Someone correct me if I'm misunderstanding traits, but from what I can tell they seem to be a sliding scale. For example, "Pragmatic" increases your Reason score by 1 point, where as "Romantic" (on the opposite side of that scale) increases your Luck score by 1 point.
Now, the trick here is that you can never receive a bonus from Pragmatic and Romantic at the same time. Also, even if you (for example) make a dozen Pragmatic choices and never choose a Romantic choice, you will only have a +1 in Reason gained from being Pragmatic a dozen times (and not +12 as you might expect). In order to ever be considered Romantic (and earn a +1 in Luck), you'd have to make 13 Romantic choices (and no further Pragmatic choices). Of course, at that point you lose your Pragmatic standing as well as the +1 bonus to your Reason score.
The original post mentions Traits pushing min-maxers into making choices they may not necessarily want to make, but instead feel they have to make in order to receive their preferred bonus. I can attest that I often feel that way while playing as well. However, I'm realizing that this sliding scale setup allows players to have at least a little wiggle room in this area. For example, if you want to have that +1 bonus to luck, you really only need to make sure you've made X+1 Romantic choices, where X (in this case) equals Pragmatic choices. And that's it. If you've made 6 Pragmatic choices, you need to make 7 Romantic choices to maintain that +1 bonus to Luck. It's not like you can't ever make a Pragmatic choice.
Now, that's going to be easier for players whose opinions sit closer to the center.. that is, you're both a bit practical and a bit of a romantic at heart. But for players who have strong opinions in one direction, they're going to be the ones that are going to find it more difficult (and unnatural) to gun for certain bonuses. And I'm not really sure what can ever be done to resolve that other than for Traits to influence stats at all (and then what's the point in even tracking Traits?). Even if Traits provide a positive and negative effect (as suggested in the posts above), I think people would still have a preference.. or worse, feel pressured into staying squarely in the middle (i.e. neither Pragmatic nor Romantic).
Honestly, I can't figure out if I like the Trait system, can only tolerate it, or just outright hate it. Which.. may be a sign of a problem with the concept, or the implementation, or even with me. :P
