[Conteville]

Drawbacks:
1. Taking the "Keen Hearing" character trait makes the character more susceptible to sound damage and/or receiving ruptured ear from sound damage.

• Shouts have a special effect around the text for characters with Keen Hearing, similar to the Madness Mantra trait (no drawback, just for fluff)
  

2. Taking the "Quiet Person" character trait makes the character have less resistance to the "Silence" status effect or duration of said silence effect is increased.

Justification: If you're able to clearly hear someone with the quiet person trait, it stands to reason that your ears are more sensitive to sound. Similarly, if you have a faint/weak voice, you may have less resistance or have a longer recovery period to regain your voice. Not to mention the roleplaying potential which I feel is self-evident, but may be more immersive with actual mechanical consequences (similar to the "Strict Sleeper" trait for instance).

[MothEnthusiast]

While I get the idea behind this, I can't help but think that adding consequences to a trait that, in itself, is already a consequence, just seems bad. I don't like the Quiet Person trait's existence as a whole, as it just serves to make other people want to waste a trait point to nullify its RP effect. We're already down a trait point (which admittedly I rarely spend all of, but still) just to allow Quiet Person to exist in its current state.

[Poruku]

But why

[Conteville]

I proposed this suggestion due to the existence of numerous traits that offer both an advantage and disadvantage so there is a precedent for trait drawbacks (Laidback Disposition, Reckless Rescuer, the Chivalry traits, and Spiritual Sensitivity to name a few). Introducing drawbacks to this I feel would make it precisely so that it prevents people picking Quiet Person solely for its decreased say range, and Keen hearing solely for its ability to counter Quiet Person. I still feel that people would take these traits even with the added drawbacks if they feel it fits their character, and I feel like that should be the emphasis. I also feel that it would make more sense for the existence of these drawbacks based on the justification I provided in my post.

[Trexmaster]

I like the RP representation traits like Quiet Person provide but the way Quiet Person goes about it is rather poor, considering the aforementioned trait that literally only exists to negate it, and the fact we have a toggle in preferences to disable seeing Quiet Person messages that got filtered due to a lack of said trait.

Quiet Person could just make the text smaller or automatically italicized, I dunno. Or simply change 'say' to 'mutters' or something to that effect. A minor, but distinctive change that doesn't negatively impact others whilst representing the RP aspect the trait holder wanted.

Keen Hearing really shouldn't have needed to exist in the first place. It could still negate whatever effect Quiet Person has I suppose? The only other thing I could think of is increasing the range that says are picked up but then it'd be a borderline mandatory trait since everyone wants as much hearing range as possible. I feel like it's a trait that needs other content to exist to really shine as something that'd clearly accentuate the aspect of a character who buys it. Since no one is going to buy it if it makes Dark Bards murder you faster. Sound resistance is already at a premium, and ear injuries are the absolute worst in the game since it stifles your ability to RP.

To be honest I feel like almost everyone who takes Strict Sleeper does it for the extra negative status for Afflicted Spectre for another 5% max hp. Which to me is funny but that's about the only reasonable way to use it, since breaking away from RP every three IRL hours to actually adhere to the time you set for a very circumstantial bonus is pretty meh. It'd be better if time wasn't as transient a thing in SL2, given that scenes that take a few hours IRL actually take over a day in game, so most people don't correlate in game time 1:1 to the actual passage of time in RP, thus it can be awkward to be in the middle of a long scene and scream 'NAP TIME' and bolt off to an inn room suddenly. Unless that's your character's thing, then more power to you.

It's also worth mentioning the 'drawback' for Strictly Sleepy is very minor (if not a buff if you're a Ghost). 10% higher chance of wounds attached to a negative status if you never rest at an inn. An increase to duration of Silence is an insane drawback for those affected by Silence considering the average duration of Silence is 2, especially since you're stuck with it forever as long as you have the trait if it were to be married to Quiet Person.

[Conteville]

Fair point, I haven't considered the balancing issues that can arise from these drawbacks. Although getting treatment for a ruptured ear or signing/writing to communicate I feel is also another roleplaying opportunity, players that can treat such injuries might not be on when you need them and I can understand the annoyance that comes with having to wait for a fix for an injury. Maybe an ear plug item to boost sound resistance/severity levels to ear injuries so you aren't completely deaf? While I still feel that they should have a negative effect implemented in some capacity, I see that it's not so simple.

[MothEnthusiast]

The injury heal RP is also another aspect that, in reality, doesn't work too well. I went into more detail in another post, but there's a high prevalence of people that will heal an injury ICly without actually having the items necessary to heal them mechanically, leaving me in a tough spot where I have to either get the items myself, ask for healing for the same injury multiple times, or suffer. Until that gets remedied, I don't want to see any further damage done via the injury system, personally.

[Conteville]

The injury heal RP is also another aspect that, in reality, doesn't work too well. I went into more detail in another post, but there's a high prevalence of people that will heal an injury ICly without actually having the items necessary to heal them mechanically, leaving me in a tough spot where I have to either get the items myself, ask for healing for the same injury multiple times, or suffer. Until that gets remedied, I don't want to see any further damage done via the injury system, personally.

I've read the post in question and I'm inclined to agree. I guess this post was made with my prior experience with healers having the items on hand as basis for the injury. I definitely think that should be prioritized.