Hey,

I'm currently playing Fallout 1 once more and decided do not pick up skills which I'm calling as "standard set". Before I was always picking speech + two from small/big/energy weapons. Now I've decided to choice prepared character - Natalia Dubrovhsky. She has Sneak, Steal and Unarmed as tag skills. Have you ever tried to play F1/F2 with some diplomatic/thief character? How did you succeed?

Unarmed works fine in Fallout 2, though dealing with turrets is a pain. It's a real blast to kill a supermutant with your bare hands and Sulik is a better companion for a hand-to-hand fighter (now he has to keep up with you!). I wouldn't haul Vic around though, else you'll get shot in the back on a regular basis. I don't think Unarmed works as well in Fallout 1, but then again I haven't tried it there.

Sneak is always useful (either to get past enemies or just to get into a good position). With a really high skill, you can kill one guy in a group and the others may not even notice. :)

Steal is a bit of a problem if you use it much, because failed pickpocket attempts tend to start fights and then you'll have to fight (which may mean an entire town hates you), run or reload a save.

If it was me, I'd still tag Speech, as it's just too useful throughout the game (my usual trio of skills is Speech, Lockpick and a combat skill, typically Small Guns). OTOH, one of the joys of the game is the different ways you can play it. One of my Fallout 2 characters was a con man (tagged Speech, Sneak and Lockpick) who got into perhaps two fights, but usually either took a non-violent approach (also known as "lying") or else used Sneak and then slipped away.

Also, Fallout 1 has the advantage of quicker skill progression, so boosting non-tagged skills is faster than in the second game. Give the mix a shot if you think it sounds interesting.

Sneak is actually one of my "standard" skills in Fallout anyway. It is very playable that way. Do you remember those scenes from the Rambo movies when all the guys are walking through the jungle looking for him and he takes them all down one by one, that's what a high Sneak skill can do for you.

As far as Unarmed, it can be done in Fallout 1 but there were vast Improvements that make it better in Fallout 2. In Fallout 1 there is no real advantage to using Unarmed, but there is some good stuff found in Melee. I had a lot of fun with a Fallout 1 character who had Sneak, Melee and Throwing. Try throwing a lit flare into a Super Mutants eyes, they become much less dangerous afterwards.

Stealing was a skill that I never got much use out of. Sometimes I would do silly stuff like stealing everyones weapons and ammo before a big fight, but I never stole anything from anybody that made it worth investing all those skill points in to Stealling. There are usually other ways to get your hands on that stuff.

Steal is mostly problematic as unarmed fighter doesn't have a huge need for extra cash. Other than that, it's quite useful, even more so in FO2 where you can rob merchants.

I've never tried sneaking, so I can't comment on that. But I played both games as a close-up fighter. With the AP-reducing attack perk and maxed agility, you can fire off five Power Fist hits in a round and do massive damage. If you want to go melee, get a super sledge and aim for the head, you can often kill weaker enemies in a single hit. I like stealing too, mostly for the free stimpacks, but any money/ammo you get can go toward improving your companions.

I'd like to point out how funny I find it that what the OP finds "non-standard" other people find to be core skills. Just goes to show that there are so many ways of doing things in these games. I personally love taking Sneak, Small Arms, and Speech.

I think in the end your success will be greatly determined by how creative you can get in certain situations given your skills.

I played a game once where I only used explosive weapons and flamers, with a dash of unarmed in the early game in case someone got close. I used Throwing extensively, and it was actually quite fun. (Most people think Throwing is the absolute worst skill, and they're usually right. But not in my game.) In F2 there are LOTS of grenades to be found, so they aren't really a limited commodity like they are in F1. Plus there's more rockets and flamethrower fuel than you could ever use. It was extremely fun, probably my most enjoyable game ever. There's some sort of secret joy that comes from killing a pack of manti with a plasma grenade... it's the best kind of overkill.

I've also found Sneak to be quite good, especially for melee characters even if they aren't planning on stealing everything, because it allows them to get very close before getting shot at... even while in combat! Speech and Lockpick, of course, are the standard "you must have these" skills, but Lockpick is the only one you really need to actually finish the game.

Of course, you could play a character with really low INT, which practically gives you a completely different game. Speech? Pfeh.

Some skills are better than others, sure, and playing your game as a very focused type instead of a broad shoot-em-up character makes the game a lot harder, but one of the great joys of the Fallout games is that you CAN play a game as a (nearly) pure pacifist or some weird limited combat variant, or just a straight-up housebreaking thief.

I see no reason for tagging steal, even with only starting skill you have about 50 percent success chance when stealing from behind and even with maxed skills you can still fail and have to reload.

Thanks for responses. Actually I've never used sneak skill much before so haven't noticed how useful it could be. Also found Bonus HtH Attacks perk very useful for unarmed character. While I have 10 AP, I could make 5 simple attacks or 3 targeted.

With the fast shot trait your character would have 10 unarmed attacks per round now.

Fast Shot only works on unarmed attacks in Fallout 1. It doesn't work with any melee weapon or unarmed attacks in Fallout 2. It does work on the "throw" ability of thrown weapons like spears and throwing knives, but not on the melee attack abilities. But you still can't use called shots in melee. So Fast Shot is actually quite bad for melee fighters in Fallout 2. (Because 10+ Super Sledge hits per round is just bonkers, and so they changed it.)

Since other folks seem to have covered the non-standard skills the OP brought up*, I'll go over a few which I've tried out over the...
decade and a half since I started playing this game. Wow.

Big Guns - I know Pawka said s/he's tried this. Nevertheless, it took me a long time to get around to playing the character whose strengths worked this direction. Speaking mostly of Fallout 1, they're inefficient, but they're fun.
Throwing - Oh god. Avoid this. In either Fallout 1 or 2, it is the worst of both worlds. No perks make it practical, not even Slayer or Sniper as neither applies, and it is the art of throwing your weapon away from you. If you want a tedious (thought possible) playthrough, I suppose you can try it out. Challenge games should be interesting, though, not boring. And no, the grenades just aren't any real good in my experience.
Doctor - This is often in my top tier. Taking First Aid as a TAG skill makes little sense, but Doctor can't be trained up most ways and places, and leads to interesting plot points in Fallout 2. Additionally, it's an easy source of experience and cheap health, and there will be time you'll break your bones. Or have your eye gouged out. (Ick.)
Lockpicking - There's a limit to how high this must be before it's universally applicable/useful, but that limit's not especially low. A bad choice for a TAG skill, but a bad skill to neglect as well. Especially if you're sneaky.
Repair - Can be trained as high as needed with books. Probably a good idea.
Traps - To be honest, I've never bothered. I should try it some time.
Science - This is one of my big three more often than Doctor, as it seems to make the world go 'round whenever Speech doesn't. Computers, conversations, or even end-game dialogue can be shaped by your knowledge of this skill.
Gambling - Tedious as well, but an easy way to get equipment you'll otherwise miss entirely. In Fallout 1, bringing this skill above 50% (maybe 65% or more for good measure) this allows you to loot the Hub for decent gear in a remarkably short period of time. It's a long process, but given that the sequence wherein you'd obtain this gear is only applicable if you're playing a bad person, this is a solid way to get very decent equipment early on, with or without being on the Brotherhood of Steel's good side. It is reliable (ironically.) It's also boring. But boring can be okay if it's for a good cause.
It's also disturbingly powerful for using books to increase your skills. That librarian charges high prices. As such, it can be a gateway to getting other skills quickly to 100% or better. (You see, it's also very, very good for buying drugs.)
Barter - I would say this skill is mutually exclusive with Gambling. Either you're getting your money by spamming the slots, or you're selling everything you find as high as you can. Mind you, it's not so much that Barter effects your selling price. Short of non-skill-related factors, a suit of leather armor is 800 caps/bucks and nothing much changed that. However, that Super Sledge on the shelf may suddenly become an achievable goal when you knock off 50% of its price or more. And hey, if you want to keep developing this skill until it's at full, you'll have more caps/bucks than you could ever imagine what to do with. Which does get a bit absurd, really.
Outdoorsman - Incredibly convenient, and necessary for character who need to pick their battles. Making it a TAG skill seems like a bit of a waste, since you can get 91% even without using drugs to screw with your stats. Still, buying the books will take a while (unless you're a Gambler.)
I've seen worse choices for TAG skills despite that factor, and always bring this up at least to 100% regardless.
In Fallout 1, you can traverse huge stretches of map without combat. This is just plain nice. It's not a big map, to you get to know it. It's like a friend or a lover, not an enemy you must subdue or escape.
In Fallout 2, you can actually and deliberately pick your battles this way, deciding on any given occasion whether you really want to fight those geckos or just walk away.

I hope this was helpful.

* Including the fact that two out of three of them are, for me, very standard

I always tag steal, although it would not be really useful for a proper playthrough. I mostly play a diplomatic small guns guy, and use steal for unconventional solutions to some problems, so to speak. There's nothing like stealing all the slaver's weapons and ammo before butchering them (less diplomatic part of my playthrough), or smuggling a ticking bomb into somebody's pocket then stepping aside to see the fireworks, or stealing your hard earned cash back from some shopkeepers only to buy more goods off them.

I admit though that when I use steal, I always save and reload on failure to avoid a whole town going hostile on me.