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Combat Traits

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Absalom Bouncer:​ ​When you make an attack that deals nonlethal damage with an unarmed
strike, you gain a +1 bonus on your damage roll. ​Nonlethal doesn’t come up often enough for
me to really want this. If you plan on making a character that doesn’t want to kill people, this is
ok, but there’s traits that just give a straight +1 to unarmed damage.

Absolute Loyalty: ​ ​You gain the one-time ability to immediately cast atonement upon yourself as
a spell-like ability upon performing an act or being subjected to an effect that spell affects. This
ability can only be used while you are acting in the service of your liege (an individual of higher
social standing chosen when you take this trait). ​No thank you. One time use of a spell that the
vast majority of DM’s will never force you to use is generally speaking a complete waste of a
trait. On the off chance you do need an atonement spell, you ALSO have to be acting in service
to your liege for this trait to work. Plus the price of having your druid or cleric buddy cast it is
only 500 gold and it’s 950 if you need an NPC to do it. There’s traits that give that much gold
straight up to spend on whatever you want.

Accelerated Drinker​:​ You may drink a potion as a move action instead of a standard action as
long as you start your turn with the potion in your hand. ​There’s a couple classes that make
heavy use of drinking and assuming you can convince your DM that drinking a potion and
drinking a beer are equivalent (they are the same action after all) this would be a solid pickup for
those classes. Other than that, probably useless. If your DM were to allow this to work with
Alchemist extracts or druidic herbalism, then this is probably ​purple, ​but that’s completely
dependant on your DM and is specifically stated as not working in a FAQ from Paizo.

Aldori Caution:​ ​You learned defensive moves from Aldori trainers. You gain an additional +1
dodge bonus to Armor Class while you fight defensively or use the total defense action.​ Both of
these are pretty terrible ways to use your actions and I know of no good way to invest in them.
Pass.

Ambush Training:​ ​You gain a +1 trait bonus on initiative checks and a +1 trait bonus on weapon
damage rolls during any surprise round in which you act. ​Not bad, but completely outclassed by
the +2 initiative traits. Without some very specific builds, you’re only getting one single attack in
a surprise round, maximum. One damage per fight, conditionally, is very lacklustre.

Anatomist:​ ​You gain a +1 trait bonus on all rolls made to confirm critical hits. ​Pretty simple
bonus. Nobody likes threatening a critical and then not confirming it. Solid choice on a crit
focused build.

Armed Grit:​ ​As long as you have a firearm drawn, you gain a +2 trait bonus on saving throws
against fear and the DCs of Intimidate checks to demoralize you increase by 2.​ Eh, narrow and
conditional.

Armour Expert:​ ​ ​When you wear armor of any sort, reduce that suit's armor check penalty by 1,
to a minimum check penalty of 0. ​This is good. As a general rule, reducing your armour check
penalty is a good thing, but where this really shines is the ability to wear certain armours without
proficiency. A mithral breastplate with this trait has an armour check penalty of 0, meaning it can
be worn without proficiency at no penalty since all non-proficiency penalties are tied to armour
check penalty. Additionally, this can be combined with the Comfort enchantment to allow you to
use field plate without penalty. It’s a pretty significant expenditure at that point, costing 15200
gold, but it’s +7 AC with no ACP or required proficiency. I don’t think that’s really enough of an
improvement from mithral breastplate for the price, though.

Arodenite Sword Training: ​Your family has passed down training in Aroden’s favored weapon,
even though the god no longer answers their prayers. You are proficient with the longsword. If
your class grants longsword proficiency as well, you gain a +1 trait bonus on attacks of
opportunity with longswords.​ The longsword isn’t a bad weapon, so if you only have simple
weapons and will be one-handing in melee, this is solid. If you already have proficiency, avoid
this.

Axe to Grind:​ ​You gain a +1 trait bonus on damage against foes who are threatened by only
you.​ Not bad if you don’t plan on working with your allies, but you probably should work with
your allies. That said, in a party with only one melee character this would be a fairly solid choice.

Back for More: ​Anytime an opponent confirms a critical hit against you, you gain a +2 morale
bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls against that foe until the end of your next turn.​ Too
conditional.
Battlefield Disciple:​ ​You gain a +2 trait bonus on Heal checks made to stabilize a​ ​dying creature.
In addition, when you successfully use the aid another action in combat to grant an ally a bonus
on her next attack roll, the bonus you grant increases by 1. ​If you spec into Aid Another, it can
end up being quite good. That said, I think this is one of the weaker traits for it. While it simply
adds a bonus on top of what you would normally have, letting it stack with classes that improve
your Aid Another bonus to something other than +2, it only applies to attack rolls so it doesn’t
work with Bodyguard. The Heal bonus is too minor to care about.

Berserker of the Society (Barbarian, Society):​ ​You may use your rage ability for 3 additional
rounds per day.​ Decent choice. Rage rounds don’t scale particularly fast and they’re very
important, so this is a solid low level buff to a Barbarian’s staying power.

Black Powder Bravado:​ ​Once per day, when you perform a deed that requires an attack roll and
you miss with that roll, you can reroll it. You must take the second result even if it is worse.​ A
once per day reroll isn’t bad, this could come in really handy against particularly tough enemies
where you really want that attack to land. Not the greatest option, but a pretty ok option for a
gunslinger.

Black Powder Fortune:​ ​As long as you are wielding a firearm, you gain a +2 trait bonus​ ​on all
saving throws against curse, fear, and emotion effects.​ Of these, only fear is particularly
common. These aren’t the worst saves to fail in any case, you can definitely do better.

Black Powder Interjection:​ ​Once per day, when you interrupt the casting of a spell with a firearm
attack, you may regain 1 grit point.​ This seems very situational, but potentially useful if you
know you’re going to be fighting a lot of casters and you’ve built to counter them.

Blackjacket Weapon Flair:​ ​Whenever you roll a natural 20 (the die shows a “20”) on a combat
maneuver check with a magic weapon, you gain a +5 trait bonus on the check.​ This is terrible.
For one, you’re succeeding on the check no matter what when it comes up, since a nat 20
always succeeds. For two, even if you get better successes for higher results, you rolled a
freaking 20. You literally could not have rolled better, this is not when you need a bonus. For
three, you can just get a flat +1 that applies on every roll, rather than a bonus that’ll only happen
5% of the time. Makes for some wicked cool nat 20’s, though.

Blade of the Society (Rogue, Society): ​You gain a +1 trait bonus to damage rolls from sneak
attacks.​ This is pretty good on a rogue, sneak attack is your main source of actually doing
damage so getting more out of each one you land is pretty solid. There’s better options, but for
straight damage on a Rogue this is solid.

Bloodthirsty​:​ ​Whenever you make an attack that reduces a foe to 0 hit points or fewer or you
confirm a critical hit, your attack deals 1 additional point of damage. The additional damage is a
trait bonus, and is multiplied by your weapon's critical hit multiplier.​ So you get a bonus to
damage when you win a fight, and a bonus to damage on crits. The crit bonus might be not
terrible on a build based around them, but even then this is a weak choice.

Bloody-Minded:​ ​You gain a +1 trait bonus on initiative and Intimidate checks.​ This is decent, but
not great. You don’t get Intimidate in class and you only get +1 to initiative. Slightly below par,
but both things granted are useful so I’ll give it a low green.

Born Under the Cradle:​ ​You gain a +2 trait bonus on attack rolls to perform the aid another
action.​ Aid another is ok if you spec into it, but hitting DC 10 is easy as hell, especially as you
level. Never good.

Born under the Dreamer​:​ ​Once per day as a free action, you can take 10 on your initiative
check. ​This isn’t terrible, but I don’t think it’s worthwhile. Sure, you might roll a 1 on that roll you
didn’t take. You also might roll a 20. Probably quite good on high initiative characters who will
win initiative with a 10, but otherwise not worth it.

Born under the Stranger​: ​When feinting against aberrations, you do not take a –4 penalty for
feinting against a non-humanoid creature, and you take only a –4 penalty if you feint against an
aberration of animal​ ​Intelligence instead of –8). You still cannot feint against mindless creatures.
This is extremely unlikely to matter. Ever. You’d need to be building a feint based build in a
campaign centred around aberrations for this to be a worthwhile choice.

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.
Automatically stabilizing is the best part of this trait, but I still don’t really think much of it. You
shouldn’t be spending that much time below 0 HP for it to matter, you know?

Bullied: ​You gain a +1 trait bonus on attack of opportunity attack rolls made with unarmed
strikes.Note that this trait does not grant the ability to make attacks of opportunity with your
unarmed strikes—you must have a level in monk, the Improved Unarmed Strike feat, or some
other similar power to gain the use of this character trait. However, that doesn't prevent you
from selecting this trait. You simply cannot make use of it until a later point if you do.​ So a bonus
to damage AoO with unarmed strikes. There’s two feats that give the same bonus to ALL
damage with unarmed strikes. Ignore this.

Careful Combatant:​ ​When using the withdraw action, both the first and second squares of your
movement are not considered threatened by any opponents you can see, rather than just the
first square.​ This is decent, I guess. Makes it so you can withdraw from melee with an opponent
who has reach without taking an AoO. It’s a pretty unique effect as far as I know, but super
situational. It might save you a couple of attack throughout the course of a campaign, but there’s
better choices.

Coherent Rage:​ ​ ​Select one of the following skills: Bluff, Escape Artist, Handle Animal, or
Stealth.
You may use this skill normally while raging.​ This is so situational it’s absurd. Not worth
consideration.

Cold and Calculating​:​ ​You gain a +1 trait bonus on all Bluff checks against favored enemies that
share one of your subtypes. You also gain a +1 trait bonus on attack rolls made against such
favored enemies during the surprise round.​ This is really weak. Narrow focus, situational and
poor bonuses. No reason I can think of whatsoever to select this trait.

Courageous:​ ​You gain a +2 trait bonus on saving throws against fear effects.​ Fear effects aren’t
uncommon, and failing them certainly isn’t fun. That said, it’s pretty narrow and I’ll always take
+1 to an entire save over +2 to a particular type of save.

Crowd Dodger:​ ​You gain a +2 trait bonus on Acrobatics checks to move through another
creature's space and to avoid attacks of opportunity for leaving a threatened square. ​This isn’t
terrible if you want to play a mobile fighter. That said, there’s better bonuses to Acrobatics

Dedicated Defender:​ ​You gain a +1 trait bonus on attack rolls and on checks made to overcome
spell resistance while you are adjacent to a dying or disabled ally, animal companion, eidolon,
familiar, or mount. ​Meh. Situationally, this could be a slight boon. That said, you’re rendered
completely immobile in order to take advantage of this trait and your ally has to be down.
Generally you want to avoid downed allies to begin with.
Defender of the Society (Fighter, Society)​:​ ​You gain a +1 trait bonus to Armor Class when
wearing medium or heavy armor. ​This is good. AC is always useful and this is almost like a free
+1 enhancement on your armour. Very much worth picking if you’re playing a fighter.

Deft Dodger:​ ​You gain a +1 trait bonus on Reflex saves.​ Reflex saves are generally the least
punishing saves to fail. That said, if this is your weakest save it’s probably worth shoring up a
bit.

Demon Slayer: ​You can attempt a Knowledge (planes) check to find a demon’s weak spot. (DC
10 + the demon’s CR). If you succeed, you gain a +3 trait bonus on rolls to confirm critical hits
against that demon until the end of the battle. This effect only works on demons. ​Super
situational. You have to be a crit focused character who also plans on fighting demons on a
regular basis for this to be worth it. Maybe a Magus in Wrath of the Righteous?

Demon Smiter:​ ​Once per day when fighting demons, you gain a +4 trait bonus on a single attack
roll.​ If you know you’re going to be fighting a lot of demons (again, Wrath of the Righteous) this
could very well be worthwhile, assuming you have a way of loading a lot of power into one
attack that absolutely has to hit. Outside of that very specific situation, this is pretty useless.

Dirty Fighter:​ ​When you hit a foe you are flanking, you deal 1 additional point of damage (this
damage is added to your base damage, and is multiplied on a critical hit). This additional
damage is a trait bonus. ​Pretty solid choice if you’re going to be flanking a lot. If you can’t count
on getting flanking bonuses, then ignore this. Possibly consider picking up the Pack Flanking
and Precise Strikes feats with this trait for extra flanking goodness.

Disillusioned:​ ​You gain a +2 trait bonus on Will saving throws against emotion and fear effects.
Again, +1 vs all Will is better than +2 vs certain kinds of Will. Still, it’s not completely terrible.

Dispelled Battler: ​You gain a +1 trait bonus on weapon attack and damage rolls while within an
area of antimagic such as that created by an antimagic field. You also gain this bonus for 1
round after you are subject to an area or targeted dispel magic spell, regardless of the effect's
success or failure in dispelling your spells and magical effects. ​This is so absurdly narrow. How
often do you really fight in an AMF, or get dispel magic cast on you? It happens, sure, but not
often enough to be worth it.
Dueling Cloak Adept​:​ ​While wearing a cloak and using a dueling sword, you gain a +2 trait
bonus on Bluff checks made to feint. Additionally, every time you successfully feint while
wearing a cloak, you gain a +1 dodge bonus to your Armor Class until your next turn. ​This is
actually pretty good. If you’re building a character who plans to feint often, this is a very, very
good choice. That said, feinting is pretty much crap most of the time.

Easy Way or the Hard Way:​ ​Whenever you attack one of your favored enemies with a weapon
that deals lethal damage and choose to deal nonlethal damage, you take only a –2 penalty on
the attack roll instead of the normal –4 . ​There are better traits for this. Favoured enemy only,
and you still get half the penalty. Meh.

Evasive Sting:​ ​You gain a +1 dodge bonus to AC against enemies that are both your favored
enemy and at least two size categories larger than you.​ This is terrible. Narrow and weak.

Excitable (Gnome):​ ​You gain a +2 trait bonus on all Initiative checks. ​Initiative is extremely
powerful. There’s a few traits that give +2 to it and all of them are very good. Going first is a
huge tactical advantage.

Failed Aspirant:​ ​Choose a single combat maneuver. Once per day, you can perform that combat
maneuver without provoking an attack of opportunity, and you gain a +2 bonus on that attempt.
Not terrible, but I have a couple problems with this. For one, it only applies to one combat
maneuver, and only once per day. If you’re going to be using a maneuver regularly, you’ll
probably spend some feats on it and use it more than once per day. This won’t come up often
enough on a build that doesn’t require it and will come up too often on a build that does.

Faith's Hunter:​ ​When you confirm a critical hit against a favored enemy, you may extend the
duration of any divine spell affecting you by 1 round. The benefits from multiple critical hits
stack. Divine spells with an instantaneous duration can't be extended in this manner.​ For a crit
fishing ranger with a cleric who buffs him every fight this trait is… still mediocre.

Fencer:​ ​You gain a +1 trait bonus on attack of opportunity attack rolls made with daggers,
swords, and similar bladed weapons.​ Come and Get Me Barbarian would probably like this, but
by the time that comes online, a Barbarian isn’t missing anyways. There’s some builds who
make good use of AoO’s, but outside of those this is very useless.
Firebug:​ ​You gain a +1 trait bonus on attack rolls made with thrown splash weapons and
alchemist bombs. ​Bomb focused Alchemist will want this. Everyone else will ignore it.

Hard to Kill: ​When you are attempting a Constitution check to stabilize when dying, the penalty
on the check is only half your negative hit point total instead of your full negative hit point total.​ I
can’t see this coming up very often. Sure, it could save your character. Maybe. How about
picking something that might keep you from going down in the first place?

Hellknight Devotion:​ ​Once per day as a swift action, you can empower the next single melee
attack you make to be treated as lawful-aligned for the purpose of overcoming damage
reduction. ​Not enough of a bonus for once a day.

Hellknight Initiate:​ ​You gain a +2 trait bonus on damage rolls against outsiders summoned
through conjuration (calling) and conjuration (summoning) spells and effects.​ This is pretty
narrow, though it would help you actually get into the Hellknights.

Helpful:​ ​When using the aid another action, you grant your ally a +3 bonus instead of a +2
bonus.​ Completely outclassed by Helpful (halfling) but if you don’t want to use Adopted or play a
halfling this is a solid choice for an Aid Another build. There’s better, but this is ok.

Hidden Hand:​ ​You gain a +1 trait bonus on Sleight of Hand checks made to conceal light
weapons and a +1 trait bonus on attack rolls when making an attack with a light weapon during
a surprise round.​ We’ve been over this. Surprise round buffs are weak. The bonus to Sleight of
Hand is also only for concealing weapons as well. Just far too narrow to be useful.

Hill Fighter:​ ​You may run or charge downhill on a steep slope (moving up to your base speed)
without making an Acrobatics check to avoid stumbling but if you travel farther than this
distance, the normal rules for steep slopes apply.​ Completely terrible. I’ve never seen this come
up and the DC is hilariously low anyways.

Holdout: ​You gain a +1 trait bonus to CMD against disarm and steal combat maneuvers. ​The
bonus vs disarm is decent. Still probably not worth a trait though.

Honored Fist of the Society (Monk, Society):​ ​You increase your ki pool by 1 point.​ Not bad. Ki
points are pretty powerful, so I’d definitely give this solid consideration on any Monk I played.
Hunter's Knack: ​You gain a +1 trait bonus on attack rolls against your favored enemies when
you make such attacks as part of a readied action.​ Ok, what’s with the trend of taking a narrow
bonus and then making it favoured enemy only just to narrow it further? Not going to come up
nearly often enough to matter.

Ichimeiyo Champion:​ ​Once per day, if an effect would compel you to harm an ally, abandon an
ally, or break your word, you can attempt a Will save at the usual DC to end the effect. If the
effect normally allows a Will save at this point, you can roll twice and take the better result.​ Eh,
it’s a nice buff but I think it’s just too narrow to really like.

Improvised Defense:​ ​Whenever you wield an improvised weapon, you gain a +1 shield bonus to
AC. If you use the improvised weapon to attack, you lose this shield bonus until the beginning of
your next turn.​ So, anything in your hand that isn’t a real weapon could, technically, be an
improvised weapon. That metamagic rod? Totally an improvised weapon. That scroll?
Papercuts are deadly. A pickle and pastrami sandwich? Better hope they have dill resistance!
All jokes aside, this is basically a free +1 to armour for classes that can’t wield shields, though
it’s outclassed by an enchanted mithral buckler. Still, not a bad selection if your DM doesn’t
mind a little bit of cheese.

Indelible Ire​:​ ​Each time a critical hit is confirmed against you, you gain a +1 trait bonus on attack
rolls for 1 round.​ I mean, yeah, you’re going to eat a crit at some point. This might make you feel
better about it afterwards, but that’s about the only use you’ll get from it.

Inspiring:​ ​As a standard action, you can speak words of encouragement to grant a +1 morale
bonus to an ally within 30 feet who can see and hear you. The ally can use this bonus on any
d20 roll of her choice before the start of your next turn. You cannot use this trait to grant a
bonus to yourself or to an ally who has already benefited from this trait within the last 24 hours.
Remember those Aid Another traits? Yeah. That.

Inspiring Rush:​ ​Once per day when you make a charge attack, you gain a +1 trait bonus on both
your attack and damage rolls, as do any allies who make a charge attack before the beginning
of your next turn.​ Oh man if this wasn’t 1/day. The imagery is fantastic, though. One big problem
it has is that you have to be the first to charge. If you roll badly on initiative, your allies may
already be in combat by the time you go to use this.
Jungle Fighter:​ ​Your speed may not be reduced to less than 10 feet by difficult terrain in jungles
(meaning you may take a 5-foot step in difficult terrain and not provoke an attack of opportunity).
So what? There’s better ways to be mobile in the jungle. Or just stay out of the jungle.

Just Like New:​ ​Your first attempt to remove the broken condition from your starting firearm and
to upgrade it to a masterwork weapon costs 150 gp instead of 300 gp. In addition, when
wielding a firearm that has the broken condition or is treated as if it had the broken condition,
you take a –1 penalty on attack rolls made with it instead of the normal –2. ​You can fix a broken
firearm with a cantrip. I’m sure your party has a spellcaster, right?

Killer:​ ​You deal an amount of additional damage equal to your weapon's critical hit modifier
when you score a successful critical hit with a weapon; this additional damage is added to the
final total, and is not multiplied by the critical hit multiple itself. This extra damage is a trait
bonus.​ Not terrible, not great. Crit fishing builds will probably consider this.

Kin Guardian:​ ​When you use the aid another action to give a member of your family a bonus to
AC, increase the bonus by 2. This increase is a trait bonus (and therefore doesn't stack with
increases granted by other family members using this trait). This trait has no effect when using
the aid another action to increase a family member's next attack roll. ​ Good with a Bodyguard
build in a party that’s all related. If this wasn’t family only it would actually be pretty solid, but
that condition is absolutely crippling.

Larger Than Life:​ ​When you use the Intimidate skill on a creature while wielding a firearm, you
are considered one size category larger than your actual size.​ This is amazing. It’s essentially a
+4 to Intimidate while wielding a firearm, and it’s not even a trait bonus so you can get another
trait to boost your Intimidate higher. Very nasty on an Intimidate build, or even a face.

Lastwall Defender: ​You gain a +1 trait bonus on attack and damage rolls against undead
creatures that you have personally identified using the Knowledge (religion) skill. ​If you’re going
to be fighting a lot of undead and have decent ranks in Knowledge (religion) this is quite solid.
Only worthwhile in an undead focused campaign, though. Carrion Crown, perhaps?

Martial Performer:​ ​When you gain a monk bonus feat, you may instead take a performance feat
for which you meet the prerequisites. ​I mean, if your monk takes Dazzling Display, this is
probably solid. I’ve never seen a monk take Dazzling Display, though.
Merciful Scimitar:​ ​You can deal nonlethal damage with a scimitar without taking a penalty on
your attack rolls.​ Blade of Mercy is better, but this is still handy if you plan on using a scimitar
nonlethally.

Monk Weapon Skill:​ ​Select one monk weapon with which you are proficient (unarmed attacks
do not qualify for this purpose). You gain a +1 trait bonus on damage rolls with this weapon.
Pretty much exactly the same as a few other traits that do this for various weapons. The fact it
doesn’t work on unarmed strikes doesn’t matter since there’s already 2 traits that do that. Nice
trait.

Muscle of the Society:​ ​You gain a +2 trait bonus on Strength checks made to break doors and
lift portcullises, and you treat your Strength score as 2 higher for the purpose of determining
your carrying capacity​. Completely contrary to the fluff of this, I think it’s best on a weak
character like a Wizard who would otherwise suffer from carrying capacity issues. Even then, it’s
weak and your DM will probably yell at you for being cheesy.

Nature's Mimic:​ ​You gain a +1 trait bonus on all Knowledge (nature) checks, and Knowledge
(nature) is always a class skill for you. You can make Knowledge (nature) checks pertaining to
animals that correspond to your style feats untrained.​ Knowledge (nature) is a good skill to have
in class, and to get a bonus on. You’ll definitely want to train it to get the class skill bonus,
though, so the part about style feats is basically pointless. Definitely a good choice in any case.

Never Stop Shooting:​ ​If your hit point total drops to 0 or lower but you are not dead, you may act
as if disabled rather than dying (as if you possessed the Diehard feat). However, you can use
your actions only to draw a firearm, reload a firearm, or attack with a firearm. If you have the
Diehard feat, this trait also allows you to substitute your Wisdom score for your Constitution
score for the purpose of determining the negative hit point total at which you die. ​Basically a
slightly nerfed, no prerequisite Diehard for Gunslingers. Imitating a feat as a trait is good. Still,
it’s not really that great of a feat.

No Escape:​ ​You gain a +1 trait bonus on combat maneuver checks to lawfully and nonlethally
restrain a creature you've witnessed commit a crime​. Too narrow to be useful. You have to
witness the crime, take them down nonlethally and it has to actually be against the law where
you are. Many adventures take place in lawless lands.
Ozem-Inspired:​ ​You gain a +1 trait bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls when making attacks
of opportunity against undead. While you wield a shield, your shield bonus to AC improves by 1
against attacks of opportunity made by undead.​ If this was just attacks of opportunity, or just
undead it would be all right. As is? Too narrow.

Performer’s Surprise:​ ​Against foes denied their Dexterity bonus to AC, you gain a +1 trait bonus
on damage rolls with improvised weapons, exotic weapons, and thrown weapons.​ Uhh, no.
That’s really specific and the types of weapons are… odd to say the least.

Pillager:​ ​You gain a +1 trait bonus on combat maneuver checks to perform disarm and steal
combat maneuvers.​ If you’re building around disarms, this isn’t terrible. There’s much better
stuff available, however.

Punish Insurrection:​ ​Against members of the same organization or hierarchy who formally
answer to you, you gain a +1 trait bonus on attack and damage rolls. You also gain this bonus
against members who have openly defied the authority or rules of that body, provided the
infraction is serious enough that their standing is now less than yours. ​So when you’re fighting
your allies, you get a decent buff. I don’t see this coming up often enough to be worth selecting.

Reactionary​:​ ​You gain a +2 trait bonus on initiative checks.​ Wicked good. Always worth
selecting on any character.

Reckless:​ ​You gain a +1 bonus on Acrobatics checks, and Acrobatics is always a class skill for
you. ​Very good. Acrobatics is a handy skill to get in class if you don’t already have it.

Reckless Contempt:​ ​Whenever you provoke an attack of opportunity by firing a firearm, you gain
a +1 trait bonus on the attack roll that provoked the attack of opportunity.​ So, open yourself up
to a free attack to get a minor bonus on your own attack. Not a good trade. Ever.

Red Mantis Bleeding:​ ​Whenever you confirm a critical hit with a slashing weapon, you also deal
1 point of bleed damage.​ Bleed damage is easy to stop and takes too long to really stack up into
a useful amount of damage. Even on a crit build, this is pretty meh.

Resilient:​ ​You gain a +1 trait bonus on Fortitude saves.​ Failing Fortitude saves is unpleasant.
Always a good selection.
Resolve of the Rejected:​ ​You gain a +1 trait bonus on all saving throws against charm and
compulsion effects. Also, once per day when you succeed at a saving throw against such an
effect, you regain 1 grit point.​ Charms and especially compulsions are really bad to fail saves
against. They tend to be save or lose, so getting a bonus to the save is useful and regaining a
grit point is nothing to sneeze at. That said, it’s a small, narrow bonus with a conditional extra
bonus so I can’t really recommend it.

River Fighter:​ ​You may swim downstream or cross-current as a charge if you make your Swim
DC by 5 or more. ​This is almost guaranteed to be completely useless forever in every
campaign. How many fights have YOU had in a river?

Roving Range:​ ​Increase the range increment of ranged weapons (but not thrown weapons) you
wield by 5 feet.​ Not terrible on an archer, but really… five feet isn’t much.

Savanna Hunter:​ ​You gain a +1 trait bonus on attacks of opportunity attack rolls made with a
short spear, as well as a +1 racial bonus on Constitution checks to continue running and avoid
nonlethal damage from a forced march. ​So. Narrow. Move on.

Scarred by Space Pirates​:​ ​You gain a +1 trait bonus on attack rolls against humanoids from
beyond Golarion, including Androids, Kasathas, Triaxians, and Vercites, among others. ​Too
narrow to bother with.

Scarred Descendant:​ ​You gain a +1 trait bonus on rolls to confirm critical hits against favored
enemies of your own subtype and on Survival checks made to track such creatures.​ Extremely
narrow. How about just taking +1 to confirm criticals on everyone if you want that? The survival
bonus doesn’t even come close to making up for how narrow this is.

Siege Defender:​ ​Aroden taught the people of Absalom to survive any siege with proper
preparation and cooperation, and those teachings were passed on to you. You gain a +1 trait
bonus on melee damage rolls when you attack a target from higher ground.​ If you are a
mounted character or can fly, you should be able to have higher ground much of the time,
making this pretty good. Otherwise, give it a miss.

Slippery​:​ You gain a +1 trait bonus on Stealth checks and Stealth is a class skill for you. ​Want to
make a sneaky character with a non sneaky class? Take this, or another like it. Definitely worth
a trait.
Soaring Sprinter​:​ ​You gain a +2 trait bonus on Acrobatics checks to keep your balance or jump,
and Acrobatics becomes a class skill for you. ​Getting Acrobatics in class and a bonus to it is
great, unfortunately this doesn’t apply to the most important form of Acrobatics, avoiding attacks
of opportunity. As such I’ll always take a flat +1 version over this.

Splash Attack:​ ​As long as you are standing in or adjacent to water, or holding at least a pint of
liquid (including insoluble liquids like oil or alchemist’s fire), you can perform a dirty trick combat
maneuver to blind a foe within reach without provoking an attack of opportunity. If you select the
Improved Dirty Trick feat, you gain a +2 trait bonus on dirty trick combat maneuvers to blind foes
as long as you are standing in or adjacent to water or holding a pint of liquid.​ If you want to use
Dirty Trick to blind regularly, this is pretty good. There’s far better available, though, such as
traits that will just give you a +2 with no conditions.

Sprint (Gnome):​ ​If you do nothing but move in a turn (that is, if you run or use both of your
actions in a round to move your speed) and you are in no armor or light armor, you may move
an extra 5 feet.​ I’m not really sure what about this made them decide it needed to be Gnome
only, but it is. It’s pretty terrible, I don’t think it’s really going to come into play all that often and
if it does, an extra 5 feet on a double move isn’t especially impressive.

Startling Report:​ ​When you shoot a firearm, you gain a +2 trait bonus on Intimidate checks for 1
round against those who heard the shot. ​This is cool flavourwise and would be green, but it’s
quite literally doubled by Larger than Life.

Steel Skin:​ ​You gain the ability to don or remove heavy armor in half the normal time.
Additionally, you begin play with a great helm bearing the iconography of your family (this helm
grants no special defensive benefits). While wearing this helm with a suit of heavy armor, you
gain a +2 trait bonus on Intimidate checks.​ I don’t find the time it takes to don heavy armour
comes up particularly often, though it could happen. Mostly this trait is about the +2 to intimidate
and the awesome helm. If you have Intimidate in class, this is a good way to supplement it.

Strong Arm, Supple Wrist:​ ​Whenever you move at least 10 feet before making an attack with a
thrown weapon, you add 10 feet to the range increment of the weapon thrown. You can only
gain this benefit once per round. ​Alchemists that focus around bombs will really like this trait,
since it gives them essentially a 50% upgrade on the range of their bombs as long as they move
first. The trait also doesn’t require you to move towards your target so as long as you move and
throw, you’re getting extra range. Not very good outside of Alchemists, though.

Surprise Weapon:​ You gain a +2 trait bonus on attack rolls with improvised weapons. Are you a
Monk of the Empty Hand? If yes, take this. If not, don’t. Pretty simple.

Sworn Enemy:​ ​Choose a foe from the ranger's list of favored enemies. You gain a +1 trait bonus
on attacks of opportunity against the chosen foe.​ Favoured enemies again, with an additional
restriction just because. If this was a +1 bonus to attacks against your chosen foe, it would be a
solid choice. As it is, it’s quite poor.

Tactician:​ ​You gain a +1 trait bonus on initiative checks. In addition, once per day when you
make an attack of opportunity, you gain a +2 trait bonus on the attack roll. ​I still prefer a flat +2
to initiative, but the daily bonus from this will likely see regular use. Solid choice overall.

Tarnished Halls Runner:​ ​When you move at least 10 feet, you gain a +1 trait bonus on attack
rolls with firearms and technological weapons and a +1 dodge bonus to your AC against such
weapons until the start of your next turn.​ In a game with a lot of firearms, this could be good. As
you level and want to get full attacks more often, though, it’s going to quickly lose usefulness.

Threatening Defender:​ ​When you use Combat Expertise, reduce the number you subtract from
your melee attack rolls by 1.​ I haven’t seen many builds that take Combat Expertise for any
reason other than it being a feat tax. Sure, this makes it slightly better, but sacrificing attack
bonus for AC is a pretty bad trade most of the time. Decent synergy with a Soulknife that selects
Focused Defence, but at that point you’re rapidly approaching the point of unnecessarily high
AC, in my opinion.

Thunder and Fang Performer:​ ​You gain a +2 trait bonus on Intimidate checks while wielding a
two-handed melee weapon.​ I don’t like that it’s conditional, but if that’s the kind of weapon
you’re wielding then it should be active most of the time anyways.

Tracker of the Society (Ranger, Society):​ ​You gain a +1 trait bonus on Initiative checks and a +2
trait bonus on Survival skill checks made while traveling through any of your favored terrains.
This is in addition to any bonuses you receive from your Favored Terrain class ability. ​I still rate
this below +2 initiative, but an extra +2 to survival in your Favoured Terrain is a pretty decent
tradeoff for it.
Unblemished Barrel​:​ ​You gain a +1 trait bonus on Craft (alchemy) and Craft (weapons) checks,
and it takes you only 30 minutes to remove the broken condition from a firearm. ​It only takes ten
minutes to cast Mending, and that doesn’t cost a trait. Very skippable.

Unpredictable Reactions:​ ​You gain a +1 trait bonus on attack rolls made during the surprise
round of combat. ​Surprise round bonuses aren’t worth a trait.

Vandal:​ ​You gain a +2 bonus on Strength checks to break objects, and when damaging an
object with a weapon, natural weapon, or unarmed attack, you ignore 2 points of its hardness.​ If
you want to be the Kool Aid Man and crash through walls all the time, this is the way to do it.
Otherwise? Skip it.

Vengeful:​ ​Whenever you strike the last creature that damaged you in the past 24 hours, you
gain a +1 trait bonus on damage rolls against that creature. ​This isn’t bad, but if you take it
make sure to think carefully before you attack something that just hurt you to take advantage of
the bonus. If there’s a more important target to hit, +1 damage isn’t worth making a tactical
error. Don’t let it trap you into mistakes and this could be a decent choice.

Vigilant Battler:​ ​You gain a +1 trait bonus on all Sense Motive checks. This trait bonus increases
to +2 when used to counter a feint in combat. ​This could be useful. The main problem I have
with it is that feinting requires build emphasis to be effective, so the vast majority of enemies
you fight will never bother with it. That leaves it as just a +1 to a skill which is very easily
outclassed elsewhere.

Weapon of Peace:​ ​When using a melee weapon that deals lethal damage to instead deal
nonlethal damage, you take only a –2 attack penalty instead of –4. ​Remember Easy Way or the
Hard Way, and how it did exactly this but only to favoured enemies? Yeah. Sometimes these
traits aren’t very well balanced against each other. Anyways, this is significantly better and very
helpful if you want to play a non-lethal fighter. That said, it’s still not the best option for that
available.

Witty Repartee:​ ​You gain a +1 trait bonus on Bluff checks and Bluff is a class skill for you. ​Bluff
is great. Getting it in class with a bonus is great. This trait is great. It’s a great trait.

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