Custom Occupation
| Custom Occupation | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Class | Occupations |
| Type | Occupation |
| Points | +8 |
The Custom Occupation brings a blank slate and a large budget of trait points. It lets the character be built entirely from traits.
The occupation adds 8 points to the trait budget, the most of any occupation. It gives no starting skill levels, traits or recipes. Every choice comes from the trait list instead.
The Custom Occupation is the default choice on the character screen. It suits an experienced player who knows exactly which traits a run needs. New players usually do better with an occupation that brings a weapon skill or a strong craft. The early levels in key skills are hard to build from nothing, and an occupation hands them over for free.
Custom Occupation Skills
A Custom Occupation character starts every learned skill at level 0. Fitness and Strength start at level 5, the neutral middle of those skills. Every head start has to come from traits or from early training.
Skill traits fill the gap. Gardener adds a level of Agriculture for 2 points. First Aider adds a level of First Aid for 2 points. Whittler adds two levels of Carving for 2 points. These cheap traits spread small starts across several skills.
Larger traits cover more ground. Handy adds a level each of Carpentry, Carving, Maintenance and Masonry, and it speeds up building. Hunter adds a level each of Aiming, Tracking, Sneaking, Short Blade and Butchering. Bushcrafter adds Foraging, Knapping, Maintenance and Carving. Former Scout adds First Aid, Foraging and Fishing.
Physical traits work the same way. Athletic adds four levels of Fitness and Fit adds two. Strong adds four levels of Strength and Stout adds two. These matter because Fitness and Strength are the slowest skills to train.
How to Play Custom Occupation
The Custom Occupation suits players who want a specific build. The extra points can buy a mix of positive traits that no single occupation offers together.
The occupation also works for a balanced start. Several small skill traits can spread levels across many skills. Others can stack into one area for a focused build.
Some traits come only with an occupation. Ax-pert belongs to the Lumberjack, Night Owl to the Nurse and Security Guard, and Desensitized to the Veteran. A build that wants one of those traits needs the matching occupation instead.
With every skill at its base level, early training matters more. Skill books, television shows and tapes help close the gap in the first weeks.
Television and tapes suit this occupation especially well. Their experience only counts in the first three levels of a skill. A character starting at level 0 gets the full benefit. The Woodcraft show trains Carpentry, the Cook Show trains Cooking and Exposure Survival trains several outdoor skills. Reading the matching skill book first makes every gain count for more.
The Life and Living shows give their largest boosts in the first week. The Woodcraft show, for example, gives Carpentry a large early lift. Experience from watching can still spill over from a level-up, so a show near the end of level 2 is not wasted.
Skill books matter more than usual for a blank slate. Each skill book volume speeds up experience for two levels. Volume I covers the first two levels of a skill. Reading each volume just before its levels gives the most benefit. A Custom Occupation character can read Volume I of every skill it plans to train.
Learning traits stack well with the blank slate. Fast Learner raises the experience rate of most skills to 130 percent. It leaves Fitness and Strength at the base rate. Crafty does the same for the crafting skills.
Cheap knowledge traits are worth a look too. Keen Cook teaches cooking recipes and adds Cooking and Butchering levels. Vehicle Knowledge covers repairs on common and commercial vehicles. Inventive lowers the skill needed to learn recipes.
The Custom Occupation has some small foraging bonuses. The search radius is a little wider than normal, and weather hurts foraging a little less. Packaged food, junk and trash are slightly easier to spot, along with medicinal plants, wild plants and wild herbs.
The starting location depends on the chosen spawn region. The Custom Occupation uses the general list of spawn points for that region.
Notes
- The occupation adds the most trait points of any choice.
- Every skill level comes from traits or training.
- Watch skill shows on television early, since they help most from level 0.
- Some traits come only with their occupations.
- A good fit for planned, trait-focused builds.
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