This page refers to the traits characters can acquire at 3 RPP or via spending GPP. For the traits which can be found on equipment, see equipment traits instead.
Background Traits
Background Traits are passive skills which can be acquired either via the random selection of 3 traits rolled and offered to the player once they achieve 3 RPP, or via purchasing them using GPP. The effects of trait can be as simple as conferring a percentage bonus to a particular stat or providing an initial bonus to the character's reputation star, or as complex as denoting their membership of a specific bloodline and offering access to restricted skill trees. Traits often dramatically affect a character's playstyle and combat ability while also serving as a means to better convey aspects of a character's personality or background, so a player should give some thought to their choice of traits.
A player's earliest characters will likely not have the ability to purchase many traits owing to a lack of GPP, but this is no reason to despair. Clever play and smart building can see you rise above characters with the perks of accrued GPP, but even then optimal combat ability is rarely that important to tell a compelling story or portray a complete character arc. Should your character meet their end, then simply think of it as the horizon of possibilities for your next character widening as their RPP value at the time of death (not counting bonus catch-up RPP) will be converted to GPP which can be spent on future characters.
List of Background Traits
The following is a list of all background traits currently available in-game.
Bloodline/Species Traits
These traits denote your character as belonging to a specific lineage or race and often grant access to a special skill tree related to it or impose notable mechanical changes. Unless otherwise noted, a character can only possess one of these traits.
| Trait | GPP Cost | Description |
|---|---|---|
| One of the Enlightened | 60 | Your character is a member of the Enlightened bloodline, granting them powers of foresight which allows them to see what actions people are about to take in combat. |
| One of the Keepers | 60 | Your character is a member of the Keeper bloodline, whom possess the ability to see and even commune with lost spirits and the dead, but in turn suffer from decreased sanity and can only see the world through the flow of TRACE. |
| One of the Jun | 60 | Your character is a member of the Jun bloodline, whom take increased damage in combat but in turn have access to incredible regenerative abilities which allow them to defy even mortal blows. Taking this trait will prefix “Jun, ” to your character's name. |
| Phase Disruption | 60 | Your character is a member of the Valyris bloodline, granting them the exceptional ability to expose and weaken ALTERs, but in turn making them a prime target for their kind on top of suffering from visual and auditory impairment which reduces their speed and agility by 15%. Taking this trait will prefix “Valyris, ” to your character's name. |
| Replicant | 60 | Your character is a replicant, an android created to be an obedient servitor by the Ascension Group which has gained sentience and gone rogue. Your physical attributes are enhanced and your capacity for cyberware far exceeds that of a human, however you are wholly unable to manipulate TRACE. This trait confers further restrictions than other traits in this category due to its nature. |
| Brass Calling | 65 | An augmentation cult that replaces flesh with brass in worship of a silent machine-god. Their rites reward heavy cybernetic augmentation: the more brass they bear, the stronger they grow. |
| The Sight | 60 | Your character is a member of the Kandara bloodline, granting them exceptional ocular abilities such as the ability to project energy beams from their eyes. Taking this trait will prefix “Kandara, ” to your character's name. |
| The Darkness | 200 | The very darkness that once filled you with hate and hunger, now fills you with power. Your humanity, has it gone or has it returned? You have become ALTERED. (This is unpurchaseable if you have not been an ALTERED in a previous life.) |
| Feral | 200 | Level One. Monstrous, mindless, and hungry. You cannot speak or reason, only consume. (This is unpurchaseable if you have not been an ALTER in a previous life.) |
Stat Traits
These traits confer bonuses to character statistics, sometimes simply a small flat bonus and at other times offering a more considerable bonus albeit with a drawback.
| Trait | GPP Cost | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Gym Rat | 15 | Your character receives a +15% bonus to their strength. |
| Trained Dancer | 15 | Your character receives a +10% bonus to their agility. |
| Bookworm | 15 | Your character receives a +15% bonus to their intelligence. |
| Track Star | 15 | Your character receives a +15% bonus to their speed. |
| Ancient Bloodline | 60 | Your character's maximum TRACE capacity is increased. |
| Athletic | 15 | Your character's max energy is increased by 20. |
| Crippled | 30 | Your character receives a +50% bonus to their intelligence, but is given the “Crippled” permanent injury |
| Dwarfism | 60 | Your character receives a +15% bonus to their vitality and their sprite will appear visibly smaller than the standard character sprite. |
| Gigantism | 60 | Your character receives a +15% bonus to their strength and their sprite will appear visibly taller than the standard character sprite. |
| Juggernaut | 40 | Your character receives a +20% bonus to their vitality and strength, but their intelligence is reduced by 50%. |
| Prodigy | 120 | Your character receives a -10% malus to all of their stats, however all skills cost 1 point less to purchase. |
| Savant | 120 | Your character receives a +75% boost to their intelligence, but all other stats are reduced by 50% and their maximum TRACE is reduced by 25%. |
| Shounen Hero | 120 | Your character receives a +10% bonus to all of their stats, however all skills cost 1 point more to purchase. |
Combat Traits
These traits chiefly affect a character's combat ability, offering unique situational modifiers or altering how certain mechanics work.
| Trait | GPP Cost | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Battle Conductor | 150 | Successfully executing 5 offensive actions without getting hit confers a bonus offensive phase to the character. |
| Cowardly Chicken | 90 | Your character's initial escape timer is 3 rounds instead of 4. |
| Deadeye | 60 | Your character's attacks using ranged weapons deal increased damage. |
| Lonewolf | 15 | Your character suffers a severe damage penalty when fighting as part of a squad, but otherwise has their damage increased when fighting solo. |
| Martial Artist | 15 | Your character receives a +10% bonus to their damage while they are unarmed. |
| Natural Leader | 60 | Characters in a squad lead by you receive a +10% bonus to their damage. |
| Pyromaniac | 30 | Your character deals increased damage with magic from the Pyromancy tree. |
| Tactical Genius | 120 | Ending your turn without using an offensive actions grants the player 200 physical and magical damage reduction until the end of their next turn. |
| Trace On! | 150 | All sword and claymore skills have their cooldowns reduced by 1 turn, however your maximum TRACE is decreased by 75%. |
| Unstoppable | 150 | Every 1% of missing health increases your character's damage and damage reduction by 1%, however your maximum TRACE is reduced by 50% and all skills cost 1 more point to purchase. |
| Weapon Master | 120 | You can change your equipped weapon in combat freely rather than having to spend a bonus action to do so. |
Gear Traits
These traits bestow unique equipment upon acquisition.
| Trait | GPP Cost | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Experimental Rifle | 160 | Your character receives a unique Living, Shatterproof Assault Rifle. |
| Rite of Passage | 60 | Your character begins the game with a katana. |
| Sentient Bow | 160 | Your character receives a unique Living, Shatterproof Bow. |
| Sentient Blade | 160 | Your character receives a unique Living, Shatterproof Sword. |
| Sentient Spear | 160 | Your character receives a unique Living, Shatterproof Spear. |
Miscellaneous Traits
These traits confer effects which do not fall under the purview of any of the above, often times interacting with the game's other systems or chiefly focusing on character flavour.
| Trait | GPP Cost | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Alchemist | 15 | Potions are 10% more effective. |
| Built Different | 60 | Your character possesses a higher capacity for cyberware than normal humans and increased max sanity. |
| Criminal | 60 | Your character is treated as immediately hostile by police NPCs in most districts, however bandits will treat them as friendly. |
| Collector | 30 | Your character has a chance of receiving an additional item every time they open a chest. |
| Corpo | 30 | The daily rental cost of properties is reduced by 10%. |
| Duality | 100 | Your character possesses the unique ability to attune to 2 elemental trees of magic rather than being limited to 1 as standard. |
| Elemental Nexus | 350 | Your character possesses the unique ability to attune to all elemental trees of magic rather than being limited to 1 as standard. |
| Entrepreneur | 30 | You can sell items to vendors at increased prices. (Currently no mechanical use) |
| Famous | 30 | Your character starts with an increased reputation value, giving them earlier access to higher ranked missions and certain stores. |
| Genetic Lottery | 60 | Your character's decline via old age is delayed by an additional 15 in-game years. |
| Gourmet Appetite | 15 | The energy restored by food items is altered based on the price of the food item in question. |
| Nightowl | 60 | Your character's energy expenditure is increased during the day but decreased at night. |
| The Imagined World | 200 | Your character gains the ability to teleport to their own personal reality marble. |
| Venomancy | 175 | Your character gains access to the Venomancy skill tree, granting them dark magicks relating to blood and curses. |