What are the best Starfield traits? Touted by Todd Howard as “the most flexible yet,” Bethesda’s latest suite of creation tools allows you to select unique starting character traits that apply positive and negative modifiers to your spacefarer. There’s a wide variety of options on offer, so we’ve collected them all into one handy list to help you decide your favorites ahead of time.
Traits can offer additional choices when completing Starfield missions, such as granting access to additional dialogue options and determining faction allegiances. They also supplement your Starfield background and Starfield skills when shaping the character you’ve created in Starfield. Are you an introverted homebody who prefers to stay planetside, or a wanted street rat with alien DNA? Either is possible with Starfield traits – just take a look.
What are the best Starfield traits?
Here are the best Starfield traits:
- Alien DNA: This grants you a helpful boost to your HP and endurance levels, which is especially handy early on in your adventure.
- Kid Stuff: While this Starfield trait does result in you earning less money over time, it wouldn’t be right to skip out on the chance to meet, then occasionally visit, your character’s parents.
- Hero Worshipped: Yes, the Adoring Fan is a lot, but by skipping out on this trait, you’d be missing out on free gifts and his regular words of encouragement. Plus, you can always… dispatch your biggest fan if he gets to be too much.
- Taskmaster: While doubling up the cost of recruiting crew members might seem like a massive con, Starfield’s space dogfights can prove tricky, so having your crew repair your ship should it drop below 50% is a massive boon.
- Wanted: Being attacked by bounty hunters means more XP and more loot for you, so it’s not really a con, and being able to deal increased damage while you’re low on health can turn the tide of battle.
- Any faction trait: You should look into which Starfield faction you’d like to side with before deciding on this trait, as it grants better rewards and additional dialogue options for a said faction. The tradeoff is that you can only pick one and, the bounties you receive from other factions are increased as a result. Just don’t go annoying anybody, alright?
The best Starfield traits depend on your playstyle and can include traits that benefit exploring alone, having your human companions tag along with you, or if you use grav jumping often. Some of them even give you gifts, which can include the best Starfield weapons if you’re particularly lucky.
Some traits might come naturally to the way you play the game, like if you’re part of a Starfield faction. It’s also worth thinking about the rewards and credits you can obtain from bounties showing up with the Wanted trait or the gifts you can receive from your adoring fan with the Hero Worshipped trait.
All Starfield traits
Here are all 17 Starfield traits:
- Alien DNA
- Dream Home
- Empath
- Extrovert
- Freestar Collective Settler
- Hero Worshipped
- Introvert
- Kid Stuff
- Neon Street Rat
- Raised Enlightened
- Raised Universal
- Serpent’s Embrace
- Spaced
- Taskmaster
- Terra Firma
- United Colonies Native
- Wanted
You can choose up to three Starfield traits when creating your starting character, though it’s worth bearing in mind that it’s not necessary to fill all three slots. Additionally, certain traits can contradict one another and, therefore cannot be paired together – even in the Settled Systems, you can’t be an extroverted introvert.
Now, let’s take a deeper look at all the Starfield traits, their pros and cons, and the in-game descriptions for each one.
Alien DNA
Pros: High HP and endurance.
Cons: Healing items are less effective.
You volunteered for a controversial experiment that combines alien and human DNA. As a result, you start with a higher health pool and greater endurance, but healing items aren’t as effective.
Dream Home
Pros: You have a small house on a ‘peaceful little moon’.
Cons: You have a 125,000 credit mortgage with GalBank, and you have to pay a portion of it back weekly.
You own a luxurious, customizable house on a peaceful planet! Unfortunately, it comes with a 125,000 credit mortgage with GalBank that has to be paid weekly.
Empath
Pros: Performing actions your companions like increases their effectiveness in combat.
Cons: Performing actions your companions dislike decreases their effectiveness in combat.
You are deeply connected to the feelings of others. Performing actions your companion likes will result in a temporary increase in combat effectiveness. But, performing actions they don’t like will have the precise opposite effect.
Extrovert
Pros: Use less oxygen when adventuring with human companions.
Cons: Use more oxygen when adventuring alone.
You’re a people person. Exerting yourself uses less oxygen when adventuring with human companions, but more when going alone. (Can’t be combined with the introvert trait.)
Freestar Collective Settler
Pros: Better Freestar Collective dialogue and rewards.
Cons: Other faction bounties are greatly increased.
You gain access to special Freestar Collective dialogue options and better rewards from some missions given by the faction. But, crime bounty towards other factions is greatly increased. (Can’t be combined with any other faction allegiance trait.)
Hero Worshipped
Pros: The adoring fan gives you gifts randomly and can join your crew.
Cons: The adoring fan randomly turns up, and they’re really annoying.
You’ve earned the attention of an annoying “Adoring Fan” who will show up randomly and jabber at you incessantly. On the plus side, he’ll give you gifts…
Introvert
Pros: Increased endurance when adventuring alone
Cons: Decreased endurance when adventuring with human companions
You really need your alone time. You have more endurance when adventuring alone, but less when adventuring with other human companions. (Can’t be combined with Extrovert.)
Kid Stuff
Pros: You can visit your parents, and they can give you things.
Cons: You automatically send 2% of your credits home weekly.
Your parents are alive and well, and you can visit them at their home. But 2% of all the money you earn is deducted automatically and sent to them.
Neon Street Rat
Pros: Better Neon dialogue and rewards.
Cons: Other faction bounties are greatly increased.
You grew up on the mean streets of Neon. You gain access to special dialogue options and better rewards from some missions on Neon. Crime bounty by other factions is greatly increased. (Can’t be combined with any other faction allegiance trait.)
Raised Enlightened
Pros: Access to the House of the Enlightened chest.
Cons: Lose access to the Sanctum Universum chest.
You grew up as a member of the Enlightened. You gain access to a special chest full of items in the House of the Enlightened in New Atlantis but lose access to the Sanctum Universum chest. (Can’t be combined with any other religion trait.)
Raised Universal
Pros: Access to the Sanctum Universum chest.
Cons: Lose access to the House of the Enlightened chest.
You grew up as a member of the Sanctum Universum. You gain access to a special chest full of items in the Sanctum Universum in New Atlantis but lose access to the House of the Enlightened chest. (Can’t be combined with any other religion trait.)
Serpent’s Embrace
Pros: Grav jumping provides a boost to health and oxygen.
Cons: Health and oxygen suffer if you don’t jump regularly.
You grew up worshiping the Great Serpent. Grav jumping provides a temporary boost to health and oxygen, but health and oxygen are lowered if you don’t continue jumping regularly – like an addiction. (Can’t be combined with any other religion trait.)
Spaced
Pros: Increased health and oxygen in space.
Cons: Decreased health and oxygen when on the surface.
Your body has become acclimated to space. Health and oxygen are increased when in space but decreased when on the surface. (Can’t be combined with Terra Firma.)
Taskmaster
Pros: Trained crew members on ship systems will automatically repair the system if it is damaged below 50% of its health.
Cons: Each crew member costs twice as many Starfield credits to hire.
Occasionally, if you have crew trained in a certain ship system, that system will automatically repair itself to full health whenever it is damaged below 50%. However, all crew cost twice as much to hire.
Terra Firma
Pros: Increased health and oxygen when on the surface.
Cons: Decreased health and oxygen in space.
You’ve never acclimated to space. Health and oxygen are increased when on the surface but decreased when you’re in space. (Can’t be combined with Spaced.)
United Colonies Native
Pros: Better United Colonies dialogue and rewards.
Cons: Other faction bounties are greatly increased.
You gain access to special United Colonies dialogue options and better rewards from some missions given by the faction. However, crime bounty by other factions is greatly increased. (Can’t be combined with any other faction allegiance trait.)
Wanted
Pros: Increased damage when you’re at low health.
Cons: Bounty hunters randomly appear and attack you.
Someone put a price on your head, and word has spread. Occasionally, armed mercenaries will show up and try to kill you, but being cornered gives you an edge – when your health is low, you do extra damage.
How to remove Starfield traits
You can remove your traits in Starfield, but it’s not a simple case of visiting a special vendor to redesign your character. There’s a quest you can do to remove or solve each trait during a playthrough, such as killing the adoring fan to remove the hero-worshipped trait, or telling your parents you can no longer afford to send them money.
Can you get more Starfield traits?
Unfortunately, you can only pick three Starfield traits at the start of your playthrough, and then you’re locked into those throughout the rest of your adventure, with no way to add additional traits over time.
Does every Starfield trait come with a negative effect?
Starfield traits are a double-edged sword: a simple stat boost from one trait will be to the detriment of another stat, whereas a discount in one shop will render another entirely inaccessible. Of course, stat boosts are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the traits on offer. If you’ve ever wanted a mortgage in space, Starfield’s got you covered.
Have you recently flown the nest, or are you an orphan settled on a distant moon? Time will tell, but more importantly, so will your Starfield traits. If you’re looking for more details on Starfield character creation, take a look at the Starfield religions that govern the beliefs of the Settled Systems. We’ve also got the scoop on Starfield cities and Starfield houses, as well as all the Starfield companions that can aid you on your journey.
Still looking for more? While a good Starfield wiki can be a handy source of information, our new Starfield Database goes further, offering you daily news, searchable databanks, and even interactive tools.