Starfield traits: Best inherent skills to pick and why

Don’t be a traitor.

By Toby Saunders

Published: Wednesday, 06 September 2023 at 11:29 AM

When you’re creating your character in Starfield, there are a few key details you need to decide upon before you can take your intrepid space explorer into the wild. This includes picking your character’s traits.

That’s right, you have to choose more than just your background before you can start the game. Or not. You can choose to have no traits if you like – it’s entirely optional.

Your chosen traits will have an effect on dialogue and interactions, as well as in combat, so you want to make the right choice for how you want to play the game.

We can see why this might prove confusing, as you don’t want to get it wrong. Luckily for you, we know what all of the traits do and which are best.

Read on for our picks of the best Starfield traits and to see the full list of traits and their perks.

What are the best Starfield traits?

Starfield traits image
Starfield traits: Alien DNA.

The best Starfield traits will give you an advantage in certain situations, with our pick here at RadioTimes.com being Alien DNA, which gives you increased health and oxygen at the cost of less effective healing and food items.

Dream Home is a neat trait as it gives you a fancy house right at the start of the game. It does come at a cost of 125,000 credits, though, which is a lot to be down on at the beginning of your quest. You should make those credits back and them some before too long, mind.

Hero Worshipped is definitely worth it to gain the Adoring Fan companion and add him to your crew. He is annoying and a little overeager, but this Easter egg crew member is worth adding to your team of intrepid space explorers, for sure.

Finally, we recommend the Taskmaster trait. Applying this trait to your character essentially gives you a free automatic ship repair back up to 100% health every time it is damaged below 50%.

The only downside with this one is that all crew members will cost twice as much to hire – you can get around this with increases in persuasion skills.

Ultimately, though, the choice of what trait or traits to pick is entirely up to you. If you don’t like one of your traits, too, you can always remove it by completing its specific mission/activity.

Read more on Starfield:

Full list of Starfield traits and their perks

There are 17 Starfield traits in total, coming with their own strengths and weaknesses.

Here is the full list of Starfield traits and their perks:

  • Alien DNA | You volunteered for a controversial experiment that combines alien and human DNA. As a result, you start with increased health and oxygen, but healing and food items aren’t as effective
  • Dream Home | You own a luxurious, customisable house on a peaceful planet! Unfortunately, it comes with a 125,000 credit mortgage with GalBank that has to be paid weekly
  • Empath | You are deeply connected to the feelings of others. Performing actions your companion likes will result in a temporary increase in combat effectiveness. But performing actions they don’t like will have the precise opposite effect
  • Extrovert | You’re a people person. Exerting yourself uses less oxygen when adventuring with human companions, but more when adventuring alone
  • Freestar Collective Settler | You gain access to special Freestar Collective dialogue options and better rewards from some missions given by the faction. But crime bounty towards other factions is greatly increased
  • Hero Worshipped | You’ve earned the attention of an annoying “Adoring Fan” who will show up randomly and jabber at you incessantly. On the plus side, he’ll join your ship’s crew and give you gifts…
  • Introvert | You really need your alone time. Exerting yourself uses less oxygen when adventuring alone, but more when adventuring with other human companions
  • Kid Stuff | Your parents are alive and well, and you can visit them at their home. But you will automatically send 2% of your credits home to them every week
  • Neon Street Rat | You grew up on the mean streets of Neon. You gain access to special dialogue options and better rewards from some missions on Neon. Crime bounty by other factions is greatly increased
  • Raised Enlightened | You grew up as a member of the Enlightened. You gain access to a special chest full of items in the House of the Enlightened in New Atlantis but lose access to the Sanctum Universum chest
  • Raised Universal | You grew up as a member of the Sanctum Universum. You gain access to a special chest full of items in the Sanctum Universum in New Atlantis but lose access to the House of the Enlightened chest
  • Serpent’s Embrace | You grew up worshipping the Great Serpent. Grav jumping provides a temporary boost to health and oxygen, but health and oxygen are lowered if you don’t continue jumping regularly – like an addiction
  • Spaced | Your body has become acclimated to space. Health and oxygen are increased when in space but decreased when on the surface
  • Taskmaster | Occasionally, if you have crew trained in a certain ship system, that system will automatically repair itself to full health whenever it is damaged below 50%. However, all crew cost twice as much to hire
  • Terra Firma | You’ve never acclimated to space. Health and oxygen are increased when on the surface but decreased when you’re in space
  • United Colonies Native | You gain access to special United Colonies dialogue options and better rewards from some missions given by the faction. However, crime bounty by other factions is greatly increased
  • Wanted | Someone put a price on your head, and word has spread. Occasionally, armed mercenaries will show up and try to kill you, but being cornered gives you an edge – when your health is low, you do extra damage