Speech Speech is a " Fallout " , " Fallout 2 " , " Fallout 3 " and " " skill . In " Van Buren " , it was to be divided into two skills : Persuasion and Deception . The skill was also to appear in " " but was cut from the final game build . The Speech skill is an often used plot device at the end of " Fallout " games , almost always as a device to persuade the final " boss " of the game to leave without fighting ( in the case of Augustus Autumn and Legate Lanius ) or commit suicide ( in the case of the Master and General Jingwei ) . " Fallout " and " Fallout 2 " . The Speech skill was in the first draft of " " skills , but was eventually left out . Speech checks are done with a skill roll or checking against a threshold ( only the former are generally called " Speech checks " ) . Rolls are virtually ubiquitous in " Fallout " while the latter are more prevalent in " Fallout 2 . " " Fallout 3 " . Example : A starting Charisma of 5 and Luck of 5 . During dialog with characters , you may be presented with a Speech Challenge . A Speech Challenge is a response preceded by the word " [ Speech XXX % ] " , ' XXX ' being the percentage chance of success ( e . g . [ Speech 25 % ] ) . Speech Challenges open up additional possibilities in dialog with characters , such as getting them to reveal information they would otherwise keep hidden or pay larger sums of bottle cap s for a task . Not every Speech Challenge will have the same chance of success , since some characters may be harder to persuade than others . If failed , a Speech Challenge cannot be repeated . The percentage of success is determined by various factors . The primary factor is your Speech skill . The higher it is , the better the chance of success . Charisma itself has an effect on your percentage of success . A character with a 1 in Charisma and 100 in Speech will be less effective than one with a 10 in Charisma and a similar Speech level . Having a weapon drawn will have a slight effect on your possibility of success . Finally , succeeding in a Speech Challenge with a character will make future Speech Challenges with that character easier to pass , if applicable . Certain Speech Challenges are not checked against your Speech skill , but against other factors . These can include your S . P . E . C . I . A . L . statistics , certain perks ( Lady Killer / Black Widow , Child at Heart , etc . ) , or your Karma . In these cases , " [ Speech ] " will be replaced with the relevant item being checked against ( [ Strength ] , [ Karma ] , [ Toughness ] , etc . ) . Such checks will occasionally override normal Speech Challenges . Note that these options , unlike a Speech check , will automatically succeed since you have met the requirement . Karma is an exception , as being evil or good will influence the response . Speech success chance . The precise chance of success appears to be Charisma Bonus * Speech Skill / Difficulty , where " difficulty " depends on the particular Speech Check , but not on game difficulty level . Thus , doubling your Speech skill doubles your chance of success , and Charisma gives a non - linear bonus according to this table : Sample difficulties for early Speech Checks are 215 to convince Lucas Simms to increase your reward , 147 to convince Gob to give you information , and 111 to convince Jericho to talk to you . Thus a 5 Charisma , 50 Speech character has a 66 base ability , and has a 31 % , 45 % , and 60 % chance with these checks respectively . Having a weapon raised increases the difficulty by about 10 % , so with a weapon up the chances would be 28 % , 41 % , and 54 % . Lucas Simms is actually a fairly hard sell ; few Speech Checks are harder than about 170 . The hardest Speech Check in the game involves the AntAgonizer or Mechanist , and is about 457 . Strategy . In addition to counting towards the Silver - Tongued Devil achievement , successful Speech Challenges in " Fallout 3 " can yield the player any number of benefits though experience is always rewarded for a successful Speech check and is influenced by Well Rested status and the Swift Learner perk . Other rewards may include : a significant increase in caps for completing quests , keys or passwords , Karma , additional items , or even the chance to peacefully resolve some quests without the need for violence . Unlike Barter ( which will affect a great many transactions in the game ) , Speech skill will only affect specific dialogue options for the non - player character ' s that present speech challenges in the game . Putting a large number of skill points into Speech , or selecting it as a Tag Skill assures that your character will be very , very adept with a fairly uncommon occurrence in the game mechanics . With Speech challenges , you only have one chance . Since even a high Speech skill will not guarantee success on harder speech challenges ( it will guarantee it on easier challenges , however , as long as 100 % is displayed ) , if you ' re serious about succeeding in a Speech challenge , you ' re probably going to be careful enough to save the game before rolling the dice anyway . Using this strategy , a higher Speech skill will only increase your probability of success , which translates to fewer game reloads until you succeed . Considering this , spending ten points to increase from a Speech of 30 to a Speech of 40 is likely to be completely unnoticeable in actual practice . It is not difficult to save the game right before initiating dialogue with most non - player characters in the game . In circumstances where a non - player character will initiate conversations with you that can include speech challenges ( such as Bryan Wilks , Lug - Nut , or Goalie Ledoux ) , these non - player characters will only appear under predictable circumstances ( nearing Grayditch , obtaining the naughty nightwear , or arriving at the Red Racer factory ) ; thus , saving the game just before encountering these non - player characters will allow you to use the same strategy listed above . For non - player characters who can present multiple Speech Challenges — such as Bryan Wilks or Vance — it is possible to choose the option to stop speaking to them after succeeding in the first Speech Challenge , save the game , and then talk to them again to attempt the second Speech Challenge . Note : Only items adding + 5 or more are included . " Fallout : New Vegas " . Example : A starting Charisma of 5 and Luck of 5 . Speech no longer has a ' % ' chance of working as in " Fallout 3 " . It now works 100 % of the time if you have the right Speech skill , which makes it impossible to save and load to bypass speech challenges . A Speech challenge beyond the player ' s ability will usually have one dialogue option , and another when it is within the player ' s ability . Speech is an extremely useful skill in " New Vegas " , since it can frequently allow the player to avoid fights or accomplish quests more easily .