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Creating a character in Wasteland 2 is a mandatory process.[1] While originally the player could use a pre-made party in Wasteland, the sequel provides pre-made characters for use, but creating own Rangers is still a better choice due to greater flexibility.

Creating a Character[]

There are eight pre-made character available for selection: Bear, Big Bert, Cherry Bomb, Cold-Eye, Fade, Hex, Pills, and Slick.

There's an excellent online tool available, called the Ranger Creation Toolkit, which allows the player not only to simulate party creation, but also check how well rounded it is by factoring in recruits and their skills. The squad view allows you to check which skills your target party makeup has and which ones it does not.

Attributes[]

Ranger's basic attributes are:[2]

Name Description Derived Stats
Coordination +2 Coordination = +1 Action Points,
+1 Coordination = +1% Ranged Hit Bonus
Luck +1 Luck = +1% Critical Chance,
+2 Luck = +1% Chance to Evade,
Chance to get additional CON per Level,
Chance for bonus Action Points per turn
Awareness +1 Awareness = +1 Combat Initiative,
+2 Awareness = +1% Chance to Evade,
+2 Awareness = +1m Range of View
Strength +4 Strength = +1 Action Points,
+1 Strength = +3 CON,
+1 Strength = +12 lbs. Carry Weight,
+2 Strength = +1 CON per Level,
+1 Strength = +0.1 Bonus Melee Crit. Mult.
Speed +4 Speed = +1 Action Points,
+2 Speed = +1 Combat Initiative,
+1 Speed = +1% Chance to Evade,
+1 Speed = +0.1 Combat Speed
Intelligence +4 Intelligence = +1 Action Points,
1 Intelligence = 2 Skill Points per Level,
4 Intelligence = 3 Skill Points per Level,
8 Intelligence = 4 Skill Points per Level,
10 Intelligence = 5 Skill Points per Level
Charisma +1 Charisma = +2m Leadership Radius,
+1 Charisma = +5% Non-Combat XP Bonus

Together, they form the basis of the C.L.A.S.S.I.C.[3] (CLASSIC) system. Each Ranger starts with a value of 3 in each of these attributes and 7 points to spend, giving you a total of 28 points for 7 attributes. A value of 1-2 is considered poor, 3-7 is varying definitions of average, 8-9 is great, and 10 is exceptional.

Each Ranger gain 1 attribute point per 10 levels.

Derived Stats[]

Derived Stats determined by the attributes.

Name Description Granting Stats Base
Number
Action Points +1 Action Points ≡ +2 Coordination,
+1 Action Points ≡ +4 (Strength, Speed, Intelligence)
3
Ranged Hit Bonus +1% Ranged Hit Bonus ≡ +1 Coordination 0%
Critical Chance +1% Critical Chance ≡ +1 Luck 0%
Combat Initiative +1 Combat Initiative ≡ +1 Awareness,
+1 Combat Initiative ≡ +2 Speed
5
Chance to Evade +1% Chance to Evade ≡ +2 Luck,
+1% Chance to Evade ≡ +2 Awareness,
+1% Chance to Evade ≡ +1 Speed
0%
CON +3 CON ≡ +1 Strength 14
Combat Speed +0.1 Combat Speed ≡ +1 Speed 1.3
Skill Points per Level 2 Skill Points per Level ≡ 1 Intelligence,
3 Skill Points per Level ≡ 4 Intelligence,
4 Skill Points per Level ≡ 8 Intelligence,
5 Skill Points per Level ≡ 10 Intelligence
1
Carry Weight +12 lbs. Carry Weight ≡ +1 Strength 45 lbs.
CON per Level +1 CON per Level ≡ +2 Strength 7
Vision Range +1m Range of View ≡ +2 Awareness,
+1m Range of View ≡ +1 Perception
25m
Leadership Radius +2m Leadership Radius ≡ +1 Charisma -2m
Non-Combat XP Bonus +5% Non-Combat XP Bonus ≡ +1 Charisma 0%
Bonus Melee Crit. Mult. +0.1 Bonus Melee Crit. Mult. ≡ +1 Strength 0

Character Plans[]

Common stats of squad members (level 40 stats given in () brackets):[4][5]

Role C L A S S I C AP RHB CC CI EVA CON CS SP/L WGT CO/L ROW LR NXB BMC Skills
medic 1 (2) 1 1 (4) 4 10 10 1 9 (10) 1% (2%) 1% 11 (14) 10% (12%) 26 2.4 5 93 lbs. 9 25m (27m) 0m 5% 0.4 AR / EW / SR, SU
2 1 4 (8) 2 8 10 1 9 2% 1% 13 (17) 10% (12%) 20 2.2 5 69 lbs. 8 27m (29m) 0m 5% 0.2 AR / SR, SU
leader 2 1 3 2 4 10 6 (10) 8 2% 1% 10 5% 20 1.7 5 69 lbs. 8 26m 10m (18m) 30% (50%) 0.2 AR, LE, SU
2 1 3 4 8 4 6 (10) 8 2% 1% 12 9% 26 2.2 3 93 lbs. 9 26m 10m (18m) 30% (50%) 0.4 AR, LE
6 1 2 2 10 4 3 (7) 10 6% 1% 12 11% 20 2.4 3 69 lbs. 8 26m 4m (12m) 15% (35%) 0.2 AR, LE
2 1 6 (10) 2 10 4 3 8 2% 1% 16 (20) 13% (15%) 20 2.4 3 69 lbs. 8 28m (30m) 4m 15% 0.2 AR / SR, LE
carry 4 (6) 1 6 (8) 4 8 4 1 9 (10) 4% (6%) 1% 15 (17) 11% (12%) 26 2.2 3 93 lbs. 9 28m (29m) 0m 5% 0.4 AR / EW / SR
4 1 2 (6) 6 10 4 1 10 4% 1% 12 (16) 11% (13%) 32 2.4 3 117 lbs. 10 26m (28m) 0m 5% 0.6 SH / EW / SMG / HW
sniper 2 (4) 1 8 (10) 2 10 4 1 8 (9) 2% (4%) 1% 18 (20) 14% (15%) 20 2.4 3 69 lbs. 8 29m (30m) 0m 5% 0.2 SR
4 (8) 1 10 1 10 1 1 8 (10) 4% (8%) 1% 20 15% 17 2.4 2 57 lbs. 7 30m 0m 5% 0.1 SR
melee 1 (2) 1 1 (4) 10 10 4 1 9 (10) 1% (2%) 1% 11 (14) 10% (12%) 44 2.4 3 165 lbs. 12 25m (27m) 0m 5% 1.0 BW / BL
2 1 4 (8) 8 8 4 1 9 2% 1% 13 (17) 10% (12%) 38 2.2 3 141 lbs. 11 27m (29m) 0m 5% 0.8 BW / BL

Skills[]

Skills are also expressed in a range from 1 to 10 and are divided into three separate branches: Combat Skills, Knowledge Skills, and General Skills. The player only has 12 skill points to distribute. Purchasing the first level in a skill costs 2 points. Levels 2 and 3 cost a further 2 points each, while 4 and 5 require 4 each.

Each Ranger gain skill points per every level. Its number depends on his or her Intelligence.

The skills are divided into separate branches:

Combat Skills[]

Name Description
Assault Rifles Rifles suited to mid and long range combat.
Bladed Weapons Melee combat using blades to stab or cut.
Blunt Weapons Melee combat using blunt weapons to crush or bash.
Brawling Hand to hand combat, including fists and fist weapons.
Energy Weapons Rare weapons that are good against armored targets.
Handguns Weak short range weapons, but cheap.
Heavy Weapons Includes miniguns, missile launchers, and light machine guns.
Shotguns You know what these are.
Sniper Rifles Suited to long and very long range combat.
Submachine Guns Automatic weapons suited for close range combat.

As expected, combat skills determine the base chance to hit with a given weapon type, weapon range, chance for a critical hit and critical damage, bonus to area of effect attacks, reduce reload costs, shotgun range damage falloff, and incidence of jamming, increase the number of shots fired per burst, and damage with energy weapons.

Knowledge Skills[]

Name Description
Alarm Disarming
Computer Science Used to hack robots, computers, and some synthetics. Also used to open electronic or computerized doors.
Demolitions Does not influence grenade usage in combat. Mostly used to disarm traps.
Field Medic Increases healing effect of medic packs, and allows for use of better medic packs.
Lockpicking Used to pick conventional locks, such as on doors.
Mechanical Repair Used to repair the various objects in the world, such as broken wells or machines.
Safecracking Used to crack safes. Does not work on computerized locks.
Surgeon Needed to revive people in critical condition, such as in combat, or to free scientists from aggressive plants.
Toaster Repair Needed to obtain goodies from toasters.

General Skills[]

Name Description Derived Stats
Animal Whisperer
Barter
Brute Force
Hard Ass
Kiss Ass
Leadership
Outdoorsman
Perception +1 Perception = +1m Range of View
Smart Ass
Weaponsmithing

Special Skills[]

Name Description
Southwestern Folklore This skill only available to Kickstarter backers

Personal Data[]

The final step is determining the character's personal data, including the gender, name, age (anywhere from 16 to 99 years), religion (irreligious, atheist, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Indigenous, Jewish, Mormon, Muslim, or Sikh), nationality (American, Chinese, Mexican, Native American, or Russian), and the favourite brand of cigarettes (Bones, Coffin Nails, Nico-Pops, Red Rooster, Styx, or none at all). Wasteland 2 also allows for writing a short biography, though without the possibility to break it down into paragraphs.

The final step is determining the character's 3D appearance. The player can select between different skin tones, types of hair and head gear, face textures, as well as torso, leg, and backpack models. The final touch is the portrait, which can be one of the pre-made ones, a screenshot of the 3D model or a custom one.

Wasteland 2 also permits exporting characters for later use.

Custom Portrait[]

Custom portrait is a feature allowing the player to upload their own portrait for use by Rangers in the game. Consult this article for more information or ranger field manual (p. 35-36).

Deployment[]

Once accepted, the character is added into the party. Their initial loadout will greatly depend on their skills.

References[]

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