Gladius et Aegis: Internal Traits

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This page gives several examples of Internal Traits. This is far from an exhaustive list, but rather intended to give some guidelines as to how they might work.

Desire for Control

You dislike chaos, and you want to be the one in charge of things. You like to be the one who makes the rules, sets the parameters, sets the pace.

• Benefits: Your drive will sometimes give you +1 bonus dice, for example when attempting to establish leadership over a group, or when resisting mental domination.
• Drawbacks: Your discomfort with not being in control will sometimes require you to pass an Intellect check before biting back your pride and getting on with things.

Driving Ambition

You want power and success, and are willing to sacrifice others (and to a reasonable degree, take risks with yourself) to gain that power.

• Benefits: Your drive will sometimes give you +1 bonus dice, for example when attempting to push through a wall of pain to finish a marathon.
• Drawbacks: Your discomfort with abandoning your goals sometimes require you to pass an Intellect check before doing so. For example, if you know that you have to choose between saving a friend's life or gaining a potent magical staff that you covet, you'd need to pass an Intellect check to do the moral thing.

Faith

You believe in a higher power, and this gives you strength.

• Benefits: Your belief sometimes give you +1 bonus dice, for example when recovering from grief or gathering courage after a shock.
• Drawbacks: Your faith may sometimes lead you to believe in certain things despite evidence or the persuasions of others. This might cause friction! Also, faith usually comes with its own sense of what is right and wrong, and you may be unwilling to break these rules.

Immoral

Though you know what other people define as being moral, you don't hold yourself beholden to those rules. You might pretend to be, but ultimately you are never held back by your conscience.

• Benefits: You don't suffer any penalties from conscience where others might. For example, if called upon to kill a baby for personal gain, most characters would have to pass an Intellect check first to override their discomfort. You wouldn't need to.
• Drawbacks: Your lack of morality sometimes makes empathy hard: while you might understand on an intellectual level why a mother sacrifices herself for her child, you can't put yourself in her shoes. Also, you don't get the same buzz of self-satisfaction that most people get when they do a good thing.
• Other Notes: This is a difficult trait to roleplay, and also one that can make working with other more moral characters difficult. After all, in real life, very few players of roleplaying games are wholly immoral! If a player can't keep it up, its perfectly reasonable for a GM to say that a glimmer of conscience is starting to form, and to remove this trait.

Moral Code

You have an exceptionally strong moral code that you will not allow yourself to break. For example, you might believe that it is always wrong to use violence.

• Benefits: Your code sometimes give you +1 bonus dice, for example when resisting temptation.
• Drawbacks: Your code may prevent you from taking certain actions, even when to do so would be convenient or beneficial.
• Other Notes: There's no in-game obligation to follow a moral code, but if you habitually break it the GM will likely rule that the Trait has faded.

Prideful

You are proud of who you are and what you have. You are confident of your worldview, and confident that those who disagree with you are wrong. Some might call you uncompromising, others might say you are tainted by hubris.

• Benefits: Your additional confidence will sometimes give you +1 bonus dice, for example when you need to argue your beliefs, or you are in a mystical battle of wills.
• Drawbacks: Your pride makes you a little blind to your own flaws. Pride comes before the fall! Also, those who disagree with you make think you stubborn, and dislike you more than if you were less prideful.

Self Preservation

You fear mortality, and will do whatever it takes to stay alive.

• Benefits: Your sense of self preservation leads to a good awareness of situations or actions that might risk your life. The GM might warn you before you undertake such an action, to give you a chance to back out.
• Drawbacks: You have some cowardice where your own life and well being are concerned. To take significant risks with your own life might require an Intellect check.