celebrate and promote the company's major franchises, QuakeCon 2018. Now that day has come, as the publisher and developer has released a new trailer showing off the way in which it has revamped the post-apocalyptic franchise's S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system for the forthcoming multiplayer title.

As seen in the animated trailer below, while Fallout 76 will still rely on the familiar S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system for players to customize and configure their characters abilities to suit certain play styles, but this time around, attributes will be distributed by way of perk trading cards. Upon leveling up, players will be able to put one point toward a S.P.E.C.I.A.L. category, and can then pick a perk card that could affect certain character qualities such as their abilities in combat, how persuasive they can be with speech, and much more.

According to Bethesda, each of these perks will have different “costs” associated to them that limit which ones a player can use and when they can use it. For example, a player who has got three points attributed to Strength will be able to equip both a two-point card and a one-point card in that category. However, if that same player wanted to equip two two-point cards, they would be required to add one more point to Strength for a total of four points.

Bethesda also noted that there are hundreds of from which to choose in Fallout 76, with players often being given more than one at a time. Special perk card packs that are given out occasionally will offer several perks at once, but some of them might not be available for use yet. These packs are going to be doled out every two levels until level 10, and will then be awarded every five levels from then on. The S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system has a level cap set at 50, but players will be able to keep choosing perks for additional customization.

Taking all of this into account, it will be interesting to see exactly how the new perk system plays out in Fallout 76, especially after many fans were critical of Bethesda's decision to slightly tweak the way in which the system was designed and presented in Fallout 4. Thankfully, fans will have the chance to see it in action soon, as the forthcoming beta includes the full game.

Fallout 76 is set to release on November 14, 2018 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

Source: Bethesda Softworks – YouTube (via WWG)