The Sims Medieval Traits List and Strategy Guide

See also the Fatal Flaws Guide.

This Guide to The Sims Medieval will list the benefits of all Traits in the game and what benefits they bestow upon your Heroes.

Adventurous
Adventurous Sims can go on Adventures in the Forest or at Sea. Completing an Adventure will give a +20 'What a Great Adventure' buff for 12 hours. This is a good trait choice to provide activities for Sims that don't get any options at the port or can only stroll through the forest. Adventurous gives many opportunities to meet up with Random events that can lead to Sims gaining Renown for the Kingdom (notably at Sea) and Unicorn Meat, Mystic Metal Fragments, and other hard to find items. The buff is great, but I like the increased options for Sim activities to be the big perk here. Go on Adventures with high focus to have a better chance of positive outcomes. You should go on one adventure a day to get the buff. You can't go on another until the Buff wears off. They get 2 new interactions, as well. The first is Describe Adventures, which is friendly and quite helpful in Friendships, and Discuss Exotic Locales, which is Romantic.

Chilvalrous
Sims with the Chivalrous Trait will see great success when using Romantic Interactions. Courtly Love is truly romantic and they exercise this philosophy incredibly well. The drawback is that Chivalrous Sims can never go outside of their Marriage and Woo another. They'd need to break off the relationship first. Chivalrous could work very well in combination with the Licentious Fatal Flaw, making it much easier to make that first relationship and have a partner to Woohoo with any time of the day.

Creative Cook
Cooking time is cut in half for Creative Cooks. All meals prepared by this Sim will give a positive +15 delicious buff for 4 hours. It's a good pick for most Sims as they can create group portions much faster and Get the extra buff for a while after eating. It takes something like Gruel or Roasted Rat which doesn't benefit the Sim a better kick, so it will be very helpful until your Sim can afford to eat better food.

Dedicated
Sims with the Dedicated Trait will occasionally take on a third Daily Responsibility. This is great if it's a Sim that will benefit from more XP and has generally easy tasks to perform, like the Knight or Physician. Sims like the Monarch and Merchant have some annoying responsibilities that would plage you more often. The big perk here is not the XP, it's that the Job Well Done buff stacks. Times are cumulative, tacking on 4 hours each for the 2nd and third steps. The max time you can be under its effect is 16 Hours. At first, it's a +20 for 8 hour buff. On the second job, it's a +35. With the Dedicated Trait's third Daily Responsiblity, it jumps to a whopping +50. That's an amazing mood booster and will encourage you to complete the DRs in rapid succession so you can enjoy the higher stages' buff for more of the day.

Earthy
The Earthy Trait is The Sims Medieval's version of Loves the Outdoors from The Sims 3. They get a +20 One with Nature buff that is permanent so long as they're outside. This is nice in itself for helping with Quest performance and outdoor Focus-driven activities. What is more, they will find better Herbs when collecting from bushes. It increases their yield by a bit, and will help Wizards, Spies, and Physicians to get better finds for their potion-creating activities.

Eloquent
Sims with this Trait will have three new eloquent-only Social Interaactions available under the Trait social menu. They are: Comfort with Well-Chosen Words, Pontificate Poignantly, and Give Inspirational Speech. Comfort can fail and should only be used when the other Sim is definitely suffering from something. Overall, they're good socials that will help Sims to make friends. I feel there are better trait choices out there, but this one could be helpful to Merchants to build up the rapport before going in for a sale. Friendly is another option for accomplishing this.

Evil
Evil Sims will get a Fiendishly Delighted buff when they watch another Sim suffer. It lasts 5 hours and will give +15. This is a trait that's only really helpful if a Sim can actually cause some suffering. The Wizard and Spy both have methods to induce suffering in other Sims through spells and potions. Monarchs, Knights, and Spies could get Fiendishly Delighted as well by winning duels. This makes Evil synergize pretty will with the Bloodthirsty Fatal Flaw, as it gives extra incentive to duel. None of these things will help your Sim to make friends, but at least they'll be enjoying themselves. If you're evil and like to Sims suffer, give this trait to your Sims so your cruel actions will actually help you from the gameplay perspective!

Excitable
Excitable Sims will receive a positive 15 focus buff for many events in The Sims Medieval. It lasts a full 4 hours and comes from even the mundane. Cooking and Brewing will trigger this, so they'll get it every morning with breakfast. They get excited over other things, like Kingball and Sword Fights as well. Wizards can get it from casting spells. Find what makes your particular hero excited and exploit that to keep them in a great mood.

Friendly
The Friendly trait will greatly increase the odds that your Sim's friendly social interactions are taken positively. They get a couple new actions, namely Compliment Garment and Say Kind Words under the trait menu.

Fun-Loving
Fun-Loving Sims get more Fun out of entertaining activities. As they have more and more fun, they will gradually see the benefits of the trait. They'll first be Entertained, which gives a +25 buff with a duration that increases to about 4 hours before being upgraded to 'Life is So Fun' and deliver a whopping +50 for up to 3 hours (vs 40 for non Fun-loving Sims). As it degrades, it will fall back to Entertained for up to 12 hours (depending how much Fun they had at the Life is so Fun level) until it vanishes. Sims without this trait will fall back to 3 hours remaining after having a blast. Fun activities include: playing/practicing cards, playing Kingball, listening to music (the Listen to Music action must be active), practicing military strategy on the table, and playing the Lute.

Good
Good Sims have all negative interactions disabled. They don't even think of doing mean things. They can give other Sims a comforted buff by talking to them, but it's of debatable value. It could help one hero to bolster another. They can also donate some money to the poor from the post box, which will give them a +15 buff for 18 hours. The price can get quite expensive, though, so it's really not all that great to be Good unless your Sim is a cash machine like the Merchant.

Greedy
Greedy Sims will get a +15 'Makin' Money' buff for 12 hours after they take in enough cash. It seem to trigger after making it a couple times, like threatening for money as a Knight. The Greedy one himself will also get the ability to borrow money from Sims, which is the effective equivalent of mooching as it won't get paid back. Hit up friends for large amounts of cash and your Sim will be delighted. Most income streams not related to the inventory or Village Shoppe will result in this buff reward.

Haggler
Haggler will give your Sim a 20% discount on all goods you buy. This helps with both the Village Shoppe and crafters in town. If you have high security, know that the Haggler bonus is applied first, then the 30% discount for security is taken off afterward, leaving you with a $56 Harpoon ($100 normal) as opposed to the $50 harpoon you'd get if they stacked on top of one another. This is very helpful to Merchants but can come in handy for a Sim to sail to Effenmont or Gastrobury (because it knocks a lot off the cost of maps), and to afford cheaper food. The more purchases a Sim will be making throughout their lifetime, the more handy the Haggler trait will be.

Hopeful Orphan
The Hopeful Orphan Trait will give your Sim one of the best buffs in the game. Take this trait, then walk about asking Villagers about the Sim's parents through the trait social interaction menu. Try and try again, and eventually you will get a letter from the parents. This letter will bestow a 12 hour +30 buff every time it's read and will stay with you forever! Good for any Hero.

Jokester
Jokester is not a very helpful trait in The Sims Medieval. It will increase the impact of all Jokes and how much they move the friends bar, and give a few extra joke options under the Traits social menu. You could use this to bolster your other Heroes, but it's not going to come in handy when they're alone. The mood of other Sims just doesn't matter that much in Medieval. The only real perk I see is that the short Hilarious Conversation buff should be easier to get with a Jokester.

Loves Family
Sims with this trait will get a +20 buff any time they're around family. This will help them more if that family member is going to be around a lot. Marrying the Royal Advisor, Nurse, or Helper at the Cathedral is a good idea. Those Sims will be around regularly so they can give the boost. Some Sims are very solitary and will rarely have another walk into their profession building. Overall, this just isn't a very good trait. It could work with Licentious as the Sim would be able to quickly Woohoo to satisfy their lust, as all socials with family are boosted. I would stay away from this one. This game is far different from The Sims 3 in terms of socialization and family structure.

Scholarly
Scholarly Sims see various benefits. They are the real bookworms of The Sims Medieval. This trait will open up a love of reading that will give a +10, 12 hour 'Read a Good Book' buff. They'll also be happy when they finish a book and get another buff for 24 hours. This makes reading a very helpful activity. Examining an object will give a +15 3 hour buff called 'Fascinated'. This is a very fast interaction so you can keep this up so long as there is something around to examine. That's about all that this does. It's helpful for any Hero type that starts with a bookshelf, like the Peteran Priest, Wizard, or Physician.

Solitary
The Sims Medieval's solitary trait behaves much the same as its counterpart in The Sims 3. This trait will give Sims a permanent +15 Enjoying Solitude buff when they're alone. It will go away if another Sim is around. This works while outside if no other Sims are nearby. The Sim will also feel less need to socialize and will rarely get hit with a Lonely debuff. This is good for Sim professions that don't see a lot of visitors like Spies, Knights, and Wizards. Solitary will often give a positive buff 'I Can Do It Alone' at +10 for random durations, often quite long.

Unkempt
Unkempt Sims don't mind being filthy. In fact, they love it. So long as the Sim stinks, they'll get a +10 Focus buff. This really helps as the only way you can ruin it is by taking a bath. This will help decently with Quest progress and Focus-driven activities. The second big perk to picking this Trait is that the Sims can eat spoiled food. Make a group portion of an amazing meal and put it in their inventory to have a bowl any time, anywhere. No need for a larder, here! You will have to manually plate out the portions before the food spoils to eat it due to an in-game bug where the 'grab a plate' interaction isn't available on a spoiled group meal. Tell the Sim to grab a plate, then cancel the eat action, then drag the bowl to the inventory after they set it down. The game claims that they can sleep "practically anywhere", but it's unclear just what this means, as all Sims when tired can sleep in the forest or village inn.

Vain
Vain is a trait that gives a nice buff when a Sim sees himself in the mirror. They'll also enjoy talking about themselves to other Sims with a few new social interactions. However, they aren't great. The biggest perk of this buff is that you only need to go to a mirror and pick 'Gussy Up', 'Admire Self', or 'Check Self Out' to get a +10 for 6 hour buff. Vain's 'I'm So Beautiful' buff does stack with Gussy Up's 'Attractive', which gives a 5 hour buff of its own at +10 for any Sim. S0, 20 minutes in the mirror for +20 for about 5 hours.

Whale Ate My Parents
Sims with this Trait will have a need for hunting whales. This obsession will give them a -10 buff until they talk about whales or go on a whale hunt. Simply talking about this will give them a Whale Rage Satiated buff for +15 for 8 hours! That's a nice perk. Also, this is the only Sim who can go on Whale Hunts (from the Port) regularly. If they head to the village shoppe, they can buy a Whaling boat for $800 and Spear for $100. These two options will enable the Focus-driven Whale Hunt from the port. Killing a whale will give your Sim a bunch of valuable meat that can provide some of the best meal buffs in The Sims Medieval. I like to choose this for Heroes who are not so far away from the Port, like the Blacksmith.