# Traits
# Trait List
The following section describes each trait. The entries offer suggestions on how to use the trait, both to benefit you and get you into trouble.
# Adventurous
Most folks are content to live a quiet life at home, but some fools actually crave the excitement of a rollicking adventure. They live to travel to strange places and experience new things. It can be hard to grind an adventurous spirit down— they’re always ready to see what’s over the next hill—but sometimes they jump into a situation without looking.
# Bitter
Some turn bitter in their travels and grow to feel all their efforts are for nothing. This may protect them from the many and varied disappointments of life as an adventurer, but it also burdens them. They have trouble taking the optimistic course.
# Bold
The bold rush to action without a thought for their own safety. Daring stratagems and reckless abandon are hallmarks of the bold. Forethought and caution are not for these souls.
# Born of Earth and Stone
Dwarves were shaped by their maker from the bones of the earth, and they share many qualities with earth and stone. Dwarves are steadfast and sturdy in all things, with a special feel for metal and stone, but they can also be stubborn and unyielding.
# Brave
The brave never hesitate to step into the unknown. They are susceptible to wild tales of far-off places and dangerous adventures. The brave almost universally detest being called cowards. It’s the surest way to earn their ire.
# Calm
Calm souls are difficult to anger and easily shrug off any emotion that does manage to burden their heart. However, they risk becoming too sedate and perhaps missing a threat.
# Cunning
The cunning are adept at deceit and plotting traps. They are often either arrogant or, if caught at their games, known as dishonest.
# Curious
Curious sorts are always eager to learn and on the lookout for the new or mysterious. But there are many tales of those whose curiosity led them and their friends to an abrupt and violent end.
# Defender
Monsters and villains are a fact of life in the wide world. Many are the townsfolk who have been called upon to defend their homes without training, support or even proper equipment. The people know the value and cost of defending one’s home. Of course, when forced to choose, these defenders often put their home above other concerns.
# Early Riser
Early risers are up first in the morning. Awake before the sun, they’re clear-headed and sharp while everyone is bleary- eyed and sleepy. Of course, they must be early to bed to be so early to rise.
# Extravagant
Some folks have expensive tastes and spend profligately. They’re experts at grand gestures but sometimes find it difficult to show restraint when required.
# Extrovert
Extroverts love meeting people or introducing themselves to strangers. However, they often lead public or semipublic lives and are easy to track down, even when they don’t want to be.
# Fearless
Fearless fighters hold their ground in the face of unimaginable danger. However, they often put valor before discretion even in delicate matters.
# Fiery
Fiery souls know how to stir up a crowd, but they are quick to anger.
# First Born
Elves were the first to awake to the world and wandered beneath the stars long before the coming of dwarves or men. The trees and the stars recognize them as kin, and they are often possessed of special insight that comes of their memories of the dawn of the world. But their long lives can often make them seem remote and detached to the younger peoples.
# Foolhardy
There are some folks who are always going where they shouldn’t and doing what they mustn’t—sticking their heads in holes or reading strange, eldritch texts. Remarkably, some manage to skirt the consequences of their actions. But that may be because few people write stories about dead foolhardy adventurers.
# Generous
Generous souls always seem to have something to give to others, even if it means going without themselves.
# Heart of Battle
Warriors are creatures of action, able to throw their bodies into harm’s way with skill and valor to pursue their goals. But often warriors too readily resort to violence when another way might serve them better.
# Hidden Depths
On the surface, halflings may appear to be a naive and unassuming people, but they have hidden depths of will and character. They bear up remarkably well against pain, fatigue and despair that would cause other peoples to break. Sometimes the bigger peoples treat them as fragile and delicate because they don’t know any better.
# Honorable
Some are known throughout the land for their upstanding character and peerless integrity. But those who stand tallest are ripe for the greatest fall. Honor does not ensure survival.
# Jaded
The adventuring life hardens some and makes them callous. This protects them from the folly of youthful ideals and heroism, but it also makes them dismissive of new ideas.
# Loner
Loners have trouble working well with others. They’re at their best when no one knows what they’re up to. Sometimes, of course, they get in over their heads and could really use a helping hand.
# Lost
Hard to believe, but there are those among us who have no sense of direction. They’re useless at orienteering, but conversely their wandering treks make them difficult to track down.
# Quick-Witted
A quick-witted adventurer acts on instinct, without need for thought or consideration. While this attribute is clearly useful, it can lead to difficulties when patience and planning are required.
# Quiet
Some people are quiet in everything they do—the way they speak, the way they work, and the way they walk. Some sink so far into quietude that they have difficulty coming out of their shells.
# Rough Hands
A hard life of toil toughens the hands. Such hands mark them as working folk, which can cause some to look down on them.
# Scarred
Survivors of terrible wars are often scarred by their experiences. They’re tough and not easily flustered by injury or fear, but they are also maimed or psychologically scarred by their experiences.
# Sharp-Eyed
A sharp-eyed adventurer is always welcome in a party. He makes a good scout or hunter. But sometimes, after staring at the brush for days on end, the sharp-eyed adventurer can get a little jumpy.
# Skeptical
Skeptical souls are always watching for lies and deceit, a good quality. But it can go too far when the skeptic thinks even the truthful are liars.
# Skinny
It’s always good to keep a slim build to fit through tight squeezes, but it’s important for adventurers to stay healthy, too.
# Steady Hands
Criminals, smiths and other craftsmen who create fine or delicate work are often known for their steady hands. These sorts can become fearful of damaging these wondrous instruments.
# Stoic
A stoic soul never complains about the hardships of life on the road. He accepts them and soldiers on. However, this same quality can make him emotionally remote and difficult to reach in matters of empathy, love and compassion.
# Tall
Some folks are unusually straight and tall. It’s a notable attribute that can be trouble when snaking one’s way through narrow tunnels in a dungeon.
# Thoughtful
A thoughtful adventurer will ponder all options and all possible courses of action before making a decision. This is very useful when there’s time to plan or ponder, but useless in times of haste.
# Touched by the Gods
The Immortals speak to clerics. Moreover, when a cleric speaks to the Immortals, the Immortals are often willing to listen. The gods guide and protect their chosen.
But the clerics must be ever vigilant to ensure that the words they speak are truly those of the Immortals and not the secret desires of their own hearts.
# Wizard’s Sight
The magician sees more than other mortals. Whether it’s the telltale signs of a spirit or demon or the flicker of a lie in a man’s aura, the magician can see the flows of magic and the misty borders of the Otherworld. But the magician must also take care, for that which is seen with the Wizard’s Sight cannot be unseen.