Unique Traits and Occupations

[Myriad]

I'm trying to figure out which Traits are Unique, in the sense that you either pick them at the start, such as 'Desensitized' from the Veteran occupation, or you never get/develop it. Also like the Security Guard's 'Night Owl.'

And which Traits are changeable/acquirable in-game, such as being Overweight, which lowers Stamina. Or Cook, which I assume you'll eventually gain enough experience know it all. Or the Electricians, "Can Operate Generators," which is gained from reading a magazine.

Some can be picked as stand alone traits too, and some can't. So to make things easily visible, I'll make a list of the Occupations and their unique abilities. I'll also comment on whether I think they can be acquired in-game or not...

Occupations
-Park Ranger: Allows much faster movement through forests and woodland.
(Not Acquirable)

-Security Guard: Night Owl.
(Not Acquirable)

-Chef: Cook.
(Gained through experience)

-Veteran: Desensitized.
(Not Acquirable)

-Lumberjack: Allows slightly better movement through forests and woodland. Axe Man.
(Not Acquirable)

-Fitness Instructor: Nutritionist.
(Unsure)

-Burger Flipper: Cook.
(Gained through experience)

-Electrician: Can operate generators.
-Engineer: Can make traps and explosives.
-Metalworker: Can weld forged metal to create items and barricades.
-Mechanic: Amateur mechanic.
(Above four gained through experience/study)

Now the individual traits are too numerous to list. And I assume that most cannot be changed. But there are a few that are assumed by many, but I haven't personally survived long enough to confirm..

-Such as Under/Overweight. They give penalties to Strength/Speed, Endurance, and prone to injury. Is there a point when all those penalties will eventually completely go away? Many people are of the opinion that they will.

-What about Smoker? After being away from cigarettes for a while, can the character eventually 'quit' and not be so Anxious?

-Handy? That might be a unique Trait in it's own right as it gives "Stronger Constructions." But is that a boost, above and beyond, what you can get through Carpentry experience?

-Same with Athletic and Strong... Faster, can run longer, extra knockback, increased carrying capacity... Are those above and beyond what you would normally get from the +4 Skill boost? The description makes it seem so.

-Herbalist? Maybe a magazine, I can't remember.

-And What's up with Lucky? I pick it in hopes that it actually plays an effect when I'm about to get bitten, but I've heard some say it's only for item drops, which really would only take effect once, when the map is generated, and maybe when Zeds spawn.

There are more, but many just seem like they obviously can't be changed, but who knows. That's why the opinions from the community, and facts from those who know, would be a big help. Any opinions and additions to this thread would be appreciated.

[Ficelle]

Most traits, positve and negative, are definitve
You have them at start or never


Only ones you can change are

Weight related...once normal weight, you are plain normal
Strengh and fitness related...only goes up
Somewhat cowardly...you will always have the debuff, but you get less and less sensitive to zombies, so, the debuff matters less


Having at least 1 point in a trait at start gives a huge XP boost to this trait for the whole game too
Can be worth considering sometimes

[Ficelle]

Just to add

You can eventually gain fit / athletic or stout / strong if you play a character long enough...will take monthes or even years
Athletic run speed boost has been removed i think

All starting recipes granted by occupations can be gained via recipe books (herbalist, generators,...etc)
Only the ones from engineer are unique

[Myriad]

Originally posted by Ficelle:

You can eventually gain fit / athletic or stout / strong if you play a character long enough...will take monthes or even years

That's interesting. You would think Smoker would eventually go away too though. And time isn't something to pass off as insignificant.

So the prone to injury due to weight is a switch that can flick on and off as the criteria is met?

The last few games I had, I played as Overweight, only eating when the moodle told me my strength and healing was lowered, and just enough to bring it back up to 'can eat a horse hungry'. It takes forever to drop ONE pound! And the Stamina drain... That's atrocious!! Very dangerous when you get exerted so easily.. It makes for a very risky game.

Originally posted by Ficelle:

All starting recipes granted by occupations can be gained via recipe books (herbalist, generators,...etc)
Only the ones from engineer are unique

This is also interesting.. So no books to make explosives? (Which I'm guessing are more complex than a molotov.)

[Ficelle]

Yep, overweight / obese is harder to manage and much more dangerous than (very) underweight

Especially as you can peir very underweight with strong, negating its main downside (and getting strong for 'free' as bonus...)

Smoker is quite an easy trait to deal with
Cigarettes are quite common, even in the rarest loot settings
It would make sense to be able to lose it, even more as you are a small smoker (1-2 cigarettes a day.) but...nope
You cant become a smoker either

Engineer recipes are engineer only as far as i know
You can never learn them if you dont start as engineer
Everything else, there is a recipe book

[Lorenzo_BR]

You can actually learn all but one recipe from engineering magazines.

[Myriad]

Originally posted by lorenzobolla:

You can actually learn all but one recipe from engineering magazines.

What is that "one" recipe?
Also...

Originally posted by Myriad:

-And What's up with Lucky? I pick it in hopes that it actually plays an effect when I'm about to get bitten, but I've heard some say it's only for item drops, which really would only take effect once, when the map is generated, and maybe when Zeds spawn.

Any comment on this?

[cheeto]

Lucky makes dead zombies have good loot more often. It's a good trait to have.

[donnietr]

you can not make pipe bombs or explosives unless you are an engineer. The only way is to use hydrocraft but you have to do a lot of things in order to get those. I will tell you a pipe bomb made as a level 5 has a huge burst area compaired to a 1. I almost always go engineer just for that reason. get sprinting up and there is magic.

[Lemonhead]

I've read (not personal experience) that Herbalist has the unique trait of knowing which berry is poisonous. This you won't aquire from the herbalism magazine.

E: Also, Lucky: after learning more, there are two tiers of loot as I understand, useful and less so. (pre-b41) This I gleaned from a dev post that I don't care to go digging after atm. Lucky, again as I've read in a wiki, increases the chance for spawned loot to be from the "rare"(useful) tier by 10%. Lots of variables in that description, enough that it may even be misinformation. How is "rare" loot controlled? What makes it "rare"?
The bitten chance has been debunked many times. Otherwise stacking lucky and thick skin well... you get the idea.

https://pzwiki.net/wiki/Traits

Loot is rolled when you enter the cell afaik. In MP I imagine things could get real screwy with this trait as a factor. All of those pissed off lucky players sifting through unlucky Joe's scraps.
The ongoing value of Lucky is the repair chance, if this wiki is correct. /e

[Lorenzo_BR]

Originally posted by Lemonhead:

I've read (not personal experience) that Herbalist has the unique trait of knowing which berry is poisonous. This you won't aquire from the herbalism magazine.

Complete lie. I've had that tested myself.

Originally posted by Myriad:

Originally posted by lorenzobolla:

You can actually learn all but one recipe from engineering magazines.

What is that "one" recipe?

Ok, my mistake. Apparently you can't build pipe bombs as a non enginnner, though you can install things such as timers to them thanks to magazines - which is where my confussion comes from.

[Ficelle]

You, just need to read the herbalist book to learn good / bad berries and mushrooms

Lucky gives more chance for any container to have rarer items
RNG based
In the long run, it adds up...you see the difference between a lucky and a normal character after a while
It helps a bit with repair too
It doesnt do anything against zombies or protection or anything like that

[BlitzBob NoPants]

I'm pretty sure "lucky" just spawns more loot. Not better loot. Makes sense too. Maybe I don't even like axes.
In Multiplayer I would see items in containers, my friend couldn't see because of I had lucky.
Also, loot isn't generated on world creation, but at the moment you first look inside a container, be it cupboard or ex-zombie.

The items that are unique to engineers are: Aerosol bomb, Flame trap and Pipe bomb. Everything else can be learned from magazines, including adding timers etc. to the items mentioned. (which outside of multiplayer is completely pointless)

Handy I believe adds +100 health to all your carpentry constructions and you build them faster.
Lumberjacks "Axe man" not only swings his axe faster, but chops down trees a lot faster too.

Brave trait is the same as desensitized from veteran.
Nutritionist can be picked as a seperate trait without picking fitness instructor.

None of the traits that do anything different then give an outright boost to a skill can be aquired or lost after spawning, with the exception of the weight and fitness/strength traits. All recipes and skills can be learned from magazines with the exception of the engineer items mentioned earlier.

[BlitzBob NoPants]

Might add to that that leveling strength and fitness is almost impossibly slow and if you really want to make any use of it, you should just take the trait. I can guarantee you will not max out or maybe even level either of these before your character either dies or you get bored with the game.

[Lemonhead]

Over/underweight.
These as I understand (again anecdotally from anecdotal data, I don't play either much) have a hidden stat penalty to str/fit limiting their maximums. I have noted that must be the extent of it (as opposed to a constant hidden str/fit penalty) as there is no change to carry weight capacity with these. I am very curious to know if the stamina penalty seems to fade over time, as lacking a carry weight change, I'm imagining there is a special modifier in play here.

[Ficelle]

All my characters are very underweight + strong

No carry penalty, i get the 18 normal carry from 9 strengh from the start

Havent really noticed pushing zombies being hard either
Granted, 9 strengh, even with a hidden modifier from very underweight, is very high anyway compared to the normal 5... pushing is very easy from the start
The penalty, if there is any, goes away as soon as normal weight anyway

Sometimes, i add athletic too

Yep, makes sense, very underweight but strong and athletic ;D