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OK, I'll reply to my own post.

I'll also rephrase the question..

If a character has Diplomacy of 10, and he has Traits that show a modifier of +2 to Diplomacy, where or how does that +2 come into play? How can I see the results of that +2?
 
The game shows stats with effects of traits. If a character has DIP 10 and a DIP +2 modifier, his base DIP stat is 8. It means his DIP will reduce to 8 if he looses that trait.