Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong is a choice-based game and naturally, your choices will have impact how your characters develop. Outside of your skills and Disciplines themselves, Traits and Talents are what will impact how you build Emem, Galeb, and Leysha.
Traits play a huge part in developing your characters in Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong.
Traits in Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong¶
Traits come in two varieties, Permanent and Temporary, and they will reduce the experience cost of certain skills, making it much easier to attain higher levels in your Skills and tackle the challenges ahead. It is impossible to obtain all of the Traits on a single playthrough, as often you’ll be required to succeed certain checks or fail others. Temporary Traits will only impact your character until the end of that scene usually and is often given as part of the plot, or from using a beneficial consumable.
How to earn Traits¶
Traits often come as the result of a choice you make, and each Scene has multiple Traits you can earn per character. There is a catch however, you cannot earn every available Trait on a given playthrough, since choices may lead to different Traits for different characters. You’ll often have to make a choice in a scene that not only will grant you a Trait but change the outcome of your game in some way, so there’s a risk/reward scenario to take into account.
While this rule remains true for some of the more obvious Traits, there are some more elusive ones that you’ll obtain as completing optional objectives in scenes such as the Traceability Trait for Leysha in Scene 07. To earn this particular Trait, you’ll need to optionally remove the address labels off three refrigerator boxes in the basement so that the Camarilla can’t be traced. This is completely optional, so it’s always good to make sure you’re as thorough as possible when exploring each scene (or check our guides here!).
There are also some consumables that, when used, will grant a Temporary Trait but you’ll have no inclination about it until you use the item in question. Thankfully, if you know what the item is and what it grants, you can use this to your advantage by using it later in the game (such as saving the Tremere Potion in Scene 04 and using it near the end of the game to get a free level of Celerity).
Choosing to remove the address labels as Leysha in Scene 07 will grant a Trait.
Negative Traits¶
You may not wish to earn every Trait that is available to you, as Negative Traits are a reality in Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong. These are either obtained automatically through certain story scenes (such as Emem’s Amnesia Temporary Trait in Scene 04) or failing skill checks. Galeb, for example, can gain the unwanted Chatterbox Trait early in Scene 01 by failing a Skill Check with the scheming Berel Underwood, this will give him a -10% success rate in Intimidation ties. For the most part, you’re stuck with a Negative Trait if you earn one, however any that are classed as Temporary should be a priority you seek to remove.
You can find a list of what Traits each character can unlock and how by heading to the following pages:
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