What I would like to do is have the FPS camera affected in a ragdoll like physics, so for example, if an explosion happens near the character, i would like the player to get tossed according to the physics and have the view be accordingly knocked around…does this happen already with the built in FPS controller or would I need to modify the camera scripts? If I had to modify them, how would I go about doing it?
Sounds to me like you need to switch the fps walker script with the rigidbody fps controller script off the wiki. Then you might also need to add a script called “push rigidbody”(search forum/script ref). In the past i’ve found that using these enables the player to be pushed around by scene objects. In one of my demos I have a gate that closes, and pushes the player out of the way.
The other thing to add to your homework list is “Camera Shake” theres been a couple of good examples of this, and the one that I recall most clearly is Dr Jones’s little gem called singularity bomb, which was an explosivo entry, which might have a link to project folder via the wiki. Try searching the forum if you dont find it via the wiki, Its here somewhere.
hth
AC
Or you could make a really low poly model, never to be seen, of a basic ragdoll; and child the camera to the head. Then turn on the ragdollyness when an explosion happens. 
Good luck!
You don’t need a mesh to have something behave like a ragdoll. All a ragdoll is is a bunch of rigidbodies and joints, which affect transforms. The transforms happen to control a rigged mesh, but the mesh is not necessary.