Traits

Traits help define the character as lucky, mutated, clumsy, etc. Attribute-modifying traits fine-tune attributes such as being quite agile, but having poor handwriting; or being able to run very fast as well as having the ability to stop on a dime. Attribute-modifying traits will have the attribute associated with it in parentheses after the name and are listed on the character sheet after the attribute that it modifies instead of below in the general traits area (where all other traits go). It keeps things neater & easier to reference this way. Traits differ from backgrounds—as traits aren't usually inherited from your parents or involve your experiences—but instead are inherent knacks that modify attributes or otherwise cannot be covered as a skill or background.

Roll 2D6+4 to determine the number of traits, and roll on the table below to determine which ones you possess. You may then choose up to 4 to remove or trade with traits of your choice from the Players' Choice List that follows the random table. Conflicting traits—such as fine motor skill with poor hand-eye coordination may cancel each other out, or you may choose one to keep and simply discard the other. Note that some traits may seem to be opposing, but are actually not. An example of this would be stuttering and nice singing voice. It is possible that your character stutters except when singing. The descriptions of all traits follow both lists.

Note that as this is an open system then there are an infinite number of untapped traits out there waiting to be discovered. If you have something in mind for your character, run it past your Game Master. You can gain traits in play; for example, spending all of your free time in a library doing nothing but reading can gain you the trait well read. Note also that many traits may be selected more than once. Toughness grants one extra level of damage reduction each time it is selected, very lucky is the same as lucky x2, and someone with heightened smell x3 would receive +9 to smell something, but -9 to avoid the nausea caused from a skunk. Even if no game mechanics are listed, a trait may be selected more than once. E.g. someone with more than one level of conscience will have a very loud and forceful inner voice.

Supernatural traits (such as those gained through the background Fae blood) are any that can logically be justified through mystical means. If what you want to choose for your bonus supernatural trait could logically be gained due to your mystical gifts or inhuman ancestry, then it is a possible supernatural trait. For example, ignored by undead, lucky, way with animals, or any psionic trait could be considered a supernatural trait. Check with the Game Master for approval. Note that possession of a supernatural trait by itself is not enough to be cause you to radiate magic (such as that sensed by the sense supernatural evil psionic trait).

Player's Choice
 Aggressive (Personality) Alert (Awareness) Animal Bonding Athletic (Stamina) Aura Sight [Psionic] Bad Liar Bad-tasting Balance Well (Agility) Booming Voice (Personality) Brawny (Strength) Casual (Personality) Chronic Insomnia Dense (Common Sense) Distinctive (Appearance) Distracting (Appearance) Divine Blessing Dodge Well (Agility) Eidetic Memory (Knowledge) Elegant (Grace) Executive Hair (Appearance) Endurance (Stamina) Eye for Art Fierce (Appearance) Fine Motor Skill (Agility) Forgettable (Appearance) Gleam (Appearance) Glide (Grace) Good Coordination (Agility) Good Memory (Knowledge) Grounded Hard to Kill Head for Numbers (Wits) Healthy (Stamina) Heightened Hearing (Awareness) Heightened Sight (Awareness) Heightened Smell (Awareness) Heightened Taste (Awareness) High Pain Tolerance Ice (Grace) Ignored by Undead Infernal Influence Inner-strength [Psionic] Instincts (Knowledge) Lean (Agility) Learns Fast (Common Sense) Light Sleeper (Awareness) Lucky MacGyver (Wits) Magic Resistance Mechanical Aptitude Minutiae (Awareness) Natural (Grace) Natural Direction Sense Natural Born Killer Natural Linguist (Knowledge) Natural Warrior Natural Weather Sense Nice Singing Voice Nimble (Agility) Observant (Awareness) Olfactory Flashbacks (Awareness) Paranoid: Conspiracy Theorist (Knowledge) Pet Friend Pimpin' Poetic Powerful (Strength) Prodigy Psychic Sensitive (Willpower) [Psionic] Psychokinetic Affinity (Willpower) [Psionic] Quiet (Personality) Rapid Start (Speed) Remorseless Resistance to Alcohol Robust (Stamina) Sense Supernatural Evil [Psionic] Sensitivity to Poisons Skilled (Knowledge) Spiky Hair Spiritual Destruction Steady (Agility) Stealthy (Agility) Stout (Strength) Stubborn (Willpower) Stubborn Old Bastard (Willpower) Stupidly Brave Sturdy (Stamina) Survival Instinct (Willpower) Sympathetic (Grace) Time Sense Total Unbeliever in Magic Tough Traction (Speed) Way with Animals Well-Read (Knowledge) Wicked Quick (Wits) </d </di

Trait Descriptions

 * Aggressive (Personality): You are assertive, bold, and energetic (this is a nice way of saying that you are actively hostile).


 * Alert (Awareness): You notice subtle changes in your surroundings. You get a retest against surprise.


 * Allergy (specific substance or allergen): You have an allergic response to something specific. Exposure to this allergen causes a hyperactive immune response from you body, far beyond what would normally be called for. For example, many lycanthropes are allergic to silver: prolonged contact causes irritation—possibly even a rash—being in an active silver mine would cause severe sneezing fits.


 * Animal Bonding: You have the ability to bind an animal to you on a special level. For each level of this trait you can bind and additional animal to you as a familiar, mount, guardian, spy, or scout.


 * Animal Hatred: Animals just don't like you. Dogs bark, cats hiss and scratch, even insects are more likely to bite you. You could be a kind, wonderful, animal-loving person—but they still don't like you.


 * Athletic (Stamina): Your exercise routine and love of sports pays off with cardiovascular endurance. You may work (or play) as though your stamina was 2 higher, before you become tired or out of breath. Additionally, you are naturally adept at learning games involving physical activities such as running, throwing, or catching a ball.


 * Aura Sight [psionic]: You can see the aura surrounding every living thing. You will need instruction (or practice) to be able to understand what it is you see. Having only one level of this trait means that your special vision is faint; you tend to have 'hunches' rather than empirical data. Multiple levels increase how strongly you perceive. It is hard to hide things from someone with multiple levels of this trait as well as the skill of Aura Perception.


 * Bad Liar: You are simply terrible at lying and your effective personality rating is at -5 when attempting to do so. However, your appearance is +2 with respect to members of the opposite sex.


 * Bad-tasting: Whether from the oils in your skin, or the fact that you don't change your socks; you taste terrible. An animal that bites you is likely to spit you out and leave if not pressed.


 * Balance Well (Agility): Whenever your ability to stay on you feet is in question, you get a retest. This applies against failed Agility rolls to prevent loss of balance, knockdown, et cetera.


 * Booming Voice (Personality): Your voice is naturally loud and low-pitched. You can be heard for twice the normal distance, but have difficulty when trying to speak softly.


 * Brawny (Strength): Each level of this trait adds an additional 25% to your normal lift..


 * Casual (Personality): You are easy-going and relaxed. Any time you need to "break the ice" or calm someone you are at +2. Your casual manner can sometimes be a problem when you need to convince someone of your professionalism; -1 to checks may apply.


 * Chronic Insomnia: You don't sleep much even if you want to do so. +1 Knowledge from having more time to study, but -1 Grace from being perpetually tired.


 * Clever (Wits): Your rapid mental facilities help you in social settings. You are given extra time to think of something to say.


 * Conscience: This is the small still voice in your head that will constantly remind you of things that are against your moral code. This is helpful for someone truly striving to do right, and a great annoyance for others. Note that this trait is based on your morals, so someone with an unethical outlook may hear schizophrenic-like voices telling her to slay all whom oppose her.


 * Deceitful (Personality): Even though you may be a known trickster, and people don't know or trust your motivations, you receive a +1 when trying to deceive someone.


 * Dedicated (Willpower): You are able to wholly commit yourself to a given task. You gain a +3 per level of this trait on any Willpower check or challenge to keep on track.


 * Dense (Common Sense): You just don't get it sometimes—and resent being told so. You are at -3 to standard Common Sense checks; i.e. when you roll to not do something stupid. This doesn't apply when you roll to learn something, or to other game mechanics using Common Sense. You do get to apply your penalty against someone trying to use a social skill against you.


 * Distinctive (Appearance): You have the kind of face that people don't easily forget. Something about the way you look will cause people to remember you longer. Unfortunately they aren't any more likely to recall you name, but they never forget your face. This trait could represent something indefinable, or a specific feature such as your eyes being an odd colour. Multiple levels of this trait suggest different unique features of your appearance. See the Character Development chapter for more suggestions.


 * Distracting (Appearance): You are able to draw attention towards yourself


 * Divine Blessing: You gain a free retest per day for yourself or for another. Infernal Influence opposes this trait and you cannot have both traits—having this trait also makes you immune to forced retest of Infernal Influence.


 * Dodge Well (Agility): You are hard to hit. Each level of this trait adds +1 to Armour Class, and +2 to dodge.


 * Eerie Presence (Grace): Something about you creeps people out.


 * Eidetic Memory (Knowledge): This is what is erroneously called 'photographic memory; this is actually having a well-trained memory. This is different from having a high knowledge score in that being able to remember something is different from understanding it. This trait allows a retest for checks involving lore skills, trivia, or other times when recalling a detail. This allows one retest per fact being recalled. This also enables greater retention, for example, to memorize a list of items.


 * Elegant (Grace): Many people define grace by this trait. You are at +3 for any attempt to positively impress someone.


 * Executive Hair (Appearance): You have the hair that CEO's have. You are more likely to be selected for rapid promotions (it helps if you are also tall). As you grow older, your hair will turn silver rather than just thin out.


 * Endurance (Stamina): Your Stamina is effectively 3 higher for purposes of figuring out cardiovascular endurance. In other words, you can run further, work longer, et cetera.


 * Eye for Art: You have an innate understanding and appreciation for artistic endeavours—at least the visual ones. You can discern truly artistic merit from merely pretty drivel.


 * Fierce (Appearance): You have a naturally mean look to your face. You are at a -3 penalty when trying to get people to like or trust you, but a +3 bonus when trying to scare or intimidate. People usually leave you alone.


 * Fine Motor Skill (Agility): +2 to all tasks involving hand-eye coordination; does not apply to checks involving the whole body such as tumbling.


 * Forgettable (Appearance): People easily forget you. This isn't the same as being overlooked, but any description of you would be generic. You tend to blend in easily enough that even if you were caught and put in a line-up your odds of being picked are statistically average. This is a great merit for thieves and con-artists, but it gets real annoying when you have introduced yourself to the same person five times in one evening. "Her?"


 * Frail (Strength): Encumbrance penalties are one level worse than they would be for someone else with your same strength, i.e. someone with a 19 Strength would normally receive a bonus to effective encumbrance level, however if that person had the frail trait he would have no adjustments.


 * Fully Illiterate (Knowledge): Whereas most functionally illiterate people can still recognize the picture of the mug above the tavern—even if they cannot read the name—you cannot even read the picture. You are iconographically challenged. You have difficulty with connecting abstract images to concrete concepts. It is four times harder for you to learn to read and write a language and will have to be taught literacy in new languages separately rather than as you are learning to speak the language. You are unable to start out with any skills that would involve recognizing symbols.


 * Gleam (Appearance): your eyes (and possibly hair, skin, nails, and teeth) sparkle and shine; may indicate Elven blood. This is a subtle effect, more like just out of the shower than glow-in-the-dark or glitter.


 * Glide (Grace): you move as though dancing, and glide along the floor.


 * Good Coordination (Agility): +2 to all tasks that involve moving the whole body; for example you would have a +2 bonus to dodge, but wouldn't receive a bonus for skill checks for suturing a wound.


 * Good Memory (Knowledge): Not quite a photographic memory, but this trait gives you a +2 to your effective Knowledge when you are making a check for recalling information.


 * Greedy (Willpower): You want it all—right now. Your desire to accumulate wealth and possessions enables you to reduce your effective encumbrance level by one for carried gear (not weapons or armour).


 * Grounded: You are a very physically and materially based person. As such, you receive +1 to each of you physical attributes, but -4 to all skill checks for mystical skills, and they are harder to learn—double base time to learn.


 * Hard to Kill: When you really need it, your ability to persevere comes through; +2 maximum life point capacity.


 * Head for Numbers (Wits): Those lines of numeric insanity that boggle the minds of others actually make sense to you. +2 to checks involving math.


 * Healthy (Stamina): You get a free retest for saving throws against disease, radiation, and poison.


 * Heightened Hearing (Awareness): +2 to Awareness checks to hear something, but -2 on saving throws against sonic attacks.


 * Heightened Sight (Awareness): You are at +2 to checks involving your vision, but are at -2 to checks to avoid attacks such as bright flashes.


 * Heightened Smell (Awareness): You are at +3 to checks involving your sense of smell and +1 for tasting, but -3 to checks to resist foul odours or saving throws against gaseous attacks.


 * Heightened Taste (Awareness): You are at +3 to checks involving your sense of taste and +1 to your sense of smell, but -3 for saving throws against ingested poison or spoiled food.


 * High Pain Tolerance: Each level of this trait removes the shock penalty for damage received by two. For example, if you had this trait twice and you were hit for 5 points of damage, then you would only have -1 penalty to rolls due to shock instead of -5.


 * Hopeless Romantic: Members of the opposite sex get an effective +3 for social attributes and skill checks against you. Tends to fall in love (and get heartbroken) easily.


 * Ice (Grace): As in "cold as ice." This is grace under pressure. You have the ability to keep your composure in a bad situation. You gain +2 to checks when being intimidated, interrogated, or tortured.


 * Imposing (Appearance): You are either physically tall, or give the impression of being larger-than-life by your bearing.


 * I.P.B.S: Ignore Pisant Bull Shit; also called Patience. Your patience and strength of will is astounding. This is an odd one: you have 2D4 levels of I.P.B.S. and can use them to ignore shock, fatigue, or even to 'walk off' damage (each point of damage ignored counts as 3 levels of I.P.B.S.). These levels reset when you have had a chance to be alone and rest / relax / blow off steam.


 * Ignored by Undead: If you don't assault or address them, they won't even notice that you are there. The living don't notice you much either: -3 Personality.


 * Infernal Influence: You can force someone to retest once per day. This may not be used on yourself. This trait is opposed by Divine Blessing—you cannot have both traits. You cannot force a retest on someone with that trait, but they cannot use their retest to oppose you either.


 * Inner-strength [psionic]: You get one retest against any situation involving endurance and the will to persevere—whether physical or mental. For example, you could re-roll a failed Stamina check for long distance running, or re-roll a failed Willpower check against staying awake on guard duty.


 * Instincts (Knowledge): You instinctively know certain skills. You gain an additional 1D4 levels in instinctual skills, or base level in one skill suite. As an added bonus, these skills cannot be taken away (although you could be made to forget that you have them, they never actually go away). The Game Master may restrict skills that could not logically be instinctive. Teaching others skills that you know instinctively is twice as difficult.


 * Jerk: People automatically do not like you, especially once you open your mouth. Even if you are not intentionally insulting, people perceive that you are. There is usually little that you can do to change a first-impression (even a wrong one). You always have the option of acting annoying just to piss people off, since they will generally feel that way already. You could instead just drink heavily and let nature take its course. This is the person you have to get to know to like.


 * Jinx: This is the opposite of being mechanically inclined. Complex machinery just seems to have it in for you, from the rope that breaks at an inopportune time (like any time would be good), to the technomantic weapon that starts shooting randomly whenever you are near. This is a combination of specialized bad luck and random mechanical failure. You could be a highly trained technomancer, but you might not be able to use your own designs.


 * Lean (Agility): Not having much body fat is sometimes a good thing. Since there is less of you to hit, you get +1 to dodge.


 * Learns Fast (Common Sense): You gain +2 to your effective Wits or Common Sense when learning new skills.


 * Light Sleeper (Awareness): You may make an Awareness check to notice something amiss when you are asleep. If everyone is allowed the check (for example, to awaken from a loud noise), then you get an additional check—in other words, a retest.


 * Lucky: one retest per game session or day.


 * MacGyver (Wits): You are at +4 to design and build a gadget or an invention on the fly.


 * Magic Resistance: At last, a magic resistance system that makes sense without complex math. You have a 10% chance per level of this trait to have any magical effect or mystical skill not work on you. The Game Master can choose to roll this percentage chance for beneficial magic as well. Technomantic devices and psychic effects are usually excluded from being affected by magic resistance; this is up to the Game Master's discretion.


 * Mechanical Aptitude: You receive a +2 bonus to figure out anything mechanical. Whether you are making a Knowledge check to decipher the instructions of a technomantic device, or rolling to hit with a crossbow, you get the bonus as you just have a knack for understanding the engineering principles behind anything made up of complex machinery.


 * Mental Push [psionic]: This gift allows you to "push" a suggestion into someone's mind. The message isn't noticed consciously and is thus useless for direct communication. It operates more as a subliminal message sent telepathically. This is a very subtle—but potentially quite useful—psychic gift. This is merely a gentle mental shove towards a certain idea; for example, you can make someone tired and sleepy, but yawning and a desire to go to bed is the most you can do—you cannot make someone just pass out.


 * Minutiae (Awareness): You have an eye for fine detail. You enjoy a +2 bonus for noticing small details, but have a penalty of -1 when perceiving "the big picture."


 * Natural (Grace): Always looks as though comfortable in whatever situation (in photography uncomfortable positioning is called 'looking natural').


 * Natural Direction Sense: You have an innate sense of where you are going. This doesn't prevent you from getting lost, especially if you are going someplace new, but prevents you from simply travelling around in circles. You always have a good idea of where north is.


 * Natural Born Killer: +2 to-hit and damage, but -3 Personality; may be psychotic.


 * Natural Linguist (Knowledge): Gift of gab or just an ability to ferret-out the roots of language and what people are really trying to say—you pick up on languages easier than most. You have +20% chance to learn bonus per level of this trait when attempting to pick up a new language. In addition, you receive one free retest when learning a new language that may be applied to either the Wits or Common Sense checks, or the chance-to-learn check. These bonuses apply to spoken, written, and dead languages.


 * Natural Warrior: +1 to-hit and damage.


 * Natural Weather Sense: You can detect the subtle temperature and pressure changes that mean a change in the weather. While not perfect, your accuracy for the next two weeks out is around 86%.


 * Nice (Personality): You have to make an effort for people to think poorly of you. You receive a +2 to your effective personality in friendly settings. When you need to intimidate someone, you have a -4 penalty. You just aren't good at playing the 'bad cop.'


 * Nice Singing Voice: You naturally have a clear, strong, pleasant-sounding voice when you sing. You may still have, for example, an irritatingly nasal speaking voice, or might stutter when talking, but have a good voice for singing.


 * Nightmares: The unfortunate character with this trait suffers from chronic nightmares that occur quite frequently (20% per level of this trait nightly). You have the option of choosing the Chronic Insomnia trait. 1/10th of your bad dreams are terrible enough to cause you to wake up (cold sweats, possibly screaming). If you have any psychic gifts, your nightmares may be prophetic—but there is no way to know if any given dream is true or not.


 * Nimble (Agility): You gain +2 to all Agility checks and challenges when you are wearing light or no armour.


 * Observant (Awareness): "Show me." You think visually and can learn something by watching someone else. Watching someone perform a skill counts as having a teacher (for the same length of time). If they aren't actively teaching you—you're just watching—then you don't get any possible bonuses from their teaching skill.


 * Olfactory Flashbacks (Awareness): You have a good memory for smells, perhaps too good. Each level of this trait gives you a +4 on checks to remember/identify a scent. Some smells have the potential to cause you to relive the last time that you experienced that smell. A particularly strong memory can impose a -3 on initiative rolls (Game Master's decision).


 * Paranoid: Conspiracy Theorist (Knowledge): Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that they aren't out to get you. With this trait you get a retest against the chance that your careful, obsessive, over planning would have prevented an unexpected situation. For example, when the paranoid character arrives home to his surprise birthday party, he can make a Knowledge check to notice the loose powder on the doorstep was disturbed. He can then set the rabid dogs loose in his house before entering. Those with this trait tend to have few friends—they cannot trust anyone.


 * Paranoid: Nervous (Awareness): What's that behind you? Those with this trait are skittish and jump at the slightest disturbance. You get a retest against sudden surprises. For example, if the group were about to walk into an area infested with hornets (and fails the Awareness check), on a retest the paranoid character would duck and cringe at the slightest buzz—disturbing the hornets—and causing them to attack her friends first. This character gets nervous whenever anyone reaches for her or walks behind her.


 * Pet Friend: You have a loving companion in some animal. The Game Master can disallow any animal he or she deems inappropriate or may even assign a pet friend to your character.


 * Phobia: You have an irrational fear. Having only one level of this trait means that you strongly dislike the object or situation, but can control yourself. Having multiple levels of this trait can be crippling—your phobia is strong enough to affect your actions. For each level after the first, you must make a saving throw (against 10 + the level of the phobia) to take any actions other than trying to avoid the subject of your phobia. Willpower bonuses against mental attack help with the saving throw. Any possible object, circumstance, condition, or situation, may be the subject of your fear. Phobias do not necessarily have a cause, i.e. you need not have nearly drowned to be afraid of deep water; phobias are by their nature irrational.


 * Pimpin': This is the ability to wear clothes that no one else would ever dream of doing, and look good doing so. In addition it enables you to say things that no one else could—and get away with it.


 * Poetic: Natural sense of rhyme and meter.


 * Poltergeist [psionic]: This non-controlled manifestation of psychokinetic ability operates when you are upset, asleep, or stressed. Small objects move about—often by being hurled, fragile objects may explode, or sometimes a knocking or tapping sound can be heard. Since this is an unconscious psychic outburst, the thrown objects never actually aim at someone, but they may just be in the way. The possessor of this trait is never directly harmed, but cannot control this in anyway—for offence or defence.


 * Poor Hand-Eye Coordination (Agility): -2 to all tasks that do not involve moving the whole body; for example you would have a -2 penalty to skill checks for suturing a wound, but wouldn't receive a penalty for dodging. The -2 penalty does apply to ranged weapon attacks.


 * Poor Stopping (Speed): Your ability to come to a quick stop is impaired. Anytime that there is a minimum stopping distance (on ice for example) then it takes you 1½ times as long to stop.


 * Possessive (Knowledge): "I know what's mine." Most people grow out of this by age three or four. You receive a +3 on checks to remember where you left something or to recall distinctive markings.


 * Powerful (Strength): 'Putting the smack down' essentially sums up your abilities in combat. You get +2 to hit with each melee strike because you put more muscle into it to power through armour or tough flesh.


 * Prodigy: Add 2D4 to one proficiency.


 * Prophecy: You sometimes say true things. These are not exactly predictions, not exactly curses, but sometimes what you say comes true. Watch yourself.


 * Psychic Sensitive (Willpower) [psionic]: You are attuned to your non-physical senses. All sensory-based psychic skills and abilities function at double strength (time, distance, et cetera). Additionally, you learn sensitive psionic skills at half the normal time and difficulty. In other words, your base time to learn (listed in the skill description) is half the usual hours, and your chance-to-learn (based on Knowledge) is doubled.


 * Psychokinetic Affinity (Willpower) [psionic]: You possess a rare psychic gift. All psionic skills regarding movement or manipulation of objects are gained at half the normal time and difficulty. For example, you can learn Telekinesis in only 800 hours (and costs only one skill level), and you learn at your normal chance-to-learn (rather than half for this skill). In addition, all effects of psychokinetic skills are doubled (weight, temperature, range, et cetera).


 * Quiet (Personality): You are naturally taciturn and soft spoken. You are at -2 for checks to be heard, but +2 on checks to avoid speaking or crying out (such as from pain).


 * Rapid Start (Speed): You can accelerate quickly and achieve you top sprinting speed nearly instantaneously. +1 to Initiative.


 * Remorseless: Someone with this trait isn't affected by viewing violence and feels no regrets about taking someone else's life. This trait is similar to the blooded background in that the character doesn't suffer any penalties from never having been in or seen combat.


 * Resistance to Alcohol: Whether from having a mutant liver, or simply from years of abuse, you can imbibe twice as much as the next drunk before you feel any effects.


 * Robust (Stamina): Your wounds patch themselves up quickly. Your stamina is effectively +3 for purposes of healing.


 * Sense Supernatural Evil [psionic]: You can automatically detect the presence of Demons, Old Ones, or other such incarnations of the unholy. You can detect traces left behind from such powerful entities as a form of psychic evidence or when someone or something is possessed. Note that normal magic and psychic abilities are not detectable by this ability unless extraordinarily strong and powerful, and are driven by great evil.


 * Sensitivity to Poisons: 50% chance to smell a toxin at 5 paces, but is at -3 to saving throws against it.


 * Short-Fuse (Personality): You easily fly off the handle. You are at -2 to any social check or challenge that is frustrating, annoying, or makes you angry.


 * Skilled (Knowledge): Having devoted more time to learning, you have 3 additional skill levels to start.


 * Sneaky (Speed): You naturally move quietly. You can move up to your normal walking speed without making undue noise. You also receive a +1 bonus on checks to move silently.


 * Sophisticated (Grace): You receive a +2 to your effective Grace when dealing with the nobility, wealthy, or upper class. You receive a -1 when dealing with the poor, disenfranchised, and lower class.


 * Speech Impediment (Personality): Understanding your speech is more difficult for some reason. You could have an injury, no teeth, a thick accent, or large fangs, for example.


 * Spiky Hair: You are the hero of the story. Once per day or per game session you can do something heroic and cool—and have it automatically work. This could be saying the right thing at the right time to jumping out a window of a flaming building and landing in the sunroof of a car filled with bikini-clad women. The 'heroic and cool' action must be something that is actually possible (at least in theory) and works only if the Game Master decrees that it is cool enough. If these criteria are not met, then you have whatever pitiful chance you would normally have if you did not possess this trait—and you wasted your 'hero chance' for the day. If playing in the 80's this trait is called mullet and sports jacket.


 * Spiritual Destruction: When you kill something, it stays dead. Mortals do not return as ghosts, entities do not recycle in their home plane of existence, and vampires do not need certain rituals to be performed. The killing blow may be done by any means, bare hands, weapons, magic, or dropping a big rock on a demon's head.


 * Steady (Agility): Any time that uncertainty or shakiness would hamper your performance, you get a retest against problems caused by bad balance situations, sweaty palms, et cetera.


 * Stealthy (Agility): You gain +2 to all checks and challenges to remain quiet and unnoticed.


 * Stout (Strength): You are stronger than you look. Your effective encumbrance level is one level better than it would be for another character with your same strength score.


 * Strange Luck: This trait is a bizarre combination of both lucky and unlucky. It is also sometimes called Serendipity's Curse. When something bad happens to your character it often has a way of turning out for the best in the end. The converse also happens; when things are going your way be alert for "the other shoe to drop;" something terrible is about to happen to you. Note that this trait is entirely in the hands of the Game Master, so when you ask for your strange luck to help you out it might come back to haunt you later.


 * Stubborn (Willpower): You may be a hard-ass about most things. Changing your mind may be more difficult for someone than adding a foot to his or her height. However, this same stubbornness aids you and hinders others when engaged in a contest of wills. Anytime that you must roll for contested Willpower (when whomever rolls a greater amount under their own Willpower wins), then you are at +3 to your effective Willpower.


 * Stubborn Old Bastard (Willpower): As stubborn, but worse. The contested Willpower checks are now at +8, but you must roll under your normal Willpower on 2D20 anytime someone asks you to change your mind—even if it is in your best interest, or even if you think that it's a good idea.


 * Stupidly Lucky: Three free retests per game session or day and one forced retest.


 * Stupidly Brave (Knowledge): You absolutely cannot feel fear. Nor can you be intimidated. Even magical fear effects do not affect you. -2 Knowledge.


 * Sturdy (Stamina): It's hard to put you down. You are just harder to kill than most; +2 maximum hit point capacity.


 * Stutters (Personality): You stutter. Whether your stuttering is socially crippling, or something that the Game Master uses against you in times of stress depends on how you role-play it.


 * Survival Instinct (Willpower): Your will to live is quite strong. You get a free retest when rolling against system shock. This retest is useable once per encounter.


 * Sweet (Personality): You have a pleasing disposition.


 * Sympathetic (Grace): This is the trait people often assume bartenders have. You are assumed to be the one people can tell their problems to—whether you want to listen or not. You are often privy to private personal information, but have to put up with listening to the whining of others.


 * Targeting Sense [psionic]: You are able to tell when someone is looking at you or aiming a ranged weapon at you. The Game Master may ask for an Awareness check to use this, particularly for someone simply observing you rather than attempting to blow you the fuck away.


 * Teflon Billy: +3 to all saving throws.


 * Teflon Gotti: Free social retest for situations involving being prosecuted.


 * Teflon O.J.: One free retest for any saving throw per game session or day, and combines the traits Teflon Billy with Teflon Gotti.


 * Threatening (Grace): Your menacing nature imposes a -2 when you are trying to get someone to like or trust you, but grants you a +2 when trying to scare or intimidate someone.


 * Time Sense: Always a useful trait when some lazy bastard wakes you up early for guard duty, this trait gives you a far better sense of what time it is than what the average medieval-technology person really needs. Not quite as good as a watch, but accurate to within about 10 minutes.


 * Total Unbeliever in Magic: This is the person who must have been living under a rock their entire lives. This is a fantasy game; magic is real here. Seriously though, many people in Midian go their entire lives without ever having seen any magic. The possibility of magic doesn't necessarily mean that it is common. Space travel is possible, but I've never even met someone who has been to the moon. The unbeliever may be mystically shielding him or herself, ironically enough, from magic by force of conviction. +4 bonus to saving throws against all magic, but must save against all magic, even the helpful variety (after all it isn't real, it's only a trick).


 * Tough: Your skin is naturally tougher than most folk. For each level of this trait, you have a natural Damage Reduction of +1. This means that you subtract your level of toughness from the damage each attack does that gets through your armour.


 * Traction (Speed): Not the kind they put you in when you're in hospital, but the kind good shoes should have. You know how to place your feet properly to get the best use of a surface. Any effects caused by uncertain ground (ice, oil, loose rocks, et cetera) are reduced by half.


 * Uneducated (Knowledge): You haven't received any "book learnin'." You are prohibited from starting with any skills that the Game Master decrees would require formalized training. You can be self-taught on some skills—particularly if you have a high knowledge score or have the well-read trait.


 * Unlucky: The Game Master randomly hoses your character with ill luck: your horse becomes unshod, the barmaid serving you happens to be quitting today, or you look like a notorious villain, as examples. Though bad luck can (and does) strike any character, it's far worse for anyone with this trait, and occurs far more often. The upside to this—such as it is—is that your enhanced ill fortune isn't usually fatal. That is, the lightning that strikes you from out of a clear sky only magnetises you and makes your hair permanently stand on end. It won't kill you outright; you just aren't that lucky.


 * Very Lucky: Two retests per game session or day.


 * Water Baby (Stamina): You take to water naturally. You automatically have the Swimming skill (or increase it by one level if you already possess that skill). You also may hold your breath and swim for twice as long as someone equal Stamina. In a chlorinated pool, your hair does not turn green.


 * Way with Animals: Animals flock to you rather than fear you. You are the one person a ferocious guard dog will approach with its tail wagging rather than barking and biting.


 * Well-Read (Knowledge): You have read an extensive collection of books on many subjects. You receive a +4 bonus on knowledge-based lore skills.


 * Wicked Quick (Wits): You have the reflexes of a housefly; +3 on initiative.


 * Wisdom (Common Sense): Wise characters receive a free retest on Common Sense checks to avoid doing anything stupid.