Is Charisma a useful stat in Fallout: New Vegas?

Question

I'm beginning playing this game and I'd like to know is Charisma is worth putting a few points.

I always play RPG as a diplomat character and I want to do the same here. However it seems that in FNW only the Speech skill is really usefull when it comes to find a diplomat way to solve quests.

So is Charisma really worthless, even for a diplomat character? Are there many quests where a Charisma check is made instead of a Speech check for example?

Answer 1

Charisma increases your speech and barter score, and if your charisma is too low some interactions will not be available, regardless of your speech or barter skills. According to the wiki though, these interactions ultimately do not have any significant effect on game play, nor do they provide any special bonuses.

High charisma is also required to obtain the Ferocious Loyalty and Animal Friend perks. Ferocious Loyalty grants your companions a boost to damage resistance when you drop below 50% health, and Animal Friend will prevent animals from attacking you unless you attack them first. Something to note about Animal Friend however is this:

Deathclaws are not classified as animals for the purposes of this perk. Neither are any variety of arthropods such as radscorpions.

One final thing to mention is that it also increases companion nerve. Description according to the fallout wiki:

Companion Nerve gives each companion in the party +5% to their damage and armor, up to a maximum of +50% at 10 Charisma.

Answer 2

Charisma i've found is actually very useful in Fallout New Vegas I highlight that because charisma is more useful (more specifically Speech) in New Vegas than in its predecessor Fallout 3.

The greatest advantage of a high charisma is the high speech skill that comes with it which can give your character more options/choices in-game e.g. convince someone to give you a better reward for killing someone etc.

The other great advantage is that the high barter skill is great for selling items to vendors because it actually increases the amount vendors pay for your items and reduces the amount you pay for vendors items.

Overall when I finished New Vegas I actually regretted not investing more into my Charisma (Speech) because I lost out on lots of opportunities in the game making Charisma very useful and a major priority if you're playing the game again with a different character.

Answer 3

As Wipqozn says, Charisma doesn't change the gameplay much, except to allow a couple of perks and to make your companions more powerful. (You can have two companions at a time: one human companion and one non-human companion (i.e. a dog or robot).)

If you want to play the diplomat, you want the Speech skill, not the Charisma stat. Charisma gives you a (small) boost to your initial Speech skill, but otherwise is not nearly as useful as Speech.