If you've been watching the recent Fallout TV series, then you'll understand just how much one of the protagonists, Lucy MacLean, has had to endure. But even after all her encounters with feral ghouls and wasteland monsters, it doesn't seem as if she has much to show for her work.
In response to a question about what level people thought Lucy was at by the end of the first season of the Fallout TV show, the gaming YouTube channel Many A True Nerd posted a theory thread on Twitter that laid out the most conclusive answer I've seen yet.
The first task was to uncover what leveling system the TV show uses. It's safe to say that the series would use Bethesda rules, which is what Many A True Nerd uses to estimate the ratio of XP achieved from combat and quests. But this actually works against Lucy as she doesn't actually have too many combat encounters throughout the series.
One of Lucy's biggest side quests and combat interactions is probably her fight in the organ-harvesting facility in episode four. After Lucy is sold for parts by Goggins' character, The Ghoul, she has to fight off Mr Handy as it tries to saw her in half. She also forces a couple of organ traffickers to open cooling pens, releasing ghouls and feral ghouls, one of which she kills. So not only does she survive the encounter and claim some great loot, like the 10mm pistol from Fallout 4, but she also gets her first kill.
This episode felt like the making of Lucy, as not only did she finally test out all her martial arts and fighting training, which she brags about in the opening montage, but she also stayed true to her morals by handing The Ghoul the medicine he needs.
After weighing up all the possible situations in which Lucy could get experience points for combat, side and main quests, and companion kills when she's with Maximus or The Ghoul, Many A True Nerd estimates that she acquired around 4,000-5,000 XP throughout the whole season plus an extra 1,000 XP for completing the main quest. This would place Lucy at level 8, which is apparently a generous estimate.
It does feel like Lucy was short-changed a bit in this case, especially considering all the emotional and physical stress she endured in season one. But hopefully, now she's got the hang of things, we'll see a leveling spike in season two, so she can make some serious ground.
