Advanced Character Build Tips

Guide created using an unknown version of Cataclysm DDA.
The information present here might not apply to the current version of CDDA.

Choosing stats

The advice from the Beginner Character Build Tips still holds here, so we'll discuss specific breakpoints.

1. Strength:
   • Strength 9 is mostly useless as it doesn't increase melee damage or allow access to additional bows - you should probably have a strength of either 8 or 10+. That said, it may help unsticking piercing melee weapons such as spears.
   • For gun builds, the extra weight capacity and HP is of marginal use as you should rarely ever be hit and weight can be managed quite effectively using vehicles (which are incidentally quite powerful when used in combination with a good pistol).
   • For archery builds, low strength will hurt your range. A bow used below its optimal strength will lose 2 range per 1 point of strength and become unusable below half required strength. Reflex recurve bow has 12 optimal strength, most other bows 10.
   • For melee builds this is a good place to put any points you have left over. Strength 10 or 11 is definitely worthwhile though it probably shouldn't take priority over achieving a basic level of intelligence and perception.
2. Dexterity:
   • 8 points is fine for any character. Once you develop your skills somewhat, missing becomes incredibly rare and the component of your hit chance that dexterity adds will become relatively worthless. For defense, you may be better off putting points into dodging--or investing in Strength to handle heavier armor.
   • Dexterity significantly increases the chance of using mutant body parts to gain extra attacks. A character that starts as or intends to become a "natural" killing machine will benefit from extra dexterity even after the accuracy/dodge/critical hit bonuses become negligible.
   • For gun builds this can be a good place to put any points you have left over. However, you may want to wait until you have 11-12 points in perception as it provides the same increase in to-hit chance with the added benefit of trap detection. You definitely shouldn't put points here if you don't already have 10 points in perception.
3. Intelligence:
   • Intelligence also affects hacking into computers, installing bionics, and other technical things (classical music is more rewarding for intelligent folks, for instance). Though its effects on reading are by far the easiest to notice, they are not the only reason to go high-IN.
   • If you have the time, it is possible to read books that are more difficult than your intelligence should allow, though your reading speed will suffer by 10% for every point by which your intelligence falls short. However, there is no limit to how far you can go with this - even a 1-INT character can read SICP, given enough time.
   • You can temporarily increase your intelligence by consuming stimulants and some drugs. This won't last long enough for most reading tasks, but will help a lot with hacking and installing CBMs.
   • Intelligence of 10 has good potential as a point to end your learning - this is the required level for most of the highest level skill books, and you can use cigarettes for the temporary intelligence boost for the few books that require 11 intelligence. If you are keen to seek out a Cerebral Booster early on, there's no pressing need to go any further than this, though the easy electronics gains of Robots for Fun & Profit can be very handy.
   • Intelligence of 11 is required for a few books on Computer and Electronics skills, as well as a couple of the simpler endgame recipe books.
   • Intelligence of 12 is only required for endgame recipe books that you'll find in science labs and military bunkers. These generally have rather specific usages and provide a large morale drain.
   • Intelligence of 13 is only required for two books - SICP and Robots for Fun & Profit. These are both very useful books - boosting your Computer to 8 and Electronics to 10, respectively.
4. Perception:
   • Perception has an effect on critical hit chance. At low levels it will be weaker than that of dexterity, but later on percetpion will become almost twice as powerful as dexterity.
   • Ranged attacks suffer from perception being below 12. Ranged xp gain will become harder if your perception is too low, especially with inaccurate weapons.
   • Perception of 10 prevents getting exploded by landmines. You can defeat this with a decent Traps skill, but that's not likely to happen for a while.
   • You might still want to consider a perception score above 10. Good mouth protection is hard to find, and all of the best mouth protection will also apply to eyes - so you'll need enough perception to counteract the eye encumberment. Perception of 11 will allow you to wear Chitinous helmet and later upgrade to a very effective (fitted) Survivor mask.
   • Of course, you could always just leave perception at 10 and seek out Diamond Corneas.

Choosing traits

Positive

Positive traits are rated on a scale of 0-5.

0/5: Either completely worthless, or vastly overpriced for what it does. You should probably never take this trait.

1/5: This isn't terrible, it's just not really worthwhile. You might consider taking it for an RP-focused character but a min-max character would rarely consider it.

2/5: Good for specialised characters, or an effective and characterful way to waste some spare points. About as good as dropping a point in a (useful) skill.

3/5: If this trait does is something you like, by all means consider it! Though it's probably not as effective as buying extra stats, it's definitely not a waste of points.

4/5: About as good as buying extra stats. Most characters will have one or two of these, or a good reason not to take them.

5/5: These are better than buying stats, as long as you've achieved basic competency. Could make the game too easy.

Some positive traits will set your character's base state (i.e. start of the game or extensive purifier use) one step further away from some nasty negative mutations, and some will make it more likely that positive mutations will crop up when you mutate randomly. When applicable, this will be noted.

Accomplished Sleeper EASYSLEEPER Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only INSECT MOUSE

Cancels: Insomniac Changes to: Practiced Sleeper Point cost: 1

"You have always been able to fall asleep easily, even when sleeping in less than ideal circumstances."

• 1/5 - Not very useful. You can duplicate the effects of this with a rollmat, a bed, some ambien or simple patience.

• Alternative opinion, Siersha: Game-changer. Allows you to sleep anywhere and everywhere (other than raw dirt). This gives you the equivalent bonus to sleep a bed and being dead tired would give. Essentially, removing the need to have a bed, and saving time by essentially removing “toss and turn”.

Addiction Resistant NONADDICTIVE Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Cancels: Addictive Personality Point cost: 1

"Whether due to a lifetime of exposure or through simple willpower, it's harder for you to become addicted to substances, and easier to rid yourself of these addictions."

• 0/5 - Very expensive for what it does. Addiction is pretty brutally difficult to deal with, but the easiest way to deal with them is simply not to take drugs very frequently.

Animal Empathy ANIMALEMPATH Possible Starting Trait BEAST ELF-A

Cancels: Animal Discord Changes to: Animal Kinship Point cost: 1

"Peaceful animals will not run away from you, and even aggressive animals are less likely to attack. This only applies to natural animals such as woodland creatures."

• 2/5 - This can make it a great deal easier to hunt animals that would normally flee from you. You can even get right up close and kill them. For one point, you could certainly do much worse.
• However, it has relatively little effect on hostile animals - you'll still die to bears and you'll definitely still die to zombears.

Bookworm LOVES_BOOKS Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Cancels: Illiterate, Hates Books Point cost: 1

"There's nothing quite like the smell of a good book! Books are more fun (or less boring) for you!"

• 4/5 - Gives +1 morale to all books including skill books with otherwise no morale modifier (+0), not only making skillbooks more efficient and lab journals bearable, but giving focus for further training of other skills.
• Alternative opinion, Siersha: Weak. Book Morale lasts for only 1.5 hours.

Cannibal CANNIBAL Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Cancels: Meat Intolerance Point cost: 1

"For your whole life you've been forbidden from indulging in your peculiar tastes. Now the world's ended, and you'll be damned if anyone is going to tell you that you can't eat people."

• 0/5, 2/5 if NPCs enabled, 2/5 in Lab Challenge (before escape only) - human meat is extremely rare if you're playing with NPCs off, and with them on, NPC often drop food anyway.
• Mostly an RP-related trait, thankfully it's only 1 point. If you're really that concerned about starving, Animal Empathy makes for a much better 1-point trait.

Deft DEFT Possible Starting Trait BIRD BEAST RAPTOR MOUSE

Point cost: 1

"While you're not any better at melee combat, you are better at recovering from a miss, and will be able to attempt another strike faster."

• 1/5 - this is a melee trait that has no effect if you're good at melee and very little effect even if you're bad at it.
• Alternative opinion, Siersha: Reduces stamina cost for melee attacks by 5 (cost minimum is 5 at most), enables recovery from melee attacks on a miss or fumble, as well as reduces the probability of a fumble. Overall a secret gem.

Disease Resistant DISRESISTANT Possible Starting Trait CATTLE MEDICAL RAT

Changes to: Disease Immune Point cost: 1

"It's very unlikely that you will catch ambient diseases like a cold or the flu."

• 2/5 - Can be handy, and only costs 1 point. There are a few ways to avoid catching simple diseases, but they can be incredibly annoying in the early game.
• Alternative opinion, Siersha: Weak. Getting diseases sucks. But it's not the end of the world if you get one. A few days, or proper health maintenance, and the disease will have gone as soon as it came.

Drunken Master DRUNKEN Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Cancels: Lightweight Point cost: 1

"The ancient arts of drunken brawling come naturally to you! While under the influence of alcohol, your melee skill will rise considerably, especially unarmed combat."

• 1/5 - Synergises very well with a Hobo on day 1, and later in the game with the Ethanol Burner bionic.
• Unfortunately, will most likely mandate a crippling alcohol addiction.
• You could instead spend the 2 points on Unarmed and Melee for a more consistent improvement in unarmed output - but spending points on improving melee and unarmed would still be sub-optimal.
• Alternative opinion, Siersha: Drinking alcohol dramatically raises melee damage and to-hit bonuses. If the player is diligent enough, Drunken Master in conjunction with Gourmand and Addiction Resistant makes the player a force to be reckoned with.

Fast Healer FASTHEALER Possible Starting Trait MEDICAL

Cancels: Slow Healer, Poor Healer, Imperceptive Healer, Very Fast Healer, Regeneration, Rapid Metabolism, Weakening, Deterioration, Disintegration Changes to: Very Fast Healer, Reptilian Healing Point cost: 2

"You heal faster when sleeping and will even recover a small amount of HP when not sleeping."

• 2/5 - can be useful, particularly early in the game for melee characters.
• First aid rapidly becomes a much better option, especially as the amount of damage you regularly take trends downwards later in the game.
• Alternative opinion, Siersha: Game-changer. Allows the player to essentially kill zombies with reckless abandon. Damage is no longer a thing to fear as long as the player is left with some health. This trait mostly heals the player’s limbs from 1 to full in a single night. Ridiculously powerful, especially for characters with high dodge and/or protection.

Fast Learner FASTLEARNER Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Cancels: Slow Learner Point cost: 3

"You have a flexible mind, allowing you to learn skills much faster than others. Note that this only applies to real-world experience, not to skill gain from other sources like books."

• 2/5 - Minor effect on learning of crafting skills, but can help a lot in combat situations where your focus drains very quickly (the effect is comparable to constant +15 focus).
• Consider stacking or replacing with Bookworm.
• Treats focus as 15 higher than the displayed value on the UI. Great for general training, but expensive for 3 points as it becomes useless past the training stage.

Fast Reader FASTREADER Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Cancels: Illiterate, Slow Reader Point cost: 1

"You're a quick reader, and can get through books a lot faster than most."

• 2/5 - somewhat strong, not expensive at all.
• Buying more intelligence is probably a better investment until you reach intelligence 13.
• Alternative opinion, Siersha: Strong for characters with relatively low intelligence. Reading faster is great for the early game, but rather useless once said books have been read.

Fleet-Footed FLEET Possible Starting Trait SPIDER MOUSE

Cancels: Slow Footed, Road-Runner, Ponderous, Very Ponderous, Extremely Ponderous Changes to: Road-Runner Point cost: 2

"You can move more quickly than most, resulting in a 15% speed bonus on sure footing."

• 2/5 - Much less useful now that running is a thing. Still, can save you some stamina and help you outrun the nastiest of zombies.
• The 15% speed bonus on sure footing is almost always on, and is greater than Quick.
• Provides significant benefits when mutating - increasing the likelihood of receiving Road Runner (30% speed boost on sure footing) and making it harder to receive any of the very nasty Ponderous tree of mutations. On the other hand, the existence of several anti-traits mean this trait is rather likely to be lost if you are mutating randomly.

Good Hearing GOODHEARING Possible Starting Trait ALPHA ELF-A MOUSE

Cancels: Poor Hearing Point cost: 1

"Your hearing is better than average, and you can hear distant sounds more easily."

• 0/5 - having more precise/longer range hearing isn't very useful, and this prevents you from taking the negative trait Poor Hearing.
• Can also make it harder to get a good night's sleep when suffering from low immunity diseases.
• Gunshots and nearby landmines will deafen you more-easily.

Good Memory GOODMEMORY Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Cancels: Forgetful Point cost: 3

"You have an exceptional memory, and find it easy to remember things. Your skills will erode slightly slower than usual, and you can remember more terrain."

• 1/5 - skill rust is incredibly annoying, but this is a very expensive trait.

Gourmand GOURMAND Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only LUPINE MOUSE

Point cost: 2

"You eat faster, and can eat and drink more, than anyone else! You also enjoy food more; delicious food is better for your morale, and you don't mind unsavory meals as much. Activate to skip prompt for overeating."

• 2/5 - the boosts to morale are not bad but the biggest benefit of this is that it reduces the use time of consumables from 250 to 150. This includes drugs i.e. stimulants and painkillers, giving this trait real potential to save you in your time of need.
• Alternative opinion, Siersha: Game-changer. Allows the player to stack Morale like no other. Boosts food morale bonuses by 1.5x as well as allowing the player to eat 6x of any 1 food item to gain its morale bonus. This is essentially free stats + speed when utilized properly. 1 intellect per 100 points; 1 perception per 125 points; 1 strength per 180 points; 1 dexterity per 200 points; 1 speed per 25 points and up to a total of 10.

High Adrenaline ADRENALINE Possible Starting Trait BEAST CHIMERA

Point cost: 1

"If you are in a very dangerous situation, you may experience a temporary rush which increases your speed and strength significantly."

• 2/5 - similar to Gourmand, this does have real potential to save you in desperate times.
• Doesn't kick in very often at all, your head or torso HP needs to be very low for this to take effect.

Inconspicuous INCONSPICUOUS Targeted Mutation Only

Point cost: 1

"While sleeping or staying still, it is less likely that monsters will wander close to you."

• 0/5 - Reduces dynamic NPC spawn rate when sitting still. Useless.

Indefatigable GOODCARDIO Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only FISH LUPINE INSECT MOUSE

Cancels: Languorous Changes to: Hyperactive Point cost: 2

"Whether due to exercise and good diet, or due to a natural propensity to physical endurance, you tire due to physical exertion much less readily than others. Your maximum stamina is 25% higher than usual."

• 2/5 - Worth considering for melee builds, but pricey.
• Alternative opinion, Siersha: Increases Stamina by 25%. Very strong as higher stamina levels do not allow the penalties of low stamina (ergo, increased move cost, and the winded debuff at worst). Allows a player to fight and run for longer periods of time, ultimately reducing moments the player may be vulnerable due to low stamina.

Infection Resistant INFRESIST Possible Starting Trait TROGLOBITE MEDICAL RAT

Changes to: Infection Immune Point cost: 2

"Your immune system is particularly good at resisting infections. You have an increased chance for bad wounds and infections to heal on their own, and only suffer reduced penalties from them."

• 0/5 - Infections can be very deadly, however they're also very rare and potentially treatable with a first aid kit. This trait is far too expensive to consider.
• You simply should never get infected. It is too easy to cure a bite, much less receive a bite in the first place. In current game versions, do not stand still while you’re grabbed, and you will never be bitten.

Less Sleep WAKEFUL Possible Starting Trait ALPHA ELF-A

Cancels: Sleepy, Very Little Sleep, Tireless, Very Sleepy Changes to: Very Little Sleep Point cost: 1

"You need less sleep than the average person."

• 4/5 - Cheap and effective!
• Buying this also sets you further away from the Sleepy and Very Sleepy mutations, and sets you closer to the Very Little Sleep and Tireless mutations available through Alpha and Elf-a post-threshold mutation.

Light Eater LIGHTEATER Possible Starting Trait BIRD FISH INSECT TROGLOBITE

Cancels: Rapid Metabolism, Hyper-Metabolism, Fast Metabolism, Very Fast Metabolism, Extreme Metabolism, Heat Dependent, Very Heat Dependent, Cold Blooded, Ectothermic Changes to: Gizzard, Heat Dependent Point cost: 2

"Your metabolism is a little slower, and you require less food than most."

• 2/5 - Hunger is annoying - especially later in the game once everything rots - but it is definitely still manageable, and this trait is expensive. Consider Animal Empathy instead, if you are very concerned about hunger.
• This takes you one step farther away from the Fast/Very Fast/Extreme Metabolism mutations, which is one of the more debilitating negative mutation chains.

Light Step LIGHTSTEP Possible Starting Trait BIRD FELINE ELF-A

Cancels: Clumsy Point cost: 1

"You make less noise while walking. You're also less likely to set off traps."

• 2/5 - Not very powerful, but also not at all expensive. In combination with other methods of improving stealth, this can make your character very elusive.
• Reduces the volume of your steps from 6 to 2.
• Sounds great on paper, but zombies are likely to smell you far before they hear you move.

Martial Arts Training MARTIAL_ARTS Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Point cost: 2

"You have received some martial arts training at a local dojo. You start with your choice of Karate, Judo, Aikido, Tai Chi, Taekwondo, or Pankration."

• 0/5 - you can (easily) just get the books from a dojo, and this costs the same amount as any of the rare martial arts.
• Self-Defense Classes or Shaolin Adept should be purchased instead of this, since the martial arts they provide are stronger and (currently) impossible to come by in-game.
• For more information, see Choosing Martial Arts Styles.

Masochist MASOCHIST Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Changes to: Pain Junkie, Cenobite Point cost: 1

"Although you still suffer the negative effects of pain, it also brings a unique pleasure to you."

• 1/5 - Will weaken effects of pain on focus a tiny bit. Nearly worthless on its own.
• This becomes a 4/5 trait, however, for any character that is going to have a hard life: the more abuse your character takes, the more valuable this will be. Melee characters, characters delving heavily into mutation, those interested in being able to craft and study until they collapse, or those who feel compelled to drag home every engine they run across can regularly see masochism moral bonuses of +20. Taking negative traits like Clumsy and Chemical Imbalance (and for lab characters, Genetically Unstable and Minor Radioactivity) can result in a constant stream of delightful minor discomfort to keep that grin on your poor deranged character's face. For bonus RP value and an extra 5 points on the cap, take Optimist to make your character a true Mr. Bill.

Melee Weapon Training MARTIAL_ARTS5 Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Point cost: 3

"You have practiced fighting with weapons. You start with your choice of Eskrima, Fencing, Fior Di Battaglia, Medieval Swordsmanship, Niten Ichi-Ryu, Pentjak Silat, or Sōjutsu."

• 2/5 - Expensive and situational. Eskrima and Pentjak Silat can make otherwise unimpressive weapons far more devastating, but don't hep as much with the high-end melee weapons most melee fighters use. Fencing is compatible with very few weapons, but works very well once you get it going.
• If you are really keen on using weapons with your martial arts, Ninjutsu and Krav Maga are semi-compatible with melee weapons, but not to the degree that the styles here are.
• For more information, see Choosing Martial Arts Styles. (TODO though: populate that page with details of the new styles)

Night Vision NIGHTVISION Possible Starting Trait BIRD CATTLE INSECT

Cancels: Fey Vision, Fey Nightsight, Feline Vision, Ursine Vision Changes to: High Night Vision Point cost: 2

"You possess natural night vision, and can see further in the dark than most. Activate to toggle NV-visible areas on or off."

• 5/5 - makes it much easier to navigate at night and sometimes lets you snipe at dangerous enemies from outside of their visual range.
• Also makes it easier to get High/Full Night Vision mutations, which are very nice to have.
• Zombies cannot see you in the dark easily, and may only track you through sound and scent. Therefore, Night Vision pairs well with Light Step and Weak Scent.

Optimist OPTIMISTIC Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Cancels: Bad Temper Point cost: 2

"Nothing gets you down! You savor the joys of life, ignore its hardships, and are generally happier than most people."

• 1/5 - A bit too expensive, but can help if you're stacking morale.
• Alternative opinion, Siersha: Gives a flat bonus of 5 to morale. It also boosts all positive morale bonuses by 1.25, and reduces all negative morale bonuses to .75. An overall great trait for players building around Morale.

Outdoorsman OUTDOORSMAN Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Point cost: 1

"You are accustomed to being exposed to the elements. This decreases morale penalties for being wet."

• 0/5 - cheap but not very effective. Morale isn't as important as it once was, and the effects of this trait can be perfectly replaced with mid-game armors. It may take a while to get these armors, but once you do this trait is completely useless.

Packmule PACKMULE Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Cancels: Disorganized Point cost: 1

"You pack things very efficiently! You can retrieve things from containers 10% faster."

• 3/5 - for much of the game, volume limits are going to be quite difficult to deal with, and this gives you more leeway.
• Becomes less effective later in the game, once you have a few Tactical drop pouches and/or the skill required to craft Survivor harnesses
• 2/5 for purely ranged characters, who can quite happily weigh down their torso with a huge pile of backpacks.

Pain Resistant PAINRESIST Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only MEDICAL

Cancels: Pain Sensitive, Hyperalgesia, Extreme Hyperalgesia Point cost: 2

"You have a high tolerance for pain."

• 2/5, 4/5-5/5 in "high danger" worlds. Pain will kill you before hp damage does.
• Alternative opinion, Siersha: While helpful for players expecting to run into pain, this is generally-overshadowed by strong painkilling drugs.

Parkour Expert PARKOUR Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Cancels: Bad Knees Point cost: 2

"You're skilled at clearing obstacles; terrain like railings or counters are as easy for you to move on as solid ground."

• 3/5 - Very useful near cars, arguably better than Fleet Footed.
• This is particularly powerful when used by an intelligent melee player dodging into windows and over benches.
• However, unlike Quick and Fleet-Footed, Parkour Expert is only available as a starting perk and cannot be gained by mutation.

Poison Resistant POISRESIST Possible Starting Trait INSECT SLIME SPIDER MEDICAL

Leads to: Intestinal Fortitude Point cost: 1

"Your system is rather tolerant of poisons and toxins, and most will affect you less."

• 1/5 - poison is avoidable for the most part, but when you get poisoned it's quite irritating.
• Lets the player completely disregard bloated zombies. Reduces the maximum str reduction from 5 (poison and badly poisoned) to only 1, and the maximum dex reduced to 3. It also allows the player to drink and eat from a “food poisoned” source with a reduced chance of contracting food poisoning. If it is contracted, however, it also reduces its duration.

Pretty PRETTY Possible Starting Trait FELINE LUPINE ALPHA

Cancels: Ugly, Deformed, Badly Deformed, Grotesque Changes to: Beautiful Point cost: 1 / Visibility: 1 / Ugliness: -2

"You are a sight to behold. People who care about such things will react more kindly to you."

• 2/5 - This one can be snagged from several mutation categories, and is just as easily lost, but might be worth the point if you like having green @'s follow you around and dislike having the red ones shoot at you. Handy for keeping yourself a little farther out of the Ugly chain, and makes recruiting NPC's and convincing them to act as bait stand guard easier. Also mitigates some of the unpleasant "people trying to kill the abomination" side effects of mutation.

Psychopath PSYCHOPATH Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Cancels: Pacifist Point cost: 2

"You don't experience guilt like others do. Even when you know your actions are wrong, you just don't care."

• 1/5 - expensive, and by default there are few occasions where this provides any benefit. Also, morale isn't hugely important at the moment.
• More useful with Schizophrenic as it reduces the penalties for "dealing with" hallucinations. That said, schizophrenia is still going to be a huge problem.
• More useful with NPCs enabled as it allows you to murder them and take their stuff with a greater degree of impunity.
• Essentially reduces the penalty for killing zombie children and survivors. After 100 zombie children, however, their morale penalty no longer applies. As for survivors, one may simply set them on fire by placing a flammable object under their feet. If one chooses to use this trait, it entirely negates the morale penalty for butchering and eating human meat. Morale bonuses do not come into play unless Cannibal is taken, however. The trait becomes mostly useless if NPC wander spawns are not enabled.

Spiritual SPIRITUAL Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Point cost: 1

"You've always felt that there is more to the world than we can see. Whether driven by religious beliefs or philosophical interest, you find great inspiration in studying holy texts and experiencing mystical things."

• 1/5 - bonuses from spiritual only last for 1.5 hours. Not long enough to warrant a point.

Quick QUICK Possible Starting Trait BIRD FISH INSECT TROGLOBITE CHIMERA RAPTOR MOUSE

Point cost: 3

"You're just generally quick! You get a 10% bonus to action points."

• 3/5 - Expensive, but helps with pretty much everything - from combat to crafting.
• Unlike Fleet-Footed, this doesn't make it harder to gain negative mutations. However with no anti-trait it is impossible to lose this trait via mutation.
• Multiplicative with Fleet-Footed and Parkour Expert.

Robust Genetics ROBUST Possible Starting Trait FISH SLIME MEDICAL ALPHA

Cancels: Genetic Downward Spiral Point cost: 3

"You have a very strong genetic base. If you mutate, the odds that the mutation will be beneficial are greatly increased."

• 4/5 - Don't mutate without it!
• Absolutely vital for any character intending to play scrabble with their DNA, particularly those looking to break threshold in a category without developing an excessive number of its negative traits at the same time.
• Of course, you could just not mutate without it. Mutations aren't vital, especially for ranged characters, and a few doses of purifier can wipe the slate clean if you're willing to lose most of those positive mutations along with the negative ones.

Scout EAGLEEYED Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only BIRD MOUSE

Cancels: Near-Sighted, Topographagnosia Point cost: 1

"You're an excellent navigator and your ability to spot distant landmarks is unmatched. Your sight radius on the overmap extends beyond the normal range."

• 3/5 - Cheap and effective, like most of the 1-pointers.
• This becomes less useful later in the game when you are frequently visiting labs for their mapping effects.
• Alternative opinion, Siersha: Increases overmap sight radius from 5 to 10. Great for scouting. With Binoculars, the range increases to 15. However, 15 is rather excessive. With binoculars alone, the overmap sight range is also raised to 10, which ultimately makes this trait simply for convenience.

Self-Defense Classes MARTIAL_ARTS2 Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Point cost: 2

"You have taken some self-defense classes at a nearby gym. You start with your choice of Capoeira, Krav Maga, Muay Thai, Ninjutsu, Wing Chun, or Zui Quan."

• 3/5 - better than Martial Arts Training as it provides styles which may be otherwise unattainable.
• In particular, Muay Thai is one of the most effective martial art styles and Ninjutsu can be a strong style for weapon users.
• Melee weapon users should consider this as it provides access to Ninjutsu - arguably the best martial arts style for use with weapons.
• For more information, see Choosing Martial Arts Styles.

Self-Aware SELFAWARE Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only MEDICAL

Point cost: 1

"You get to see your exact amount of HP remaining and health, instead of only having a vague idea of whether you're in good condition or not."

• 2/5 - Training wheels for the HP system. Most experienced players don't bother with this, but it can be handy for first-time players of the game.
• Consider increasing your point allowance to give this trait as an extra for your first few games, if you think it will help.

Shaolin Adept MARTIAL_ARTS3 Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Point cost: 2

"You have studied the arts of the Shaolin monks. You start with one of the five animal fighting styles: Tiger, Crane, Leopard, Snake, or Dragon."

• 3/5 - better than Martial Arts Training as it provides styles which may be otherwise unattainable.
• Dragon and Tiger styles are generally the go-to styles: Dragon for high-Intelligence folks, and Tiger for anyone.
• For more information, see Choosing Martial Arts Styles.

Skilled Liar LIAR Possible Starting Trait

Cancels: Truth Teller Point cost: 1

"You have no qualms about bending the truth, and have practically no tells. Telling lies and otherwise bluffing will be much easier for you."

• 0/5 - NPCs aren't enabled by default, and even with them enabled this is expensive for little benefit.
• Simply do the quest, or have high speaking/intelligence which far offsets this skill.
• Watch this space though - rating will probably change with more work on NPCs.

Strong Back STRONGBACK Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Cancels: Bad Back Point cost: 2

"You are capable of carrying far more than someone with similar strength could. Your maximum weight carried is increased by 35%."

• 1/5 - Most of the time your inventory will be constrained by inventory volume, not inventory weight. Even if it is likely to be constrained by weight, strength will generally be a better investment.
• Could be handy for wearing some of the very heavy late game armor, provided you already have a good strength score. Currently, heavy armor is mostly overkill though.

Strong Stomach STRONGSTOMACH Possible Starting Trait

Cancels: Weak Stomach Changes to: Nausea Point cost: 1

"You are less likely to throw up from food poisoning, alcohol, etc. If you throw up nevertheless, you won't suffer a residual nausea."

• 2/5 - Cheap, but doesn't do very much since eating dangerously is still not a great idea.
• Takes you further away from the Weak Stomach/Nauseous/Vomitous negative mutation chain - an annoying chain however harmless enough until you hit Vomitous. Unfortunately, doesn't increase likelihood of receiving the very useful Saprovore mutation.

Stylish STYLISH Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Point cost: 2

"Practicality is far less important than style. Your morale is improved by wearing fashionable and attractive clothing."

• 2/5 - FANCY and SUPER_FANCY gear generally has less storage, more encumberance, or is otherwise Worse than non-Stylish apparel. Nevertheless, being able to have a constant morale-boost in the background can take the edge off of bad things, and for roleplayers, it's nice to be rewarded.
• Most jewellery is slotless and provides FANCY or SUPER_FANCY flags, so in the late game you may be able to have the full (+20) morale bonus active at all times. This would require 10 items of SUPER_FANCY jewellery though, so don't go base your build around it.
• The morale bonus is rather small value relative to gourmand, or even a single portion of a proper toast-em. However, the bonus is constant, and easily fulfilled in the end-game. This is the trait for players who desire little to no upkeep, and pairs well with Optimist to grant the trait +25 Morale instead.

Substance Tolerance TOLERANCE Possible Starting Trait

Cancels: Lightweight Leads to: Alcohol Metabolism, Intestinal Fortitude Point cost: 1

"You can handle intoxicants well. Their effects clear up more quickly for you."

• 2/5 - as with many of the 1-point positive traits this is cheap and effective. However, unless you really enjoy dealing with addictions on a regular basis this won't provide a huge benefit.
• Alternative opinion, Siersha: Weak. Reduces the duration of your substances in general. That means reduced alcohol time (which is good if you are stacking morale). But this also means reduced Drug time (drops the duration of Adderall’s effects). A double-edged sword which proves more harmful than useful.

Terrifying TERRIFYING Possible Starting Trait BEAST INSECT CHIMERA

Point cost: 1

"There's something about you that creatures find frightening, and they are more likely to try to flee."

• 1/5 - scares away harmless critters you want to kill, has no effect on monsters with full HP that you're running away from and very little effect regardless on most of the deadlier monsters in the game. For example, on zombies.

Thick-Skinned THICKSKIN Possible Starting Trait LIZARD CATTLE CHIMERA RAPTOR

Cancels: Thin-Skinned Point cost: 1

"Your skin is tough. Cutting damage is slightly reduced for you. Slightly decreases wet penalties."

• 0/5 - The effect is too weak to notice and only affects cutting damage.

Tough TOUGH Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Cancels: Flimsy, Frail, Fragile, Glass Jaw Changes to: Durable Point cost: 2

"It takes a lot to bring you down! You get a 20% bonus to all hit points."

• 1/5 - Early on, it won't be HP damage that will kill you - it'll be pain, or being massively outclassed. Later on, there are a great number of alternative methods of avoiding damage.
• You should almost certainly put the 2 points into strength instead. It'll increase your HP by a lesser amount but will also increase your melee damage and help you to wear heavier armor.
• 3/5 for melee specialists and mutants, as a kicker to said extra points in strength. The 20% hp boost magnifies the benefit of those 6 points you put in strength already, and every additional point you gain later through CBMs and mutations only increases the value. More importantly, the trait keeps you farther from the utterly crippling Frail chain, closer to numerous attractive positive mutations, and reduces your reliance on crutches like "armor" and "not getting in fistfights with zombie hulks".

Tough Feet TOUGH_FEET Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Point cost: 1

"The bottoms of your feet are tough and you are accustomed to going barefoot. You receive no movement penalty for not wearing shoes."

• 0/5, 4/5 if playing with Toe Talon - The only reason not to wear shoes is foot mutations.
• Alternative opinion, Siersha: Allows a slight change of gameplay by relying on rollerblades for movement. One can simply remove them and hop around as they wish on dirt or windows to remove the downside of rollerblades. Good, but very niche in use.

Venom Mob Protege MARTIAL_ARTS4 Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Point cost: 2

"You are a pupil of the Venom Clan. You start with one of the five deadly venoms: Centipede, Viper, Scorpion, Lizard, or Toad."

• 3/5 - a set of martial arts styles with some interesting special abilities that reward a more thoughtful approach to combat.
• Centipede and Scorpion are the standout styles here. Centipede is a potent "glass cannon" style ideal for a fast character, while the durable Scorpion style offers a hefty flat damage boost, a stun attack, and turns crits into a devastating knockback-and-stun.
• For more information, see Choosing Martial Arts Styles.

Weak Scent WEAKSCENT Possible Starting Trait ALPHA

Cancels: Strong Scent, Insect Pheromones, Mammal Pheromones Point cost: 1

"Your scent is quite weak. Animals that track your scent will do so with more difficulty."

• 2/5 - Scent can be quite an annoying thing to have. The benefit this provides is minor, but it is very cheap.
• Some of the more deadly monsters in the game have no sense of sight - meaning that if you're standing still at a decent range and have Weak Scent, you are effectively invisible to them. This is a little hard to achieve consistently, but is strong enough to be worth mentioning.
• Alternative opinion, Siersha: Weak. Reduces scent radius from 9 to 7. Such a small reduction makes the trait generally useless.

Negative

Negative traits are rated on a scale of 0-5. Some players would consider taking any traits above a 4 on this scale to be a mild form of cheating.

0/5: Either completely crippling, or vastly underpriced for what it does. You should probably never take this trait except as a challenge - if you do then don't expect your character to last long.

1/5: This is a painful purchase, but it's unlikely to make your character too difficult to play. You might consider taking it for an RP-focused character but a min-max character would rarely consider it.

2/5: Good for specialised characters, or an effective and characterful way to gain some extra points.

3/5: If you have extra negative trait points available, consider one of these. They can be annoying, but not crippling.

4/5: This is a minor annoyance at best, or gives a large amount of points for little detriment. You should probably take these, unless you consider them cheating.

5/5: These are an effectively harmless way of getting extra build points. Many players consider these a cheat akin to simply increasing the build points in debug options.

Some negative traits will set your character's base state (i.e. start of the game or extensive purifier use) one step closer to some nasty negative mutations, and some will make it more likely that negative mutations will crop up when you mutate randomly. When applicable, this will be noted.

It's worth noting that in general negative traits will receive better ratings than positive traits - this is intentional, because maxing out negative traits is quite useful to a min-max character whereas positive traits are usually only a situational purchase.

Addictive Personality ADDICTIVE Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only MEDICAL MOUSE

Cancels: Addiction Resistant Point cost: -2

"It's easier for you to become addicted to substances, and harder to rid yourself of these addictions."

• 4/5 - Even with this trait, becoming addicted to substances involuntarily will be rare. Just don't make frequent use of hard drugs if you don't want to get addicted to hard drugs.
• Can be a mild annoyance with alcohol, since alcohol is a cheap morale boost that synergises well with the Ethanol Burner bionic.

Albino ALBINO Possible Starting Trait TROGLOBITE MOUSE

Cancels: Phelloderm, Bark, Pale Skin, Solar Sensitivity Changes to: Solar Sensitivity Point cost: -1

"You lack skin pigmentation due to a genetic problem. You sunburn extremely easily, and typically use an umbrella and sunglasses when going out in the sun."

• 3/5 - This makes "sunny" and "clear" weather have negative effects on you similar to acid drizzle (minor pain, reduction in focus).
• Maintaining a fixed base early in the game and only wandering outside at night effectively allows you to ignore this trait.
• Can be completely avoided - especially later in the game - by wearing rainproof clothing (most late game armor is rainproof) or wielding an umbrella.
• Can mutate into "Solar Sensitivity", which is much nastier (think acid rain) but can be treated the same - just don't wander outside during the daytime unless wearing rainproof garments.

Animal Discord ANIMALDISCORD Possible Starting Trait BEAST LUPINE INSECT RAPTOR

Cancels: Animal Empathy Changes to: Prey Animal Point cost: -1

"Most animals don't like you, and aggressive animals are more likely to attack you. This only applies to natural animals such as woodland creatures."

• 4/5 The effect is very minor. Unless you get killed by moose or wolves often, it's pretty much a free point.

Asthmatic ASTHMA Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Point cost: -4

"You will occasionally need to use an inhaler, or else suffer severe physical limitations. However, you are guaranteed to start with an inhaler."

• 1/5 - this is effectively quite a nasty permanent addiction. You do start with an inhaler, but additional inhalers cannot be crafted and are semi-rare to scavenge.
• Makes sleeping somewhat difficult, and makes illnesses very annoying, but ultimately the effects aren't completely devastating, even when caught without an inhaler.
• Lab start characters may find this one oddly appealing, as inhalers are moderately common finds in lab bunk rooms.
• This could change rating hugely if/when inhalers get a crafting recipe.

Bad Back BADBACK Possible Starting Trait BIRD ELF-A

Cancels: Strong Back Point cost: -3

"You simply cannot carry as much as people with a similar strength could. Your maximum weight carried is reduced by 35%."

• 2/5 - weight isn't hugely important, and this is a good amount of points. On the other hand, -35% weight limit is actually quite a lot - you will most likely find this trait at least a little painful. This is a strong option for a "non-cheating" negative trait, but if you just want easy points there are much better options out there.

Bad Knees BADKNEES Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Cancels: Parkour Expert Point cost: -1

"Whether due to injury or age, your knees aren't particularly strong or flexible. Moving over rough terrain will slow you down more than normal."

• 2/5 - This only provides a very minor speed decrease (25% slower on rough terrain) - which can be entirely ignored if you don't move over rough terrain while monsters are near. Makes walking over car frames, seats and doors slower!

Bad Temper BADTEMPER Possible Starting Trait LIZARD URSINE CHIMERA

Cancels: Optimist Point cost: -2

"Things just keep getting you down. You tend to be unhappy, and it takes some doing to cheer you up."

• 1/5 - Although morale isn't a huge concern in the current version, this is still quite an annoying trait to have. It will slow down your learning significantly, and make it more difficult for you to read depressing books.
• By default, this trait sets your morale to -5. However, you also get +25% to all negative morale received, and -25% to all sources of positive morale. This can really add up to a lot of annoyance.

Chemical Imbalance CHEMIMBALANCE Possible Starting Trait SLIME MEDICAL ELF-A CHIMERA

Point cost: -2

"You suffer from a minor chemical imbalance, whether mental or physical. Minor changes to your internal chemistry will manifest themselves on occasion, such as hunger, sleepiness, narcotic effects, etc."

• 1/5, 3/5 in Ice Lab start - Randomly adds a whole bunch of effects including but certainly not limited to suddenly making your character extremely cold or extremely hot.
• This can be a very annoying trait - if you are keen on the chaos this introduces you may wish to consider trying out Mood Swings first to get a more controlled taste of this style of randomness.
• On the other hand, if you absolutely love this trait then Schizophrenic might be a good trait choice for you! Shine on you crazy diamond.
• 4/5 when paired with Masochism, as this trait becomes a positive moral generator at the cost of some character stability (which can strike at inopportune times).

Clumsy CLUMSY Possible Starting Trait

Cancels: Light Step Point cost: -1

"You make more noise while walking. You're also more likely to set off traps."

• 2/5 - Makes your footsteps volume 10 - a pretty significant amount of noise, this can make night raids significantly more troublesome.
• 3/5 or higher if you don't plan to ever rely on night-time stealth.

Disorganized DISORGANIZED Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Cancels: Packmule Point cost: -1

"You are terrible at organizing and storing your possessions. You retrieve things from containers 10% slower."

• 1/5 - reduced storage volume is a terrible thing, and this is a lot of volume to lose. Only consider this if you're really keen on inventory micromanagement.

Far-Sighted HYPEROPIC Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Point cost: -2

"Without reading glasses, you are unable to read anything, and take penalties on melee accuracy and electronics/tailoring crafting. However, you are guaranteed to start with a pair of reading glasses."

• 5/5 - Glasses are very common, and if you're not a melee build you'll only need to wear them when reading or crafting.
• 4/5 if you are playing a melee build. You can still wear glasses, but you'll probably want to carry a spare in case they get broken and/or wear further eye protection (and deal with eye encumbrance) to prevent their breaking.
• Reduces your to-hit roll in melee by 2 if not wearing glasses - not a very noticeable penalty later in the game, you might even consider leaving your glasses back at base.
• Consider also taking Far-Sighted if you take Near-Sighted- a pair of bifocals covers both vision problems, and a character taking both traits starts with a pair of these instead. Double the points for only slightly more hassle.

Fast Metabolism HUNGER Possible Starting Trait BEAST SLIME MEDICAL ALPHA ELF-A CHIMERA RAPTOR RAT MOUSE

Cancels: Light Eater, Hyper-Metabolism, Very Fast Metabolism, Extreme Metabolism, Heat Dependent, Very Heat Dependent, Cold Blooded, Ectothermic Changes to: Very Fast Metabolism, Rapid Metabolism Point cost: -2

"You require more food than most people, but recover stamina slightly faster."

• 2/5 - This isn't the worst thing in the world immediately, since an extra 50% hunger is definitely manageable with regular hunting trips. However:
• This sets you closer to far nastier mutations (Very Fast/Extreme Metabolism) that can cause your hunger to spiral out of control.
• It's worth noting though that if you mutate frequently then it is very likely you will receive this - so you might as well get some points for having it.

Flimsy FLIMSY Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only ELF-A MOUSE

Cancels: Tough, Durable, Unbreakable Changes to: Frail Point cost: -4

"Your body can't take much abuse. Its maximum HP is 25% lower than usual and you heal slightly slower. Stacks with Glass Jaw."

• 3/5 - This can be quite a few extra points for only a relatively small reduction in total HP. Obviously, this is going to be better for characters who primarily stay at range.

Forgetful FORGETFUL Possible Starting Trait BEAST INSECT MEDICAL CHIMERA MOUSE

Cancels: Good Memory Point cost: -3

"You have a hard time remembering things. Your skills will erode slightly faster than usual, and you can remember less terrain."

• 4/5 - This doesn't increase skill rust rates very much at all, and for quite a few points.
• Increases skill rust speed to 133% of normal.
• However, skill rust is very annoying and this isn't a very flavorful trait. For these reasons alone, many players forego this trait in favor of things that have a more direct gameplay effect.
• Has no effect if skill rust is off, but is still selectable. 5/5 then, but this is definitely cheating.

Frail FLIMSY2 Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Requires: Flimsy Cancels: Tough, Durable, Unbreakable Changes to: Fragile Point cost: -6

"Your body breaks very easily. Its maximum HP is 50% lower than usual and you heal slower. Stacks with Glass Jaw."

• 2/5 - Not great for first time players, but it is worth quite a lot of points. This is only really worth considering for ranged characters who are definitely going to stay very far away from combat.

Fragile FLIMSY3 Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Requires: Frail Cancels: Tough, Durable, Unbreakable Point cost: -8

"Your body is extremely fragile. Its maximum HP is 75% lower than usual and you heal much slower. Stacks with Glass Jaw."

• 1/5 - Even a stiff breeze will kill you, especially if you also take Glass Jaw. This is mostly fun as a challenge for an experienced player.

Glass Jaw GLASSJAW Possible Starting Trait BIRD RAPTOR

Cancels: Tough Point cost: -2

"Your head can't take much abuse. Its maximum HP is 20% lower than usual."

• 3/5 - Head is one of the hardest to protect body parts, as mouth encumbrance kills stamina regeneration and good early game helmets have low coverage. Still, 20% is not the end of the world.
• Compare and contrast with Flimsy.

Grain Intolerance ANTIWHEAT Possible Starting Trait

Point cost: -2

"You have a rare allergy that prevents you from eating most types of grains such as wheat or oats. It's possible for you to eat them, but you will suffer morale penalties and obtain less nutrition from them."

• 2/5 - This does eliminate your ability to eat many of the tastiest (highest morale boost) foods, however these foods are very abundant (especially in farms) and unlikely to become a staple of your diet.
• 1/5 - I other cases especially when your diet is already limited by other traits as pies/pizza will soon become a necessary for carnivore/herbivore calorie supplement
• Flour products are common, easy to craft and nutritious. This won't affect you in early game, but can turn annoying later on.

Hates Fruit ANTIFRUIT Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Cancels: Meat Intolerance Point cost: -3

"You despise eating fruits. It's possible for you to eat them, but you will suffer morale penalties and obtain less nutrition from them."

• 3/5 - Somewhat annoying as fruit can be a useful supplement, but won't change your eating habits significantly.
• 4/5 - Only if you plan of going carnivore since you won’t be able to eat these anyway. Best coupled with hates vegetable traits
• Note that this includes fruit juices, which can be a common (though not vital) source of quench early in the game.
• The main reason not to take this is that it effectively prevents your character from farming in the current version.

Hates Vegetables MEATARIAN Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Cancels: Meat Intolerance Point cost: -2

"You have problems with eating vegetables. It's possible for you to eat them, but you will suffer morale penalties and obtain less nutrition from them."

• 4/5 - Vegetables are rare apart from triffids, you can pretty easily cut them out of your diet. Especially desirable for thos planning to become carnivores
• Not hugely harmful for farmers, as the most easily available plants are fruits.

Heavy Sleeper HEAVYSLEEPER Possible Starting Trait LUPINE INSECT PLANT MEDICAL

Changes to: Very Heavy Sleeper Point cost: -1

"You're quite the heavy sleeper. Noises are unlikely to wake you up."

• 5/5 - Unless you are doing something very weird, being woken up by monsters capable of causing you serious damage is an extremely rare and easily avoidable problem.
• Can actually be helpful, in that it reduces your likelihood of waking up from coughing due to low immunity diseases.

High Thirst THIRST Possible Starting Trait SLIME CEPHALOPOD ELF-A CHIMERA

Cancels: Metabolic Rehydration Changes to: Very Thirsty Point cost: -2

"Your body dries out easily; you need to drink more water."

• 2/5 - Thirst can be quite annoying, as it is a very frequent need that can be worsened in times of stress (such as when suffering an ambient disease). However - even though it needs to be cooked - water never spoils and can be reliably sourced from rivers and pools.
• As with Hungry the biggest danger of this trait is that it sets you closer to the very nasty mutations Very Thirsty and Extremely Thirsty.

Hoarder HOARDER Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Point cost: -4

"You don't feel right unless you're carrying as much as you can. You suffer morale penalties for carrying less than maximum volume (weight is ignored). Xanax can help control this anxiety."

• 3/5 - Morale isn't completely vital, but this can still be quite a painful trait to have.
• The morale penalty is equal to half the difference between your carried volume and maximum volume, capped at -70 to morale.
• The main reason this is painful is because it's hard to manage effectively - when you are at your base, you can simply load up on volume and be completely fine, but morale is less useful when at your base. You are most likely to want good morale when you are out and about, which is also when you are most likely to be suffering the effects of this trait.
• However, the worst effect of negative morale is when it prevents you from reading - and the effects of this trait are completely avoidable in this situation.

Illiterate ILLITERATE Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Cancels: Fast Reader, Slow Reader, Dungeon Master, Bookworm, Hates Books Point cost: -6

"You never learned to read! Books and computers are off-limits to you."

• 0/5 - Books are pretty vital, as are computers.
• Mostly fun as a challenge trait. That said, between taking this trait and freeing up a large number of INT points, this can give quite a lot of points for elsewhere.

Imperceptive Healer SLOWHEALER3 Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only Not purifiable

Cancels: Fast Healer, Slow Healer, Poor Healer, Very Fast Healer, Regeneration, Rapid Metabolism, Weakening, Deterioration, Disintegration Point cost: -8

"You recover barely any health through sleeping - it will heal only one tenth of usual HP."

• 1/5 - It does give you incentive to pick up first aid as early as possible, which you should be doing on a regular game, really.

Insomniac INSOMNIA Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only MEDICAL

Cancels: Accomplished Sleeper Point cost: -2

"You have a hard time falling asleep, even under the best circumstances!"

• 4/5 - occasionally a little annoying but rarely has a significant effect on gameplay. Ambien can help with this, though simply being tired enough to sleep tends to be sufficient.
• Note: Halves the (positive) effects of drugs on sleepiness.

Jittery JITTERY Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only MEDICAL MOUSE

Point cost: -3

"During moments of great stress or under the effects of stimulants, you may find your hands shaking uncontrollably, severely reducing your Dexterity."

• 3/5 - getting the shakes is rare but relatively annoying.
• Takes effect randomly when you are hungry or under the influence of stimulants.

Junkfood Intolerance ANTIJUNK Possible Starting Trait BEAST ALPHA ELF-A RAPTOR

Cancels: Sweet Tooth Point cost: -1

"Something in those heavily processed foods doesn't agree with you. It's possible for you to eat them, but you will suffer morale penalties and obtain less nutrition from them."

• 2/5 - Although junkfood is not an essential part of your diet, it is a useful supplement especially early in the game and this trait doesn't give many points.

Lactose Intolerance LACTOSE Possible Starting Trait

Point cost: -1

"You, like 75 percent of the world, cannot tolerate milk or milk based products. It's possible for you to eat them, but you will suffer morale penalties and obtain less nutrition from them."

• 4/5 - Milk products are relatively rare, and they tend to go rotten very early in the game with little possibility of preservation.

Languorous BADCARDIO Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Cancels: Indefatigable Point cost: -2

"Whether due to lack of exercise and poor diet, or due to a natural disinclination to physical endurance, you tire due to physical exertion much more readily than others. Your maximum stamina is 25% lower than usual."

• 3/5 - For ranged builds. Watch that mouth encumbrance, though.

Lightweight LIGHTWEIGHT Possible Starting Trait MEDICAL

Cancels: Drunken Master, Substance Tolerance Point cost: -1

"Alcohol and drugs go straight to your head. You suffer the negative effects of these for longer."

• 3/5 - As with all traits that are specific to drugs, this is quite easy to avoid and has little downside unless you find yourself frequently consuming drugs.

Meat Intolerance VEGETARIAN Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Cancels: Cannibal, Hates Vegetables, Hates Fruit Point cost: -2

"You have problems with eating meat. It's possible for you to eat it, but you will suffer morale penalties and obtain less nutrition from it."

• 1/5 - Foraging drops are enough to survive in summer and autumn, but meat is still the most common source of food in the wild.
• 4/5 - For those planning to embrace the cow or something else. Herbivores can’t consume meat anyway so feel free to take advantage of this

Narcoleptic NARCOLEPTIC Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only MEDICAL

Point cost: -3

"You randomly fall asleep without any reason."

• 1/5 - Doesn't strike often, but when it does it's a free hit on you. Depending on what hits you, this can be game-ending.

Near-Sighted MYOPIC Possible Starting Trait BEAST TROGLOBITE

Cancels: Ursine Vision, Scout Point cost: -2

"Without glasses, your seeing radius is severely reduced! However, you are guaranteed to start with a pair of glasses."

• 3/5 - Glasses are very common but they take up an eye slot (with the possibility of associated encumbrance), and with this trait you will most likely always want to wear them when you're out and about.
• Consider also taking Far-Sighted if you take Near-Sighted- a pair of bifocals covers both vision problems, and a character taking both traits starts with a pair of these instead. Double the points for only slightly more hassle.

Pacifist PACIFIST Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Cancels: Psychopath, Killer Drive, Culler, Hunter, Predator, Apex Predator Point cost: -4

"You don't like thinking about violence. Your combat skills advance much slower than usual, and you feel more guilt about killing."

• 1/5 - Fortunately the morale penalties are infrequent, unfortunately slower learning of combat skills is quite nasty since these are already some of the slowest skills to increase.
• Causes you to learn combat skills at a brutally low speed - one third of the normal pace. If it's any consolation, this doesn't include dodge.
• The additional morale penalty applies to "human" monsters (those that produce "human flesh" on butchering). The morale drain doesn't seem to include zombies, but does include many eldritch creatures. However, you also receive a multiplier of 5x strength for ALL negative morale penalties caused by killing.

Pain Sensitive MORE_PAIN Possible Starting Trait

Cancels: Pain Resistant, Deadened Changes to: Hyperalgesia Point cost: -2

"For some reason things always seem to hurt you more. Pain dealt to you is increased by 25%."

• 1/5 - Pain is already crippling enough as it is.

Poor Healer SLOWHEALER2 Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only Not purifiable

Cancels: Fast Healer, Slow Healer, Imperceptive Healer, Very Fast Healer, Regeneration, Rapid Metabolism, Weakening, Deterioration, Disintegration Point cost: -4

"Your health recovery through sleeping is severely impaired and causes you to recover only a third of usual HP."

• 3/5 - Quite a bunch of points for a more realistic healing rate, and doesn't interfere with bandaging.

Poor Hearing BADHEARING Possible Starting Trait PLANT

Cancels: Good Hearing Changes to: Deaf Point cost: -2

"Your hearing is poor, and you may not hear quiet or far-off noises."

• 5/5 - This is a strong favorite amongst min-max players. Having great hearing can be slightly handy, but even with poor hearing you generally maintain the main benefit - knowing approximately where monsters are. For 2 points, this is a very strong pick.
• This is also beneficial in that (similar to Heavy Sleeper) it reduces how often you will wake up when coughing from low immunity diseases.
• Later in the game, the Enhanced Hearing bionic goes a long way towards making this trait almost entirely toothless.

Pyromaniac PYROMANIA Possible Starting Trait

Point cost: -2

"You have an unhealthy obsession with fire, and you get anxious if you don't light them every now and then or stand near them often. However, you gain a mood bonus from doing so."

• 5/5 - Cravings for fire aren't that frequent. You'll be lighting fires for cooking constantly anyway, and you even get a morale boost for your trouble. Great roleplay potential. It's more positive than negative.

Savant SAVANT Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Point cost: -4

"You tend to specialize in one skill and be poor at all others. You advance at half speed in all skills except your best one. Note that combining this with Fast Learner will come out to a slower rate of learning for all skills."

• 0/5 - Basically just a more brutal version of Slow Learner. Except as a challenge, there is little to no reason not to just take Slow Learner instead.
• There are practically no characters for whom learning at half speed in all skills except one will be acceptable. Even characters who carefully manage this trait (eg by only using one weapon and not caring about dodge) are still losing out in that all weapons use two separate skills simultaneously - for example Marksmanship and Rifle.
• Can be circumvented with books, but this requires careful management of your book reading to keep it below your primary combat skill - and again, your secondary combat skill will still be losing out.

Schizophrenic SCHIZOPHRENIC Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only MEDICAL

Point cost: -3

"You will periodically suffer from delusions, ranging from minor effects to full visual hallucinations. Some of these effects may be controlled through the use of Thorazine."

• 0/5 - Definitely very Fun, but there's not much else to say about it. The hallucinations in particular have somewhat of a tendency to become crippling very early on.
• Thorazine is quite rare and requires actively venturing in to town to find pharmacies. This can be especially difficult early on in static spawn mode.
• You may wish to try out Mood Swings first to see if you like this style of game play.
• Don't complain to the Devs that your game is broken. By taking Schizophrenic, you broke it yourself. Remember: it's not a bug, it's a feature hallucination!

Sleepy SLEEPY Possible Starting Trait BEAST CHIMERA MOUSE

Cancels: Less Sleep, Very Little Sleep, Tireless, Very Sleepy Changes to: Very Sleepy, Rapid Metabolism Point cost: -1

"You need sleep more often, but still spend most of your time awake."

• 2/5 - Only increases your need to sleep by 33%, however the need to sleep can be quite irritating especially on long raids. Definitely manageable but still quite annoying.
• As with many other traits, the biggest effect of this is that it places you closer to the rather more nasty mutation of itself - Very Sleepy, which increases the need to sleep by 100%.

Slow Footed SLOWRUNNER Possible Starting Trait

Cancels: Fleet-Footed, Road-Runner, Ponderous, Very Ponderous, Extremely Ponderous Point cost: -3

"You can't move as fast as most, resulting in a 15% speed penalty on flat ground."

• 1/5 - Will slow down raids and make combat harder. 3 points, but there are many better negative traits.

Slow Healer SLOWHEALER Possible Starting Trait

Cancels: Fast Healer, Poor Healer, Imperceptive Healer, Very Fast Healer, Regeneration, Rapid Metabolism, Weakening, Deterioration, Disintegration Point cost: -2

"You heal a little slower than most; sleeping will heal less HP."

• 3/5 - Halves your healing speed. This can be quite annoying early on, but later on you are unlikely to ever rely on natural healing.

Slow Learner SLOWLEARNER Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Cancels: Fast Learner Point cost: -3

"You are slow to grasp new ideas and thus learn things more slowly than others. Note that this only applies to real-world experience, not to skill gain from other sources like books."

• 2/5 - Somewhat painful, but a good amount of points in return and not completely crippling - especially with books to make up the gap.
• Effectively counts as having a focus value 15 less than it actually is, at all times. This means the effects will be particularly pronounced when your focus is low.

Slow Reader SLOWREADER Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Cancels: Illiterate, Fast Reader Point cost: -1

"You're a slow reader, and it takes you longer to get through books than most."

• 2/5 - This will be a fairly large slow down to your book-fuelled progression from early to mid game, however it doesn't generate any pressing survival needs and can be completely ignored later in the game.

Strong Scent SMELLY Possible Starting Trait FELINE LUPINE MOUSE

Cancels: Weak Scent, Insect Pheromones, Mammal Pheromones Changes to: Smelly Point cost: -1

"Your scent is particularly strong. It's not offensive to humans, but animals that track your scent will do so more easily."

• 3/5 - Zombies can often see you before they smell you, especially the most dangerous ones.

Thin-Skinned THINSKIN Possible Starting Trait

Cancels: Thick-Skinned Point cost: -1

"Your skin is fragile. Cutting damage is slightly increased for you."

• 4/5 - Increases cutting damage by 1 point. This will only rarely be a problem.

Trigger Happy TRIGGERHAPPY Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Point cost: -1

"On rare occasion, you will go full-auto when you intended to fire a single shot. This has no effect when firing semi-automatic firearms."

• 5/5 - If you're playing a character who uses melee, archery or single shot weapons then this has absolutely no downside. 4/5 if you're relying heavily on burst weapons.
• This trait only causes you to have a 1 in 30 chance of using burst fire unintentionally, however it does also increase your chance of continuing a burst beyond the point where all targets are dead (i.e. wasting ammo).
• Can cause you to re-target your burst to a friend. If you see it on a friendly NPC, consider murder.

Truth Teller TRUTHTELLER Possible Starting Trait

Cancels: Skilled Liar Point cost: -1

"When you try to tell a lie, you blush, stammer, and get all shifty-eyed. Telling lies and otherwise bluffing will be much more difficult for you."

• 5/5 - No real downside to not being able to lie to NPCs, aside from actually having to do the missions if you want rewards.

Ugly UGLY Possible Starting Trait FELINE LUPINE RAPTOR

Cancels: Pretty, Beautiful, Very Beautiful, Glorious Changes to: Deformed Point cost: -1 / Visibility: 1 / Ugliness: 2

"You're not much to look at. People who care about such things will react poorly to you."

• 3/5 - A good way to make it easier for NPC interaction to end in a red @ shooting at you, but not a crippling trait either.

Weak Stomach WEAKSTOMACH Possible Starting Trait

Cancels: Strong Stomach Changes to: Nausea Point cost: -1

"You are more likely to throw up from food poisoning, alcohol, etc."

• 4/5 - Don't drink unclean water. Don't eat rotten food. Don't get excessively drunk. This is all good advice regardless of whether or not you have this trait.
• The only reason points are lost from this trait is that it can mutate into the rather terrible trait vomitous, though on the upside you are still one mutation away from this.

Wool Allergy WOOLALLERGY Possible Starting Trait Targeted Mutation Only

Point cost: -1

"You are badly allergic to wool, and cannot wear any clothing made of the substance."

• 4/5 - This can be slightly annoying in winter (since woollen clothing is often a good source of warmth), and it forces you to wear a bandana instead of a scarf as your early game mouth protection. Can be a little more annoying when trying to explore ice labs. Other than that, this is basically free points.

Notable Unmutatable traits

These traits cannot be lost or gained outside of char-gen.

• Fast Learner, 3 points.
• Stylish, 2 points.
• Packmule, 2 points.
• Parkour Expert, 2 points.
• Psychopath, 2 points.
• Tough Feet, 1 point.
• Masochist, 1 point.
• Outdoorsman, 1 point.
• Cannibal, 1 point.
• Fast Reader, 1 point.
• Skilled Liar, 1 point.

Useful Trait Combinations

Gourmand + Optimist = 4 points

• Ridiculously high Morale bonuses, as well as an increased food buffer from Gourmand.

Night Vision + Light Step + Weak Scent = 4 Points

• Very stealthy night time raiding and killing if a silenced bow is used. Very effective for newer players and players playing with wander spawns.

Drunken Master + Addiction Resistance = 2 Points

• Allows the player to temporarily become a melee god through the power of alcohol with little to no drawbacks other than the Drunk/Wasted debuff (which is overshadowed by the Drunken Master Buff.
• With Gourmand + Optimist, for a total of 6 points, these traits also stack morale from alcohol.

Cannibal + Psychopath + Spiritual = 4 points

• Allows the player to religiously eat human meat. This combination is great for when wander spawns are enabled as it allows the player a relatively strong and alternative source of Morale. With NPC’s off, or static NPC’s only, the trait combinations are not worth considering.

Deft + Indefatigable = 3 points

• Allows the player to kill more zombies in general in order to clear an area, if the player so chooses to do so. More stamina along with reduced stamina cost per melee attack in tandem with a free “feint” is a hidden force to be reckoned with.

Poison Resistant + Strong Stomach = 2 points

• Able to simply “tank” bloated zombies without a gas mask as the stat malus becomes relatively obsolete with poison resistant. Together, Poison Resistant + Strong Stomach allows you to drink from puddles and toilets with relatively high safety. Furthermore, it lets the player eat things they otherwise would never bother to eat. Under (very) desperate situations, one may even choose to eat zombie flesh and have its downsides significantly reduced.

Fast Healer + Tough = 4 points

• Once near death, all it takes to heal back to full is a good night’s rest. Furthermore, the boosted health pool trivializes much of the game’s content, especially when paired with high strength and decent protective armor.