I can’t seem to find any recipes for making the actual Workbenches. The only one that has a recipe to make it is the Cooking Station. Am I missing something?
ok… I’m sitting on the lounge floor sorting out Fallout stuff… BRB…
…
…
… page 209… yup only Cooking Stations!! I’ll check the PS4 settlement ‘ingredients’ or the VDSG book for homebrew suggestions.
…
…
In F4/VDSG (pg 240) there seems to be three ‘levels’ available for each workbench - stand, shop & emporium… so the stand is basic and probably portable (see page 22 of the GM Toolkit option 10-11 ‘Pop Up Bar’)… tbh the game is based off the console game so doesn’t cover stuff lik this… I’d suggest the player makes a Repair roll to construct an IKEA type stall that can be erected and taken down and stored, flatpack style on a brahmin… a failed/complication means it falls apart as soon as the first customer arrives and leans on the counter… for the other two options shop and emporium, the player would need to find a suitable location - empty house or red rocket station and make appropriate rolls, complications could be there’s a molerat or ghoul colony that needs exterminating before moving in and taking over…if you’re using the map from VDSG as a GM you’ll know where each Crafting station is…
Recipes are on average Wood (5), Bottlecaps (stall 500 or shop 1000 or emporium 3000!) steel (3)…and you also need the Local Leader Perk in the console game, so maybe the Junktown Jerky Vendor or Scrapper Perks in the ttrpg…
Hope this helps
I’m sorry. What is “F4/VDSG”?
So as I read this section over, they’re very explicit about how easy it is to make the cooking station and that it can be done anywhere. Likely, the workbenches are a little more complex and will be expanded upon with a settlement supplement, being they can likely only be created in certain places. Nothing official yet, but that’s my best guess.
I just ran my 4th adventure this weekend and last time we played I got the feeling that one of my players was ging to quit unless i came up with something so he could make his own workbench. So I deep dived into the system and made me a cheat-sheet that had all the page numbers and generic tests. Then I had to decide how to do the actual bench here is what I came up with:
Work bench is complexity 4 and a perk, using the repair skill
Armor Workbench: Armorer Complexity 4
Chemistry Station: Chemistry Complexity 4 (I could be argued to sub the perk to Explosives Expert)
etc
Since the system makes no mention of a town workbench, neither did I. Nor do I feel the need to.
I cannot stress the value of having all the page numbers for the equipment lists and their mods handy. I love the book but when you start your crafting it gets page flipping heavy. It takes 3 minutes to make and will save you from hair loss.
I think those are qualities of shops, not workbenches.
As a temporary measure you could point out the Deluxe Toolkit which allows to to make repairs without a workbench.
I would make workbenches more of a quest than a repair test. Leveled workbenches could also be a thing. A (perk) Rank Two workbench allows you to make and attach rank 2 mods, or rank 3 at +1 difficulty. This would make basic workbenches a lot easier to find as Rank 1 or 2 would be within reach of many settlements.
To construct a workbench you need an appropriate rank Perk, Materials, rare Equipment and a place to build it. Each Rank of a workbench is considered a mod of the previous rank bench, thus components are cumulative.
For workbenches that allow more than one Perk you only need one of them.
Materials use the repair materials table with Rarity equal to Rank and double the amount needed. This represents not only the bench but basic tools like wrenches and screwdrivers.
Equipment ranges from anvils and a vise to milling machines, lathes and electronic test equipment. Obtaining these will often involve a quest to locate what is needed. In rare cases the players may be able to find or purchase high level workbenches almost complete. Transporting such could be the quest itself. You need (rank x 1) items of (rank) Rarity to build or upgrade a workbench. Thus a Rank 1 bench needs 1 Rarity 1 item. Upgrading to Rank 2 needs 2 Rarity 2 items.
The same could be applied to building a Settlement Workshop. Higher level work shops reduce time and difficulty of building structures and may increase scrapping efficiency.
Here is the chart I’ve created for use in my game. These numbers are taken directly from the video game (and materials converted to 2d20). I added in two versions of Cooking since the Cooking Station in the book is way cheaper than a cooking workbench in the video game. The following table handles it:
Workbench/ Complexity/ Perks Required/ Materials Required to Create
Armor Workbench/ 2/ Armorer/ 3x Common, 21x Uncommon
Chemistry Workbench/ 3/ Chemist + Demolition Expert/ 17x Common, 11x Uncommon
Cooking Station*/ 0/ None/ 2x Common
Cooking Workbench**/ 1/ None/ 11x Common, 2x Uncommon
Power Armor Workbench/ 4/ Armorer + Science/ 4x Common, 32x Uncommon, 3x Rare
Robot Workbench/ 3/ Robotics Expert/ 4x Common, 32x Uncommon, 7x Rare
Weapons Workbench/ 2/ Blacksmith + Gun Nut!+Science/ 8x Common, 14x Uncommon
*Allows Crafting of Common Food & Beverages. Requires 1 Common Material per 8 hours of use.
**Allows Crafting of Uncommon or Rare Food & Beverages. Requires 1 Common Material per 8 hours of use
Fallout 4/Vault Dweller’s Survival Guide
F4 - Fallout 4 console game (PS4/Xbox etc)
VDSG - Vault Dweller’s Survival Guide, which is the official game game for F4, info on all quests, items, trinkets, collectables, npcs (friend & foe), and maps, maps, maps!!!
1 Like
21 uncommon
32 uncommon
That’s way too much I think.
First the only way to get uncommon is with the scrapper perk and you only get 1 for each 2 effects.
Even if you roll the average on 2d20 (I think it’s 12-13), it’s 3 uncommon on average, it’ll take you at least 8 scavenge run just to build the bench to then use even more materials to have a chance to build mods (you can fail you check and you must find recipes)
At this rate, you’re way better off just selling the materials and buy the mods directly.
That is why I suggested splitting the requirements between Materials and quest items.
You would still have to take time to gather materials but it’s only a couple mods worth per rank. By making leveled benches you can start small, make the essential mods, then over time upgrade the workbench as you level the perk.
If you can even find someone with the Mods to sell. Those numbers are lifted directly from the amounts required of the noted materials in the Fallout 4 game. In our last game, we had one character with the Scrapper Perk spend an 8 hour day just breaking down Junk and ended up with 80+ Common and about 25-30 Uncommon Materials, so it’s not that hard to achieve. On average you’re going to pull about 10-12d20 worth of junk from a typical residence sized location.
1 Like
Shouldn’t a single location contain a max of 2d20 materials?
1 Like
2d20 per “Junk” found, and you can have anywhere from 0 to 8 “Junk” in a location depending on it’s size and type. Pg. 18 & 64 Overseer’s Booklet from the GM Kit.
Based on Fallout 4, workbenches are almost everywhere, so, as a GM, you should probably make one available most places. It might not be the one you need right now, but maybe that is available at the next location. In settlements you should probably have access to most types and be able to either borrow or lend one.
Construction a workbench, besides cooking workbences (aka a fire), should probably be limited to one’s settlement, IMO.