Culture and Background

Understand how choosing a culture and background in Pillars of Eternity impacts your character's stats, skills, and starting equipment. Make informed choices for your Watcher!

Hey there! So, you're diving into Pillars of Eternity, awesome! Before you even step foot in the world, you'll make a couple of crucial choices that really shape who your character is: their culture and their background. Think of it like picking your family history and your upbringing – it’s not just flavor text; it actually gives you some neat mechanical benefits and can even change how certain folks react to you later on.

Let's break down what each one does.

Culture

Your culture is basically your heritage, where you're from. This choice is important because it directly influences which backgrounds are even available to you, and it also gives you a little boost to one of your core attributes. It’s a solid starting point for defining your character’s innate strengths.

Here’s how the cultures stack up in terms of attribute bonuses:

Keep in mind, some cultures like The Dyrwood exist in the world, but you won't be able to pick them as your starting culture.

Background

Next up is your background. This is more about your character's life experiences before they became the Watcher. Mechanically, this is where you get a boost to your skills, which is super important for all sorts of checks you'll be making throughout the game. You get 2 ranks added to your chosen skills, so pick wisely!

Here’s a look at the skill bonuses from backgrounds:

Just like with cultures, some backgrounds like Midwife are in the game but are reserved for NPCs, not player characters.

Culture and Background Synergy

Now, here’s where things get interesting: your culture choice actually locks or unlocks certain backgrounds. You can't just pick any background you want; it has to make sense with your heritage. This table shows which backgrounds are available for each culture:

Finally, your culture also dictates your starting gear. It’s not a huge difference, but it’s a nice little bonus that fits your origin. For example, a Barbarian from The Living Lands starts with Scale armor, a Great sword, and nothing else, while a Barbarian from Old Vailia gets Mail armor, a Morning star, and a Sword. It’s worth checking this table to see what you’ll be equipped with right out of the gate:

So, take your time when you're creating your character. Think about the kind of character you want to play, and how these choices will set you up for the journey ahead. It’s all about building the Watcher you want to be!