Project Zomboid Traits Guide

Last Updated on 15 January, 2021

Project Zomboid Traits Guide – Positive & Negative traits guide – Your first step during character creation

Project Zomboid Traits – Positive Traits

Adrenaline Junkie -Desensitized -8: You move faster when panicked
Athletic – Overweight -10: You can run faster and also for longer
Brave – Cowardly -4: You won’t become as panicked as usual
Cats Eyes -2: Better vision at night
Dextrous – All Thumbs -2: -50% Item transfer time
Eagle Eyed – Short Sighted -6: You can see further, also wider view
Fast Healer – Slow Healer -6: +20% faster injury recover time
Fast Learner – Slow Learner -6: +30% more xp gains
Fit – Athletic -6: +2 Fitness (not speed)
Fast reader – Slow Reader -2: +30% faster book reading time
Graceful – Clumsy -4: You can get closer (-60% noise)
Inconspicuos – conspicuos -4: -50% chance to be spotted
Iron Gut – Weak Stomach -3: -50% chance of food illness
Keen Hearing – Hard of Hearing -6: You can hear from farther
Light Eater – Hearty Appetite -4: You will need less food (-25%)
Low Thirst – High Thirst -4: You will need less Water (-50%)
Lucky – Unlucky -4: You will find more rare objects, also harder to get hit
Organized – Disorganized -6: +30% capacity for all containers
Outdoorsman -2: weather effects don’t affect you, also better orienteering
Resilient – Prone to Illness -4: You will resist disease, also zombification better (70%)
Speed Demon – Sunday Driver -1: More speed for vehicles
Stout – Feble, Weak -6: You Push stronger (+2 melee), also +25% Carry capacity
Strong – Feble, Weak -10: You Push stronger (+4 melee), also +40% Carry capacity

Project Zomboid Traits – Occupation Traits

Amateur Mechanic – mechanic: Can repair all vehicle types without having to read any recipe magazines
Axe Man – lumberjack: Faster axe swing, also x2 speed breaking through doors
Burglar – burglar: Can hotwire vehicles and has less chance of breaking the lock of a window
Cook – Chef /burguer flipper: Knows how to cook
Desensitized – Veteran: Immune to panic
Night Owl – Security Guard: Requires little sleep. Stays extra alert when sleeping
Nutritionist – Fitness Instructor: Allows the player to see the nutritional values of any food, even those that aren’t packaged

Project Zomboid Traits – Hobby Traits

Amateur Mechanic (-5) +1 Mechanics, can repair standard and heavy-duty vehicles
Angler (-4) : +1 Fishing
Baseball Player (-4) : +1 Blunt Accuracy
Brawler (-6) : +1 Blunt accuracy, +1 Blade accuracy
Cook (-6) : +2 Cooking, knows all the cooking recipes without having to read
First Aider (-4) : +1 First Aid
Former Scout (-6) : +1 First Aid, also +1 Foraging
Gardener (-4) : +1 Farming
Gymnast (-5) : +1 Lightfooted, +1 Nimble
Handy (-8) : +1 Blunt, +1 Blade Maintenance, +1 Carpentry, +100hp to all constructions, also Increases building speed 11%
Herbalist (-6) : Gains the ability to find medicinal herbs, make poultices from them and identify poisonous berries and mushrooms
Hiker (-6) : +1 Foraging, also +1 Trapping
Hunter (-8) : +1 Sprinting
Runner (-4) : +1 Aiming, +1 Sneaking, also +1 Trapping
Self Defense Class (-6) : +1 Blunt, also +1 Blade Guard
Sewer (-4) : +1 Tailoring

Project Zomboid Traits – Negative Traits

Negative traits 1/2

Agoraphobic – Desensitized +4 – You will get panicked when outdoors
All Thumbs – Dextrous +4 – +400% item transfer time
Asthmatic +5: 40% increase in running endurance loss, also 30% increase in swing endurance lost.
Claustrophobic Desensitized +4- You will get panicked when indoors
Clumsy – Graceful +2: Zombies can hear you from farther (+60% noise)
Conspicuous – Inconspicuous +4: +100% Chance of being spotted
Cowardly – Brave +2: You will become panicked easier
Deaf – Hard/Keen Hearing +12: Can’t hear sound
Disorganized – Organized +4: -30% capacity for all containers
Emaciated: Low strength, low endurance and prone to injury
Feeble – Stout & Strong +6: You Push stronger (-2 melee), also -25% Carry capacity
Hard of Hearing – Keen Hearing +2: Smaller perception radius and hearing range
Hearty appetite – Light eater +4: You need to eat more (150%)
Hemophobic – Desensitized +3: Panic when performing first aid on self, cannot perform first aid on others, gets stressed when bloody
High Thirst – Low Thirst +6: +200% water consumption
Hypochondriac +2: You can develop infection symptoms without beeing infected
Illiterate – Fast Reader/Slow Reade +8: Can’t read books

Negative traits 2/2

Out of Shape – Athletic +6: -2 Fitness
Obese – Athletic +10: Reduced running speed, very low endurance and also prone to injury
Overweight – Athletic +6: Reduced running speed, low endurance and also prone to injury
Pacifist +4: Less effective with weapons (-25%)
Prone to Illness – Resilient +4: You will resist disease, also zombification, worse
Restless Sleeper +6: Slow loss of tiredness while sleeping
Short Sighted – Eagle Eyed +2: Smaller view distance, also narrwer view
Sleepyhead – Wakeful +4: 30% more sleep required
Smoker +4: Stress and unhappiness decrease after smoking tobacco
Slow Healer – Fast Healer +6: Recovers slowly from injuries and illness
Slow Learner – Fast Learner +6: Character gains 30% less Xp
Sunday driver – Speed Demon +1: The very slow driver
Slow Reader – Fast Reader +2: Read books 30% slower
Thin-skinned – Thick Skinned +6: Carries heightened risk of infection
Underweight – Obese +6: Low strength, low endurance and prone to injury
Unfit – Athletic +10: Very low endurance, very low endurance regeneration (-4 Fitness)
Thin-skinned – Thick Skinned +6: Carries heightened risk of infection
Thin-skinned – Thick Skinned +6: Carries heightened risk of infection
Unlucky – Lucky +4: You will find less rare objects, also easier to get hit
Very Underweight – Obese +10: Very low strength, very low endurance and prone to injury
Weak – Stout & Strong +10: You Push stronger (-5 melee), also -40% Carry capacity
Weak Stomach – Iron Gut +3: Higher chance (100%) to have food illness

Other Project Zomboid guides:

Cars / Vehicles

How Traits Work?

Traits are like attributes in Project Zomboid. But there are positive and negative traits. When creating a character you can choose the traits that you want, but the balance between positive and negative traits has to be zero

There are mods that increase the number of traits, like this one in steam: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1299328280. This mod adds a great deal more variety to the traits available to players during character creation

Magazine