TL;DR
- Empath and Extrovert provide powerful combat bonuses when traveling with companions
- Faction traits unlock unique dialogue options and quest opportunities throughout the game
- Hero Worshipped grants a dedicated follower but comes with personality trade-offs
- Religious traits influence story outcomes and faction relationships significantly
- Trait selection is mostly permanent, requiring careful consideration of long-term playstyle
Strategic trait selection during character creation fundamentally shapes your entire Starfield journey. These optional attributes provide permanent gameplay modifiers that influence combat effectiveness, social interactions, and narrative possibilities.
You can select up to three Starfield traits when building your character. While completely optional—you may choose none at all—many offer substantial advantages worth serious consideration. These characteristics unlock specialized interactions while introducing distinctive gameplay mechanics that enhance roleplaying depth. Our comprehensive analysis covers optimal selections for both campaign progression and extended exploration.
Extrovert and Empath provide significant advantages when exploring with crew members.
Our analysis identifies Empath, Extrovert, and Hero Worshipped as the most valuable Starfield traits. Alternatively, faction-specific characteristics offer narrative advantages. Remember that traits are essentially permanent decisions—they don’t require leveling since their benefits apply continuously. Removal options are extremely limited outside specific story circumstances.
Companion-Focused Traits
Empath: Effect: Actions your companion approves of boost combat effectiveness substantially; disliked actions produce negative combat modifiers.
Unless you deliberately pursue solitary adventures, you’ll frequently partner with various crew members, making Empath among Starfield’s most powerful traits. Since companions typically favor honorable and compassionate decisions, maintaining positive combat bonuses becomes remarkably straightforward. Should you accidentally trigger disapproval, reloading a previous save remains an option.
Extrovert: Effect: Oxygen consumption decreases significantly when exploring with human companions but increases during solo expeditions; mutually exclusive with Introvert.
The Adoring Fan provides constant companionship despite his occasionally irritating personality.
Hero Worshipped: This unique characteristic grants you an obsessive admirer who randomly appears to offer assistance. While potentially annoying, he provides an additional crew slot and never disapproves of your actions, making him ideal for morally ambiguous playthroughs.
Faction and Religion Traits
Faction Allegiance Traits: Choosing Freestar Collective Settler, Neon Street Rat, or United Colonies Native unlocks specialized dialogue trees and quest opportunities with corresponding factions.
Faction allegiance traits open unique conversation paths with NPCs from your chosen organization.
Religion Traits: Selecting Raised Enlightened, Raised Universal, or Serpent’s Embrace influences your interactions with religious characters and can alter certain story outcomes.
Religious characteristics similarly affect discussions with devotees of each belief system.
Combat-Oriented Traits
- Alien DNA: Increased health and endurance but reduced healing from medpacks
- Taskmaster: Crew members occasionally revive when downed but demand higher salaries
- Spaced: Enhanced ship health and shields in space but reduced planetary endurance
- Terrestrial Immunity: Superior planetary resistance with compromised space adaptation
Social and Specialization Traits
- Introvert: Improved solo oxygen efficiency with penalized companion oxygen usage
- Kids Stuff: Regular parental interactions providing unique items but permanent credit deduction
- Dream Home: Luxury custom home with substantial mortgage payments
- Freestar Collective Settler: Faction-specific discounts and dialogue options
- Neon Street Rat: Underworld access and criminal network advantages
- United Colonies Native: Military and governmental relationship benefits
Religious and Philosophical Traits
- Raised Enlightened: Scientific community acceptance with religious faction tension
- Raised Universal: Religious faction favor with scientific community skepticism
- Serpent’s Embrace: Grav jump ritual benefits with withdrawal penalties
Optimal Trait Synergies
Combining Empath with Extrovert creates powerful companion-focused builds where your combat effectiveness and exploration endurance synergize remarkably. The constant presence of Hero Worshipped’s admirer ensures you always have someone to trigger these bonuses.
Common Beginner Mistakes: Many players overlook trait permanence, selecting characteristics that conflict with their eventual playstyle. Another frequent error involves choosing multiple faction traits that create narrative contradictions.
Advanced Optimization Techniques
For min-maxing players, Alien DNA paired with specialized medical skills can offset the healing penalty while maximizing survivability. Similarly, Spaced and Terrestrial Immunity should never be combined—they directly counteract each other’s benefits.
Time Investment Considerations: Faction and religious traits typically require 10-15 hours of gameplay to fully realize their narrative advantages through extensive faction interaction.
Late-Game Trait Impact
While early game focuses on immediate combat and exploration benefits, late-game viability depends heavily on narrative accessibility and specialized content unlocking.
Action Checklist
- Determine your primary playstyle: solo exploration, companion-focused, or faction-aligned
- Select Empath if planning regular companion use for combat advantage stacking
- Choose Extrovert for team-based builds or Introvert for solitary characters
- Consider faction traits only if committing to specific narrative paths
- Evaluate religious traits based on desired story influence rather than mechanical benefits
- Avoid contradictory trait combinations that undermine each other’s effectiveness
No reproduction without permission：SeeYouSoon Game Club » The Best Starfield Traits To Use Strategic Starfield trait selection guide with companion synergy, faction benefits, and long-term gameplay impact analysis