Starfield Backgrounds and the best ones to choose
Which is the best Starfield background for you to pick?
What are the best Starfield backgrounds? Each of the 21 backgrounds in Starfield gives you a point in three different starting skills, giving your first few hours quite a bit of variation from other players' opening play-sessions. Combine it with up to three Starfield traits, and you'll have a character who is very much your own as you set foot for the first time into the Settled Systems.
But with 21 backgrounds to choose from covering 26 different Starfield skills and abilities, it's pretty easy to get decision paralysis. In this guide, we'll walk you through every Starfield background and its starting skillset, along with our opinions on the very best Starfield backgrounds to pick for a player just starting their playthrough of Bethesda's enormously ambitious RPG. So read on to find out whether you'd rather be a Beast Hunter or a Xenobiologist, a Sculptor or a Gangster, a Homesteader or a Ronin.
All Starfield backgrounds
What are the best Starfield backgrounds?
It's hard to decide upon a universal "best" background to pick during the Starfield character creation process, because everyone has a different playstyle, and no matter your background's starting skillset you can always change your character's focus and abilities later on anyway. But there are still a few backgrounds which we think provide a really solid starting point for most characters.
Out of all the 21 different types available, our picks for the best Starfield backgrounds are the Combat Medic, the Ronin, the Bounty Hunter, the Industrialist and the Soldier.
Here's why these are the best Starfield backgrounds to pick:
- Combat Medic - The Combat Medic begins the game with two skills that immediately make you more survivable, with extra health and more effective healing items. Add to this an immediate +10% damage with pistols (which ramps up at later ranks to become one of the best damage-amplifying skills in the game) and you have probably the best combat-focused Starfield background out there.
- Ronin - The Ronin excels at stealth and melee, which is a potent combination in Starfield particularly when you supplement it later on with the Concealment skill. As the Ronin you can master sneaking around much quicker, and you also gain extra credits from containers, which is useful for any Starfield build.
- Bounty Hunter - For pilots at heart, the Bounty Hunter is a great starting background. You unlock ship targeting early, allowing you to target specific enemy ship subsystems to (for example) take their engines offline and board them; and you also gain a point in Piloting for ship thruster functionality early on. And the icing on the cake? You can use Boost Packs from day one.
- Industrialist - The Industrialist may not be particularly well-suited for combat, but it does give you some of the most useful skills in the game right at the beginning. You gain an increased chance of success in speech challenges, and a bonus point in Security can really help if you find the Starfield lockpicking minigame difficult. You also require fewer resources to research new things and craft new items, which can massively help you throughout your playthrough.
- Soldier - The Soldier is another great pick when it comes to combat-focused backgrounds. Like the Bounty Hunter, the Soldier starts with the Boost Pack enabled, but they also receive a point in the ever-useful Fitness skill, meaning you run out of oxygen less quickly (a godsend, that skill). And to top it off, you gain a boost to Ballistic weapon damage, which covers a lot of the early weapons you'll come across. A great all-round background for fighting all sorts of enemies.
Every Starfield background explained
Below we'll walk you through each of the 21 Starfield backgrounds, and explore why you might want to pick (or avoid) each one:
Beast Hunter
Starting Skills:
- Fitness - You have 10% more oxygen available.
- Ballistics - Ballistic weapons do 10% more damage.
- Gastronomy - You can research and craft speciality food and drinks.
In a game where many of your actions both in and out of combat are dictated by your Oxygen (stamina) levels, the Beast Hunter is a solid background choice simply because of its point in Fitness, which boosts your maximum Oxygen. The Beast Hunter is more than that, though - it's an early game powerhouse in fights thanks to its increased damage with Ballistic weapons, and the ability to research and craft speciality food and drinks to give yourself the right buffs just when you need them.
Official Description: "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
Starting Skills:
- Boxing - Unarmed attacks do 25% more damage. Power attacks use 25% less O2.
- Security - You can attempt to hack Advanced locks. +2 auto attempts.
- Fitness - You have 10% more oxygen available.
As you might expect, the Bouncer is a solid choice out of the more physical backgrounds in Starfield, particularly if you like the idea of unarmed attacks, which do a hefty 25% more damage thanks to the Boxing skill. Add to this the extra stamina from Fitness and the ability to hack Advanced locks, and the Bouncer gets players off to a very strong start. However, it really comes down to whether or not you think Boxing fits the playstyle you want to adopt throughout your playthrough, or whether you think it'll be a wasted skill point.
Official Description: "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
Starting Skills:
- Piloting - You can now utilize ship thrusters.
- Targeting Control Systems - Unlocks ship targeting functionality.
- Boost Pack Training - You can now utilize boost packs.
The Bounty Hunter is an excellent background pick for players who want to make early use of their first spaceship in Starfield. Piloting gives the Bounty Hunter access to ship thrusters early on, and - even more excitingly - Targeting Control Systems allows you to target and disable specific areas of an enemy ship, potentially so you can board them and take your bounty home alive. And that's not mentioning the Boost Pack Training you receive as a Bounty Hunter, which allows you to use Starfield's famous jetpack from day one. Bounty Hunter is a strong contender for my favourite starting background.
Official Description: "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
Starting Skills:
- Gastronomy - You can research and craft speciality food and drinks.
- Dueling - +25% melee weapon damage. Take 10% less damage while wielding a melee weapon.
- Scavenging - Chance to find extra credits when searching containers.
You might think picking the Chef background isn't exactly a great choice for combat, but actually it's a solid option for close-quarters bruiser playstyles thanks to your proficiency with melee weapons. Scavenging is always handy for finding extra loot everywhere you go, and it's at its most useful early on in the game. And Gastronomy can be useful if you're planning to delve deep into Starfield's sumptuous array of consumables. Some of those foods and drinks can be of real benefit if you remember to use them.
Official Description: "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
Starting Skills:
- Pistol Certification - Pistols do 10% more damage.
- Medicine - Med Packs, Trauma Packs, and Emergency Kits restore +10% Health 10% faster.
- Wellness - Increase your maximum health by 10%.
The Combat Medic is a fantastic vanilla option when it comes to picking your Starfield background. Healing items are more effective, and your carrying capacity is increased - fantastic for players like me who loots everything that isn't nailed down. Pistol Certification may or may not be your cup of tea, but even if not, you can always ignore it and invest points into other combat styles later on. I will say though - if you invest in Pistols, they can be about as strong as any weapon class in the game.
Official Description: "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
Starting Skills:
- Stealth - Adds a Stealth Meter. 25% harder to detect while sneaking. +5% sneak attack damage with suppressed weapons.
- Security - You can attempt to hack Advanced locks. +2 auto attempts.
- Theft - Unlock the ability to pickpocket targets.
The Cyber Runner background gives you a set of skills that's far more suited to the sneaky player, giving you a Stealth Meter from day 1 to make it easier to avoid detection by enemies. You also gain the ability to pickpocket targets, and hack Advanced locks. If you wanted a stealthy playthrough in Starfield and you didn't have any starting skills, these would almost certainly be the three you'd pick up first anyway, so the Cyber Runner is a great background choice for players who don't like to go in guns blazing all the time.
Official Description: "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
Starting Skills:
- Medicine - Med Packs, Trauma Packs, and Emergency Kits restore +10% Health 10% faster.
- Security - You can attempt to hack Advanced locks. +2 auto attempts.
- Lasers - Laser weapons do 10% more damage.
The Cyberneticist spreads your skillset fairly wide to begin with, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. You get some extra damage with laser weapons, and extra survivability in the form of the Medicine skill, which increases the effectiveness of your healing items. Add to this the ability to hack Advanced locks on doors and containers from the opening moments of the game, and you've got a strong and diverse opening Background that will happily evolve into any playstyle you like.
Official Description: "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
Starting Skills:
- Persuasion - 10% increased chance of success when persuading someone.
- Commerce - Buy for 5% less and sell for 10% more.
- Wellness - Increase your maximum health by 10%.
For players who want to talk (rather than shoot) their way through Starfield, the Diplomat background is the ideal choice. Not only do you gain a boost to your Persuasion, making you more likely to succeed during speech challenges, but you also get more bang for your buck while trading, and even get a point into Wellness for some extra maximum health - although I'm not sure why Diplomats are healthier than Bounty Hunters... But ah well, let's not think too much about it.
Official Description: "The wars are over. Peace now reigns in 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
Starting Skills:
- Lasers - Laser weapons do 10% more damage.
- Astrodynamics - Increase grav jump range of jump drives by 15%.
- Surveying - Adds an optional zoom to the hand scanner. +20 meter scan distance.
The Explorer background bridges the gap between combat effectiveness, traversal, and gathering useful resources. Laser weapons deal more damage with the Explorer, and a point in Astrodynamics allows your ship to reach destinations more easily while you hop across the Settled Systems. The extra range and zoom level of your hand scanner can be useful at times for sniffing out useful resources. Overall though, I'd class the Explorer as a lower-tier background in terms of the skillset it offers new players.
Official Description: "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
Starting Skills:
- Shotgun Certification - Shotguns do 10% more damage.
- Boxing - Unarmed attacks do 25% more damage. Power attacks use 25% less O2.
- Theft - Unlock the ability to pickpocket targets.
Gangsters like to get up close and personal with their targets. If you fancy a close-quarters playstyle in combat, then the double-whammy of increased Shotgun damage and powerful unarmed attacks should make the Gangster a very enticing choice of background. You also gain the ability to pickpocket targets from day one, which is always handy. But the real focus of the Gangster is in close-range combat.
Official Description: "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
Starting Skills:
- Geology - Get more common and uncommon inorganic resources from surface objects.
- Surveying - Adds an optional zoom to the hand scanner. +20 meter scan distance.
- Weight Lifting - Increase total carrying capacity by 10 kilograms.
The Homesteader could not be less interested in combat. This peaceful background instead focuses on obtaining resources, with the Geology skill allowing you to get more resources from minerals and ores, the Surveying skill allowing you to sniff out those ores in the first place, and the Weight Lifting skill allowing you to hold more on your person before becoming overencumbered. It's a neat little trio of skills with a clear focus, but there are more important skills elsewhere, so we can't recommend the Homesteader as a particularly effective background pick.
Official Description: "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
Starting Skills:
- Persuasion - 10% increased chance of success when persuading someone.
- Security - You can attempt to hack Advanced locks. +2 auto attempts.
- Research Methods - 10% fewer resources required to craft items and complete research projects.
The Industrialist background brings players a solid selection of non-combat skills which are of good use to any player. Probably the most important is the increased persuasion success chance, which has the potential to completely change your game depending on the dialogue options you take throughout a playthrough. Security crops up again as a popular background starting skill, and for good reason. And Research Methods, while not very flashy, is a lovely little skill that ticks away in the background making life easier by saving resources and allowing you to research and craft cool stuff sooner. It's a versatile background that can be built however you see fit beyond character creation, because these three skills will never not be useful.
Official Description: "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
Starting Skills:
- Weight Lifting - Increase total carrying capacity by 10 kilograms.
- Piloting - You can now utilize ship thrusters.
- Ballistic Weapon Systems - +10% Ballistic ship weapon damage, and -20% cost to use in Targeting Mode.
The Long Hauler background gives you an early focus in spaceship management, which will be of great interest to certain players, and little interest to others. Weight Lifting is always a very useful skill to have, although you might consider only putting points into it when you come up against the carry capacity threshold. Piloting and Ballistic Weapon Systems will give you a good bearing on ship combat and movement, but overall it's not one of the most effective skillsets compared to other backgrounds in Starfield.
Official Description: "Let those other hotheaded pilots obsess over laser weapons and manoeuvrability. You're a space trucker, pure and simple. Pack the cargo, get it there fast, get paid, repeat. Life is simple and good."
Pilgrim
Starting Skills:
- Scavenging - Chance to find extra credits when searching containers.
- Surveying - Adds an optional zoom to the hand scanner. +20 meter scan distance.
- Gastronomy - You can research and craft speciality food and drinks.
Like certain other backgrounds, the Pilgrim is very much suited to finding and obtaining items and resources, rather than fighting or interacting with other people. Gastronomy and Scavenging, while not the most immediately alluring skills, are very useful to have when they've been given to you for free at the beginning of the game. And Surveying gives your hand scanner extra range, which helps with tracking down and obtaining useful materials.
Official Description: "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
Starting Skills:
- Astrodynamics - Increase grav jump range of jump drives by 15%.
- Geology - Get more common and uncommon inorganic resources from surface objects.
- Research Methods - 10% fewer resources required to craft items and complete research projects.
The Professor background, as you'd expect, is not a background to pick if you're planning to be the ultimate fighting champion in the Settled Systems. Instead, the Professor background both makes it easier to obtain minerals and other materials, and also makes those materials go further by reducing the cost of item crafting and research projects. You also get the token benefit of an increased grav jump range on your ship, which is always welcome.
Official Description: "You 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
Starting Skills:
- Dueling - +25% melee weapon damage. Take 10% less damage while wielding a melee weapon.
- Stealth - Adds a Stealth Meter. 25% harder to detect while sneaking. +5% sneak attack damage with suppressed weapons.
- Scavenging - Chance to find extra credits when searching containers.
The Ronin is likely to be a very popular choice of background for new Starfield players. Not only is the whole idea of being a Ronin extremely cool, the starting skillset it provides is very powerful, giving you a balance of stealth specialism, extra credits while looting, and a strong boost to melee weapon damage. So if you're interested in sneaking up on enemies and stabbing them in the back for huge damage, there's no background option better than Ronin.
Official Description: "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
Starting Skills:
- Medicine - Med Packs, Trauma Packs, and Emergency Kits restore +10% Health 10% faster.
- Geology - Get more common and uncommon inorganic resources from surface objects.
- Persuasion - 10% increased chance of success when persuading someone.
The Sculptor offers players a widespread range of fairly useful skills, which allows you to take the character in any direction you like after character creation. A point in Persuasion early on is very useful for convincing NPCs to do what you like, while Medicine keeps you alive if things go south. Geology helps the Sculptor get more resources from minerals and ores. It's a decent skillset, albeit one without any particular focus or strengths.
Official Description: "With your knowledge of anatomy and skilled, steady hands, you could have had a lucrative career as a surgeon. Instead, you followed your heart, and created works of art to amaze and inspire."
Soldier
Starting Skills:
- Fitness - You have 10% more oxygen available.
- Ballistics - Ballistic weapons do 10% more damage.
- Boost Pack Training - You can now utilize boost packs.
The Soldier, as you might imagine, is a good choice of background for players who want an edge in early-game combat situations. The prime bonus is Boost Pack Training, which gives you a jetpack from day one - extremely useful to have. Fitness is another very solid skill which increases your max Oxygen, allowing you to do more stamina-consuming actions without needing time to recover. And while there are a lot of weapons in Starfield that aren't Ballistic in nature, you'll come across a fair few ballistic weapons early on, and the Soldier does more damage with those, making this background one of the best for early fights.
Official Description: "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
Starting Skills:
- Pistol Certification - Pistols do 10% more damage.
- Piloting - You can now utilize ship thrusters.
- Persuasion - 10% increased chance of success when persuading someone.
The Space Scoundrel background is essentially modelled after Han Solo - you get a point in Piloting for utilising ship thrusters early on; a point in Persuasion for using your silver tongue and roguish charm to get out of difficult situations; and when that fails, a point in Pistol Certification so that your sidearm packs an extra punch. It's a very solid starting background that takes some of the best opening skills from three different trees and puts them together in a backstory that makes logical sense.
Official Description: "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 big shade of grey."
Xenobiologist
Starting Skills:
- Lasers - Laser weapons do 10% more damage.
- Surveying - Adds an optional zoom to the hand scanner. +20 meter scan distance.
- Fitness - You have 10% more oxygen available.
As we all know, Xenobiologists are fantastic with laser weapons. Oh, you didn't know that? Well, that sure is the case in Starfield. Aside from this rather random combat benefit, the Xenobiologist background gives you extra maximum Oxygen, which is just universally useful for every character; and a point in Surveying like the Explorer and Pilgrim, which gives your hand scanner some extra range for sniffing out useful resource deposits and other scan targets.
Official Description: "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
Starting Skills:
- Wellness - Increase your maximum health by 10%.
- Ballistics - Ballistic weapons do 10% more damage.
- Piloting - You can now utilize ship thrusters.
Despite its nebulous nature, the File Not Found background is actually one of the overall best backgrounds to pick early on. Wellness and Piloting are two skills that you'll eventually want every character to have no matter what style of play you're after, and Ballistics helps round out the skillset by providing you with some extra damage potential early on. It's a solid pick if the idea of not having a known backstory appeals to you.
Official Description: "Oddly, there is 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..."
Looking for a few more tips to get you started on your Starfield journey? Check-out our Starfield primers on lockpicking, getting rich, and levelling quick. We've also got handy guides on the Starfield romance options, console commands and cheats and a list of all Item IDs.