| abstract
| - That's you - a poor schmuck from Vault 13, chosen by the Vault Overseer to be sent out in the radioactive wasteland. Your mission: to find a new water chip for Vault 13 or else everyone you know and love will die. Simple enough job - there's another Vault nearby, and they'll surely be able to spare you one. But as you'll travel across the radiated desert, you'll learn that nothing is that simple and everything comes with a price... The game comes with three pre-made Vault Dwellers you can select instead of creating a character from scratch: Max Stone, Natalia Dubrovhsky and Albert Cole. Note: In the original Fallout the protagonist is a blank slate character whose name, age, gender and personality is fully customizable. In all subsequent games the actions of the first game are attributed to a male character known only as "the Vault Dweller", hence the name.
* Action Survivor
* Badass Normal: Just some kid from a Vault sent out into the world with little more than a handgun, a jumpsuit and some water flasks. Ended up becoming one of the most influential figures in post-apocalyptic history.
* BFG: If the Vault Dweller's Memoirs recap in the Fallout 2 manual is to be believed, s/he stormed the Mariposa Base wielding one.
* Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Take the Junktown main quest for instance - stop Gizmo's assassin from killing Killian, then agree to gather evidence against Gizmo. Tell Gizmo while wearing a bug you'll take the job in place of the dead guy, rat him out to Killian, then when you go to confront Gizmo with Killian you can kill them both.
* Combat Pragmatist: Not above aiming for eyes and groins. Also, in the game's climax it's possible to skip boss fights with both the Master and Lieutenant by making their bases explode under their feet.
* Cutting Off the Branches: As with the rest of the game, Fallout 2 set in stone many optional aspects of the Vault Dweller's character and actions, a contrast to later games in the series where the previous player characters are glossed over enough to still be Featureless Protagonists.
* Dude, Where's My Reward?: Thanks to your efforts, the West Coast is spared from the Master's evil plan. Thanks to the Overseer, you are forever banished from Vault 13 for becoming "too different."
* Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Retroactively in the sequels, see Retcon below.
* Fighter, Mage, Thief: The three pre-made characters fill this archetype: Max Stone (fighter), Natalia Dubrovhsky (thief) and Albert Cole (mage). Given that the Fallout setting lacks magic, the "mage" is rather a diplomat. The basic function is the same though: a physically weak character that, with some leveling and patience, can eventually defeat the most powerful enemies effortlessly (with words rather than magic here).
* Guile Hero: Fallout was one of the first computer RPGs where it was possible to play as one of these through the entire game.
* Hello, Insert Name Here: You get to name the protagonist at the start of the game, and since most of the dialouge is in text only most other characters will call you by that name.
* Idiot Hero: Playing a character whose INT score is lower than 4 gives you rather hilarious results. The full effects arguably count as a Deconstruction: your character is functionally retarded and learning new skills becomes extremely slow. Most of the Wasteland treats you as a joke and many quests can't be started since your speech is by far too impaired for normal conversation.
* One-Man Army
* Protagonist Without a Past: Averted if you pick one of the three pre-made characters, who each have a short backstory. Otherwise played straight. Justified for the most part since you have never been outside Vault 13 before in your life and before that were likely just like any other citizen living a normal life.
* Retcon: No one actually calls you "Vault Dweller" in the game. In fact almost no one know that you come from a vault, and if you decide to tell anyone they won't belive you. The nickname was made up for the sequel, where they talk as if it was the only name you were ever known by.
* Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: If his reluctance towards writing his memoirs is believed, he begins doing this in his old age.
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