Fallout 4 Level Cap, XP & Health

Endurance/HP on Level Up and Spending Perk Points

Fallout 4 is perhaps the most open-ended title in the franchise yet, as it has no level cap and players can continue growing in power as long as they want. This guide will focus on the aspects of Leveling, getting XP, and how Endurance affects your HP.

Level Up Endlessly!

Level Cap
Fallout 4 has no level cap, meaning you can continue with your first character and get almost every Perk available so long as you continue. The game features Legendary variants of enemies and equipment that are worth pursuing, so every new encounter is exciting and ripe with possibilities.

Unlike other games (Skyrim), you level immediately even if you do not spend your Perk point, so you should do so. Enemies grow stronger as you do, so it may not be wise to level too quickly if you're not keeping up in equipment improvements. You'll gradually find better and better equipment as the game world changes.

Leveling Mechanics

Gaining XP
Every time you build something in a Settlement, make an armor modification, finish a quest, or discover a new location, you'll get experience points to count toward the next level. Each level up will make the next take more XP, but you'll get more from quests and tougher enemies. Sometimes half a level for a main quest. The amounts you get are set, but can be boosted by your Intelligence score. Higher Int will make you level a touch faster - about 3% per point. It's not that important a boost, but you can use it.

If you raise your Intelligence via gear that provides it or mentat drugs before turning in a quest or engaging in a big fight, you will increase your XP gain. So gear that raises Intelligence, or Power Armor with the Intelligence bonus (internal database on helmet) can be saved for turning in big quests if you want to level up quickly. Beware that Mentats are addictive, but the game does give many ways of recovering from addiction. You can similarly lower shop prices by wearing gear that raises Charisma before talking to the shopkeeper.

I personally do not use a companion, as any kill they make - or NPCs in general for that matter - will not count toward your XP. The main benefit of having them around is for carrying extra things and being a human shield at times. Taking the Lone Wanderer Perk will let you carry more items and take less damage, and what is more Dogmeat does not break this Perk's benefits - you can also store items on Dogmeat and retrieve them when you get back to town. Good stuff!

XP Required to Level Up

To condense info, the following table uses the formula for Fallout 4's leveling system: 75*(Current Level-1) + 200 so it takes 75*0+200 to reach level 2 (200 xp), and 500 XP to reach level 6 (75*(5-1)+200) (for mathematically challenged that's 75*4 = 300 + 200 = 500).

While the wiki doesn't go very high, I've bothered to list 36 of the game's levels and what your XP to next level will be when you reach it. You can experience points required between these levels to be in that same ballpark, as the increase is linear - 75 extra XP required for each level up. Level = Current Level of Character TNL = XP To Next Level.

According to the Wiki, which lists XP Requirements up to level 50, it's The Lone Wanderer Perk works with Dogmeat, so you can get its bonus while still having your dog buddy around to help in fights. Dogmeat can also carry things!

Level-Up Cheat
There is a Cheat to instantly raise your level to whatever you desire. Pressing ` (next to 1) then typing player.setlevel 50 will instantly make you level 50. I've gone as high as 200 with the cheat while testing.

Perks & SPECIAL Stats
Every time you level up, you gain one Perk point. It's not obvious to some players, but you CAN use it to increase your SPECIAL stats so that you can unlock access to later Perks. So, you may start with only 4 Charisma, but need to get 2 points in it to get Local Leader, which lets you make shops in your Settlements. If you know you want that, but have very specific desires for your build, you may wait for the Charisma Bobblehead after getting 5 points.

Bobbleheads & Magazines
Bobbleheads will give you one extra point each in SPECIAL as you find them, but there's much more to discover in Fallout 4's huge world. There are also magazines that give you hidden perks unrelated to those you will find in Fallout 4's Perk Tree. Finding all of these can make your character godlike, so searching everywhere in each area you locate is not a bad idea. You never know what you'll discover. For every additional magazine of that type you find, you will gain a point in that hidden perk, making it a little stronger. Some of them have as many as 10 ranks.

Perks ARE Skills
Fallout 4 does not have the skills of the previous games. For example, you will not get better at picking locks. If you want to unlock advanced locks, you must take that perk. Some see this as problematic, but you are still gaining strength and choosing the direction for your character as you level. Additionally, you may find Bobbleheads unrelated to Special Stats that give permanent perks like that pictured above. The removal of a level cap was a wise move on Bethesda's part.

Getting 11 base stats
Bobbleheads can allow you to get to 11 in each stat, but only if you wait to pick them up when you already have 10 points. If you use them early, you'll be capped at 10 - but the difference is not major. You can go past 10 in other ways - via drugs and power armor bonuses.

You're Special!
Players can get a very early +1 to one of their SPECIAL stats by finding the You're SPECIAL! magazine near the baby's crib once they're out of the vault. Just return to your home and search the nursery to locate it, then allocate the point. This WILL NOT let you go past 10 in a stat, so saving it for later is pointless.

Endurance & Health
On each level up, you will gain HP. 2.5 HP base. Each point of Endurance adds 1/2 a point on each level up. So if you have 5 Endurance, you'll get 5 HP each level. 6 would give you 5.5, and HP is rounded up. Therefore, every other level you'd get 6, then 5 points. Odd numbers produce a reliable gain.

You fortunately do not have to worry about having high Endurance early in order to give your character a high health pool. Adding Endurance is retroactive, as it's a simple calculation as explained above. Getting to level 40 and taking an extra point in Endurance will give you 20 HP, while if you took that point at 60 you'd get 30 - but the end result is the same, so this takes some stress out of character planning.

The only difference is the base health, which is 80 + your endurance x 5. So a player who starts with high endurance will have just a tiny bit more hp (think +20 for starting at 8 vs 4) - in the end game, that is not a very big difference at all. There is a Life Giver perk that can give you +20 each rank, and Power Armor makes you nigh-unkillable by most normal enemies.

What's Fallout 4's Maximum Health?
While you can keep leveling past it, the point that you have all Perks covered is around level 275, minus any bobblheads that weren't used to get stats to 11. Gains are retroactive and you can have 11 base Endurance (from waiting to take the Endurance Bobblehead until 10 END). Another factor is that your starting HP is 80 + END x 5. So let's go with a base of 4 Endurance and go from there - so 100HP. With the formula of Level * (2.5 + (End x 0.5)) for each level gained, you'd get 254 * 8 per level, or a massive 2,438 HP. You can keep going and achieve over 4k by level 500, but would not be able to continue to invest Perk points. It can be even higher with extra Endurance. While it doesn't increase your base health, it does apply retroactively while you are wearing that gear. Each END over 10 would add 50 HP per 100 levels.