Starfield Backgrounds are a starting class; the guide presents the full list and can help you decide which are the best for you.
Character Backgrounds in Starfield
Starfield has 21 different character backgrounds, also referred to as starting classes, which determine the protagonist’s origin story. Who is your character, and how was their life before? Each unique background will provide a character with certain buffs and benefits. Additionally, This choice will determine your three starting skills and how the game’s environment, NPCs, and companions will react and interact with your character.
For example, if your character has a diplomat background during one of the missions, an NPC character can comment:
….says here you spent some time as a diplomat. Having a way with words might prove useful.
One of the biggest Bethesda strengths is storytelling. And as we know from their previous titles, what skills and path you choose next is entirely up to you.
What Backgrounds Influence & How Do They Work?
Not every NPC’s reaction to yourcharacter’sorigin may be positive. Some may accuse you of murder if they learn you are a Gangster or they simply don’t like your Chef’s cuisine. And you never know when your background can be helpful. You may be on the street, shopping or exploring, recognized as a Bounty Hunter or someone’s former professor. Also, your knowledge or training connected to the background may help you complete quests and offer new missions.
What Background Should You Choose?
Background primarily affects the roleplaying aspect and how companions or NPC will interact with you in Starfield. Some Background traits will offer small buffs or bonuses that can be useful, especially if you want to focus on specific weapon expertise or playstyle. For example, if you pick the Combat Medic background with the Pistols Certification trait, you’ll be trained in this type of weapon from the start of the game. However, that doesn’t mean you may’t be good with pistols if you want to be a professor. Your character will learn and progress. As a result, you can choose from various skills and knowledge through the playthrough. All backgrounds are a starting point and will give your character their story and place in the Starfild.
What Starfield Backgrounds Are The Best?
The best backgrounds that will help you maximize your battlefield performance are undoubtedlyCombat Medic and Beast Hunter. You’ll be proficient in weapons and know how to care for your team during the fights. Medicine, weapon efficiency, lasers, and wellness background traits will help you achieve the best combat performance.
The best roleplaying backgrounds areDiplomat and Chef, and you’ll get many chances to show off your exceptional skills to your crew or even your love interest. Another fantastic option for those who like to solve problems and complete missions without bloodshed might be the Diplomat background. Those who want to be intimidating to others, maybe earn some money on the side, might enjoy the Bounty Hunter or Gangster backgrounds.
The Full List of Starfield Backgrounds
Below, we present a full list of Starfield backgrounds, and hopefully, you can find the best origin story for you:
1 Beast Hunter
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.
Beast Hunter Starting Skills in Starfield:
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.
Bouncer Starting Skills in Starfield:
3 Bounty Hunter
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.
Bounty Hunter Starting Skills in Starfield:
4 Combat Medic
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.
Combat Medic Starting Skills in Starfield:
5 Cyber Runner
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.
Cyber Runner Starting Skills in Starfield:
6 Cyberneticist
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.
Cyberneticist Starting Skills in Starfield:
7 Diplomat
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.
Diplomat Starting Skills in Starfield:
8 Explorer
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.
Explorer Starting Skills in Starfield:
9 File Not Found
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…
File Not Found Starting Skills in Starfield:
10 Gangster
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.
Gangster Starting Skills in Starfield:
11 Homesteader
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.
Homesteader Starting Skills in Starfield:
12 Industrialist
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.
Industrialist Starting Skills in Starfield:
13 Long Hauler
Let those other hotheaded 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.
Long Hauler Starting Skills in Starfield:
14 Pilgrim
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.
Pilgrim Starting Skills in Starfield:
15 Professor
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.
Professor Starting Skills in Starfield:
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.
Ronin Starting Skills in Starfield:
17 Sculptor
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.
Sculptor Starting Skills in Starfield:
18 Soldier
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.
Soldier Starting Skills in Starfield:
19 Space Scoundrel
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.
Space Scoundrel Starting Skills in Starfield:
20 Xenobiologist
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.
Xenobiologist Starting Skills in Starfield:
While the unfined masses scarfe down Chunks by the shipload, you created to those witha more… discerning plate. In your kitchen, countles alien spiecies become true culinary masterpeces.
Chef Starting Skills in Starfield:
Looking For More About Starfield?
Thank you for reading What Starfield Backgrounds Are The Best – Full List Guide. We provide the latest news and create guides for Starfield. Also, watch me play games onTwitchor visit myYouTubechannel! Starfield launches exclusively onXbox Series X|S and PC on July 13, 2025. You can play itday one with Xbox Game Pass.
