Respeccing in Fallout 4, Explained

Fallout 4 has no built-in respec system — but depending on your platform, you’re not stuck. PC players can use console commands to adjust S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats and perks directly. Xbox players have access to two solid mod options: Cheat Room and Cheat Terminal. PlayStation players face the hardest road: true respeccing (removing perks and reassigning points from scratch) is currently impossible on PS4 and PS5, though there are workarounds for adding stats and perk points.

This guide covers every method available as of November 2025, platform by platform, with exact commands and step-by-step mod workflows.

Why Fallout 4 Respeccing Is Platform-Dependent

The short answer is mod access. Fallout 4’s base game launched in 2015 with no respec mechanic whatsoever — Bethesda never added one, not even in the 2024 next-gen update. Every respec solution players have found relies on either console commands or mods, and those two tools are not equally available across platforms.

PC has unrestricted console command access and the full Nexus Mods library. Xbox gets a reasonably capable mod ecosystem through Bethesda.net, including mods that can remove perks and zero out S.P.E.C.I.A.L. values. PlayStation’s mod support, by contrast, operates under tighter restrictions — Sony’s platform policies prohibit mods from introducing external assets, which cuts out many of the more powerful cheat tools. The result is that PlayStation mods can add things but generally cannot take them away, which makes a clean respec mechanically impossible.

This isn’t a modder skill gap. Cheat Room, for instance, is available on all three platforms — but its holotape functionality is non-functional on PlayStation. The items inside the room still work, which is why PlayStation players can use it to gain perk points and S.P.E.C.I.A.L. boosts, just not to reset anything. That limitation is baked into the platform, not the mod.

One more thing worth understanding: because no official respec exists, every method here modifies your save in ways Bethesda never intended. Back up your save before using any of these approaches.

PC Respeccing With Console Commands

Console commands are the cleanest, most precise respec tool available in Fallout 4 — no mods required, no load order headaches. Press the tilde key (~) to open the console. On most keyboards it sits just above Tab in the top-left corner. If it doesn’t respond, check Settings → Controls to confirm your console binding.

Three commands handle everything you need:

To execute a full respec on PC, the practical workflow is:

1. Open the console with ~
2. Run player.modav strength 1 (or whatever value you want) for each of the seven S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats
3. Use player.removeperk on every perk you want to strip — pull the IDs from the Fallout Wiki’s perk ID list
4. Redistribute with player.addperk for your new build
5. Close the console with ~ again

A few precision notes. The modav command adds a modifier on top of your base value — it doesn’t set it absolutely. If your Strength is already 6 and you run player.modav strength 4, you’ll end up at 10, not 4. To truly zero out a stat and rebuild from scratch, first run player.modav strength -6 to bring it to zero, then add your target value. Alternatively, player.setav sets the absolute value directly, which is cleaner for full resets.

One edge case worth flagging: player.removeperk does not reclaim spent perk points. Those are gone. If you want the points back to spend elsewhere, combine removeperk with player.addperk 000E36FC — that’s the command to grant an unspent perk point. Repeat it for each point you want restored. Community testing confirms this works as of the current PC version (patch 1.10.984).

You can also use help “perk name” 4 in the console to search for a perk ID directly in-game without leaving to look it up — type any part of the perk name and it’ll return matching entries with their IDs.

Xbox Respeccing: Cheat Room Method

Cheat Room by Bradenm1 is available through Bethesda.net on Xbox and adds a physical location to the game world — a room situated southwest of Vault 111. It’s accessible immediately after the prologue, though you’ll obviously be coming back to it later when you actually need a respec.

Before loading in, double-check that Cheat Room is positioned correctly in your load order. The mod itself notes this in its description on Bethesda.net, and load order conflicts are the most common reason it behaves unexpectedly.

Once you’re in:

1. Enter the Cheat Room and locate the table against the far wall. It holds a holotape and a weapon.
2. Play the holotape and select Cheats from the menu.
3. Select Player Cheats — it’s the second option.
4. You’ll see both S.P.E.C.I.A.L. and Perks listed separately. Go to S.P.E.C.I.A.L. first.
5. Select Reset All to Zero, then manually assign points to each attribute.
6. Return to the main Player Cheats menu and open Perks. Add as many perk points as you had previously invested — the Experience section above Perks can help if you need to adjust your level for perk prerequisites.
7. Spend your perk points fresh.

Keep in mind that perk level requirements still apply. If you’re level 30 and a perk requires level 50, Cheat Room won’t bypass that gate automatically — you’d need to use the Experience section to adjust your level first, which is its own can of worms in terms of how it affects the rest of your game.

Xbox Respeccing: Cheat Terminal Method

Cheat Terminal by NexusAU takes a different approach. Instead of a separate location, it delivers a holotape directly to your Pip-Boy inventory the moment you pick up the Pip-Boy during the prologue. It will always appear at the top of your Misc tab, regardless of how cluttered your inventory gets.

1. Open your Pip-Boy and go to Items → Misc. The Cheat Terminal holotape is at the top.
2. Play it. The main menu leads with a SPECIAL and PERKS option — select that.
3. Under the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. menu, each attribute is listed individually. Adjust them one by one to your new target values.
4. Open the Perks menu. Unlike Cheat Room, Cheat Terminal lets you select specific perks to add directly, organized by S.P.E.C.I.A.L. category. It also offers a Remove All option per category, which is a cleaner way to wipe a specific tree before rebuilding.

The category-by-category structure of Cheat Terminal makes it slightly more granular than Cheat Room for perk management. If your respec is surgical — say, you want to keep your combat perks but rework your crafting tree — Cheat Terminal handles that more elegantly. Cheat Room is better if you want a full scorched-earth reset.

Both mods work on PC too, so if you want a menu-driven approach over typing console commands, either of these is a valid alternative even on desktop.

PlayStation Alternatives (No True Respec)

There’s no soft way to say this: if you’re on PS4 or PS5, a true respec — removing perks and reassigning your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. from scratch — is not currently possible. The platform restrictions that govern PlayStation’s mod ecosystem prevent mods from stripping stats or perks in the way that Xbox and PC tools can. As of November 2025, no mod on Bethesda.net’s PlayStation section achieves this.

What is possible is adding. Cheat Room on PlayStation still has functional items inside the physical room, even though its holotape menu doesn’t work. Here’s what actually works:

• Inside Cheat Room, go through the door to the left of the terminal. This takes you down to the main room area.
• On the right side, there’s a shelf with footlockers. The one on the right is labeled The Cool Cheats Add.
• Inside, you’ll find a Level Up item. Taking it and using it from your AID inventory grants a massive experience boost — enough to generate over a hundred perk points. Fair warning: the mod itself labels a nearby First Aid box “This Will Break Your Leveling,” and that’s not hyperbole. Using these items aggressively will distort your level progression permanently on that save.
• Also in the Cool Cheats Add footlocker are items that increase individual S.P.E.C.I.A.L. attributes. These add on top of your existing values — they don’t reset anything.

So the PlayStation reality is: you can pile on points, but you can’t wipe the slate. If you dumped perks into something you now regret, those points are gone. The only true reset available on PlayStation is starting a new game. It’s frustrating, but it’s the honest answer.

If a particular build mistake is bad enough to make the game feel unplayable, a fresh start with foreknowledge of where you’re going is genuinely the cleaner path. Fallout 4’s early hours go quickly on a second run.

Respeccing Best Practices and Warnings

A few things that will save you headaches regardless of platform.

Always create a manual save before using any respec method. Auto-saves and quicksaves won’t protect you if something goes wrong mid-process. Give the save a name you’ll recognize — “before respec” does the job.

On PC, don’t use player.modav blindly. As noted earlier, it stacks on top of your current value rather than replacing it. If you’re unsure what your base value is, use player.getav [attribute] first to check. Then do the math before you run modav.

Level requirements still gate perks after a respec. Removing and re-adding perks doesn’t change the fact that, say, Nuclear Physicist requires level 26. If you’re using a respec to switch builds mid-game, make sure your character level actually supports the perks you’re planning to take.

Mod conflicts are real. If you’re running a heavily modded game, Cheat Room and Cheat Terminal can behave unexpectedly depending on load order. If either mod stops working after an update or a new mod installation, check load order first before assuming the mod is broken.

The next-gen update (April 2024) didn’t change any of this. Bethesda’s 2024 patch added performance improvements and some Creation Club content, but it did not introduce a native respec mechanic. Everything in this guide applies post-update.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you respec in Fallout 4 without mods?

On PC, yes — console commands handle it without any mods. On Xbox and PlayStation, no built-in option exists, so mods are the only path.

Does respeccing affect achievements?

Using console commands on PC disables Steam achievements for that session. Closing and reopening the game won’t re-enable them on a save where the console was used. Mods on Xbox and PlayStation do not typically affect Xbox Achievements or PlayStation Trophies, but check individual mod descriptions to be sure.

Can I use Cheat Terminal on PlayStation?

Cheat Terminal is listed as Xbox and PC only. It is not available through Bethesda.net’s PlayStation mod library.

What’s the perk point command in Fallout 4?

Use player.addperk 000E36FC to grant one unspent perk point. Run it multiple times to add several. This is useful when you’ve used player.removeperk to strip perks and want to reclaim those points for redistribution.

Will these methods work in survival mode?

Console commands in survival mode are blocked by default — Bethesda disabled the console in that difficulty to preserve the experience. A mod called Survival Options can re-enable console access in survival if you need it, but that’s an extra step. Cheat Room and Cheat Terminal work in survival mode without restriction on Xbox.

Is there a way to reset just one S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stat on PC?

Yes. Use player.setav [attribute] [value] to set any single stat to an exact number without affecting others. This is the most surgical approach for partial respec work.