Haven’t posted in a while, but I stopped by. Traits are in too many games - they need to be special to be remembered.
Smells Delicious: When presented with multiple hearthlings to pick as attack targets, this one always gets picked above all others. He seems to be seasoned just right…
Lycanthrope: After a certain number of days, turns into a monstrous beast for an evening and tries to kill everyone.
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Good day to stop by @GeekLegion, happy Discourse Anniversary!
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Here are my idea’s.
Care free
Doesn’t get many negative mood point form things like seeing enemy’s, shared bed or cramped space and is not feared by a strong enemy.
But when directly affected by negative stuff like getting hit by an enemy or not able to find food, he/she gets a 24h debuff called “Harsh reality” giving a big negative in mood and disables all benefits from the “Care free” trait.
Berserker
Gets big bonus to attack damage and attack speed, but will attack the first enemy it sees until it or the enemy is death and cannot be controlled in combat, also doesn’t get feared by seeing strong enemy’s.
Comedian
Gives positive mood points to other hearthlings when talking to them.
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Sentimental
Won’t undeploy anything.
Weak (think of a better name)
Not strong enough to move anything (only on a low body Hearthling).
Can’t climb (think of a better name)
Won’t use ladders / climbs ladders REALLY slowly and no one else can climb the ladder while the Hearthling is climbing.
Claustrophobic
Greater negative impact on being in a cramped space
Agoraphobic (I know, already suggested)
No negative impact on being in a cramped space
Best to only have these traits on a Hard game.
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Feeble and Stepnophobiac for your better names?
Abrasive - Impacts mood more heavily in conversation, for better or worse
Ascetic - Unable to craft higher-quality items
Cowardly - Panics around enemies more easily
Enthusiastic - Naturally in a good mood
Greedy - Keeps one or more unique or expensive items in their backpack after picking them up
Hemophiliac - No self-healing
Industrious - Crafts higher-quality items more often.
Nocturnal - Prefers to sleep during day hours
Pessimistic - Naturally in a bad mood
Sluggish - Sleeps longer than others
there’s my two-cents
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Chopper Burlyhands doesn’t really care about anything anymore.
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Climber - Allows the hearthling to climb up some ridges?
Tall - Can reach one block higher when building/mining
Short - Only reaches 3 blocks up, not the typical 4
Funny/comedian - Stops to tell other hearthlings jokes (giving a small boost to mood afterwards) - Just noticed Hominidae said this one already, darn! 
Still a good idea!
Sneaky - When not a combat role often not seen by monsters immediately or reduced radius of notice
Jack of Trades - double xp gain until level 3 then half after that, quick to gain but hard to master things
Just a few quick ideas I had after playing two days with this new trait system.
Scrounger - May find resources in the wrong place - Finding rock while cutting down a tree, find a piece of wood while mining etc… just random but rare thing they pick up.
Smart Trader - Gives a small boost with outside trading if in your group
Lots of fun things here -
Have to ask, I tried to get the cultist to do something, moved them to the bunny statue etc but no effect I could see so far, other than accidentally mining down a statue which didn’t seem to make them upset or anything that I could tell?
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Perfectionist: This hearthling spents alot of time when crafting something, but he his work results in the best quality possible very often!
- Needs 50% more time to craft something, but the quality of the produced goods is much better
Nice ideas!
Next to traits/skills, I see an opportunity to create a teacher class. After promotion, this hearthling will educate other hearthlings, as it will try to learn otherhearthlings his own skills.
To do this, every hearthling could have weak and a strong traits, but only weak traits van be overriden.
We already have Nocturnal Hearthlings, so why not dig a little into their sleeping habits?
Heavy Sleeper: Sleeps through town emergencies, must be attacked a few times to be forced awake. On the flip side, maybe they don’t mind sleeping outside as much?
Light sleeper/Paranoid: these hearthlings are quick to startle and tend to do poorly in shared sleeping quarters, but they get a speed boost during town defense mode!
Cat Napper: More prone to taking small naps throughout the day instead of one long night rest (though hours slept should be similar to hearthlings)
Camper: These hearthlings actually prefer sleeping on the ground outside! (they bring out a tent or even a bedroll when they do sleep)
Beauty rest: Sleeps more hours(maybe up to 3 hours more), but moves around and gets things done faster when they finally are awake!
Trying to balance out every trait idea I give much like the ones already implemented in the game. Hope they help inspire you guys!
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night owl: sleeping in the day and up at night
-
Scince hearthlings get a sadder from having slept outside, I suggest the following traits.
Camper: [hearthling] loves waking up under the starry night sky. happiness bonus for having slept outside.
Home dreamer: a cozy house, a lit fireplace, that is how [hearthling] would like to wake up. bigger than normal happiness bonus for having slept inside.
and maybe
Cave dreamer: this hearthling likes to find himself inside a cave in the morning -
When hearthlings hold conversations, they get happier when they agree and sadder when they don’t. I wish there were a few traits that would defy this mechanic. I can walk away happy, even if I happen to not agree on a particular subject with someone else, especially if I don’t really care about that subject. (of course there are cases where I don’t walk away happy when I disagree, but still, not always.) So here are some suggestions:
stance-oriented: [hearthling] likes to be right about things, and likes people who are right about things. Bigger happiness debuff when disagreeing, bigger happiness buff when agreeing.
reason-oriented: [hearthling] just really likes to be right about things. So much so, that she changes her opinion when the arguments (or truth, but that doesn’t sound neutral) demand it. Has a smaller/no debuff when disaggreeing, and can even be persuaded to the opposite opinion, even after having taken a stance at a subject. Also a smaller happiness buff when agreeing, (of course we agree, the arguments point to this, so it is not soo special.)
I like these ideas, can’t think of anything else since anything I think of are all given
Insomnia perhaps?
Botanic: hearthlings with this trait make better herbalists and clerics, as their natural ability to use Botanic knowledge makes them use healing and crafting items more efficiently when crafting healing items. (Chance for doubling thr craft, no extra materials needed)
Improvisor: chance that one crafting material may not be used while crafting.
Defensive: hearthlings with this trait have a harder tike at making friends, but they make great warriors because this helps them assume a more defendable stance, taking less damage.
If they do add a lot more traits, that’d me cool, but the current system is randomization only, so to find villagers you’re satisfied with is hard. I think traits and looks should be customizable, and stats could still be randomly generated.
I have a couple of new trait ideas:
Busybody, Hearthling will look at all the other Hearthlings stuff and comment about it.
Shy, It takes a while before the Hearthling will initiate communication with another Hearthling.
Early bird, Opposite of Night Owl, Hearthling wakes up at the crack of dawn and goes to bed early.
Hope these help @Allie
Thanks for all the suggestions guys, keep them coming!
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Ok no clue if any of these are good but here are my ideas.
hobbyist
info: hearthling has a hobby. hearthling has a hobby when they act on it they gain a ++ happyness boost but if they can not they gain a - happyness nerf. hobby type is random.
toy maker: hearthling crafts toys with spare resources. (example a mason hobbyist will craft stone figures, they come in batches of 8 for one stone and sell for 2 gold each, they can also be placed in a group on a table for looks… think armymen but with swords)(wood workers craft dolls, blacksmiths craft iron soldiers, engineers crafts mechanical dolls(sells for a lot).)
explorer: when not working will wonder off trying to find new things, will ocasionally bring back harvistable from the map with out request.
duelist: hearthling will do mock combat with your footmen and knights, though they do not gain much xp and can be hurt for doing this it gains a lot of happyness for them, and the footmen(winner gets an extra +) soldiers gain half xp they would get from combat for dueling. a footman with duelist has chances to dodge in combat.
gardener: separate from green thumb, gardeners will plant and spread wild flowers and bushes, they will even replant trees at random in areas you have deforested with out needing saplings. (though it is faster to just make saplings)
trickster: their hoby is playing pranks, this one is a mixed bag while the trickster gets a happyness bonus when they prank some one the people they prank get a – from it, but if the hearthling they target counters their prank (calist, and social do this the most) both gain a + do to having fun.
moon cursed
every 5 nights turns into a rather large wolf, though they are not hostile they do not sleep on the 5th night and if and job other then trapper will go out and kill a random animal (Even a pet), if a trapper they will just kill something in their traps.
this is a negative trait, though it can have positives as a trapper with it will eventually learn to control it, shepherds gain more meat from animals, and farmers who are also cultists turn into giant bunnies which do nto have the down side of killing things but instead eat 5 random plants from the farm.
note: the idea on this trait is a rare trait that is there to change things up a bit while it isn’t good to have it can change gameplay a bit as a curssed villager normally is a danger if you have pets but if they are a hunter or shepherd you can get a good boost out of it.
retired soldier
info: this hearthling served in an army before settling down, if given a military job starts at level 3 instead of 0. that said giving them any none combat job will boost their happiness a bit as they left the military to settle down.
long winded
info: this hearthlings conversations are 2x longer when started and they talk more hten the person they are talking to.
(no pro or con)
quite
info: this hearthling does not talk but instead listens, conversations with this hearthling are half as long and more likely to end in happiness, though this hearthling does not gain happiness from conversations (nore do they get sad if they do not have one)
Explorer
When he does not have any immediate tasks (or has little) this hearthling goes adventuring, discovering new territory around your town. He likes uncharted territories and newly discovered caves, but tends to avoid combat if he stumbles upon overwhelming enemies, preferring to “tactically retreat” instead.
Can work well after the “fog of war” is implemented.
Researcher/Mrs Croft
This hearthling is obsessed with knowledge and artifacts of old (and not so old). He likes tinkering with newfound artifacts and trinkets, discovering their properties.
My idea is that in addition to common loot hearthlings can find “unknown treasures” that require investigation before they can be used (akin to “item identification” in Diablo or “artifact unlocking” in Dungeon Keeper). This can be pieces of furniture, crafting recipes, building blueprints or even some hearthling gear. “Researchers” may work in different ways: getting bonus emotions from researching, prioritizing researching over other tasks (which can be a con in they have low MIND stat) or doing researching faster than other hearthlings.
Animal hater
This hearthling dislikes animals. All animals. They can bite him. He may not kick a kitten but he doesn’t like animals being around him. He believes they create more bugs in the game.
Animals tend to sense his disposition and try to “talk” to him less.
Vengeful
This hearthling has the potential to do massive damage to the enemy type that has recently killed a friend.
(This is could just be any hearthling for now, but can be changed later for when/if individual disposition is implemented)
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and .