In Starfall, a trait is a keyword attached to a rules element—creature, item, feat, spell, action, hazard, or subsystem—that conveys extra information about how other rules interact with it. Traits answer questions like “Can this be hacked?”, “Is this human?”, or “Does this trigger a reaction or subsystem?”, using a compact, consistent vocabulary.
Most traits are inherited directly from Pathfinder 2e and Starfinder 2e, ensuring compatibility with existing mechanics and tools, while Starfall adds a setting layer of traits for Devotion, Rift effects, guilds, and galactic culture. Wherever possible, Starfall uses existing traits in novel ways rather than inventing new subsystems, preserving the elegance and predictability of the underlying engine.
Every Starfall stat block—whether for a PC option, NPC, creature, item, or hazard—includes a trait line summarizing its most important tags.
Creatures list size and type first (for example, Medium humanoid human), followed by category and special traits like cosmic, robot, or undead.
Items and equipment list traits that define damage type, technology level, usage, and interactions, such as analog, tech, modular, versatile, or firearm.
Feats, spells, and actions use traits like Attack, Skill, Directive, Downtime, Exploration, or a skill name to show which subsystems and triggers they participate in.
When you see a trait in a stat block, it’s a pointer: “Go to the trait index to understand how this thing behaves and what can interact with it.”
For ease of reference and design, Starfall organizes traits into three broad buckets:
Core Rules Traits – Structural traits that describe rules format, rarity, and broad type (e.g., Attack, Skill, Ancestry, Class, Common, Uncommon, Rare, Unique).
Mechanical Content Traits – Traits that describe what a thing is or does mechanically, such as creature types, weapon properties, spell tags, and equipment categories (e.g., humanoid, construct, tech, versatile, agile, fire).
Starfall Setting Traits – Traits unique to this galaxy that tie elements into Devotion, Rift‑Space, factions, guilds, and cosmology (e.g., Rift, Mana, Devotion (White/Blue/etc.), Guild, Black Market, Inner Sphere, Frontier).
Core rules traits describe how a rules element fits into the system’s structure and how often it’s seen in the galaxy.
Rarity Traits – Common, Uncommon, Rare, Unique
Rarity traits indicate how available an ability, item, or creature is and whether it’s assumed to be accessible at character creation or during play. In Starfall, these map directly to Archives of Nethys conventions, with most material treated as Common unless explicitly tagged otherwise.
Type Traits – Ancestry, Class, Background, Skill, General
Traits like Ancestry, Class, Background, Skill, and General categorize feats and options and tell you where to look them up and what prerequisites may apply. For example, a feat with the Skill trait improves a skill or gives a new action for that skill, while General feats are broadly available options that most characters can access.
Action Traits – Attack, Directive, Exploration, Downtime, Skill
Traits such as Attack and Skill mark actions that follow core checks and multiple attack penalty rules, while Directive denotes special orders that allies can follow, and Exploration or Downtime indicate which mode of play the activity belongs to. These traits are critical for understanding triggers, when reactions can be used, and which abilities interact with an action.
Mechanical content traits describe what an element is at the rules level—its body, damage profile, and thematic abilities.
Creature Traits – Size and Type
Creature entries always list size (Tiny, Small, Medium, Large, Huge, Gargantuan) and one or more type traits, such as aberration, animal, celestial, construct, dragon, humanoid, robot, or undead. These traits govern what spells affect the creature, what weaknesses or immunities it might commonly share, and which trait‑specific abilities from the GM tools apply.
Energy, Element, and Condition Traits
Traits like acid, cold, electricity, fire, mental, and poison define damage types and resistances, while traits such as incorporeal, swarm, or mindless add specific rules hooks and expectations. When building or reading Starfall creatures, these traits are your shorthand for their expected defenses and theme.
Weapon and Equipment Traits
Weapon traits—such as agile, versatile, shove, ranged, and similar tags—modify how attacks are made, what skills they might use, and how they behave on critical hits. Equipment traits like tech, analog, magical, or consumable determine whether something is affected by hacking, power drain, antimagic, or mundane conditions. Starfall ports these traits directly from SF2e/PF2e, occasionally adding thin setting overlays (for example, the Starfall‑flavored Tech trait article) without changing the underlying math.
Starfall adds its own trait layer to express Devotion, Rift phenomena, factions, and galactic culture without inventing new core subsystems.
Devotion Traits – White, Blue, Black, Red, Green, Colorless
Devotion in Starfall replaces traditional alignment with color‑coded values tied to cosmic Mana currents—order, perfection, power, freedom, acceptance, and void. Tagging a creature, item, spell, or organization with a Devotion trait aligns it with those currents for purposes of social bonuses, rivalries, religious access, and some magical interactions described in the Devotion rules.
Rift and Mana Traits – Rift, Mana, Rift‑Touched, Riftstorm
Rift traits mark elements directly touched by Rift‑Space: anomalies, scars, storms, and entities shaped by its reality‑bending turbulence. Mana traits apply to effects and artifacts that draw on the emotional and ideological currents flowing between Real Space and Rift‑Space, tying them into Devotion and large‑scale setting events.
Faction and Legality Traits – Guild, Black Market, Inner Sphere, Outer Sphere, Frontier
These traits indicate who controls an object or practice and how legitimate it is. Guild items are restricted by Reputation & Favor with specific organizations, while Black Market tags mark contraband that can’t be purchased freely and may carry narrative consequences. Regional traits like Inner Sphere, Outer Sphere, and Frontier help identify where an option is common, exotic, or unknown, tying into exploration and travel rules.
Each Starfall‑specific trait is deliberately thin: it primarily defines access, social meaning, and setting hooks, leaving the heavy mechanical lifting to the SF2e/PF2e chassis you already know.