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My take:
Ancestral weapon- traits are supposed to be half a feat, but this is more than half of a weapon focus.
Second chance- reroll a failed save? Thats BETTER than the majority of feats.
Fate's favored- if you use luck bonuses, this might as well be a class feature, because taking this trait isn't optional
Tusked- an extra attack seems at least as powerful as a feat to me
Adopted- see tusked
Magical lineage and metamagic master- WHAT!? If these were feats, I would take them even if they had useless prerequisites.
Sword Scion (from Kingmaker): +1 to attack with longswords.
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Finding Haleen- Literally the value of three feats (gives you an extra favored class, +1 HP and skill point/level)
Power of Suggestion-This is really just hilarious "Why, of course these coins are platinum, not silver. Trust me."
Umbral Unmasking: Technically a drawback, it has no mechanical penalty, but a really cool roleplaying feel.
Warded Against Nature: Another 'drawback,' this one ensures you'll never be attacked by animals... ever.
Childhood Crush: A +1 to all saves? Sure, why not. Just be sure you can make a DC 15 CHA check every day.
Trap Finder: Also known as "the rogue is officially out of business"
Memorable: A great way, combined with Lingering Performance, to make your bard's Inspire Courage last for four rounds for every round used. Or, it should work on Rage as well.
Community Minded: Forget Lingering Performance, this does the whole feat right here! For the price of one feat, this and Memorable can practically quadruple your Bard's performance/da!
Student of Philosophy, Bruising Intellect, Clever Wordplay: Moving CHA-based skills to INT.
Wisdom in the Flesh: Moves a STR or DEX based skill to WIS.
Hedge Magician, Spark of Creation: 5% cheaper magic item crafting. That adds up you know.
Transmuter of Korada: +1 Caster Level to all Transmutation spells.
Ah, right. Don't forget to combine Hedge Magician with Favored Son/Daughter (tavern owner) to sell those nifty crafted items for an extra 10%.
Defensive Stratagist (Religion, Torag): Essentially Uncanny Dodge in a trait (doesn't count for feat or class feature prerequisites, but if you actually want the function and don't get it from your class, here you go).
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The majority of Campaign Traits are basically feats.
Broken, Not Beaten - You automatically stabilize when reduced below 0 hit points. Once per day when brought below 0 hit points, you can accept 1 point of damage to regain consciousness for 1 round, though you remain staggered and only able to take a single move or standard action.
Good lord. Some campaign traits are crazy good. Warded against nature a drawback? 95% of the time that it's relevant it's a powerful benefit. I can't even think of a combat situation where that hinders you. With bruising intellect you could play an intimidator without any charisma. Yet another reason to dump it.
The majority of Campaign Traits are basically feats.
Broken, Not Beaten - You automatically stabilize when reduced below 0 hit points. Once per day when brought below 0 hit points, you can accept 1 point of damage to regain consciousness for 1 round, though you remain staggered and only able to take a single move or standard action.
Campaign traits are all over the place in quality -- some of them go beyond your average feat in power, and some just stink. Actually, this is true of traits more generally, but seems to be less extreme on average (although with the sheer number of non-Campaign traits available, you can certainly find many high and low examples). Same for feats, while we're at it.
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Sword Scion (from Kingmaker): +1 to attack with longswords.
Take it and Ancestral Weapon. +2 to hit and +1 damage with longswords and a free masterwork longsword for a total of +3 hit and +1 damage at 1st.
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Seeker... Gives Perception as a class skill.
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Tusked- an extra attack seems at least as powerful as a feat to me
Adopted- see tusked
I know it works by RAW, but there's no way I'd allow a human adopted by half-orcs to somehow grow orcish tusks, and there's no way I'd ever build a character with that combination either. Adopted needs to be paired with a trait of learned behavior, not innate physical traits.
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He was adopted by the half orcs because he had the best tusks humanity has to offer.
Tactician and Veteran of Battle both give a +1 to initiative rolls, so an either/or there depending on whether you think a once per day +2 bonus to an AoO or being able to draw as a free action during a surprise round is better. But I'm a big believer that any bonus to init you can get is worth it.
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I know it works by RAW, but there's no way I'd allow a human adopted by half-orcs to somehow grow orcish tusks, and there's no way I'd ever build a character with that combination either. Adopted needs to be paired with a trait of learned behavior, not innate physical traits.Tusked- an extra attack seems at least as powerful as a feat to me
Adopted- see tusked
First of all, sir, how dare you. My work in training members of other races to grow four-inch tusks is of undeniable import!
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First of all, sir, how dare you. My work in training members of other races to grow four-inch tusks is of undeniable import!I know it works by RAW, but there's no way I'd allow a human adopted by half-orcs to somehow grow orcish tusks, and there's no way I'd ever build a character with that combination either. Adopted needs to be paired with a trait of learned behavior, not innate physical traits.Tusked- an extra attack seems at least as powerful as a feat to me
Adopted- see tusked
I too am shocked at his ignorant and discriminatory remark. How dare he assume that only orcs have tusks. Until he grows a pair of tusks himself, he needs to check his privilege.
Good lord. Some campaign traits are crazy good. Warded against nature a drawback? 95% of the time that it's relevant it's a powerful benefit. I can't even think of a combat situation where that hinders you.Familiars trying to cast a spell on you.
Familiars are magical beasts no?
The two I like depend on your role and play style, but if they fit, they're very good fits indeed. And of course, they're better the lower level you are.
Chillblight Emissary - DR 1/cold iron. Yes, you're sickened for a round if hit by a cold iron weapon, but how often is that going to happen? Meanwhile, the number of times I could have used one extra HP to withdraw from combat and live to fight another day... yeah...
Axe to Grind - If, like me, you find yourself being the only one threatening enemies more often than not, this extra +1 to damage is pretty sweet.
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Airship Captain! Airship Captain! Sure it's mostly completely useless. But if you have a better way to make the most incompetent Airship Captain that he had to "retire" by first level, I'd like to hear it. :-)
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Technically yes, but,Familiars are magical beasts no?Good lord. Some campaign traits are crazy good. Warded against nature a drawback? 95% of the time that it's relevant it's a powerful benefit. I can't even think of a combat situation where that hinders you.Familiars trying to cast a spell on you.
Effect: Animals do not willingly approach within 30 feet of you, unless you or the animal’s master succeeds at a DC 20 Handle Animal, Ride, or wild empathy check. Animal companions, familiars, and mounts granted by your class abilities are immune to this effect.
Which reads to me that this ability still affects them. Or the Author, like me a lot, forgot that they are Magical Beasts.
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Deadeye Bowman: Seriously, worship Erastil and ignore soft cover on your longbow shots if it is provided by just one creature. It is really amazing, hardly need to position yourself anymore, and you can have at lvl 1!
Forbidden Knowledge: I like skills, but sometimes you just don't have enough skill points to go around. But this one let's you roll either Knowledge Religion or History, and use that roll for Knowledge Planes checks. It's like a lesser version of Versatile Performance, but you instead use one knowledge to cover the other.
Any trait that gives a +1 to a skill and makes it a class skill is very good. Combine it with skill focus and you get a +8 or higher at first level. This assumes of course the skill is not a class skill.
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Worldly and Possessed are good for low skill point classes.
Inner Beauty can be unreasonably good for bards with versatile performance.
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Innocent (Aasimar)
Benefit: When you make a Bluff check to tell a lie, your target always wants to believe you, granting you the standard +5 bonus on your Bluff check. This bonus only applies if the lie you tell is either believable or unlikely
is a good one as well.
Don't know if two trait bonuses would stack there
I didn't think think sword scion was a trait bonus, my bad.
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Helpful - If your not great at skills spread some points around and help everybody. (halfling trait)
Lessons of Chaldira - reroll a save
Mediator - any increase to DCs is good, it works with slumber and improves diplomacy
Any of the "_________ of Socity" traits they make you a little better at what your class does. (barbarian, bard etc)
Shield Trained helps make awesome TWFing builds
Armor Expert - any one can wear medium armor now.
Collector (Gnome) - +2 your choice from a list of skills great for a Gnome bard.
Auspicious Tattoo - worse then carfully hidden but maybe you like ink and don't hide
Sound of mind - +2 against mind effeting effects (the most dangerous effects)
Accelerated drinker - If you are prepared and buff first round this is awesome. Buff + enlarger person or reduce person if great.
Glory of Old (dwarf) - +1 to lots of saves
Guiding Spirit (Magic) - as a swift roll twice and take the better result. Not over powered but can be a life saver when you need an attack especially a spell attack to land.
Blade of Mercy - fun to build around non lethal and intimidate.
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Deadeye Bowman: Seriously, worship Erastil and ignore soft cover on your longbow shots if it is provided by just one creature. It is really amazing, hardly need to position yourself anymore, and you can have at lvl 1!
Eh. I don't like it that much. A little bit of teamwork makes it mostly obsolete, and since most archers are going to pick up Imp. precise at some point anyway it eventually becomes a dead trait. Not even mentioning the fluff restriction and the fact that you actually cant use it with a composite longbow.
Campaign traits are pretty consistently more powerful than non-campaign traits. This seems to be by design.
Campaign traits are pretty consistently more powerful than non-campaign traits. This seems to be by design.I started Kingmaker recently and would beg to disagree.
Kingmaker came out a long time ago. The traits for the newer APs are more powerful (by design) I believe.
Seeker - perception as a class skill, +1 perception: most important skill in the game.
Trap Finder - disable devices as a class skill, +1 disable device, disable magical traps.
Now I'm wondering at what point the canpaign traits became more powerful by design. In the modern APs they usually give the benefit of a normal trait plus some other related ability.
RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32
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Campaign traits really vary - Finding Haleen was from Legacy of Fire, so back in the 3.5 days and before Kingmaker.
I think the conception is that campaign traits really only have to balance against the other campaign trait option from that AP, so they aren't as balanced against other trait choices of even other APs. But even then there is variation.
The strength of AP (campaign) traits in recent APs is why I don't allow their use except in the AP we're currently running, and only one at a time (edit: uh, obviously, der da der!).
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Or the obvious best trait ever:
Mutant Eye. 50% more eyes. BAM.
There's no feat that even gets you 10% more eyes. Clearly OP.
I actually took this one on a PFS character. Probably one of the most mechanically useless traits I've ever taken, but lots of fun for RP. How else was I supposed to make Noranti from Farscape as a PFS PC?
Most of my favorites have already been mentioned. I like traits that let you use a different attribute with a skill and traits that give you +1 to a skill and make it class. The ability to be good at a skill that's not usually associated with your class adds flexibility to making the specific PC you want. For instance, I have a witch who uses int instead of cha for UMD, and my highest bluff skill is on an infiltrator inquisitor with dumped cha who adds both his int and wis to his bluff and diplomacy.
Nobody's mentioned Bred for War yet - one of the few things in the game that just gives a flat bonus to CMB. Too bad you have to be human from a particular ethnicity and minimum height to take it. I took it on my reach weapon tripper, but I wish there was something similar I could have taken to boost my Halfling Opportunist's CMB.
I'll add a "me too" on liking the Helpful halfling trait. That one's worth being Adopted for. I think two of my three PFS halflings have it. Now that I think about it, I don't know if I've ever taken the Adopted trait.
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AP campaign traits are often very strong but in a way that's needed for the AP. A good example of this is the one from Mummy's Mask that lets you disarm magical traps. If that weren't an option, unless someone likes to play rogue (or investigator, or maybe there are one or two other options), you shouldn't bother to try the AP. (Don't get me wrong, the AP is great, but there are lots of traps in some parts.)