The nine traits

Each trait runs between two sides. A hero can sit at either extreme or anywhere between, and most heroes lean clearly one way on a few traits and sit near the middle on the rest. Pick a trait and a side to see how a hero who leans that way acts. Everything it shows is written out in full below.

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Fight traits

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Nerve: Fearless or Wary

Nerve shows when a pack of enemies is in sight. It sets how eagerly a hero closes on that pack and how early they run.

• Fearless heroes close on a pack eagerly and run late. When a threat comes close, the brave taunt it.
• Wary heroes hang back and run sooner. A place where they once met danger feels doubtful to them long before it would to a fearless hero. When fear hits, the timid are the first to speak, and a coward never taunts.
• In town, nerve decides who goes to the Training Ground. The fearless drill sooner and more often than the wary.

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Composure: Steady or Brittle

Composure shows when a hero is wounded. It reads how hard the wound hits them and shapes how they hold together while hurt, including whether they call out for help when an ally is near.

• In town, composure decides who goes to rest early.

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Vengeance: Vengeful or Forgiving

Vengeance shows when a hero holds a grudge or someone attacks them. It decides which enemy they go for first: the species they hold a grudge against, or the one who struck them.

• Vengeful heroes go for that target first, and more surely than a forgiving hero.
• Forgiving heroes are less pulled toward it.
• Vengeance is the one trait that never shows in town.

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Bond traits

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Loyalty: Loyal or Lone

Loyalty shows when an ally is under threat. It decides which threatened ally a hero steps in to defend, and how strongly they want to regroup when the party gets split.

• Loyal heroes step in front of a threatened ally and call out danger to them.
• Lone heroes let an ally find out about the danger on their own.
• In town, loyalty decides who seeks company. The loyal go looking for their friends.

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Compassion: Tender or Cold

Compassion shows when an ally is wounded.

• Tender heroes run to whoever is hurt worst.
• Cold heroes feel that pull far less.
• In town, compassion decides which ally a hero walks over to chat with. The tender pick whoever is loneliest.

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Drive traits

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Ambition: Climber or Settled

Ambition shows when the exit is known or there is a floor still to climb.

• Climbers feel the full pull of the exit. On a cleared floor, they walk past a chest.
• Settled heroes feel that pull less, so on a cleared floor they linger over the chest the climber walked past.
• In town, ambition decides who drills at the Training Ground.

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Greed: Hoarder or Freehand

Greed shows when there is a chest, a fresh kill, or a kill within reach.

• Hoarders press the attack that would land a kill. They want chests more than anyone and risk more to reach them.
• Freehands want chests less, and step back or run sooner.
• In town, greed decides who browses the blacksmith.

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Curiosity: Seeker or Homebound

Curiosity shows when there is unexplored ground nearby.

• Seekers feel the pull of every unexplored path at least as strongly as anyone, and feel less pull back to the group.
• Homebound heroes stay closer to the group.
• In town, curiosity decides how far from the gate a hero strolls.

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Hope: Hopeful or Despairing

Hope shows when a hero is wounded or an ally has fallen.

• Hopeful heroes cheer after a kill they landed themselves.
• When an ally dies, hope decides who gives in to despair.
• In town, hope sets the mood of a hero’s gestures: bright for the hopeful, dark for the despairing.

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What heroes say

Heroes speak during a run: they taunt, warn, cheer, call for help and despair, each one when their traits push them to it. What a hero says never changes what they do. It only lets you hear what is going on inside them. In town, a hero with a strong need for company and a loyal streak hums or gestures, and their hope sets whether that mood is bright or dark.