Optimizing Your Backstory, a Guide to Traits and Flaws.

[Escheton]

Just popping in to say thanks. Thank you for taking the time and effort to update a document we all to this day have been using due to a lack of anything better short of digging through all the traits ourselves and MAYBE finding a gem in the new material after hours and hours of digging.
Thank you.

[TheOneHawk]

Just popping in to say thanks. Thank you for taking the time and effort to update a document we all to this day have been using due to a lack of anything better short of digging through all the traits ourselves and MAYBE finding a gem in the new material after hours and hours of digging.
Thank you.

You're very welcome. I still have a lot of work to do, but I'm glad to hear you've found this useful.

Religion traits are (finally) done. Drawbacks should follow shortly. Regional is scary but that's next up after Drawbacks. After that it's time to organize them all, which is probably going to take another year or six, but what can you do.

[Kurald Galain]

Great work, Hawk!

Spoiler: Some suggestions

Show

Flames of Hell: this is great on any build that uses variant channeling. On builds that don't, I'd say that channel to heal is much better than channel to harm, so this trait shouldn't be worth it. This goes for the Sacred Conduit trait as well.

Starlit Hexer: As you say, there are not a lot of curse spells in the game; but aside from that, most of them are lacklustre to awful. Other than Bestow Curse itself, there are basically none that I would consider using. People who want a curse-based character should probably go for witch hexes instead, which oddly enough this "hexer" trait doesn't help with.

Inspiring Leader: Well, there are not a lot of spells that give a morale bonus, and it turns out that for none of them caster level is particularly relevant. Basically all it does is increase range from 150' to 160', or duration from 10 minutes to 11, or instead of giving four temporary hit points, give five of them. This will pretty much never make a difference in game play. Loyal Bond and Gifted Medium have the same issue.

Expert Boarder: Sorry but how is this green? Even in a pirate-based campaign you're going to spend most of your time fighting on docks, in the rigging, underwater, and so forth.

Strength of the Sun: If you build for it, caster level checks, reflex saving throws, and initiative can all be charisma-based... making this wonderful for Oracles and characters with the Noble Scion feat.

Defensive Strategist: This is very powerful, since being flat-footed means you can use immediate actions. Lots of characters have immediates that are very useful (for example, "turn a crit into a normal hit" of the Jingasa. If you get critted in a surprise round, well, this trait just saved you from dying!). Oh, and you keep your dex to armor class, which can easily be an extra +5 to AC if ambushed. Overall this is better than Combat Reflexes, which is a pretty good feat by itself.

[TheOneHawk]

Agreed on all counts, upon a second look. I... really don't know why the hell Expert Boarder was green. I was considering bumping Strength of the Sun to purple, since with some optimization I feel like it can apply to nearly as many things as Fate's Favoured.

[TheOneHawk]

Drawbacks are completed.

[Ninjaxenomorph]

A lot of the drawbacks can fluctuate in impact depending on the character in question, but I think those are rated fairly. In particular I'm a fan of Family Ties, since I tend to make characters that are close to their family. Also, in a very meta strategy on my behalf, it forces the GM if they actually want to exploit the drawback to actually use my backstory, which tends to be a problem in games I play.

[TheOneHawk]

Regional A-D is done. Those four letters filled 16 freaking pages of a doc.

[TheOneHawk]

Holy ****. That's all of them. Every single trait ever released by Paizo for either 3.5 or Pathfinder has been rated and placed alphabetically in its section.

Regional and Race are by far the majority of the new things, with all of Regional being recently completed plus about 100 traits being added to Racial (damn you Races of the Inner Sea). There's a few scattered traits in each of the basic categories as well.

I'll get around to sorting them next, but at least everything is there now.

[Ninjaxenomorph]

... Did you get the newer traits from Weapon Master's Handbook?

Mostly, I wanted your opinion on a combat trait called Red Mantis Bleeding that added one point of bleed damage to all confirmed crits with a slashing weapon, but there are others.

[TheOneHawk]

Sorry, every published trait that's on Archives of Nethys. He's a little behind right now. I'll get to those when they're added to AoN.

[Vhaidara]

Mostly, I wanted your opinion on a combat trait called Red Mantis Bleeding that added one point of bleed damage to all confirmed crits with a slashing weapon, but there are others.

To me, that sounds red. Orange at best.

First off, bleed damage absolutely sucks. Second, it only procs on confirmed crits, so prior to Keen/IC, that's a 15% chance of threatening one, then reduced based on your actual chance to hit. And by the time you DO have Keen/IC, let's look at the numbers.

Let's call it level 11, and say you have two keen kukris with GTWF. So that's 6 attacks on a full attack. if EVERY attack confirms a crit, you add 6 bleed damage. That's added onto 12d4 (base damage for 6 kukri crits) + 9x Str mod (6x for main hand, 3x for offhand) + 6x and precision damage you have (sneak attack and the like) + 12x whatever flat damage you have (like favored enemy or smite).

I dont think most things are going to survive that in the first place. And if it does, i don't think 6 bleed damage is going to matter, because it'll probably kill you on its turn anyways.

[Kurald Galain]

Congrats on finishing this.

Some thoughts on the new traits,

• Akitonian Ferocity - An issue with this (and orcish ferocity) is that if you keep standing, enemies will keep hitting you. Basically, in most combats, being at negative hp will keep you mostly safe, whereas being at very low positive hp puts you in danger of being killed. I would avoid it for that reason.
• Born Under the Green Star - I've checked some spell lists, and I can't find any mind-affecting spells where caster level actually matters; so this trait basically does nothing.
• Glory of Old - I'm not sure why you'd call this narrow; I'd say that about 80% of the saving throws in the game are against spells or SLAs. This trait strikes me as much better (almost three times as good) as getting e.g. a +1 bonus to fortitude.
• Giant-Harried - This is particularly good on small races, because pretty much everything you fight is going to be bigger than them.
• Blighted Physiology – In my area we do a lot of Channel Energy for in-combat healing; that would make this trait a seriously bad idea. As I recall, there's also one or two traits that increase AC without this silly downside.
• Community-Minded – While this is indeed a great trait, it's not actually so good for skalds. That's because a skald has so many rage rounds that he won't run out anyway; and more importantly because the skald's main appeal is sharing rage powers, and this trait doesn't work with that.
• Sargavan Guard – Note that for most classes, it’s pretty easy to reduce ACP by using masterwork and special materials, or by not caring about str/dex skills much (and climb/jump/swim checks aren't needed once you learn how to fly). If you care about a particular skill, just grab a trait for that instead.
• Alchemical Prodigy – Adding +1 round of duration is useful at level one, but becomes basically pointless around level four. What matters is whether a round per level extract lasts through the entire combat, or if a minute per level extract lasts through two; 6 rounds instead of 5 (or 8 minutes instead of 7) isn't really going to help with that.

$.02!

[TheOneHawk]

Congrats on finishing this.

Some thoughts on the new traits,

• Akitonian Ferocity - An issue with this (and orcish ferocity) is that if you keep standing, enemies will keep hitting you. Basically, in most combats, being at negative hp will keep you mostly safe, whereas being at very low positive hp puts you in danger of being killed. I would avoid it for that reason.
• Born Under the Green Star - I've checked some spell lists, and I can't find any mind-affecting spells where caster level actually matters; so this trait basically does nothing.
• Glory of Old - I'm not sure why you'd call this narrow; I'd say that about 80% of the saving throws in the game are against spells or SLAs. This trait strikes me as much better (almost three times as good) as getting e.g. a +1 bonus to fortitude.
• Giant-Harried - This is particularly good on small races, because pretty much everything you fight is going to be bigger than them.
• Blighted Physiology – In my area we do a lot of Channel Energy for in-combat healing; that would make this trait a seriously bad idea. As I recall, there's also one or two traits that increase AC without this silly downside.
• Community-Minded – While this is indeed a great trait, it's not actually so good for skalds. That's because a skald has so many rage rounds that he won't run out anyway; and more importantly because the skald's main appeal is sharing rage powers, and this trait doesn't work with that.
• Sargavan Guard – Note that for most classes, it’s pretty easy to reduce ACP by using masterwork and special materials, or by not caring about str/dex skills much (and climb/jump/swim checks aren't needed once you learn how to fly). If you care about a particular skill, just grab a trait for that instead.
• Alchemical Prodigy – Adding +1 round of duration is useful at level one, but becomes basically pointless around level four. What matters is whether a round per level extract lasts through the entire combat, or if a minute per level extract lasts through two; 6 rounds instead of 5 (or 8 minutes instead of 7) isn't really going to help with that.

$.02!

Akitonian Ferocity: I've made a cautionary note of that, but I still feel it's green on classes who are able to use that action to bring themselves back up to a safe level of hit points, such as a paladin or a cleric that channels positive.

Born Under the Green Star: Noted and changed to red.

Glory of Old: Adjusted wording, it's still blue. Upon second thought, I'm considering a bump to purple since it does apply to a lot of things. Thoughts?

Giant-Harried: Yeah, but small creatures get a -1 to their CMD and CMB just for being small, as well as usually a Str penalty. Small creatures tend to not be great at maneuvers to begin with.

Blighted Physiology: There's one trait that gives +1 AC, it's restricted to fighters and only applies while wearing armour. In that sense, this one is superior, but it does have a pretty significant drawback which is why it's only green. If you aren't expecting in combat healing to be common in your party (many parties don't have a cleric, remember, depending instead on a wand of CLW out of combat) it's a pretty solid choice, I think.

Community-Minded: Skald reference removed. Wording adjusted, any classes you think work particularly well with this?

Sargavan Guard: Mithral breastplate with Sargavan Guard has a 0ACP and can be worn without proficiency. Hell, mithral full plate with Comfort enchantment, Sargavan Guard and Armour Expert can be worn without proficiency, though that's getting a little silly. You're right about Str/Dex skills being pretty lacklustre, though. I like these traits, but I'm not sure if they're as good as I originally thought they were. Hm.

Alchemical Prodigy: Adjusted to green, wording changed.

[Slithery D]

Congrats on finishing this.

Some thoughts on the new traits,
[*]Born Under the Green Star - I've checked some spell lists, and I can't find any mind-affecting spells where caster level actually matters; so this trait basically does nothing.

Whaaaa? It does what caster level always does on pretty much every spell, increases range, increases duration, increases chance to beat spell resistance, increases your concentration check, and for enchantment spells increases their difficulty for being removed via dispel magic or "higher CL required" spells.

You don't want an extra 5% chance to beat spell resistance for a Mass Suggestion or Charm Monster or Hold Monster? An extra 5% to make a concentration check? I'd take a trait that applies to a huge swath of spells that are often a focus concept.

Hell, with the new (Greater) Shadow Enchantment spells that give you access to damn near every enchantment spell you could stack this with Gifted Adept (+1 CL on chosen spell) to have +2 CL on any mind-affecting enchantment spell you emulate with Shadow Enchantment or its Greater version. That's a concentration feat and a spell penetration feat (and 5' of close range) for your mind-affecting Swiss Army knife out of two traits, not bad.

Glory of Old: Adjusted wording, it's still blue. Upon second thought, I'm considering a bump to purple since it does apply to a lot of things. Thoughts?

I think it's purple. The only "common" form of save that this doesn't apply to is what, disease?

[Dgrin]

And why Betrayal of Trust is only orange? It is +2 bonus to Bluff, more than usual +1, even though it does not give it as a class skill. If you want to pump up your Bluff, this is, probably, the best trait out here. It should be at least green, in my opinion even blue

[TheOneHawk]

Adjusted to green, that was an oversight. Thanks for the catch.

[Kurald Galain]

Giant-Harried: Yeah, but small creatures get a -1 to their CMD and CMB just for being small, as well as usually a Str penalty. Small creatures tend to not be great at maneuvers to begin with.

Most maneuvers work with Weapon Finesse, and many small races have a dex boost. Sure, their CMD isn't that great, but their CMB can be.

Community-Minded: Skald reference removed. Wording adjusted, any classes you think work particularly well with this?

Barbarians, mostly, if they don't have a lot of rage powers and/or have once-per-rage rage powers. Otherwise, most morale bonuses already last for minutes, so adding two rounds isn't going to do much. I've actually tried building a character around this trait in the past and failed to find much use for it.

You're right about Str/Dex skills being pretty lacklustre, though. I like these traits, but I'm not sure if they're as good as I originally thought they were. Hm.

In my experience it's one of those things that just doesn't scale. At level 1-4 or so, climb and swim are extremely useful skills. At higher levels, not so much. Since I get skill points every level, I'm fine with putting a few points in these; but since you only get two traits and cannot retrain them, I would personally never take a trait that just stops being useful after a few levels.

Anyway, characters with high dex aren't going to wear armor with large amounts of SCP, simply because it doesn't help them (and in most cases, because they're not proficient either). So basically the only people who get a big ACP to dex skills are those that weren't going to use dex skills in the first place.

Whaaaa? It does what caster level always does on pretty much every spell, increases range, increases duration, increases chance to beat spell resistance, increases your concentration check, and for enchantment spells increases their difficulty for being removed via dispel magic or "higher CL required" spells.

In almost all cases, range and duration are going to be "much more than you'll need", meaning +1 CL isn't relevant. Fair point about concentration and SR though, that makes this a fair trait for enchantment specialists. Although that's a highly specific build, because of how many things are immune to mind affecting.

I think it's purple. The only "common" form of save that this doesn't apply to is what, disease?

Physical traps. But yeah, if Indomitable Will is blue, then Glory of Old is purple.

[TheOneHawk]

Most maneuvers work with Weapon Finesse, and many small races have a dex boost. Sure, their CMD isn't that great, but their CMB can be.

Fair


Barbarians, mostly, if they don't have a lot of rage powers and/or have once-per-rage rage powers. Otherwise, most morale bonuses already last for minutes, so adding two rounds isn't going to do much. I've actually tried building a character around this trait in the past and failed to find much use for it.

Barbarians give out morale bonuses to their allies? I still think Skald is better for this, since you can give your whole party bonuses to strength and con with no penalties whatsoever. Losing the rage powers hurts, but the Skald can just start another raging song the next turn if they want.

Comments in bold

[Kurald Galain]

Comments in bold

Barbarian is a bit of a loophole, but since you are your own ally, community-minded lets you keep your own morale bonus.

Ah, this is what I was looking for. The trait is good on any ranged character with a Designating weapon, or any character with a Laurel of Command, and particularly for clerics of Milani.

[TheOneHawk]

Oh. Wow. That's a pretty nifty set of combo's for sure.

[Second Arrow]

Chiming in to say WELL DONE on finishing this. Be proud!

Re: Community-Minded - The trait can also see some use on an Oracle with VMC Barbarian build too (By level 5, all the positives, none the negatives), regardless of how suboptimal VMC Barbarian is.

Given that the area it comes from (Rahadoum) is super-anti divine-casting, you could probably flavour it as the reason why your rage bonuses sticks around for longer is simply because of lingering resentment, due to how you were treated earlier on. :P

Also, C-M could be useful for a Skald with the Superstitious rage power, as it grants morale bonuses to saving throws, so they'll stick too.


EDIT: Re: Glory of Old: - It also doesn't apply to supernatural abilities, out of which maybe the most noteworthy are witch hexes. That being said, Glory of Old + Steel Soul + Dwarf w/ Hardy makes sure that you'll probably save on most things you ever encounter.

[TheOneHawk]

Finish? It's not finished. I still have to sort them. I promised I would at least a dozen times so I can't really go back on it now. Thanks though, feels good to have gotten this far for sure.

[Prime32]

Scrambling Servant: You retain your Dexterity bonus to Armor Class while climbing and gain a +1 trait bonus on Climb checks. I just don’t see this coming up very often. How often are you really being attacked while climbing something, honestly?

Well if you can bring in the Hammer and Piton feat from Dungeonscape, plus maybe Underfoot Combat and Confound the Big Folk...
(There are ways to retain your Dex bonus in 3.5, but none as cheap as a trait)

[Ninjaxenomorph]

There's a rogue archetype that can climb larger enemies that is pretty good, don't know if that trait would be good. They probably get that ability already.

[Escheton]

Didn't spot the singularly best trait (imo) under "any" in race traits: Blood of Dragons. Because lowlight vision is awesome (if your dm isn't a n00b).

[TheOneHawk]

It's there, under human. I'm afraid I don't like it much, though, since by far the best bonus is the low light vision and I really don't put much value on low light vision. Maybe your experience has been different from mine, but I just don't see it come up nearly often enough to matter.

[Kurald Galain]

Because lowlight vision is awesome (if your dm isn't a n00b).

There's a first-level cantrip that deals with lack of light, and then there's torches, and easily half the races in the game have lowlight or darkvision already. So I wouldn't personally spend a trait on that.

[Escheton]

There's a first-level cantrip that deals with lack of light, and then there's torches, and easily half the races in the game have lowlight or darkvision already. So I wouldn't personally spend a trait on that.

The point isn't lack of light. The point is seeing without being seen. Lowlight vision might get underplayed though. I admit.

[TheOneHawk]

The thing is, low light isn't the most common of situations. Most of the time, in my experience, there's either enough light to see by, or none at all. Low light helps a little in no light, since it extends how far you can see from a torch, but that's pretty rare overall and even then you're still using a torch.

[Kurald Galain]

The point isn't lack of light. The point is seeing without being seen. Lowlight vision might get underplayed though. I admit.

Well, there's some nice traits that add up to +4 to your stealth check...