
Three years later, the nineteen-year-old dweller is awoken by Amata, who delivers serious news. The player's answers during the test will determine the dweller's primary skills. The dweller can deal with this situation in different ways ranging from diplomacy to violence, but no matter the outcome, everyone will then enter the classroom to take the G.O.A.T. On the way to take the exam the dweller encounters Butch and his friends (now members of a gang called the Tunnel Snakes) harassing Amata. exam, or General Occupational Aptitude Test, which all sixteen-year-olds must take, and which determines the career paths of all vault residents. Six years later, the player must take the G.O.A.T. After using the gun to shoot at some targets and a stray radroach, the dweller has a picture taken with James, and the game flashes forward again. After talking with all of the other party guests and receiving several gifts, the dweller is directed to visit James' assistant Jonas, and together James and Jonas give the dweller a repaired B.B. The player is then introduced to some of the other vault residents including the dweller's friend Amata, the daughter of the overseer, and Butch, a young bully.

The vault's leader, the Overseer, presents the dweller with a Pip-Boy 3000, as is customary for all vault residents. The game jumps ahead another nine years to a surprise party on the dweller's tenth birthday. It reflects on how she felt about the world before she died.

He shows the dweller his deceased wife's (and dweller's mother's) favorite bible verse, Revelations 21:6. After the baby is finished looking at the book, James returns to the room, encouraged by his child's willingness to explore. There is a baby book on the floor entitled 'You're S.P.E.C.I.A.L.!', that, when accessed, allows the player to select the dweller's starting Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck. James leaves the baby in a playpen while he retrieves something from his office, but the dweller manages to open the playpen door and wanders around the room. The game then jumps forward one year, when the dweller is just a toddler. However, the dweller's mother goes into cardiac arrest moments after giving birth, leaving the father, James, to raise the baby himself. The game begins with the protagonist's birth, and at the outset the player is asked to choose the dweller's gender, name, and (through the use of a gene-scanning mechanism), physical appearance as an adult.

The Vault 101 Dweller is the protagonist of Fallout 3.
