My guide to succeeding in Zomboid build 41: Burglar Build

[Discipline Before Dishonor]

Here's my recommendation for the best possible class: BURGLAR!!!
Positive traits to take - Wakeful, Lucky, Keen Hearing, Thick-Skinned, Athletic, Strong
Negative traits to take - High Thirst, Slow Healer, Slow Learner, Hemophobic, Hearty Appetite, Pacifist, Prone to Illness, Smoker, Weak Stomach, Short Sighted, Slow Reader.

Without Outdoorsman you are vulnerable to Prone to Illness; Outdoorsman would make you immune to all the colds and sniffles that Prone to Illness will make you more vulnerable to. Note; Prone to Illness does NOT affect your chance of being zombified upon a wound. Only your chance of catching a cold. So try to squeeze outdoorsman in there. I really wanted to add brave but I just can't fit it.

Download the VHS Tapes mod, it adds recorded VHS tapes of TV shows so that you don't have to strictly see TV shows when they come on during the day. That way, you can prepare by reading books relevant to those skills in the TV shows BEFORE you watch them. Read carpentry book, then watch Woodcraft VHS tapes, etc. This compensates for Slow Learner, you'll be able to level carpentry, cooking, fishing, farming, trapping and foraging with TV shows very high as long as you just read the relevant books between episodes. You get the first 2 levels with just one episode after reading the first book, even WITH slow learner. You will notice your melee experience gain is pretty damn low with this build, but a lead pipe at level 0 short blunt never failed anybody who knew what they were doing.

The burglar can hotwire vehicles and drive them, they just may be out of gas. So find a gas can to siphon gas so you can put it in the vehicle you want, or hotwire vehicles that still have gas in them. Press V to access the car menu, while sitting in a car; If you're in the driver's seat, you can hotwire the car in this menu. You can find certain bases with tall fences around them, but with vulnerable gaps; You can CLOSE those gaps by parking cars there, making the base completely safe. So that's where the burglar shines; Hotwire and fortify, and you're pretty damn powerful with melee and endurance since you have athletic and strong. Keen Hearing allows you to see FURTHER BEHIND YOU. It is a third eye in the back of your head, detecting enemies up to 10 feet away. A MUST HAVE for survival and not getting ambushed unawares. Turn your music down quite a bit too, it distracts from warning noises. Thick skinned saves my life hands down, 10/10 trait.

Final tip: Go on google, look up Project Zomboid Map. Incredibly useful, provides a full map of the world with location details. There is a farm with a well, which has infinite water. It is here:

https://map.projectzomboid.com/#0.4887528040695307,0.22616064033308647,26.74830134476799

Good luck my friend. You are armed with knowledge \m/

PS: I find Underweight pulls down my character's long-term endurance too much to use, that's why I don't use it. Restless Sleeper is a HUGE red zone, never take that. Wakeful makes it so you can fight better (Not get drowsy, which really screws over your combat quickly) for roughly 8 more hours per day. Restless sleeper would take away from that, so I never select it. It makes it so you never sleep more than 2-3 hours at a time, your sleep is always broken up, totally not worth it! But Underweight is manageable, just eat a lot of ice cream, chips, junk, etc. I personally just choose to be more combat effective and travel-ready in the early game! But one could use Underweight to get the coveted "Brave" trait which really helps with firearm accuracy, as well as Outdoorsman. If you really want those, then I recommend you use Underweight for the additional 6 points required.

[Zeithri]

Outdoorsman do not make you immune to cold, especially not if you have Prone to Illness together. It is not a good combination just as Sleepyhead and Restless Sleeper and Wakeup can be absolutely terrible together.

What it does is that it can take longer before you do get a cold.

Then your build relies on mods. To counter this, if you were playing like say One Painful Year challenge, your build would start to break apart since you'd not be allowed any other mod. And indeed, one bite there can result in instant zombification meaning Thick Skinned isn't necessarily good there either.

Hearty Appetite and High Thirst as pretty terrible as well in my opinion. Slow Learner can be worked around but not ideal.

Burglar is a great class though.