Fallout: New Vegas traits

Fallout: New Vegas overviews Achievements Add-ons Patches Bugs Challenges Characters Companions Creatures Endings Factions Reputations Items Ammunition Armor & clothing Caravan cards Consumables Crafting Keys Holodisks & notes Skill books Skill magazines Snow globes Weapons Weapon mods Other items Locations Quests Radio stations Robots & computers SPECIAL Primary statistics Derived statistics Implants Perks Traits Skills

This page lists all traits in Fallout: New Vegas.

The content is not described in full detail on this page. For details, please see the respective articles. For traits in other Fallout games, please see "Trait". For an overview of Fallout: New Vegas content, please refer to "Portal:Fallout: New Vegas".

 

General information

Traits modify aspects of gameplay, granting a benefit in one area at the cost of hampering another. With the exception of Wild Wasteland, which has a less direct effect on gameplay, each trait modifies (and hampers) the player's statistics in some way; this can include primary statistics, derived statistics, SPECIAL points and skills. During character creation the player may choose a maximum of two (with a minimum of none at all). The add-on Old World Blues adds six additional traits and makes it possible for you to re-pick your assigned traits, but only once.

List of traits

Trait	Benefit	Penalty	Base ID
Built to Destroy	+3% critical hit chance	Condition decays 15% faster	00137b02
Fast Shot	Guns and energy weapons you fire are 20% quicker, AP cost for your guns and energy weapons are 20% lower	Guns and energy weapons you fire are 20% less accurate	00135ec7
Four Eyes	+ 2 Perception while glasses equipped	- 1 base Perception	00135ec4
Good Natured	Increases Speech, Medicine, Repair, Science and Barter skills +5.	Decreases Energy Weapons, Explosives, Guns, Melee Weapons and Unarmed skills -5.	00137afe
Heavy Handed	Melee and unarmed do more damage	Melee and unarmed do less critical hit damage	00135ec5
Kamikaze	+10 Action Points	-2 Damage Threshold	00135f05
Loose Cannon	Attack speed with thrown weapons increased by 30%	Thrown weapons have 25% less range	00164ed1
Small Frame	+1 Agility	Fragile limbs (25% extra limb damage)	00135ec6
Trigger Discipline	Guns and energy weapons you fire are 20% more accurate	Guns and energy weapons you fire are 20% less quick, AP cost for your guns and energy weapons are 20% higher	00135ec8
Wild Wasteland	Adds additional 'wacky' content and modifies existing content and special encounters	Removes access to some 'sane' content	000ed568

Old World Blues

These traits are only available with the Old World Blues add-on. They can be chosen during character creation or switched with the Sink Auto-Doc.

Trait	Benefit	Penalty	Base ID
Claustrophobia	+1 buff to SPECIAL attributes while outdoors	-1 debuff to SPECIAL attributes while indoors	xx0133ae
Early Bird	+2 buff to SPECIAL attributes from 6am to 12pm	-1 debuff to SPECIAL attributes from 6pm to 6am	xx012767
Hoarder	+25 lbs to total carry weight	-1 debuff to SPECIAL attributes while current equipment weight is below 160 lbs	xx01276d
Hot Blooded	+15% damage increase while below 50% health	-2 debuff to Perception and Agility while below 50% health	xx01276b
Logan's Loophole	Chems last twice as long and addiction rates are set to zero	Locks the level cap at 30	xx01276e
Skilled	Gain +5 points to every skill.	You suffer -10% from experience gained.	xx012b86

Notes

• Though Fast Shot and Trigger Discipline will at first appear to cancel each other out, the way the system calculates the statistics (as a multiplier effect with the base compounded as it is affected) means that spread, V.A.T.S. accuracy and fire speed all decrease by 4% should both be selected (1*.8*1.2=.96).
• The Four Eyes trait is somewhat misleading in its description. The benefit it conveys is a status effect, similar to the bonus that would be granted by wearing a hat. The drawback, however, is directly subtracted from your base Perception, meaning a character with a Perception of 2 would have that value permanently reduced to 1 upon taking the trait. This can prevent the player from taking perks such as Sniper or Better Criticals, since Perks only take base stats into account when checking if the player meets the requirements. Having a Perception of one, will not allow you to pick this trait.
• Picking the Wild Wasteland trait allows you to obtain the alien blaster, but it comes at the cost of being unable to obtain the unique Gauss rifle YCS/186. The alien blaster is more powerful, but has limited ammunition, making the YCS/186 a better long-term weapon. This and the difference between finding the Holy Frag Grenades versus two mini nukes in Camp Searchlight is the only real difference that taking the trait makes.

Behind the scenes

Medical History

• As found within the game files, a medical history paper was to be filled in by the player from a texture of the actual paper; rather than a conventional menu. The paper alludes to more choices of traits than available within the final game. The history paper also has nothing about the Wild Wasteland trait in it.

Traits in Fallout: New Vegas Built to Destroy · Claustrophobia · Early Bird · Fast Shot · Four Eyes · Good Natured · Heavy Handed · Hoarder · Hot Blooded · Kamikaze · Logan's Loophole · Loose Cannon · Small Frame · Skilled · Trigger Discipline · Wild Wasteland Italics denote traits available through Old World Blues.