I've been avoiding the Fallout series for years because while I love RPGs I am not an afficianado at them and these seem kind of instense. Can I ask anyone willing to help how labor intensive character building is compared to other RPGs? I love the genre but some of the character development out there takes more time than playing the game. I prefer a Diablo 2 -esk build but I'm also a pretty big NWN fan. The Baulder's Gate games are great but with that many characters and that many options I feel like I need a stack of spreadsheats everytime someone levels up.

Sorry to be so long winded.
Thanks

You only have one character to build. You can get other characters to join you along the story, but I think they are just tag-alongs and nothing more. I hate companions, so I never took any with me, someone else will have to confirm or deny this.

As for your character, you'll spend a few minutes at the beginning building him up, spreading a few points here and there, deciding who you want him to be, but nothing too consuming. After that, you'll get skill points and perks when you level up and you have to spend them. Nothing more than that, no spreadsheets needed, very simple.

The above is correct, and I'll elaborate more on companions.

They certainly aren't mandatory. There are only a few in Fallout 1, you might even miss them if you don't really talk to everybody (I'd talk to everybody anyway, it's fun! And you need all the information you can get to progress).

You don't have to do any stat distribution on companions, but they do help in combat, although some can shoot at you accidentally if you happen to be in the line of fire or near it. Especially true if the companion is using a burst weapon.

There are a few basic things you can tell them about how to behave (stay close to you, or keep a distance, for example). Fallout 2 gives you better control over companions.

The game does look complex but if you experiment a little you'll find it's not too bad at all. Some stats, skills and perks will immediately come across to you as more useful than others, I think it's fairly intuitive, but perhaps it's just my experience. But you might understimate others that are also very important. Overall, you can win with almost any build, even with a very low-intelligence character who can't even talk properly (not advised the first time you play), so yeah, do what feels right!

If you've played NWN then you're already familiar with the idea of ability scores, feats (perks in Fallout), and skills. Fallout doesn't have classes, which removes one big level of complexity, and Traits are essentially your level one feats, so it shouldn't be particularly difficult to work with the Fallout character system.

Personally I find Fallout's character system very manageable. I couldn't get into BG or ID because of the complexity of the character building, but Fallout's is much easier to handle. You just have one character and assign them basic stats and a few skill points at the beginning. You then get skills points as you level up, and get a bonus perk every four levels.

The skills are not too complex either, for example where as you have a different skill for every weapon in BG (longswords, maces, daggers, staves etc.) you only have Small/Big/Energy Guns and Melee/Unarmed in Fallout, and you can focus on one skill to fight effectively. As far as utility skills go, not too complex either, things like First Aid to heal yourself and Lockpicking to get into places.

I would highly recommend you read a brief guide to what each skill means, but once you have a basic understanding of the stats you can dive in and play.

Early in the game the NPCs in your party (if you choose to let them join you) are helpful in fighting your enemies. Later they are nothing more than mules for your equipment.
General they are stupid...real stupid and more than one time they stand i your way blocking a good shoot or a door. Never ever give them an automatic weapon cause most time they will hit you or friendlies.

The skill and perk system is more or less useful. Each one sounds nice. But in the end remember that you must fight your way through the game. Oh, and one last hint, if you find skill books save them for later use.

Thanks for everyones help. I'm broke now but obviously Fallout is a no brainer. The 3 big killers in RPGs for me are 1)OVERY complicated stats 2)Big Partys (I can barely figure out what I should do much less five or six other people) and 3)the turn based/point based movement system common to the UFO games. I don't mind that in combat, but I don't want to have to figure out the shortest distance between a and b everytime I move somewhere.

Thanks to everyone's help, I'd say I can comfortable NOT worry about those big 3 with this game. Thanks again.