Starfield backgrounds are a selection of stories you choose while customizing your character that give you starting skills that work as perks. It could be more melee damage, extra health or carrying capacity, etc. This makes these choices more than just a flavor to flesh out your Starfield RPG – choosing the best background can have a big impact on how things play out depending on what you choose. So let’s take a look at the Starfield backgrounds we currently know about and what they can do for you.

How do Starfield backgrounds work?

Picking a Starfield background basically gives you a role or a job, and with it some benefits that presumably come from your background. These include things like Leader, Combat Medic, or Diplomat, for example (check out the full list of Starfield backgrounds we currently know, for more). Everything you choose comes with three perks that will buff different skill areas – everything from gun damage to lock picking, talking to people, extra health and more. Obviously, this means that choosing well can make a huge difference.

What’s unclear right now is whether these buffs are starting boosts for things you can then level up, or fixed-value perks. For example, the diplomat comes with a persuasion that gives you “an increased chance of success on speaking challenges”. It remains to be seen if choosing Diplomat is the only way to unlock this perk, or if you can spend XP to achieve the same result over time.

All the Starfield backgrounds we currently know

Leader Starting Skills

• Gastronomy – Craft special foods and drinks and research additional recipes.
• Duel – 10% more melee damage
• The well-being – gain 30 extra health points

The chef’s cooking skills improve a few food-related items, improve your health, your knife skills (presumably from all ET butchery), and unlock additional food preparation options.

Combat Medic Starting Skills

• Gun Certification – 10% more pistol damage
• Medicine – 10% more healing from health packs
• Bodybuilding – additional load capacity of 10 kg

The Starfield Combat Medic background looks like a good place to start for people who want to get started with damage and healing, as well as a nice literal increase in carrying capacity.

Cyber ​​Runner Starting Skills

• Gun Certification – 10% more pistol damage
• Security – able to hack level 2 locks and accumulate two automatic attempts
• Persuasion – increased chance of success on speech challenges

The Cyber ​​Runner’s starting skills lean into a stealthier combat role with increased gun damage, but better hook and talk skill. This suggests that the gun buff is more of a last resort, as you’ll hopefully sneak in and talk to each other about the issues instead.

Cybernetician Starting Skills

• Medicine – 10% more healing from health packs
• Robotics – 10% more damage dealt to robots and turrets
• Laser – 10% more laser weapon damage

The Cybernetician’s starting skills are to fight robots with extra damage bonuses against robots and turrets. There is also additional laser weapon damage which, if Starfield works like Fallout, means that this weapon class does more damage to mechanical enemies.

Diplomat Starting Skills

• Persuasion – increased chances of success on speech challenges
• Diplomacy – Force a target NPC below your level to stop fighting for a period of time
• To negotiate – Buy for 5% and sell for 10% at vendors

Unsurprisingly, Diplomat’s starting skills are dealing with people, allowing you to win conversations more easily, get better rates from merchants, and stop people from fighting.

Other backgrounds

While these are currently the only Starfield backgrounds we know of, Bethesda has revealed 16 in total. We only know them by name, though, based on the ones we’ve seen, you can probably start to make some guesses as to what some of the choices below will get you.

• beast hunter
• Bouncer
• Bounty hunter
• Explorer
• Bandit
• Farmer
• Industrial
• Long haul
• Pilgrim
• Teacher
• Ronin