Character Ideas

[DocClox]

One of the things I'm finding a lot of fun is creating possible characters for the game. For those who don't know, you get to pick a background from a list, and then add up to three traits. Both traits and background have pros and cons, but mainly they're fluff intended to give a bit of personality to your character.

 

We don't know what all the backgrounds and traits are yet, but we saw a lot of them on the Starfield Direct video, and the good folks at UESP have gathered them up on the Starfield Wiki.

 

Anyway, I thought it might be nice to have a thread to share some builds and backstories. You're going to be working as a miner when the game starts, so don't forget to find a reason why your character is mining rather than diplomatting or gangstering or whatever.

 

I'll go first.

 

Name: Captain Tripp Hazard

Background: Interstellar Bounty Hunter

Trait: Extrovert

Trait: Hero Worshiped

Trait: Wanted

 

Story: Tripp Hazzard became a minor celebrity a few years back when he brought in Big Johnny Neutrino, an accomplishment that got his name all over the planetary data feeds for a week or so. He's capitalized on that since. Tripp, when not working, is a clubbable, affable sort of fellow and these days he probably spends more time on the D-list celeb circuit than actually hunting criminals. He also has a full time assistant, and Adoring Fan who refuses to leave his side for very long.

 

The downside of Tripp's big score is that the rest of the Neutrino Family is still out there, and they hold a grudge. And every now and then they try and kill him.

 

Right now he's working down the mines. Supposedly he's undercover checking out a lead on his latest bounty, but he';s pretty sure he saw a scout for the Neutrino family sniffing around earlier, and he figures life might be easier if he kept his head down for a week or so.

 

(And yes, it's that Adoring Fan. Updated graphics, but same VA as Oblivion. Downside of the Hero Worshped trait).

 

Who wants to go next?

[Miauzi]

The sister of "Roger Wilco" - as he is only "airlock cleaner" ... dreams of piloting a spaceship

?

[Kraven12]

( I am putting the original story at least 2470 for head canon)

Name:  ( Currently unknown yet until launch) 

Background: Diplomat 

Trait: Empath

Trait: Extrovert

Trait: Unwanted Hero

 

Background; Having been raised after the first colony war after the United Colony first attack that left an entire world decimated. The United Diplomatic Corp of Man was created and dedicated to ending the war before many more atrocities could happen from both sides as rage of hate and the flames of revenge ravaged the Colonies of Man.  As a child, they witnessed the negotiations and learned about diplomacy and the power and  heavy responsibility that came with it. When they became a teenager they discovered they developed mild psionic power to read emotions of people.  Enrolling in a especial school for children with powers, their goal was to use it for the "greater good". As the war finally ended and both sided finally came to an agreement, the U.P.C.M. were hailed as heroes. 

 

Twenty years later on an tour of the settled systems they come to a mining colony and hears a voices in their head for the first time. Straying from the rest of the group they come to a cavern and discover a object in a rock, touching it is suddenly flooded with images of her family line, a line of secrets kept or forgotten. Part of what was hidden is being revealed setting them on a quest to the unknown of not about the secrets of the universe. As Constellation wants to have them explore to seek possible alien life, their goal is to find out the mystery of why their family was so desperate to keep the visions they have seen buried. 

[Gameplayer]

Name: Fry

Background: Pizza Delivery Man

Trait: Loser

Trait: .........

Trait: .........

 

Fry is a young man making a living delivering pizza's on his mo ped.  On a run to the local cryo-vault Fry accidentally got locked into a cryo fridge and was boxed till recently.  Upon waking up and getting sorted for work the machine determined he was best suited to deliveries.  With his formerly meager savings of 3 dollars and 22 cents he was able to purchase a star freighter to gain meaningful employment.

[Reigor]

I'm taking my inspiration from the great science fiction writer James H. Schmitz. 

 

Name: Telzey Amberton

Background: Diplomat

Traits: Empath, Raised Universal, UC Native

 

Story: Telzey's story starts when she is fifteen years old, a well-adjusted child of privilege. Her mother was a senior UC government official and her father a successful businessman. Tezley, despite her youth was a student at New Atlantis University studying law. Her mother is deep in the final peace talks between the United Colonies. Tragedy struck when a House Va'Ruun terrorist cell disrupted the peace talks with a bomb which detonated, killing several diplomats on both sides, including Telzey's mother and father.

 

The trauma of her parents death woke dormant telepathic powers in Telzey's mind. She was began sensing other people or animal's emotions and sometimes their thoughts. These new feeling drove her into sensory overload and for several years she bounced around the UC foster care and mental hospitals. In her early 20's Telzey mental state finally stabilized that the hospital released her but by that time she had lost her scholarship and was cut off from her inheritance by greedy relatives. Seeking a way to make a living, Telzey signs onto Argos Extractors using her mental powers to convince the recruiter despite her lack of qualifications.

 

Roleplaying: While telepathy isn't in Starfield there are several skills in the social skill tree that emulate it allowing Telzey to calm, fear, frenzy, and control humans and aliens. She'll have max persuasion and bargaining as well. This is more going to be a pacifist build, talking her way through missions, though Telzey will fight and kill if she has to using pistols.  She is also going to go deep into space wizardry or whatever it was at the end of the Starfield Direct.

 

Edited July 5, 2023 by Reigor

[DocClox]

Name: Montgomery "Monty" Carlow

Background: Diplomat

Trait: Extrovert

Trait: UC Native

Trait: Raised Enlightened

 

The Carlow family were good people. Mr. Carlow worked as a porter in the New Atlantis shipyards. Mrs. Carlow worked with a cleaning company, emptying bins and vacuuming carpets for one of the government office blocks. Every Sunday they would take little Montgomery to the House of the Enlightened for the morning service. They might have been poor, but they were Respectable.

 

At nights, when Montgomery was tucked up in bed, Mrs. Carlow would tell him tales of the Old Neighborhood. She would tell him how the Carlow Family had once been more than merely respectable. They had been Aristocracy! She filled little Montgomery's head with tales of the wealth and power and privilege once enjoyed by his ancestors. Little Montgomery lapped it all up.

 

When he grew older, Monty vowed to return the Carlow Family to its former glory, and he enrolled in the UC Diplomatic Service in the hopes that this would give him access to those exalted circles that he wished on day to join. Alas, instead of rubbing shoulders with the Great and the Good, he seemed to spend all his time running little errands for this Ambassador, or that Under-Secretary. If you press him, he'll admit that he was doing good and necessary work, and that should have been satisfaction enough, but it wasn't getting him any closer to his goals.

 

So Monty took a leave of absence from the Service and set out on a wanderjahr. He would travel the settled systems and reconnect with the common folk and maybe on the way he could find some clue as to what he was missing.

 

He set off across the Settled Systems, talking to everyone he could, from Administrators to farmers, from office workers to thieves. He cuts a memorable figure, dressed in his idea of what his ancestors might have worn. You'd think t hat would get him into trouble, what with some of the circles Monty moves in, but the rapier at his hip tends to discourage trouble makers. He can use it too - not as well as he might like, but he's learning.

 

When Monty's savings ran out, he took jobs to fund his adventures.  That's not a problem for Monty; when Mrs. Carlow wasn't filling young Monty's head with grandiose visions, she took care to instill a strong work ethic. Hard work never killed anyone, and Monty doesn't mind mixing with the hoi polloi. For all his faults, Monty is a people person, and he remembers enough of his childhood that he knows how to get along with the common man.

 

Monty has found his Sabbatical to be tremendously valuable. He's spoke to people from all walks of life and in doing so he has come to realize just how insular was his outlook before setting out on his travels. Still and all, it's been a year now and Monty is no closer to his goal than when he started. Frankly he is starting to feel discouraged. Perhaps he should just abandon his dream and return to the Service? Maybe that would be best.

 

He just needs to do this one stint in the local mines to scare up the price of passage back to New Atlantis.

 

[edit]

 

I came up with Monty because I every time I see "duelist" in the skill table, I get an urge to play an aristocratic swordsman a la Poul Anderson.

Edited July 5, 2023 by DocClox

[31971207]

My FemShep first but if there are no intelligent aliens or evil AI in Starfield I will play as a privateer not Solo. How the privateer behave will depend on Starfield writing but knowing BGS I likely will play a generic hoarder bounty hunter most of the time.

Edited July 5, 2023 by 31971207

[Kraven12]

1 hour ago, 31971207 said:

My FemShep first but if there are no intelligent aliens or evil AI in Starfield I will play as a privateer not Solo. How the privateer behave will depend on Starfield writing but knowing BGS I likely will play a generic hoarder bounty hunter most of the time.

 

For now there no (technically) aliens yet in game until the expansion which would in my best guess by end of year as part of the expansion planned. Some have theories and point to Zetans.  Too on the nose to have a that connection to fallout personally. 

[DocClox]

Name: Stella

Background: Cyber Runner

Traits: Spaced, Introvert, Wanted

 

Stella was a station brat. Grew up in orbit and learned how to handle low-g from infancy. There weren't many kids her own age when she was growing up, so she spent a lot of time on the net. Over time she worked her way into every corner of the local net. Including several she wasn't supposed to. And found some unexpected ways into the server room.

 

When she got older, she hooked up with a crew and did some net running. Stella preferred the operator role, monitoring network activity and coordinating things with the boys on the ground.

 

They were careful never to hit anyone that couldn't afford it. Mainly they scored off banks and corporations who could easily recoup the losses from insurance. Until the day her group raised high enough on someone's spreadsheet that they became cheaper to have killed than to absorb the losses.

 

So now her crew is dead or scattered and Stella is on the run. Currently she's working in a mine. She figures that the last place anyone would look for a cybersavvy space rat like herself is underground doing manual labor.

 

Eventually the heat will die down. Until then it's "hi ho! hi ho!"

 

Edited July 6, 2023 by DocClox

[Kraven12]

Name: Sarah Frunn

Background: Explorer

Trait: Freestar Collective Settler

Trait: Introvert

Trait: Raised Universal

 

Background:  After the settled system civil war, many people just wanted to get back to their roots  or at least normality and find something to unite humanity in a common goal. Thus a joint project by the Freeside Science Directorate and the U.C. Exploration division started funding volunteers to explore beyond the "red line" of human settlements and outposts. Teams throughout the colonies anxiously joined the initiative with the thought of wealth and fame stirring in their heads. Twenty seven teams all ranging from two man to a full crew of fifty five all trained in all fields of study and hearty backgrounds.  James and Sarah Frunn joined such a crew of explorers on the D.S. Sagan which had a large crew of experienced people who came from all walks of life. The Captain is Wes Plip of the U.C. who's attitude was "I do not care where you were born or who's side you were on during the war. Fortune was calling us and we are going to answer it. And if we are lucky, they might make a movie about us. And as captain. I get 30%. Let's make history"   

 

James being a propulsion engineer and O2 oxygen serviceman and Sarah bio chemist and bio engineering gastrologist, thus she got the hydroponics crew area to play in made them fit right in with an experienced crew of adventurers. Soon crossing the "red line" many expressed excitement as to what the universe had in store for them and many expressed an almost gung-ho five year mission attitude with plenty of fuel and food, spirits were high. 

 

Over the course of months smaller ships returned home for one reason or another, mainly ran out of food or stresses of deep space on their vessels forced them to come back to colonies. Still hailed as "heroes" for braving the unknown, many of their names faded as time went on. Many others return because of mental stress on the crew for being out to far from civilization as "space madness" set in for many of crewman. As the few larger vessels continued their journey reporting back many interesting discoveries along the way, but even then after a year and months transmissions became less and less. and hard to come by  Many in the media claimed it is something of transmission signals are taking time to reach the colonies, while skeptics believed the explorers were in trouble.  Taking no chances a joint military taskforce was formed, mission: Secure the whereabouts of the last nine exploratory vessels. Committing a total of sixty of the fastest battle ready ships from both sides to retrace the journey of the possible missing ships. 

 

Soon after a half a year the military fleet return, not as many hoped, but with sorrow as news of many of the civilian ships either crashed on planets, malfunctioned from within, mutiny, or in this case of the Segan an unknown hit their vessel and only three survived, one being Sarah Frunn.  It was discovered from external camera's the Sagan was struck with an odd energy of unknown origin across the ship, knocking out vital systems. Taking out propulsion and nav. com. According to the "black Box" while inside the captain ordered to the escape pods and abandon ship to a class M world they passed earlier. As many went to the pods James was separated from Sarah as the hatch shut behind him. Begging Sarah to find another way out, the bulk head gave way on James side as a breech in the hull cracked killing James and five crewman. Screaming for her husband.  Soon Sarah was eventually found in the deep part of the ship with  limited life support and others who survived the event. 

 

After further investigation the U.C. found more evidence of the encounter as it showed that a dark vessel that eclipsed a sun may have been the cause of the destruction, sealing away the information and reassigning anyone with ties to the investigation upset the Freeside Government who demanded to know why the U.C. hastily trying to seal records and deny them access. 

 

Years later Sarah works now on a moon and is still haunted by that day and the loss of her husband and friends. As she leaves the shaft with ore her eyes begin to glow as she travels down the dark tunnel. 

Edited July 5, 2023 by Kraven12

[DocClox]

I can't remember if I posted this one on LL before or not. This is the first one I came up with, and probably the one I'll use once we get some LL mods working.

 

Name: Doctor Francis Henstyne

Background: Professor

Traits: Neon Street Rat, Alien DNA, Introvert

 

Frank grew up in the slum district of Neon. He'd probably still be there, but even as a child he demonstrated an aptitude with tech.  That got Frank a reputation, and eventually a scholarship at Neon U. This led to him doing postgrad work, taking his doctorate, and eventually getting a research position.

 

Frank is something of a polymath, with a wide range of academic interests. He never lost the knack for basic engineering that gave him his start in life, but since then he has expanded his interests to include mathematics, psychology and bioscience. In fact, Frank's alien DNA grafts are a custom blend of his own design. Frank will tell you that the genepatch performs 20% better than any commercially available brand. On the other hand, the circumstances where the improvement manifests are rare, and if he's honest, he has to concede that there's little practical difference. In any event, he didn't do for the benefits - he did it to show that he could! That's Frank all over, that is.

 

No one questions Frank's genius. His personality is another matter. Frank would tell you that he has the scientific detachment necessary for a researcher in his field. Most of his colleagues prefer the term "sociopath". Frank's time at Neon U is colored by a number of scandals involving ethics violations in the course of his experiments. Eventually the University Senate felt they had no option but to terminate his tenure.

 

And so Frank is trying to raise money for a lab of his own. Somewhere on some iceball moon, most probably, well away from the prying eyes of ethics committees. He has a plan to use behavior modification and physical augmentation to create an obedient unquestioning workforce from the useless dregs of society. There are plenty of pirates that would never be missed for example. He can hardly be criticised for turning such social debits into productive citizens, after all.

 

But first he needs money. And the mine pays well. One day soon, he's going to show them all. We'll see who is laughing on that day!

 

 

Edited July 6, 2023 by DocClox

[pok0]

My first character is going to be a pornographic streamer who will do anything for content.

 

When her father died, his former "business partners" showed up and demanded she pay his gambling debts.  Of course she couldn't, so they put her to work earning money with her body.  She knew they'd never let her pay off the debt, however, so she eventually ran away.  Her plan was to lose herself planet hopping.

 

That costs a lot, as it turns out, and trading sex for passage doesn't always work.

 

With the very last of her savings, she bought a top-of-the-line AI-Cambot that she named "Meatball" and began recording her adventures.  She soon became popular enough that she was able to continue bouncing around the known universe.

 

It wasn't just the exhibitionism and sex that won her a following, either.  She constantly put herself in dangerous situations, accepted shady requests, and took ridiculous risks as she ventured onward.  Her goal was always to give her fans something exciting to watch.  She always took the most dubious path.

 

That being said, her most-watched segment is always from her "Expl-WHORING with Pupp3t!" series, where she walks around a new city or space station interviewing people while wearing nothing but invisible stripper heels and comm-piercings in her ears.  In return for letting her interview them, they can do anything they want with her as long as it's in front of the camera.

 

"Anything for Money and Fame!" has become her mantra.

[buzzbombr]

Name: Roberta Bobba-Spatillo (BoBo)

Background: Military

Traits: None

Skills: None or all. Depends on your definition

Future: Ask her tomorrow or the next day. (Better yet, not at all. She's not much for talking.)

 

BoBo is absolutely average and she's always hated it. She can do anything, but she's never excelled at anything, either. She doesn't know more than others, nor is she more skilled than others. She's not pretty, not ugly, not voluptuous, fat or skinny. She is not more intelligent than others. She's not faster, she's not stronger, she's not... anything, really. She just IS. She does like being naked, though.

 

On the second-rate planet she grew up on, the only child of completely average parents, the only real solace in life she'd had was that she could do just about anything, if you'd just give her a chance... and she hated clothing. She could explain the first part: "When you can't do anything the best, you try to excel at everything." The second part, well not so much. Just like her, it simply was.

 

Her parents couldn't afford to send her off for an advanced degree, and she really had no interests, anyway. Except everything. She really was interested in and could do just about anything.

 

So she joined the military as a paper-pusher. A clerk. In military-speak, a REMF (Rear Echelon Mother Fucker) and got training in short and long guns (Put this here, the bullet comes out of that hole, there.) She was also trained in close combat. (Stick the pointy end in the other guy.)

 

She did well. Not exceptional, of course, but well enough to get posted out to the back of beyond where she saw some scary-ass shit that she was simply not trained to handle. Why the Frick did that young Lieutenant need a frickin' clerk out there to begin with? Didn't matter. She did the best job she could, which was perfectly adequate.

 

When the heavy fighting was over, her military no longer needed her, and she left the Service, honorably, without accolades or awards. What to do now? Well, find a job of course!

 

The military helped her find a job with a little mining outfit on a little moon, just on the other side of nowhere. OK. At least she's employed, unlike so many others. She can do the job well enough, just like she can do anything well enough.

 

Oh, that nudist thing? Yeah, not really a lot of opportunity for that while being in the military. Now she's stuck mining rock on an airless moon in the backwater of the explored galaxy. She would really like to sneak out and be naked anywhere, just anywhere! She's stuck doing that in her little closet of an "apartment" which costs most of her monthly salary.

 

What to do? She has no idea. She's lived her whole life just being and going with the flow. She's heard that there are "transparent spacesuits" coming onto the market. "That'd be pretty cool!" She dreams of being a naked explorer, shocking the bad guys with her glorious nudity, and maybe even showing off a little bit. Still, something's going to have to change before she can go gallivanting about the galaxy in her birthday suit. She's just an average miner, after all. What can she do?

 

 

Edited July 7, 2023 by buzzbombr
grammar and punctuation

[Kif_kroker]

Name: Richard Riddick

Background: Monster Hunter

Traits: Alien DNA; Introvert; Wanted (2x endurance boost; 1x dmg boost)

 

"Riddick is shown to have a vast number of skills, which include great mobility, stealth, killing abilities, survival in harsh conditions, prison-breaking, and piloting. Despite his criminal nature and background, he is sometimes shown to perform moral or even atypically heroic actions, usually against his own better judgment and survivalist nature."

 

 

Edited July 8, 2023 by Kif_kroker

[Reigor]

19 hours ago, Kif_kroker said:

Name: Richard Riddick

 

Excellent. I'd like to see other Starfield interpretations of sci-fi heroes and heroines from film and literature, especially ones that fit the setting. 

[DocClox]

1 hour ago, Reigor said:

Excellent. I'd like to see other Starfield interpretations of sci-fi heroes and heroines from film and literature, especially ones that fit the setting. 

 

Riddick fit surprisingly well, didn't he?

 

Here's one:

 

Louis Gridley Wu: Explorer. Empath, Extrovert, Dream Home

[Miauzi]

Vor 8 Minuten sagte DocClox:

 

Riddick passte überraschend gut, nicht wahr?

 

Hier ist eine:

 

Louis Gridley Wu: Entdecker. Empathie, Extrovertiert, Traumhaus

 

This only fits if there is

- firstly, there is a ring world and

- secondly, "rat"-cats

 

?

 

[DocClox]

Louis fits fine. He'll just have to explore something else in this parallel world.

 

You'll notice I deliberately didn't do Neesus or Speaker-To-Animals.

[Miauzi]

Vor 45 Minuten sagte DocClox:

Louis passt gut. Er muss einfach etwas anderes in dieser Parallelwelt erforschen.

 

Sie werden feststellen, dass ich bewusst auf Neesus oder Speaker-To-Animals verzichtet habe.

 

Then I'll do the "Sigmund Ausfaller".

but if aliens - then please the "Outsiders" - they are really cool in the truest sense of the word

[Reigor]

Name: Ellen Ripley

Background: Longhauler

Traits: Freestar Collective Settler, Taskmaster, Unwanted Hero

 

Ellen Ripley began her spacer career as a warrant officer with the Xenofresh Corporation's commercial freight operations, Ripley was assigned to FSCSS Nostromo in 2328 when it encountered a single Xenomorph (reference classified file "Kreet Lab Incident") unintentionally collected from the moon Acheron (LV-426). The event led to the death of the rest of Nostromo's crew and the destruction of the ship, and Ripley's encounter with the Xenomorph would fundamentally alter the course of her life.

 

Ripley's psyche suffered from the events aboard Nostromo and the crew she lost on the vessel. Ripley's account of Nostromo's destruction was met with skepticism by the board of inquiry Xenofresh assembled to investigate the incident. She was diagnosed with PTSD and comorbid generalized anxiety disorder, and was stripped of her rank and flight status. Following the whitewash, Ripley's employment with Xenofresh was terminated and she remained jobless until she managed to find employment with Argos Extractors in 2330.  

Edited July 10, 2023 by Reigor

[Kif_kroker]

name: anna navarre

backround: cyberneticist/bounty hunter

traits: hero worship; dream home; wanted

 

400 years after ur death, the united colonies rebuild you for one purpose, hunt them pirates down like animals

(i would like her more as a voiced follower tho)

 

 

"Navarre was born in russia and trained as a commando by the israeli army. She became extensively mechanically augmented, but she was already one of UNATCO's top agents even before she was augmented. Navarre believes that augmentations merely serve to enhance her abilities and that augmentations do not make the agent. Thus, Navarre has no fear of a "shelf-date" even when UANTCO has deployed more advanced, natoechnologically agumented agents. Navarre has killed several hundred people throughout her career and favors a lethal approach when the situation warrants it."

 

 

Edited July 10, 2023 by Kif_kroker

[Zoey McKenzie]

Name.......: Zoey McKenzie

Background.: Explorer

Traits.....: [1: Kid Stuff ], [2: United Colonies Native ], [3: Wanted ]

 

Story: TBD

 

Haven't quite decided on everything yet. Except for the name, for sure.

And I'm thinking something generic and simple.

Maybe something like this?

 

Zoey's parents are alive and well, and she was born and raised in United Colonies, possibly in New Atlantis.

Not sure if you can choose this more in-depth or not.

 

But, she wanted to explore and see the galaxy.

 

She bought a ship, headed out. To explore. And raid old abandoned jungle temples. And running away from rolling boulders. And becoming a Space Archeologist.

And eventually ran into Space Nazis who wanted a Space Crystal Skull.. She managed to steal the "Crystal skull" before the Space Nazis.

 

Who then put up a bounty on Zoey.

[jfraser]

Bit tough since my preference is to start with nothing and build up. Maybe gangster? Traits probably introvert, street rat, wanted 

[DocClox]

8 hours ago, jfraser said:

Bit tough since my preference is to start with nothing and build up. Maybe gangster? Traits probably introvert, street rat, wanted 

 

Closer I get, the more I tend to agree with that. I had great fun making characters when the game was far off. As we get closer, I find I don't want to over-plan my first run.

 

 

[Kif_kroker]

 

 

some ai generic ideas