Hottie: "Damn! I'd tap that!" - Born with such good looks the opposite gender around your sovereign become dribbiling morons that don't respect them for who they are. -2 diplomacy with opposite gender. On the other hand you can have anyone you want. +2 children.

I definately prefer the trade off within one concept style. It is more consitent and makes more sense. Just sayin.

Not sure if some of these are advantages or weaknesses, apologies if some of them are just plain stupid

'Wildmagic' - where some spells occasionaly have weird effects. One time a fireball might Do double damage, or instead summon an army of chickens... maybe tying this in with the 'insane' trait would be good

'Stealthy' - When traveling alone the soveriegn is invisible/hard to find on the world map

'Lich' - The soveriegn is undead, giving resistances to death & weakness to life magic, (hmm might make having kids awkward to)

'Polygamist' - Has lots of wives/husbands

'Rampant' - Has lots of children

'Itchy' - 2% spell failure chance

'Winged' - Has a pair of wings and can fly!

'Martial artist' - Can fight well unarmed

'Vengeful' - If deafeted explodes in a massive explosion

One thing that struck me as odd... That guy with the huge chin - who is one of the canon leaders - has a penaly to the cost of buildings when he is in the city, but a bonus to finishing the buildings when he is present. Bonusses like these make it very hard to actally circumvent them. You can easely boot our sovereign from the city when ordering buildings done, and then move him back the same turn afer costs are substracted form the treasury.

One way to prevent abuse like this would be to give a city a bonus when the sovereign is there. This bonus should build up over time. If your sovereign should leave a city for even a turn, the bonu8s should instantl vaporise so that moving in and out of a city to 'cheat' is not rewarding.

On the topic of suggesting talents and weaknesses:

I am all for talents and such tha are interesting from a role-playing perspective rather than useful. One of these things may be that your sovereign carries with him an amulet that he cannot remember where he got it, and that he will not part with. Then there can a a quest or two related to this amulet, for better or worse... At creating the sovereign you have no idea if it belongs to an ancient evil dragon that will want the amulet back, or that it turns out to be an heirloom that rightfully apoints the sovereign as the leader of all empires or kingdoms. Anything less dramatic would also be possible of course, the fact that you never know how it may impact the game is what makes it awesome.

Also a talent where your sovereign is magically bound to a gem or something while the nation is led by an underling would be cool. That way you can have a hero as leader instead of a sovereign. You start with a weaker leader, but your armies will be led by the sovereign spirit, making them more effective overall, boosting their morale and making them resistant to charm effects.

A trait where your sovereign can get bounties for wandering villains or bandits may also be cool.

Any trait related to questing would be nice. Your sovereign may be able to get more quests, or get a bigger reward for them.

Your sovereign may get a bigger benefit when drinking potions.

A lot of good ideas in the replies. I particularly like Wintersong's proposed talents and weaknesses, "Soul eater" is a great one.  

I also must agree with many of the first replies that just a small modifier like +1 hp or -1 strength isn't that exciting. 

In fact this is what you normally get in a game, so it would be really good if elemental could go one step further and use a system that you will actually remember afterwards.

What I realised when thinking about e.g. the system in GC2 was that a "passive modifier" doesn't make the game more fun even when it is hugely important and influential in the game. Take for example the Federalist modifier in GC2 giving you +20% (or was it +15%??) bonus to economy. Hugely important, but the game isn't really any more fun to play and you never really think about it.

What would be better is to always try and make something active out of the talents, so that the player can take action and DO something, affecting the game. For example, instead of having "Merchant"/"Commercial" mean +2 gold per turn or +2% economy/gold, it should give the sovereign the possibility to cash in a certain amount/percentage of gold (gained from an especially lucrative transaction), once or a few times during the game. This is more fun because it means you as a player can decide when you badly need more gold. Like, when you are out of gold you can use the ability to save your hard-pressed civ. Or when you need to urgently construct an expensive building you cash in the gold. Or maybe you are dreaming of buying/making that magical item but lack the money, and through your talent your dream comes true ... 

A similar approach could be used for many (maybe not all, but fundamentalism is seldom good anyway) talents and maybe some weaknesses too. Would make for a much more involving experience where your sovereign would feel more unique and you would remember how you had to play your talents instead of just going though the game with a number of passive modifiers that you don't really think about. Just my two cents. 

Honest - 30% increased Diplomatic Power, Treatise are 30% cheaper, cannot break a deal (only cancel within alotted time)

Deceptive - Diplomatic Treatise are 30% more expensive, can break at ANY time.

Generous - 10% less taxes, 20% more prestige

Greedy - 10% more taxes, 20% less prestige

Leader of the People - 15% more prestige and diplomacy, 10% longer troop training costs

Selfish Leader- 15% less diplomacy and prestige, 10% faster troop training costs

Arrogant- Sovereign magic and attack damage is increased 10%, Champions and Mercenaries are 10% more expensive to recruit.

Humble- Soveriegn defense and hp increased 10%, damage decreased 15%, Champions and Mercenaries are 15% cheaper to recruit.

Good Father- can only take one wife, children have increased stats, longevity, and loyalty

Inattentive Father- can take multiple wives, children will have flaws (arrogance, selfishness, greed, insanity)

Malignant- increased diplomatic relations with Empire, decreased diplomacy with Kingdom. Soveriegn attack increased 10%, mercenaries increased cost 5%

Benevolent- Decreased Diplo with Empire, Increased diplo with Kingdom. Sovereign defense increased 10%, Mercenaries increased cost 5%

Harmonious- diplomatic treaties are 15% cheaper, Mercenaries are 5% cheaper, Arcane research increased 5%

Discord- treaties 15% more expensive, Mercenaries 5% more expensive, Military research is 20% cheaper

Sorceror- Arcane research increased 20%, troops 10% more expensive, science research 10% slower. Spells 5% stronger

Scholar- Arcane research 10% slower, science research 15% cheaper. Seige Engines/Guns 10% stronger

Warlord- Arcane research 5% slower, Science research 5% slower, troops 10% cheaper, soldiers 5% stronger

Healthy +10% HP

Feeble -10% HP

Stubborn - Diplomacy 10% harder, 10% Magic Defense, Spells 5% more expensive

Open Minded - Diplomacy 10% easier, 10% Magic Weakness, Spells 5% cheaper, Magical Attack and damage increased 10%

Elitist- Lower Population Capacity, increased Prestige, Troop training time +50%. Troop stats +1, combat speed doubled.

Populist- Higher Population Capacity, decreased Prestige, Troop Training time -50%. Prestige from Quests halved.

Egalitarian- increased prestige, 10% longer troop training time. 10% more science. NPC's more likely to join.

Slaver- decreased prestige, 10% more taxes, 15% more food. NPC's less likely to Join.

***Disclaimer*** the following Post is merely idea-spam, and does not take itself seriously. Rename any of the following traits if it seems redeemable or usable. Any corrolations to reality should not be taken seriously.

Russian- unit sizes are doubled (at no additional cost), Best Seige Weapons

German- HitPoints are doubled, Second Best Seige Weapons

American- trade routes give double commerce, citizens give less science but Universities give triple science

Israeli- Soldiers Equipment is 50% cheaper. All soldiers have +1 AttK/Def

Polish- all mounted units get +1 attack and +1 speed

Roman- all soldiers, all stats +1, upkeep +10, roads 50% cheaper and 20% more effective

Mongol- all mounted units get +2 attack and +2 speed ... as well as increased archery range. All non-mounted are 50% weaker.

Chinese- unit sizes increased 150% at no additional cost.

Japanese- Soldier Training times doubled, HitPoints and Attack Speed Doubled. any Tech is 10% cheaper for each player that has already researched the tech. Max is 90% cheaper.

Egyptian- Houses can hold 50% more people. Food can feed 50% more people. Chariots 20% more hitpoints and +1 speed.

Indian- Food can feed 100% more people.

Native American- Magic reasearch increased 10%, Tech research decreased 10%, spells 5% cheaper and 5% stronger

Aztec- buildings 50% cheaper

Incan- Roads 50% cheaper, City Upkeep 50% cheaper, Mountains are farmable

Ottoman- Cavalry 20% cheaper, 10% more hitpoints, +1 movement

Byzantine- Trade lanes twice as effective, Sea-lanes triple effective. Navy 50% cheaper.

Athenian- Navy 50% cheaper, +1 all stats

Spartan- Solder Training time doubled, +2 all stats, 50% more hitpoints

French- Buildings 10% cheaper, Diplomatic Treatese 20% cheaper, +10% overall prestige, art +20% prestige

Italian- Art gives +10% prestige, Buildings give +15% prestige

British- Sea-lanes are double as effective. Zero Distance maintanence Costs. Navy +1 all stats. Universities give double science. Archers 20% longer range.

Arabian- Mounted units +1 attack, all units +1 movement speed. Equipment 20% more expensive, Training time 20% faster. 10% faster Arcane research

Ethiopian- increased population growth.

Malinese- 10% more tax income, trade routes 50% more effective

Carthaginian- 50% cheaper Magical Mounts, 20% cheaper Mercenaries.

Spaniard- Mounted Units +20% vs melee units. Ships are faster and more hitpoints

Portugese- Ships 50% cheaper, +1 movement, increased carrying capacity. Sea lanes +50%

Mexican- Soldiers 50% cheaper, equipment 30% more expensive, training time 50% faster.

Something that occurs to me is that maybe, rather than just picking talents and weaknesses, you have a system where you slot one talent and one weakness in, and use the resulting trait- different combinations would yield different results. For example, if you combine "lucky" and "stupid" you get "Fool's Luck," meaning that while you're really stupid, you're also nigh-immune to negative events.

This'd also allow to combine seemingly oppostie traits. For example, if there was a "genius" trait that aided research, and you combined it with the "stupid" trait you'd get "Idiot Savant," where you'd get huge bonuses to research but another stat would suffer dramatically.

Murderous- all units can increase their morale by killing more troops. A unit's kill count factors into their overall morale for the positive.

Pacifist- training times are increased 30%, Can only recruit from 35% of the population (as opposed to 50), 10% more Taxes, 10% more science, Trade Routes increased 100%, prestige +10%

Warlike- training times decreased 20%, all soldiers get +10% attack (or +1?). Diplomatic Ventures cost 20% more, foreign trade routes are 20% less effective.

Savage- Diplomacy is 50% more expensive, -30% prestige, training times decreased 50% (twice as fast training), all soldiers +10% HP and +1 attack.

I would prefer each talent has hes own counterpart weakness. And you can adjust how strong or weak each part should be.

Fire Magic 0  <--|--> 0 Water Magic

Possibility A (Balanced Increase/decrease):

Fire Magic +3  <-|---> -3 Water Magic

Possibility B (Higher decrease)

Fire Magic +3  <-|---> -6 Water Magic

Possibility C (high Increase = more decrease)

Fire Magic +2  <-|---> -2 Water Magic

Fire Magic +4  <-|---> -4 Water Magic

Fire Magic +6  <-|---> -8 Water Magic

Fire Magic +8  <|----> -12 Water Magic

Well, personally in a game like this, I think Idea A is the best, "equal give and take".

However, in some situations, it might be better to go with Model C to prevent abuse.

Model B just seems Hackneyed, imho. Anything but model B

Half Idiot: "Oh noes! A dwagon!" - So foolish you forgot to choose the other half! Now your all idiot, all the time.

Invisible friend - (prereq Insane?) Chance to be given 'special' quests/tasks with unique/no rewards.