Quirks

Quirks are modifiers to your character in Space Station 13. Inspired by similar mechanics from many games (especially roguelikes, ala Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead), they impact the way you play the game in small (or sometimes large) ways by adding passive mechanical bonuses and drawbacks.

Getting Quirks

Quirks are modified through the game preferences menu by clicking on Configure Quirks. Doing so will open your quirk setup.

Quirks are organized alphabetically and by quality, in descending order: positive, negative, and neutral. You can see their names, and next to those, a short gameplay descriptor on what they do. To the right of that is a button to either take the quirk or lose it. Whenever you spawn in, either through latejoining or when the round starts, your quirk setup will be locked in - your character will have those quirks until the round ends, and changes you make to the setup during the round will not apply.

Quirks use a point system, called quirk balance, which defaults to 0. This is used to balance the quirks you take, and designed in such a way that every positive quirk requires some drawbacks. Positive quirks take from this balance, negative quirks add to it, and neutral quirks don't affect it at all.

You cannot buy a positive quirk unless you have the balance for it, but you can take any amount of negative quirks. For instance, if you take the Poor Aim quirk, you now have a quirk balance of 1 and can purchase any one quirk that has a balance cost of -1, like Night Vision. If you were to also take Nearsighted, you would have a quirk balance of 2, and could take a quirk with a cost of -2, like Skittish or Self-Aware. In this case, you could also take two quirks that cost -1. Simple stuff!

Regardless of balance points, you can only have six total quirks at a time. Unspent balance is left unused.

Example quirks setup, using the right image as a reference:

• Starting points: 0
• You want to take Self-Aware and Night Vision, meaning you'll need 3 points.
• You take Nearsighted to gain 1 point.
• You take Poor Aim to gain 1 point.
• You now have 2 points, so you take Self-Aware for 2.
• You decide not to take Night Vision, and instead you want Skittish.
• You remove Self-Aware to regain the spent points, and remove Nearsighted. You now have 1 point.
• You take Pacifism to gain 2 points.
• You take Prosopagnosia to gain 1 point.
• You take Self-Aware again and then take Skittish. You now have 0 points.

This setup coincides with the point costs (0 - 1 - 2 - 1 + 2 + 2 = 0) as well as the quirk limit (5/6). If you wanted, you could also take an additional negative quirk or a neutral quirk to get your maximum quirks.

Keep in mind that there's nothing forcing you to take the maximum amount of quirks, spend all your points, or even use quirks at all. You are able to enter the game and play even with no quirks, so don't let it concern you too badly!

List of Quirks

Below is a list of all positive, negative, and neutral quirks in the game, including their balance costs and actual gameplay effects.

Positive Quirks

Positive quirks take from quirk balance and have useful or beneficial effects.

Quirk Name	Balance	Description	Gameplay Effects
Alcohol Tolerance	-1	"You become drunk more slowly and suffer fewer drawbacks from alcohol."	You take 30% less of the drunkenness from alcohol. Some alcohols don't make negative effects (i.e. Absinthe hallucination).
Apathetic	-1	"You are used to the awful things that happen here, bad events affect your mood less."	Negative moodlets are 50% less effective on you.
Drunken Resilience	-2	"Nothing like a good drink to make you feel on top of the world. Whenever you're drunk, you slowly recover from injuries."	Your bruises and burns are healed based on how drunk you are: Drunkenness>=6: heals brute 0.12, burn 0.06 Drunkenness>=41: heals brute 0.3, burn 0.15 (total 0.42 and 0.21) Drunkenness>=61: heals brute 0.4, burn 0.2 (total 0.82 and 0.41)
Empath	-2	"Whether it's a sixth sense or careful study of body language, it only takes you a quick glance at someone to understand how they feel."	When you examine someone, you can understand how they are: "X seems to be on guard." - When they're in non-help intent. "X seems winded." - When they have more than 10 oxy damage. "X seems sickly." - When they have more than 10 toxin damage. "X seems distressed." - When their sanity is worse than Disturbed. "X appears to be staring off into space." - When they are blind. "X appears to not be responding to noises." - When they are deaf.
Freerunning	-2	"You're great at quick moves! You can climb tables more quickly."	You climb tables 20% faster.
Friendly	-1	"You give the best hugs, especially when you're in the right mood."	Your hugs give someone you hug a +3 mood boost for 4 minutes. If your sanity is better than Disturbed, bonus is +5.
Jolly	-1	"You sometimes just feel happy, for no reason at all."	You occasionally get a +6 mood boost for 2 minutes.
Light Step	-1	"You walk with a gentle step; making stepping on sharp objects is quieter and less painful and you won't leave footprints behind you. Also, your hands and clothes will not get messed in case of stepping in blood."	Stepping on sharp things, like glass shards and d4s, is 40% quieter than normal. Stepping on gibs is 60% quieter than normal. Stepping on blood doesn't make your shoes bloody. Stubbing your toe or stepping on sharp things with barefoot deals 50% less damage to you.
Linguist	-1	"Although you don't know every language, your intense interest in languages allows you to recognise the features of most languages."	Even if you don't know a language, you'll recognise which language it is by seeing the language icon in the chat. You still don't know its meaning. Note that Codespeak and Gibbering are still not identifiable.
Multilingual	-1	"You spent a portion of your life learning to understand an additional language. You may or may not be able to speak it based on your anatomy."	Gives you a random language that you don't already speak or understand excluding Codespeak, Narsien, and Ratvarian.
Musician	-1	"You can tune handheld musical instruments to play melodies that clear certain negative effects and soothe the soul. You start with a delivery beacon."	When you join a round, you get a beacon that lets choose an instrument. When you play music, people around you get: A buff that -2 to dizziness and jitteriness, -1 to confused every second for 6 seconds. A +3 mood boost for 3 minutes.
NEET	-1	"For some reason you qualified for social welfare."	Your payday grants 20 credits more. This comes from Space Nations Welfare, so it will never run out.
Night Vision	-1	"You can see slightly more clearly in full darkness than most people."	Your vision in darkness is very slightly brighter, and you can see the 3x3 area around you without a blur.
Plushie Lover	-1	"You love your squishy friends so much. You start with a plushie delivery beacon."	When you join a round, you get a plushie delivery beacon that summons a plushie to your location.
Psychic Photographer	-1	"You have a special camera that can capture a photo of ghosts. Your experience in photography shortens the delay between each shot."	When you join a round, you get a free camera obscura that can capture Poltergeist beings like ghosts/revenants. Your camera recharges 50% faster after taking a photo.
Self-Aware	-2	"You know your body well, and can accurately assess the extent of your wounds."	When checking yourself for injuries, you can see the exact amount of brute and burn damage. You can also tell if you have toxin or oxygen damage. Self-surgery speed penalty on you is 40%, down from 60% (doesn't stack with a mirror). You can change your hairstyle by using an electric razor without a mirror.
Skater Bro	-2	"You’re a little too into old-earth skater culture! You're much more used to riding and falling off skateboards, needing less stamina to do kickflips and taking less damage upon bumping into something."	You spawn in with a better skateboard, and any caps you put on will be automatically flipped backwards.
Skittish	-2	"You can conceal yourself in danger. Ctrl-shift-click a closed locker to jump into it, as long as you have access."	Ctrl-shift-clicking on a locker will, if you can open it, cause you to jump in and lock the door behind you.
Spiritual	-1	"You hold a spiritual belief, whether in God, nature or the arcane rules of the universe. You gain comfort from the presence of holy people, and believe that your prayers are more special than others."	When you join a round, you get a box of candles and a matchbox. When you pray, a holy presence gives you a +3 mood boost and administrators online will see a special notice next to your name. This doesn't mean they have to respond, though.
Tagger	-1	"You're an experienced artist. While drawing graffiti, you can get twice as many uses out of drawing supplies."	When you join a round, you get a free spray can. You cost a spray can 50% less.
Voracious	-1	"Nothing gets between you and your food. You eat faster and can binge on junk food! Being fat suits you just fine."	You never become fat and your stomach has a black hole - you can always eat food. The click delay when eating food and drinking drinks is halved.

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Negative Quirks

Negative quirks add to the quirk balance, and have detrimental effects.

Quirk Name	Balance	Description	Gameplay Effects
Alcoholic	+1	"You can't stand being sober."	Spawn with an Alcohol addiction and with a random alcohol bottle in either your backpack or your boots.
Back Back	+2	"Thanks to your poor posture, backpacks and other bags never sit right on your back. More evently weighted objects are fine, though."	Equipping a backpack gives you a -15 mood penalty.
Blood Deficiency	+2	"Your body can't produce enough blood to sustain itself."	You lose blood over time, and you will die if you neglect to get treatment. Without treatment: 15 minutes = low blood symptoms, 30 minutes = oxygen damage builds up, 32 minutes = fainting, 34 minutes = dead. Iron will slowly restore blood.
Blind	+4	"You are completely blind, nothing can counteract this."	You are completely blind.
Brain Tumor	+3	"You have a little friend in your brain that is slowly destroying it. Thankfully, you start with a bottle of mannitol pills."	You occasionally get some ticks of brain damage, which, if left untreated, will cause various ailments, and eventually death of your brain. For every tick, you have 80% chance to get 0.1 brain damage. When you join a round, you get a pill bottle that has 5 pills of 30u mannitol that can treat your brain damage. When mannitol is in your blood, you don't get brain damage, but mannitol is less effective than before (heals 0.5 brain damage). You have a special overdose against mannitol. If you have more than 35u mannitol, you feel bad and mannitol is awfully ineffective.
Deaf	+2	"You are incurably deaf."	You are completely deaf.
Depression	+1	"You sometimes just hate life."	You occasionally become sad, giving you a -12 mood penalty for 2 minutes.
Family Heirloom	+1	"You are the current owner of an heirloom, passed down for generations. You have to keep it safe!"	You start the shift with a special item, which varies based on your job. Examples include a golden bike horn for the Clown or a special hammer for the Lawyer. If you are not in possession of your family heirloom, you gain a -4 mood penalty.
Foreigner	+1	"You're not from around here. You don't know Galactic Common!"	You don't have access to Galactic Common and instead speak Galactic Uncommon; a language unique to foreigners and silicons.
Frail	+2	"Your bones might as well be made of glass! Your limbs can take less damage before they become disabled."	Your limbs have a lower damage threshold they become disabled at.
Heavy Sleeper	+1	"You sleep like a rock! Whenever you're put to sleep or knocked unconscious, you take a little bit longer to wake up."	All unconsciousness and sleeping effects are increased in duration by an amount between 25% and 30%.
Hypersensitive	+1	"Bad things affect your mood more than they should."	Negative moodlets are 50% more effective on you.
Junkie	+2	"You can't get enough of hard drugs."	Start with a random drug addiction and a pill bottle full of pills for said addiction.
Light Drinker	+1	"You just can't handle your drinks and get drunk very quickly."	Alcohol's booze power is doubled to you. Minus booze power is reversed to you (-10 booze power is +10). Antihol only purges drinks on you, without removing any drinking side effects such as dizziness.
Nearsighted	+1	"You are nearsighted without prescription glasses, but spawn with a pair."	Anything far away from you is difficult to see. This cannot be cured by anything except wearing prescription glasses.
Nyctophobia	+1	"As far as you can remember, you've always been afraid of the dark. While in the dark without a light source, you instinctually act careful, and constantly feel a sense of dread."	You cannot run in darkness, you can only walk. When shrouded in darkness, you get a -3 negative moodlet modifier.
Pacifist	+2	"The thought of violence makes you sick. So much so, in fact, that you can't hurt anyone."	You are incapable of directly hurting any other creatures. You cannot fire guns, use harm intent, or swing weapons. Stun batons can still stun, but that's the extent of it. Note: If you spawn as an antagonist, Pacifist is not disabled.
Paraplegic	+3	"Your legs do not function. Nothing will ever fix this. But hey, free wheelchair!"	Your legs do not work. You spawn in with a wheelchair.
Phobia	+2	"Because of a traumatic event in your past you have developed a strong phobia."	You have a fear of something. Best to avoid it.
Poor Aim	+1	"You're terrible with guns and can't line up a straight shot to save your life. Dual-wielding is right out."	Any shots you fire with projectile weapons are shifted randomly by up to 25 degrees.
Prosopagnosia	+1	"You have a mental disorder that prevents you from being able to recognize faces at all."	Examining someone will always show them as Unknown, regardless of appearance, ID, etc.
Prosthetic Limb	+1	"An accident caused you to lose one of your limb. Because of this, you now have a random prosthetic!"	One of your arms or legs is replaced with a surplus prosthetic, which are very fragile and need tools to repair.
Pushover	+2	"Your first instinct is always to let people push you around. Resisting out of grabs will take conscious effort."	It is possible for you to be infinitely tabled or given infinite swirlies if you take this quirk.
Reality Dissociation Syndrome	+2	"You suffer from a severe disorder that causes very vivid hallucinations. Mindbreaker toxin can suppress its effects, and you are immune to mindbreaker's hallucinogenic properties."	You suffer from intense, constant hallucinations. These include normal hallucinations but can also be strange, unique effects that can't be induced by anything else. Having this does not give you a license to act in an antagonistic manner.
Smoker	+1	"Sometimes you just really want a smoke. Probably not great for your lungs."	Spawn with a tobacco addiction, a lighter, and a pack of smokes.
Social Anxiety	+1	"Talking to people is difficult for you, and you often stutter or even lock up."	You periodically stutter, and there is a very low chance every second for you to become incapable of speech for a time.
Unstable	+2	"Due to past troubles, you are unable to recover your sanity if you lose it. Be very careful managing your mood!"	If you lose sanity, you can't recover it.

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Neutral Quirks

Neutral quirks cost no points and do not impactfully alter the way the game plays.

Quirk Name	Balance	Description	Gameplay Effects
Ageusia	0	"You can't taste anything! Toxic food will still poison you."	Food, drinks, and reagents have no taste to you. However, toxic food will still incur nausea.
Ananas Affinity	0	"You find yourself greatly enjoying fruits of the ananas genus. You can't seem to ever get enough of their sweet goodness!"	Pineapple is added to your loved foods list.
Ananas Aversion	0	"You find yourself greatly detesting fruits of the ananas genus. Serious, how the hell can anyone say these things are good? And what kind of madman would even dare putting it on a pizza!?"	Pineapple is added to your detested foods list.
Deviant Tastes	0	"You dislike food that most people enjoy, and find delicious what they don't."	Your liked and disliked foods are swapped. This means that for humans you will suddenly like raw and gross foods, but disliked fried and junk food. This differs between species, so being a lizard or moth will cause you to like and dislike different things.
Monochromacy	0	"You suffer from full colorblindness, and perceive nearly the entire world in blacks and whites."	You can no longer view colors. Play as a Detective for the full authentic noir view.
Mute	0	"You are unable to speak."	You can no longer talk, you can still use emotes and PDA in order to communicate.
Vegetarian	0	"You find the idea of eating meat morally and physically repulsive."	Meat is added to your detested foods list.