Optimizing Your Backstory, a Guide to Traits and Flaws.

[Unbodied]

There's a +2 armor bonus in Ultimate Psionics that grants more or less the same bonus as Graft Armor, but I forget it's name and it's off topic.

So how 'bout that Finding Haleen eh?

Then how do I send private messages? ;)

[137beth]

Then how do I send private messages? ;)

Hold your mouse over someone's name. A 'private message' button should show up.

[Kurald Galain]

How do I enable revision history?

I believe you (as the author) should be able to see document history. Please don't spend a lot of time here on my behalf, but if you could just grab two or three changesets from the day you added those, and copy/paste them (e.g. to pastebin) that'd be great.

[Unbodied]

Hold your mouse over someone's name. A 'private message' button should show up.

Does that work on phones? It doesn't seem to work on phones.

[TiaC]

Does that work on phones? It doesn't seem to work on phones.

Ok then, look at at their user page's URL. Right before their name is a string of numbers, for example, on mine it's 32140.

Enter the following with those numbers in place of the ####: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/priva...o=newpm&u=####

[Kurald Galain]

Ok, traits in current list that aren't in the August 9 version, based on a quick diff:
So that's basically traits on AON that are not on d20pfsrd,

Spoiler

Show

Absalom Bouncer: When you make an attack that deals nonlethal damage with an unarmed strike, you gain a +1 bonus on your damage
roll. Nonlethal doesn’t come up often enough for me to really want this. If you plan on making a character that doesn’t want t
o kill people, this is ok, but there’s traits that just give a straight +! to unarmed damage.

Failed Aspirant: Choose a single combat maneuver. Once per day, you can perform that combat maneuver without provoking an attac
k of opportunity, and you gain a +2 bonus on that attempt. Not terrible, but I have a couple problems with this. For one, it on
ly applies to one combat maneuver, and only once per day. If you’re going to be using a maneuver regularly, you’ll probably spe
nd some feats on it and use it more than once per day. This won’t come up often enough on a build that doesn’t require it and w
ill come up too often on a build that does.

Hellknight Devotion: Once per day as a swift action, you can empower the next single melee attack you make to be treated as law
ful-aligned for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. Not enough of a bonus for once a day.

Lastwall Defender: You gain a +1 trait bonus on attack and damage rolls against undead creatures that you have personally ident
ified using the Knowledge (religion) skill. If you’re going to be fighting a lot of undead and have decent ranks in Knowledge (
religion) this is quite solid. Only worthwhile in an undead focused campaign, though. Carrion Crown, perhaps?

Splash Attack: As long as you are standing in or adjacent to water, or holding at least a pint of liquid (including insoluble l
iquids like oil or alchemist’s fire), you can perform a dirty trick combat maneuver to blind a foe within reach without provoki
ng an attack of opportunity. If you select the Improved Dirty Trick feat, you gain a +2 trait bonus on dirty trick combat maneu
vers to blind foes as long as you are standing in or adjacent to water or holding a pint of liquid. If you want to use Dirty Tr
ick to blind regularly, this is pretty good. There’s far better available, though, such as traits that will just give you a +2
with no conditions.

Abject Belief: You gain a +2 trait bonus on Will saving throws against fear effects. There’s a lot of traits like this. None of
them are exactly terrible, but they’re all pretty weak.

Born Free: Once per day, after you roll a saving throw against a compulsion effect, you can choose to roll again as an immediat
e action before the result of the saving throw is announced. You must keep the new roll, even if it is worse. If this wasn’t li
mited to just compulsions, it would be great. Compulsions suck and all, but I don’t like this for the same reason as the +2 sav
e versions.

Bound by Honour: Once per day, if a mind-affecting effect would compel you to take an action that would cause you to lose Honou
r Points (see page 8), you may make a new saving throw against the original DC to end the effect. Narrow and conditional. Pass.

Crisis of Faith: You gain a +1 trait bonus on saving throws against illusions. You may replace any other faith trait with the C
risis of Faith trait whenever you gain a level. This replacement is permanent until you receive atonement. This is kind of cool
, in that it replaces another trait. Shame the mechanics of it are absolute trash.

Devout Visionary: You gain a +1 trait bonus on Will saving throws against spells and effects that grant the confused or dazed c
ondition. Once per day as a full-round action, you may grant an adjacent ally a new Will saving throw to end an effect that gra
nts the confused or dazed condition. Hazed and Confused is an excellent ice cream. Dazed and Confused aren’t common or bad enou
gh to use a trait on avoiding. Pass.

Divine Denier: Once per day when you are affected by a divine spell, you may reduce that spell’s duration to half (minimum 1 ro
und) for you alone. On the one hand, this could really help you against a nasty divine spell. On the other, you probably won’t
be fighting divine casters every day and on days you do you’ll likely eat more than one nasty spell from them. Still, could be
handy to be sure.

Monastic: Once per day as a swift action, you gain a +1 trait bonus to Armor Class as long as you are wearing no armor, not usi
ng a shield, carrying a light load, and have nothing in your hands. This bonus lasts for 1 minute. This is so absurdly limited
for a pretty weak bonus. Four conditions and 1 round/day. Freaking awful.

Nature Worshipper: You gain a +1 trait bonus on saving throws against death effects and effects that use negative energy, such
as energy drain and inflict spells. Narrow and minor. Just bad.

Priest-Blessed: Three times per day when you are the target of a harmless divine spell, you may increase its caster level by 1
for purposes of its effect on you alone. Three times per day kills this for me. Sure, you get buffed a bit better by the Cleric
, but I don’t really think that’s worth a trait.

Proxy of Many: You gain a +2 trait bonus on Diplomacy checks made to request a favor from a creature that has not performed a f
avor for you in the past week. This bonus increases to +4 if you have performed a favor for that creature since it last did a f
avor for you. Too narrow to bother with.

Religious Reformer: You gain a +2 trait bonus on Knowledge (religion) checks that pertain to your own religion or spiritual pra
ctice, and you gain a +2 trait bonus on saving throws against spells cast by others who worship your god or adhere to your phil
osophy. Narrow traits aren’t good.

River Acumen: You gain a +2 trait bonus on Swim checks in rivers or streams, and a +2 trait bonus on Survival checks to forage
for food in or near a river or stream. This is terrible. Narrow bonuses to extremely rare situations.

Self-Actualization: Once per day, when you take 20 on a roll or check, you can complete the action in only five times the norma
l amount of time for that action, rather than 20 times the normal amount. Holy useless. You take 20 when you aren’t worried ***
ut how long it’s going to take. Doing it faster will come up approximately never.

Totemist: Once per day, you may call upon your totem’s wisdom as a standard action. You gain the benefits of guidance, except t
hat the granted competence bonus is equal to half your character level (minimum +1). This is a supernatural ability. It scales
pretty well, so it’s definitely better than Guidance. Once per day and using a standard action is pretty painful, though.

Traditionalist: You gain a +1 trait bonus on Knowledge (history) and Knowledge (local) checks, and one of those skills (your ch
oice) becomes a class skill for you. This is good. Local is the choice, for sure.

Wendifa Apprentice: You can use daze as a spell-like ability once per day, using your character level as your caster level (min
imum 1). The save DC of this effect is Charisma-based. The dazed individual looks ashen and deathly for the duration of the eff
ect. A cantrip trait, so already pretty meh. Daze scales horribly, as well, so this is pretty much 100% trash.

Zealot’s Bearing: You gain a +2 bonus on Diplomacy and Intimidate checks when dealing with adherents of your faith or philosoph
y, but a –1 penalty on Diplomacy and Intimidate checks when dealing with anyone else. Good bonus to a small percentage of the p
opulation, penalty with everyone else. Terrible.

Outer Dragon Blood: The blood of outer dragons courses through your veins, and you’ve inherited a portion of their magic. You g
ain Draconic as a bonus language. In addition, if you are a sorcerer with the draconic bloodline, you can select one of the out
er dragon types for your bloodline powers; this affects your resistances and the type of energy damage dealt by a number of you
r abilities. Meh, there’s better traits to get a language and unless you really want an outer dragon for your bloodline this is
pretty weak. Even if you do want an outer dragon, you should be able to get it without a trait if you ask your DM nicely, sinc
e they’re no stronger than the other bloodlines.

Sotto Voce: You may cast sotto voce as a spell-like ability three times per day as a spell-like ability. This spell-like abilit
y is cast at your highest caster level; if you have no caster level, it functions at CL 1st. Sotto Voce is an awful spell. Will
save vs Shaken for one round is very mediocre already. Add in the limit of 4 HD and you have a complete waste of space.

Tar-Baphon’s Whisper: You may cast sotto voce as a spell-like ability three times per day as a spell-like ability. This spell-l
ike ability is cast at your highest caster level; if you have no caster level, it functions at CL 1st. Sotto Voce is an awful s
pell. Will save vs Shaken for one round is very mediocre already. Add in the limit of 4 HD and you have a complete waste of spa
ce.

Amazingly Ugly (Orc or Half-Orc): You receive a +1 trait bonus on Intimidate skill checks, and it becomes a class skill. Intimi
date is good, in class is good. Blue for the same reason as a dozen other traits just like it.

Arcane Student (Human): You gain a +1 trait bonus on Knowledge (arcana) and Spellcraft checks, and you may make these checks un
trained. I think Paizo has grossly overestimated the value of making checks untrained. It’s not really all that good unless you
have a serious bonus to it from somewhere, or you’re looking for super common information.

Azlanti Fanatic (Human): You gain a +1 trait bonus to Knowledge (arcana) and Knowledge (history) checks. One of these skills (y
our choice) is always a class skill for you. Much better. Arcana is the choice here, if you need Arcana in class this is absolu
tely fantastic. The bonus on history is pretty minor but might come in handy, who knows.

Azlanti Inheritor (Gillman): Whenever you use the aid another action to aid an adjacent ally, increase the bonus you grant your
ally by 1. This is a trait bonus. This works on every kind of Aid Another, and it stacks with classes that grant you a better
Aid Another bonus, unlike Helpful. Solid choice in a build centred upon it.

Beast Rider (Orc or Half-Orc): You gain a +2 trait bonus on Ride checks, but should you ever be forcibly dismounted in combat,
your mount attacks you to the best of its ability. Minor bonus with a potentially major penalty. No thanks.

Bekyar Slave Maestro (Human): You gain a +2 trait bonus on Diplomacy and Intimidate checks against anyone you have held captive
for at least 24 hours. Nice bonuses, but far too narrow.

Big Mouth (Orc or Half-Orc): You gain a +1 trait bonus on all Bluff, Intimidate, and Perform (oratory) checks made against orcs
. Narrow.

Blood Algorithm (Android): You gain a +2 trait bonus on saving throws against spells with the pain descriptor. Additionally, on
ce per day when you are healed by a spell that targets constructs (such as a make whole spell), you heal 1 extra hit point per
level of the spell. Narrow, minor. Nothing to see here, move along.

Brute (Orc or Half-Orc): Whenever you score a critical threat, you add (but not multiply, in the case of a confirmed critical h
it) an amount of damage equal to your weapon’s critical modifier. Not terrible on a crit build, but it’s not all that great. Vi
rtually every crit build I know of uses a x2 modifier weapon with a big range, because it’s mathematically more damage overall.
This will add 2 damage to one in four attacks that’s a threat, so half a damage per attack, and that’s only once you have Keen
or an equivalent. There’s better damage traits that don’t require investment to work.

Calculated Risk (Vampire): Once per day, you may voluntarily fail a saving throw against a harmful spell or effect. After using
this ability, for the next minute you may add a +4 trait bonus on one saving throw, after which the bonus is expended. You may
use this bonus on an additional saving throw against the spell or effect you voluntarily failed (such as a recurring poison sa
ve or a follow-up save against hold person). If you do not use this bonus within 1 minute, it is lost. This is kind of cool, li
ke you’re gathering your strength by failing now to succeed later. It’s only 1/day and it’s actual value is questionable, thoug
h.

Child of Two People’s (Half-Elf, Half-Orc or Human): Your parents come from two visibly different cultures that maintain distin
ct identities regardless of their physical proximity (such as Tians and Ulfen). The tug of conflicting expectations has strengt
hened your sense of individuality and given you a gift for languages. You receive a +2 trait bonus on Will saves against charm
and compulsion effects, and you automatically know the racial or ethnic languages of both your parents. Narrow bonuses. Languag
es are handy, but ethnic ones rarely come up. Charm and Compulsions suck, but I’d rather have a flat bonus against Will.

Deadeye (Orc or Half-Orc): You receive a +2 trait bonus on all Perception checks involving sight. Most Perception checks are go
ing to involve sight. Solid choice if you have it in class already and want more of a bonus.

Deathtouched (Bloodline): You gain either a +1 trait bonus on Fortitude saving throws or a +2 trait bonus on saving throws agai
nst mind-affecting effects (your choice). Two traits in one! Only one of them is good, though. +1 Fortitude is always good. Nar
row +2 much less good.

Demented Inventor (Orc or Half-Orc): You gain a +2 trait bonus on Craft (weapons) checks, and it becomes a class skill. The bon
us is substantial, but Craft (weapons) isn’t exactly a worldbeater skill and Craft is a class skill for every single class anyw
ays.

Destined Pioneer (Human): Select a terrain from the ranger’s list of favored terrains. Once selected, this choice cannot be cha
nged. Once per day while in the selected terrain, you may move across nonmagical difficult terrain as though it were not diffic
ult terrain until the end of your turn. This is freaking awful. Conditional, limited, narrow and minor.

Dirty Fighter (Orc or Half-Orc): You receive a +3 trait bonus on all attempts to feint in combat using your Bluff skill. Feinti
ng is generally suboptimal, but if you want to build a feinting character this is certainly a strong selection.

Divine the Mystery (Human): You gain a +2 trait bonus on Knowledge (engineering) checks to identify creatures with the robot su
btype and relics of Numerian technology. When using Bluff to feint against an intelligent construct, you do not take a penalty
for feinting against a non-humanoid. Ridiculously narrow, I can’t see this coming up often enough to care about.

Ekujae Reflexes (Half-Elf): You gain a +2 trait bonus on initiative checks. Excellent. Initiative bonuses are great.

Fanatic (Human): You gain a +1 trait bonus to Knowledge (arcana) and Knowledge (history) checks. One of these skills (your choi
ce) is always a class skill for you. Much better. Arcana is the choice here, if you need Arcana in class this is absolutely fan
tastic. The bonus on history is pretty minor but might come in handy, who knows.

Fungal Brewing (Dwarf): You gain a +2 trait bonus on Craft checks to create alchemical items, and can create nonmagical alchemi
cal materials in 20% less time than normal. Narrow, minor bonuses.

Glint-Tongued (Human): You have a gift for poetic turns of phrase and vicious streams of insults. You gain a +1 trait bonus on
Charisma-based skill checks made to impress or persuade other Ulfen (or, at the GM’s option, other poetically-minded people), a
nd a +2 trait bonus on Intimidate checks. The flat +2 to Intimidate is what you want this for, if the other bonus comes up at a
ll that’s just gravy.

Honour-Driven (Human): You gain a +1 trait bonus on Sense Motive checks, and Sense Motive is always a class skill for you. Fant
astic. You don’t want to get lied to, so getting Sense Motive in class is a big deal.

In Tune With Language (Vampire): Your keen ear for language grants you a +2 trait bonus on skill checks when decoding secret me
ssages or finding hidden meaning in overheard conversations. Far too narrow to care about.

Industrious (Gnome): You are helpful and hardworking. When you successfully use the aid another action to aid an ally’s Craft o
r Profession check, that character gains an additional +1 trait bonus on the check (in addition to the +2 bonus normally grante
d for successfully aiding another). If you have a racial bonus on that skill, your ally gains a +2 trait bonus instead. Aid ano
ther has its uses. This is not one of them. Skip.

Inheritor (Gillman): Whenever you use the aid another action to aid an adjacent ally, increase the bonus you grant your ally by
1. This is a trait bonus. This works on every kind of Aid Another, and it stacks with classes that grant you a better Aid Anot
her bonus, unlike Helpful. Solid choice in a build centred upon it.

Insular (Dwarf): You gain a +2 trait bonus on Sense Motive checks, and Sense Motive is always a class skill for you, but you ta
ke a –1 penalty on Diplomacy checks with non-dwarves. Normally I hate penalties, but if you’re a dwarf you’re almost certainly
not the party face due to the Charisma penalty. As such, you probably won’t be making Diplomacy checks very often, but you do h
ave a bonus to Wisdom and this can give you a whopping +5 to Sense Motive if you need it in class. Fantastic trait.

Irritable Diplomat (Half-Orc): Once per day, you may choose to gain a +5 trait bonus on any Diplomacy check, but if it fails, y
ou take a –2 penalty on all Charisma-based checks for the next 10 minutes. +5 is a pretty big bonus, but it comes with a penalt
y and is only 1/day.

Jadwiga Scion (Human): You gain a +1 trait bonus on Intimidate checks, and Intimidate is always a class skill for you. In addit
ion, you gain a +1 trait bonus on Knowledge (nobility) checks related to the Irrisen aristocracy. Intimidate is nice, that’s wh
y you want this trait. if the narrow nobility bonus ever comes up just take it as a free bonus.

Lapsed Faith (Elf): Once per day you may cast cure minor wounds as a spell-like ability at caster level 1. The save DC is Wisdo
m-based. Considering CMW isn’t actually a spell in Pathfinder, this is even more terrible than most cantrip traits! Really, tho
ugh, healing 1 HP per day is crap. Forever.

Mindlessly Cruel (Orc or Half-Orc): Whenever you have a morale bonus on weapon attack rolls, you also receive a +1 trait bonus
on weapon damage rolls. If you have a way of getting regular morale bonuses, such as a party Bard or an Unchained Barbarian ra
ge, this is a pretty solid selection.

Obscure Traditions (Elf): Any creature attempting to make a Knowledge check about your people, a Sense Motive check to determin
e whether you are lying, or a Survival check to track you takes a –2 penalty on the check. Additionally, any character or creat
ure that normally gains a bonus on attack or damage rolls against elves (such as a ranger’s favored enemy ability) has such a b
onus reduced by 1 (minimum 0). This is interesting. Probably really good on a character with a high bluff, since it basically a
dds +2 to your roll and stacks with any actual bonuses to your Bluff. It’s an odd assortment of bonuses that mostly won’t come
up, but when they do they’re decent enough to matter. Not a bad selection.

Pragmatic Polytheist (Human): You gain a +1 trait bonus on Knowledge (religion) checks and can make Knowledge (religion) checks
as if trained. Once per day, you can cast resistance on yourself as a spell-like ability cast at your highest caster level (CL
1st if you have no caster level). A one/day cantrip and a minor bonus to a skill. Not very good.

Proud Progenitor (Vampire): You gain a +1 trait bonus on damage rolls against creatures you have seen attack or harm any of you
r vampire spawn. Too narrow to bother with by far.

Rage of Storms (Orc or Half-Orc): Once per day, a creature you summon creature can have the ferocity ability. This basically ad
ds a creature’s Constitution to its health as far as tanking damage for you goes. Having your summons last longer on the field
is pretty handy, even if it’s only 1/day.

Rapid Drain (Vampire): When you use your blood drain ability, you gain 7 temporary hit points instead of 5. Temporary HP is pre
tty lame, getting an extra 2 isn’t generally worthwhile.

Self-Aware (Vampire): You gain a +1 trait bonus on all Sense Motive checks, and Sense Motive becomes a class skill for you. Sen
se Motive is fantastic, great trait.

Shoanti Spirit-Singer (Human): Once per day, you can act in the surprise round even if you aren’t aware of your attackers; you
can use this action only to start a bardic song or raging song, and you’re still considered flat-footed until you act in the fi
rst normal round of combat. While it limits what you can do in the surprise round, both options are things that you probably wa
nt to do in the first round anyways. Pretty decent, though I wish it weren’t 1/day.

Shoanti Steed (Human): You begin play with a combat trained light horse. While riding this horse bareback, you are treated as t
hough you were riding it with a riding saddle (placing any actual saddle upon the horse negates this benefit). The horse can fe
nd for itself outside of settlements in all but the most hostile environments. If whistled for outside of a community, the hors
e typically arrives within 1d6 minutes. If your horse is slain, you may receive a new horse by returning to your clan and perfo
rming a vigil for its spirit (a rite that costs 100 gp in rare herbs and incense). A combat trained light horse costs 110 gold
and a riding saddle costs 10. While you don’t have to feed or lodge it, which is convenient, this is basically a disguised mone
y trait and it doesn’t give very much.

Shoanti Tattoo (Human): You gain a +1 trait bonus on saving throws against fear effects. Additionally, you are proficient with
earth breakers, klars, and Shoanti bolas. The proficiencies are what this is useful for. If you need one of these proficiencies
, this is probably the best way to get it.

Snowblooded (Elf): You gain a +4 trait bonus on Fortitude saving throws made to avoid nonlethal damage from cold environments,
and gain a +1 trait bonus on saving throws against spells with the cold descriptor. Whoo narrow bonuses.

Snowstepper (Gnome): You ignore difficult terrain caused by snow, and it costs you only 2 squares of movement to enter a square
covered in heavy snow, rather than 4 squares of movement. This benefit only applies when you are not carrying a medium or heav
ier load. Narrow and conditional. Useful when it comes up, but how often is it really going to?

Spirit Lodge Dreamer (Human): You gain a +1 trait bonus on saves against illusions, and reduce any miss chance you would take f
rom concealment by 10%. The bonus against illusions is mostly superfluous, but reducing miss chance by 10% in all circumstances
is pretty good. Miss chance sucks.

Storied Scars (Human): You gain a +1 trait bonus on Diplomacy checks made to interact with other Kellids, and a +1 trait bonus
on Intimidate checks when dealing with non-Kellid peoples. Narrow, minor and conditional. Pass.

Stubborn (Vampire): You gain a +2 trait bonus on saving throws against attempts to control you, such as command undead,halt und
ead, or channeled energy to turn or control undead. These are definitely things to be afraid of if you’re undead, but even stil
l I don’t think the narrow bonuses are important enough.

Student of Nantambu: You gain a +1 trait bonus on Knowledge (arcana) and Spellcraft checks, and you may make these checks untra
ined. I think Paizo has grossly overestimated the value of making checks untrained. It’s not really all that good unless you ha
ve a serious bonus to it from somewhere, or you’re looking for super common information.

Tattooed Mystic (Human): You gain a +1 trait bonus on saving throws against charm and compulsion effects. Additionally, you are
proficient with bladed scarves and starknives. Cheapest way to get proficiency in those weapons if that’s something you want.
Other than that, very meh.

Tribal (Orc or Half-Orc): Within 60 feet of a tribal standard, you gain a +1 trait bonus on attack rolls and Will saves against
fear effects, as if you were the recipient of a bless spell. If you have a way of constantly being in range of such a standard
, such as being a Bannerman Warlord, this is very good. If you can’t ensure the banner, it’s not worthwhile.

Unbreakable Hate (Orc or Half-Orc): You receive a +2 trait bonus on all concentration checks. Very solid choice for the same re
ason as the other traits that do exactly this.

Varisian Tattoo (Human): You gain a +1 trait bonus on saving throws against charm and compulsion effects. Additionally, you are
proficient with bladed scarves and starknives. Cheapest way to get proficiency in those weapons if that’s something you want.
Other than that, very meh.

Varki Landspeaker (Human): You gain a +1 trait bonus on Survival checks in arctic or cold terrain. In addition, while in such t
errain, you may query the spirits of the land once per day to gain a +5 trait bonus on a single skill check to follow tracks, f
orage, or find shelter. Narrow bonus and a limited bonus to a few mediocre things. Pass.

Wary of Danger (Human): You gain a +2 trait bonus on initiative checks. Great for the same reason as all the others.

Wasteland Hunter (Human): Whenever you throw a club, shortspear, spear, or javelin, reduce the penalty for throwing the weapon
beyond its initial range increment by 2 (to a minimum penalty of 0). Handy for long range throwing, if throwing one of these we
apons is the focus of your build this is really good. If you’ll only be throwing them occasionally, this isn’t worthwhile.

Weatherworn (Vampire): You gain a +2 trait bonus against the effects of spells that create wind or move air, such as gust of wi
nd. You treat natural weather conditions as one step weaker. These abilities also apply when you are in gaseous form. Narrow. M
eh.

...out of which I observe that most of them are pretty lacklustre. But the Tribal trait does combine nicely with the Flagbearer feat.

[TheOneHawk]

Thanks for doing that, Kurald.

Yeah, most of them are crap, or are just repeats of other good traits. There aren't enough unique, strong traits. Most interesting traits are bad, which is kinda sad.

[ghanjrho]

Hellknight Armor is already Masterwork, which shouldn't stack with Mithral, thus removing some (a little bit) of the value of Armor Expert.

Fortunately, Field Plate has the same ACP as mwk Full Plate without being mwk itself.

[TheOneHawk]

Two less AC, though.

[Kurald Galain]

Some minor notes,

Cross-Disciplined: the gifted adept trait does the same but without the 1/day restriction.
Blade Bravado: While it might be good for a duelist, the magus doesn't have a move action available to feint with.
Arcane Revitalization: You mention you can't take this with magical lineage; however, there is a regional feat that does the same thing, i.e. Wayang Spellhunter. So you could take both. Also, upon reflection, I'd say that +1 pool point (this trait and malleable magic) is about equally useful to a magus as +2 to concentration; so since you're rating +2 conc as green, I suggest that AR and MM are also green.

[TheOneHawk]

Some minor notes,

Cross-Disciplined: the gifted adept trait does the same but without the 1/day restriction.

Blade Bravado: While it might be good for a duelist, the magus doesn't have a move action available to feint with.

Arcane Revitalization: You mention you can't take this with magical lineage; however, there is a regional feat that does the same thing, i.e. Wayang Spellhunter. So you could take both. Also, upon reflection, I'd say that +1 pool point (this trait and malleable magic) is about equally useful to a magus as +2 to concentration; so since you're rating +2 conc as green, I suggest that AR and MM are also green.

Noted on the Cross-Disciplined.

Blade Bravado doesn't only apply to feinting, it applies to every kind of Bluff as well as Acrobatics, so it's rated the same as other traits that give two +1's to decent skills. It's definitely on the low end of green though, because it's conditional. The condition is very easy to meet, but still.

You're right about Wayang Spellhunter, but that also stacks with Magical Lineage, which gets really nasty really fast. I'll adjust them to green, though, since I only took green away from them because you told me to -.-

[Unbodied]

Does anyone remember what all + Initative traits are?

There's Reactionary, Warrior of Old, Elven Reflexes, Paragon of Speed, Perceptive Talent, On Guard, Chance Saviour and Exiled.

Any others?

[Ninjaxenomorph]

Veteran of Battle and Tactician both give +1 bonuses along with an extra bonus, being able to draw a weapon as a free action for the former and a once/day bonus on AoOs for the latter.

[TheOneHawk]

Ok, 2 weeks off is enough of a break. I've been putting off continuing this for a while but I'm gonna get rolling on it again now.

[Unbodied]

Ok, 2 weeks off is enough of a break. I've been putting off continuing this for a while but I'm gonna get rolling on it again now.

Hoooraaayyy!

Found a great trait on Archives of Nethys by he way. Its called Fashionable and is basically the exact same thing as Extremely Fashionable except that you only need 80gp worth of clothing and there's nothing about the bonus going away if you get your clothes dirty. Best of all its a Faction Trait so if you want to take Power of Suggestion but don't have Bluff as a Class Skill you still get the best way of obtaining it.


Edit:
It gives Sense Motive instead of Intimidate though. Which is fine by me since I'm maxing out Sense Motive but have zero ranks in Intimidate.

[TheOneHawk]

Social Traits A-F done. I should be able to get this going again at a more respectable pace shortly. Was busier this last couple weeks than I expected.

[Felyndiira]

Shoanti Tattoo is actually rather good for classes that don't get Martial Weapon Proficiency. Both the Earthbreaker and Bolas are excellent weapons for, say, a Lunar Oracle that can't get skill at arms.

A note on traits that give +Save vs. Mind-Affecting: Mind Affecting is a majority of the will saves that you will encounter out there. Thus, a +2 to saves against mind affecting is very close to a +2 to will saves, and thus is a strong contender for being a great trait. Innocent is also really good - as lying is the most common use of Bluff by far, and making a lie sound reasonable isn't difficult a majority of the time as long as you don't have a antagonistic GM.

[TheOneHawk]

In regards to Shoanti Tattoo and Innocent, you're right. They are good. That's why they're listed as green. I really don't think they're quite up to blue level, but green is certainly not a bad trait. I think you might be thinking of green as the third level of traits, which it technically is, but purple is ridiculously exclusive.

As far as the Mind-affecting being the majority of will saves, you raise a good point. For some reason I was reading that and thinking 'charm and compulsion'. That should encompass all of those plus at least some fear effects and maybe some other things I can't think of right now. Thanks for the catch.

[Prime32]

Beastkin: You gain a +1 trait bonus on Survival checks and can use speak with animals as a spell-like ability at will to communicate with the type of animal that raised you. Narrow bonus with a minor bonus. Not good.

Narrow, sure, but there's creative stuff you can do with that SLA, especially if the party has animal companions or familiars... and being able to talk to your pet is just fun in general. Also its caster level defaults to your character level, which means you qualify for item creation feats (assuming you're a race that doesn't have SLAs already).

[Ninjaxenomorph]

SLAs no longer qualify you for prereqs anymore.

[TheOneHawk]

Yeah, the change that made SLA's no longer count for pre-req's knocked every single one of those traits down quite a bit. Speak With Animals is a level 1 spell, rather than a cantrip and you can use it at will, which is pretty nice. Realistically, though, it's not that great of a level 1 spell, and you can only use it with the specific type of animal that you choose at character creation.

[Ninjaxenomorph]

Granted, having it at-will with only one type of animal can be all someone needs if they are a hunter or another animal companion class. Personally, I'd rate it as situationally orange.

[Prime32]

SLAs no longer qualify you for prereqs anymore.

Eh? In 3.5, having a fireball SLA doesn't count as "ability to cast 3rd-level spells", only "ability to cast fireball". It has a caster level, but it's neither arcane nor divine (unless specified otherwise, like with warlock) so you can only meet generic "Caster Level 5th" requirements, not "Arcane Caster Level 5th".

As far as I'm aware, Pathfinder initially ruled that a fireball SLA does count as the ability to cast 3rd-level spells, and that SLAs are either arcane or divine based on the spell list they came from (defaulting to arcane if there's multiple options). Then they changed their minds and said that SLAs don't count as the ability to cast spells.

...okay, it looks like they changed the rules two more times after that - first saying that racial and class-based SLAs were different things, then in February this year they changed the FAQ answer "Do SLAs qualify you for item creation feats?" from yes to no, without explaining why not.

[TheOneHawk]

Social traits are done. Next up should be Regional.

[TheOneHawk]

Did I say regional? Forget I said that, I'm working through Campaign. Carrion Crown, Council of Thieves, Curse of the Crimson Throne and Giantslayer are done. I think I should be able to get this rolling out faster again now, life seems to have (maybe) calmed down a bit. Apologies for the delays the last couple months.

[TheOneHawk]

Hell's Rebels is done, however there's a couple traits in there that refer to campaign specific mechanics that I don't know the real value of so I could use some feedback from someone who's played the AP about how useful those bonuses are.

[Kurald Galain]

Yay! Welcome back Hawk!

[TheOneHawk]

Damn good to be here! Glad to see this hasn't been forgotten

Iron Gods, Jade Regent and Kingmaker done.

[Prime32]

Infernal Bastard (Tiefling): You are something less than even your tiefling kin. Perhaps it is a result of your hard life, or perhaps it is due to some fault in your fiendish heritage, but you lack a tiefling’s standard resistances to cold, electricity, and fire—instead, you merely have a +2 bonus on all saving throws made against these effects. Likewise, you do not have the ability to use darkness as a spell-like ability once per day—instead, you may choose any one 0-level spell that you can instead use at will as a spell-like ability. Um. I’m… really failing to see the bonus you get from this trait. Is it supposed to be a flaw? This is awful if it’s a trait.

Are you sure this is a race trait and not an alternate racial trait? Because it sounds more like the latter.

[TheOneHawk]

It's listed on both AoN and D20PFSRD as a Council of Thieves campaign trait for tiefling's only. I cannot come up with even the slightest reason for its existence, though.