So, this is going to be a project I learn as I go when the Creation Kit comes out. I like Traits - I'm not mad that Fallout 3 or 4 don't have them, and I'm not entirely satisfied with their implementation in all of the other Fallout games... but I like Traits. Perks you can pick at the start of the game that have good sides and bad sides. I can't say this thread is a WIP, but I figured I'd make it now to brainstorm trait ideas and get feedback/help from the community. A few of my goals:

- No limit on the number of traits you can take. They all have downsides, so why should we only ever be limited to two? I'm keeping this in mind when I think of balancing the traits, though, and for traits that contradict each other I'll either make them mutually exclusive or just let people choose a crappy combination of traits that cancel each other out.

- No traits that benefit one playstyle/equipment type and harm another. These can just become a free bonus for anyone who only ever intended to play one way. In Daggerfall I would always make Long Blade my only weapon skill, then pick the "Expertise in Long Blade" advantage and all of the "Forbidden Weapon Type" disadvantages for other weapons and I'd never suffer for it. Or in New Vegas, my melee character already had Perception and Agility at 1 so Hot Blooded was like a free damage buff. If traits benefit one playstyle, they have to harm that same playstyle. (question: Can debuffs bring your SPECIAL down to zero in this game?)

- No chance to change your traits after you pick them. I want to tie it in with the SPECIAL distribution at chargen, so that you get one chance with Mr. Vault-Tec and one more before leaving the vault since that's fair, but after that you're stuck with whatever you pick. I'd also prefer to have a real menu to pick these traits from, similar to the menu in New Vegas, but I'd need help from someone who knows how to do that, and if I have to do it with messageboxes, I'll do it with messageboxes.

- Keep it simple, and design the traits to fit in with the rest of Fallout 4 instead of just porting over older traits one for one. I'm not exactly the most brilliant modder, so I'm looking for the most simple ways to change the way people approach gameplay via traits.

Anyway, here's what I've come up with:

Skilled: You can't teach an old dog new tricks! Immediately takes you to level 50, but your SPECIAL stats are all set to 1 and you no longer gain XP.
Notes: I really like the idea of a trait that permanently sets your level, but I'm having trouble figuring out how to balance it. I still want every perk to be accessible, but 50 perk points right out the gate seems like too much. Resetting SPECIAL was an idea, but that would leave Veterans 21 perk points behind anyone who just levels naturally… is it worth it?

Gifted: Get 40 points to distribute to SPECIAL at the start instead of 21 - but you can never increase your SPECIAL again!

Notes: Yes, bobbleheads and the SPECIAL magazine will still increase your SPECIAL, you just won't be able to bump it up in the perk chart. 40 points is consistent with the SPECIAL distribution in all of the other Fallouts.

Swift Learner: You're quick to learn, but slow to change. Faster leveling up to level 25, slower leveling beyond level 25.
Notes: I think what I want to do is start with a 25% XP bonus at level 1, and reduce that by 1% each level until you break even at level 25 and eventually reach -25% at level 50.

Slow Start: One day it will dawn on you: Slower leveling up to level 25, faster leveling beyond level 25.
Notes: The inverse of Skilled. I decided putting the break point at level 50 is too much, and instead started these traits at +/-25% and have them top out at level 50. Incidentally, these effects were inspired by Kingdom Hearts.

Jinxed: Just your luck: Legendary enemies (and their loot) will never spawn.
Notes: Really simple solution for any no-nonsense types of players. Maybe Jinxed isn't the best name to appropriate, but I dunno.

Bruiser: A little slower, but a little bigger. All melee attacks do more damage and stagger more often, but are slower and cost more in VATS.
Notes: Might nix the damage and leave it as a stagger bonus since it might get ridiculous with Rooted+Blitz+Ninja, but then again that combination is ridiculous already.

Fast Metabolism: It's in your genes: Food and Stimpaks heal much faster, but beneficial effects from consumables don't last as long.
Notes: Not sure if it's worth it outside of survival difficulty, but I'm only thinking a -25% reduction in buff duration for a 50% increase in healing speed. Will affect the buff from the Foodie trait.

Fast Shot: Itchy trigger finger? Increases Fire Rate (and Recoil!) of all weapons.
Notes: I'll have to experiment with the number. 25% increase to recoil and fire rate?

Finesse: You know how to make every shot count: Reduces hip-fire accuracy, but improved sighted and scoped aiming.
Notes: Hip-fire accuracy would be enough to get offset by one (or two?) ranks of Steady Aim.

Good-Natured: You're all heart: Do 20% less damage with any weapon, but gain XP 20% faster.
Notes: Not sure I'm happy with the XP bonus as the benefit. Thoughts?

Kamikaze: You charge into battle with reckless abandon: All damage you give and take is increased by 50%.
Notes: For those among us clamoring for faster-paced, intense combat.

Deep Sleep: Everyone needs their beauty sleep: The Well Rested and Lover's Embrace perks last three times as long and can be obtained from sleeping in any bed, but AP regeneration is halved when not under the effects of these perks.

Notes: This and "Foodie" are my attempts to simulate "Realistic Needs" behaviors in a really simple way, without actually keeping track of character's sleeping and eating.

Foodie: In the wasteland, you can't be picky! Gain 10% damage resistance from any food item for 12 game hours, but take 10% more damage when not under this effect.
Notes: My goal isn't really to go hardcoe "you'll die if you don't eat regularly", just to give people very simple RP reasons for engaging in these activities.

Small Frame: Your size never slowed you down: -20 Carry Weight, +10% movement speed.
Notes: Not sure on the numbers for this one just yet.

Four Eyes: Nerd! All eyewear increases your Intelligence by 1, but reduce your Charisma by 1 as well.
Notes: Black-Rim Glasses and Fashionable Glasses will cancel out and offer no Charisma bonus/penalty, but still offer +1 INT.

My questions to you all: How would you use these traits to game the system? How ridiculous would certain combinations of traits be? Where did you scoff at the absurdity? What are your ideas? Wanna help?

*shrugs* I think some of the traits for new vegas fit better. Like small frame giving an actual boost of agility and the negative being carry weight. As it stands, getting a boosted run speed.. seems really weak. And potentially broken depending on if it stacks with legendary armor. Destroyers armor, combat armor(left/right legs) bought in game, both increase speed by 10% each, so assuming it stacks would be around 30% increase in speed.

Good natured - seems a reasonable trade-off. I'd be tempted to use it to self nerf my damage down, while gaining perks to spend in skills I'd otherwise never use.

Jinxed - Honestly I'd not use it for a legendary item nerf. That was a really fun perk in old fallout games, and I'd love to see it return with enemies guns blowing up in their hands.

Sounds neat and I'm looking forward to giving it a try.

On "No traits that benefit one playstyle/equipment type and harm another. These can just become a free bonus for anyone who only ever intended to play one way. In Daggerfall I would always make Long Blade my only weapon skill, then pick the "Expertise in Long Blade" advantage and all of the "Forbidden Weapon Type" disadvantages for other weapons and I'd never suffer for it. Or in New Vegas, my melee character already had Perception and Agility at 1 so Hot Blooded was like a free damage buff. If traits benefit one playstyle, they have to harm that same playstyle. (question: Can debuffs bring your SPECIAL down to zero in this game?)"

I agree there shouldn't be something for nothing but having a trait that encourage a particular play style by the Sole Survivor with a minor bonus and a minor disadvantage in the opposite direction is a great role playing aid and increases replayability.

If I want to play outside my comfort zone with a melee Sole Survivor concept then taking traits that give a minor increases in melee damage, but also gives a minor reduction in ranged damage would just help me get in to character faster.

I'd be effective with melee sooner which would make melee combat more enjoyable.

The negative effects would also help reduce the temptation to go back to ranged combat.

My suggestion is make the trait bonus favor a particular character concept and make the negative effect be a logical limitation of the trait that reinforces the concept.

Have you considered having some traits have multiple ranks?

Have the first rank be a minor bonus with a small negative effect.

A trait more for flavor.

Have the second rank have a much larger bonus but a much more serious negative effect.

A trait that makes serous changes to the game mechanics.

And some traits could have 3 ranks.

For example Four Eyes could have a Needs glasses (rank 1 trait) and a Blind as a Bat (rank 2 trait).

Thanks for the thoughts. I'm still not sure what I want Small Frame to do - I'm not sure I want it to just be a straight SPECIAL boost, though, since you can easily get something like +1 AGI with a single perk point and those thing aren't necessarily on a budget in this game. I'm not sure if +30% movement speed is ridiculous, but I will consider other benefits. Jinxed, I'll consider renaming (and I'll also consider ways to bring in a real Jinxed trait that offers more fun). Kamikaze, I don't think "avoiding getting hit" would be an abuse of the trait - if you're not already trying to avoid damage in the first place I don't know what's going on, and with this perk you're going to want to try and avoid more damage just for how much quickly it will kill you.

As for Four Eyes and Power Armor, I'm not planning to change how it currently works - which is that Power Armor overrides any buffs you get from ordinary apparel. Notice that I attach the bonus and the penalty to the glasses themselves - in older games it was just a bonus to perception with glasses, a penalty to perception without them. Which meant you got stuck with the Perception penalty whenever you wear non-glasses headgear like a Power Armor helmet or a helmet with a full face-covering mask. Which was arguably okay, since otherwise there'd never be a point in not wearing glasses and you'd just wear glasses forever, but I wanted to try something different.

I'll consider a few traits that nudge people into certain archetypes, but I'll have to think about how to go about it and how I define those archetypes. Like more general penalties that affect certain archetypes more than others. I'm also thinking of traits to encourage using clothing over armor or vice versa, and those might fall into this category as well.

Interesting idea with the ranked traits. Definitely something I'll consider, at least for a few traits like Good Natured or Kamikaze. But I worry that it'll be hard enough just to balance a single rank of some of these traits.