Character backgrounds
When creating a Spacefarer character in Starfield, players have the opportunity to select a background that aligns with their preferred playstyle. This choice not only determines three starting skills but can also influence specific interactions such as dialogues within the game.
| Background | Starting skills | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Beast Hunter | Fitness Ballistics Gastronomy | From the Ashta of Akila to the Terrormorphs that plague the whole of the Settled Systems, hostile alien life abounds. You've learned the skills to track them, find them, and take them down. |
| Bouncer | Boxing Security Fitness | You've worked the line at the toughest clubs in the Settled Systems. Back then, you learned that most non-lethal confrontations can be solved one of two ways: a strong right hook, or a more strongly secured door. |
| Bounty Hunter | Piloting Targeting Control Systems Boost Pack Training | Wherever there are wanted individuals, there are those who profit from their capture. And your quarry knows that in the vastness of space, they can run… but they can’t hide. |
| Chef | Gastronomy Dueling Scavenging | While the unrefined masses scarfed down Chunks by the shipload, you catered to those with a more... discerning palate. In your kitchen, countless alien species became true culinary masterpieces. |
| Combat Medic | Pistol Certification Medicine Wellness | Leave it to human beings to fight over something as infinite as outer space. That's where you come in. You've never been afraid to take on the enemy... but you'd much rather take care of your friends. |
| Cyber Runner | Stealth Security Theft | From Neon to New Atlantis, the megacorps stand as monuments to power, prestige and profit. You've worked both for and against them, on the inside and out, often sacrificing conscience for credits. |
| Cyberneticist | Medicine Security Lasers | Robots? Mere toys. Neuroamps? Good for parlor tricks. The Colony War may have made implants and upgrades available to veterans, but you once saw a greater future. Humans and machines, as one. |
| Diplomat | Persuasion Commerce Wellness | The wars are over. Peace now reigns the Settled Systems. But only because there are those quietly fighting to keep it. Because of you, agreements were signed, words were heeded... lives were spared. |
| Explorer | Lasers Astrodynamics Surveying | They said exploration is a lost art. You didn't listen. As the major factions argued over the space they desperately tried to control, you were busy uncovering the wonders of the Settled Systems. |
| Gangster | Shotgun Certification Boxing Theft | You were always disgusted by suckers killing themselves to make an "honest wage." As soon as you were old enough to hold a weapon, you took what you wanted from anyone unlucky enough to have it. |
| Homesteader | Geology Surveying Weight Lifting | The discovery of the Settled Systems’ many oxygen-rich planets and moons meant humans could live just about anywhere… if they had the know how. You did, and utilized it to great effect. |
| Industrialist | Persuasion Security Research Methods | There was a time when all you wanted to be was a titan of industry, maybe a ship designer or megacorp exec. Thankfully, that skillset never goes out of style in the Settled systems. |
| Long Hauler | Weight Lifting Piloting Ballistic Weapon Systems | Let those other hothead pilots obsess over laser weapons and maneuverability. You're a space trucker, pure and simple. Pack the cargo, get it there fast, get paid, repeat. Life is simple and good. |
| Pilgrim | Scavenging Surveying Gastronomy | Wayfarer, wanderer, seeker...transient. You've been called many things during your travels, and learned something those others could never understand - the journey IS the destination. |
| Professor | Astrodynamics Geology Research Methods | You've always enjoyed learning, but nothing could compare to the joy of teaching others. As humankind spread throughout the stars, there was never a lack of knowledge to obtain, and you gladly assisted. |
| Ronin | Dueling Stealth Scavenging | Masterless and unbound, you wandered the Settled Systems as a blade for hire. To some, you were a simple mercenary. To others, a hero. And to a select few...a nightmare they could never wake from. |
| Sculptor | Medicine Geology Persuasion | With your knowledge of anatomy and skilled, steady hands, you could have become a surgeon. Instead, you followed your heart, and created works of art to amaze and inspire. |
| Soldier | Fitness Ballistics Boost Pack Training | The Settled Systems is no stranger to warfare, and if there's one thing armed conflict relies on it's trained warriors with guns and guts. You had both. Simple, bloody work...and you were great at it. |
| Space Scoundrel | Pistol Certification Piloting Persuasion | Good? Bad? Whose right is it to say? If there's anything you've learned while traipsing through the galaxy, it's this: space may look black, but it's really one shade of grey. |
| Xenobiologist | Lasers Surveying Fitness | The Settled Systems is home to untold alien species. And while none of them have yet proven sentient, that never deterred you. So you sought out and studied them for whatever gifts they offered. |
| [File Not Found] | Wellness Ballistics Piloting | Oddly, there's no information on file about your past life. Clerical oversight? Deletion by some powerful unknown faction? Or was there just nothing of note to mention? Whatever the reason, your past is known only to you. What's important is the here and now, and the path you're about to forge. |