Traits | Divinity Original Sin Wiki

 
Traits in Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition track the personality of a character to determine certain statistical bonuses that are given to you.

How Traits Works

These are accessible in your character menu. They are displayed in pairs of 2, and a sliding meter shows towards which side is your character is progressing. The bonuses are applied when one side of the trait has higher points than the other.

For example, "Pragmatic" increases your Crafting score by 1 point, whereas "Romantic" (on the opposite side of that scale) increases your Luck score by 1 point. You can never receive a bonus from Pragmatic and Romantic at the same time. If you (for example) make a dozen Pragmatic choices and never choose a Romantic choice, you will only have a +1 in Crafting gained from being Pragmatic a dozen times (and not +12 as you might expect). In order to ever be considered Romantic (and earn a +1 in Luck), you'd have to make 13 Romantic choices (and no further Pragmatic choices).

Bonuses

List of Trait events

Throughout the game the player characters will partake in events where they may need to make a choice. In these events each of the two main player characters can make differing choices, which will decide which trait each character gets, and ultimately how the event is resolved. In the case where the two main characters disagree with how to solve an event the ultimate choice is decided via the game's Persuasion Rock-Paper-Scissors mechanic.

Some events are optional in which the main characters are responding to an event which has recently taken place. This is symbolized by the main characters having a yellow exclamation mark above their heads. In this case the player may initiate a conversation between the main characters by making their currrently controlled character talk to the other.

The following is a comprehensive list² of events found throughout the game which influence the characters' personality traits (Note: They may appear out of order due to the non-linear nature of the game):

1. Larian Studios Forum Post - Post #480704:
2. https://www.reddit.com/r/DivinityOriginalSin/comments/76h0qn/trait_choices_guides/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x