Traits can play a big role in a Shogun 2 campaign. Each character (agents, wives, and generals) may have one or more traits which grant special abilities or bonuses to armies, provinces, or diplomatic relations, which may contribute to turning the tide of a battle or even a war.

General traits are traits that affect your general, their armies, and sometimes may affect your diplomacy, unlock special abilities, or affect all units on the campaign map. Generals may begin play with one or more traits or may acquire them as a consequence of your actions (or inaction). There is a subset of general traits that may only be acquired by your Daimyo. If a general already has a trait, they may acquire a higher level version of the same trait.

Unlike in some future Total War games, Shogun 2 does not have this information consolidated in any place in game - either in the encyclopedia or even on the trait description itself. You would not know how you acquired certain traits or how you might acquire new ones even after extensively playing the game. In over 1,000 total hours of playing this game there were only a few traits I had a vague understanding of before performing this deep dive into the database, the scripts, and performing extensive testing. However, I did not test every single condition, trigger, and ability. In the event I get something wrong or you acquire a trait in a circumstance that appears to conflict with the information in this guide, please let me know in the comments so I can update this guide.

There are three factors in leveling up traits for generals and agents. First, the character must meet the trigger condition. Sometimes this is as simple as a new turn starting, other times it's much more complicated. Second, there is a percentage chance involved that the character will gain progress toward a trait when they have met the required conditions. And third, the character must meet a "threshold point" to gain a new level in a trait. "Threshold points" are basically invisible levels in a trait - think of them as experience points. For some traits, you don't get to "level up" in the trait until you have satisfied the trigger condition and the percentage chance a certain number of times.

For instance, the first level in the "Brave" trait has a threshold point of 2, meaning that you must satisfy the conditions, and the RNG has to roll within the 20% chance range twice in order to gain the first level of this ability. The third level of this ability, however, has a threshold point of 7, making it more difficult to get, but definitely doable in the course of a campaign.

In this guide I've marked the threshold point of each trait with (TP: 3), where "3" is the amount of total threshold points required to achieve that specific level. Threshold points themselves are cumulative, so getting the second level of the Brave Trait, called "Courageous" requires 4 total threshold points, this will mean you only need to get 2 more threshold hold points after getting the initial Brave trait, which took 2 threshold points to acquire.

The trait benefits listed in this guide are NOT cumulative as you level up, meaning that if you go from the level one "Brave" trait that provides a +1 morale bonus to all units under a general's command, to the level 2 "Courageous" version of the trait which also provides a +1 morale bonus, those effects do not accumulate. Some traits seem to be designed with this in mind and properly give you bonuses (or penalties) to abilities as traits get higher level, however others do not. This is likely an oversight by CA and some wires got crossed between design and implementation, or traits simply didn't get enough QA testing.

Additionally, the trigger that happens on character creation or when a character becomes a Daimyo, which I believe is meant to provide starting traits, is also triggered when a character recovers from convalescence after an assassination attempt. This means that your generals may acquire certain traits which are only supposed to be provided on character creation if they are wounded during assassination attempts throughout the course of your campaign.

Some levels of abilities are either totally impossible to attain, virtually impossible to attain (because of the probabilities involved), or are only possible to attain via this convalescence bug.

I am currently working on a simple mod which fixes most of these behaviors with the intention of restoring what I believe is the designer-intended vanilla behavior.

• Shimazu: Lucky, Self Centred
  
• Chosokabe: Distrustful, Courageous
  
• Hattori: Night Fighter, Protected by the Spirits
  
• Date: Self Centred, Casually Brutal
  
• Hojo: Night Fighter, Guardian Spirit
  
• Mori: Self Centred, Night Fighter
  
• Oda: Impolite, Brave
  
• Takeda: Bloodthirsty, Lucky
  
• Tokugawa: Suspicious, Brave
  
• Uesugi: Lucky, Enjoys a Drink
  
• Ikko Ikki: Distrustful, Fanatic
  
• Otomo: no traits

There is a 10% chance that a general will have the first level of this trait on creation.

Trigger Chance: 10%

Self Centered
+1 to melee attack for this general and his bodyguard (TP: 1)

Ambitious
+1 to melee attack for this general and his bodyguard, -1 to loyalty (or honor if daimyo) (TP: 3)

Over-wheening Ambition
-1 morale for this general and his bodyguard, -2 to loyalty (or honor if daimyo) (TP: 6)

Your general may gain a point in this trait after winning a battle when at least 70% of the total men you've fielded have died. This appears to be counting the men who have died in that particular battle, but it may also be counting a percentage across all battles.

Trigger Chance: 20%

War is Slaughter
-1 morale to enemy units (TP: 1)

Bloodthirsty
-1 morale to enemy units (TP: 3)

Blood-soaked
-1 morale to enemy units (TP: 5)

Your general has chance to gain a point in this trait when they fight in the melee of a battle themselves, are not routed, and do not withdraw from the battle. Generals also have a 10% chance of gaining the first threshold point in this trait automatically on character creation (but note that this will not give them the Brave trait right away).

Trigger Chance: 20%

Brave
+1 morale for all units under this man's command (TP: 2)

Courageous
+1 morale for all units under this man's command (TP: 4)

Heroic
+1 morale for all units under this man's command (TP: 7)

Your general may gain this trait when they are routed from combat. "Routing" should not be confused with "withdrawing" or "retreating". A route is when your general is so demoralized that they totally break from battle and the unit flag no longer appears above the unit. A withdraw is when you select the white "withdraw" flag from the battle map to send your unit off the map. A retreat is when you remove your army from combat before the battle begins from the campaign map. It appears that you may only gain the coward trait when your general has been routed.

Trigger Chance: 1%

Dubious Courage
-1 morale for all units under this man's command (TP: 2)

Poor Reputation
-1 morale for all units under this man's command (TP: 5)

Doubtful Courage
-1 morale for all units under this man's command, -2% chance to assassination (TP: 7)

This trait may only be acquired when a general becomes a Daimyo (10%). You also have a 3% chance of gaining this trait when your general becomes a Daimyo if they have crushed an insurrection. My testing hasn't been able to determine what "crushing an insurrection" entails. I thought this might mean when your general crushes a rebellion, but my testing disproved this. It may specifically refer to when you put down a rebellion caused by an enemy's religious agent. However, other tables in the database lead me to believe that this behavior is totally unimplemented.

Trigger Chance: 10% (and maybe 3%)

Casually Brutal
+1 to repression in this province (TP: 1)

Unnecessarily Harsh
+2 to repression in this province (TP: 3)

Excessively Cruel
+3 to repression in this province (TP: 6)

A general without a station (meaning not a commissioner, a Daimyo, or an heir) has a 1% chance to acquire a point in this trait when they end their turn garrisoned in a town which contains a building in the stealth chain.

The high TP requirement along with the very low chance makes it virtually impossible to gain this trait (except for the Uesugi Daimyo who begins play with this trait and can more easily level it up). This leads me to believe that it was likely the intention to make this chance 100% instead of 1% since 100% is also sometimes represented by the value 1.0, and integer percents is how the database/scripts specify the trigger chance. It's also possible that, like the "Noodles" trait, it was the designer's goal to have this trigger as a 1% chance after 20 turns spent in a building of the stealth chain, but scripting restrictions prevented that from happening so they tried to shortcut it with a 20 TP requirement, not realizing that the 1% trigger chance on each of the required Threshold Points would make this trait virtually impossible to acquire.

Trigger Chance: 1%

Enjoys a Drink
+1 morale for all units under this man's command (TP: 20)

Heavy Drinker
+1 morale for all units under this man's command (TP: 25)

Drunkard
+1 morale for all units under this man's command, +1 to command when attacking on land or sea (TP: 30)

Paralyzed by Drink
-1 morale for all units under this man's command, -1 to command when defending on land or sea (TP: 35)

Drowning in Sake
-1 morale for all units under this man's command, -2 to command when defending on land or sea (TP: 40)

Your general may gain a point in this trait when they become Daimyo (10%). You also have a 5% chance of gaining this trait when your general becomes a Daimyo if your clan religion is Christianity.

Trigger Chance: 10% and 5%

Listens to Gaijin
+10 to diplomatic relations (TP: 1)

Likes Gaijin
-10 to diplomatic relations, -1 happiness (TP: 3)

Prefers Gaijin!
-20 to diplomatic relations, -1 happiness, +1 happiness for the Christian population(TP: 6)

This trait is always gained on the creation of an Ikko Ikki general. The only trigger is character creation and Ikko Ikko clan. There is a 100% chance that this trait will be gained, and despite the fact that the first rank in this trait requires 2 threshold points, this trait is unique in that, upon being triggered, it automatically gives you 2 points in the trait, guaranteeing that the general has the first rank.

Trigger Chance: 100% (gives 2 TP on trigger)

True Believer
+1 conversion of local population to the clan religion (TP: 2)

Fanatic
+1 conversion of local population to the clan religion (TP: 4)

Father of the People
+1 conversion of local population to the clan religion (TP: 7)

An Ikko Ikki general may gain a point in this trait whenever they loot a settlement.

Trigger Chance: 30%

Temples Dues
+10% to income from looting (TP: 2)

Tax the Faithless!
+15% to income from looting (TP: 4)

Holy Thief
+20% to income from looting (TP: 7)

A general may gain a point in this trait at the end of a turn if they hold a station, don't have the "Ambition" trait, don't have a wife with the "Ambition" trait, and are not a Daimyo.

Trigger Chance: 2%

Devoted
+1 to this general's loyalty (TP: 3)

Loyal
+2 to this general's loyalty (TP: 6)

Fanatically Loyal
+3 to this general's loyalty (TP: 9)

A general may gain a point in this trait if they end their turn at sea, they have been at sea for 30 or more turns, and they do not have the "Seasick" trait. There is also a 10% chance that a non-Ikko Ikki general may begin play with this trait.

Trigger Chance: 1% and 10%

Odd
+1 morale for all units under this man's command (TP: 2)

Slightly Disturbed
-1 morale for all units under this man's command (TP: 4)

Deranged
-1 morale for all units under this man's command, -1 to command when attacking on land or sea (TP: 6)

A general may gain a point in this trait anytime a relative is killed, making this trait only available to generals in your clan's family.

Trigger Chance: 20%

Heart Sick
-1 to the morale of this general and his bodyguard (TP: 2)

Broken Hearted
-1 to the morale of this general and his bodyguard, +1 to melee for all units under this man's command (TP: 4)

Broken Spirit
-1 to the morale of this general and his bodyguard, +2 to melee for all units under this man's command (TP: 6)

Your general may gain a point in this trait if they become wounded in an assassination attempt and do not have the "Protected" trait.

Trigger Chance: 10%

Maimed
+1 morale for all units under this man's command (TP: 1)

Crippled
+1 morale for all units under this man's command (TP: 3)

To acquire this trait, win a defensive siege battle with your Daimyo during the Winter season.

Trigger Chance: 100%

Mirror of Amaterasu:
+1 to happiness in all provinces during the winter season, +1 to morale for all units during the winter season (TP: N/A)

There are two conditions under which your general might acquire this trait. Every Hattori general automatically gains this trait on creation (100%). You may also gain this trait if someone else engages you in a night battle (30%) (This condition is actually unimplemented and never occurs). Note that this trait is not the only way to enable night battles for your general - if you gain the third rank in the Ambush skill you can also unlock night battles.

Trigger Chance: 100%

Night Fighter
Enables night battles. (TP: 1)

Your general may gain a point in this trait at the end of their turn if they have spent 50 or more turns garrisoned in a town, and they have not moved this turn.

Trigger Chance: 1%

Likes his Food
-7% to the campaign movement range of all units under this man's command (TP: 1)

More Rice!
-10% to the campaign movement range of all units under this man's command (TP: 3)

Eats Like a Pig
-15% to the campaign movement range of all units under this man's command (TP: 5)

Your general may gain a point in this trait if they survive an assassination attempt and do not have the "Protected" trait. Ikko Ikki generals have a 10% chance of beginning play with this trait.

Trigger Chance: 1% or 10%

Distrustful
-2% to the character's chance of being assassinated (TP: 1)

Suspicious
-5% to the character's chance of being assassinated (TP: 3)

Suspicious of All
-10% to the character's chance of being assassinated (TP: 6)

This is a Daimyo specific version of this trait. Your general may gain this trait if they survive an assassination attempt and they have a 10% chance of gaining this trait when they become Daimyo. Note that the effects of this trait are different than the standard version and that the "Protection" trait does not keep a Daimyo from gaining this trait, unlike the other Paranoia trait.

Trigger Chance: 1% or 10%

Distrustful
-5% to the character's chance of being assassinated (TP: 1)

Suspicious
-5% to the character's chance of being assassinated, +1 to repression (TP: 3)

Suspicious of All
-5% to the character's chance of being assassinated, -10 to diplomacy, +2 to repression (TP: 6)

Your Daimyo may gain a point in this trait when they sign a peace treaty.

Trigger Chance: 3%

Peaceable
+10 to diplomacy (TP: 1)

Peace Loving
+10 to diplomacy, -1 to the loyalty of all generals (TP: 3)

Pacifist
+10 to diplomacy, -2 to the loyalty of all generals (TP: 6)

Any non-Ikko Ikki general may gain a point in this trait anytime they loot a settlement. Non-Ikko Ikki generals also have a 10% chance of gaining this trait on creation.

Trigger Chance: 20%

Fond of Gold
+1 morale for all units under this man's command (TP: 2)

Pillager
+1 morale for all units under this man's command (TP: 4)

Looter
+1 morale for all units under this man's command (TP: 6)

Your general may gain a point in this trait if they survive an assassination attempt and do not have the "Maimed" or "Paranoia" traits.

Trigger Chance: 20%

Lucky
-2% to the character's chance of being assassinated (TP: 1)

Guardian Spirit
-5% to the character's chance of being assassinated (TP: 3)

Protected by the Spirits
-10% to the character's chance of being assassinated (TP: 6)

This is a Daimyo specific version of this trait. Your Daimyo may gain this trait if they survive an assassination attempt.

Trigger Chance: 20%

Lucky
-2% to the character's chance of being assassinated (TP: 1)

Guardian Spirit
-5% to the character's chance of being assassinated (TP: 3)

Protected by the Spirits
-10% to the character's chance of being assassinated (TP: 6)

Your general may gain a point in this trait if they end their turn at sea, have been at sea for 30 or more turns, and do not have the "Mad" trait.

I believe this ability effects ALL ships, not just the army that the general is embedded in. I haven't tested this, so please let me know if this is wrong. I'll also update here if my testing reveals more info about this. If this is indeed the behavior, I believe this was an oversight by CA or a limitation of the modifiers available via the scripting.

Trigger Chance: 1%

Seasick
-7% movement range for ships on the campaign map (TP: 1)

Violently Seasick
-10% movement range for ships on the campaign map, -1 to command when attacking or defending on the sea (TP: 3)

Hatred of Boats
-15% movement range for ships on the campaign map, -2 to command when attacking or defending on the sea (TP: 6)

Your Daimyo may gain this trait by winning three consecutive battles in the summer season. Note that the seasonal morale benefit is for ALL units in all of your armies, and the morale bonus for units "under this man's command" is not seasonal.

Trigger Chance: 100%

Summer Son
+1 to happiness in all provinces during the summer season, +1 to morale for all units during the summer season, and +1 to morale for all units under this man's command (TP: 1)

This trait appears to be unimplemented as there is no trigger condition for this event. However, the Oda starting Daimyo begins play with the Impolite trait.

Impolite
-20 to diplomacy (TP: 1)

Rude
-20 to diplomacy, -1 to happiness (TP: 3)

Unpleasantly Uncouth
-30 to diplomacy, +5% chance of this character being assassinated (TP: 6)

Your general may gain a point in this trait when they become a Daimyo. There is a 10% chance and another 1% chance of gaining this trait (because of duplication in the triggers).

Trigger Chance: 10% and 1%

Unfair
+1 to repression in this province (TP: 1)

Unjust
+1 to repression in this province, -1 to happiness (TP: 3)

Tyrant
+2 to repression in this province, -2 to happiness (TP: 6)

Your general may gain a point in this trait if they end their turn garrisoned in a town with a building from the stealth chain.

Trigger Chance: 1%

An Eye for the Ladies
-7% to the campaign movement range of all units under this man's command (TP: 1)

Womaniser
-10% to the campaign movement range of all units under this man's command (TP: 3)

Unpleasently Lusty
-15% to the campaign movement range of all units under this man's command (TP: 6)

Some generals begin play with wives, and wives may also be acquired through special events or through diplomacy. A general may have a single wife and the only way to change your wife is for her to die from old age. Wife traits only have a local affect on generals and on their armies (with the exception of "Fertile" and "Fecund" which appear to affect the chance of having a child). Wives have a single unique trait and typically do not gain or lose traits during play. If you wish to strategically gain or avoid certain wife traits you must either exploit save scumming while creating a diplomatic marriage, or you must wait for the in-game event where a retainer offers one of your generals a bride and decline or accept the marriage based off of the wife's traits.

The "Fertile" and "Fecund" traits are two exceptions. Fecund is a higher level version of the Fertile trait and if a wife has the Fertile trait, does not have any other traits (except Ambition for some reason - probably an oversight), is between the ages of 16 and 40 and has more than 1 child already, there is a 1% chance at the end of every turn that she will upgrade her Fertile trait to Fecund. What this trait does is not entirely clear (I would presume this makes birth more likely but it's not clear how these traits affect birth chance).

Ambition
-1 to loyalty (or honor if daimyo)

Beauty
+1 to command when defending on land

Cunning
-5% chance to assassination

Diplomatic
+1 to loyalty (or honor if daimyo)

Fertile/Fecund
Probably increases the chance of having children.

Fiscal Prudence
-1 to moral, -10% to upkeep cost for all units under this man's command

Loyal
+1 to loyalty (or honor if daimyo)

Moneylover
+1 to morale, +5% to upkeep cost for all units under this man's command

Shrewish
-1 generals loyalty (or honor if daimyo), +10% movement all units under this man's command

Although some of these benefits appear to be small, in Shogun 2 even a +1 bonus can go a very long way when applied to an entire army. There are some desirable traits which are fairly easily acquired and some undesirable traits to be avoided.

You should go for the first level of the "Brave" trait on all generals you plan on using in battle (which is probably all of them). All you have to do is ensure your general fights in the melee of a battle which can be easily accomplished by utilizing them as flanking shock cavalry. This will give all units under their command a +1 morale bonus. Unfortunately, higher levels of this trait don't do anything and are pointless to acquire.

Similarly, the "Coward" trait should be avoided as it penalizes all your troops' morale. It's very unlikely to acquire this trait with a 1% chance, but ensuring that your general is never routed off the field will guarantee you never get it.

"Summer Son" is a very powerful trait to acquire. The flat +1 morale bonus for all units under your Daimyo's command is already pretty good, but the additional +1 morale on top of that for all of your armies during the Summer season, as well as +1 happiness in all provinces in the summer is an enormous benefit. Gaining this trait is quite difficult though, as it requires specifically your Daimyo to win three consecutive battles in the same summer season. The hardest part about this is finding a way to have three battles. Two battles are doable - fight the battle yourself and when you win, let the battle continue and let your enemy's units run off the map to ensure that their defeated army runs away and isn't killed entirely. Note that you can often use your general to extend the "reach" of your army if they are out of movement points by moving just your general in to close the gap, as long as your main army is still in reinforcement distance. In order to get the Summer Son trait you will need at least two armies close enough to each other that your movement points will let you get there. Keep an eye out for two armies near your Daimyo and maybe even wait until Summer to gain this trait if you get an opportunity. Some clan starts such as the Oda can consistently get this trait because of the starting rebels and neighboring enemies who will enter and attack your starting province.

Similarly, the "Mirror of Amaterasu" ability is very useful. Unlike "Summer Son" it does not give +1 morale to your Daimyo's army during all seasons, but it does give the +1 morale to all armies and +1 happiness in all provinces in Winter, and importantly, the condition is much easier to satisfy: just win a defensive siege battle in the winter with your Daimyo.

"Bloodthirsty" is a potentially incredibly powerful trait, much more powerful even than the "Brave" trait since it's typically not the morale differential that is as important as ensuring you can quickly get your opponent's army to their breaking point. It is however a bit difficult to satisfy it's condition, especially once your campaign has gone on for a while. To ensure you get it, let 70% of your army die in battle at the beginning of the campaign and then continue to fight and win battles with your ragged army until you gain the trait. Intentionally letting a newly taken province revolt is a good way to get easy battles against low morale units that even a ragged army can win.

"Plunderer" is a very nice trait to have and is not too difficult to satisfy, at 20% chance, although it does take two Threshold Points. However, looting will hurt your Daimyo's honor, which can be a bigger deal than the potential +1 morale gain. Only go for this trait if you are planning on reaching the -3 honor penalty cap from looting already (you may not gain or lose more than 3 honor from any single source of honor bonus/penalty making the 4th town you loot "free"); and/or if your Daimyo has a surplus of honor (your 7th honor point and beyond does not provide you any additional benefit), and/or you want to throw caution to the wind and play a minimum honor Daimyo since you cannot have any worse than 1 honor, but this last one is very much so not recommended as it can dramatically increase the difficulty of the campaign.

Similarly, "Ikko Looter" is nice if you're planning on doing a lot of looting for additional income, though again should only be gone after if you are planning on doing a lot of looting and/or have surplus honor to "spend."

Apart from the honor/loyalty hit from having an Ambitious wife in the first place, you should also avoid an Ambitious wife so that your generals have a chance to gain the "Loyal" trait.

Don't leave your generals in ships. Although the first level of the "Mad" trait might be nice to pick up, you definitely do not want the "Seasick" trait.

The "Noodles" trait and the "Womaniser" trait means you should be cautious about leaving your general garrisoned in a town to avoid some very bad movement penalties.

To optimize wife traits, either save scum before making a diplomatic marriage, or wait for the event which pops up with an offer to marry one of your generals. This random event will tell you what the wife's trait is.

I really like the idea of General traits in Shogun 2. I think the promise of them is that it's a way for the player to develop a story about their character based on that character's actions which can also meaningfully affect gameplay. Unlike skills, General traits are unique to that general and are a direct consequence of what that general has actually done in battle or on the campaign map, or what makes him unique from "birth" (character creation).

However, I think the Shogun 2 traits system falls well short of that goal, in part due to poor implementation but also in part due to it just not being fleshed out enough.

I have two upcoming mods I'm working on: one simple mod to restore what I believe is the best approximation at the designer intended behavior, and another mod which seeks to overhaul the traits system and take a deeper dive in helping to tell your Generals' stories and give them interesting traits which affect gameplay. In Shogun 2, these traits don't even need to be very strong: a +1 morale or melee attack bonus, or a +5 accuracy bonus or +1 command bonus can go a long way to making your generals unique and interesting and there are a host of amazing effects that are virtually unused by the game which would be perfect to apply to traits:

• Enabling a general to lay an ambush anywhere on the campaign map
  
• Increase/decrease death chance by natural causes
  
• Giving slight bonuses or penalties to cost of recruitment of units of a certain type
  
• Having a General's army consume food!
  
• Bonuses to units of a certain type
  
• Increase general's influence radius
  
• Changing the size of the general's bodyguard
  
• A non-Daimyo general which affects your Daimyo's honor
  
• Increased effectiveness to Rally or Inspire abilities
  
• Modified resistance to invaders in provinces a general has conquered
  
• A general which can help to ignore a certain amount of penalties from religious unrest
  
• Changed line of sight on campaign map
  
• Administration cost modifies
  
• Changing the loyalty of characters in the same province as a general/Daimyo
  
• Research speed modifiers
  
• A general who has besieged a lot of settlements having reduced siege time
  
• A general who sucks in reinforcements from further away
  
• Increased replenishment rate
  
• Immunity to winter attrition
  
• Changing local tax rate
  
• Increase the agent cap for an agent type
  
• Modify success chance for agents
  
• Modify clan fame
  
• Changing recruitment time for certain units
  
• Modify upkeep costs of certain units

Although the possibilities appear to be a little limited based off of the conditions and triggers available via scripts (a limitation I believe that hampered the CA designers in making the vanilla traits system), there is a whole host of interesting effects that could apply to traits and there are creative ways to circumvent or supplement some of the scripting limitations I'm interested in exploring. I'll add to this guide if and when I release my mods.