Character creation in The Outer Worlds 2 isn’t just about making your character look cool—it’s about building the foundation for your entire playthrough. Your choices here determine which dialogue options you’ll see, how you approach combat, and what kind of character arc you’ll experience in the Arcadian system.
With six backgrounds, nine traits, and twelve skills to choose from, the possibilities are genuinely overwhelming. I’ve spent countless hours testing different combinations, and I’m here to break down every single option so you can make informed decisions that match your playstyle.
Let’s dive into everything you need to know before committing to your build.
How Character Creation Actually Works
Before we examine individual options, here’s what you’re actually choosing and how it affects your game:
The three-part system:
- Background – Your character’s history; unlocks unique dialogue and roleplay opportunities
- Traits – Special characteristics that grant passive bonuses and define your playstyle (choose 2, or 3 with a negative trait)
- Skills – Core competencies that improve through leveling (choose 2, or 3 if you pick Brilliant trait)
Important distinctions:
- Backgrounds are purely for roleplay and dialogue—they don’t give stat bonuses
- Traits provide immediate mechanical benefits and unlock certain playstyles
- Skills give both passive bonuses per level AND unlock related perks later
Think of it like this: your background is who you were, traits are who you are, and skills are what you’re good at. All three matter, but in different ways.
All Six Backgrounds: Who Were You Before This?
Your background represents your character’s life before joining the Earth Directorate. While it doesn’t affect your stats, it significantly impacts how NPCs react to you and which special dialogue options appear throughout your journey.
Ex-Convict: The Reformed (or Not) Criminal
The backstory: The Earth Directorate threw you in prison, but they offered you a deal—work for them to clear your record. Or use the opportunity to escape. Your choice.
Roleplay opportunities:
- Connect with criminals and underground figures
- Recognize illegal operations and scams
- Use your street smarts to navigate shady situations
- Intimidate through your rough past
Best for: Players who want to roleplay a morally gray character with a checkered past. Great for renegade or stealth builds.
Gambler: The Risk-Taking Opportunist
The backstory: You’ve always known the universe runs on luck and chaos, and you’ve been riding that winning streak your whole life. Until you lost a bet to an Earth Directorate agent who recruited you.
Roleplay opportunities:
- Engage in games of chance and betting
- Read people and call their bluffs
- Discuss probability and risk assessment
- Use your luck-based perspective in negotiations
Best for: Players who enjoy risk-reward gameplay and want a character who sees every situation as a calculated gamble.
Lawbringer: The Order Enforcer
The backstory: After a youth marked by hardship and corporate wrongdoing, you devoted your life to bringing order to chaotic colonies. You’re a champion of the people, whether they want one or not.
Roleplay opportunities:
- Invoke legal authority in conversations
- Understand law enforcement procedures
- Intimidate lawbreakers with your background
- Approach situations from a justice-focused perspective
Best for: Lawful good characters who want to play as space cops bringing order to the frontier.
Professor: The Disgraced Academic
The backstory: You were respected in your field until “full contact archaeology” and jealous colleagues cost you your tenure. Now your talent for dealing with artifact traffickers serves the Earth Directorate.
Roleplay opportunities:
- Engage in scientific and academic discussions
- Analyze technology and historical artifacts
- Outsmart NPCs with specialized knowledge
- Approach problems with academic methodology
Best for: Intelligence-focused builds and players who want the most consistently useful dialogue options. This is arguably the strongest background for gameplay advantages.
Renegade: The Morally Flexible Operative
The backstory: You’ve skirted colony laws your whole life—that’s what you were paid for. Now your previous employers want revenge, and the Earth Directorate offers protection.
Roleplay opportunities:
- Negotiate as a professional problem-solver
- Understand tactical and mercenary operations
- Relate to other operators and hired guns
- Discuss getting paid for dirty work
Best for: Combat-focused characters and players who want to play a professional soldier-of-fortune type.
Roustabout: The Accidental Hero
The backstory: You have no special skills. You wanted a simple job. Somehow you accidentally killed a well-known villain, and now everyone thinks you’re a legendary agent. You mostly wonder if they have cashier openings.
Roleplay opportunities:
- Play the reluctant hero angle
- Downplay your abilities with self-deprecation
- Relate to regular working-class folks
- Add humor to serious situations
Best for: Players who want a comedic playthrough with tons of funny dialogue. Trades practical advantages for entertainment value.
All Nine Traits: Who Are You Now?
Traits provide immediate mechanical benefits and shape your playstyle. You can choose two traits by default, or three if you’re willing to accept a negative trait (which the game will offer). Here’s every trait broken down by category.
Combat-Focused Traits
Brawny: The Unstoppable Force
You’re able to perform great feats of strength. In combat, you’re an unstoppable force.
Effect: Sliding or sprinting into hostiles knocks them down (5-second cooldown)
Best for: Aggressive melee builds and players who like getting up close and personal. The knockdown is excellent for crowd control.
Synergizes with: Melee skill, Resilient trait, close-range combat playstyles
Resilient: The Survivor
You can power through even the deadliest of injuries. It requires more than usual to take you down.
Effect: Death is prevented for 3 seconds the first time you would die in each combat encounter
Best for: Players who struggle with difficult fights or want a safety net for mistakes. Essentially gives you a second chance.
Synergizes with: Any combat build, especially useful for increasing survivability alongside health-boosting perks
Nimble: The Quick-Footed Fighter
You’re quick and dextrous, able to move more quickly while stealthing and in combat.
Effect: +25% crouch speed, +25% combat sprint speed
Best for: Stealth builds and mobile combat styles. The speed boost is noticeable and game-changing for hit-and-run tactics.
Synergizes with: Sneak skill, guerrilla combat tactics, exploration
Intelligence & Utility Traits
Brilliant: The Quick Learner
You’re intelligent, able to more easily solve problems and pick up new skills.
Effect: Specialize in 1 additional skill during character creation (3 instead of 2). Specialized skills start with 2 points instead of 1.
Best for: Players who want more versatility in their build from the start. This is arguably one of the strongest traits for long-term character development.
Trade-off: You’re investing in early-game advantages rather than immediate combat bonuses
Innovative: The Efficient Crafter
You are inventive and crafty, always able to find unique solutions to complex problems.
Effect: Crafting recipes for ammo, throwables, and resources create up to twice as many items for the same materials
Best for: Players who craft frequently and want to stretch their resources. Ammo scarcity becomes much less of a problem.
Synergizes with: Engineering skill, resource-intensive builds
Lucky: The Fortune-Favored
You’re lucky, things tend to go your way.
Effect: +5% critical chance, certain opportunities are accessible only to you
Best for: Critical-hit builds and players who want unique opportunities. The special “lucky” dialogue options can bypass entire challenges.
Note: The crit chance bonus scales really well with high-damage weapons
Social & Support Traits
Heroic: The Natural Leader
Others tend to naturally follow and look up to you.
Effect: -20% companion ability charge time
Best for: Players who rely heavily on companions and use their abilities frequently. Makes VAL’s healing and Niles’ taunt available more often.
Synergizes with: Leadership skill, companion-focused builds
Suave: The Silver-Tongued Negotiator
You have a way with words, getting you discounts at vendors and talking your way out of minor crimes.
Effect: 10% discount at all vendors, bounty must be 2x higher than normal to be seen as an Outlaw
Best for: Dialogue-focused characters and players who want to save money. The vendor discount adds up significantly over a full playthrough.
Synergizes with: Speech skill, stealth builds that occasionally get caught
Witty: The Charming Diplomat
Your fun demeanor and quick wit makes you popular with others.
Effect: Reputation with any faction can never decrease below Neutral, preventing penalties from negative reputation
Best for: Players who want to experiment with faction choices without burning bridges. This is incredible for first playthroughs when you don’t know the consequences.
Important note: This doesn’t mean factions will like you, just that they won’t actively hate you enough to impose penalties
All Twelve Skills: What You’re Actually Good At
Skills are the most important part of your build because they provide both passive bonuses per level AND determine which perks you can unlock later. You choose 2-3 skills at character creation, but you’ll invest points into multiple skills throughout your playthrough.
Combat Skills
Guns: The Ranged Specialist
Increases damage with all gun types: ballistic, shock, plasma, and bio.
Per level: +10% ranged damage, +1% armor penetration
Best for: Any build using firearms. This is the most universally useful combat skill since guns are everywhere.
Unlocks perks for: Weapon-specific bonuses, accuracy improvements, specialized ammunition effects
Melee: The Close-Quarters Expert
Increases damage dealt with melee weapons.
Per level: +10% melee damage, -2% damage received while blocking
Best for: Melee-focused builds. The blocking bonus makes you tankier when using melee weapons.
Unlocks perks for: Melee weapon specialization, power attacks, defensive bonuses
Synergizes with: Brawny trait, Resilient trait
Explosives: The Demolitions Expert
Increases damage with explosive throwables and area-of-effect weapons.
Per level: +10% explosives damage, +1% explosive resistance
Base bonus: Can disarm mines and traps while exploring
Best for: Players who love grenades and explosive gameplay. The trap disarming is surprisingly useful.
Unlocks perks for: Explosive potency, plasma weapon bonuses
Technical Skills
Engineering: The Defensive Technician
Increases effectiveness of all armor, granting inherent damage reduction.
Per level: +1% damage resistance
Base bonus: Can fix mechanical systems at or below your skill level; provides knowledge of mechanical systems in conversations
Best for: Tank builds focused on survivability. Damage resistance stacks with armor for serious defense.
Unlocks perks for: Increased defenses, weapon/armor mod benefits
This is essential for: Players who want to maximize survivability through damage mitigation
Hack: The Digital Infiltrator
Allows unauthorized access to terminals, automechanicals, and vending machines.
Per level: +5% damage to automechanicals
Base bonus: Can hack systems at or below your skill level
Best for: Tech-focused builds and players who want access to restricted areas and loot
Unlocks perks for: Disabling automechs, hacking bounty terminals, accessing restricted vending machine inventory
Science: The Gadget Specialist
Increases maximum Gadget Energy for longer gadget usage.
Per level: +7 gadget energy meter max, +10% more stacks of non-physical damage type side-effects
Best for: Players who rely heavily on gadgets like Tactical Time Dilation. More energy means longer usage.
Unlocks perks for: Gadget improvements, shock weapon potency
Lockpick: The Master Thief
Allows you to unlock locked containers and doors.
Per level: +1% evasion chance
Base bonus: Can open locks at or below your skill level
Best for: Exploration-focused builds. Access to locked areas means better loot and alternative paths.
Unlocks perks for: Pickpocketing humans, previewing locked container contents
Support & Utility Skills
Medical: The Field Medic
Increases maximum Toxicity, allowing more inhaler uses and better resistance to Zyranium poisoning.
Per level: +7 toxicity crash threshold, +5% damage to creatures
Best for: Survivability builds that rely on frequent healing. More toxicity = more inhaler uses before negative effects.
Unlocks perks for: Inhaler improvements, creature taming, corrosive weapon effectiveness
Important for: Managing the limited inhaler charges
Leadership: The Commander
Increases companion damage and survivability.
Per level: +8% companion damage, +4% companion health
Best for: Companion-focused builds. Makes your allies genuinely useful in combat.
Unlocks perks for: More frequent companion abilities, improved companion effectiveness
Synergizes with: Heroic trait
Observation: The Detective
Reveals hidden objects and subtle behaviors in conversations.
Per level: +15% weakspot damage
Base bonus: Can find hidden objects at or below your skill level
Best for: Treasure hunters and precision combat builds. The weakspot damage bonus is massive.
Unlocks perks for: Finding more loot, enemy tracking, exploiting weakspots
Sneak: The Shadow
Makes it harder for enemies to detect you while crouched.
Per level: +35% sneak attack damage, -2% NPC awareness detection rate
Best for: Stealth builds. The sneak attack damage bonus turns stealth into a legitimate combat strategy.
Unlocks perks for: Avoiding traps, performing devastating sneak attacks
Synergizes with: Nimble trait, Lockpick skill
Speech: The Diplomat
Allows you to better influence others in conversations.
Per level: +5% damage to humans
Base bonus: Can pass speech checks at or below your skill level
Best for: Dialogue-heavy playthroughs. Opens alternative quest solutions and avoids combat.
Unlocks perks for: Vendor discounts, intimidation, increased faction reputation gains
Most useful for: Players who prefer talking over fighting
Building Your Perfect Character: Recommended Combinations
Now that you know what everything does, here are some proven character builds that work really well:
The Combat Specialist
- Background: Renegade or Lawbringer
- Traits: Resilient, Lucky
- Skills: Guns, Engineering
- Focus: Pure combat effectiveness with survivability
The Stealth Assassin
- Background: Ex-Convict or Roustabout
- Traits: Nimble, Brilliant (pick Sneak as 3rd skill)
- Skills: Sneak, Lockpick, Guns
- Focus: Avoid detection, devastating sneak attacks
The Silver-Tongued Leader
- Background: Professor or Gambler
- Traits: Suave, Heroic
- Skills: Speech, Leadership
- Focus: Dialogue solutions, strong companions
The Technical Genius
- Background: Professor
- Traits: Brilliant, Innovative
- Skills: Hack, Science, Engineering
- Focus: Access everything, maximize gadgets
The Unkillable Tank
- Background: Lawbringer
- Traits: Resilient, Brawny
- Skills: Melee, Engineering
- Focus: Maximum survivability, melee damage
The Lucky Explorer
- Background: Gambler
- Traits: Lucky, Witty
- Skills: Observation, Lockpick
- Focus: Find everything, unique opportunities, faction-neutral
Final Tips for Character Creation
Don’t stress too much: You get a respec opportunity after the intro sequence. If you hate your choices, you can change them.
Plan for perks: Look at the perk list and favorite ones you want. Then invest in the required skills to unlock them.
Specialize early: Spreading points too thin makes you mediocre at everything. Focus on 3-4 core skills initially.
Consider your playstyle: Be honest about how you actually play games. If you always end up shooting things, don’t build a stealth character just because it sounds cool.
Backgrounds are about fun: Pick the background that makes you excited to roleplay. The mechanical differences are minimal compared to traits and skills.
Ready to Start Your Journey?
Character creation in The Outer Worlds 2 is just the beginning of your adventure through the Arcadian system. Whether you’re building a charismatic leader, a deadly assassin, or an unkillable tank, these choices set the foundation for how you’ll experience the entire game.
For more help getting started, check out our guide on what to do first after character creation, and our complete beginner’s guide covering essential gameplay tips.
Now get out there and create the character you’ve always wanted to play. The corporations won’t know what hit them.
