Starfield character creation
A deep-dive customization guide to creating your perfect Spacefarer with the Starfield character creation menu.
Before you fly your ship anywhere in search of anomalies and adventure, you are going to be crafting your Spacefarer with the Starfield character creation screen. Fans of The Elder Scrolls and Fallout Series will likely recognize a number of tabs and options, but let’s break down all of the elements you can customize so you are up and running as fast as possible.
But if you just want to dive into the many Starfield locations or build your outpost, don’t worry! You can always change your appearance later by visiting a genetics facility.
The main character creation options are:
Biometric ID
Biometric ID is the first major section in the Starfield character creation screen and contains one option: the Personnel Record.
From what we’ve seen during the Starfield showcase, this appears to be your preset selection. The Personnel Record is optional and offers you a set of pre-built characters so you can skip the Body and Face portions of character creation.
This is great for the gamer that doesn’t want to spend half an hour tweaking the shape of their character’s eyebrows before diving into Background and Trait selection.
Fortunately, if you select a preset for your appearance, you can change it later by visiting a genetics facility.
Body
The second major option in the character creation screen allows you to customize your body shape with a radial wheel for ‘Muscular’, ‘Thin’ and ‘Heavy’. You’ll also have your choice of body type (likely male or female), a walk style, and skin tone.
From what we’ve already seen of Starfield NPCs, Starfield’s character creation tool is more in-depth than previous Bethesda installments like Skyrim and Fallout 76.
Face
We’ve only seen a fraction of the face customization options, and we’re sure it’ll be possible to create any face you want just like in previous Bethesda Game Studios games. ‘Face’ contains 5 main sliders: skin tone, head shapes, hair, hair color, and eyes, all containing a number of presets. It’s not clear how skin tone in the ‘Body’ section differs from the one under ‘Face’.
Head shapes, hair, hair color, and eyes are likely very similar to what we’ve seen in Skyrim and Fallout, but we can be sure that Starfield modders will look to expand the options even further once they’ve got their hands on it.
Credit where credit is due, Bethesda’s character models have never looked more realistic.
Interestingly, it looks like deeper facial customization will be available for each option and may allow minute tweaking as we’ve seen before in Fallout 4’s character creator.
Background
Background is one of the major decisions you will make at the character creation window and offers a host of options. Each career will grant you three rank one skills and possibly create unique dialogue options and NPC interactions moving forwards. So choose wisely by using our Starfield background guide for a complete overview of the 20 background options we’ve seen so far.
Traits
Want to add some flair to your playthrough? Fallout: New Vegas players will be delighted to see the return of traits. You can pick up to three to get a buff but at a cost. Some of them seem pretty harsh, such as with the Kid Stuff trait which deducts 10% of all the credits you earn and sends it to your parents! Some are easier to swallow and add a bit of flavor but might affect your standing with NPCs such as with the Introvert trait, or align you with some of the Starfield factions.
Be sure to check out our full breakdown on Starfield traits so you can decide who your Spacefarer will be.
Further Starfield character customization
Now that you’ve picked out your body type, face, background, and traits, you’ll no doubt want to think about what Starfield skills and weapons you’re going to focus on for your playthrough. Or, perhaps you’d like to get a head start on your appearance by checking out what Starfield armor has been confirmed.