Traits and planning your character

[Joria]

Just like in S3, getting the traits right for your character is important.  I'm currently playing a Merchant who has HORRIBLE traits for her so everything I do with her is a big struggle.  (I did not select her traits, my kid did).  Even the Fatal Flaw can be a useful trait sometimes and there is that quest to fix the Fatal Flaw.  (Legendary Fountain) For my Merchant, she SHOULD have had the Haggler trait.  She goes to the Shoppe to haggle and can't so always pays full price.  (Unless there really isn't a true "haggle".)  I'm thinking she also SHOULD have had the Friendly trait if she really wanted to be able to make sales.  She's always broke.  Hubris is her fatal flaw so we'll see how that turns out. 

So what would be good traits for different characters?  What have you guys thought about it or found? 

[Titus]

There are some achievements which will require some planning on your sim traits too (like have five drunkards and five gluttoons at the same time in your realm)

[Darkhadia]

My merchants traits are the Hopeful Orphan (I think it's called) and Exciteable, neither of which are too helpful to her job much (maybe exciteable for more focus but I could think of better to have!) although the orphan one is fun! Just trying out all of the traits atm 

[Ricalynn]

I've noticed the Hubris fatal flaw pretty much is a focus dump or something.  I cannot figure out how to get rid of the moodlet at all.  I just sit there with a negative box on the screen til it goes away several Sim hours later. It was really difficult on my wizard.   There are a lot of interesting traits but I've noticed that none of them really go with the professions like TS3.  There is nothing on the list that makes my bard a better player, my king a better monarch or my physician a better doctor.  Sure, some traits will make socializing easier but a lot of the hero specific interactions don't actually require you to talk to the person, ex: a merchant can walk up to someone, compliment their taste, butter them up and then get them to buy something without ever asking how do you fare.

[Veldmuisie]

The Hubris fatal flaw is good for a king, but stay away from anyone who harvests flowers or gather stones.  The "yaih I just did something" debuff for harvesting will stack until they're down in the dumps.  Not much you can do but wait for that one, a good trick is to accomplish a few tasks right before going to bed so he can sleep it off.

The Orphan flaw is funny - keep asking random strangers about your parents and you might get a good buff surprise!

I absolutely hate the Glutton flaw, all he ever does is eat!

My queen was Unkempt and Cursed, she constantly walked around in a cloud of stink and a cloud of buzzing curse-thingies.  Not very seemly for a monarch.

[Lilygirl]

My rule in creating my heros was I couldn't use the same trait twice, because I wanted to see as many of the traits in action as I could. After selecting my Monarchs traits, I basically random rolled for the other heros and then changed the ones already used. Hubris is my least favorite FF right now (I haven't played with them all yet) but it got changed to a Legendary Trait, Patient. The Licentious FF is easy to deal with if you have a couple Sims "on standby" so when your hero runs into any one of them, it's a quick kiss and the debuff is gone!

[Jonna]

I agree, Hubris is terrible!  Cowardly doesn't seem too bad, I tried it on a priest and she just didn't like being outside after dark.  I like drunkard, it's easy to fix - just give 'em a drink (because I'm "frugal"  I have my sim make the ale/wine, then I have them draw pitchers and put them in their inventory - so I get all 12 drinks out of my $50 or $60!).

[Carl]

I agree, Hubris is terrible!  Cowardly doesn't seem too bad, I tried it on a priest and she just didn't like being outside after dark.  I like drunkard, it's easy to fix - just give 'em a drink (because I'm "frugal"  I have my sim make the ale/wine, then I have them draw pitchers and put them in their inventory - so I get all 12 drinks out of my $50 or $60!).

If you can afford it, Drunk-Me-Not from the sorcerer or physician ($80 base) will also fix that. It gives a big boost for 15 hours, to boot. Almost an exploit.

[Schipperke]

I gave my merchant Friendly and Eloquent, both of which I hoped would help him make friends.  But his fatal flaw - Lascivious - was a real nuisance because he was very unhappy if he didn't get kissed twice a day at least.  As soon as I got the chance to get a legendary trait for someone, he was the one I chose.  I haven't tried all the fatal flaws yet, but as others have said, Hubris is a hard one.  Glutton is challenging too because they need to eat twice as often, and never seem to be totally full.  Of the fatal flaws I've tried, Drunkard and Compulsive Gambler seem to me to be the easiest ones.  All they need is a drink or a bet twice a day to keep them happy, and neither of those needs takes a lot of time to fulfill.  I've also tried giving Puny to characters like the priest or doctor that don't need to get into sword fighting.  From what I can tell so far, it isn't causing them any problems.

[Jonna]

I've also tried giving Puny to characters like the priest or doctor that don't need to get into sword fighting.  From what I can tell so far, it isn't causing them any problems.

I didn't see many problems either.  Don't let them play the fiddle though! They'll become Sore right away.  For the doctor, I think also that doing too many 'surgeries' in a row can cause a negative buff, probably because it's a bit more labor intensive than the doctor's other activities.

[Schipperke]

I gave a character the Whale Ate My Parents trait just to try it out.  He would get a negative moodlet every so often - Whale Rage, I think it was called - but if he talked to someone about whales, it gave him a positive moodlet.  Sims with that trait can also go on whale hunts, but mine hasn't done that and probably won't because of my feelings against whale hunting.  Yeah, I know it's just a game, but nevertheless. 

Another trait I haven't tried yet and am curious about is the Hopeful Orphan.  Anyone have any experience with that one?

[Joria]

I have.  (You won't believe how many games I've got going off and on!)  It's an easy one to deal with.  Like almost not there and no bother.  Just ask someone once in awhile if they've seen your parents and you're good to go.  Whale Ate My Parents is another good one.  My Smith has that one.  Get's ticked and I immediately have him talk about whales and voila!  I actually thought that one would be funnier but it isn't so far.

[Darkhadia]

One nice perk from Hopeful Orphan was that my sim got a letter given to her after asking about her parents, read it and you get a +30 (I think) buff that lasts for 12 hours and what's better, you don't read it like a book, spending a sim hour or two reading it...it happens automatically as soon as I click on it!

[Pam]

I've only played my one queen character so far.  I gave her the Whale Ate My Parents trait.  She goes to the docks and rages at the sea to get rid of that negative buff.  She also loves family and her Fatal Flaw is Licentious.  She has about 4 love interests and is courting one.  Like many new players, I had no idea what I was doing when I chose her traits.  She's doing ok, though.

[RunAmokSims]

I gave my bard the eloquent trait this worked very well for her. Unfortunately she also has the whale ate my parents trait. She always has the urge to go on a whale hunt (she would have to buy a boat and a harpoon at the shoppe) or go the sea and scream at it.