Proposal: Princess Trait

Qik · Mar 8, 2012

In browsing the SRD for a second trait for Mesem outside of the usual suspects, I came upon this trait:

Princess (female)

You have been raised to expect obedience from those around you, regardless of their station, and are not shy about demanding what you want.

Benefit: You gain a +1 trait bonus to Diplomacy and Intimidate checks, and one of these skills (your choice) is always a class skill for you.

Now, the provided fluff is far afield from how I envision Mesem, but the mechanics are perfect. I like to think of Mesem as being a perceptive individual who is equally adept at convincing others through reason, friendliness, or force as the situation warrants it; able to influence both his friends and his enemies. Which this trait would be perfect for. So what are people's opinions on allowing a refluffed version of it for play?

GlassEye · Mar 8, 2012

I'm of half a mind to propose using [MENTION=93930]Systole[/MENTION]'s streamlined traits; I think it would greatly simplify things.

Anyway, not to detract from your proposal... ~~I have no problems with this.~~

EDIT: Hmm. Based on Systole's balance comment below (thank the gods for people with a better eye for this than I have) I'm changing my tentative yes to a NO.

Maidhc O Casain · Mar 8, 2012

I have no problems with the Princess trait (not balance related problems, anyway). And the IC reasons you've given provide ample justification for re-fluffing it, IMO. YES.

Systole · Mar 8, 2012

I think I raised this when I made Sylla, and it was denied for reasons that made a lot of sense to me after someone else pointed them out. Namely, this trait is better than Ease of Faith (class skill and +1 Diplomacy) and Bully (class skill and +1 Intimidate). It also frees up the social/religion traits for something else. I don't think it's a balanced trait.

Satin Knights · Mar 8, 2012

I am going to say NO to the Princess trait because it has the slight advantage over other traits. When refluffed, it wouldn't have the social 'trap' of having to behave a specific way, which is why it got the bump in the first place.

I am going to say YES to the streamlined idea.

Qik · Mar 9, 2012

Disappointing, of course, because it fit so well, but them's the breaks, I suppose. The objections are understandable enough.

Systole · Mar 9, 2012

Extremely Fashionable is a good substitute.

jkason · Mar 9, 2012

There's a question in the linked thread that I think would have to be addressed in any streamlining proposal: namely the 'no two traits from the same category' question. Does the streamlined system do away with that restriction? If those are exceptions to the overlap rule but the general rule still stands, what category do the condensed traits fall in (or are they their own special category)?

And just so I'm not entirely thread-jacking: Traits like Princess are always odd to me, in that they're clearly gender-specific, but I can't figure out WHY they are. Then again, there are race traits that don't seem like they should be exclusive, either, so what do I know?

Systole · Mar 9, 2012

In the game I GM, I added the general traits and just did away with the category restrictions altogether. Even the racial ones. My take is that since all of Paizo's traits are *cough* balanced, then any two traits they pick should be mechanically equal to any other two traits. So if there's no serious balance issues, why saddle them with restrictions that only hurt RP?

One of my players has a backstory that her character had been enslaved by kobolds and then started hunting them guerilla-style after she escaped. She made a trait for K:Engineer and K:Nature (kobolds being sort of steampunk in my setting), which fits better with her backstory than official traits.

In other words, I haven't seen any way that using general traits has hurt my campaign, and there's at least one place where it was an improvement. I'll make a proposal thread if people are interested.