All Rogue Trader Characteristics, explained

In Rogue Trader, your Characteristics determine what your character is capable of. By the will of the Emperor, allow me to give you a briefer explanation of each than what's offered to you in-game for clarity. Here's everything you need to know about Rogue Trader characteristics.

Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader Characteristics Guide

There are a total of nine important Characteristics you should be made aware of:

• Weapon Skill (WS) - This stat governs the effectiveness of your melee attacks, whether they're made with a knife or a chain sword. It boosts your chance to parry, improves your odds of hitting through a foe's parry, and dodge chances. Additionally, investing in this stat improves your chance to critically hit a target using melee. A core stat for any melee build.
• Ballistic Skill (BS) - This stat boosts the accuracy of your ranged attacks, whether you're firing a pistol or a Bolter. Investing makes it easier to hit enemies at range and/or in cover, making BS a core stat for any ranged build.
• Strength (S) - This stat governs how much damage your character deals with melee attacks as well as how much they can physically lift. It also boosts your Athletic skill, making it easier for you to get over difficult terrain.
• Toughness (T) - This stat is a must if you're looking to build a walking tank. TGH improves your character's ability to shrug off most physical ailments and boosts your maximum health. It also boosts your Carouse skill, improving your odds of resisting negative status effects from poisons, stims, and alcohol.

Related: Idira Build Guide – Rogue Trader

• Agility (AG) - Governs your character's turn order and dodge chance. If you're using a melee weapon, it also improves your odds of getting through an enemy's dodge and parry chances when making attacks against them. Additionally, it boosts the effectiveness of the Demolition Skill, making it easier to blow open obstacles and disarm traps.
• Intelligence (INT) - Governs your character's sense of reason as well as knowledge of the world around them. It impacts the effectiveness of your Logic, Medicae, and Tech-Use Skills. Through the use of Talents, INT can be manipulated to provide different bonuses to various facets of your character. (Voidborn can turn INT into a core stat for anything utilizing Fellowship, for example.)
• Perception (PER) - Determines how effectively your character notices their surroundings, as well as improves their overall hit chance against an enemy. A Perceptive character can easily spot traps through the Awareness Skill, which PER also governs.
• Willpower (WP) - Governs your character's ability to resist psychic powers and improves their own. WP is extremely important for any character attempting to utilize psychic powers as a Psyker, as it directly influences their effectiveness.
• Fellowship (FEL) - Governs your character's sociability when interacting with men and creatures. A high FEL means your character can make impossible deals to convince the unconvinceable and barter merchants out of their hard-earned merchandise. FEL additionally governs the Persuasion, Coercion, and Commerce skills, which all serve as outlets for the social manipulation of other characters.

Related: Abelard Build Guide – Rogue Trader

Best Characteristics in Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader

The Characteristics you should focus on depend entirely on the build you're attempting to make. At first, you probably won't start your character with a fully optimal build, but don't worry, as the game will allow you to respec all your characters at a certain point.

• Melee-focused Builds - These builds should invest in Weapon Skill, Strength, and Agility as their main Characteristics. All three prioritize improving your ability to land melee attacks and deal meaningful damage. Perception and Toughness are solid secondary stats to consider due to their universal benefits for any character.
• Ranged-focused Builds - These builds should invest in Ballistic Skill and Perception as their main stats. Both stats improve your odds of hitting your targets, which is a key factor in these type of builds. Ranged attacks have more ways to be mitigated (through cover) than melee ones, which means you want to be as effective as possible.
• Tank-focused Builds - These builds should prioritize Toughness over all other stats, as the purpose is to be a wall for the enemy to overcome. Agility is a solid secondary stat to consider, as it ensures your tank gets to position early and draws the fire of your foes.
• Psychic-focused Builds - These builds should focus solely on improving Willpower, as it is the only Characteristic in Rogue Trader that directly improves the potency and effectiveness of psychic powers.

For more quality guides and useful information on everything Rogue Trader, check out our guide on Rogue Trader romance guide – which characters are dateable here on Pro Game Guides.