Have the normal skills been scrapped, like special skills you unlock with the right stats and stuff like luck, mage spells, priest spells and tool use. As all I see are the base ones like strength, endurance, intelligence, dexterity like avadon had.
The trait system seems interesting although I have always thought of traits as a strong one off choice you make to change the game experience, which adds replayability as next time around you can choose a different trait.