Traits

Traits are little things that can make your character unique. There are two types of traits: ones you gain by selecting them in "Character Setup" and ones you gain by joining as a certain job.

While there is some overlap, as some traits give mutations, these should be considered distinct from Genetics Mutations, which use a very different system and have different methods for obtaining them. Similarly, while gene strains are sometimes called "traits", they are also part of an entirely separate set of game mechanics.

Character Setup Traits

These are traits that you gain by configuring the "Traits" screen in "Character Setup". Some are purely cosmetic, like having a funny Swedish accent or getting a fancy hat. Some are debilitating, like having an addiction, being blind, or not being able to be cloned.

Character-setup traits use a point-build system. Positive traits usually take away points when you add them on, while negative ones typically give points, increasing the amount of positive traits you can get. Traits that are completely cosmetic, have little gameplay impact, or have upsides that are balanced by downsides tend to give zero points. You start with 1 point. Some traits are also associated with certain categories, and you can only have one trait from that category; you can freely combine traits with no category. You can have a maximum of 7 traits.

There are a couple of ways to configure your character's traits. If you want to get the most mechanical benefit out of this system, pick as many positive traits as you can and try to get down to 0. Alternatively, if you want to give yourself a challenge, try picking nothing but negative traits.

You can also use these traits to facilitate roleplay and flesh out characters. For example, you could give your character Matrix Flopout and Blind and say it's because they lost their sight while fighting in Pod Wars but learned some sweet-ass moves while trying to overcome their disability. Or, you could give them Medical Allergy and make it so one of their flaws is that they're scared of going to the doctor/Medbay, and for good reason.

Name	Point Change	Category	Description	Effect
Robotic Arms	0	Body	Your arms have been replaced with light robotic arms.	Both of your arms are replaced with light cyborg arms.
Green Fingers	-2	Body	Excess exposure to radiation, mutagen, and gardening have turned your arms into plants. The horror!	Both of your arms are replaced with synthlimbs, organic arms that can be reattached without surgery.
One Armed Spaceman	0	Body	You only have one arm. But which one? It's a mystery... or is it a thriller?	You spawn without one of your arms. You can't hold as many things, and you can still be handcuffed, but at least you can easily attach an item arm!
Adamantium Skeleton	-2	Body	Halves the chance that an explosion will blow off your limbs.	Halves the chance that an explosion will blow off your limbs.
Deaf	+1	Body	Spawn with permanent deafness and an auditory headset.	You spawn with permanent deafness and an auditory headset.
Swedish	0	Language	You are from Sweden. Meatballs and so on.	You speak with a Swedish accent mutation.
French	0	Language	You are from Quebec. Y'know, the other Canada.	You have the accent of the Space French Space Québécois.
Scots	0	Language	Hear the pipes are calling, down thro' the glen. Och aye!	You speak with a Scottish accent mutation.
Tyke	0	Language	You're from Oop North in Yorkshire, and don't let anyone forget it!	You speak with a Yorksire accent, like the Space Yorkies who live in the "oop North" parts of Space England.
Chav	0	Language	U wot m8? I sware i'll fite u.	You speak with a chav accent mutation.
Funky Accent	0	Language	Give a man a banana and he will clown for a day. Teach a man to clown and he will live in a cold dark corner of a space station for the rest of his days. - Elvis, probably.	You speak the king's English...the King of Rock and Roll! You speak with an Elvis Presley accent mutation.
Finnish Accent	0	Language	. . . and you thought space didn't have Finns?	You speak with the accent of the taciturn, knife-wielding Space Finns.
Cat Eyes	-1	Vision	You can see 2 tiles further in the dark.	You can see 2 tiles further in the dark.
Infravision	-1	Vision	You gain permanent infravision.	You can see text people have written with infrared pens.
Short-Sighted	+1	Vision	Spawn with permanent short-sightedness and glasses.	You spawn with bad eyesight and a pair of glasses.
Blind	+2	Vision	Spawn with permanent blindnesss and a VISOR.	You are blind and can only see by wearing a VISOR. Your blindness cannot be removed with mutadone or oculine.
Stable Genes	-2	Genetics	You are less likely to mutate from radiation or mutagens.	Your mutation chance is halved. Most of the time.
Mildly Mutated	0	Genetics	Activates a random mutation in your gene pool.	You start with a random one of the mutations in your gene pool activated.
NT Loyalist	-1	Trinkets	Start with a Nanotrasen Beret as your trinket.	You spawn with a Nanotrasen Beret as your trinket. This also makes you unable to spawn as a Head Revolutionary, overriding what you set in your preferences. You can still be converted over to the revolution as normal.
Petasusaphilic	-1	Trinkets	Start with a random hat as your trinket.	Start with a random hat as your trinket.
Conspiracy Theorist	-1	Trinkets	Start with a tin foil hat as your trinket.	Start with a tinfoil hat as your trinkets. You also get an objective with a silly randomly-generated conspiracy theory. Taking this trait does not make you an Antagonist.
Pawn Star	0	Trinkets	You sold your trinket before you departed for the station. You start with a bonus of 25% of your starting cash in your inventory.	The stack of credits you have on you when you spawn is 125% of its normal value. Does affect initial bank balance.
BEEst Friend	-1	Trinkets	Start with a bee egg as your trinket.	Your trinket is a space bee egg. Adorable!
Lunchbox	-1	Trinkets	Start your shift with a cute little lunchbox, packed with all your favourite foods!	Instead of your usual trinket, you get a lunchbox! There are many different colors, and each one comes with three food items from a set list and an amusing note.
Bald	0	Trinkets	Start your shift with a wig instead of hair. I'm sure no one will be able to tell.	Start completely bald! A wig in the style of your hair from the character editor will spawn in your inventory.
All Ears	0	None	You lost your headset on the way to work.	You spawn without a headset. If you have Deaf, you still have your auditory headset.
Smooth Talker	-1	Skill	Traders will tolerate 50% more when you are haggling with them.	Traders are 50% less likely to reject your haggling offer.
Matrix Flopout	-2	Skill	Flipping lets you dodge bullets and attacks for a higher stamina cost!	Your flips now cost 50 stamina, but every flip now gives you a brief quarter-second period where you dodge all melee attacks, bullets, lasers, tasers, phasers, and everything else the game, for whatever reason, considers a projectile.
Happyfeet	-1	Skill	Sometimes people can't help but dance along with you.	When you dance, you have a 33% chance of making others dance too.
Claw School Graduate	- 1	Skill	Your skill at claw machines is unparalleled.	You will never botch an attempt to grab something from a claw machine, i.e. each try will always yield a prize.
Athletic	-2	Stats	Great stamina! Frail body.	You have 1.1x max stamina (220 total) and 1.2x stamina regen (12 regen) but take 33% more BRUTE damage from all sources.
Big Bruiser	-2	Stats	Stronger punches but higher stamina cost!	Your punches do 1.25x stamina damage than normal but cost 2x as much stamina.
Hemophilia	+1	None	You bleed more easily and you bleed more.	You have a 300% chance to bleed more.
Frail Constitution	+2	None	Your internal organs (brain included) are extremely vulnerable to damage.	You take twice as much organ damage and brain damage, e.g. meth now has a chance of dealing 2 brain damage instead of just 1, and being in critical condition is more deadly. The extra vulnerability still applies if you replace your organs or augment them with synthorgans or cyberorgans.
Slow Metabolism	0	None	Any chemicals in you body deplete much more slowly.	Any chemicals in your body deplete twice as slowly.
Career Alcoholic	0	None	You gain alcohol resistance but your speech is permanently slurred.	You gain alcohol resistance like the bartender, but your speech is slurred.
Medical Allergy	+1	Allergy	You're allergic to some medical chemical... but you can't remember which.	You're allergic to a random medicine. The game doesn't tell you which one at round-start, but you can find it out by looking at your MedTrak record on a medical computer. When you have this chemical in your system, your body produces some histamine.
Allergy	0	Allergy	You're allergic to... something. You can't quite remember, but bad could it possibly be?	You're allergic to a random chemical, chosen from a list that includes stuff like water, salt, soybean oil, oxygen, a few common drugs, a couple of medicines, some poisons--basically a sampling of every reagent category. You don't know which one at round-start, but you can find it out by looking at your MedTrak record on a medical computer. When you have this chem in your system, your body produces some histamine.
Addict	+2	None	You spawn with a random addiction. Once cured there is a small chance that you will suffer a relapse.	You spawn with an addiction of either: bath salts, LSD, space drugs, THC, psilocybin, cat drugs, or meth. It is possible to relapse.
Strong willed	-1	None	You are more resistant to addiction.	Your chance of getting addicted to each of the addictive chemicals is halved.
Addictive Personality	+1	None	You are less resistant to addiction.	You are twice as likely to gain a drug addiction than normal.
Unionized	-1	None	You start with a higher paycheck than normal.	Your paycheck is 150% of its normal value. This also prevents you from getting a magnetic field from the Bio-Magnetic Field event, because puns.
Jailbird	-1	None	You have a criminal record and are currently on the run!	You are wanted for a random minor and major crime, which are visible on the Secmate records and told to you upon spawning, and your Secmate status is set to Arrest. Be careful around Beepsky and fear anybody with SecHUD vision. Having Jailbird does not make you an Antagonist.
Clerical Error	0	None	The name on your starting ID is misspelled.	The name on your starting ID is misspelled.
Chem Resistant	-2	None	You are more resistant to chem overdoses.	You overdose at 65% higher amounts than normal.
Clown Disbelief	0	None	You refuse to acknowledge that clowns could exist on a space station.	You become unable to see anyone wearing a clown suit, and their overhead text seems to appear from nowhere. This includes yourself, so if you spawn as Clown with this trait, you can't see yourself. Clowns are able to tell if someone has this trait by examining them, which will return that the person "doesn't seem to notice you".
Puritan	+2	None	You can not be cloned. Any attempt will end badly.	You will gib once the cloning process is started. Strange reagent doesn't work either. You cannot take this with the Skeleton trait.
Survivalist	-1	None	Food will heal you even if you are badly injured.	Food will still heal you if you are above 10 health.
Smoker	-1	None	You will not absorb any chemicals from smoking cigarettes.	You will not absorb any chemicals from smoking cigarettes. You will also spawn with a zippo lighter as an extra trinket.
Stowaway	+1	Background	You spawn hidden away on-station without an ID or PDA.	You spawn in a random locker or crate on the station; the game picks from lockers/crates without access locks, so you can't spawn in, say, a Security equipment locker or a personal locker. Since you've been smuggled aboard, you do not get normal employee provisions: You do not spawn with your job's associated ID or starting cash. The arrivals announcement computer does not proclaim your presence. You are not on the crew manifest. You do not get a PDA, unless you also spawn as a Spy Thief.
Pilot	0	Background	You spawn in a pod off-station with a Space GPS, Emergency Oxygen Tank, Breath Mask and proper protection, but you have no PDA and your pod cannot open wormholes.	More specifically, you spawn in a civilian MiniPutt (space-based maps)/minisub (ocean-based maps) and get a Space GPS, breath mask, emergency oxygen tank, and either emergency suit & hood set if you're in space or a civilian diving suit & helmet if you're in the ocean. You spawn with no PDA, but still get an ID. This putt/sub has good health, but it has no weapon or comms system, and its engine cannot make wormholes. On ocean maps, you'll appear in a random spot in the Trench, while on space maps, you can appear in either the Debris Field or Mining Level; in both cases, the game will try not to spawn near enemies.
Heavy Sleeper	0	Background	You always sleep through the start of the shift, and wake up in a random bed.	You spawn in one of the beds on the station/ship, asleep. You'll wake up 10 seconds after spawning, (and you'll get a message, "Hey, you! You're finally awake!", because memes) though it's still up to you if you want to actually get out of bed. You can't spawn in beds that are off-station (e.g. Adventure Zone), on the Listening Post, in Space, or on the Seafloor.
Nervous	+1	None	Witnessing injuries or violence will sometimes make you freak out.	Witnessing injuries or violence will make you freak out 8% of the time. Doing so will cause a short stun and will make you drop your items. This can be prevented entirely by having CBD in your bloodstream.
Human Torch	+2	None	Fire no longer slowly peters out when you're burning.	If you're on fire, the fire won't go away on its own, so you'll keep burning until you fix it yourself. In fact, you can theoretically burn forever, even after you die. As a result, getting stunned while on fire is a lot more dangerous, and welder special attacks and other things that normally ignite you for a few moments can be a problem. This indirectly makes stop-drop-roll slightly worse at putting you out.
Carpenter	-1	None	You can construct things more quickly than other people.	You construct things at 2x speed. If you have Engineering Training, you do not get any additional construction speed boost (and vice versa).
Kleptomaniac	+1	None	You will sometimes randomly pick up nearby items.	You will pick up nearby items 9% of the time, occasionally chuckling and acting smug all the while.
Clutz	+2	None	When interacting with anything you have a chance to interact with something different instead.	When interacting with anything you have a 10% chance to interact with something different instead..
Two Left Feet	+1	None	Every now and then you'll stumble in a random direction.	You have a 5% chance to stumble in a random direction when you try to move.
Scared Shitless	0	None	Literally. When you scream, you fart. Be careful around Bibles!	Actually only works on involuntary screaming and not when you use the *scream emote.
Hyperallergic	+1	Allergy	You have a severe sensitivity to allergens and are liable to slip into anaphylactic shock upon exposure.	Histamine readily multiplies by itself in your system, to the point where it replenishes itself faster than even diphenhydramine removes it. Be wary of insect stings and other sources of histamine. You also start out with an auto-injector of epinephrine (essentially acting as an EpiPen), which will reduce the effects of high amounts of histamine, but not cure the source of it.
Atheist	0	None	In this moment, you are euphoric. You cannot receive faith healing, and prayer makes you feel silly.	Getting splashed with holy water does not heal you of brain damage, and you can't be healed by the Bible, though you get less brain damage when it fails to heal you (i.e. always). Speaking of bibles, farting on one does not gib you, though you should still be careful when using Brown Note, and farting on mini-Bibles still turns you into chunky salsa. When you use the pray command, you get a silly flavor message, and admins who have hearing prayers enabled will see you have the atheist trait (because your prayer shows to them as "PRAYER (atheist):").
Reptilian	-1	Species	You are an abhorrent humanoid reptile, cold-blooded and ssssibilant.	You start out with the Saurian Genetics mutation. In summary, lizards have enhanced vision but decreased thermoregulation. Instead of hair, lizards can customize scale colors and patterns and can eat certain organs to change them on the fly. They also talk like snakes. You're not an Antagonist and are considered human by the AI and cyborgs. Even if you weren't, the Rules still apply. People can't Grief you just for being a lizard when they're non-antag, and they also can't roleplay being bigoted against lizards, because bigotry against fictional reptiles is stupid and has no place on Goonstation.
Bovine	-1	Species	You are a hummman, always have been, always will be, and any claimmms to the contrary are mmmoooonstrous lies	You start out with Bovine Genetics. In summary, bovines are a CowRP reference. Your blood is milk, and it bleeds easily. Your feet/hooves protect you from glass and are good at kicking but can't fit shoes, and your hooves and horns can be customized to different colors. The letter M gives you trouble. You're sure you are human, and you are considered one according to the silicons' laws. In any case, you'd still be protected by the Rules.
Skeleton	-1	Species	Compress all of your skin and flesh into your bones, making you resemble a skeleton. Not as uncomfortable as it sounds.	You start out with the Ossification mutation. Milk heals you a bit, your blood is calcium, your head and limbs feel rather loose, and making certain foods has unique interactions. You might not expect it, but AI and cyborgs do consider you human for law purposes, and like everyone, you're still protected by the Rules. You cannot take this with the Puritan trait.
Roach	-1	Species	One space-morning, on the shuttle-ride to the station, you found yourself transformed in your seat into a horrible vermin. A cockroach, specifically	You start out with Blattodean genetics, so you're not completely a roach like The Metamorphosis, but a mix between human and roach. You see sliiightly better in the dark and can read writing made with infrared pens. You're immune to radiation, but BRUTE hurts you real bad. For the purposes of AI Laws, you are considered human.
Pug	-4	Species	Should a pug really be on a space station? They aren't suited for space at all. They're practically a liability to the compan... Aw, look at those little ears!	You start out with Canine Genetics and spawn with a dog treat with good buffs. As a pug, you get a unique *sleuth ability, plus some cute easter eggs, but you also have a lot of disadvantages, like taking twice as much OXY due to your poor respiratory system. This is designed as a "hard mode" species that's played as bragging rights, hence the point cost and drawbacks.
Slipping Hazard	+1	None	You never were good at managing yourself slipping.	When you slip (e.g. when walking over a banana peel), it's at least as intense as slipping on space lube. Note this does not affect how often or how likely you are to slip.
Stumped	0	Body	Because of a freak accident involving a piano, a forklift, and lots of vodka, both of your legs had to be amputated. Fortunately, NT has kindly supplied you with a wheelchair out of the goodness of their heart. (due to regulations)	You start the shift without legs and with a wheelchair.
Picky eater	0	None	Your refined palate only tolerates a handful of foods.	You have a list of five favorite foods, viewable via the Notes command. You can only eat those five foods. You can't eat anything else, and if someone tries to feed you food not on your list, it provides no healing, with a 70% chance of extra side effects: it might either make you vomit (30% chance), cause you to become dizzy and prone to missteps (40%), or render you unconscious for 2.5 seconds (30%). On the Roleplay servers, eating one of your favorites heals a flat 20% Hunger, even if it's something that normally restores very little Hunger. If you get below 30% Hunger, your character becomes desperate enough to eat dishes that aren't on their favorites list. You'll still suffer the above adverse effects.

Job Traits

In addition, some jobs spawn with certain traits. Rather than choosing from a list like with traits available through character setup, you gain these automatically when spawning as a certain job. Most give some sort of job-related perk or benefit.

Name	Associated Jobs	Effect
Medical Training	Roboticist Medical Doctor Pharmacist Medical Director	Makes you more proficient at using certain medical tools, lets you assess revival state of brains, and comes with a slight downside. To go into specifics: You perform surgeries faster, and when you do, you can achieve higher maximum success rates and possibly cause less damage when you do screw up. You can Examine brains to see if there's a still a player connected to a brain, e.g. they're dead and still awaiting revival ("still warm") or they've moved on to another body, e.g. they've set themselves to DNR or are already revived ("gone cold"). If you're standing on an operating table with an operating computer next to it, you can look at your damage levels, blood contents, and other health info on the computer. If someone without training tries this, the computer can't track them at all. You are more likely to successfully get a reading from a stethoscope instead of comically failing. Getting an apple thrown at you does more damage (specifically 3 BRUTE, up from 1), because "an apple a day keeps the doctor away", get it?
Chaplain Training	Chaplain, duh	You are immune to various Vampire, Wraith, or Wizard powers, causing them to have no effect on you. More details here.
Kitchen Training	Chef Sous Chef	Allows you to examine food to see what buffs it will give as well as if the food is high quality.
Professional Drinker	Bartender Detective Head of Security	You spawn with alcohol resistance.
Security Training	Security Officer Head of Security Nanotrasen Security Consultant Discount Vigilante Superhero	You handcuff people twice as fast. For reference, handcuffing someone normally takes 4 seconds, and this trait bumps it down to just 2. It also allows you to "batonfry", which is when you make donuts by hitting raw dough with a stun baton.
Miner Training	Miner	You can examine asteroids to see what kind of ore is inside. Also, whenever you *fart, you have a 1% chance to fart out a glowstick. This is a reference to Deep Rock Galactic, a sci-fi FPS about dwarven miners in SPACE!; there, F is puts down a light source, but here, it makes you fart.
Engineering Training	Engineer Chief Engineer	Constructing and deconstructing structures by hand (e.g. building a regular wall) takes only half the time. Since most of these take 5 seconds, this means they'll only take 2.5 seconds. One of the exceptions is building catwalks; it normally takes 2 seconds, but this trait makes it instant. This does not stack with Carpenter.
Quartermaster Training	Quartermaster	Traders will now tolerate 50% more when haggling. This does not stack with Smooth Talker.