Just Better Pawn Generation Mod

Just Better Pawn Generation Mod overhauls how pawns are generated to reduce “useless” pawns and overly “god-like” ones, aiming for a more balanced middle ground while keeping variety. It removes random skill bumps, adds a curated set of balanced backstories, and reworks traits so generated pawns feel fairer and more consistently usable.

Just Better Pawn Generation Features

• No longer has any specific dependencies, since backstories can be patched like any other def.
• Includes an option to ignore vanilla backstories (they do not have the full amount of skill points).
• Includes an option to select the minimum spawning age of pawns.
• Adds support for Trait Value.
• Works better with Humanoid Alien Races.

What the mod changes

Minimum Age

• Pawns can no longer ever spawn without an adult backstory, by raising the minimum generated age to 20.

No More Random Skills

• Removes all random skills (including age-related skill bumps).
• All skill points are derived from backstories.

Editable Backstories and custom backstories

• Adds 6 child backstories and 78 adult backstories designed to be balanced.
• Each pawn is assigned exactly 50 total skill points from backstories.
• Skill point allocation is designed so no skill is unfairly biased, while keeping a wide variety of possible outcomes.

Overhauled Traits

Many traits considered entirely negative or unbalanced have been removed, including:

• Abrasive.
• Annoying Voice.
• Beautiful.
• Chemical Fascination.
• Chemical Interest.
• Creepy Breathing.
• Depressive.
• Greedy.
• Industrious.
• Iron-willed.
• Jealous.
• Jogger.
• Lazy.
• Misandrist.
• Misogynist.
• Nervous.
• Neurotic.
• Pessimist.
• Prosthophobe.
• Psychically dull.
• Psychically hypersensitive.
• Psychically sensitive.
• Sanguine.
• Slothful.
• Slowpoke.
• Staggeringly ugly.
• Teetotaler.
• Too Smart.
• Ugly.
• Very neurotic.
• Volatile.
• Wimp.

Some traits are altered, including:

• Brawler: No longer gives skill buffs/debuffs, and no longer gives negative thoughts for holding ranged weapons.
• Green Thumb: No longer gives skill buffs; instead adds +25% plant work speed and +25% growing yield.
• Kind: +25% social chat impact.
• Fast Learner: Global learning bonus reduced to 50%.
• Pyromaniac: No longer triggers random mental breaks; breaks only occur past the normal threshold, and fire starting sprees are the only mental breaks a pyromaniac can have.

FAQ

Is this a cheat mod? No. It does not make pawns stronger overall; it reduces extremes and balances generation around a middle point.

What if I like vanilla pawn generation? Then this mod compilation is not for you.

Compatibility notes

Where possible, changes are made through patches to reduce conflicts. However, this mod makes extensive patch-based modifications to vanilla trait files, so any mod that touches vanilla traits may conflict depending on load order.

Notes from the author:

• The option of having a pawn capable of any work is better implemented in More Than Capable by Charlotte.
• If you would like to change the commonality of the traits, use Vanilla Traits Expanded by Oskar Potocki.

When troubleshooting the Just Better Pawn Generation Mod:

• See if the the error persists if you just have this mod and its requirements active.
• If not, try adding your other mods until it happens again.
• Post your error-log using HugsLib and command Ctrl+F12.
• For best support, please use the Discord-channel for error-reporting.
• Do not report errors by making a discussion-thread, I get no notification of that.
• If you have the solution for a problem, please post it to the GitHub repository.

Additional credits: Spdskatr, Mehni, Sam Kester, dburgdorf, pardeike, Dianna, Shotty, Alias.