The second season of the Fallout TV Show is almost upon us, but before we can bask in the glorious light of New Vegas' neon-lit casinos, it's time to reflect on the first season and understand just how far each of our main characters came.
By the end of season one, Lucy had found her dad, The Ghoul was closing in on finding his family, Maximus was welcomed back into the Brotherhood of Steel as a war hero, and Thaddeus, well, Thaddeus is ghoulifying somewhere in the Wasteland. It was a big season for all of them, but all progress can be measured and analysed somehow. I'm not interested in any heartfelt moments of growth: I want to see the numbers.
The methodology
So let's get down to business. Just how many levels did each of these characters gain over the course of Fallout season one? The method I used was similar to the one YouTuber ManyATrueNerd used to work out what level Lucy got to by the end of the first season, with a couple of tweaks.
First off, as Lucy is the main character, most of the groundwork is based on her. As she establishes skills like repair, science, and speech, I'll be using Fallout 3's framework (with a few exceptions). All characters are playing in survival mode, which gives more XP, but on a low difficulty—that Yao Guai went down way too quickly for this to be any other difficulty.
Each character has one main mission to complete and then a number of side missions that they can get less XP for. Characters will also get minimal XP for discovering new locations, taking out raiders, ghouls, or Wasteland critters.
Lucy: Level 8
Total XP gained: 5,057
Lucy makes it to level 8 after amassing 5,057 XP throughout the course of the eight episodes. But let me tell you how she got here.
Her big mission was finding her father, which she did manage to do by the end of episode eight, but XP came in other ways as well:
- Discovering new locations
- Doing some detective work in Vault 4
- Killing a couple of radroaches
- Taking out a few raiders, although she only got this XP by technically being in a team with The Ghoul
Lucy getting a new finger may only be a small achievement but it'll make life in the Wasteland much easier.
Unfortunately, Lucy did miss out on what could have been a decent payday when she failed to get the scientist's head back from the Gulper or take the mutant monster out. It was a failed mission, but we've all experienced that.
The Ghoul: Level 89*
Total XP gained: 1,880
When it comes to The Ghoul, by my estimations, he only managed to gain 1,880 XP throughout the course of the season. While he did kill an impressive number of enemies, he didn't take part in many sidequests, and he's also been wandering around the Wasteland for about 200 years, so there weren't many new locations available for him to find.
I gave The Ghoul a couple XP for saving Dogmeat (even though he was the one who initially stabbed him). It was a small gesture that actually means a whole lot for his character. Plus I was really happy not to see my favourite character die.
Given that he's been around the block a couple of times, estimating his level is an impossible task, but I'm going to do it anyway. He exudes the confidence of someone at level 89, experienced but not quite finished with their main mission.
"But Elie, you can't get to level 89 in Fallout 3," I hear you say. You can only get to level 30 with the Broken Steel expansion, or use a mod to max out at level 99.
And you're telling me you think that The Ghoul would abide by a level cap for 200 years? C'mon. The Ghoul seems like he would use a mod—anything to get ahead.
Maximus: Level 9
Total XP gained: 4,100XP
Next up is Maximus, who, despite being out in the Wasteland before the start of the first season, was either stuck in a fridge or in the Brotherhood of Steel's basecamp, so he's starting fresh in my book.
A kind gesture can go a long way, which was certainly the case when Maximus returned Vault 4's fusion core. Again, he was the one to take it at first. But giving it back left him without power armor in the Wasteland which is no small sacrifice.
But not all playthroughs are equal—while Lucy had to build up her level one by one, Maximus got a bit of a head start. You see, you need to be at least level 6 to go from aspirant to squire in the Brotherhood. Which means he somehow gained 2,500 XP in the time it took for Dane to put razor blades in their shoe. Fine, I'll bite.
Maximus then managed to earn himself 4,100XP over the course of season one, mostly thanks to feats like:
- Killing the Yao Guai and the Gulper (while in a squad with Thaddeus)
- Killing Knight Titus and taking his power armour
- Finding the Enclave scientist's head
- And finally becoming a Knight at the very end of the season.
This places Maximus comfortably at level 9, just 600XP off level 10—you'll get 'em next season, buddy.
Thaddeus: Level 50!?
Total XP gained: 186,700
Those three were the only characters I planned to keep track of, but when Thaddeus landed in the Wasteland, I went 'ah fuck it, why not' and started to keep track of his XP antics also. I didn't think much would come from this, as he doesn't have a whole lot of screen time and doesn't get up to much, but I would be proved wrong.
In a bid to gather food for his Knight Thaddeus climbed and then fell out of a tree. He didn't actually find anything but I liked his moxie.
Thaddeus managed to earn a respectable 496 XP during season 1. He took out the Gulper, found a couple of new locations, and even managed to get to level 6 after being promoted to Squire. But then he inhaled the snake oil salesman's elixir and turned himself into a ghoul.
No big deal, right? Ghoulifying yourself can't be worth that mu—oh god. Thanks to Fallout 76's Ghoul update we know what level you have to be to turn into a ghoul, and it's level 50. Meaning Thaddeus somehow earned 186,204XP in a couple of minutes.
That's it I'm outta here, my system is ruined—it's almost as if this is a TV show and not a videogame.
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