Traits & Aptitudes

Traits & Aptitudes

"Fortune Favors the Bold—And the Lucky"

What Are Traits?

Traits are your character's raw, natural abilities—their physical prowess and mental capacity. Think of them as the foundation everything else is built on. Are you strong? Fast? Smart? Perceptive? Charismatic? Your Traits tell that story.

In Deadlands, Traits are represented by dice types (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12). When you need to use a Trait, you roll multiple dice of that type. Better Traits mean bigger dice and more of them.

The Ten Traits

Every character has ten Traits divided into two categories: Corporeal (physical) and Mental. Here's what each one means:

Corporeal Traits (Physical Abilities)

Deftness: Hand-eye coordination and manual dexterity. Essential for shooting, throwing, picking locks, and any task requiring precise hand movements. No gunslinger should skimp on Deftness—it's how you put lead where it needs to go.

Nimbleness: Agility, balance, and overall physical prowess. Covers dodging attacks, climbing, riding horses, fighting in melee, and generally not tripping over your own boots. If things are trying to kill you (and in the Weird West, they usually are), Nimbleness keeps you alive.

Quickness: Reflexes and speed. The old saying is true: there are two types of people in the Weird West—the quick and the dead. Quickness determines how many actions you get in combat. It's rarely used for skill checks except quick draw, but it's crucial for survival.

Strength: Raw muscle and brawn. Used for lifting heavy objects, breaking things, and determining melee damage when you punch someone. While not tied to many specific skills, the Marshal may call for Strength checks when your character's raw power matters.

Vigor: Endurance, constitution, and toughness. Vigor determines how much punishment you can take and how well you resist fatigue, disease, and poison. It's not flashy, but when you're bleeding out in the desert, you'll be grateful for every point.

Mental Traits (Mind & Spirit)

Cognition: Perception, alertness, and awareness. Covers noticing details, searching for clues, tracking prey, and generally not walking into obvious ambushes. A good Cognition keeps your carcass out of the boneyard.

Knowledge: Book-learning, education, and accumulated information. Determines how many skill points you get for Aptitudes. Knowledge covers medicine, science, languages, professional skills, and any expertise gained through study rather than instinct.

Mien: Presence, charisma, influence, and how others perceive you. Important for leadership, intimidation, persuasion, and training animals. A high Mien means people listen when you talk—whether they like it or not.

Smarts: Wits, deduction, and thinking on your feet. Different from Knowledge—this is about being clever, not educated. Covers survival skills, streetwise savvy, and figuring things out under pressure. Mad scientists prize Smarts for their tinkering.

Spirit: Willpower, psyche, and spiritual presence. Your connection to the otherworldly forces that pervade the Weird West. Spirit governs faith-based powers, guts (resistance to fear), and your capacity to face supernatural horror without breaking.

Luck o' the Draw: Generating Your Traits

Unlike some games where you assign points however you want, Deadlands adds an element of fate to character creation. You'll use cards to randomly determine your Traits, which means every character is unique and you can't just min-max your way to perfection.

The Process

1. Draw 12 cards from a standard playing deck (including Jokers)
2. Discard any two cards except deuces (2s) and Jokers—you're stuck with those
3. Assign the remaining 10 cards to your ten Traits
4. Consult the Traits Table (below) to determine your die type and Trait Level

Traits Table

Example

You draw a 9 of Spades. The card value (9) gives you a d8 die type. The suit (Spades) gives you a Trait Level of 4. This Trait is 4d8—you roll four eight-sided dice when using it. That's pretty good!

You draw a 3 of Clubs. The value gives you d6, and Clubs gives you level 1. This Trait is 1d6—below average, but workable.

How Aptitudes (Skills) Relate to Traits

Aptitudes are skills, talents, and trades your character has learned. They're always tied to a specific Trait. For example:

• Shootin' uses Deftness
• Fightin' uses Nimbleness
• Trackin' uses Cognition
• Medicine uses Knowledge
• Leadership uses Mien
• Survival uses Smarts
• Guts uses Spirit

When the Marshal calls for a skill check, you roll dice equal to your Trait die type, and the number of dice equals your Trait Level plus your Aptitude level.

Example: You have 3d8 Deftness and Shootin': pistol at level 4. When shooting, you roll 7d8 (3 from Trait Level + 4 from skill).

Mixing Aptitudes and Traits

Sometimes the Marshal may ask for unusual combinations. Instead of Climbin'/Nimbleness (the normal pairing), they might ask for Climbin'/Knowledge—testing what your character knows about climbing, not whether they can actually do it. Or Climbin'/Vigor for a particularly exhausting climb.

This flexibility makes the system versatile and realistic.

Secondary Traits

A few important values are derived from your primary Traits:

Grit

Your resistance to fear and horror. All characters start with Grit 0. As you face terrifying creatures and survive harrowing experiences, the Marshal awards Grit points. Each point of Grit adds to your Guts checks, making you harder to scare.

Write "0" on your sheet for now. You'll earn it.

Pace

How far you can move in a combat round. Your Pace equals your Nimbleness die type. If you have d10 Nimbleness, your Pace is 10. Edges and Hindrances may modify this.

Size

A measure of how physically large you are. Unless modified by an Edge or Hindrance, your Size is 6. Size determines how much damage it takes to wound you—each increment of your Size equals one wound level. We'll explain wounds in the combat section.

Wind

Your stamina, shock absorption, and capacity to keep fighting when hurt or exhausted. Wind equals your Vigor die type + Spirit die type added together.

Example: d8 Vigor + d10 Spirit = Wind 18.

When Wind drops to zero or below, you're Winded—effectively out of the action, able only to bleed, crawl, or whimper for help.

Strategic Trait Assignment

Once you've drawn and kept your 10 cards, you assign them to your Traits. Think about your character concept:

Gunslinger? Put your best cards on Deftness and Quickness. You need to shoot straight and act fast.

Brawler? Prioritize Nimbleness, Strength, and Vigor. You'll be taking hits while dishing them out.

Huckster or Blessed? Spirit is crucial for your powers. Knowledge and Smarts help with your mystical understanding.

Mad Scientist? Knowledge and Smarts are your bread and butter. Deftness helps build your contraptions.

Investigator or Scout? Cognition, Smarts, and social Traits (Mien) serve you well.

Don't neglect secondary Traits entirely. A gunslinger with terrible Vigor won't survive their first bullet. Balance matters.

Rolling the Bones: Using Your Traits

When you need to test a Trait or use a skill, here's how it works:

1. The Marshal sets a Target Number (TN)—usually 5 for routine tasks, higher for difficult ones
2. Roll your dice (Trait die type × total dice from Trait Level + Aptitude level)
3. Each die that equals or beats the TN is a success
4. Usually, one success is enough. More successes mean better results
5. Your final result is the highest single die, not the total of all dice

Example: You have 4d8 in a Trait and need TN 5. You roll 3, 5, 6, 8. Three dice met or beat 5, so you have three successes. Your result is 8 (the highest die).

Aces (Exploding Dice)

When you roll the maximum on any die, it "aces"—roll it again and add the results together. Keep rolling as long as you keep getting maximums.

Example: You roll a d6 and get 6. Roll again: another 6 (total 12). Roll again: 4 (total 16). That single die scored 16!

This means anyone can get incredibly lucky. Even a greenhorn with 1d4 could theoretically outshoot a veteran if the dice are with them.

You can't choose your Traits. But you can choose what you do with them.