What Are Traits?
In Savage Worlds, "Traits" encompass both Attributes (your raw abilities) and Skills (what you've learned to do). Think of Attributes as your character's hardware and Skills as their software!
Real World Analogy
Attributes are like a computer's specs (processor speed, RAM, graphics card), while Skills are like the programs you've installed. A powerful computer (high attributes) can run programs better, but you still need to install the programs (learn skills) to do specific tasks!
The Five Attributes
Every character has five core attributes that define their natural capabilities:
Agility
What it represents: Reflexes, dexterity, and hand-eye coordination
Linked Skills: Athletics, Boating, Driving, Fighting, Piloting, Riding, Shooting, Stealth, Thievery
Character Examples:
- d4: Professor X (wheelchair-bound)
- d6: Dr. Watson (average)
- d8: Black Widow (trained agent)
- d10: Spider-Man (superhuman reflexes)
- d12: The Flash (speed force)
Smarts
What it represents: Intelligence, wisdom, and mental acuity
Linked Skills: Academics, Battle, Common Knowledge, Electronics, Gambling, Hacking, Healing, Language, Notice, Occult, Psionics, Repair, Research, Science, Spellcasting, Survival, Taunt, Weird Science
Character Examples:
- d4: Kronk (well-meaning but dim)
- d6: Ron Weasley (average student)
- d8: Hermione Granger (brilliant)
- d10: Tony Stark (genius inventor)
- d12: Reed Richards (super-genius)
Spirit
What it represents: Willpower, courage, and inner strength
Linked Skills: Faith, Focus, Intimidation, Performance, Persuasion
Character Examples:
- d4: Shaggy (easily frightened)
- d6: Peter Parker (before the bite)
- d8: Captain America (natural leader)
- d10: Wonder Woman (warrior princess)
- d12: Doctor Strange (master of will)
Strength
What it represents: Raw physical power and muscle
Linked Skills: None (Athletics is linked to Agility), but Strength adds to melee damage and sets how much you can carry
Character Examples:
- d4: Rocket Raccoon (tiny)
- d6: Frodo Baggins (hobbit strength)
- d8: Batman (peak human)
- d10: Captain America (super soldier)
- d12: The Hulk (strongest there is)
Vigor
What it represents: Endurance, health, and constitution
Linked Skills: None directly, but affects Toughness
Character Examples:
- d4: Sickly Victorian child
- d6: Peter Parker (normal teen)
- d8: Aragorn (ranger toughness)
- d10: Wolverine (healing factor)
- d12: Superman (invulnerable)
Core Skills
Skills represent learned abilities. Every character starts with some basic competence in Core Skills:
Athletics (Agility)
Running, jumping, climbing, swimming, and throwing. When Goku leaps between mountains or Captain America parkours through a city.
Common Knowledge (Smarts)
General education and cultural awareness. Knowing that vampires hate garlic or that you shouldn't feed Gremlins after midnight.
Notice (Smarts)
Perception and awareness. Sherlock's deductions, Daredevil's radar sense, or just spotting the ninja hiding in the shadows.
Persuasion (Spirit)
Convincing others through charm, logic, or emotion. From Captain Kirk's diplomacy to Naruto's talk-no-jutsu.
Stealth (Agility)
Moving unseen and unheard. Essential for ninjas, rogues, and teenagers sneaking past parents.
Skill Specializations
Combat Skills
- Fighting: Melee combat - swords, fists, lightsabers
- Shooting: Ranged weapons - guns, bows, blasters
- Battle: Tactical planning and mass combat
Example: Legolas has Shooting d12, Gimli has Fighting d10
Social Skills
- Intimidation: Frightening others - Batman's specialty
- Performance: Acting, singing, playing music
- Taunt: Mocking enemies - Spider-Man's combat banter
Example: Loki uses Taunt d10 to anger the Hulk
Knowledge Skills
- Academics: History, literature, arts
- Occult: Supernatural lore and magic theory
- Science: Physics, chemistry, biology
- Electronics: Using and fixing electronic devices
- Hacking: Breaking into computers and networks
Example: Bruce Banner has Science d12, Dr. Strange has Occult d12
Physical Skills
- Driving: Cars, trucks, motorcycles
- Piloting: Aircraft and spacecraft
- Riding: Horses and other mounts
- Survival: Wilderness skills and tracking
Example: Han Solo has Piloting d10, Aragorn has Survival d8
Arcane Skills
- Spellcasting (Smarts): Magic - wizards and sorcerers
- Faith (Spirit): Miracles - priests and paladins
- Focus (Spirit): Gifted - innate powers, mutants
- Psionics (Smarts): Mental powers - telepaths and telekinetics
- Weird Science (Smarts): Gadgets - mad inventors
Each needs its matching Arcane Background. Example: Doctor Strange casts with Spellcasting, Jean Grey uses Psionics
Using Skills: The Skill Test
Common Skill Tests
The Target Number almost always stays at 4. Easier or harder tasks add a modifier to your roll instead - usually somewhere from +2 to -4.
Climbing a Wall (Athletics)
- Easy climb (rough wall, rope): +2
- Moderate (smooth wall): no modifier
- Hard (overhang, wet): -2
- Extreme (upside down): -4
Spider-Man with Athletics d8 and a Wild Die laughs at walls!
Hacking a Computer (Hacking)
- Home PC: +2
- Corporate network: no modifier
- Government database: -2
- Tony Stark's AI: -4 (as hard as it gets)
Oracle with Hacking d12 types "I'm in" and means it!
Spotting Hidden Enemies (Notice vs. Stealth)
- A sneaking foe rolls Stealth; your Notice has to beat their total
- Poor hiding spot: +2 to your Notice
- Ninja in dim light: -2
- Darkness or an invisible enemy: -4
Daredevil's heightened senses (think the Alertness Edge) give him +2 to Notice!
Cooperative Rolls
Heroes often work together! When characters cooperate:
Support
Helper rolls their skill. Success gives +1 to the lead character, a raise gives +2 (total support bonus maxes out at +4).
Example: Robin helps Batman hack a computer. Robin rolls Hacking and gets a success, giving Batman +1 to his roll.
Group Rolls
When a group of Extras all attempt the same thing, the GM can make one group roll - the group's Trait die plus a Wild Die - and the result applies to everyone in the group.
Example: The orc patrol hunting the Fellowship makes one group Notice roll instead of twenty separate ones. The Fellowship are Wild Cards, so each hero rolls their own Stealth.
Dramatic Tasks
When you need to defuse a bomb, hack the mainframe before guards arrive, or perform surgery during an earthquake, it's time for a Dramatic Task! You must collect a set number of successes and raises (task tokens) within a limited number of rounds - and drawing a Club as your action card brings a complication.
Famous Dramatic Task Moments
- Iron Man: Building the Arc Reactor in a cave (Repair)
- Mission Impossible: Hacking while dangling from the ceiling (Hacking)
- Speed: Keeping the bus above 50mph (Driving)
- Die Hard 3: Solving riddles before bombs explode (Smarts)
Skill Advancement
Characters improve through experience:
Improving Skills
- At or below linked attribute: one Advance raises two such skills one die type each
- Above linked attribute: one Advance raises one skill one die type
- New skill: learning it at d4 counts as one of those two cheap skill raises
Peter Parker's Growth
Starting: no Fighting at all (untrained, he rolls d4-2)
After spider-bite: Fighting d4 (one Advance, which also raised Athletics)
Trained by Tony: Fighting d6 (one Advance, shared with Science)
Experienced hero: Fighting d10 (two more Advances - still cheap, since his Agility is d10)
Pushing on to d12 would go above his Agility, so that step takes a whole Advance by itself
Untrained Attempts
Don't have a skill? You can still try most things at d4-2!
Untrained Penalties
- Roll d4 and subtract 2 (the result can drop below 1)
- The GM may rule some things impossible untrained - you can't cast spells without an Arcane Background, for example
- Wild Cards still get their Wild Die (the -2 applies to it too)
Example: Thor needs to hack a computer. He doesn't have Hacking, so he rolls a d4 and, being a Wild Card, a d6 Wild Die - taking the better result and subtracting 2. That's only about a 32% chance to reach 4. Somehow, randomly mashing keys works - must be divine intervention!
Key Takeaways
- Attributes (d4-d12) represent natural abilities
- Skills (d4-d12) represent learned abilities
- Most tasks need a 4+ to succeed
- Skills are linked to attributes but can exceed them
- Everyone has core skills; specialized skills need training
- Cooperation makes the dream work!