Starfield backgrounds let you imagine the inevitable prequel series about the younger version of your character who would be played by a teen pop star or something, and all the adventures they went on that made them who they are today.
I'm a big fan of this style of character creation, from the Origins of Dragon Age: Origins to the incredibly detailed life path system in the Burning Wheel tabletop RPG. 16 Starfield backgrounds have been named so far, which have an impact on your starting abilities and can even open up new dialogue in some cases.
All Starfield Backgrounds we've seen so far
Beast Hunter
We don't know much about this one yet, other than a short clip in which a quest-giver is more willing to hire you to deal with a pest problem based on your background. Added damage against alien creepy-crawlies seems likely.
Bouncer
This is another one we've only seen on a list. Typically a bouncer needs to be able to make rowdy drunks think twice about causing trouble, and intervene physically if necessary. So I'm guessing it'll come with some buffs to intimidation and unarmed combat.
Bounty Hunter
This is a potentially very interesting one we don't know much about yet. Along with Space Pirate, Smuggler, and Space Cowboy, it is one of the Core Four Space Outlaw Fantasies described by Plato, and I'd love the chance to get to chase some ne'er-do-wells to the far ends of nowhere to pay my bills. We haven't seen anything like an Investigation skill yet, so I'm not sure what will make this background unique in terms of abilities.
Chef
I love that Starfield is letting us come from a background that doesn't seem to lend itself to a blaster-wielding sci-fi hero or intrepid exoplanet explorer. One clip highlighting this background mentions the crew is taking bets on which critic you pissed off to inspire your radical change of careers. I love little details like that.
Skills:
- Gastronomy: You can craft specialty food and drink, and research additional recipes at a Research Lab.
- Dueling: Melee weapons do 10% more damage.
- Wellness: Immediately gain 30 points of health.
Combat Medic
The first military-oriented career we've seen so far, and potentially a useful one if the companion AI in Starfield is as unconcerned with self-preservation as it was in Bethesda's past games. Keeping your companions, and yourself, in good health is always a valuable talent.
Skills:
- Pistol Certification: Pistols do 10% more damage.
- Medicine: Med Packs heal 10% more.
- Weight Lifting: Increase total carrying capacity by 10 kg.
Cyber Runner
If you didn't get enough hacking, slicing, DDOSing, and wearing cool shades in Cyberpunk 2077, I think you've come to the right place. Almost everything in space has a computer on it, so I expect we'll be able to get a lot of mileage out of being a major cybersecurity risk everywhere we go. I'm not sure where those social skills are coming from, though.
Skills:
- Pistol Certification: Pistols do 10% more damage.
- Security: You can attempt to hack Advanced locks, and two auto attempts can be banked.
- Persuasion: Gain an increased chance of success on speech challenges.
Cyberneticist
While the Cyber Runner was getting mad, mad action being such a rebellious iconoclast online, it seems like the Cyberneticist actually went to school and learned some legal, practical applications for their technical proficiency. Which mainly translates, in your current job, to knowing where to shoot a robot to break it.
Skills:
- Medicine: Med Packs heal 10% more.
- Robotics: You deal 10% more damage to Robots and Turrets.
- Lasers: Laser weapons do 10% more damage.
Diplomat
This is like a Bouncer who wears more expensive clothes and doesn't generally hit people in the face. The stakes are also a bit higher, usually. But it's basically the same idea. You got called in when fools were wildin' out to hopefully keep things from coming to blows.
Skills:
- Persuasion: Gain an increased chance of success on speech challenges.
- Diplomacy: You can force a target NPC at or below your level to stop fighting for a while.
- Bargaining: Buy items for 5% less and sell for 10% more.
Explorer
This seems like the Default Protagonist background for Starfield. Explorer is the one you pick if you're not really sure, or you're scared of expressing yourself due to the inherent vulnerability of doing so. Okay, that's a little harsh. Given what you'll spend a lot of your time in Starfield doing, it's probably a pretty strong starting point.
Skills:
- Lasers: Laser weapons do 10% more damage.
- Astrodynamics: The in-game description for this is really esoteric and unhelpful, but it sounds like it probably has something to do with plotting jumps between systems effectively and efficiently.
- Surveying: Again, we got a weird and unspecific description in the trailer, but I believe this has something to do with scanning rocks and plants and alien bug monsters and stuff. We know you can sell that data, so this could be a good money-making skill.
Gangster
The rest of these are all still a mystery other than the names. Gangsters tend to be good at roughing people up and shaking them down for their money. It would be especially interesting if this came with a criminal record that might come back to bite you later. Or even worse, a life you left behind full of other gangsters who don't take kindly to seeing you work with Constellation.
Homesteader
Someone who has tried to make a life away from the main human colonies probably has similar skills to an Explorer, but might be a bit more rugged. I wouldn't be surprised if they're better than the average player character at dealing with aliens.
Industrialist
Tim Curry tried to escape to the one place that hadn't been corrupted by capitalism: SPACE! Now you've ruined that, you jerk. I would expect this one to come with some nice digs, the ability to barter, and an aloof disdain for the space welders and space janitors who make our whole space society work.
Long Hauler
You're a space trucker. Your life is just you, your synthwave butt rock, and lightyears of the empty black stretching out like I-80 running through an unoccupied stretch of Nevada in the dark hour of midnight. You like your brews. You don't like people asking why you put lipstick on the robot. Most importantly: you're free.
Pilgrim
The fact that this is separate from Homesteader really emphasizes the religious aspect. And we know there are multiple religions in Starfield. We even got to see a quest where a group of pirates can be talked out of attacking you if you follow the same faith as them. It's still unclear whether you will be able to have comically oversized buckles on your space shoes.
Professor
A smart guy, huh? Nothing so far has indicated what you are a professor of, so I imagine this will come with a broad set of sciencey skills. Starfield's main quest apparently has something to do with alien artifacts, so it's fully possible this is more of an Indiana Jones situation going on, as opposed to a guy who writes self-help books and goes on podcasts to complain about postmodernism or something.
Ronin
Traditionally a name for a masterless samurai in feudal Japan, also used in many futuristic settings to describe a certain variety of rebellious badass who typically has an ankle-length leather jacket and a sword. In the somewhat more grounded "NASA-punk" world of Starfield, this is probably a term that means something similar to "mercenary." I hope you still get a sword, though.
