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To round out my suggestions column, here's a listing of potential item/talents (An ability that leads to a unique dialogue option in that playthrough) to go with their hobbies;

Cooking - Always keeps salt/pepper packets on them. When having snacks in private you can stealthily add the salt to their pudding/coffee, forcing them to leave to get  a replacement and giving you time to search/leave. You can fill your hand with pepper when threatened to throw it in the enemies face for a way to escape without injury.

You are able to detect the taste of poison/drugs in food and drink. If being drugged has to happen, you awaken sooner in better shape from only consuming a bit.

Reading -  You start with an ebook reader. It has a document scanner setting you installed but never had a chance to use, which you have the option to employ when finding an incriminating section of a journal or ledger. This way you have documentable evidence of a crime/plan, allowing blackmail or to threaten enemy into letting you go. 

The ability to quickly scan documents gives you the ability to memorize writing in a document when you have but a minute to search a room. 

Gaming - You have a handheld gaming console. During a scene where you have to hide but get captured , you can record yourself with its camera and plant it in a corner of the room in advance. This way, when hiding, you distract the pursuer, allowing you to leave the room behind their back.

During discussions you relate to them by knowing about their games. This calms them and puts them at ease. This could make them hesitate during a crucial moment.

Music - You keep a palm sized synthesizer with you. You are able to use it's record function at a certain point to record incriminating speech. This will allow you to submit it as evidence or try to threaten the enemy. As it has no data backup black mail will not work however, unlike with the ebook reader.

During a scene where you have to play a piano to put the enemy to sleep you can instead play an upbeat melody to dance to. This will boost affinity and get them to open up to you, making a search of their room unnecessary. If you choose to play the piano they will fall asleep for longer, letting you safely search the entire room.

Shopping - You start with that months issue of "Living Large" magazine.

You have the option to recognize the real value of several items you see around the date, such as their car/watch, their tv, and/or their piano. This way, when they tell you the value of their item you can either surprise them by knowing the real value and boost affinity, or you can keep your mouth shut and recognize they are giving you low values because them must be hiding how much they really spend, something you can use as a potential clue.

You have a in depth knowledge  of valuable brands, artists, and companies. For example,  you have the option to recognize that a fabrige egg in their artistic collection is actually a genuine and priceless article, letting you take it easily by rearranging the display. or for example, when you have an option to escape you can recognize which of their cars are the most valuable and which have the best performance, letting you take their fastest car and allowing you to escape them...

Arts and Crafts - You start with a optical shade-alizer, capable of identifying the exact shade of any color, allowing you to memorize/sample upto 5 specific colors, and has a minor but stable internal memory. This allows you to recognize that stains you find are actually blood, potentially taking  a color sample which will contain DNA. You have the option to copy a specific file on their computer, yet because it's such a unique device it doesn't get searched, taken, or disabled. You have an option to build affinity  by helping them with restoring a unique sculpture, something they only do by eye.  By analyzing damaged paint, you realize the true original color was entirely different, but changed over the years from oxidation. 

You have intricate knowledge of paints and their compositions. By recognizing that prussian blue contains cyanide you can use it to try to make a poison. By knowing that black normally uses bone ash, you can take a sample of the paints, when you suspect they used the parents bone for the pigment. You can gain affinity and dialogue when speaking of their paintings if visiting the gallery.

This turned out to be much longer than the simple checklist id intended, apologies.

I know that some examples are needlessly specific, however i hope you can take the idea itself and ignore the specifics.  Iam well aware how complex dialogue trees can be. Equally aware of how difficult seemingly simple mechanics like player affinity  can be during implementation.

If still working on this title I hope that maybe 1-2 ideas will give you some form of creative insight, especially if you happen to be on the fence between 2 equally appealing ideas. This list was sort of like my early morning warm up exercise so think nothing of it if it's too late or the concept does not quite apply, such as if you have already implemented the hobby system in another way.

thank u for ur comment! you're spot on-- we're actually reworking the hobbies tab to be a "majors" tab where the player can select what they're majoring in at university. it'll unlock additional actions, dialogue, etc., based on what you choose so that each run of the game can feel different/fresh!