Trait Categories
traitCategoriesCategories group traits together and control how many the player can pick from each group. Each category must be defined before traits can be assigned to it.
"Trait categories"
- Editor location
- Files → Mechanics → Trait Categories
- Editor type
- Edit in Studio + View JSON
- Size limits
traitCategories(entire section) — 100,000- Trait category
maxSelections— 40 selections
Schema
{
"traitCategories": {
"<key>": {
"name": "string",
"maxSelections": "number",
"traits": [
"string"
],
"description": "string",
"subcategories": [
{
"name": "string",
"traits": [
"string"
],
"description": "string"
}
]
}
}
}Example
{
"traitCategories": {
"Race": {
"name": "Race",
"maxSelections": 1,
"traits": [
"Human",
"Elf",
"Dwarf",
"Halfling"
]
},
"Class": {
"name": "Class",
"maxSelections": 1,
"traits": [
"Soldier",
"Scholar",
"Scout",
"Healer",
"Merchant"
]
},
"Background": {
"name": "Background",
"maxSelections": 1,
"traits": [
"Noble Household",
"Working Family",
"Frontier Town",
"Coastal Port"
]
},
"Perks": {
"name": "Perks",
"description": "Optional -- choose any that fit your character concept.",
"maxSelections": 2,
"traits": [
"Iron Stomach",
"Light Sleeper",
"Sharp-Eyed",
"Quick Learner",
"Bookish",
"Patient",
"Cool Head",
"Lucky"
],
"subcategories": [
{
"name": "Physical",
"description": "Traits rooted in the body and the senses.",
"traits": [
"Iron Stomach",
"Light Sleeper",
"Sharp-Eyed"
]
},
{
"name": "Mental",
"traits": [
"Quick Learner",
"Bookish",
"Patient",
"Cool Head"
]
},
{
"name": "Fortune",
"traits": [
"Lucky"
]
}
]
}
}
}Fields
name
Display name of the trait category, and must be byte-identical to the outer map key — the engine matches entries by key, so the key and name have to be exactly equal (same case, same spaces). A mismatch is a validation error. Build the map as { category["name"]: category }.
description
description -- creator-authored text shown to players during character creation. It can convey whether choosing from the category is optional and how its choices should be interpreted.
maxSelections
how many traits from this category the player can choose. Set to 1 for mutually exclusive categories or to the desired multi-select cap. 0 is empirically broken in the live UI -- the category renders 'Selected 0/0' and no traits can be picked. For "pick everything that applies" categories, set maxSelections equal to the number of traits in the category. Typical values: 1 (single-pick), 3-N (multi-select).
traits
required Array<string>. Lists all trait names in this category. Validator errors if absent.
Note: The validator checks
name,maxSelections, andtraitson traitCategory entries.
See Authoring Guide > Traits for the pattern on hiding trigger-only system traits from the character creator.
subcategories
Splits the category's traits into collapsible sections during selection. Each entry sets a name, an optional description shown with the heading, and a traits list naming which traits belong to it. Subcategories render first, each claiming its own traits, and whatever the category's traits list still holds afterwards follows under a heading of Other. A trait named in a subcategory and again at the root is only drawn once, so repeating it changes nothing; a subcategory whose traits are all claimed elsewhere is skipped entirely, and one with a blank name also falls back to Other.