TRAITS

Fast Metabolism: Your body is much less resistant to poison and radiation, but it heals faster. This trait is not recommended due to the need for poison resistance and the ease of managing radiation with RadX, Stimpacks, or other perks/stats.

Bruiser: Your Strength is increased by two, but your Action Points (AP) are decreased by two. This is not a good choice as all AP are valuable.

Small Frame: Your Agility is increased by one, but your carry weight drops by 30 pounds. While not terrible, the carry weight decrease is noticeable early on, but it is considered worth it for the Agility increase.

One Hander: You are good with one-handed weapons but bad with two-handed weapons. This is not a good choice, as the best weapons in Fallout 2 are two-handed.

Finesse: Your normal attacks do 30% less damage, but your critical hit chance is increased by 10%. Critical damage is not affected. This is a viable trade-off, though not always taken.

Kamikaze: Depletes your armor class (AC) to what you are wearing but increases sequence (a character stat) by 5. This is not considered great, as 6 Perception (PER) is adequate for sequence.

Heavy Handed: Your melee damage is increased by 4, but critical hits do 30% less damage. This is good early in the game, but not ideal for the end-game where powerful enemies like Super Mutants and Deathclaws are common.

Fast Shot: You cannot aim, but your total cost (Action Points to use a weapon) is decreased by one. This is a good trade-off if you have a high critical chance and is especially effective with perks like 'Bonus Ranged Attack,' 'Sniper,' or 'Slayer,' allowing weapons like the Turbo Plasma Rifle to cost 2 AP and the Super Sledgehammer to cost only 1 AP. However, since these synergistic perks appear later, it's often better to pass on this trait.

Bloody Mess: You will always see a grotesque death animation whenever you kill a creature. There is no downside to this trait, so it can be taken if desired.

Jinxed: Everyone makes more critical failures, but so do you. This trait is only recommended if you have 9 or 10 Luck, as high Luck minimizes your own critical failures. The effect happens more frequently to enemies and NPC (non-player character — anyone the game controls, not you) allies than to yourself.

Good Natured: Your combat skills are decreased by 10%, but your non-combat skills like Speech, Doctor, and Science are increased by 15%. This is generally not considered great, as high combat skills are often needed, while 70% in non-combat areas is usually sufficient to progress through the game.

Chem Reliant: Your addiction rate is increased by 200%, but your withdrawal rate is only 50%. This is not worth taking, as some drugs like RadAway have a 10% addiction rate and no withdrawal.

Chem Resistant: Your addiction rate is 50% of normal, but chems only last for half as long. This is not too bad, as combat encounters in Fallout 2 are typically short.

Sex Appeal: To NPCs of the opposite sex, your Charisma (CHA) is increased by one. The inverse holds true for NPCs of the same sex.

Skilled: You get 5 extra skill points per level, but you get a perk every four levels instead of every three. Perks are quite useful and generally desired as early as possible, making this trait often passed on.

Gifted: All of your primary stats (Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, Luck) are increased by one, but you get 5 fewer skill points per level, and your secondary skills are lowered by 10%. This is considered among the best traits, as there are only a few essential skills to focus on.