There is a great video out there about it and TLDW, its only use is if you pass a window the zombie has a slightly less chance of seeing you, but if u r in the open, forget it. Keen Hearing greatly increases that radius, letting you "see" threats coming from farther away. Only worth taking if you have slow modded vehicles. I used to not run it, but I think I'll always run it in the future ever since using it. Similar to angler, if you want to use long blunt take this perk, otherwise, don't. I would put Keen Hearing way higher. There's also an unlisted benefit that's hard to quantify but lets you literally hear zombies from behind you as if they were in front of you. Being even drowsy drastically reduces your melee damage output. I'll pose this question to you all so that a list may be compiled: what are all the negative traits that can go away with time? It cancels out their negatives. Lastly, the bonus that thick skin provides is so negligible that its not worth the points. I don't understand why people like it. Napkin math puts all of that together as +42 trait points that either can be worked off or will eventually become irrelevant. Provides a 30% XP boost on top of existing boosts to ALL skills. Play deaf, it's 12 free points. This will get you killed. Useful for stealth, but you can always just stop moving to avoid making sound. After about a week in-game you wont be struggling from this anymore. I'm definitely not confident or patient enough to play that character yet, though! Handy - little carpentry boost, considering additional construction health there won't be random hordes of zombies coming to your base late into the game, so no real need for more durable constructions in SP. Just fast forward time. Eventually Claustrophobic will wear off in Project Zomboid as well. inconspicuous actually sucks. However, if you go a while without smoking, you will become unhappy until you reach the point of depression. I replace hemophobic with claustrophobic, there are a few tricks that make it not a big deal. I dont like smoker cause I hate micromanaging smokes, but if you dont mind it its pretty good too. You can really live without this one, 6 points is costly too. In addition to slow reader and slow learner, it looks like pacifist is just an XP penalty for weapons, so it could be taken alongside them if you're willing to put up with all that extra grind. A great one to take with pacifist is Fast Learner as it will end up in a net positive multiplier for weapons. Brave will cost 4 so you will essentially get a free point and not too much risk of panic. For experienced players this can actually be a positive-ish trait once you get past the early game. Unless TIS changed something Poor Eyesight is permament, used to pick that one and survived for couple of months and it didn't go away but it was long time ago in a galaxy far, far away What about if you quit smoking? I wanted to spice up my character with some positive and negative traits to make zomboid a little more interesting. In particular it allows you to get away with medium-to-low strength. Unfit: Very low endurance, very low endurance regeneration. Same thing with under/overweight. Maybe not deadly, but you will attract a few more zombies. Yes. Check near gas stations and inside residential homes and youre bound to come across some cigarettes to sate those smoker cravings. Generally the characters of mine that survive the longest are the ones that almost never get into any contact with zombies at all. I wanna make a full late game character. It's actually difficult to keep weight on my character with how much I jog around, which as I've found with the Minimal Display Bars mod, burns a ton of calories. HOWEVER, they can be overcome after a few months making them free points. Generally high-fat foods are going to be easy to find. Probably gonna go back and alter some things. Absolute garbage because of how it works. @keyframes _1tIZttmhLdrIGrB-6VvZcT{0%{opacity:0}to{opacity:1}}._3uK2I0hi3JFTKnMUFHD2Pd,.HQ2VJViRjokXpRbJzPvvc{--infoTextTooltip-overflow-left:0px;font-size:12px;font-weight:500;line-height:16px;padding:3px 9px;position:absolute;border-radius:4px;margin-top:-6px;background:#000;color:#fff;animation:_1tIZttmhLdrIGrB-6VvZcT .5s step-end;z-index:100;white-space:pre-wrap}._3uK2I0hi3JFTKnMUFHD2Pd:after,.HQ2VJViRjokXpRbJzPvvc:after{content:"";position:absolute;top:100%;left:calc(50% - 4px - var(--infoTextTooltip-overflow-left));width:0;height:0;border-top:3px solid #000;border-left:4px solid transparent;border-right:4px solid transparent}._3uK2I0hi3JFTKnMUFHD2Pd{margin-top:6px}._3uK2I0hi3JFTKnMUFHD2Pd:after{border-bottom:3px solid #000;border-top:none;bottom:100%;top:auto} Also IRL Nervous Wreck. I'll start with the ones I've been able to determine: Feeble Obese Out of Shape Overweight Poor eyesight . Don't eat spoiled food. Overpriced but underrated IMO. How do Project Zomboid traits work, exactly? For example, Sunday Driver, Short-Sighted, Slow Healer, Slow Reader, and Weak Stomach are negative traits and if you don't have a good combination of the best positive and best negative traits in Project Zomboid, you will have a hard time. ._2a172ppKObqWfRHr8eWBKV{-ms-flex-negative:0;flex-shrink:0;margin-right:8px}._39-woRduNuowN7G4JTW4I8{margin-top:12px}._136QdRzXkGKNtSQ-h1fUru{display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;margin:8px 0;width:100%}.r51dfG6q3N-4exmkjHQg_{font-size:10px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:.5px;line-height:12px;text-transform:uppercase;-ms-flex-pack:justify;justify-content:space-between;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center}.r51dfG6q3N-4exmkjHQg_,._2BnLYNBALzjH6p_ollJ-RF{display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex}._2BnLYNBALzjH6p_ollJ-RF{margin-left:auto}._1-25VxiIsZFVU88qFh-T8p{padding:0}._2nxyf8XcTi2UZsUInEAcPs._2nxyf8XcTi2UZsUInEAcPs{color:var(--newCommunityTheme-widgetColors-sidebarWidgetTextColor)} lose = to misplace or get rid of something ("How did you lose the keys?"). Starting the list off with one of my favorite negative perks it is time to talk about high thirst. Useful skill, but its hard to justify spending 5 points on this. Possibly the best perk you can take. -1 Fitness. I can recommend using agorophobic and Adreneline junkie so you run much faster while outside at the trade for being panicked. Along with hunger and fatigue,. This Negative trait can also be mitigated by simply ensuring you cook your food correctly in Project Zomboid. Cannot take Wakeful, and also has the opposite effect of Wakeful. ._3K2ydhts9_ES4s9UpcXqBi{display:block;padding:0 16px;width:100%} -1 fitness, Description: Reduced running speed, low endurance and prone to injury. Feeble and Weak: 3/5 strength is much easier to level than Fitness, and is also less important. Kinda boring to sit through, though. Only reason it's not 4 is because it's not required. Running XP boost will be very useful, as it can be slow to level up, but there are more important traits you can take first. 4 & 5- Always worth considering when making a new character. I guess it is really playstyle dependent. I always like to see how other peoples play styles since the game is so customizable. Scratches and Lacerations you can heal from but theres no coming back from bites. Since if you know what you're doing the only potential downside is noise, and many people don't care about noise in the first place (they drive quite noisy and/or poorly tuned vehicles). Too expensive take hiker instead. It helps peel away some of them from larger groups. It's great, I don't know why you think it's bad. Ive told my friends who are new to the game to take thick-skinned to start off with until theyre more comfortable to take the training wheels off. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. Might as well take some extra points if you have to eat a lot anyway. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. So even if it was hard to level it would still be bad. It might make sense for Smoker to eventually be possible to get rid of, but it looks like it's permanent for now (maybe it represents those people who can never truly ditch the addiction, and not just anyone who's addicted). I'll pose this question to you all so that a list may be compiled: what are all the negative traits that can go away with time? Useful for stealth, but stealth skills will always be far, far more useful to level up. Because of this, we would recommend giving it a try as it can easily help you get a high-cost positive trait. ._1QwShihKKlyRXyQSlqYaWW{height:16px;width:16px;vertical-align:bottom}._2X6EB3ZhEeXCh1eIVA64XM{margin-left:3px}._1jNPl3YUk6zbpLWdjaJT1r{font-size:12px;font-weight:500;line-height:16px;border-radius:2px;display:inline-block;margin-right:5px;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;vertical-align:text-bottom;white-space:pre;word-break:normal;padding:0 4px}._1jNPl3YUk6zbpLWdjaJT1r._39BEcWjOlYi1QGcJil6-yl{padding:0}._2hSecp_zkPm_s5ddV2htoj{font-size:12px;font-weight:500;line-height:16px;border-radius:2px;display:inline-block;margin-right:5px;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;vertical-align:text-bottom;white-space:pre;word-break:normal;margin-left:0;padding:0 4px}._2hSecp_zkPm_s5ddV2htoj._39BEcWjOlYi1QGcJil6-yl{padding:0}._1wzhGvvafQFOWAyA157okr{font-size:12px;font-weight:500;line-height:16px;border-radius:2px;margin-right:5px;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;vertical-align:text-bottom;white-space:pre;word-break:normal;box-sizing:border-box;line-height:14px;padding:0 4px}._3BPVpMSn5b1vb1yTQuqCRH,._1wzhGvvafQFOWAyA157okr{display:inline-block;height:16px}._3BPVpMSn5b1vb1yTQuqCRH{background-color:var(--newRedditTheme-body);border-radius:50%;margin-left:5px;text-align:center;width:16px}._2cvySYWkqJfynvXFOpNc5L{height:10px;width:10px}.aJrgrewN9C8x1Fusdx4hh{padding:2px 8px}._1wj6zoMi6hRP5YhJ8nXWXE{font-size:14px;padding:7px 12px}._2VqfzH0dZ9dIl3XWNxs42y{border-radius:20px}._2VqfzH0dZ9dIl3XWNxs42y:hover{opacity:.85}._2VqfzH0dZ9dIl3XWNxs42y:active{transform:scale(.95)} Faster speed saves time. I'll pose this question to you all so that a list may be compiled: what are all the negative traits that can go away with time? ._3oeM4kc-2-4z-A0RTQLg0I{display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-ms-flex-pack:justify;justify-content:space-between} Panic cancels out boredom, turning claustrophobia into a big-brain strat. Unfortunately you arent able to get this trait if your character has the Veteran job as this removes panic from your character completely. ._1x9diBHPBP-hL1JiwUwJ5J{font-size:14px;font-weight:500;line-height:18px;color:#ff585b;padding-left:3px;padding-right:24px}._2B0OHMLKb9TXNdd9g5Ere-,._1xKxnscCn2PjBiXhorZef4{height:16px;padding-right:4px;vertical-align:top}.icon._1LLqoNXrOsaIkMtOuTBmO5{height:20px;vertical-align:middle;padding-right:8px}.QB2Yrr8uihZVRhvwrKuMS{height:18px;padding-right:8px;vertical-align:top}._3w_KK8BUvCMkCPWZVsZQn0{font-size:14px;font-weight:500;line-height:18px;color:var(--newCommunityTheme-actionIcon)}._3w_KK8BUvCMkCPWZVsZQn0 ._1LLqoNXrOsaIkMtOuTBmO5,._3w_KK8BUvCMkCPWZVsZQn0 ._2B0OHMLKb9TXNdd9g5Ere-,._3w_KK8BUvCMkCPWZVsZQn0 ._1xKxnscCn2PjBiXhorZef4,._3w_KK8BUvCMkCPWZVsZQn0 .QB2Yrr8uihZVRhvwrKuMS{fill:var(--newCommunityTheme-actionIcon)} Just carry 2 filled bottles around with you and you wont notice this trait. I always take wakeful so I have more time for zombie stomping in a day. That being said, Ill usually take it if I can.