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[Ultmar]

So after a Roc has come to Oakiron, and tried to munch on my dwarves before getting caged, I decided to survey the damage. Seems like there was only one victim, and he has exhibited some unthinkable mental fortitude for someone so ordinary, maybe even considerably weaker willed than others...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

He didn't even spare his arm laying on the ground a passing thought and continued on his merry way after cleaning up his own blood from the walls. Now I am left with a dilemma: What to do with him? Because a life of a Smith's apprentice, especially one handed, is not befitting some one of such mental tenacity.

[NullForceOmega]

Promote to Baron?  That's pretty impressive, but honestly, smithing is THE dwarfiest career, so he'll probably be quite happy doing so.  That said, his personality isn't very good for a smith anyway, with soul attributes like that he'd make an amazing miner/mason/engraver.  Also, there is nothing 'ordinary' or 'weak willed' about that dwarf.

[Ultmar]

Promote to Baron?  That's pretty impressive, but honestly, smithing is THE dwarfiest career, so he'll probably be quite happy doing so.  That said, his personality isn't very good for a smith anyway, with soul attributes like that he'd make an amazing miner/mason/engraver.  Also, there is nothing 'ordinary' or 'weak willed' about that dwarf.

What specifically makes his attributes point him in the direction of stonework? I'm not too understanding of them with respect to that.

But he does seem underwhelming when compared to the other Dwarves of Oakiron to me... At least description wise.

[NullForceOmega]

1) relentless drive, he will work longer and harder than most dwarves at a given task.
2) tends to avoid crowds, he will be far less likely to take season-long party breaks.
3) considers idea and abstractions over practical applications, high creativity lends itself to tasks involving 'art' like stonecrafting, engraving, etc.

I'm not sure what criterion you're using for judgment, but in any of my forts he'd be thrown into the stone corps so fast his head would spin.

Likewise, without at least 'likes to try new things/eager for new experiences' or 'is a perfectionist/(its variants)' no dwarf touches my forges.

[MehMuffin]

I love the fact that his present state of mind is "too bad it's raining" despite all of this death...

[jaw2233]

is there some sort of chart for personality traits and jobs? if so i would like to see it!

[Thisfox]

I'd give him the title of Champion and have him lead a battle troupe. Also, I see no problem with making him a Smith. Smiths often have odd shapes: Look at Hephastus! Very appropriate, in my opinion.

[NullForceOmega]

No chart that I've ever seen, I just assign based on several years of observations and probably two hundred forts.  But as I've said before, my style of assigning jobs is pretty abnormal for Bay12.

[Admiral Obvious]

No chart that I've ever seen, I just assign based on several years of observations and probably two hundred forts.  But as I've said before, my style of assigning jobs is pretty abnormal for Bay12.

I found a chart. It's on the wiki.
http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Personality_trait

It seems that different jobs make different dwarves happier. For example a dwarf that value hard work would be quite happy to be a miner, since they work all the time. Compared to a dwarf who hates hard work, they will usually get a minor unhappy thought from consistently mining, and they will usually go on break more.

A dwarf that value craftsdwarfship is usually happier when making things at the craftdwarf workshop, and the opposite is true on the other end of the spectrum. Same is true for dwarves walking past, and observing well crafted things. Occasionally, you will get a dwarf that just hates nice things, and will get an unhappy thought by seeing it.

Perfectionists in a crafting job tend to make higher quality things more often, but they do so at a slower rate than an "average" dwarf, where the opposite will happen for dwarves who don't care to "do it right".

These are unlisted,mostly untested /unconfirmed observations, but this seems to be true almost every time.

[Thisfox]

It seems that different jobs make different dwarves happier. For example a dwarf that value hard work would be quite happy to be a miner, since they work all the time. Compared to a dwarf who hates hard work, they will usually get a minor unhappy thought from consistently mining, and they will usually go on break more.

Well, one that doesn't value hard work won't do any OTHER work either. I was under the impression it didn't matter what work you gave him, he'd go on break more often. So mining, or making furniture, or making crafts, or glazing pottery, or even hauling stones, he will still damn well go on break too often.

[Admiral Obvious]

It seems that different jobs make different dwarves happier. For example a dwarf that value hard work would be quite happy to be a miner, since they work all the time. Compared to a dwarf who hates hard work, they will usually get a minor unhappy thought from consistently mining, and they will usually go on break more.

Well, one that doesn't value hard work won't do any OTHER work either. I was under the impression it didn't matter what work you gave him, he'd go on break more often. So mining, or making furniture, or making crafts, or glazing pottery, or even hauling stones, he will still damn well go on break too often.

Yup, just trying to illustrate the point. Sure love when I tell someone to pull the lever, the job gets assigned to UristMcLazy, he walks up to the lever, declares he's on break, and walks back to the dining hall, and then throws a party while the Bronze Colossus proceeds to murder everyone because the drawbridge didn't close.

I need to get a dedicated "hard working" dwarf to just handle my system of levers.

I just noticed above, in the initial post that the dwarf value martial prowess. So, he probably doesn't mind getting into combat. Not sure why he doesn't care that he's missing an arm, besides some annoyance, but it explains the fact that he doesn't have any concern in his combat log thoughts. He always assumes the worst, he is quarrelsome, sounds like a good champion to me, just be aware that he may go into a fell, or macabre mood if he decided to make a masterpiece.

[NullForceOmega]

'Masterpiece' does not equal artifact, it can be any object of masterful quality that the dwarf makes (even engravings), and personality has nothing to do with mood assignment.  You only get fell or macabre moods when happiness is very low, otherwise it will be secretive, fey, or possessed.  Also, he would not be a good soldier for several reasons, including 'tends to feel discouraged', 'tends to go it alone', and his above mentioned consideration of abstraction vs. practicality, not optimum military material.

[Admiral Obvious]

'Masterpiece' does not equal artifact, it can be any object of masterful quality that the dwarf makes (even engravings), and personality has nothing to do with mood assignment.  You only get fell or macabre moods when happiness is very low, otherwise it will be secretive, fey, or possessed.  Also, he would not be a good soldier for several reasons, including 'tends to feel discouraged', 'tends to go it alone', and his above mentioned consideration of abstraction vs. practicality, not optimum military material.

I find "tends to go in alone" useful for a melee oriented dwarf, I didn't notice the discouragement thing though, that could be an issue. Abstraction, not too sure. I think that applies to opinion on objects, and not necessarily combat effectiveness. None of these have been proven with science, they are just observations too. It probably matters, it's just that there are no hard facts about these things.

I had a relatavely happy dwarf enter a macabre mood once, and I assumed it could happen to draw fell as well. Not entirely sure why it happened.

I tried to imply Artifact, but I guess I wound up stating masterpiece, which is actually a grade of thing. I haven't used these  forums that much, kinda starting now, trying to get the hang of correct terminology.

[NullForceOmega]

I started DF in 2010. became a member of Bay12 in 2012, and I didn't make my first post until 2013.  The community here is very cool, but the terminology is like a college text-book, incredibly dense and very important to understanding.  You'll get the hang of things as you read and become more involved with topics here.

As for going it alone, the problem is that they become more likely to charge directly into groups of enemies without waiting for any backup, even if there are other active dwarves en-route.  This tends to get them killed if their skills aren't ridiculously high.

The bit about abstraction is based on a strange observation I had a couple of forts ago, where one of my militia was gaining combat skill levels much more slowly (especially fighter), and the only difference I could find that seemed to account for it was he had a preference for abstract ideas over practical, so he had more difficulty with the purely practical combat skills.  I tested it out in another fortress by making two squads, one contained dwarves of my usual preferred attributes for soldiers, and the other contained two dwarves with a preference for abstract thought, and the second squad (philosophers) gained skills such as fighter, teacher, and leader much more slowly than the first squad, so that is what I base my judgment on.

[Admiral Obvious]

I started DF in 2010. became a member of Bay12 in 2012, and I didn't make my first post until 2013.  The community here is very cool, but the terminology is like a college text-book, incredibly dense and very important to understanding.  You'll get the hang of things as you read and become more involved with topics here.

As for going it alone, the problem is that they become more likely to charge directly into groups of enemies without waiting for any backup, even if there are other active dwarves en-route.  This tends to get them killed if their skills aren't ridiculously high.

The bit about abstraction is based on a strange observation I had a couple of forts ago, where one of my militia was gaining combat skill levels much more slowly (especially fighter), and the only difference I could find that seemed to account for it was he had a preference for abstract ideas over practical, so he had more difficulty with the purely practical combat skills.  I tested it out in another fortress by making two squads, one contained dwarves of my usual preferred attributes for soldiers, and the other contained two dwarves with a preference for abstract thought, and the second squad (philosophers) gained skills such as fighter, teacher, and leader much more slowly than the first squad, so that is what I base my judgment on.

Thanks for understanding, I am just a dabbling forum user.

Granted, dwarves that go in alone tend to be more suicidal than most, they can achieve interesting results. I had a squad of hammer dwarves patrol the caverns because there were some nasties trying to get to my miners while they were pulling nice ores out of the walls. My "go in alone" dwarf spotted a GCS, and proceeded to charge it, without thought. He's an accomplished hammer dwarf, and although he was bit in the leg and died 3 seconds later, he exploded the GCS head shortly after the bite with his hammer. We had him entombed in one of our artifact gold coffins.

I can imagine that abstract thought will become useful for those dwarves in the next update. They will write books about how to learn, how to learn about stabbing things effectively (if Tarn manages to get around to having dwarves learn from books).