Josh Sawyer has spent years thinking about one specific frustration: players who feel their character build was a mistake. The Obsidian design director recently explained the studio's approach to ensuring every build feels viable in RPGs like Fallout: New Vegas.
His comments came during a podcast discussion about design philosophy, and they offer a useful counterpoint to how many modern games handle character progression.
At a Glance
- Obsidian focuses on making all builds playable rather than perfectly symmetrical
- The studio runs internal audits called "Karma Police" to track skill usage
- New Vegas let players use Science, Barter, or Speech to recruit Primm's sheriff
- Design philosophy prioritizes player trust over numerical perfection
- Good tabletop DMs and game designers share similar goals
Building Confidence in Character Choices
Sawyer's main concern is straightforward: players who invest time in a character concept deserve to have that concept work. The studio doesn't want anyone feeling they've made "a fundamentally bad character" simply by choosing certain skills at creation.
This doesn't mean Obsidian chases perfect balance. Instead, the goal is ensuring no build feels completely abandoned. The team wanted players to feel assured that no matter how they allocated points, the game would have something meaningful waiting for them. Their choices wouldn't be wasted, even if the experience differed from other playthroughs.
The studio's solution involves checking how often each skill gets used. Designers run internal reviews called "Karma Police" where they examine every script in the game and count skill appearances. The aim isn't precise equality. Sawyer gave an example: if Medicine shows up 40 times and Science appears 28 times, that's acceptable. The real problem is long stretches where a skill never surfaces at all.
Why It Matters for Your Next Playthrough
Consider how New Vegas handled the Big Guns skill from earlier Fallout games. Rather than creating a dedicated category that would require placing heavy weapons throughout the world, designers split those weapons into Guns, Energy Weapons, and Explosives. This decision meant each category had enough content to justify the investment.
The approach extends beyond combat. In Goodsprings, the quest "Ghost Town Gunfight" lets players use Sneak, Explosives, Barter, Speech, or Medicine to influence outcomes. A player focusing on Medicine can patch up NPCs to win their support. Someone with Barter can pay off the Powder Gangers. The game doesn't force you down one path.
Say you want to try a low-charisma, high-Science playthrough of New Vegas. You'll skip most speech checks and focus on technical solutions. Obsidian's design means you'll still find plenty of relevant content rather than staring at locked terminals while your other skills gather dust.
Our Analysis
Many modern RPGs create a problem where certain builds become "optimal" and others feel like handicap modes. Obsidian's philosophy accepts that some builds will see more content than others, but aims to prevent any build from feeling wasted. The studio isn't trying to make every character identical—they're trying to make sure every character has reasons to exist.
For players, this means experimenting is safer. Your Explosives specialist won't have exactly the same experience as your Medicine character, but neither should feel like a mistake. The studio is building confidence at the character creation screen: whatever you pick, the game will have something for you.
Sawyer also made an interesting comparison to tabletop gaming. A good DM can adapt on the fly when a player picks an unusual specialty. Game designers must anticipate player needs years before release. The "Karma Police" system is essentially a partial solution to that limitation. It won't match a human DM's flexibility, but it catches obvious gaps before release.
What to Watch Next
RPG development has evolved since New Vegas launched. Studios like Larian, Owlcat, and ZA/UM have taken similar approaches to build diversity. Sawyer's comments suggest the underlying principles remain relevant: trust matters more than perfection, and players who invest their time deserve meaningful returns on that investment regardless of their build choices.
Key takeaways
- Obsidian's design ensures every viable build has meaningful content throughout the game
- Internal "Karma Police" audits catch skills that disappear for too long
- Experimenting with unconventional builds is safer in games designed this way
- Good tabletop DMs and game designers share goals around player flexibility
- Modders should consider multiple solution paths when creating custom content
Frequently asked questions
What was the "Karma Police" system at Obsidian?
An informal review process where designers checked script frequency for each skill, counting how often Medicine, Science, Barter, and other categories appeared in dialogue and gameplay to catch any skills being ignored.
Why did Fallout: New Vegas remove the Big Guns skill?
Supporting a dedicated Big Guns category would require placing relevant weapons throughout the game world. Splitting those weapons across Guns, Energy Weapons, and Explosives ensured each category had enough content to justify player investment.
What made Obsidian's RPG design different from other studios at the time?
While competitors often relied on persuasion skills for most dialogue solutions, Obsidian allowed Science, Barter, Medicine, and other unusual skills to influence conversations and world interactions in meaningful ways.
Should players worry about choosing the "wrong" skills in Obsidian RPGs?
No. The studio's philosophy ensures all viable builds have meaningful content, though some skills may appear more frequently than others. No build should feel completely abandoned.
What can modders learn from this approach?
When creating custom quests, support multiple solution paths using different skills. This increases replayability and ensures players with varied builds can all find satisfying ways to engage with your content.