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 Stormtrooper Aim quirk, you now have a quirk balance of 4 and can purchase any one quirk that has a balance cost of -4, like Night Vision. If you were to also take Family Heirloom, you would have a quirk balance of 6, and could take a quirk with a cost of -2, like Friendly, or Mime fan. Simple stuff!
Regardless of balance points, you can only have six positive 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 Friendly and Night Vision, meaning you'll need 6 points.
- You take Family Heirloom to gain 2 points.
- You take Stormtrooper Aim to gain 4 points.
- You now have 6 points, so you can now take Friendly for 2, and Night Vision for 4.
This setup coincides with the point costs (0 - 2 - 4 + 2 + 4 = 0) as well as the positive quirk limit (2/6). If you wanted, you could also take some additional negative quirks or some neutral quirks to get more quirks to work around.
Keep in mind that there's nothing forcing you to take the maximum amount of positive 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. If you don't see a quirk on here, that means it's missing - please update the list to include it! Conversely, any quirks on this list that are not in-game have likely been removed, so you are free to remove them from this list to avoid misinformation.
Positive Quirks
Positive quirks take from quirk balance and have useful or beneficial effects.
| Quirk Name | Balance | Entry Description | Gameplay Effects |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alcohol Tolerance | -4 | "You become drunk more slowly and suffer fewer drawbacks from alcohol." | You only take 70% of the drunkenness from alcohol, and some negative effects (i.e. jittering) won't affect you. |
| Apathetic | -4 | "You just don't care as much as other people, that's nice to have in a place like this, I guess." | All mood modifiers (positive and negative) are 20% less effective on you. |
| Clown Enjoyer | -2 | "You enjoy clown antics and get a mood boost from wearing your clown pin." | A Clown Pin spawns in your bag. Attaching that pin to your jumpsuit gives you a positive moodlet. |
| Drunken Resilience | -8 | "Nothing like a good drink to make you feel on top of the world. Whenever you're drunk, you slowly recover from injuries." | 6 to 40 drunkenness heals 0.1 brute and 0.05 burn damage per tick. 41 to 60 drunkenness heals 0.4 brute and 0.2 burn per tick. 61 and up drunkenness heals 0.8 brute and 0.4 burn per tick. |
| Empath | -8 | "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." | |
| Freerunning | -8 | "You're great at quick moves! You can climb tables more quickly and take no damage from short falls." | You climb tables 20% faster. |
| Friendly | -2 | "You give the best hugs, especially when you're in the right mood." | |
| Jolly | -4 | "You sometimes just feel happy, for no reason at all." | You will occasionally gain a boost to your mood. |
| Light Step | -4 | "You walk with a gentle step; footsteps and stepping on sharp objects is quieter and less painful. 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 20% quieter than normal. Additionally, stepping on them without shoes will deal 25% less damage than normal. |
| Mime Fan | -2 | "You enjoy mime antics and get a mood boost from wearing your mime pin." | A Mime Pin spawns in your bag. Attaching that pin to your jumpsuit gives you a positive moodlet. |
| Musician | -2 | "You can tune handheld musical instruments to play melodies that clear certain negative effects and soothe the soul." | You spawn with a musical instrument beacon in your bag. |
| Night Vision | -4 | "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. |
| Self-Aware | -8 | "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. |
| Skittish | -8 | "You're easy to startle, and hide frequently. Run into a closed locker to jump into it, as long as you have access. You can walk to avoid this." | Ctrl-shift-clicking on a locker will, if you can open it, cause you to jump in and lock the door behind you. |
| Spiritual | -4 | "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. Being in the chapel makes you happy." | When you pray, administrators online will see a special notice next to your name. This doesn't mean they have to respond, though. |
| Tagger | -4 | "You're an experienced artist. People will actually be impressed by your graffiti, and you can get twice as many uses out of drawing supplies." | You spawn with a spray can in your bag. In addition, the graffiti that you make will increase the decoration value of the room containing it (capped at a certain point). Art supplies are consumed at half the usual rate. |
| Voracious | -4 | "Nothing gets between you and your food. You eat faster and can binge on junk food! Being fat suits you just fine." | The click delay when eating food and drinking drinks is halved. |
Negative Quirks
Negative quirks add to the quirk balance, and have detrimental effects.
| Quirk Name | Balance | Entry Description | Gameplay Effects |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acute Blood Deficiency | +8 | "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) |
| Bad Back | +8 | "Thanks to your poor posture, backpacks and other bags never sit right on your back. More evently weighted objects are fine, though."" | Having a backpack, satchel, or other storage container on your back gives you a heavy negative moodlet. However, you can wear guns, axes, swords, and other items on your back without problems. |
| Bad Touch | +1 | "You don't like hugs. You'd really prefer if people just left you alone."" | Getting hugged gives you a negative moodlet. This moodlet becomes more severe if you dip below positive sanity. |
| Blind | +16 | "You are completely blind, nothing can counteract this." | Your eye organs spawn nonfunctional, and you also spawn with a blindfold. Incurable without intervention from above. |
| Brain Tumor | +12 | "You have a little friend in your brain that is slowly destroying it. Better bring some mannitol!" | You occasionally get some ticks of brain damage, which, if left untreated, will cause various ailments. It takes 1 minute, 40 seconds to take 10% (20 organ damage) brain damage. You also spawn with some mannitol. |
| Claustrophobia | +4 | "You are terrified of small spaces and certain jolly figures. If you are placed inside any container, locker, or machinery, a panic attack sets in and you struggle to breathe." | You now start suffocating when stuck inside any container. This effect also applies when being in the presence of Santa Claus. |
| Deaf | +8 | "You are incurably deaf."" | Your ear organs spawn nonfunctional. Incurable without intervention from above. |
| Depression | +3 | "You sometimes just hate life." | You occasionally become sad, in a similar way to how Jolly occasionally makes you happy. |
| Extreme Medicine Allergy | +6 | "Ever since you were a kid, you've been allergic to certain chemicals..." | At the start of a shift, a selection of five medicines are selected that you are allergic to. You are informed of your allergies when arriving on station. Blacklisted from selection are epinephrine, adminordrazine, omnizine, synaphydramine, and diphenhydramine. If you end up with any allergic chemicals in your system, you will suffer severe toxin damage, severe organ damage, and be flooded with Histamine. |
| Family Heirloom | +2 | "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 significant negative mood modifier. |
| Frail | +6 | "You have skin of paper and bones of glass! You suffer wounds much more easily than most." | If taking this quirk, it is advisable to keep a storage of blood on hand. |
| Heavy Sleeper | +2 | "You sleep like a rock! Whenever you're put to sleep, you sleep for a little bit longer." | All unconsciousness effects are increased in duration by an amount between 25% and 30%. |
| Hypersensitive | +2 | "For better or worse, everything seems to affect your mood more than it should." | Mood modifier is increased by 50%. |
| Junkie | +6 | "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 | +2 | "You just can't handle your drinks and get drunk very quickly." | |
| Nearsighted | +4 | "You are nearsighted without prescription glasses, but spawn with a pair." | Anything far away from you is difficult to see. Unlike genetic mutation nearsightedness or nearsightedness caused by eye damage, this variety cannot be cured. without admin intervention. Any new bodies created through pod cloning will suffer the same issue, so you can't circumvent it that way. |
| Nyctophobia | +3 | "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 negative moodlet modifier. |
| Pacifist | +8 | "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   Включите Боевой режим  Включается при помощи клавиши 4, выключается при помощи клавиши 1 или может быть переключен при помощи клавиши F при стандартной раскладке. Нажатие левой кнопки на людей пустой рукой с включённым боевым режимом приведёт к удару  или приведёт к помощи  если он отключен. Также позволяет вам не меняться местами с человеком или толкнуть вас если вы столкнулись. и затем используйте левый клик на человека пустой рукой. , 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 | +12 | "Your legs do not function. Nothing will ever fix this. But hey, free wheelchair!"" | |
| Stormtrooper Aim | +4 | "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 | +4 | "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 | +4 | "An accident caused you to lose a 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 | +8 | "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 | +8 | "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 | +4 | "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. You take half the damage from smoking and your lungs have 25% less max health. |
| Social Anxiety | +3 | "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 | +10 | "Due to past troubles, you are unable to recover your sanity if you lose it. Be very careful managing your mood!"" |
Neutral Quirks
Neutral quirks cost no points and do not impactfully alter the way the game plays.
| Quirk Name | Balance | Entry Description | Gameplay Effects |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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. |
| 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. |
| Colorist | 0 | "You like carrying around a hair dye spray to quickly apply color patterns to your hair." | You start with a bottle of hair dye in your backpack. |
| 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 dislike fried and junk food. This differs between species, so being a lizard or moth will cause you to like and dislike different things. |
| Extrovert | 0 | "You are energized by talking to others, and enjoy spending your free time in the bar." | You get a free positive moodlet from staying inside the station's Bar. Mutually exclusive with introvert. |
| Foreigner | 0 | "You're not from around here. You don't know Galactic Common!" | If the recipient of this quirk is a human, then they can only understand Galactic Uncommon. If they are of a species other than human, they can only understand their native language. |
| Gamer | 0 | "You are a hardcore gamer, and you have a need to game. You love winning and hate losing. You only like gamer food." | Going without gaming for 15 minutes will cause a gaming withdrawal via decreased mood. Winning and losing at games will raise and lower mood respectively. Gamers only like junkfood (gamer fuel). |
| Heterochromatic | 0 | "One of your eyes is a different color than the other!" | You can set the secondary eye color in the preferences. |
| Introvert | 0 | "You are energized by having time to yourself, and enjoy spending your free time in the library." | You get a free positive moodlet from staying inside the station's Library. Mutually exclusive with extrovert. |
| 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. |
| Navigationally Challenged | 0 | "Lacking familiarity with certain stations, you start with a wayfinding pinpointer where available." | You receive a wayfinding pinpointer which can direct you to the various compartments of the station. New players automatically receive this trait. |
| Phobia | 0 | "You are irrationally afraid of something." | You become afraid of a particular subject. When encountering that subject, you may become paralyzed, scream uncontrollably, close your eyes (causing blindness), while having your mood tank throughout. |
| Photographer | 0 | "You carry your camera and personal photo album everywhere you go, and your scrapbooks are legendary among your coworkers." | You start with a camera and a photo album that can carry photographs across rounds. |
| Shifty Eyes | 0 | "Your eyes tend to wander all over the place, whether you mean to or not, causing people to sometimes think you're looking directly at them when you aren't." | Sometimes you make eye contact with people without meaning to. |
| Smooth-Headed | 0 | "You have no hair and are quite insecure about it! Keep your wig on, or at least your head covered up." | You are bald. Also, you start off with a wig on your head. Having your wig on makes you happy. Having headgear on other than your wig makes you neutral. Having no headgear makes you sad. |
| Snob | 0 | "You care about the finer things, if a room doesn't look nice its just not really worth it, is it?" | You get a positive moodlet from staying inside a room with a high decoration value (carpets, paintings, statues, and a whole bunch of other things increases the value, whilst trash, vomit, and blood decreases the value). On the other hand, you also get a negative moodlet from staying inside a room with a low decoration value. |
| Tongue Tied | 0 | "Due to a past incident, your ability to communicate has been relegated to your hands." | You're mute! Sort of. You can still communicate through your hands, and you start off with special gloves that let you communicate over the radio. The benefits are that you're immune to all forms of muteness, and deaf people can understand you, but having your hands occupied prevents you from communicating. |
| Vegetarian | 0 | "You find the idea of eating meat morally and physically repulsive." | Meat is added to your detested food list. |
Random Hardcore Character
This is an option in the character settings. This mode exists as somewhat of an extra challenge for veteran players who would like to be cool by being on a leaderboard.
If enabled, each round your character gets a random budget of points which randomly selects quirks for you. The more points you end up getting the more score you will get if you survive the round. If you are an antag you will get double the points for making it through. The survivors are listed on the end round report.