Trait Creation Guide

With the most recent reorganization of the Traits Database, folks have noticed that every type of trait has different subcategories to describe them. At a first glance, these categories might be a little bit confusing, so that's what this guide is here to help clear up! Not only will this describe each of those sections, but it will also help when it comes to keeping things in mind while building Traits! Without further adieu, let's get into Trait Categorization.

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Trait Categories

Aside from the normal Character, Weapon, and Item Trait categories, each of these possess three smaller, more descriptive categories as well. They are as follows:

Character Traits:

• Social Traits: Social Traits are those that, while still possessing mechanical effect, grant benefits to a character based on their personality, upbringing, or general thought processes. Take Silver Tongue, for example; those with a natural inclination toward getting what they want through word choice and behaviors will be able to take advantage of this through discounts in Shops.
• Combat Traits: Combat Traits are, as one would expect, those that are fight-oriented. These Traits are those that are backed by a character's personal capabilities, usually separate from Weapons, Items, or the like. Agile Movement is a good example of this; due to a character's ability to maneuver around and remain quick to their feet, they're more skilled when it comes to evading attacks.
• Miscellaneous Traits: These are Traits that don't particularly fall into one of the aforementioned categories. These can range from effects like Lucky, that just sort of happen, to those like Saboteur that aid in Crafting.

Weapon Traits:

• Modification Traits: The bulk of most Weapon Traits. Modifying the user's weapon in some capacity, these traits are those that breathe life into a character's Kagune or Quinque, and allow them to be something truly unique. Detachable and Serrated serve as strong examples of this category; due to how these weapons are built, they grant some unique benefits.
• Substitution Traits: These Traits are those that directly substitute certain Stat Ranks for others while actively using these weapons; hence the name. Traits like Light and Lethality show this well, allowing certain Stats to be used in place of others for certain mechanics.
• Statistical-Increase Traits: One of the more self-explanatory types of Traits, these are those that give a direct Statistical benefit while wielding these weapons. More often than not, these will have some kind of condition or penalty attached to them, in order to insure that they're not active all of the time. Sturdy shows this well, granting an extra Rank of Resilience for Durability, but removing the option to attack with that weapon.

Item Traits:

• General Traits: General Item Traits are those that are universally applicable. These are Traits that can be applied to both Permanent, and Consumable items as fit.
• Permanent Traits: Branching off from General Traits, Permanent Traits are those that are applicable only to Permanent Items.
• Consumable Traits: Inversely, Consumable Traits are those that are meant for one-time or few-time use items. Things like grenades, traps, and medicines are good examples of Items that would function off of Consumable Traits.

Special Traits:

• Special Character Traits: These are the only type of Special Traits that can be taken at Character Creation, and usually only at Character Creation. All Special Character Traits are Major Traits, and usually have incredible impact on who a Character is, and how they develop. Something like Frame-Locked shows this well, having real, lasting consequences on a character while also giving them character-defining benefits in turn.
• Kakuja Traits: Separate from the previous categorizations almost entirely, these Traits are those that usually serve as a character's "capstone" ability. These are neither Major nor Minor Traits, and instead serve as something higher than those. These Traits will only activate when a Kakuja is manifested, but in turn with grant some incredibly powerful benefits in the process. Kakuja Traits come in Weapon-Kakuja and Character-Kakuja varieties, specified when making the traits.
• Gimmick Traits: Similar to the aforementioned Kakuja Traits, these are in a league of their own. While Kakuja Quinque might inherit the Kakuja Trait(s) of a Kakuja Kakuhou they manage to harvest, Gimmicks are what occur when those traits are expanded upon, to a degree. By foregoing the benefits of a Kakuja Trait, a Quinque can instead be outfitted with a Gimmick Trait; these will do various things, from allow the Quinque to change forms, or further accentuate its niche in a fight.

Trait Creation

Creating a Trait is a rather simple process. Though, while this might be the case, most Traits do have a few conventions that need to be kept track of in order to make sure they're on par with those that currently exist. Those conventions are listed here.

Firstly, it's important to make sure that Traits are properly categorized between Character and Weapon. Determining these can be a process that might be a bit confusing, but will come naturally once one gets the hang of it. The biggest determining point between these two would be the simple question; "Would this trait transfer seamlessly to a Quinque?" for Ghouls, and "Would this Trait no longer apply if my Character lost their Quinque?" for Humans. If the answer to these questions would be yes, then you've made a Weapon Trait. If the answer would be no, then the Trait in Question is a Character Trait.

Similarly speaking, there are certain aspects and Stats that certain Traits are more likely to affect, and others that Traits simply won't touch. Namely, with Weapon Traits. While Character Traits are able to affect all Stat Ranks as applicable, Weapon Traits will only affect Strength, Speed, Resilience, or Potency. This could be increasing those Stats, changing what they're used for, or giving a new use to these Stats, but this will only apply while utilizing these Weapons.

When it comes to stat-substitution effects, these follow some fairly standard guidelines. Minor Traits will function off of the chosen stat, minus two Ranks, to a Minimum of C-Rank, whereas Major Traits will instead be minus one Rank. Due to the inherent bonuses attached to removing the need to spread Ranks across multiple Stats, there will be some lost efficiency with these types of abilities.

With Stat-alteration and increasing effects, these tend to function as a one-Rank increase through Minor Traits, and a two-Rank increase through Major Traits. These types of Traits will always have some kind of condition for utilizing its benefit (Femme Fatale, requiring specific behaviors in order to gain the bonus Presence), or will have some sort of restriction to make up for the increased Stats (Sturdy and Impregnable, locking the user from attacking with those weapons for more Weapon Durability).

Damaging Traits, or those that would be used to inflict Wounds, follow some similar standards as well. These Traits will either inflict a C-Rank Wound through a Minor Trait, or a B-Rank Wound through a Major Trait. Anything that increases the severity of Wounds you might inflict will increase by one Rank through Minor Traits, and two Ranks through Major Traits.

Kakuja Traits are rather interesting when it comes to creation. Given the power and rather limited quantity of these, Kakuja Traits bypass a number of these conventions in order to insure that these are as powerful as necessary. As such, these Traits scale a stage further than normal (i.e. Damaging Traits now inflicting an A-Rank wound, or Stat-Increasing Traits now granting Three Ranks), or remove the need for a limitation or condition (i.e. Stat-Increasing Traits functioning while manifested instead of requiring specialization, or Substitution traits function at the standard Rank of their chosen stat, instead of minus one or two).